Chapter 1
Chapter One
Knight
Two Months Later
“Dating you is a fucking nightmare!” Jenna yells in my face as we leave another disastrous Sunday supper.
“Babe, I’m sorry.” She swings around to point her finger into my face.
“No, don’t apologize for your family again. I told you I did not want to come here anymore. You swore they would be on their best behavior. All they do is insult each other, and I seem to be their favorite. I can’t take this shit anymore.” She stomps over to her bike and puts on her helmet.
“Jenna, what do you want me to do? They’re my family. I’m stuck with them.” I throw my arms up in the air ‘cause I knew this would happen.
It’s the reason why I’m still single at almost forty.
“Yeah, but I’m not. I have to deal with enough bullshit in my professional life. I refuse for my personal life to be just as crazy. It’s over, Troy.” She turns the Ducati on and speeds off without another word, leaving me standing on the curb with my jaw on the floor.
The pirate fucking warned me, but did I listen?
I turn and jog up the porch steps, slamming the front door open, ready for fucking war.
“Are you happy now? She just broke up with me. All because you all couldn’t learn to keep your opinions to yourselves.” Gran keeps drinking her wine like I said nothing.
Dad has earbuds in, probably listening to the game, and Ma is checking the knife in her hands for water spots like she’s a fucking saint.
“Told you I didn’t like her. I’m not watching my mouth in my house for no one.” She places the knife down and looks me dead in the eyes when she drops the next grenade.
“You remember little Sofia from two houses down. She was asking about you the other day—” I tune her out before I say something I’ll fucking regret.
I grab my keys and storm out.
I mount my Harley and peel out, leaving the crazy in my dust, driving all the way to Jenna’s apartment on autopilot. I watch the shadows behind her curtains and sigh.
She made it home safely.
One shadow turns into two, and my hackles rise.
“Who the fuck?” I take out my phone and text her.
Please let me know you’re okay.
I’m fine. Home talking with a friend.
I know you’re mad, but did you mean it?
Goodbye, Troy.
FUCK!
I want to scream it out loud, but I’m afraid she’ll hear it out here and think I’m just as crazy as the rest of my family.
I call Pirate not ready to leave yet ‘cause it feels like giving up on us, and that’s the last fucking thing I want.
“You fucking prick.” I hear Zac crying and chuckle.
“Sorry, he’s still not sleeping through the night?” I listen as my President and best friend quiets his son, making me smile to myself at how much this man has changed since Jenna delivered the baby when the doctor arrived too late to do his fucking job.
He’s softened in ways I never thought possible.
“Gen says he’s teething, and if you could see how hard he’s sucking on this frozen toy, you’d agree. Poor little man,” he coos at his son, and I snort.
Those words coming from the same mouth that’ll curse anyone into an early grave are comical to me.
“What did you want, asshole?” That’s my best friend.
“Jenna just broke up with me.” He grunts, and I hear the sound of the old rocketer his abuela gave him start to move.
“What did your Ma say this time?” I sigh as I remember her words.
“Well, she started with the woman shouldn’t be working bullshit and that Jenna needed to put on weight if she ever wanted to carry Lambert babies.
But the clincher was when she mentioned her not being Catholic for the millionth time and therefore not good enough to be my wife.
Jenna fired back that religion wasn’t a valid reason not to marry someone, and Ma replied with love wasn’t enough of a reason to go to hell.
It kinda all dissolved after that. Someone knocked over a glass of wine.
A bottle got thrown, and next thing I know I’m watching her taillights riding away from me.
” I lean my body over my Harley and bang my head into my arms resting on the gas tank.
“Troy, your family is fucked, man. I’m sorry, but I told you not to introduce her yet. You aren’t even that serious about her. You’ve been on what, five dates?” I grind my teeth at the memory of all the times both our jobs made us cancel.
“Not for lack of trying. There’s just something about her, Zek. She could have been the one.” The lights turning off in her apartment draw my eyes back to the window.
“In another life, Troy. But if she can’t handle your family, she ain’t the one.” Maybe he’s right.
I start my Harley.
“I’m heading over. I need to hold my godson.” I take one more look in Jenna’s direction before letting my heart sink in disappointment.
He mumbles an acknowledgment that I can’t really hear over the bike, so I hang up and make my way out of the Bronx and back into Manhattan. I pull up to the clubhouse, and Pirate is standing in the doorway holding a fussy Zac in his arms, waiting for me.
“All yours. And he just took a massive dump.” I chuckle as I take the stinky baby into my arms, not really giving a fuck about changing his diaper.
“Daddy needs a nap, little man. Wanna play with Uncle Troy? Come on,” I move up into his nursery and strip him down to the dirty diaper.
“What is your mama eating? This is just foul.” I wrinkle my nose at the smell, and after using half the container of wipes, he still stinks, so I wrap him in a towel and walk across the hallway to the bathroom.
I’m just finishing his bath when Genesis pops her head in to check on us.
“Heard you had some lady trouble tonight. Wanna talk about it?” I pull Zac out of the tub, wrap him in a towel, and hand him to his mama.
“What I had was a family disaster that no one could help me with. Jenna had every reason to dump my ass. I’m shocked it took her three dinners rather than one.” I dry my arms and hands as she watches me carefully.
“Want my advice?” I shrug.
“Give her some time to calm down. Prove to her that she matters and that she’s in a relationship with you, not your family. But Troy, you need to put your mother in her place, or you’ll never find happiness.” She turns to go back to the nursery to dress the baby, leaving me alone in my thoughts.
Sighing, not knowing what to do, I poke my head into the nursery before heading to my room.
“Hey Gen, I think your milk has gone bad. Cause what came out of that kid’s ass could wake the dead.” I chuckle and duck as she throws a blanket at me.
“Fuck off, Knight.”