He had been suspiciously quiet since my return, and I didn’t like it. If anyone was going to betray the club, I would have expected him. We had heard from Nico that Tyler had been blackmailed into helping the Riders. They threatened to murder his mother, younger sister, and newborn nephew if he didn’t help them. But why go to that much trouble to get someone to help you, when you had Greg just sitting around and waiting for the perfect opportunity to get his revenge on me?
Or, at least, that’s what I assumed he was doing.
Either way, I wasn’t going to let it sit and fester in my mind any longer. I was about ready to be done with this contract, and these games of pretence. I wanted to open up to Dante and tell him how much I wanted to be here, and that I did, in fact,love him. That was painful for me to admit, because I had been adamant that I wasn’t going to fall for that brute of a man.
But fallen I had, and it was time to stop denying it, and it was time to try to forge a sliver of happiness in this fucked up situation.
And I wanted all loose ends tied up before I did so.
Which is how I found myself driving to The Greasy Spoon at an ungodly time in the morning, knowing Beth would be up getting ready to open the café and Greg would be by her side, since he spent most of his nights there.
As I was driving, my car lit up with an incoming call, and I smiled as I answered, seeing my dad’s number on the screen.
“Hi, Dad. What are you doing up so early?”
“I’m old, Rachel,” he said simply, and I could practically hear the shrug in his voice.
“Is it… is it the law that you have to wake up before the sun?”
“No, smartass. But apparently it is a law that my bladder shrinks to the size of a pea, making me need to piss four hundred times a night.”
“Four hundred, eh?” I grinned to myself. “That’s not an exaggeration at all, I’m sure.”
“It’s not. It was four hundred and six last night. I counted.”
“Wow, look at that. Your old brain is still capable of those big numbers.”
“Ha, ha. And how is Dante?”
“Oh, he’s… you know. He’s Dante. He always comes out alright in the end.”
“Trouble in paradise?” He asked, his tone growing more serious.
“No, not at all. Teething issues. We’re adjusting to our new relationship. Axel called him dad the other day,” I said with a sigh.
“Did he? You don’t sound too happy about that.”
“No, I am. It’s just… I don’t know. I’m being silly.”
“Of course you are. When have you ever been anything but?” My dad asked in an attempt to lighten the tone. He knew I would come to him if needed, and he could sense this wasn’t the time.
His tactic worked, as I felt the beginning of a smile play around my lips.
“Ha, ha,” I mimicked his earlier words. “At least me and Dante always have sex. No matter how bad things between us get, there are never any complaints in that department. Did you know, he has this amazing technique where—”
“Nope, nope, we’re not going there,” my dad interrupted, making me laugh out loud.“Where are my grandchildren? I don’t like talking to you,” I heard the playful huff in his voice and rolled my eyes.
“They’re sleeping, Dad. And I’m not home, anyway. I have some business to deal with.”
“Safe business?”
“Depends how much they piss me off,” I replied, only half joking.
“That’s my girl,” he said, followed by an awkward silence.
“Is everything okay, Dad? You don’t quite seem yourself today.”
“Yeah.”
