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I raised my brows and smiled. “What was that?”
“When I was your age—”
I held up my hand, stopping him. “I’m not even going to touch that comment, simply out of respect.”
“Respect for what?”
I backed down the hallway with a grin. “My elders.”
“Girl,” he growled, getting up off the barstool, but I flashed him a bright smile.
“Gotta go. See you later,” I called, ducking into my bedroom and slamming the door behind me. My heart was racing, pounding excitedly as I giggled to myself and pressed my back against the door. Part of me hoped he didn’t decide to come after me for that comment, and another part that had recently grown a lot bigger, wondered what might happen if he did.
That was the part of me that was going to hell.
And honestly, I was starting to wonder if I should just embrace the flames.
Chapter Six
BISHOP
“Listen up,” I called as I got to my feet. The almost thirty bikers, their wives, and kids who filled my back porch and yard continued to laugh and chat amongst themselves, so I tried again. “Shut up, you rowdy bastards!”
Cain reached over and switched off the stereo, and every set of eyes finally turned toward me, silence finally settling in.
I grabbed my beer and lifted it in the air, my brothers and their families following suit with whatever they were holding, Hawk’s step-daughter Kadey lifting her coke can with a smile.
“Speech!”
“Speech!”
Not one to want to be the center of attention, I fucking hated this part.
But I wanted to do it for Calli.
“Calliope,” I started, shaking my head. “I know this isn’t the first time I’ve said this, and it by far will never be the last, but I’m so fucking proud of you, kiddo. And your mom would be too.”
“Cheers,” everyone called out, clicking their glasses with the person next to them.
“Five years ago, you stepped out on your own for the first time and went off to college. But even though I’ve already watched you do it once before, it doesn’t mean this time isn’t just as hard or that I won’t be just as worried. The one thing that helps me get through watching you head off again on your own is knowing that you were raised by this club to be strong, stubborn, and not take shit from fucking anyone. So give them hell, kid.”
I made the mistake of looking to my right, where my daughter was standing, tears in her eyes. “Goddammit, Calli,” I cursed, placing my drink on the table before I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my chest, cradling her as I walked us back into the house for a little privacy. I struggled with certain emotions. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel their impact, but how I was meant to react to them often miffed me.
I didn’t grow up in a place where those kinds of feelings were normal or encouraged.
Real love was something I’d had to learn on the outside.
Of course, growing up, we were taught to love our parents and siblings, but we were meant to love the Lord more. He was the most important. Even when you were married off to some stranger or someone you might even be fucking related to, you were still not to love them more than you loved the holy man above.
And you absolutely weren’t allowed to love someone the prophets hadn’t chosen for you.
A girl you might have hung out with and thought was kind of cool.
Even when I got out of there and stepped into the real world, I still didn’t understand the concept. I started prospecting for the club when I was seventeen. By nineteen, I was patched, and by twenty, I was simply fucking my way through the population of Detroit without a care in the damn world and no plans ever to settle down.
Why would I?
I’d spent my life tied down by The Valley and its rules. This was freedom.
