Chapter Four
Jack
“This is bullshit.”
Storming out the front door, I marched across the parking lot and through the gate. I needed to clear my head; however, with the way I was feeling, I knew it wouldn’t be wise to get on my bike.
So, I walked.
I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans and hunched my shoulders. It was an hour and a half before sunset and still really warm. August in Nebraska got fucking hot, not as hot as Arkansas, but still fucking hot.
As I walked down the road toward town, my thoughts turned to Charlie. My daughter. I had a daughter. Four years old, I’d missed four years of her life. Her first step, her first word, her first tooth. I never got to see her birth, never got to gag while I changed her diaper. Never got puked on or shit on. I’d missed it all. I never even got to see her mother’s belly grow big with her.
I thought about Sammy. The night we met in a bar in Little Rock felt like any other night until we got to the hotel. I thought nothing of it when she asked me to follow her, just figured she wasn’t from the area. That’s what she’d said.
Another fucking lie.
When I saw her again, I couldn’t believe my luck. There she was, in The Diner. When I called to her, she froze; she was afraid. Then tonight, she had a panic attack. I needed to get answers, but I couldn’t do that if I didn’t get my anger under control first.
I looked up from the sidewalk and realized I had walked to the bar in town. Without really thinking about it, I opened the door and walked in .
A few drinks sounded good after that walk.
I stepped up to the bar and planted my ass on the stool next to Johnny. It wasn’t surprising to see him here. King had him sitting here on the nights Grace worked.
It was overkill, if you asked me, but nobody asked me.
“Hey, Jack.” Lifting my head, my eyes settled on Grace. She was pretty. With her green eyes and long, dark blonde hair. She wasn’t Sammy, though.
Sammy was gorgeous. Her wild, curly brown hair and her whiskey-colored eyes hooked me that first night. Charlie looked just like her, except for her blue eyes. Eyes she got from me.
“What can I get you, Jack?” Grace asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Whiskey.”
Grace walked away. She grabbed a bottle from the top shelf and poured it into a glass. She dropped the glass on the bar in front of me and waited.
I raised an eyebrow in question. “Something you need, Grace?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just…”
She looked over at Johnny.
I turned my head toward the prospect. He was quickly typing on his phone. Once he realized we were looking at him, he shoved his phone in his back pocket. I turned back to Grace, waiting for her to continue.
“Johnny is usually the only one that’s ever here. Sometimes you guys come in like a pack.” She shrugged her shoulder. “I’m just wondering if something is wrong.”
“Is something wrong?” I scoffed. “Yea, you could say that. It seems I have a daughter. Just met her today.” The bitter taste of my admission had me taking a large drink from my glass.
“FUCK!” I sputtered and coughed, spitting liquid over the bar. “What the hell is this?” I shrieked, looking at my glass.
“It’s Hell’s Inferno. It’s the second whiskey distilled and distributed by the Sons of Hell MC out of Rosewood, Virginia. It is meant to be sipped, not thrown back like water,” Grace lectured as she poured more whiskey into my glass. “So, she finally told you, huh?”
“The fuck of it is,” I mumbled, grabbing the whiskey glass again, then said, “No, she didn’t tell me. I ran into her at Walmart with the girl.”
Slamming my glass on the bar, I sneered.
“Wait, you knew? She told you?”
“No, she didn’t tell me. I was out shopping one day and saw them together. I knew you two had been together before and just assumed she was yours.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you say something?” I barked.
“Not my business.” She shrugged.
“Not your business? Fuck, Grace. You should have said something.”
“Jack, I know Samantha. I assumed she had her reasons for not telling you. Contrary to what you men might think, women don’t do things just to fuck with you.” Grace stormed off, leaving me to reflect upon her revelation.
Hours passed while I sat at the bar, drinking. The alcohol I had consumed kept me from noticing that Blade had come in and was sitting next to me.
“Hey, Jack.” I turned my head to the voice beside me.
“Blade!” I howled. “What are you doing here?”
He shook his head at me. “I came to get you, buddy. It’s time to go home.”
My eyes narrowed in his direction. “How’d you know I was here?” I asked, my words slurred. “Did Grace rat me out?”
“Nope, the prospect did.”
I swung my head in the other direction and glared at the prospect.
“Asshole. See if I give you my vote.”
“Don’t worry, Johnny, he won’t remember any of this in the morning,” Blade declared.
“Fuck you, asshole. I’m not that drunk.”
Blade stood from his stool, helping me stand from mine. When I took a step, I tripped over my foot and landed on my ass .
“No, you’re not drunk at all.” He snorted. “Come on, Johnny, help me get him into the truck. At least he walked here, so I don’t need to worry about his bike.”
Johnny and Blade carried me out to the truck. Once they had me settled into the seat, my head rolled to the side and everything went black.
With a dry throat and a pounding head, I woke up in my bed, fully dressed. The last thing I remembered was sitting at the bar in town. Johnny was there, and Grace was working. One of them must have called the clubhouse for someone to come pick me up.
I rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. I needed to put something in my stomach to soak up the alcohol still sloshing around in my system.
Pulling on a fresh pair of jeans, a clean tee, and my cut, I left my room in search of breakfast.
