Chapter 5
Pops’ unfocused gaze landed on Sebastian. “What are you looking at?”
An old man who lost his soul to bad choices and an alcohol addiction, but Daniel said, “Nothing.” Wise man.
Her father’s gaze shifted away from Daniel to meet Caitlyn’s. “You know him?”
“No.” It wasn’t a lie. They weren’t friends, and beyond having worked with him on the course for two days, she didn’t know him enough to admit it. His brows gathered together. She ignored him, not needing to see the judgment in his gaze.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. This place is boring.
” Pops vacated the bar stool. A stout man at one time, his skin clung to thick bones.
He stood several inches shorter than Daniel, but was at the right height to stare directly at Caitlyn.
Her father wavered, reaching for his stool to hold the world still as he motioned for his buddies to follow.
She waited, keeping her hands at her sides rather than assist him.
She stayed frozen as he launched himself toward the door.
Waiting for a heartbeat, then two, Terry and Lucas looked at one another.
Both of them shrugged and let Pops lead the way, but not without Lucas making a noise in his throat as he passed her.
Those in the bar returned to their drinks and conversation, the noise a dull roar fading into the background.
Caitlyn let out a shaky breath. She squeezed her eyes shut, a silent plea escaping her lips.
Please, God, change Antonio’s and Isabella’s hearts.
Having her siblings here, estranged as they were, felt like a fragile chance.
Maybe, just maybe, their hearts could soften toward Pops with God’s intervention.
The support she craved wasn’t just a shared burden of dealing with their father.
She yearned for a united front and a listening ear in her battle to keep their father from losing to his demons.
As she headed toward her father, Daniel caught her by the arm. “Hey,” he said soft enough for only her to hear. “You need help?”
It sounded like a statement, but she saw the question in his eyes. No one ever cared to inquire. If she wasn’t careful, he would break the invisible shield she had built long ago. If the man was wise, he would mind his business and keep far away from her.
“I’ve got this.” She moved to the exit, trying to keep an eye on Pops.
But Daniel held on. “I’ll follow you.”
“Why?” She glanced between him and her father, afraid he might jump on Lucas or Terry’s motorcycle, making her have to hunt him down. Craning her neck, she kept her father in sight.
Daniel searched her face and relaxed his grip. “You’re afraid of him.”
“He’s my father,” she said, as if that was enough explanation for him to move on. Strangely, she wanted him to hold on, but she needed him to let go.
Daniel slid his hand inside his pocket. “I have a father, too. He might have tried to scare me a few times into doing what was good for me, but he never made me tremble with fear, and neither should you.”
She placed a hand over the spot vacated by his hold, trying to trap the comfort it gave her, even if it was fast fleeting. “You need to learn to mind your own business.”
He lowered his chin, bringing his gaze level with hers. She took a step back, needing to go. Where was Pops? She had lost sight of him. She moved to go out the door. Terry and Lucas blocked her view, but Pops’ voice kept her calm. She hadn’t lost him.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” she asked Daniel.
Someone called his name, “Daniel,” and the bartender slid a bag with takeout carriers along the counter in search of a face. Daniel waved and stepped aside from her. “It’s wing night, and I heard the ones they serve here are sweet and spicy.” He winked and pulled his wallet from his jeans.
Caitlyn froze, giving Pops a minute to say goodbye to his amigos before she made him leave and kept them from getting into any worse trouble. Counting to ten, she held her breath and approached Pops, feeling Daniel following several steps behind her.
Welder Cortés wasn’t a big man, but when he drank, he got meaner than a wet tomcat. Having Daniel involved in one of her father’s episodes made her cringe inwardly. She had to work with him on the weekends. What would he think of her? What did it matter?
She hurried to catch Pops before one of them convinced him to get on and ride along with one of them. Lucas had a sidecar on his motorcycle; she wouldn’t put it past Pops to join them in his current state.
“You coming?” Terry called to Pops.
“We’ll meet you there,” she said, not bothering to ask which way they intended to go. Nothing could make her happier than seeing them drive away and leave her father alone for good.
Pops cussed up a storm at her. Stumbling onto the street, he staggered past the parked motorcycles to where Caitlyn’s Escape waited. Hurriedly, she unlocked the door before he busted it, yanking too hard on the door handle.
