Page 13 of Walker

“Oh. Well…” he brushed his hand nervously through all that luscious hair of his and then chuckled. “Not that I wouldn’t. I mean… Well, you’re gorgeous and I enjoyed talking to you at the clubhouse. There was the store too,” He went on and it was a sight to see the gruff biker man tripping over his own words. “What I mean to say is…”

“Spare me.” A yawn slipped out of my mouth without my permission. Once I had more oxygen and myself under control, I tipped my head over to my vehicle. “No offense, but I’m dead on my feet. We can talk in my car, or maybe schedule whatever this is for a time after I get some sleep.”

“Is Josh still sick?”

My heart squeezed with the realization that the man knew my son’s name and bothered to ask about him. “He’s doing a bit better. The extra burst of energy he had today is part of the reason why I’m so dog-ass tired.” I moved to the SUV, unlocked it, and hopped into the driver’s side. If he wanted to talk, he could follow suit. Otherwise, I would go home and get the sleep I desperately needed.

Once Walker settled in beside me, he dipped his head and mumbled something I didn’t catch. Then, he twisted sideways a bit, took my hand, and held it in his own over the center console. “I fucking don’t want to be the one, but better me than either of the alternatives.”

“Shit, I knew it couldn’t be anything good.”

“If you don’t hate the shit out of me after this, I’ll gladly turn the night around and ask you out on a date. I don’t fucking deserve your time, but if you’re willing…”

I smiled at him and something deep inside my world-weary chest thumped. It may have been the heart I thought no longer had the capacity to pump for another human being beyond my children. “Okay. I’ll take you up on that.”

“Like I said, only if you don’t hate me after this.”

“Let’s just get it over with then. I hate anticipating bad news.”

Walker nodded, squeezed my hand, and then came out with the news that would have seemed impossible to me had someone told me back before my husband died.

“Thing is, this is fucked. It’s more fucked than it will seem in the beginning, but you have people at your back and fuck if I’ll leave you swinging in the wind.”

“Shit. Seriously, Walker, if you don’t spit it out I’m going to have a panic attack just listening to the buildup.”

“Right. Sorry,” he tacked on quickly. “The other day, after you took your family home, Griff told me a few things.”

“Griff?”

“The kid that was at the store with me.”

“Is he your son?”

Walker shook his head, and a sad look seemed to glaze over his eyes. “Can’t have my own,” he admitted. “He belongs to a club brother, but he has a lot going on with his wife and younger son.”

“It’s sweet of you to take him on,” I managed to get out. I meant that from the bottom of my heart. It wasn’t easy to be a parent and sometimes, you needed to be able to shuffle those responsibilities to someone else because there was only so much in the tank to give out to other people.

“Thing is, Griff was telling me about your daughter and why she was behaving the way she was.”

My face immediately flushed with embarrassment. “She’s not always like that. It was a rough week and…”

Walker cut me off. “No need to dole out excuses. I get it. Thing is, Griff has some inside information that I think is really important. He felt it was too. He wanted to take what he knew to his stepmom, Tash, but she’s been so busy, he didn’t want to burden her.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize Tash had a teenage stepson.”

“Their whole dynamic is new to them for the most part. Still, since he couldn’t get her involved to speak to you, he unloaded on me after he realized we already knew one another.”

“Okay. What could a kid in high school possibly have to say that will impact my life? Wait, did something happen to Ariel?”

Walker nodded his head and the knot in my stomach doubled in size. “There’s a girl that goes to school with them named Dina.” I nodded because I’d heard Ariel mention her on the phone to one of her friends before.

“Dina’s mother, Terry, went to high school with my husband and me.”

“Shit,” Walker huffed. The puzzle pieces started to mend themselves together at that point.

“Terry? Are you saying that…”

Walker squeezed my hand again and then placed his other hand over top of it, almost as if he was afraid I would bolt or disappear when he told me the rest. “According to what Dina had to say to Ariel at school, her mother, Terry, is coming for you because your husband stopped paying the bills for her when he died. For her and her other kid.”

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