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After a few more minutes of silence, I walk over to my woman. My front connects with her back, and I know it is taking everything in her not to relax into me. As I am about to wrap my arms around her middle, Savvy turns her head, looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“Absolutely not. You sit your ass right the fuck back down, Gunner. No disrespect to you as president of this club. If you are my man and my children’s father, and you mean for me to be your woman, then you need to let me handle this. And that child of ours needs a minute to get her shit together.” Lowering her voice. “You will not step in, not now.” With a nod and a kiss behind her ear. I take a slow step away from her, thoroughly chastised. I don’t take my seat, but I continue to watch on.
Savvy continues to let the club whores know their place and tells them that in no uncertain terms, if this shit continues, they will be out bad with no second chances. As she reads the little bitches the riot act, my mind can’t help but wonder about my girl and what the fuck I can do to get through to her. She is more and more like her mother every day, and she can’t stand that her brothers and I aren’t putting up with her shit any longer.
“Sometimes people need to learn the hard way. You have her back when it matters. Princess needs to learn how to deal with her shit without causing chaos in the club. You did a good job raising her, Gunner, you did. I know it doesn’t seem that way. You did your best. She needs to do the rest. She will find her way; she may get a few bumps and bruises, but she’ll figure it out.” Cheri, Pikes, ol’ lady, says. I look up at her as she gives me a knowing look, as if she knows exactly where my thoughts are. She squeezes my shoulder and turns to return to her man sitting at the bar. Pike's eyes watch his woman; when he notices me watching her walk away, he raises his beer and gives me a nod that I return.
“She isn’t wrong, Pops. We can’t keep holding her hand. We’ve protected her all her life. Given her everything she’s ever wanted without having to ask or work for it. She has to learn that she can’t keep stirring shit up. She can’t keep holding the shit that went down with Ma against you. She can’t hold a grudge against Savvy, Bell, and Blaze because it’s not their fault either. She needs to grow up. And as much as it sucks to say, maybe you need to cut her loose.” Bull says from beside me.
My eyes trail to my son, and I can see that as much as he believes what he is saying, it pains him. He loves his sister but, like everyone else, sees the writing on the wall. She’s become self-destructive, and we may not be able to save her because she doesn’t want to be saved, at least not yet.
I run my hand over my head, letting out another breath. My eyes return to my woman, walking back toward our table with a self-satisfied look. When she sees the look on my face, her brows lower, and her lips thin. I try to smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. How could it? I got my woman back in my life, but I’m losing my kid.
Seven
GUNNER
?
Watching Savvy the other night setting those bitches straight had me hard as fuck. At first, it shocked me that my Princess, my baby girl, would be that petty and vindictive to turn on Bellamy and Savvy. Using the club girls to do her dirty work was not a level I ever thought she would stoop to. I love my daughters and don’t want them to feel like I’m choosing sides. But right now, it’s hard not to.
Admittedly, adjusting to having all my children together took me longer than it should have. In the beginning, and when things with Beverly first came to light, I put my foot in my mouth and said some fucked up shit to Bell without thinking. Since then, I’ve apologized and tried to make up for my mistakes and shit attitude. I’ve been building my relationship with my daughter Bellamy, even though she can be a pain in my ass, but in getting to know her, I understand that most of the time, she means well.
I don't agree with or consider the issues between Bell and Princess worth all of this discord. I understand how things went down was... life-altering. And then, when Taz chose Bell over Princess, that further added to the demise of my daughter's relationship. Even though Taz should have been a nonfactor. He made that clear to Princess more than once. That hasn’t stopped her, though. The thing is, rationally, Princess has to know that Bellamy has never felt any ill intentions toward her. Bellamy never starts shit, but she damn well finishes it. Princess's hate toward Bellamy and Savvy only seems to drive a wedge even further between her and her brothers. And I don’t know what the fuck to do about it.
Savvy thinks I indulge her, and I can’t say it’s not entirely true, but Princess truly feels like no one is on her side. And I never want my kids to feel like that. With how Vex, her twin, has been lately and what he said the other night. I can understand why she is lashing out in anger. In her mind, she believes Savvy, Bellamy, and Blaze coming here is why her family has turned on her. Which is the furthest from the truth as it can get. They brought shit to light that saved her, but somewhere in all the shit her mother was feeding her, that reality got lost, and instead, she was angry that they were right. That, I think, is what has her fucked up. That the people she’s convinced were the bad guys weren’t. Instead of accepting it, she rebels and refuses to see that she’s wrong.
When Savvy said what she did to Princess, it took everything in me not to go over and grab my daughter, shake her, and make her see that no one here wishes her anything but happiness. All we wanted, all I wanted, was to protect her from her toxic mother and the fucked up deal she made.
I don’t expect my kids to like each other, but respect has been hard-earned, and Princess has repeatedly shown that she has no respect for her siblings or my woman. And that shit is something I need to get squared away once and for all. My trying to be understanding because of what she’s gone through isn’t getting me anywhere with Princess. Knowing that, a decision has to be made–and soon.
A knock sounds at my office door, and before I can answer, it bursts open.
“It’s a fucking chick, Prez.” Spider comes barreling into my office with his laptop open.
He slams the thing on my desk. Turning the screen toward me. Spider’s face is set in a furious mask as he clicks on the keyboard with more force than necessary. When the screen flickers and plays, I lean in closer.
“Well, shit.”
I can only tell it’s a female by the softness of her eyes, even though half her face is covered up. There is also no way to hide her curves with what she’s wearing. We watch as she slinks into the office and goes directly to the safe. She doesn’t hesitate as she steps up to the safe. I notice her pulling something out of her pocket. It looks like a penlight. She shines it on the keypad and puts in the code. Which has my eyes widening at how quickly she put it in.
“What the fuck?” I say, my eyes leaving the screen to look at Spider, who looks even more pissed.
“Fuck if I know, Prez. After church, I went to both locations and changed the fucking codes myself.” He growls.
I take out my phone and send a text, setting it on my desk next to the laptop as I watch the girl take money out of the safe. Then she enters the store, pulls out a bag, and slowly fills it up. She doesn’t take so much that it would go noticed immediately, but eventually, when Miko did inventory, he would catch on. The thing that catches my attention is that she doesn’t take junk; she checks the back of shit she puts in her bag, reading labels and shit. Juices, milk, healthy snacks, and fruit. She sticks a few candy bars in the bag, but not much. Interesting.
“How much this time?” I say as I continue to watch the screen.
“With the safe and the shit from the store, about two g’s which...”
My door burst open again as Bull and Taz entered the room, looking furious. Spider growls. The fucker really does hate being interrupted.
“…is more than she has taken during her previous… visits.”
Leaning back in my chair. Taz and Bull take a seat in the uncomfortable ass chairs across from my desk. Spider turns his laptop toward them and starts the video over. Bull growls as he watches, and Taz glares at the screen, watching intently. When it gets to the part where she walks into the store, Taz’s brows furrow, realizing what I have. This isn’t someone who is fucking with us. This is someone desperate, smart, but desperate. His eyes leave the laptop and come to mine with understanding.
“What are we going to do about this? We thought it was some punk ass fucking with the club, but with the way, she’s moving around the store. There has to be something more to the story; look how she's looking at the back of shit before shoving it in her bag,” Taz says, pointing to the screen that holds all our attention.
