Chapter 17
I POUR THE LAST AMBER drops of beer down my throat and set the bottle aside, head spinning.
“Alright, Mischief, that’s enough,” Chief grumbles from the porch.
I lean back against the railing, closing my eyes.
I am drunk.
Really fucking drunk.
It is the only thing I could think of doing to blur out today’s noise. I need silence, and I need to forget everything that’s happening. Before I can get too lippy with Chief, Travis’s arms wrap around me, warm and steady. “You good?”
I tilt my head up, eyes half-lidded, and grin. “I love you, rockstar.”
My words slur pleasantly.
He chuckles. “You love me, or you love the beer?”
I hiccup. “Both.”
Chief snorts. “Sounds like at this point you would also love the dirt, the ants, and the trees, too.”
I laugh. “Ants are fascinating!”
I push away from Travis, stumbling. He steadies me.
“Better grab her some water,” he tells Chief.
Grinning, I rush up the stairs and launch into Chief’s lap, and he nearly topples backward. “Holy hell,” he mutters. “You’re going to kill me someday.”
“Come on, Dad,” I tease. “Loosen up.”
“Mischief, give him a little kick!” Bill bellows from the yard.
Laughter rings out.
Chief shakes his head, but he’s smiling.
“I’m your favorite girl, right?” I wiggle free and stand, swaying.
“Right,” he grins.
“Ever?”
“Maybe not ever,” he chuckles.
I flip him the bird as Travis comes back and hands me a bottle of water. “Drink up, kid, or this will hurt tomorrow.”
I lean in, mock-sweet: “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Travis rolls his eyes; Chief laughs. “Pretty? Right now, you’re as pretty as a drunk sea lion.”
I burst into giggles. “Sea lions are chunky!”
He smirks. “Bit of chunk does wicked things to most men.”
I pretend to glare. “What did you dare say to me, Travis Phoenix?”
“You know you’ve got the best fuckin’ body I ever did see, kid.”
After that, the night is a blur. I pass out at some point, and wake up in my bed, curled up with Travis and a pounding headache.
I toss and turn until the harsh morning light hits my face and I’m alone.
The bed is still warm next to me, and I can hear voices out front.
It takes me a moment to remember that today is the annual charity car wash.
I groan and roll to my side, my mouth dry.
I don’t know if I’ve got it in me to dress in a bikini and flag cars down, but I remember it’s for a good cause, so I force myself out of bed.
It takes me more than an hour to get myself out there, mostly because I am trying not to vomit.
I shower, drink water, coffee, and then shoot back two Tylenol before getting into my bikini and tying my hair up.
Hopefully, I look half decent. Reagan is meeting me this morning, because this is her favorite event of the year.
I walk outside and into the main area, where the guys are getting everything ready.
The good thing is, the town supports this, because they know it goes to kids in need.
I step into the main area, and every rider halts. Chief buries his face in his hands. Travis raises his brows, a slow grin spreading across his face.
“What the fuck is that you’re wearing?” Chief growls.
“A bikini,” I say, shaking my head in confusion.
“Hell no,” he barks. “Hell fucking no.”
Before I can argue, Reagan is running through the lot towards me, her bikini even smaller than mine. “Yay! This is the best day of the year.”
She reaches me and throws her arms around my neck, before pulling back and nodding with appreciation. “Yes, girl, yes.”
“No,” Chief snaps again. “Not happening.”
“Too late to change now, father. What’s wrong? Scared we might make us more cash than you lot?”
“Of course you will, you’re half naked.”
I blow him a kiss and we get to work.
Reagan and I launch into full stunt mode: sponging windshields, sliding across car hoods, little dances that have the crowd hooting.
Chief glares at me the entire time; Travis too.
.. until I corner him with a soaked sponge, wiping suds across his bare chest. He groans, leans me against the hood, kisses me so fiercely it stops time.
Girls around us gasp. The bikers cheer and clap.
And I know, oh, I know, that Chief is about to murder us.
He straightens, murmuring into my ear, “You drive me insane.”
I slip away, sprinting back to Chief with a wad of cash. “See? We help.”
He snatches it, face hard. “Half an hour more and you’re getting changed. No more stunts on the cars with Travis, either. Don’t need any more bullshit.”
I grin and dash away.
By afternoon, we’ve scrubbed every car and made a ton of cash.
We pack up to head inside for burgers. Laughter floats around the table and it feels good to have achieved something, but of course, that feeling never lasts long around here.
Because a little over half an hour in, Bill approaches Chief, his eyes weirdly concerned. “Chief, you’ve got a visitor.”
Chief frowns. “So send them in.”
Bill hesitates. “Don’t think you want me to do that.”
Chief looks at him, confused. “Just send them in, Bill. Fuck.”
“You asked for it.”
Bill leaves, and a moment later comes back with a young woman—eighteen, maybe nineteen, pale blonde hair catching the sun, eyes like slate, lips full and determined.
Chief freezes.
She breaks into a run, arms outstretched. “Daddy!” she cries, flinging herself at him.
My entire body goes still.
Travis clamps a hand on my arm. “We should go.”
It’s as if he knows, even before everything erupts.
Chief’s gaze snaps to me, locked.
“Get me out,” I croak to Travis. “Get me out.”
He moves swiftly, helping me up and turning me toward the door. The entire room is silent, an emptiness that goes on and on. Everyone is too afraid to speak. Maybe half of them are in shock. Just like me.
Chief’s voice stops us. “Violet, hold up.”