My hand reached up to push open the double doors leading to the kitchen and stopped before making contact. Laughter from the kitchen washed over me.
The laughter of a woman and the giggle of a little girl made my lips tip at the corners. However, my smile quickly faded when I heard the rumble of laughter from one of my brothers.
Pushing the door open a little more forceful than necessary, the scene that greeted me made last night’s rage instantly resurface. My little girl and my woman appeared to be having a grand time. That wasn’t what pissed me off. I would never begrudge them their fun.
What had me furious was the giant man in the kitchen with them, consuming their attention. Sammy stood by the stove, holding Charlie and smiling up at Tank, who was cooking breakfast.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” I growled.
Sammy started and spun around. Tank peered at me over his shoulder, then quickly turned back to the stove.
“Daddy!”
Charlie squirmed in her mother’s arms until Sammy set her on the floor. She raced over as fast as her little legs would let her and threw herself into my arms. I immediately scooped her up, pulling her tight to my chest.
“Good morning, Charlie.” I carried her over to the counter.
“You said a bad word, Daddy,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, baby, I’ll try to do better,” I apologized and kissed her forehead.
“Uncle Tank is making pancakes.” Charlie squealed, clapping her hands together.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked. “I was hoping to catch you before you had breakfast. I was thinking you and I could have a daddy/daughter breakfast date. What do you think, Shortcake?”
Charlie placed her little hands on my cheeks and asked innocently, “Can Mommy come too?”
I glanced over at Sammy, then back to Charlie.
“Well, I thought because you and Mommy have spent so much time without Daddy, that we could have some time just the two of us. What do you think, Charlie?”
“Jack.” Sammy sighed.
“Don’t be an ass, brother.” Tank was really pushing his luck with me.
“Bad word, Uncle Tank.”
“Sorry, Charlie,” he conceded, then winked at my daughter.
Jealousy consumed me.
If I were capable of thinking rationally, I would be thrilled at the idea of my brothers treating my little girl so well. Though, it seemed in that moment, I could only think irrationally, because I wanted to break his jaw so he couldn’t talk to her.
Ignoring both Sammy and Tank, I asked Charlie again, “What do you say, Shortcake? Wanna spend some daddy/daughter time with me today?”
Charlie turned to Sammy without answering. I was an asshole for putting my daughter in the middle, but hey, I’d been a father for thirty-six hours. I knew I had a lot to learn. I also knew what I was doing was wrong.
“Samantha?”
“I don’t know, Jack. She doesn’t go anywhere without me.”
“She went for ice cream with Blade and Beck yesterday,” I pointed out.
“You pushed me to do that.”
“Who does she stay with while you’re working?” I countered.
“Auntie Carrie watches me when Mommy works, Daddy.”
I regarded my daughter. For a moment, I forgot she was there, although we were talking about her.
“Jack, we still have a lot to talk about,” Sammy insisted.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now. Right now, I want to spend some time getting to know my daughter.”
“She needs a car seat. She can’t ride on your bike,” she challenged.
Taking a deep breath, I needed to keep my anger in check.
“I have a truck. I can put her seat in my truck for now. I want to take my daughter to breakfast, and then take her shopping. I can pick up a seat for my truck then, and you can have yours back.”
“I don’t know, Jack.”
Why the fuck was she hesitant?
The kitchen doors opened, and Amber, one of the club girls, swept in.
“Hey, Sam.”
“Hi, Amber.” Sammy smiled at Amber.
“Hey, Amber, could you take Charlie out to the main room for a few minutes?”
“Jack,” Sammy objected as she stepped forward.
Amber stood there.
Her eyes swiveled back and forth between me and Sammy.
“Um, sure.” Amber walked over and gathered my daughter in her arms. “Let’s go watch some TV, Charlie. It’s a little cold in here.” She speared me with a look meant to scold.
It worked .
“Thank you, Amber,” Sammy said softly.
The door closed behind them, and I glared at Sammy. God, she was beautiful. Despite how angry with her I was, she still had the ability to make me hard. Standing up to me scared her. That much was clear. She did it anyway because it was for our daughter.
That was hot as fuck.
“Why are you doing this, Samantha? I want to spend time with my daughter. You know, make up for the past four years I missed out on.”
“Brother,” Tank growled.
“Fuck off, Tank,” I snapped, never taking my eyes off Sammy.
King walked into the kitchen. I knew he had overheard me mouthing off to Tank.
“What’s going on, Jack?”
Sammy shut down immediately when King spoke. Her eyes went to the floor and her shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I’ll meet you outside and install her seat in your truck. She has a small bag in my car in case of accidents. I’ll get that for you too. Excuse me.” Sammy sighed and moved to the door.
As she passed by King, I swear she shrank even more.
My gaze followed Sammy as she left the room. “What the fuck was that?” I asked to no one in particular.
“That was you two being assholes. That was a terrified woman shrinking herself down out of self-preservation,” Tank announced. He turned off the stove, throwing the pancakes into the trash.
“What the fuck did I do?” King snarked.
Tank walked angrily past both of us. Before he shoved through the door, he looked back over his shoulder and destroyed me with one sentence.
“That is the mother of your child. Show her some motherfucking respect.”