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“We… I… your father and I,” she stumbled and stuttered, looking down at Dad for reassurance, but he was already holding his hands up defensively.
“We knew how much it meant to you to get into Chicago,” he said, taking over. “So we gave a reasonable donation to the school and had Aunt Susie put in a good word. She let us know they accepted your application.”
They bought my acceptance.
All that work.
All those extra hours.
All the fucking stress.
And I will never know whether it actually paid off, whether I would have gotten in because I deserved it. I’ll never know because my parents paid them to accept me anyway.
“We didn’t want you to be disappointed,” Mom added, taking a step forward and reaching out for me, but I quickly stepped away, moving toward the doors that opened out onto the patio. I needed out of here. I needed to breathe.
“You mean you didn’t want to be disappointed,” I spat through tears. “You didn’t want to have to explain to your friends and colleagues that your daughter wasn’t smart enough to get into even a normal college.”
“We aren’t going to sit here and talk in circles about this, Stella,” Dad said sternly. “It’s up to you to do what you want. If that means you decide to go to Chicago, we have the money ready and waiting to be paid over, including the extra summer program. But you need to decide by next week, so we can get you there before it starts. Now, we both need to get back to work.”
I stood and watched as they turned and walked out of the kitchen, holding hands as they once again headed back to work.
If there was one thing I could say about my parents, it was that they stood together, united on almost everything, and they always had each other’s back. I was never one of those kids who could play them off against each other or try to get Dad to give me extra dessert when Mom had already said no.
They stood strong.
And I admired it and despised it, both at the same time, because as they got in the car and pulled away from the house, no doubt they were talking out what just happened and processing it together.
And I was once again alone.
CHAPTER 4
BULLET
We rolled into town Wednesday afternoon.
Two days on the road.
My body ached, and all I could think about was how good it would be to get a hot shower and climb into my bed for a few hours.
Unfortunately, my dad had other plans and asked us to come by the clubhouse before we headed home. My twin brother, Oliver, and I lived with my parents in a two-story place just a few streets from the clubhouse. Many club members who had families owned the houses surrounding ours, while most of the single, patched members lived at the clubhouse.
I planned to do that whenever I finally managed to get fully patched.
My parents said they were happy to have us stay at home, but I was determined to spend my time just like every other member did.
As we pulled into the clubhouse, I noted the familiar-looking Harley sitting out front, not in formation with the other club motorcycles parked perfectly along the right-hand fence line. Blizzard drove straight ahead, pulling in beside it, so I followed his lead, doing the same.
Switching off the engine and kicking my ride onto its stand, I frowned at the building. “What’s Kit doing here?” I questioned, climbing off while Blizzard was already heading for the front doors. “What’s going o?—”
“Just get your ass inside, kid,” Blizzard demanded, holding open the door and nodding for me to get inside. “Trust me, you’re not gonna want to miss this.”
Blizzard wasn’t just my vice president.
He was one of my father’s best friends, and growing up, I’d always called him uncle. He’d been a voice of reason and an ear to listen when I needed it. He’d also put his foot up my ass more times than I could count—every single one which I’d deserved. At some point, all the brothers in this clubhouse had helped me become a better man and thankfully, not held past mistakes I’d made against me.
I only hoped this visit from Kit was a friendly one and not my father needing support from another president because he had to do something crazy like take my cut.
Blizzard and I hurried through the clubhouse doors and made a sharp turn to the right, heading down the hall to the room where the club members held church. In my mind, I was skimming through everything I’d done over the past couple of months, wondering if there was somewhere I’d slipped up, but as I paused at the large wooden double doors and raised my fist to knock, I was still at an absolute loss.
