Chapter Thirty
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PREACH
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I lug the last of our shit into the house and toss it on the floor before plopping down on the couch. “Shit, I didn’t know how much fuckin’ work moving was gonna be.”
Kidd sits down beside me and takes a swig of beer. “I don’t get it. You took every damn thing you owned from the clubhouse. All the brothers keep some shit there, but I don’t even think you left any clothes.”
I shrug. “I left enough, in case I have to change, but that’s it.”
Reese opens his beer as he steps into the living room. “You planning on deserting us?”
“Nope,” I reply with a shake of my head. “But, I do plan on sleeping here every night.”
“I never stayed at the clubhouse when Mindy was alive. I wanted to be in our bed at the end the day. When Dad sent me on the road, it damn near killed me,” Chipper pipes in.
Kidd leans forward, placing his elbows to his knees. “After Jenna gets pregnant, I think we’ll be spending a hell of a lot more time at home. She likes the new house and all, but she’s just used to the clubhouse. Guess, I am too.”
They just bought a house near Chipper’s, but they still spend more time at the clubhouse than at home. I nod. “I’ll still be at the club every day, but this is gonna be my home. At least, it will be until I can afford to buy us something.”
Chipper leans against the wall, looking toward me. “I heard Opal Reed is being moved to a nursing home, and her son is planning on selling her house.”
“Where’s that at?”
“You know that blue one with the white fence around it, only a few houses down from mine and Jenna’s?” Kidd asks.
I nod, remembering the place. It would be perfect for Daisy and me; close enough to friends and family that I wouldn’t have to worry about her if I had to go along on a ride, and big enough that we could add to our family later on. “Let me know if you hear anything else.”
Chipper tilts his chin. “I will, but her son is a tight ass. He’ll be wanting every cent he can get his hands on, so it won’t come cheap. He’s got enough money that he won’t mind sitting on it until he gets what he wants for it.”
I know I can’t afford to buy anything now, cheap or not, but I’m gonna work my fuckin’ ass off to buy Daisy a house as soon as possible. “Just let me know.”
Our conversation ends, when Reese’s phone rings. He mumbles into it for a few minutes before shoving it into his pocket and looking toward Kidd and me. “That was Pebbles. She just showed up for her shift at the diner. She said Lula pulled into the parking lot right behind her.”
Kidd lifts a brow. “She’s on club property?”
He nods his head. “Yeah, brother. My girl is holding firm in her car, since I told her to keep away from the skank, so she doesn’t know what’s going on. But she figured, if Lula was at the diner, it didn’t mean good things.”
“What the fuck?” I growl out. That bitch isn’t supposed to be anywhere near our property or any one of us. If I find out she’s messing with my woman, her games will be over. She’ll be a dead bitch.
I jump from my seat and start heading to the door, my brothers following close behind.
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DAISY
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“I can’t believe you did this to me.”
I turn from the table I just served and watch as my mother walks into the diner. I look back at the customers and paste a fake smile. “I’ll be right back.”
I’ve expected her to show up for a while, ever since Grams told me that the club eighty-sixed her. She didn’t go into details, but I know it had something to do with the lie she told about Preach hitting me. She should have known better than to lie about a brother, but she has always thought of herself as untouchable.
Grams, Gramps, and Uncle Holt have also cut her off; no communication, no visits, nothing. I think that has more to do with me than what happened with Preach.
I walk toward her, meeting her a few feet from the door. “I’m working, Mom. This will have to wait until later.”
“I don’t give a shit what you’re doing. I’m not waiting. We need to talk now.”
She won’t let up no matter what I say, until she gets what she wants, so I might as well let her have her way. “What do you want?”
“I want you to talk to Dad and straighten this shit out with the club. I’m not living as an outcast for the rest of my life.”
I’m tempted to tell her that she’s made me feel like a reject for all my life, so it only seems fitting that she feels the same, but I don’t. “There’s nothing I can do about it, and you know it. I’m not a member, so I have no say.”
“You better do something, or you’ll regret it.”
Frustration makes its way through my body, draining every bit of energy I have. “I doubt very seriously I will ever regret you finally having to pay for the shit you’ve pulled.”
Her anger gets the best of her, and she lifts her arm. Just as she goes to swing at me, Ice steps between us. “Do it and your ass will die.”
Mom snarls at her, but she does lower her hand. “I’m having a discussion with my daughter. Your input is not needed.”
“Considering you were just about to smack her, I believe it is.”
Mom shrugs. “We had a disagreement. It got a little heated.”
