Page 18 of The Other Princess

“Really? You honestly think that? Did you see the same girl I saw who just broke the fuck down from seeing you all in her space together?”

“Yeah, she broke down because she doesn’t want us here.”

“I never thought you were a coward,” I told Double-D knowing full well I had probably just earned myself a beat down by the man.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me. You walk out of here with your tail tucked between your legs before you set shit right with Ever and that is exactly what you are. Hell, it’s what you’ve been all this time anyway. What all of you have been, considering your target started out as nothing more than a little girl who fucking watched her mom die in front of her only to be thrown into a fucked up family who hated her for no fucking reason. You guys lave all your praise and love on Anna, who doesn’t even try to be in your good graces, and then there’s Ever who has broken herself trying to get the scraps anyone’s offered. The only difference is who their mom is, and neither of them can help that. The thing that SHOULD have mattered was who their father was, and that should have been everything for both of your girls. So, yeah, you heard me. If you walk out before resolving things with her, you can take my kutte with you, because I’m done being a part of an organization and a family who would destroy a girl because they’re too fucking stupid to see the amazing person standing in front of them all these years.”

I expected a retaliatory outburst from Double-D at best, but his eyes fixed on something beyond my shoulder instead, causing me to tense. I hadn’t wanted Ever to come back out and hear that I was arguing with her father to stay and see things through. That kind of defeated the whole purpose of this trip and them walking in on their own without a fucking gun held to their heads. Not that I hadn’t thought of getting them here in just that way.

“Um,” Ever started hesitantly, making me turn around and take in the rest of the shop again. She stood there looking slightly defeated with her arms wrapped around her own waist as Zeke stood tall behind her. I wasn’t sure what to make of Zeke, and his relationship with Ever. T-Bone had told me he was her mentor here, but I’d heard enough about his escapades to wonder if he had different motivations too. At least, I was happy to see that Kane hadn’t come back out with her still wrapped up in his arms. I wasn’t sure if I could handle seeing that again without getting a little violent.

“Can one of you please explain why you’re all here so we can get this over with. It’s not fair to have Zeke’s place closed up like this.”

“Take your time, Ever. I already told you it’s not a problem.”

“No, it’s my problem apparently, and it shouldn’t affect your business.”

Zeke just shook his head in the negative and smiled down at her. “Remember our little talk last week, girl? This is one of those times when a hand’s being extended. Just take it.” With those parting words Zeke turned and disappeared back around the corner to the employee lounge, no doubt. I didn’t think he was sliding out the back door with all of us still here with Ever.

“You sure do have these boys here wound up about you,” Crow huffed out indignantly. I turned and gave him a look that could damn near kill. He blustered a bit before tacking on, “Just saying, they seem pretty loyal to her is all.”

“Yeah, take a good look, so you remember what that looks like,” I told him before turning back to Ever. “I’m not sure where to start, but that’s what they’re all here for, a fresh start, and closure on the past. We have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?” She looked entirely reluctant to hear any more, and damn near confirmed this when she glanced over her shoulder, no doubt looking for one of the shop boys to come save her from whatever proposition we had.

“Ever,” Double-D stepped up then, but he choked out her name and then took a step back to collect himself again.

“Sis,” T-Bone stepped forward in his dad’s place. “Each one of us in this room has wronged you in some away, aside from Deck. I know that our club ceremony didn’t mean anything to you, and that not a whole lot of attitudes changed afterward which led you to believe it was a sham.” I watched as Ever just shrugged her slim shoulders at her brother. It was somewhat unfortunate that the gesture also made her tits rise, fall, and bounce in a way that made a certain part of me begin to stand up and take notice.

Luckily, for me, T-Bone was her brother and didn’t notice shit like that so he kept right on going which kept everyone’s attention rapt on either him or Ever. “The thing is, you were right about that. I think only a few of us took it seriously, and because you noticed that, none of us got the second chance that some of us wanted so badly.” His eyes were pleading with hers then. “I do, Ev. I want the relationship we used to have before everything went down. I know I fucked up – big time. I tried to make up for it, but I know it was too little too late then. I can’t stand to think that I didn’t have your back when you needed me most, Evie. It kills me inside every time I want to pick up the phone and call you, to share things about my life, or to fucking know what’s going in yours and then to realize I can’t, because you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Toby,” Ever stated quietly, and I saw the hope swell in his eyes right before she deflated it again with her next words. “I just don’t trust you anymore.”

“I deserve that,” T-Bone told her as he ducked his head and went to take a seat, the stench of defeat coming off of him in almost palpable waves.

“We all want you to make us a tattoo,” my idiot brother finally blurted out after watching his best friend strike out.

“You what?” Ever asked, voice raised and incredulous.

My father moved behind J-Bird and slapped his hand across the back of Jay’s neck. “Idiot!” Instead of continuing to admonish his son, Merc turned to Ever and held his hands out, palm down, as if she were a rabid animal he was attempting to calm. “My son is an idiot, and we all learned that lesson the incredibly hard way already, so I don’t know why the hell he thought it was his turn to speak. What the dumbass was trying to say is that we would all like to wear our sins on our skin as penance to you, and as our way of letting you know how committed we all are to really making things right this time.” Merc set weary eyes on me for a moment before looking back at Ever. “My other son has a good head on his shoulders and some fine ass ink on his arm, that you are apparently responsible for. Those two things combined to come up with the idea.”

“What idea, exactly?” Ever asked once more.

“We want you to draw a tattoo for each of us. Something that symbolizes how you feel, or I suppose more to the point, how we’ve made you feel over the years. We want you to ink that tattoo on our skins, and once they’re healed we want you to tell us all about them in a family meeting. The other brother’s will know our shame, and that we wear it for the rest of our lives.”

I was actually proud of my dad for that last line, because he was finally acknowledging the fault they all shared in destroying Ever. Ever seemed to be contemplating what her response should be. “You want me to draw a tattoo for each of you and put them on your bodies?” She asked, seemingly in a daze.

“Yeah, Ever. We’re not even going to look at them until we all get up in front of the rest of the club and you explain what each one means. You get to pick, and we don’t even need to know ahead of time what they are. Just, if I could request one thing, no giant dicks.” I knew T-Bone was trying for levity with his request, but I could have kicked him, because I told them no requesting anything from her other than she does this thing to help everyone heal.

“No giant dicks,” she parroted while nodding her head and glancing down at her shoes. “Hmm,” the sound clearly meant she was thinking, but I wish I could know what was going through her head in that moment. “After this is said and done, if I ask that you all stay out of my life, you’ll do it?”

A choking sound came from my left, where I knew Ever’s dad was, but I couldn’t look away from her. My dad was the one to answer her. “If that’s what you truly want, I will make it a club decree, if need be.” When Ever didn’t respond he asked the hardest question I think my dad has ever had to ask anyone, because the answer was something no one in this room was ever going to be ready for. “Is that what you want, Ever?”

She only offered a quick shrug of her shoulders again before answering. “I’m not sure just yet. I guess I’ll wait and see how this plays out first.”

“You have my word that our intentions are genuine this time.”

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