Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
“When you have children, sweetheart,” Dad said quietly, “you’ll understand.”
“You protected her,” I whispered.
“No. I protected you.”
Holy shit.
I turned into Hugger and he wrapped his arms around me.
I was not going to cry.
I was not.
Instead, I deep-breathed as Hugger smoothed his hand up and down my back.
It was like he felt I was getting a lock on it because I’d just started doing that when he bent and murmured into my ear, “Not sure it’s me you should be hugging, baby.”
I looked up at him.
Then I turned to Dad. “Were you going to tell me when I got old enough?”
Dad shook his head. “I was never going to tell you.”
“I always blamed you for the divorce.”
“I know, Buttercup, and you always loved your mother unreservedly. Girls need their mothers like that.”
“They need their dads too.”
Dad’s face fell and he said, “Maybe I mishandled it.”
“No,” I said fiercely. “No. No, Dad. You didn’t mishandle it at all.”
And with that, I walked around the coffee table and threw myself in my father’s arms.
He caught me, of course.
He’d done that all my life.
I just didn’t know.
And when I did know, I either didn’t notice or didn’t give him credit for it.
That was about the time I got mascara all over his shiny, silvery-blue polo shirt.
Dad didn’t mind.
16
BEST THING I EVER DID
Hugger
When they returned to her pad that night, Di was definitely in another mood.
But this time, she wasn’t talking.
All the way home, up the elevator and into her place, she was silent.
Hugger stopped at her kitchen bar, threw her keys on it, and watched as she walked right to her bedroom, her movements stiff and jerky.
He saw the lights go on in there.
Hugger really wanted to call Joker, or Shy, Dutch or Jag and ask what to do when your woman just got emotionally gutted from belly to gullet. They’d all been through it, some worse than others, but they had.
He didn’t have time to do that.
As ever, he was on his own. This time, he was trying to figure out how to be there for her now.
After Di had her crying jag on her dad’s chest, there were only two further sticky moments during dinner.
The first came when Di took off to fix her face, leaving Hugger alone with Armitage.
The man didn’t beat around the bush.
“You the reason why I have bikers following me everywhere?”
In order to provide visible presence, his brothers had decided not to go stealthy, but it was still interesting Armitage noticed.
“Di was worried for your safety after you kicked Babić to the curb,” he explained. “So I got my brothers to give you some cover.”
That openly mollified him, the same with pleasing him, which Hugger thought was a shocker. Though, considering what it said was that his daughter was worried about him, it made sense.
“Are you in a Club?” Armitage asked.
“Yeah. Look it up. Chaos MC. We own and operate Ride Auto Supply Stores and our garage does custom builds. You can find an article in Wilde and Hay about our Club and builds. It’s still on their website. Also got a documentary about our history. It’s streaming. It’s called Blood, Guts and Brotherhood.”
“That’s forthcoming.”
“Got nothin’ to hide.”
Armitage glanced in the direction Di had gone, then came back to Hugger.
“You seem to care deeply for her.”
Without hesitation, Hugger gave Diana’s father the fullness of it.
“My ma did the best she could do, but we didn’t have it great. So with all she is and all she gives, Diana is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.”
Armitage stared at him for several long beats before he confessed, “I did wrong by her.”
“You mean not telling her about her mother?”
“No, something else.”
Hugger made an educated guess. “You mean not handlin’ it like you should when she got hurt.”
“That,” Armitage forced out in a strangled voice.
“Man, if you don’t know your daughter’s got a heart of gold by now, start paying attention. I don’t know what went down because I asked her not to tell me before I met you seein’ as I didn’t want to hate your guts before that happened. What I know is, she’s here now. She misses you. So fix it. And advice, you’re not gonna do that if you act like she’s a guest in her father’s house.”
“Of course,” Armitage murmured, his attention acute on Hugger, sizing him up with this new information, before he jerked up his chin to indicate Di was returning.
The second sticky part happened twenty minutes later, when a huge-ass order of Indian food showed. Apparently, it was all Di’s favorites and from Di’s favorite Indian joint.
She nearly lost it again, having this demonstration her dad remembered something that mattered to her, but she held it together.
They ate it around the kitchen island, like family, not in the dining room, even though Hugger saw the table was set.