Chapter 24 #4
“Bike crash when I was seventeen. I lost a lot of blood. Neither of my parents were a match. I may not be a fancy accountant, but I know that shit means something. He’s always treated me differently, pushed me harder, rewarded me less.
Nothing was ever good enough. I was never good enough.
” I shook my head, trying to reconcile all of the information.
“Are you sure? Have you ever done a paternity test?” The question popped out of my mouth without my permission. Crow stepped closer to me and put the muzzle of the gun to my temple.
“Stop asking so many questions. I know the truth, and that fucker is gonna get what he deserves. I was just taking what was meant to be mine.” I froze, fear turning my blood cold.
Everything felt heightened; the sensation of the gun against my head, the shine of grease in Crow’s hair.
I took all of it in, but my thoughts were elsewhere.
I didn’t want to die, not when I had finally started really living.
I had such a full life now with Bash, his family, and our friends.
What will this do to him? He would be devastated.
Shaking those thoughts away, I tried to focus. I would get out of this for Bash, and if I didn’t, I knew his family would be there to catch him. Removing the gun from my head, Crow started pacing and continued his rant.
“Spent years biding my time, working every detail out. Then you had to come around and fuck everything up. Just a few more weeks, and I would have taken the entire club by surprise. Disappeared with the money, none of them the wiser. Get one over on that bastard. Calls himself President, meanwhile, I took everything from right under his nose.”
“Then what?”
“Start my own club. Become President, like I always should have been. Run it like a real club. My rules, my way,” he replied casually, as if that were an easy or feasible future for him.
“What about Seph? Do you think she’s not your mother? Would you have preferred she stay in an abusive marriage? You think she deserved to get beaten? Take the risk of him hitting you?” I asked coldly.
“Don’t treat me like an idiot. Of course she’s my mother.
It’s her sins that started this. She was pregnant and a married woman who stepped out on her husband.
Choosing a stranger to raise me instead.
That wasn’t her right! She took away any chance I had of getting to know my real father.
She made that decision without considering me.
This time, I’m making the decisions. She can stick by her blood, or stay with that fraud and lose me forever. ”
“What did Reaper do that was so terrible?” I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. This wasn’t just about power; it was about teaching his parents a lesson. But for what? From everything I had seen and heard, Reaper was a devoted father to Crow.
“He knew. He must have known I wasn’t his.
I always tried to get his approval, but nothing was ever good enough.
Around everyone else, he paraded us around like one big happy family.
But he looked at me differently. When I started prospecting, he rode my ass.
Kept me on scut work, toilets. All the petty bullshit he could think of.
“All the while, he never trusted me enough to put me on runs or put me on protection details. He held me back from the start. Never gave me a chance to prove myself to the club. Placing Bash as VP instead of me was the nail in his coffin.”
“Why haven’t you tried talking to Reaper and Seph about this? You’re an adult now. I’m sure they would have explained it. Why go this route instead of just asking them?” I couldn’t help but scoff. Slamming his hands on either side of my face, I flinched as he closed the space between us.
“Nosy bitch! You have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.
Who are you to pass judgment on me? You’ve been around the club for what, a few months?
You gave your loyalty to the first man to pay attention to you for more than a couple of hours.
Don’t act like you’re any better than me.
You’re just as fucked up as I am, a thief and a runner. We’re not so different, after all.”
That hurt. I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me, but I didn’t like the comparison. I let my mouth run before I could consider the consequences.
“We’re nothing alike. I did what I had to do to make a better life for myself.
You’re running away like a spoiled brat who didn’t get enough toys on his birthday.
You want everything handed to you, and when that doesn’t happen, you play the victim.
You couldn’t handle a fucking second in my shoes.
You’re not a real man, and everyone can see it. ”
I was rewarded with a hard backhand, the force of which almost knocked me back to the floor.
My head spun, and I couldn’t help the dark laugh that came out of me.
The warmth of blood dripping out of my nostrils and down my face fed my manic energy, the rage erupting as I slowly processed Crow’s idiotic ideas.
Somehow, I felt more alive than ever, more determined to get through it and see him pay. Taking my time, using the wall to help me, I slowly stood up. Stepping toward Crow, I gathered all the blood and spit that had filled my mouth, and in a very unlady-like fashion, hocked a loogie at him.
Hitting him square in the eye, I watched with joy as he jumped from the vile mix of bloody snot and saliva dripping down his face. Making sure I had his attention back on me, I delivered my final blow.
“Maybe you’re Reaper’s kid, maybe you’re not.
It doesn’t really matter because the one truth that remains is that he made the right decision,” I hissed at Crow.
“He saw you for the petty little boy you really are, and knew that you were too weak, too selfish, to rule this club. You don’t have what it takes to be President.
You’re pathetic, and you won’t ever know what it means to be respected. ”
The look he gave me was one of disbelief, rage, and pure loathing mixed into one. In an instant, his hands were around my throat, my back up against the wall once again. Grabbing at his hands, I tried to pry his fingers from my neck, refusing to give in to the panic creeping in.
Our gazes locked as I channeled all of my energy into not flinching.
I wasn’t going to give Crow the satisfaction of seeing my fear or hearing me beg.
A look of anger washed over his face before it was quickly replaced with determination.
His hands tightened around my throat just a bit harder, and everything went black.