Page 36 of Elling & Jackie

They had the same conversation every time they were face to face. Despite his climbing years, her dad would make sure he'd do something if she said any differently.

"You should be here, around family," he said gruffly.

To get him off the topic, she snorted. "You have so many family members running around here, you can't even keep track of them anymore. I'd get lost in the crowd, and then what would you do?"

Chief grunted. "I need to see my kids settled."

She sighed. No daughter wanted to lose their father at any age, but she also understood where he was coming from. His goal in life had always centered around his kids.

Jett, Olin, and Thorn had a different mother than her, and they'd lost her last year out of the blue from a heart attack. It'd hit Chief hard, and he became tougher on all of them, making sure they were all happy and comfortable. Only she and Stassi were left. But, they were both young, much younger than her brothers. Neither one of them ready to get married.

"I love you, Chief." She picked up his hand and kissed his knuckles.

"Love you, too. Remember that."

"I always do." She let him hold her hand.

No sooner had she relaxed, and her chair tipped backward. She jolted, reaching out to keep from falling, and found Shore and Cash beside her, picking her up in the air, chair and all, and carrying her across the yard.

"Oh, my God, you guys. Really?" She shook her head and held on to the arms of the chair in case they dropped her. "I snuck in one time...years ago."

"More than once." Cash huffed and looked at her. "Are you gaining weight?"

"No, it's called being twenty-four years old and too big for you to do this to me again." She viewed the old run-down truck in the field, where all the Brikken kids from ages eight to eighteen hung out, listening to the radio blaring. "This was funny when I was young. It's stupid now."

One time when she was sixteen years old, she'd snuck into a Brikken party. She'd been doing it for months without anyone knowing, but they'd both found her that time. Even worse, they found her wearing the sexiest, most pathetic outfit she owned to try and mix in with the crowd of women attending the party. She thought nobody would notice.

They'd noticed, and she just happened to be watching one of the members have sex with one of the party girls—it was the most bizarre, exciting, and horrifying moments of her life. Cash and Shore had promptly carried her out to the truck in the middle of the field, tied her to a chair in the bed of the pickup, and held her there until Chief arrived to talk with her.

She hadn't gotten in trouble. Instead, her dad had sat with her for a couple of hours and told her about how she should act and what men respected about women. It'd been the longest night of her life, and the most enlightening.

Her father hadn't been wrong about what attracted a man's attention.

The chair thunked down in the bed of the pickup. The kids scrambled out of the way.

She stood, getting away from Cash and Shore before they could grab her, and sliding down the side of the truck. With the bed in-between them, she glared at the two men. God, she loved them.

"Okay, you've had your fun. Ha. Ha. Let's all have one big laugh together." She pointed to the grownups in front of the clubhouse. "Now, I'm going to go back and visit while I'm here."

Shore and Cash walked in different directions around the vehicle and pinned her in with no escape. She laughed, missing the antics of her Brikken family. There was never a dull moment with over three hundred men around all the time.

Cash hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head. "Missed you, kid."

She kissed his cheek. "Same here. I haven't met anyone who can drive me nuts like you."

Shore rubbed her head. "Come home more, 'kay? Besides, you're old enough to come to the parties on Fridays."

"Those days are over. I'll let you guys have your fun without me tagging around." She walked back to the clubhouse with them, answering their nosey questions.

Neither one of them had claimed a woman, and she bet they still participated in party nights. She left their side when she noticed Stassi sitting in her spot beside Chief. Grabbing another chair, she sat down with her family, soon joined by her mom.

Over the next couple of hours, Jett and Sydney, Olin and Ashley, and Thorn and Jessy joined them under the tarp. Her nieces and nephews ran wild under the close-eye of every adult on the property.

She couldn't help slipping into thinking about Elling. When they'd had sex, he evoked the feelings of belonging in her. The same way she felt sitting here surrounded by her family. She'd never connected to someone that made her want to be with him more than being at Brikken.

It was an impossible situation with Elling belonging to Slag Motorcycle Club.

Not that it mattered anymore. He was gone. She'd go back to work on Monday night, and her life would go back to normal.

Normal was comfortable, fulfilling, and time-consuming.

She stood when the other women in her family went to fill plates for the men. Dammit. She should never have had sex with Elling. If she never would've met him, she wouldn't be miserable, and maybe she could appreciate time with her family instead of daydreaming about him.

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