I spin around. “Is she your daughter?” My voice cracks.
He swallows hard. “Fuck. This... this wasn’t how I wanted you to find out.”
I inhale sharply, my chest feeling like it might just burst. “How long have you known?”
The girl looks triumphant, as if she’s won something. There is a smirk on her face that tells me she is bad news.
“It’s a long story, but I didn’t know about her until recently.”
My chest tightens. I force out a strangled laugh. “How could you? This is why Mom left, isn’t it? Because you cheated on her and knocked another woman up.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Chief growls. “Just let me talk to you.”
“No,” I say, my voice firm and unwavering. “No.”
Travis turns me and we leave, Chief’s bellow of rage following us out the gate.
I have a sister.
A sister.
Why does it feel like everything is unraveling all at once?
“HEY NOW, YOU NEED TO eat.”
I turn to face Travis, and his expression is concerned.
He brought me back to his house, but I haven’t said a word since we came in.
He has been making food, letting me sit in my silence.
The world beneath me just shattered. My father, my mother—everything’s collapsing in my chest. Pain claws at me.
“Baby, come on. Eat for me?”
I look up at him. My throat burns. I swallow, nod, and force a bite of the sandwich he’s set before me.
I haven’t eaten enough today, considering how much I drank last night, so I know it’s important I do, but each bite tastes like I am swallowing sandpaper.
My heart aches, so much. Everyone I love seems to have so many secrets, and they’re all unraveling at once.
“He loves you, Violet. He’s been frantic trying to reach you.”
“He lied to me for God knows how long. He has another daughter—and he lied.”
Travis’s eyes soften but his voice stays firm. “Might be more complicated than that.”
“Did you know?” I say, looking up at him.
“No,” Travis says, and his voice is firm. “No, I didn’t.”
I nod.
“You need to call your mom. She’s been blowing up my phone.”
I exhale. “She knew, too, and didn’t tell me. Nobody tells me anything.”
Travis goes silent.
I pick up my phone. There are so many missed calls I don’t even bother to scroll through them. My fingers tremble. I press my thumb to Mom’s number. She picks up on the first ring.
“Violet, baby. I am so sorry you found out that way.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her voice cracks. I can hear the tears she swallows.
“I didn’t want to hurt you. Caden adores you, and you love him...”
“He has a daughter, Momma. I have a sister. You didn’t think I had a right to get to know her?”
“Jasmine isn’t... she isn’t the kind of sister you want, honey.” Her voice gets weary. “She’s been trouble since the day Caden found out.”
I feel nauseous remembering that cold smile Jasmine gave me when she burst in tonight.
“That doesn’t matter. I had a right to know. You and Chief kept it from me. Is that why you left?”
“Yes and no, it was more complicated than that.”
“How could he do that to us?”
She goes silent, and I know my words bring a pain she doesn’t want to feel.
“Why did he sleep with her?”
Her voice falls to a whisper. “Clarice—Jasmine’s mother—was married to Demon, the troublemaker now.
There was, and is, bad blood between the two and something went down.
Caden slept with Clarice, one night after he and I had a wild fight.
He was so angry, he wanted to make everyone suffer. He didn’t know he got her pregnant.”
I stare at the cracked wall. What the fuck.
“Of course we saw Clarice around town, and she was pregnant, but Demon raised Jasmine, so we assumed she belonged to him, until recently. Clarice passed, drug overdose, and some things came out. I don’t know how.
A DNA test happened when Jasmine came to Chief, demanding answers.
It came back that she belongs to him. Hence the reason for Demon showing back up.
He found out. The truth was finally revealed. It’s a mess. A huge mess.”
My chest tightens. “I knew he had betrayed you, but I never knew why. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mom’s voice trembles. “I didn’t want you to know that side of him, baby. I didn’t... he loves you and he would do anything for you. You were only little when I found out and decided to leave, I didn’t want to make things any worse.”
“I deserved the truth.”
There’s a long sigh on the line. My mother sounds haunted. “Are you okay?”
I crumble. “No, Mom. I have a sister, with an angry stepfather who wants to kill my father, me, you, and anyone else who might be related to Chief. It’s a mess.”
“I know it is, but he loves you so much. You’ll always be his girl. He’s been calling me nonstop, asking how you are. Nothing can ever come in between you two. His relationship with you is special and he will never have that with her.”
“Time can change that,” I say, my voice shaking. “I just need to get away from all of this.”
“Why don’t you and Trav come and stay here for a couple of days, until everything settles down?”
I almost say yes, almost leap on the offer like it’s the key to rewinding everything to five years old, but that’s the thing—running away hasn’t gotten my family anywhere but deeper in the mud.
“I can’t,” I say, my voice wrecked, but honest this time. “I am going to stay with Travis tonight, but then I need to go and talk to Dad tomorrow. I can’t let this be the end of everything. I need him to tell me the truth.”
“You’re growing up, my girl,” she says softly, her relief clear. “Just be careful. Don’t get involved in any of his fights. Lay low. And please promise me, if anything happens, you’ll call me before you do something reckless.”
“I will, Mom.”
“I love you more than anything,” she whispers, and my heart swells.
“Me too. I’ll call you soon.”
“Bye, baby.”
“Bye, Momma.”
I hang up. Travis is watching me from the kitchen, an old dishrag twisted between his hands.
“Want to go for a drive?” he asks.
“You know me too well.”
He smiles.
Thank God for Travis in times like these.