Chapter 29 #3
He had grown up in the middle of it. His father had helped build it, and his mother had helped hold it together whenever life tried to tear it apart.
Suddenly, his almost unreasonable loyalty made far more sense. Wallhalla wasn’t simply the club he belonged to. It was family, history and inheritance, woven into him long before he had been old enough to choose any of it for himself.
Charlie barely had time to finish the thought before the door opened again. At first, nobody made much of it. Someone was still laughing at one of the tables and the Assholes could be heard carrying on in the garage as though the world outside the gates didn’t exist.
Yet something changed almost immediately, and Charlie saw it first in Molly.
The girl had already turned. “Dad!”
That single word was enough to make Charlie turn towards the door as well.
Reeze stood just inside, helmet in hand.
He looked no more injured than when he had left, and that was the first thing Charlie registered.
Nobody had arrested him, there was no fresh blood and he didn’t look as though he were about to collapse, but something had happened out there.
She could see it in the tension running through his body and in the darkness of his gaze, the look of a man who had restrained himself considerably more than he had wanted to.
Molly was the first person he saw.
Charlie watched something inside him ease before he even moved, just enough for the tightness around his eyes to release when he saw that his daughter was exactly where she was supposed to be.
Then his gaze landed on Ingrid.
For a moment they both remained exactly where they were.
Neither seemed to feel any need to move forwards or even say hello. They simply looked at each other, and Charlie had the strange impression that an entire conversation had already taken place between them without either saying a word.
Only then did Reeze’s gaze move on. And stop on Charlie.
She knew Mia was beside her, Billy was only a few metres away and the garage was full of people, laughter and noise, but all of it seemed to recede when Reeze started walking towards her without taking his eyes off her.
“Yeah,” Mia murmured.
Billy gave a quiet laugh. “Here it comes.”
Charlie didn’t have time to ask what he meant before Reeze reached her. He didn’t even stop.
He simply pulled her against him in the same movement, as though it had been obvious from the moment he walked through the door that this was where he was going to end up. His hand closed around her waist and the kiss that followed had nothing to do with putting on a show.
Charlie felt the relief in it. The same need she had felt the entire time he had been gone—to see him, touch him and know for certain that he was actually still there.
She kissed him back before she had time to think, feeling the adrenaline that still seemed to vibrate beneath his skin. It wasn’t a beautiful film kiss and it wasn’t a performance for the club.
It was simply two people making sure the other one was still there.
Someone whistled from across the room and another started applauding.
“You’ve got a room,” Jesse called. “Use it.”
The laughter that followed finally broke the tension, and only then did Reeze seem to remember they had an audience. He dragged a hand through his hair, exhaled and kept his eyes on Charlie.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “You?”
One corner of his mouth moved. “Probably.”
The answer was so completely Reeze that she almost laughed. Then he turned towards Ingrid.
She was already waiting for him, calm and unwavering, and when she finally stepped forwards and placed one hand against his cheek, Charlie noticed that more people than her had begun watching.
Ingrid wasn’t looking at Wallhalla’s Master at Arms or at the man other people might have good reason to fear. She was looking at her son.
“You look like your father when you’re pissed off.”
Reeze ran a hand through his hair again. “I know.”
“I can see that.” She left her hand against his cheek for another second before lowering it.
“They stopped me.”
“I know.”
“They’re following me.”
“I know.”
Boris snorted from the floor as though he too had an opinion on the matter. Ingrid glanced briefly at Charlie before returning her attention to Reeze.
“Don’t lose your head now, Robert.”
The real name did more than her hand against his cheek had done.
Reeze went still. Charlie saw something shift between them. Ingrid wasn’t speaking to the Master at Arms now, nor to Reeze, the biker everyone in the clubhouse knew.
She was speaking to her son. And for one brief moment it became obvious that somewhere behind the vest there was still a Robert whom very few people were allowed to bring to the surface.
“They want you to do something stupid,” Ingrid continued.
His jaw tightened. “I’m not giving them that.”
“Good.” An almost invisible smile touched one corner of her mouth. “Because you’ve already done enough stupid things for one day.”
His gaze followed hers to Charlie and stopped there. Then he shook his head, and for the first time since walking through the door, he almost looked like himself again.