Page 45 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“Dadddeee!” My son squealed, and when I lifted my head and noticed them standing there, I wondered if it was possible to have a heart attack at the ripe old age of twenty. The look of disgust on Lily’s face was deserved, but the heartbreak and sheer hopelessness as her eyes darted between my son and me stung.

I took one step closer when Marissa took hold of my arm, as if she owned me. Taryn or Karyn - whatever her name was - followed suit. I didn’t even know her. She was new to the club and had tagged along mostly because Marissa wanted to show her the ropes for when they had to shop for the clubhouse.

Lily shook her head, telling me it was not okay to approach.

“Daddeee!!” Declan squealed again in that adorably drawn-out way of his. I literally had to decide there in the fucking aisle, with diapers on one end and condoms on the other, if I was going to piss Lily off further by breaking her one hardline rule, or if I was going to ignore my son and pretend that I hadn’t seen him.

I knew what I had to do, so I shook off both girls and turned in the opposite direction of my family and walked away.

“Damn, that’s cold as hell, Merc.”

“Don’t worry baby, I’ll fuck you good later and you’ll forget all about that shit.”

“Shut the fuck up! You two are the reason I can’t go to my son right now.” We heard him start to cry, and swear to God, I wanted to gut myself right there in the store.

“I think that bitch is the reason you can’t see your son. That just ain’t right.”

“No one blames her for not wanting whores around her kid. I certainly don’t. That shit you just pulled,” I told them both, “putting your hands on me like I belong to you, that just proved her point. You don’t fucking get to disrespect my wife in front of my kid. Not ever. You sure as fuck do not get to act like you own any part of me. Both of you get fucking gone, and don’t let me see you at the party tonight.”

“But, we have to be there. Timeless said attendance for club girls and dancers is mandatory tonight since it’s a patch party.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to suffer the consequences and hope Prez is feeling generous.”

“That’s not fair!” Marissa shouted at me.

“Neither is the shit you just pulled that stopped me from being able to go to my kid.”

I was not welcome at the house for weeks after that incident. Finally, Lily relented and let me come around to see our son again. The last thing I wanted to do was fuck shit up between us once more, but our fathers were on my ass about making nice with Lily. They weren’t alone. Besides, I needed to make sure she was living and not just playing the role of Mommy without ever getting a break. Boone and Robbie, obviously felt the same, telling me that she needed to be able to get out of the house at least a fraction of the time I was able to. And yeah, that had been an indictment on the fact that I was at the clubhouse more than I was ever with my kid in recent months.

“Just come out with me. It will get them off both of our backs, you’ll be able to loosen up, and the party isn’t even at the clubhouse. It’s at a friend’s place who doesn’t have shit to do with Aces High.”

“Fine, but after this, no more placating to Boone and Dad’s schemes.”

I couldn’t believe she agreed. “Pick you up at nine.”

“Nine?” Her eyes grew wide at the prospect and the way she glanced back to her bedroom made me laugh.

“Yeah, nine. A perfectly acceptable time to head out for a party when you’re an adult.” I continued to chuckle as she sneered at me. “I know for a fact you’ve been to parties before, so what’s the problem?”

“I only ever went to that one and I’m a mom now.”

“You’re also a woman who needs to have some fun,” I pointed out again.

“I already said that I’d go.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

~*~

Lily was a giant ball of nervous energy when I picked her up, but damn the woman looked good. It was hard to believe she ever had a kid, except for the fact that I knew she now had wider hips and bigger breasts as a result of having Declan, or maybe just from growing more. Shit, I didn’t know. The Lily standing before me looked more like a woman than she had the night we made our son. That was made obvious with those tight ass jeans she wore and the shiny red halter top. The girl was still in there somewhere though, because she had on red canvas shoes rather than high heels like all the other women who were out to impress.

Twice, I had to shake off women who attempted to approach me, and if there was any hope it hadn’t gone unnoticed by my wife, she quickly disavowed me of that theory.

“If you want to go say hello to your whores, feel free.”

“They’re not whores,” I insisted, thinking she thought they were club girls.

Lily turned to me. “Are they women who sleep with taken men? Did they know you were married with a child waiting for you at home when you fucked them?”

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