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“No shit, Wildcard. Figured that out at Roscoe’s wedding.” He laughs.
I thought I was being cool about it. Guess not.
ONE
Dysfunctional Dad
WILDCARD
Iclimb into Priest’s SUV and hand him a coffee. It’s the least I can do since he’s been here all night. It’s seven o’clock, and I know Charlotte’s schedule to a T. Right on time, the light blinks on. She’s getting ready for the day.
Guard sent me home to rest, but that didn’t happen. I lay in my bed, wondering if Charlotte was able to get to sleep. Her frantic expression is seared in my brain. Partly, I was afraid that she’d take off in the middle of the night. I thought better of that because she’s been through hell and back to protect her brother, Noah, and there’s no way she’d leave him behind.
“Thanks, man,” Priest says, then takes a swig of his coffee. “Not as good as Millie’s, but damn close.” The coffee at Millie’s Diner has been given the title of best in town. Good simple comfort food and great coffee.
“It’s from Hanna’s.” Hanna’s Bakery is owned by one of our brothers’ wives. Risk met Hanna when she was baking cakes in her own kitchen to make ends meet, but it took him a while to get his head out of his ass and make his move. By the time he did, Hanna had her bakery off the ground, but was being squeezed into bankruptcy by her former father-in-law. That shit was whacked!
“No one’s approached. Not a sound,” Priest tells me.
I sigh. “Good.”
“You gonna talk to Noah about this?” Priest asks, his eyes shifting to me.
“Need to talk to Charli first. I don’t even know if Noah knows his father exists. The only thing that kid has ever said about his father is that he left them a long time ago. For all I know, he might think he’s dead,” I answer. “If Charli and Noah have that piece of shit as a father, they’re better off without him. She was freaked when she saw him. Not surprised, totally freaked, and she ran to get as far away from him as possible.”
“Why do you think he’s back?”
“No clue, but he’s not getting anywhere near them without going through me first,” I say.
Priest snickers, a glint in his eye. “You fell hard, brother. I thought the next to fall would be Hammer or maybe Thunder. Since he’s older and all,” Priest comments with a shrug.
Thunder is something else. He was in Satan’s Pride long before I came along. He was one of the original men to come to town. No one quite knows his story, and Thunder hasn’t been particularly chatty, but there are whispers that a woman was involved. Since he’s been back, he’s been busy. He’s a man of many talents. He helps Risk with his construction business whenever he needs an extra pair of hands, works at the garage with War and Demon, and damn, he’s an amazing mechanic and body guy. Thunder has worked in the parts store when asked and has even gone along on skips, since Ghost put a two-man policy in place to keep us safe. After what happened with Roscoe being attacked, Ghost wasn’t taking any chances putting another brother in danger.
But, it must be said, Thunder is a hit with the ladies. Women flock to him like bees to honey. Maybe it’s his raspy voice, or his presence. Don’t really know, but he’s never at a loss for company. He even has a three-date rule. I call it a three-fuck rule. That’s his limit. To be fair, he tells them all up front. Problem is that women always think they can change a man. They haven’t figured out that a man would want to be changed for that to happen.
“How in the world did you pick Thunder out of the rest of the herd? He’s the last one I would have picked to get serious,” I say.
“Didn’t you once say that there’s too much to sample to settle for one meal for the rest of your life?” The fucker throws my words back in my face.
“Fuck off.”
“Not today.” He laughs.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the main lights in the diner turn on. Through the window, I see Charlotte behind the counter making a pot of coffee before the morning rush. In less than half an hour, every trucker driving through will be stopping for breakfast and Millie’s coffee.
Here come Millie and the main cook, Franklin, up the walk and rapping on the doors. Charlotte jumps at the tapping, but comes running when she sees Millie and Franklin outside waiting. Millie has become very protective of Charlotte. She gave her a safe place to stay and makes sure she eats three meals a day. Even more importantly, she listens.
Between Millie and the Lady Pride, Charlotte’s found herself some great friends to have her back. The Lady Pride are going to lose their minds when they find out that Charlotte’s being harassed by her absentee father. Then again, I’m making assumptions about her father, and I need to get the truth before I meet with the rest of the brothers later this afternoon.
“I’m going in.” I fold out of Priest’s vehicle.
“Good luck, bud. See you at the clubhouse later,” he says. He’s going down the street to meet up with Roscoe. They’ll be heading out to track down a guy who skipped bail. We got word that he’s two counties over. The bartender is a friend of Ghost’s and is making sure he stays put until they get there.
“Stay sharp out there. Watch your back, brother,” I say to him just before he nods and drives away.
* * *
Charlotte
