Chapter 17
Hodge
“Why are you like this, Hodge?”
“Like what?”
“Stubborn as fuck! What the hell is wrong with you?” she snaps at me.
“Nothin’ is wrong with me. Everything’s goin’ accordin’ to plan.”
“Is it? And where the fuck does Kemah play into this plan of yours?” Kiki snaps at me.
“She doesn’t.”
“What the fuck?”
“Just stop, Kiki, okay? She’s gone. She left,” I remind her.
“You basically pushed her away! What the hell did you expect her to do?”
“I didn’t expect anything aside from her goin’.”
“You care about her,” she says, resting her hands on the table in front of her. “Admit that much.”
“I do care about her, that’s why I sent her away.”
“That makes a lot of sense, asshole.”
“Doesn’t need to make sense to you. It does to me. Now, do you mind?” I ask, motioning to the computer in front of me.
“I’m not done talking about this,” she yells as she spins around and walks away. I chuckle under my breath and watch her go before Remy drops into the chair next to me.
“Pull up the email I sent you.”
“What email?”
“Just sent it. Pull it up,” he says once more. I exit what I’m doing and pull up my email, clicking on his. I scan the page when my brows furrow.
“What the hell is this?”
“Our boy Christopher has a daughter,” he says.
“And that means what?”
“Her name, Hodge. Look down,” he tells me. I scan the rest of the email, and I almost slam it against the table when I see it.
“It was him? That’s her dad?”
“Looks that way.”
“He’s the bastard who gave her to that dick that beat her?” I roar louder this time. I’m pissed. I’m beyond pissed. How did I have her here for that long and not know who she was? Why didn’t she ever tell me?
“You gotta talk to Prez about this,” Remy reminds me as I try and control my anger.
“Yeah,” I agree, nodding my head.
“What if he doesn’t let you go after him?” I turn my head to look at Remy, a guy who’s been a good friend for a long fucking time.
“There’s no sayin’ no.”
“We work with Powell, Hodge. Have for years.”
“And he gave his daughter to a piece of shit to beat on her. That’s reason enough to stop this shit now.”
“It’s good money for the club.”
“I get it, but this is more important than his business dealin’s.”
“Yeah, you’re old lady does mean more, right?”
“What is everyone givin’ me shit for today? She left, Remy.”
“Oh yeah. Because you didn’t have anything to do with sendin’ her away.”
“Where did she go anyway?” I ask, not knowing why it should matter, but it does. I want to know that she’s safe and out of harm's way for now.
“I don’t know. Prez didn’t tell me,” he replies before turning away and leaving me to my own shit. I sit here looking down at the computer screen, at the words on it. That bastard. Kemah is his daughter. He did this. He sent her away and then tried to hide her as some whore.
My fist balls as I think about what he did when I see Locke.
“Locke. Come here,” I call out to him. He walks over and drops into the chair next to me. I spin the computer around for him to see.
“What the fuck,” he mumbles under his breath.
“You think my dad is gonna have an issue with me handlin’ him?” Locke runs his hand through his hair and shrugs.
“I don’t know, Hodge. That really his daughter?”
“Looks that way. How did we never know he had a daughter?”
“I have no idea. I don’t think anyone ever brought it up,” he adds.
“Well, I’m bringin’ it up with my dad.”
“You gonna unclench those hands before you break a bone?”
“He left her to that, Locke. To him. That bastard who hurt her.”
“What’s it matter to you now?” I know what he’s doing by pushing my buttons. I know he’s trying to push me into admitting what I feel for Kemah, but I’m not going to. She doesn’t deserve the chaos that comes with being with me.
“Don’t do that shit, Locke. You of all fuckin’ people, don’t do it.”
“Fine. But you can’t ignore what you feel, brother.”
“I’m not tryin’ to. I just want to figure this shit out.” Just as he’s about to say more, my dad walks in from outside. I lift my hand and wave him over, watching as he walks this way.
When he gets close enough, he notices my clenched fists. Slowly, I unclench them and rest them on my lap.
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Christopher is Kemah’s dad.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Shocked the shit out of me too,” I tell him. He scrubs his hand across his face before looking back at me.
“And I know what you want to do.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s written all over your face, son. You want to take his ass out.” I nod my head once as he looks at me.
“You’re not wrong.”
“Fuck. We do a lot of business with him.”
“I know that, too.”
“But she means more to you than that, yeah?” Fuck. Why are they all trying to do this to me today? Why are they all trying to force me to say what they already know?
“You gonna let me take this motherfucker out or not?”
“You don’t need me to tell you that you can. You’re gonna do it regardless.”
“I wouldn’t go against the club,” I state.
There’s no way I could go against them. This is my home, my family.
They’re the only family I’ve ever known, and I sure as hell wouldn’t mess that up for anyone.
Kemah deserves to know that it’s over. That no one is going to fucking touch her or hurt her again.
And I’m the one who’s going to make sure that happens.
“Come on, Hodge. Look at you!” He points at me, waving his arm up and down. “You’re practically ready to rush out the door right now.”
“I wouldn’t go against the club, Dad.”
“So if I say no?” Fuck me. He would ask that. He would ask just how far I’m willing to go for her, and without thinking about it, I blurt it out.
“I’d leave the club.”