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“Her ol’ man is the enforcer for an outlaw MC, Holly.” He sounded like he tasted something disgusting.
“So that’s what this is all really about? Your constant attack on the Handlers? Dad, you need to give it up. This club isn’t what you think.”
By now, the few who remained in the diner had tuned into the father-daughter showdown. Holly was beyond caring. This had to stop before Copper decided he’d been patient enough and took a more aggressive approach. One that cost her father his job, landed him in the hospital, or worse.
Her dad leaned across the counter and got right in her face. “This is what I meant about you getting caught in the crossfire. Here you are dating a criminal, working with criminals. Holly, you don’t belong here. You’re better than this.”
“Fuck that,” LJ muttered.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally saying, “Better like who? Like Rick Schwartz who’s a drunk asshole? Better than a man who encourages my dreams and allows me to be myself?” Her focus drifted to LJ, who was watching her. As their gazes met, his face softened though his stance remained rigid. “Better than a man who makes me feel safe and would never punch me in the face? Better than a man who treats me like I’m made of gold?”
Her father snorted and slapped his palm against the glass display case. “Encourages your dreams? You’ve given up on your dream. You’ve wanted to own a bakery since you were a child. Now you’re working for someone else? Selling a few things at a counter. You seem like you’re settling in here, not using it as a stepping stone to start your own place.”
“Well—I…” Shit. He had her there. Working with Toni, Jazz, and the rest of the crew had been so much fun, over the past few weeks, Holly began to think of herself as a permanent fixture in the diner. Would that be so terrible? Life changed. She’d moved, made new friends, met a new man; only seemed fitting to create a new dream. Or at least an altered version of her original dream. Holly hadn’t once viewed working with and for Toni as giving up until he’d uttered those words.
Now, they burned an uncomfortable hole in her brain.
Is that what she was doing? Giving up? Settling?
Her father must have taken her silence as agreement because he continued. “Come with me now, Holly and I can keep you out of all this. We can move on as a family, and this will just be a dark blip in your life.”
A dark blip? What? These had been the best freakin’ days of Holly’s life. “Wha—” She lifted a hand to her temple as her head began to throb. “I don’t…Dad, I’ve been so happy.”
The smile he gave her was rife with pity. As though she was some dumb teenage girl who gave her virginity away to a football player under the bleachers and now realized how used she’d been. “Holly, it’s not real happiness. It’s infatuation, lust, rebellion, whatever you want to call it.”
Her head swirled. “No, it’s not.”
“I admit we’ve been overprotective, your mother and I. You’ve never had the chance to go wild like most kids do. So you’re doing it now, a few years too late. But these choices have consequences. Severe ones. Your sister paid the ultimate price for her poor decisions. The same could happen to you.”
No.
Rebellion? Her relationship with LJ and friendship with the ol’ ladies of the MC couldn’t be described as rebellion. Could it? Had she channeled Joy a little too well?
Her mouth turned down.
“Holly,” LJ said from across the room where the deputy had herded him and Rocket. “Don’t listen to this bullshit. You know it’s fucking garbage.”
“Shut the fuck up!” her father roared. Out came his weapon. “Hands up mouth closed, or I’ll drag you downtown. Again.”
LJ seethed, smoke practically rising from his body. But what choice did he have? He lifted his hands, shut his mouth and stared at Holly with a look so imploring she nearly cried.
She’d been on cloud nine just a half-hour ago. Now, doubt, confusion, and fear dominated her emotions and had her questioning her every move.
“Here’s how this is going to go, Holly. You have one chance to walk out the door with me.” Her father cupped her face between his hands, keeping her attention on him. “One chance to save yourself from all of this. Otherwise, I’m washing my hands of you. You’ll be lumped in with the rest of these losers. I won’t be able to protect you when the entire club implodes. You’ll be risking serious jail time. Make your choice.”
She jerked out of his hold as everyone remaining in the diner went bananas. LJ ignored the order to keep quiet and threw more profanities at her father. Rocket went against his customary silence. Toni reemerged from her office to add her disbelief to the mix. Jazz exited the kitchen, escorted by one of the deputies. Her dad screamed at everyone to shut up, but no one listened.
