Chapter 13
Slate
I wake up at the crack of dawn. Christina is still huddled close to the edge on the far side of my bed.
I expect the anger to still be burning brightly in my chest, but it isn’t.
Instead, there’s just profound sadness. I’m sad that I can’t trust the woman I love.
I’m also confused about how I can still be in love with someone who won’t open up and tell me anything until I find out on my own and confront her.
I’m what my club brothers would call pussy whipped.
No self-respecting brother would stay with a woman who lied to his face about really important stuff like fathering her fuckin’ child. Yet, here I am, doing exactly that.
While I’m lying around feeling sorry for my damned self, a shrill scream breaks the silence.
I bolt up, grab my pants and slide them on because that’s my daughter screaming her lungs out. It’s the kind of sound that could wake the dead.
Christina’s up before she’s even awake, grabbing the sheet around her.
“Slate…” Christina’s voice cracks as she stumbles, getting her feet caught in the sheet. Her voice is raw with fear.
“I’ve got her,” I say, already moving towards the door.
The door to her bedroom is half open. Another cry comes from inside, high and broken.
I push it open fast, scanning corners, walls, window. There is nothing but the morning light streaming in. There is no threat. Just Katie sitting up in bed, crying her eyes out. I move forward and rub her back. “Everything’s okay. It was just a bad dream, sweetie.”
Christina drops to her knees beside the bed, still holding the sheet with one hand as she reaches for our daughter with the other. Katie throws herself into her arms, sobbing.
“He came in,” she says between gasps. “The man came in again.”
My chest tightens.
I lean over and rest one hand on the mattress. “No one’s here, sweetheart.” My voice comes out rough but steady. “You’re safe. No one can get into your room. I promise.”
She shakes her head against her mother’s shoulder, inconsolable.
Christina’s voice is hoarse. I worry it’s because she cried herself to sleep last night. “It’s just a dream, baby. You’re safe here.”
Katie pulls back enough to look at me. Her small face is streaked with tears, eyes wild with fear. I know that look. I’ve seen it on grown men under fire.
“If he’s not here, where is he?” she whispers.
I glance towards the window, then back to her. “It doesn’t matter. He’s nowhere near here. This place is locked down tight. Nobody gets in unless we say so.”
She hesitates, clearly trying hard to believe my words. Her little hands dive under the blanket and she pulls out the stuffed dog I gave her.
I sit on the edge of the bed, keeping my voice low. “Do you want to see for yourself? I’ll show you exactly how we keep you safe.”
She takes a few shocked breaths and then gives me a small jerky nod.
“Alright,” I say. “We’ll go together. Just me and you. Okay?”
Christina looks up at me. Her eyes are full of gratitude. I nod once. “Let your mama help you get dressed and we’ll go together, just you and me. How does that sound?”
It doesn’t take us long to get ready for the day. When I come back, she runs to me. When I reach for Katie’s hand, her small fingers tremble as they slip into mine. Her skin’s soft, warm, and so damned fragile. This is the first time I’ve held my daughter’s hand while knowing she’s mine.
Katie’s hand stops trembling in mine as we get to the stairs. The clubhouse is quiet, still half asleep. The air smells of fresh coffee and whatever the club girls are cooking for breakfast. I can feel her eyes darting around, clearly looking for the fucker who chased them in LA.
“See?” I tell her quietly. “It’s just us.”
She stays close. Every instinct in me wants to pick her up, but I let her walk. She needs to be able to walk, look around, and see for herself that it’s safe.
We reach the heavy steel door that leads to the main hall. I flick the deadbolt open, then shut it again with a hard click. “This door’s reinforced,” I say. “Three-inch steel core. No one’s breaking through that.”
Her eyes widen and she asks, “Even bad guys?”
“Especially bad guys. This door was specifically designed to keep the bad guys out. They can’t break it down, burn it, or unlock it from the other side. This door has been here since before you were born and a bad guy has never gotten past it.”
We move down the stairs, and I push open the door that leads to the garage. “This is where the bikes sleep,” I tell her. “See that big door? It’s just like the one upstairs. It’s locked from the inside. Nobody can open it without a code.”
Her hand slides from mine, and she walks forward until she’s standing beside my Harley. Her tiny fingers come out to touch the chrome. “You ride this?”
I nod. I was gonna tell her that she’d been on it too, when I rescued her and her mom in LA. But I don’t want to take her back to that traumatic night, especially after her bad dream, so I don’t say anything.
