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I still couldn’t wrap my head around that fact. Just the name itself oozed money. Which begged the question why was she hiding out in some dingy biker club in Lawton, Oklahoma? I would have thought for sure with her money, she’d be in a state-of-the-art facility where people would wait on her hand and foot.
Getting to my feet, I left my office, passing through the rec room to find Hellraiser, Trigger and Blackjack whispering quietly. Narrowing my eyes at them, the little brat stuck her tongue out at me, then giggled. Kali was going to have her hands full with that one, that was for damn sure. God help the man Kali fell for because that poor bastard was going to need the patience God gave a saint for that brat.
Turning right past the main room, I stopped and braced myself before walking into the room. Taking a deep breath, I knocked softly before entering.
Laid up with a broken leg, Kali looked better. Vivi kept her stomach wrapped up tight, like a mummy, because of the severe damage done there. Apparently, the fucker who attacked her tried to disembowel her and failed. As it was, Kali still wore a protective wrap around her middle, allowing her insides to heal. Shit looked painful, but the woman never complained. Her scars not covered were painfully visible. The reddening around each wound seemed to lighten every day and though the woman was miserable, she was healing.
Just fucking slowly.
Grabbing the chair in the corner, I sat next to her bed, knowing damn well Hellraiser wouldn’t come in here and start shit. Though her mother couldn’t talk, one look was all it took.
Wish someone would teach me that look.
The sun had barely set when I heard her moan as she opened her eyes. I became alert immediately, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I was fucking bone tired. These fucking chairs were hell on my back. Sitting up, I stretched, looking into familiar eyes.
The woman reminded me of someone.
Someone I knew, which was odd because for the last twenty years, all I knew were bikers.
Her brow furrowed.
What’s wrong?
Kali still couldn’t speak thanks to her jaw being wired shut. Forced to make do with the white board until Vivi found an app for her to use that would speak what she typed. The stupid app sounded like some robotic piece of crap, but at least she wasn’t using that damn white board anymore.
“Your daughter is a demon.”
What did she do now?
“Pissed in my beer.”
I waited for a response. Anything to help me understand that vile creature, but when nothing came, I looked up and saw Kali hiding her smile.
“It’s not funny,” I growled, huffing, crossing my arms over my chest. Still, the woman’s smile never faltered. Shaking my head, a small grin appeared on my face. Had to admit, on some level, it was funny that a three-year-old got one over on me. I couldn’t remember the last time that shit happened. Even my brothers weren’t brazen enough to play a practical joke on me. When I really thought about, I knew it was funny and laughed.
“That girl is looking at a life behind plexiglass or she will rule the world. Just haven’t figured out which, yet.”
She is a willful child.
She didn’t add anything letting the silence reign around us.
From the moment she’d been brought here, I tried to give the woman the peace she needed. It wasn’t that I ignored her. I just had nothing to say to her. She was here at the behest of my brother and because of a family marker, I couldn’t refuse. To make matters worse, my club brothers wanted to help. Every fucking one of them. Didn’t know why, and I didn’t ask.
All I knew was that one day my brothers wanted to be left the fuck alone, thenext, they were all about helping Kali and her kids.
They wanted to help, and I wanted to be left alone.
I helped when asked, but other than that, I avoided the woman until night came. That was the only time I allowed myself to care. I never really knew what to say to her. She was so far out of my league it was unreal. Though we came from similar backgrounds, we were as different as night and day.
The club did good, but not Vanderveer good.
We weren’t poor by any means, but Kali was in a stratosphere the club would never be. I had asked Vivi to talk to the woman about moving to a recovery center in Oklahoma City. That they could best suit her needs and her children, but Vivi said Kali wanted to stay with us. Why, I had no idea, and I wasn’t bastard enough to kick her out.
The woman rattled me.
I barely knew her, but her being around made me uncomfortable. I didn’t know why and I didn’t like it. She was beautiful for sure, but there was something about her calm, pleasing nature that didn’t sit well with me. She was too passive. Almost subservient. I didn’t like it. A few times I would see a fire flicker in her eyes, but it quickly snuffed out, almost as if she was holding back saying what she really wanted to say. Vivi said her ex taught her to be like that and eventually, Kali would be more open and become the woman she was meant to be.
Whoever that woman was, none of us knew.
