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“Man, I’m right here. T-Talk to me.”
“You sure about this, Butterfly?” Ford asks, ignoring what I just said.
“I’m sure,” she responds, and I find myself reaching out and holding her hand. I feel her body tense and the small flinch as she recoils from my touch. It burns bitter inside of me, but I ignore it. There’s nothing I can do to change it.
“Looks like your boy will be living in Virginia until my daughter decides it’s time for him to leave,” Ford says, still not talking to me—the motherfucker.
“The only way I’m going back to Kentucky is if Lyla comes with me.”
“That’s not happening,” Ford snaps, finally recognizing me.
“It might be smart,” Dad interjects.
“The hell it is,” Ford argues.
“Whoever shot the house up is in your territory and in your c-compound,” I add. “Lyla would be safer in K-Kentucky.”
“Boy, do I look stupid to you?”
“D-Don’t think you want me to answer th-that.”
“You got jokes.”
“Wasn’t joking.”
“I don’t want to go to Kentucky,” Lyla says and I turn to look at her and her face is pale.
“Lyla.”
“I’m not leaving here, Thomas.”
I can see what she’s not saying. She’s afraid she’ll run into Gabby. She also doesn’t trust me. It’s not like I’ve given her reason to. I need to fix that and I will… in time.
I just don’t know how.
“Then w-w-we stay here.”
She nods, some of the tension leaving her face.
“I’m not leaving you here without someone covering your back, T. No fucking way,” Dad growls.
“I’ll have my own back.”
“T—”
“And Grunt will be here if I n-need him.”
“I’m not going to let anything to happen to T-Boy,” Ford says, and I growl under my breath.
“T-Boy?” I grumble.
“That’s better than T. Doesn’t your club think enough of you to give you a road name?”
I lock any emotion out of my face and stare Ford down. He’s trying to get a rise out of me. He’ll never know how close he hit to home. When I look up at my dad, I see regret on his face. I quickly turn my attention back to Ford. The fucker wants to pick at me? Let him.
I’m not going anywhere.
Chapter 12
Dragon
“You all packed up so you can get out of my world, asshole?”
“Fucker, why are you always antagonizing me?” I snap back at Ford as I slam the door to his office. Thomas isn’t going to have an easy time of it here. They escorted me here from Ford’s place for this meeting. You could feel the hate rolling off of him. It’s going to be an uphill climb to make this work so my woman can visit her grandchild. Hell, I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t make me turn around the minute I get home and take her to Thomas. I rub the tension out of the back of my neck at that thought. Nothing is ever easy anymore, damn it.
His compound looks like shit, but as near as I can tell, most of the defenses here are top-notch. I’m not fucking happy about leaving my son behind. Thomas isn’t listening to me and there’s not much I can do about it. Nicole is going to flip her shit on me. Having kids is damn complicated and it never seems to get easier. If anything, it keeps getting worse. I plop down in the chair across from him and stare at the son of a bitch that apparently I’m going to be forced to deal with. I’ve got a bad feeling I’m going to be seeing this fucker for quite a while. It doesn’t fill me with happiness, but at the same time, I’m happy for my son. I’ve seen the way Lyla looks at him when she thinks no one is watching. She cares about him—even though it hurts. That is special after the hell she’s been through.
Fuck, there was a time I thought Nicole would never forgive me, but she once told me love, if it’s real and returned, can forgive a lot of shit. I’m not a praying man, but I’m sending up a few for my boy. Right now, he’s lost in his own damn head, but I think he cares about Lyla, too.
“It’s fun,” Ford says with a careless shrug. I’m pretty sure that’s the first completely truthful thing he’s ever said to me.
“You have no idea how painful this is for me to say, but I think you and I need to learn to get along.”
“Why in the hell would we do that?” Ford barks.
“Because our kids are going to be together.”
“I don’t agree,” he responds, his eyes hard.
“I think you’re wrong, but either way, there’s the baby to consider. I’m going to be a part of that child’s life.”
I can’t tell what he’s thinking. It seems Ford is probably damn good at poker, because his face gives away nothing.
