Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“She has nothing to worry about.”
“Not even any of those club whores?”
“You think Lily worries about them?” Alfie asked.
“She has nothing to worry about when it comes to another woman. I know what I’ve got, and I intend to keep it.”
“Same for me, Pop.”
“When did you start calling me Pop?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m testing it out. What do you think of Granddad or Grandpop?” Alfie looked toward his father, who seemed to have gone pale.
“She’s pregnant?”
“What?”
“You’re asking me what my grandkids will call me and you’re telling me she’s not pregnant?”
“No, I mean, we don’t know,” Alfie said.
“You’re going to be a dad?”
“No. I don’t know. We haven’t found out yet. It’s a possibility.”
“One you want?”
“Hell, yeah, why wouldn’t I want it? Chloe’s amazing. She’s fucking incredible. I want her to have a reason to stay.”
“And you think getting her pregnant is the best idea?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Son, I hate to break it to you, but no woman has to stick around to raise her kid. If you want Chloe to stay, it’s going to have to be for you, otherwise you’re going to spend your entire life wondering if she stayed for the kids or for you.”
“Why did you have to go and suck all of my happiness out?” he asked.
“I’m keeping it real for you, son.”
“This isn’t real. It’s not fucking fair.” Alfie ran a hand down her face. “We … when I’m around her, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. This started in high school, when I stopped trying to hurt her, and find something against her. I gave myself a chance to get to know her.”
“And you liked what you saw?”
“Yeah. She was … fire and sweet, and she had this amazing laugh. It was almost a giggle, but it wasn’t an annoying fake giggle, you know the kind I mean?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“When she first made it, I’d been the one to make her laugh. I listened, and I realized no one had taken the time to make her laugh. No one cared, you know? No one gave a fuck about making her happy, and I wanted to be the one to do all of those things.”
“You fell in love with her.”
“Her smile. Her eyes. She has the most expressive eyes. I can’t even begin to describe them. When she’s down or something is bothering her, they seem to go a dull blue. There’s no happiness within them. But the moment she’s happy, they sparkle, and it makes me think there’s no place else I can find that high she creates, you know?”
“I think this is the most we’ve spoken in over five years.”
“In our entire life, Dad. You’re not the easiest guy to talk to. The club, it always comes first. I know she’s worried about it as well.”
“The club?”
“Me turning into her dad.”
“It’s not possible.”
“I’m not a patched in member. Kurt only ever made prospect.”
“Alfie, Kurt never made it because he wasn’t good enough. Everyone knows that. We told him no matter how much he hung around the club, he’d never make prospect again. The patch was stripped from him. He ran when the club needed him most. Nearly killed a couple of guys in the process. He ran over them with his bike. I promised them for as long as I lived, I would never see him a member, and my father was the same before he passed. Kurt being allowed to hang around the club was the club’s decision, not mine. I didn’t want him there.”
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
“Trust and loyalty. It’s why it always annoyed me to see him with Lily. He didn’t deserve her, and the club should have killed him for what he did.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Your grandfather liked Lily.”
“He did?”
“You were born, and he’d seen how she took care of you, and I think he knew how I felt as well. How I loved her. Killing Kurt, it would have caused her heartache.”
“But it was a club decision. Didn’t any of the guys he nearly killed speak up?”
Eagle chuckled. “That’s the thing, they wanted to hurt him, kill him in fact, but Lily, she inspired a great deal of love in people. She’s loyal, sweet, and whenever she came around, people would shine in her company. She never made waves. Never judged anyone. If someone was upset, she’d bake them a freaking cake, and the guys who, funnily enough, got broken legs, got a visit from her in the hospital, each with food and ways to make them more comfortable.”
“You and her are dating, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Alfie.”
“You can tell me you’re not, but the look in your eye, that says a man who has fallen in love all over again. You and Lily are dating.”
Eagle sighed. “You were going to find out eventually,” he said.
“From who?”
“Lily and I want you and Chloe to have your second chance.”