“Tell that to Alice and Nikki,” Wrecker said dryly.“They’ll have all of our balls if this party doesn’t go off without a hitch.As soon as they get here we’ll be decorating whatever the hell they tell us to.”
Cole smirked.“You mean they’ll be decorating.We’ll just be moving tables and pretending we know how to hang lights.”
The guys laughed, and I shook my head.They were good kids, men now, but still kids to me.And no matter how loud they got, no matter how much energy they had, there was an unspoken line in the room.
The original generation, the Brinks, the Wreckers, the Slayers, we were still in charge.Always would be.
I’d just leaned back, ready to tune out their noise and let my thoughts drift to Adley, Christ, I was already picturing her walking through the doors later, jeans hugging her hips, that smile that made my chest ache, when the slam of a door cracked through the noise.
The whole room stilled.
Heavy boots pounded down the hallway, fast and furious.
My stomach dropped before I even saw him.
Slayer.
His eyes locked on me like a bullet, and my blood iced over.
“Shit,” I muttered, but I was too slow.
He stormed across the common room, ripped me out of my chair by the front of my cut, and slammed me back against the wall.His face was red, his breath hot, and his grip tight enough to cut off air.
“My daughter?!”Slayer roared.
The room exploded in noise with chairs scraping, voices shouting, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart.
Fuck.
He knew.
Somehow, some way, he knew.
“I don’t-” I started, but the fire in his eyes cut me dead.
“I should kill you right here!”he spat.“Sneaking around, behind my back?Behind the club’s back?”
Mac and Star came running down the hallway.Star was pale as a ghost with her hands out like she was trying to ward off a hurricane.“I’m sorry!”Star shouted.“I didn’t know!”
“You didn’t know?!”Slayer barked, his face twisting.He jerked me forward and shoved me back again.My shoulder cracked against the wall.“None of us fucking knew!And you-” His finger jabbed hard into my chest.“-you thought you could hide it?Sneak around with my daughter like some goddamn coward?”
The room was in chaos.Brinks was on his feet with Cora clinging to his arm.Thorn dropped the glass he’d been polishing, and the crash was sharp in the silence that followed Slayer’s words.
“What the hell’s going on?”Jude demanded, as his eyes darted between us.
“Yeah,” Kingston added, his cue stick lowering.“What’s he talking about?”
Slayer didn’t even glance at them.His fury was locked on me.
“He’s been sneaking around with Adley,” Slayer snarled.“For years!”
The words hit me like a steel-toed boot to the gut.
“For years?”I growled, shoving back against him.“Don’t put words in my mouth, Slayer.You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
His fist tightened in my cut.“I know enough.I know you couldn’t keep your filthy hands off her.”
Rage flared hot in my chest.“She’s not filthy.”