“It’s shiny.”
“Yeah. We keep everything ready in case we have to move fast. At night we stay right here, safe behind these walls.”
I crouch down to her level. “You know what else?”
“What?”
“The brothers take turns staying awake at night. They walk the fence, check the gates, day and night to make sure nobody can sneak into the clubhouse.”
Her eyes flick towards the far door. “They fall asleep?”
“No. We take turns, so no one falls asleep on the job. That’s how we operate here at the clubhouse.”
I notice a bump in the front of her shirt, where her belly is. I point to it and ask, “What do you have hidden there?”
Her face lights up with a gleeful expression and she pulls out the stuffed dog I brought her yesterday. “I bring him.”
“I’m glad you like him. Maybe we can stop by and see the puppies when we’re finished inspecting the clubhouse security.”
“Puppies!”
She forgets to be afraid and takes my hand when I offer it. “Come on, sweetheart,” I tell her. “I want to show you our special lookout room.”
She slips her hand into mine without a word because she trusts me. I lead her to the security room deep inside the clubhouse, giving three sharp knocks followed by two more. The door swings open and Mitch leans back in his seat. “Makin’ your rounds, bossman?”
“Yeah, Katie’s concerned about security, so I brought her to see the monitors.”
He slides his chair back and announces proudly, “We’ve got ten monitors going at all times. They roll from one security camera to another. That means we can see what’s going on all around the building from here.”
Katie looks at the monitors, clearly not impressed. I’m betting she’s either too young to understand the benefit or preoccupied with seeing the puppies.
I tell Mitch, “Thanks for letting us have a look around. Tell Striker I want to talk to him when he gets in.”
Mitch gives me a little salute and says, “You got it, boss.”
When we walk away and close the door, Katie asks, “You’re the boss?”
I nod. “Yeah, me, Rock, Onyx, Jasper, and Mica are all bosses.”
She frowns at me. “Don’t be bossy. It’s mean.”
It takes everything I’ve got not to burst out laughing. Instead, I nod solemnly. “You’re right, being bossy is rude. I don’t know what got into me, I’ll be sure to work on that, Miss Katie.”
When we step outside, the breeze catches her hair. She spins around with suspicion. I hate that my daughter has gotten used to living like this, expecting danger in every shadow. From here on out, I’m gonna make sure she has the kind of childhood every child deserves.
I point at the front gate, and I tell her, “Two prospects are there at all times. Their job is to check every person who comes in or out,” I explain. “Nobody gets through without being cleared.”
They straighten up the second they see me. One gives Katie a smile and a wave. She lifts her hand and waves back, looking more curious than scared at this point.
I pick her up and point towards the roof. “See those metal things on the edge of the roof.”
She squints. “Yeah. They not birds.”
“No, ma’am. They’re security drones. They take off four times a day to make sure no one comes near who shouldn’t be here. If they do, we know before they make it to the gate.”
I watch her take it all in. At this point most of the fear has bled out of her expression. She looks around again. I get the feeling she’s picked up enough to feel confident that no one can get to her.
Still carrying her, I say. “Come on. I want to show you something else.”
“Puppies now?” she says excitedly. Her expression is so delighted that I know damn good and well that I’m gonna let her take one home with her today. I know I told my ma no and I’m gonna have to live with her making comments about it.
I carry her around the garage to the small shed tucked behind it.
Husk is in charge of the kennels. He raises huskies, but he rescued a pregnant Labrador bitch a couple of months back.
We can hear the puppies yipping and playing before we even open the door.
When I open it, all five of them come racing towards us.
Katie laughs when they start tripping over each other to get to us first. “One of my club brothers rescued their mommy,” I tell her. “He brought the puppies here today because they’re ready for new homes.”
“Get birthday cake so I can have one now,” she says with a giggle.
That’s the longest sentence I’ve ever heard her say. Then again, she’s only three. I sigh, shrugging. “Just go ahead and pick one now,” I tell her. “You don’t have to wait for your birthday.”
She stares at me like I just told her the sky fell into her lap. “A puppy for me?”
“Yeah, you get first pick out of the litter. You’ve had a rough time. You deserve something good. Plus, she’ll grow up to be a guard dog.”
I’m not sure what Christina’s gonna think about that. But having a dog around would be a good extra level of security.