Chapter 13 #2
Lake smirks, which doesn’t help me one bit as she says, “That she has been madly in love with you since she was like eight years old and that her sleeping with you was probably something she had always wanted.”
Wait what?
Shock shoots through me, shock and absolute stupidity as I choke, “What…?”
Every time Raya wouldn’t make eye contact with me, the quietness over the years… Fuck.
“Why do you think she was always weird whenever you were around, brother?” Viper says like it was well known and I glare at him and snap, “You knew and didn’t tell me!”
“Everyone knew and everyone tried to tell you, but you refused to listen. Instead, you had it in your head she was off because she was using Ives,” he reminds me, and I scowl at the fucker.
“Venom,” Lake says, gaining my attention, saving her man as I look at her, and she says, “the more you treated her like crap because her family had money, the more you pushed her away. There is so much you don’t know about her, about her family, and I can’t tell you because I won’t break her trust, but what I will tell you is if you are expecting a baby with someone else, she’ll want nothing to do with you. ”
Fuck’s sake, of course the girls are in the know. She must have explained why she needs space.
My jaw ticks because I know I can’t explain the situation without the old ladies getting themselves locked up, and I look down and lie, “I don’t even know if there even is a baby yet.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispers, “She’s pulled back and it would take a lot more than a message from me, the woman who has distanced herself from her, to get her to talk to you.”
Ah, Lake, she’s not the only one who distanced themselves, Raya did as well.
I sigh and remind her, “It wasn’t your fault, sweetheart, you have depression, and not one of those girls questioned your distance like they should have.”
“It’s not their fault either,” she replies, reminding me why Raya distanced herself, and I huff as I look at Viper and ask, “Is she always this stubborn?”
He snorts, “Pretty much, the woman refused for me to buy her lunch every time we went out in between her shifts. So I'd end up putting the money in her purse without her realizing,” and she gently pinches him, and I grin widely.
Yeah, they’ll be alright.
“You’re missed, sweetheart. My sister is demanding to see you,” I admit, the demanding words from my sister when I left this morning coming back to me, the only woman in the club aware of where Viper and I have gone, and Lake sighs as she gently traces Viper’s tattoo on his hand that’s on her leg.
“I miss them too,” she replies, “But I don’t want the girls here.”
“They understand, shorty,” Viper reassures her and she nods without looking up before sighing and looking back at me, stating, “The reason why she loses it every time you accuse her of using Ivy for a brother's patch to piss off her daddy,” she swallows and I lean forward as my heart races before she tears my fucking whole world around as she admits, “Daddy is dead, Venom.”
Fuck no, no, no.
I sit back in pure shock as she asks, “Did you ever hear about the firefighter who lost his life trying to save a little girl from a house fire roughly years ago?”
“Chase Wilson,” Viper says while I sit completely still, remembering the firefighter who gave me a few choice words on a day I was struggling, a man I mourned after finding out he died in a fire, a man I had no idea had money or a fucking daughter.
Raya was fifteen when the man died, and I’m beginning to put two and two together, but her words confirm it as she finishes, “That was her daddy, her stepfather is Gregory Averie, the club's lawyer.”
Fuck.
I stare at Lake with absolute shock, that year coming back to me, Ivy coming home crying on Raya’s birthday, the day Chase passed away.
Fuck me, her father passed away on her birthday, a birthday she doesn’t like to celebrate…
“Well, that explains a lot. The rumor was that the Hyenas were the cause of the fire,” Viper mutters, and Lake replies, “They were. She’ll be mad I told you both, but that is all I’m going to say.
What you do with that information is entirely up to you, Venom.
I will warn you, you’ve got a lot to make up for because every time you brought her daddy into an argument, you tore her heart out, reminding her he’s dead. That man was her best friend.”
“Thank you, Lake,” I whisper with pain, and she nods as she looks at me with concern, most likely seeing my pain.
“How’s therapy going, shorty?” Viper asks, helping to take the heat off me knowing I need to figure shit out. I zone out trying to figure out how to get Raya to forgive me for everything I’ve ever fucking said about her father, her dead fucking father.
“Kitten?” I say as I knock on her door, knowing full well she’s in, but also wanting to respect her by not using my key. “Please, kitten, I need to speak to you,” I choke, guilt filling me.
My emotions are going haywire. Angel is still refusing to do a blood test while screwing every man she can, and the woman I love, the woman I pushed away by being a dick. She lost her dad on her birthday, and I never put two and two together when she disappeared for three months.
“I was in contact with her mama…”
Ivy’s words come back to me, and I sniffle, knowing Raya won’t answer, and I place my forehead against her door.
I admit, “When I was twelve, my mama said I wouldn’t amount to anything, she said the club would destroy me and growing up being ingrained the club is everything.
I couldn’t cope with Mama’s words so I ran off and started trying to set fire to some dry leaves in the park when this big man in a firefighter shirt gave me a lecture about the dangers of fire before he took a good look at me.
He asked if I was Glock's son, and I said I was, and he told me whatever was said to hurt me, that burning shit wouldn’t help matters.
He encouraged me to speak to my dad after giving me his number, so I could always call him when I felt like burning shit again.
Chase Wilson, Raya, was one of the best men I knew, and the fact that I have wound you up for years over being a spoiled rich girl trying to get daddy’s attention makes me the biggest prick in the world.
He would skin me for how I have treated you. ”
I hear her footsteps, and I know she’s by the door.
I choke, “I’m so fucking sorry, Raya, I’m so sorry you lost your hero on a day you should have been celebrating.” Her sobs echo from under the door, making my whole body tense as I place my hand against the wood, and I slowly close my eyes as a tear falls, while her sobs tear me in two.