Page 19 of JoJo

“But you were with her for a long time though, right?”

“Two years,” he nodded. “I think we were together more out of habit than anything else at that point though. She kept wanting me to claim her, and the desperation around that was a turn off for me. I don’t know. There was no heat, no real passion between us. She was looking for an old man. I’m not a fan of club whores or promiscuity really so, I kept her around longer than I should have since I knew it wasn’t going anywhere. I’m not really proud of that fact.” He let out a bitter sigh. “I really probably had it coming considering. Her betrayal stung a little, because she should have just come out and told me she wasn’t happy. You know? She should have just manned up and left before going in search of her next possible way into the club for life. Anyway, her betrayal sucked for those reasons, but Flint’s…” he rubbed his hands over the slight stubble coming up on his bald head making it obvious he was bald by choice and not because nature forced the issue. “That’s ultimately why I left.”

“And Sweet knew all of this?” Steel nodded. “Well I guess his reaction makes a little more sense now. Still, he should have been worried about his own problems. Hell, he was the one keeping you from actively telling me about all of this.”

“Yeah, I tried pointing that out to Quickshot earlier. He just kept insisting that Sweet felt I had no plans to tell you.”

“Sounds like his guilty conscious was speaking.” When Steel said nothing else I turned to look at him. He was taking in the interior of my little mountain cottage. My front door opened into the living room looking back to the stairs that ascended to the second level. To our right was the dining room, currently closed off by wooden accordion style doors. In the far right corner of the lower level was my kitchen and then the addition off the back, which used to be a porch area now housed a laundry room and pantry. The floors were currently in a rough wood state. I’d pulled all the carpeting up off the original wood floors a week ago when I needed an outlet for my anger.

“You getting ready to redo the floors?” He finally asked.

“Yeah, I pulled all the old carpet last week.”

“You going to recover this?” Steel bent down to touch the surface of the wood planking as he examined it closer.

“Actually, I was hoping to sand down what was here and restore it.” He smiled as he continued his inspection. “I’m not a fan of carpeting, and I think these can be beautiful again with a little tender, love, and care.”

“I’m not a fan of carpeting when you have floors like this either. They’re good and sturdy. Once you bring them back to life, they will be absolutely gorgeous.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” I smiled at him and then realized I was dying of thirst, and I was apparently a bad hostess. “Hey, do you want a drink or something? I have some beer or sweet tea in the fridge.”

“Beer is fine. I never understood the love of tea-flavored sugar water, even when I lived in the south before.”

“You lived here before?” I tossed out the question over my shoulder as I moved to the kitchen.

“Well, not here exactly, but right along the Kentucky and West Virginia border. One of the times when my mom moved closer to try to be a family with my dad. It didn’t work out and we ended up back in North Dakota where my mom is from and she met her current husband.”

“That must have been rough,” I handed him his beer, a semi-local brew from across the North Carolina border.

“This stuff any good?” He questioned while examining the bottle.

“Well, to each his own, but I happen to like it. If you don’t, there’s always water from the tap.” That brought a smile to his face before he tipped the bottle to his lips and took a sip, followed by a longer swig.

“So, if you grew up mostly with your mom, how’d you end up in the MC?”

“My dad’s a founding member. My step-dad ended up helping get the Dakotas chapter set up too. I guess being both born and married into the life through my mom made it all stick. Besides, I was there helping out as a teenager when the Dakotas Chapter was established. So, about the time that I was set to make a decision, everyone there was already family to me. It didn’t make sense not to be a part of that.”

“I bet your mom misses you.”

“Yeah, but Flint is her best friend’s son. If I hadn’t left, he would have been forced to go. Since Jenn is most likely pregnant with his kid, it seemed best if they stayed and I went.”

“Still, doesn’t seem fair though. They both cheated on you, and you get exiled?” I made a mean face while he just shrugged it off. After taking a sip of my beer I asked the big question. “What if it’s your baby? Then what? I will not hold you to our deal if you need to go get your family stuff straight.”

Steel glanced up at me then, really looking at me, almost as if truly seeing me for the first time. “Whether it’s my kid or not, I will never be with Jenn again. Even if there was that spark between us, I couldn’t go there again. What she did, and who she did it with, those are unforgivable in my book. If it’s my kid, I’ll take care of it financially and do the visit thing either here or there, but other than some co-parenting there will be no family ties between Jenn and me.”

I just nodded my head and took another sip of my beer.

“Although, if my having a kid is a problem for you…” I stopped his thought process right there.

“No way. You warned me you had baggage. Hell, you’ve seen some of mine first hand already. What’s done is done, and we can figure it out as we go. As far as I’m concerned, we’ll roll with whatever. I just didn’t want you to feel obligated to stay if things change for you.”

“I take my vows seriously, JoJo. Whether we’re only married for your required five years or beyond, I’m only yours in every way. Like I said, I don’t do the cheating thing. I understand if that’s not what you signed up for. I’ll deal with whatever you need to do.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’m pretty much in the same boat.” The genuine smile that graced his features then sent the butterflies in my belly into a frenzy.

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