Once the old man was in the vehicle, she got in on his other side. She spotted Daniel sliding into an old Chevy pickup with a few takeout boxes. Huh, that was Yeats’ truck.
“What you looking at, girl?”
Snap out of it. “Buckle up.” She had no business watching Daniel and shook off her disappointment at not seeing him with his Honda Rebel.
It was a nice ride. Daniel Jones gave off a more subtle vibe than the members of the Ghost Riders.
If Daniel belonged to a club, he must have a reason not to wear a cut or make his association known.
He might be one of those guys who ride for the joy of it, but Caitlyn didn’t think so.
He had that bad-boy look, from his short hair to his black boots.
And maybe that’s where she’d gone wrong.
She always fell for the wrong kinds of men.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” Pops grumped. Hopefully, she caught him in time before he turned angry. How long would he make it this time?
“Your rule, not mine.” She waited for Pops to put on his seat belt before turning on the engine. She needed to get back to work and have her mind back on what mattered. Her son. Her father. She’d sworn off men. The Ghosts made it impossible to do otherwise.
From her rearview mirror, she spotted Daniel pulling away from the curb, heading in the same direction as them.
His white-knight attitude wasn’t welcome in her world.
She bit her lip, concentrating on driving.
It unnerved her to have Daniel following her.
They worked together—nothing more. There was no place in her life for heroes.
Especially ones she knew very little about.
Pops muttered under his breath, and she pressed her lips together to keep from saying anything that would put him in a rage. His eyes drooped the closer they got to home. When the Escape rattled from a bump in the road, he asked, “Where’s the boy?”
“You should know. I left him with you.”
Now that they sat inside her vehicle, shut in by the doors and closed windows, the stench of alcohol and body odor filled the interior. All the while she drove, Caitlyn tried to figure out how to keep her father home and her son safe.
Pops’ old drinking pals ignored her warnings. They weaved down the road ahead of her. Regina might say nothing about Owen sitting at a back booth and playing his handheld video games until her shift ended, at least until she found an alternative to keep him safe.
No alcohol in the house. No alcohol around Owen.
No drinking buddies in the house, but she’d slipped up and invited them there, trying to keep the peace, trying to hold it all together.
Tossing her father out of his own home wasn’t an option, and she couldn’t find another place she could afford with a garage.
It took everything she had to keep this place running.
“Was it Lucas?” Caitlyn asked.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Did they just show up?” Caitlyn focused on the road and the truck in front of her. Pretty soon, Daniel would turn off and head toward his place—away from her, away from seeing the place she lived.
“Where’d they go?” Pops asked.
“Who?”
“Don’t play that game with me!” He slammed his fist down on the dash.
So Pops noticed the motorcycles weren’t in front of them anymore.
They turned off at the next right ahead.
She kept quiet. They probably headed to another bar without him.
Her father’s eyes got a wild look. Soon the desperation would change to anger thanks to the alcohol.
Lucas and Terry brought trouble to their door.
They provoked her father and encouraged him to go down this path. Look where it got them all.
“I thought Terry moved to Florida?”
“Terry’s granddaughter graduated. He came up to celebrate. You’re like your mother. You can’t be happy unless a man’s miserable.”
Not in the mood to have her father rub her life in her face, she pressed her lips together and kept one eye on the man in the truck following her.
Sebastian pulled into the gravel driveway behind Caitlyn. He slid out of the vehicle and paused halfway, waiting for Caitlyn to exit her SUV first. Her black hair draped over her shoulders, and the scowl on her face was sharp enough to slice a man in half.
“Why are you following me?” Caitlyn waved him off. “Go home. This isn’t your business.”
Because of the high pitch of her voice, Sebastian slowed his steps toward her as he assessed the situation. Upsetting her wasn’t his intention.
Pops got out of the SUV, and Caitlyn moved to assist him, but he jerked his arm away and weaved his way to the porch. She shrank back, keeping her distance.
Sebastian’s gut tightened. He resisted closing his eyes and kept his gaze on Caitlyn, a sickening feeling rising in his throat. Every muscle in his body tightened.
“Where’d they go? You tricked me!” Pops curled his fist, and Sebastian instinctively put himself in the middle. The old man would have to go through him first.