“A disagreement? Is that what you call raising your hand to a pregnant woman.”
“I wouldn’t have hurt her, not bad at least,” Mom says, as if hitting me was the most natural thing in world. I guess it is for her.
Ice shakes her head. “You are one crazy ass bitch. Not only are you on Renegade property, but you also raised your hand to an old lady. That’s fuckin’ insane.”
“I didn’t realize that stupid ban included the diner,” Mom says, ignoring the last part of Ice’s statement.
“When you’re eighty-sixed, it includes any property owned by the club. You’ve been around long enough to know that. If you didn’t, I bet the boys made that shit clear to you when they cut you loose.”
Mom’s eyes move from Ice to me then back again. “Fine, I’ll leave. I don’t want any problems with Kidd. After this shit blows over, I don’t want any hard feeling between us. We used to be really good friends, you know.”
Ice’s body goes taut. “Oh, you mean he had his dick in you?”
A cruel smile spreads across Mom’s face. “I was lucky enough to be his first.”
“Mom, you need to shut the hell up.” Oh my God. How can someone be this stupid?
Ice turns to me, a forced smile on her face. “Don’t worry, Daisy. I’ve always known your mom’s a whore.”
She turns back to Mom. “You may have been his first, but I’m lucky enough to be his last. That’s all that matters to me.”
Mom laughs, a bitter sound that I’ve grown to hate through the years. “That’s what we all think when we get a man. Believe me as soon as your back is turned, he’ll be sniffing under some other bitch’s skirt.”
Ice is going to blow, so I maneuver myself between them. “Just leave. If you don’t, I’m calling Preach. He’ll do more than just ban your ass.”
Mom looks me up and down, a look of pure contempt on her face, before she finally turns toward the door. Just before she steps outside, she looks over her shoulder. “This isn’t over.”
Her words echo through my mind as I watch the door slam behind her. I know she can no longer hear me, but I respond anyway. “No, I’m sure it’s not.”
“What a cunt!” Ice booms from behind me. “I’m not sure why you stepped in between us, but I wanted to knock her fuckin’ head off.”
I shake my head. “You can’t do that in here. If you start shankin’ people, our business may suffer.”
She laughs at my half ass attempt at a joke. Ice knows me well enough to understand I don’t want to dwell on my mom’s shit. “Yeah, could affect our bottom line.”
I laugh back at her before getting serious. “Don’t take the shit she said to heart. She was just shouting out crap, nothing for either of us to take serious.”
Ice nods. “I know. It just pissed me off. I’m not worried about your mom or any other woman. Everyone knows, especially Kidd, if anyone so much as lays a finger on him, they’re as good as dead,” she says with nod as a huge smile spreads across her face. “Plus, the bastard loves me, and he loves my pussy. He wouldn’t mess that shit up.”
A second later, Kidd proves her words are true as he walks through the door with an angry as hell Preach following close behind him.
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PREACH
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“Why the hell didn’t you call and tell me your bitch of a mother was here?” I shout as I stomp my way over to Daisy.
“She just left. I haven’t had a chance to call you or anyone else.”
I pull her into my arms. “Me, no one else. You call me!”
She wraps her arms around me and goes to her toes to place a kiss on my lips. “I would’ve called you, but you got here before I had the chance.”
I kiss her back, but am too angry to let it drop. “What the fuck did she want?”
“She thinks I can talk to Gramps and get her back in the fold.”
The bitch is crazy, fuckin’ certifiable. “There is nothing you can do if Mary and Wayne don’t want shit to do with her. She brought that on herself.”
Daisy shakes her head. “I wasn’t talking about the family. I was talking about the club. She wants her place back.”
I give her a little squeeze, letting her know to take my words to heart, because they don’t just apply to Lula. They apply to every woman at the club, even her and Ice. “Baby, Lula’s a woman. Her only place in the club is as Maker’s old lady and Wayne’s daughter. She is not a member, never was. She was nothing more than property. Now that they got shot of her ass, she isn’t even that.”
Her body goes tight in my arms, and I expect a fight. Instead, she is the voice of reason. “No, that’s not true. The women do their part, and I’m not talking about spreading their legs. I don’t know one old lady that wouldn’t lay her life on the line for her old man. I agree that she wasn’t a member and never could be, but Mom could have had a place if she tried. I know my place, and it’s by my man’s side.”
Fuck, again! She blows my damn mind every time she opens her mouth. “You know you’re something special, don’t you?”
A sexy smile spreads across her face. “Want to go up to my old apartment? I’ll show you just how special I am.”
“Hell, yeah.”