Page 58 of Break Out

We carried our food to an empty picnic table. I hadn’t seen any Devil Lancers around, and I had no idea where the Riot members were at either.

Steel sat on the bench sideways – straddling the bench. When I sat down, he guided my hips so I sat between his legs.

I turned my head to him. “Are you trying to send a clear message to people or something?”

He scratched his stubbled cheek and stared past me for a long moment. His eyes met mine. “Yeah, I am. Every asshole who looks at you needs to know you’re with me.”

I nodded. “Okay, then.”

Three shadows formed on the table. I glanced over my shoulder and saw one of my favorite people, Uncle Yak. Uncle Roll and Uncle Rage stood on either side of him. They all looked unhappy.

Yak spoke before I could greet him. “You get lost, Simone? The rest of the Riot is on the other side of the food truck with the wings.”

I widened my eyes at him. “Well, I definitely don’t want to sit over there. The smell of chicken makes me nauseous these days.”

His eyes cut to Steel. “Yeah, I heard about that.”

Uncle Yak’s glower deepened when Steel’s arm came around me, resting just under my breasts. “She’s not sitting with the Riot today because she’s with me.”

Rage stepped forward. “Find someone else to sit with you, Steel.”

“There isn’t a problem here,” I said.

He widened his eyes at me. “There isn’t a problem here? Think again, Simone. It’s because of this man that Lisa and Nora were—”

I shifted so I could look at Rage and Yak without twisting my neck. “It isn’t his fault directly. He didn’t even know what had happened until after the fact.”

Uncle Roll spoke in his firm, even tone. “You think long and hard about what you’re doing, girlie. Maybe you need to talk to my niece about what Steel’s brothers—”

In a fluid movement, Steel rose from the bench. “Stop right fuckin’ there, Roll. I had no fuckin’ idea about those two members. And the whole fuckin’ chapter lost their charter because of that shit. Waited over three years before approving another charter, but that’s the past. Right now, Simone’s carrying my baby and I’m not bailing on her.”

“That’s not what you said yesterday,” Dad muttered from behind us.

Could this get any more awkward?

“Fuckin’ A,” Steel hissed and turned toward Dad.

I stood and put an arm around Steel’s waist. “Things changed, Dad. This isn’t really the time, though, don’t you think?”

“You’re not gonna negotiate your way out of this,” Uncle Yak said.

Dad shook his head. “Thanks, Yak, but you, Rage, and Roll can join the others. I’ll handle this.”

“There’s nothing to handle, Volt,” Steel said.

Dad set his full plastic cup of beer on the table and sat. “The hell there isn’t. You say you aren’t bailing, but you aren’t moving her to Augusta either.”

Steel guided me back to the table and I sat down. “I am an adult with free will, Dad.”

Rather than sit sideways, Steel settled next to me facing Dad. “For all intents and purposes, there’s only four, maybe five members who make up the Jacksonville Devil Lancer chapter. That’s a problem.”

Dad’s eyes lit with something like mischief. “I’d think that when you run the mother chapter, you’d know this, but it seems to me if you want a decent chapter in Jacksonville, you’ll have to lay the foundation yourself.”

Steel stared at Dad for such a long moment, the similarities between their personalities couldn’t be ignored. In tense situations with heated emotions, Dad always took his time before speaking or acting. The only problem now was that I didn’t know Steel well enough to say if he was angry or just thinking.

Finally, Steel nodded. “Yeah, the only upside to Jacksonville needing my direct attention is that Simone will be there, too.”

Dad took a long pull on his beer. “Are you claiming her?”

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