Couldn't believe it. Just couldn't.
The full horror of what was happening made me wretch.
It wasn't going to get better, was it? I hadn't seen my father this pissed for months – not since he was screaming at that other club President from California on the phone.
Daddy sent me to the safe house that night, surrounded by three burly prospects. Something about a reckoning coming one day with the national MC because someone called Fang had fucked up everything, and the Mexican cartels would be sawing everyone's heads off to pay for his mistakes.
Who knows what he'll do when he's like this? I can't just sit on my hands. I have to save Austin!
My feet didn't match my brain's courage. I couldn't just rush out and meet them head on, especially if I stumbled into daddy with a gun against my neighbor's head.
So, I compromised. I crept toward the back door, undid the latch, and held my breath as I tried to push the screen open as carefully as possible.
“You're taking this shit way too seriously, Prez. Elle Jo's becoming a young woman. She's grown up. A few more months, and she'll be out on her own. Good fucking luck telling her who she should kiss then.”
The lump building in my throat was like solid stone. Asphalt had balls, talking back to my father like that, especially when he faced an execution on our patio. It made me love him even more.
Wait, love? No, maybe not, but at least a stupid little crush that had finally come into full bloom tonight.
It wouldn't have worked out, of course. I wasn't stupid. He didn't call me princess for nothing.
In a year's time I'd be sitting in a Seattle sorority with new friends and some handsome jocks who'd never held guns in their lives. My life here would be a distant memory, I hoped, and if I didn't see another switchblade shining in the light or a grizzly bear patch for years, then I'd consider myself very lucky.
No, Austin and me, we didn't have a prayer. Even if I wasn't heading off to college, Asphalt – god it felt strange to think of him as that – was leaving the state. Assuming daddy let him off the hook still breathing tonight.
Right now, that was all I cared about.
“She's my daughter, damn it. My own flesh and blood, asshole! If I want to hear your horseshit excuses, trust me, I'll ask.” A heavy thud landed in someone's chest, cutting through the night.
Asphalt swore, barely able to vocalize. Daddy's voice boomed loud, dangerous as ever.
“Shut your yap. You breathe another fuckin' word about what she wants or how I oughta treat her, and I will put hot lead through your skull. I don't give a single fuck who she winds up with, as long as she's happy, respected, and safe. My girl deserves better than some boozin' and whorin' shit-for-brains prospect sticking his clap filled dick in her, and she's gonna get it.”
“Yeah, she does, Gil,” Asphalt growled, staggering up, blood running between his teeth and out his mouth. “A girl as smart as her deserves to make her own damned decisions. She was smart enough to lay off the kid she took to prom tonight who acted like he owned her. She picked me, Prez, just like it was meant to be. All these years of flirting and teasing, don't tell me you're fucking blind?”
My heart nosedived and swooned back up in my chest. Ballsy and arrogant as ever, yeah, but he told the truth. It wasn't just the fact that he'd given grabby Mike a harsh send off.
“Thing is, she wants me. I know I can't have her. I'm leaving your fucked up club. I know when to let you go. You've gotta learn to let her go, too, let her live on her own,” Asphalt continued. “I won't be anything you've gotta worry about in a few more weeks. The boys in California are more my style. This fucking transfer can't come soon enough.”
I'd fought my little crush on the bastard forever. Ever since the day he'd stopped in town to help me change a flat on my bike, I'd known there was a deeper side to him than the pretend killer with the take-no-prisoners attitude.
This crush didn't mean I wanted to marry him. He'd never be husband material or anyone I'd hitch myself to forever, but god, his lips were just perfect tonight.
Too good to lose forever.
I clenched my teeth and threw the screen door open, stepping outside. I was just in time to see the death stare between the two men end with daddy pulling his gun.
My jaw dropped. Before I could say anything, he pushed a boot into Asphalt's guts, knocking him to the ground. His pistol flew up and barked two deafening gunshots.
Asphalt, Austin, the first man I'd ever tasted, screamed on the ground. Daddy spun around, and we locked eyes, sharing the same look of mutual horror.
“No! Jesus, daddy, you...you...didn't...” I stumbled a couple steps backward.
I couldn't bring myself to finish it, to ask if he'd killed him. My eyes danced to the body on the ground. Some tiny relief flickered through me when I saw Asphalt moving, rolling on the ground in agony, clenching his shoulder.