He snapped his attention to his hand and his fingers quivered. His grip on his sketchbook tightened. “Uh....” He groaned. “If I tell you, you can’t tell Barber.”
I snorted. “Believe it or not, I don’t tell Barber everything. He’s my pa’s boyfriend and lives with us. He’s not my fairy godfather.”
He snorted out a laugh. “He’d be a horrible fairy godfather.”
I chuckled. “He really would be.”
“It’s justthat I work with him and he’s like....He’s like a replacement father to me. Kind of, I guess. Or an overbearing uncle. I don’t want him to lecture me.”
“Barber, lecture?” I snorted out a laugh. I’d never heard Barber lecture anyone. He was the most laid-back guy I’d ever met. He thought fun meant blowing up cars in his uncle’s backyard and teasing the hell out of anyone dangerous he came across until they reacted.
Oli frowned. “He will about this.”
His words made me pause and I glanced suspiciously at him. “Okay. I won’t say a thing to him. Tell me.”
The silence stretched between us. The only sound was the annoyingclickof my Jeep’s turn signal each time we reached a corner. Outside, the moon emerged from behind some clouds and silvery light spilled into the cab.
Finally, he sighed as he glanced down at his ring again, twirling it on his finger. “It’s my dad’s.”
“He’s in prison, right?” I asked, tone soft.
According to Barber during one of his “I’m worried about Oli” gossip sessions, Oli’s dad was a King who was out of commission. He’d gotten caught up in some drug shit and ended up behind bars. Oli had never had much of a relationship with Cain to begin with because Oli’s mom had been a hookup and Cain had never wanted to be a dad. Whenever Oli tried to start a relationship, Cain pushed him away. Being in prison made the entire situation worse. Despite “not wanting to be a dad,” apparently Cain made it clear to the Kings to keep Oli away from MC business. Cain had enemies like every one of those bikers.
Oli nodded. “Yeah. He’s a King, the vice president before he was locked up.” He brushed his thumb over the skull and crownon the silver band. “This was his VP ring. King, the president of the club, gave it to him.”
I flinched.Fuck. If any of the Kings’ enemies saw Oli wearing the jewelry... .I didn’t want to think about what they’d do to Oli. Now I knew why he didn’t want me to tell Barber. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to wear it? The Kings have a lot of rivals. We even have a plan at my house for what to do if anyone knocks on the door looking for Barber. If the wrong person saw you wearing it?—”
“You don’t have to tell me,” he snapped. His shoulders hunched and he laid his temple against the window, staring at the ring. “But it’s all I have of him, you know? He doesn’t want anything to do with me. Says it’s too dangerous. All I want is to get to know him.”
I wish I could say I understood, but I didn’t. I’d known my mother and she wasn’t someone I’d ever want to see again. She’d chosen drugs over me and left me to fend for myself. Some people were just born shitty and stayed that way. I’d never known my father, but never wanted to, either. What kind of man ditched his son with a drug addict mother? Pa, the man who’dchosenme, had taken care of me, and his family had welcomed me in. He was more of a parent than my biological ones.
But it was nice that Oli thought maybe his dad could be good, sort of the same as a little kid who thought wishing on a shooting star really would make his dreams come true. There was something sweet about it. I had no idea when that part of myself had died.
If Oli’s father didn’t want to know him, then I didn’t understand why Oli pushed the issue. His father clearly wasn’t worth the trouble. He didn’t deserve Oli.
I didn’t say any of that. No doubt, he wouldn’t appreciate my opinion.
“You can’t see him in prison?” I turned the Jeep onto his street.
“Hewon’t seeme. Like I said, wants nothing to do with me.” He sat up when I pulled into his driveway, the Jeep rumbling as I shifted it into Park. Someone had turned on a pair of cheerful lights on either side of the front door. He stared in that direction and I did, too, taking in the chipped brown wood and the large “Welcome!” sign hanging off a nail.
The house was a tiny white cottage with a blue metal roof that was easy to make out between the moon and the streetlights. A brick path cut through the minuscule, but clean, front lawn, and a Honda Fit sat out front of the single-car garage. While Oli didn’t live in a great neighborhood, he and his mom kept their house neat, unlike their neighbors with overgrown yards.
Oli glanced at me, eyes wide and pleading. “Do you want to come in? I could start looking at some of your assignments tonight. Mom makes delicious food.”
I held in a wince. “I have a meal plan I need to stick to. I really can’t veer off from it or Hawthorn would kill me.” It wasn’t entirely true. While Hawthorn specifically told me to keep to the plan as much as possible, he’d also said I could have some cheat days. I refused. Nothing would stop me from bulking up before our first game.
“Mom has food. She’ll have stuff you can eat.” He lowered his eyelashes, giving me a pleading pout that reminded me of a puppy, and I was weak to those kinds of looks, especially from cuties like Oli.
I smiled. “All right. Dinner. But no to the assignments. I don’t have any ready right now. But when I do, I’ll let you know. Deal?”
He grinned. “Deal. Come on!”
I had no choice but to follow him into the house, my smoothie left behind in my Jeep. At least I’d drunk most of it.
7
OLI
