“I want to give an angry kid a safe outlet to release that pent up rage. Come on, Stone, he’s hurting. We’re all fucking hurting here. Let’s teach him to defend himself. He’s old enough, and I bet he rocks at it.”
“We should run that by Marcos first, but yeah.”
Marcos
Iwasworkingonmylaptop in Elaine’s dining room, going over bills and bank statements for the clubhouse, when Elaine walked in from the living room carrying a piece of paper. I eyed her warily, wondering what she was up to.
Elaine had been cordial enough in the last five days that we had invaded her house. She’d said she didn’t mind the company, was grateful for it with Maya gone, but she was still curt with us at times. Neither Jason nor I were much for small talk, but we had to be there for Luke. We wanted to keep him comfortable and in his own home.
Despite the occasional awkwardness of being in Elaine's house, we tried to be supportive and understanding of her inability to drive due to a spinal injury from a car accident last autumn. I had club prospects driving her to doctor appointments and grocery shopping for us. Nickle’s old lady had dropped off a couple cooked meals, so there was always something to eat.
I did my best to treat her with respect, even if she was a cranky old broad sometimes. “Whatchu got there?” I asked, nodding at the paper in her hands.
Elaine looked up at me and gave me a pensive look. “I went through Maya’s sock drawer,” she admitted, shuffling the paper in her hands. “Tomorrow will be a week, and I don’t know if she’s still coming back or not, but I think you should have this.”
“Elaine, we have everyone in the county working on it. We’ll get her back. I promise,” I said, frowning.
Elaine forced a smile on her aging face and shrugged a shoulder. “Either way,” she spoke softly. “I think you should have this.” She handed over the folded paper she’d been holding.
I took the paper, frowning. Slowly opening it, my eyes widen in shock at what I read on the document.Official Cook County Birth Certificate.I scanned the paper in disbelief. There in black and white it spelled out, Lucas NicolaiCandella, with his birthdate for November 11th, almost ten years prior. And under the father’s name?Marcos Candella.
“Holy shit,” I let out a heavy breath, rubbing a hand over my head. “Did she just do this?”
“No, she’s always had your name on his birth certificate. It’s been my biggest argument for telling you sooner. Why keep it from you if she was going to name you as his parent?”
“Why indeed,” I muttered.
“I thought you should have that in case anything happens at the school. She listed you as his father on his registration papers too, if anything were to come up.”
I looked up and met her gaze with my own watery stare. “Thank you, Elaine.”
She patted my hand and nodded her head. “I’m sorry I’m difficult most of the time, but I saw the way you treated her back then. How the three of you cherished her. I would see you all around town sometimes and Jenna kept me updated. Maya was happy with you.”
I cleared my throat and blinked away the tears that gathered in my eyes. I hadn’t expected this from Maya’s stoic mother. “Thank you.” I nodded.
Marcos
“Have you heard anything from your brother?” I didn’t wait for preamble as I walked into Kara’s house later that night. It was a Friday evening, and instead of heading to the clubhouse, I was taking Luke to meet Nico at the boxing gym. But first we had to stop by Kara’s so Luke could see his aunt for a bit.
It was the perfect excuse for me to check in with Kevin. Once again, I found the black-haired man washing bottles at the kitchen sink. “Nothing good,” Kevin sighed. “He’s struggling to find Hillcrest, meaning Hillcrest has some high-tech firewalls, or someone in the government covering for him.”
“The government?” I snapped. “Like the damn mayor?”
“No, like the fucking FBI,” Kevin elaborated. “Someone who is able to erase and hide information. Jack hasn’t tried hacking them yet, but he will if he has to.”
“Fucking hack them already! Find my fucking woman!” I growled.
Kevin nodded. “Yeah, man. He’ll get on it.”
I stalked passed Kevin, grumbling to myself about not beating the fuck out of the guy because it would upset my sister, when I turned the corner and ran smack into a wall of muscles. Johnny “Mayhem” Taylor had been walking toward the living room when I ran right into him. “Easy,” Johnny muttered, gripping my shoulder.
Wrenching my shoulders out of Johnny’s grip, not in the mood to deal with the temperamental biker, I tried to push past him and search for my sister. Only Johnny wasn’t having it. “You’re not going to come into this house and bring your shitty attitude around my woman and my kid, you hear me,brother?” Johnny growled, getting in my face.
All fight drained out of me at the reminder that the two of us had unfinished business. I had forgotten all about the fact that I shared a father with Johnny. It was something we’d learned last year. It hadn’t seemed all that important in the grand scheme of things, though. It had explained some of the backstory regarding my mother’s history and the history between Vince Carmichael and Mac Taylor. It also explained why Carmichael had it out for Mac Taylor.
Johnny had given me our father’s journal, but I had only glanced it over. I never had a burning need to know who my father was or track him down growing up. I had been raised by a very strong woman, and while she had made some mistakes when she was younger, I didn’t fault her. Not one bit.
“Yeah, brother,” I conceded. I didn’t need to be starting shit with Mayhem. Not when things had finally settled down between the two clubs, and especially not when my sister was practically married to the guy.
