She doesn’t bother grabbing her purse, she shoves me out of the shop and locks up.
“You want to pray there’s not a scratch on Harper or not even your brother will be able to save you,” she tells me as we cross the road and head up the street.
I stop outside the diner, out of eyesight of the windows, and inhale as deeply as I can.
“No one is going to be surprised you’ve brought your usual shit back with you to town.”
“Yes, thank you, Kristen. If I didn’t already know I’m a fuck-up, I do now. You don’t have to come in.”
“I’m not going to let you go in there alone, besides, Harper and Gunner are in there!”
“Let’s go then.”
She follows me into the diner and Hopper is in the far corner with my daughter and grandson at his table. They’re not alone, Hopper’s brought the club with him.
Harper’s eyes are slits she has them narrowed so hard. She holds onto her son tightly. Hopper stands when he sees me and meets me halfway.
“There’s the love of my life.” He slides his hand around the front of my neck and pulls me against him. He slams his lips onto mine and I recoil into myself. It isn’t a I’ve-missed-you-so-much kiss, this is a reminder of who-owns-me kind of kiss. I’ve pushed my luck all of my life, but this time, I’m not so sure I'll be so lucky again.
Without making it obvious, he drags me over to the table and non too gently, shoves me into the booth and blocks me in when he sits beside me.
“I was just sayin’ to your daughter it was about time we met.”
I cast my eyes at Harper and she’s glaring at Hopper.
Clearing my throat, I suggest, “We should go, babe.”
Shaking his head, he tells me, “There’s no rush, Lil, I should get to know my new daughter and grandson.”
Kristen inches closer to Harper and Gunner. “They are nothing to do with you.”
Hopper’s laughter catches the attention of the people closest to us and each one of them look away when Hopper shoots them a deathly glare.
“And who are you?”
Kristen sets her shoulders straight and answers, “I’m Harper’s aunt.”
Hopper broadly smiles. “Ah, maybe I’ll get to finally meet your husband. The love of my life’s brother, and of course your son, her nephew.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
My fight or flight is kicking in and all I want to do is run.
Hopper slides his arm around me. “We’ll see.”
Chapter Ten
Shane
Tension settles on our shoulders as we ride into town. The diner’s parking lot is packed with motorcycles. JJ rides around Leo and is the first to pull into the lot. The rest of us follow suit, blocking in the motorcycles with our own.
Once our engines have died and we can hear one another, I hear JJ say to Leo, “How much you wanna bet this is cause of my fuckin’ mother-in-law?”
“Nothing. I’d fuckin’ lose.”
Leo whistles and motions for us to follow him. Hank Jr visibly shrinks behind the counter as Lost Souls move around the diner, marking the Hades Hogs ass-fucks.
The guy I mark is twice my size and I can’t imagine any woman giving birth to him. He must have been born the size of a five-year-old.
