Page 6 of Wait For Me

“Does she ride?” I asked, because now I definitely knew where this was going, and my fucking nuts were starting to shrivel up at the thought. Not that Star was hard to look at or anything. There was just no part of me that wanted to settle down with anyone right now, least of all the daughter of the club’s president. Fuck knows, I’d be paying for every wrong thing I ever said to the girl. And I was under no illusions. If I was married to Star, Mack and Tripp were not going to tolerate me fucking the club whores too. It didn’t matter what other members did whether they were married or not. The same rules would not apply to the princess’ husband.

“No, she doesn’t ride.” His answer came along with a thousand-yard stare that made me fucking itchy under my skin. I knew he could see it in my eyes. ‘Don’t ask this of me.’ That phrase was on repeat in my head as he took another shot that was handed to him by Mack.

“I know all about your proclivities, Bagger. I’m not asking you to have the traditional relationship with my daughter that one might normally have with an old lady. I’m asking you to claim my kid, in name only, so she doesn’t have to go anywhere. Make it official with a wedding, if need be, but I won’t hold it against you for stepping out and doing what you gotta do, so long as my girl gets to remain close.”

My jaw dropped, even though I had been expecting him to ask me to claim her for a while now, I was stunned stupid by the rest. It wasn’t exactly what I thought he would say. No way would I ever think he would serve his daughter up to a shit relationship like that.

Mack had turned his back on Tripp as he spoke. “You want me to marry your daughter, and you would be okay with me fucking other women while bound to her?”

“Not a normal marriage,” he groused before throwing his shot glass across the room. We all watched as it shattered. “Fuck! You think I want to make this offer? Outside of her own fucking brother, you’re the closest full patch member in her age range. And I don’t know why, but she likes you,” he added to Mack’s amusement. Though, the laugh he barked out held no humor, so it was obvious that was an understatement.

I wasn’t stupid, his girl had a thing for me for years. It was the reason I stopped letting Kip drag her along wherever we went when we got to high school. I shook my head to try to clear the bullshit.

“You really think it’s going to go over well with her if I’m stepping out all the time? She’s fucking crushed on me for years, I ask her to marry me, she’ll think it’s the real deal.”

“Make it real then. Make her think it’s real and keep your other shit quiet.”

“You would seriously condone me cheating on your daughter?” I couldn’t wrap my head around that part, and honestly, it fucked with my perception of my Prez. I’d thought him damn near flawless before, but it was like the beer goggles had come off and I was seeing clearly for the first time.

An inhuman sounding growl burst free of the man, and swear to fuck, I felt that rumble in the air like quake caused by sheer emotions.

“NO! I’m not fucking okay with that shit. I hope like fuck that you’ll realize what a great girl she is and won’t want to play your fucking games anymore. But I get that you don’t harbor those same feelings for her – yet. I fucking know what I’m asking, and I feel like shit for doing it. Still has to be done.”

“Can’t you petition to have the bylaws changed?” I asked out of desperation because fuck if I wasn’t backed into a corner here.

“Already tried. They won’t even take it to the table,” Mack informed me without turning to face us. He stood there, facing the white brick wall of the office, his hands clutching the Patrón bottle as if it was his salvation, before taking a swig straight from the source. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before turning his head just enough so he could make eye contact with me. “They said if they start fucking with the bylaws every time some brother has a family situation come up, how’s that gonna look to the members who came before them and couldn’t get the same shit done?”

“Looks like we’re finally making progress and eliminating stupid-ass rules,” I mumbled. Both men in the room laughed at my response, though I found no humor in it.

“Yeah, Bag, that’s what we thought too, but it doesn't change the fact that it’s not an option.”

“What if I never fucking feel for her the way you seem to hope I will? What’s going to happen when the illusion of a happy marriage is gone, and I make her miserable? We all know that eventually she’ll find out if I’m fucking around on her. Some big mouth always runs too fucking much about shit they shouldn’t.”

“It’ll at least give me more time to figure out a different solution. Hell, for all we know, she might not even agree to this shit.” That was seriously wishful thinking on Tripp’s part.

“You know that’s not going to happen,” Mack told him in a sad voice. At least her uncle didn’t want this for her.

“Why is this so important? She’ll still be able to come to the open family parties here.”

Tripp shook his head. “This clubhouse has been her only home since her momma died. Every one of these motherfuckers that wears the cut in this place are her family. She’ll be cut off from all that except the four times a year she’s allowed to join in and come back home.”

“Told you to get another house,” Mack mumbled, barely audible the way his back was turned to us.

“And I told you I would never watch another fucking house burn to the ground. You wanted me to paint a target so they could get my kids the same way they got my old lady.” Tripp pulled at his hair in frustration. “I couldn’t do it again. It was better for them to stay here.”

“And now you have two fucking months to figure shit out for your daughter because you put it off for so fucking long.”

It didn’t feel right, me witnessing their family squabble. Sure, we were all family – one big brotherhood – but this was different. It was personal, and I shouldn’t have been a part of it. Except that they were asking me to fucking join the family in a bigger way.

“What do you think Kimmy would say?”

“Same shit you’ve been harping the whole time I had them living here,” Tripp grumbled.

“No place for a girl to grow up. You know the shit she’s seen around here?” Mack shook his head and turned to give Tripp his full attention then. “You should have let her come stay with Viv and me. That fucking rule exists in the club for a reason, because no brother’s daughter should ever have to sit around a clubhouse and watch her surrogate uncles fucking the whores. Have you even talked to her about it? Does she want this, to stay here, to be a part of the MC?”

“She does, but there’s a specific way she sees that going down.” Tripp’s eyes came back to meet mine then. Fuck my life. I knew what he was getting at. She wanted to stick around and become my old lady.

“I do this for you – it’s club business. I need you to understand that my heart ain’t in this shit. I don’t love her – hell I barely know the girl. Won’t fuck her either because I’ll be with other people and that’s the only way that I know to show my respect to her and to you.”

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