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“Of course! I’m going to throw it all in the wash today, so it’ll all be ready whenever!”
“I’m going to go tell your dad goodbye. I’ll see you in the morning!”
I smile at her knowingly before she turns and heads down the stairs.
I pluck through my new inventory and pull the small price tags off of each article of clothing. I set aside the jeans and take my rotary cutter to them, cutting them to the length that I like for shorts before dropping them into the laundry basket. Once I hear the rumble of a motorcycle outside, I know the coast is clear. I lift the laundry basket and walk down the steps to the garage, heading towards my washing machine.
As soon as I walk off the final step into the garage, I curse myself for not looking out of my apartment window that faces the driveway. Dad and Ringer are bent over Ringer’s bike, inspecting something. I almost turn around to run back upstairs, but I know I’m too late.
Ringer’s sparkling eyes meet mine, and a stupid little smirk lifts his right cheek. He says something to my dad, causing him to also look up and smile at me. Ignoring them both, I turn to the washing machine and start to load my new purchases.
“Hey, Princess.” I jump at the sound of Ringer’s voice so close to my back.
Turning towards him, I cross my arms and lean back against the vibrating washing machine. “Hi.”
Dad saunters up behind Ringer, tossing a wrench on his tool bench. “How was shopping, baby girl?”
Ringer smiles, showing off his perfect teeth. It’s surprising that, after how much he has fought in his lifetime, all of his teeth are real and intact. And so freaking perfect. “Yeah,baby girl,how was shopping?”
I roll my eyes at Ringer, earning a chuckle from him and turn to my dad’s gleaming face. “It was good, actually. I got tons of new stuff.”
“That’s good. Baby girl, we need to talk about something. Wanna go inside?”
I nod, push off of the machine, and take off for the house. I’m surprised when Ringer follows behind us, as I didn’t realize this was an open conversation. I’m surprised once again when we reach Dad’s dining room table, and he pulls out a chair for me to sit in.
“Thanks,” I mumble as he takes the seat directly next to mine.
Dad grabs two beers and a bottle of water from the fridge, handing the other beer to Ringer and the water to me, before sitting down across from me.
Dad stares at his beer bottle, picking at the label for a couple of minutes before meeting my eyes. Unease creeps up my spine at the sorrow that overtakes his face.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Dad clears his throat and adjusts himself, sitting up straight in his chair. “Something happened last night after the party, and I just want you to be aware of it. We’re still looking into some stuff, and it has nothing to do with the club directly, but we think you should know.”
“You’re scaring me, Daddy. What happened?”
I’m surprised when Ringer’s large hand grasps my knee under the table. My dad’s expression and tone of voice have me on edge, and if it weren’t for that, I would be freaking the fuck out at Ringer’s touch.
Dad clears his throat and takes another drink of his beer. “Pebbles was kidnapped yesterday.”
Fear shivers down my spine, and a gasp escapes me. “What do you mean kidnapped?” I can hear the tremble in my own voice.
“We found her, and she’s going to be okay, but…” Dad pauses, taking a deep breath.
When he doesn’t continue, I nearly come out of my chair, scared for the woman I’ve known since I was a baby. Pebbles isn’t that much older than I am. “But what, Daddy?”
Ringer squeezes my knee, shifting his hand up my thigh just a tad when he turns his body into mine. “She was assaulted and beat up pretty badly,” he says softly.
My eyes widen, tears immediately hitting my eyelids.“What?”
Dad clears his throat again and shakes his head in disbelief. “It’s a long story, but the short version is she was trying to help Bunny by making a page for her tattooing. Some creep found it and wanted to meet with her for a tattoo idea. Pebbles went, the guy took her thinking she was Bunny, and attacked her.”
“By the time we figured out what was happening and got there, we were too late. Bunny actually found her and tried rescuing her, but the guy ended up knocking her around pretty bad too. We got them both to the hospital, but Pebbles isn’t doing great. She was raped,” Ringer adds softly.
“No shit she isn’t doing great!” I yell at him. “She was raped!”
“Calm down, baby girl,” Dad urges. “We just wanted you to know.”
