Page 41 of Savage Heart

Because Trouble was a motherfucking goddamn piece of shit who didn’t deserve to know about his own daughter. And now…he had to come clean.

Biting off a curse, he leaned back in his seat and sighed.

“I got some shit to say, brothers….”

Standing at the bar the next night, Trouble nearly dropped his beer when Slick slapped him on the shoulder, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Fuck, brother, I can’t believe you’re a dad,” he marveled. “That’s some heavy shit right there. And that Doc kept her from you—”

Trouble whirled and grabbed Slick’s skinny neck with his empty hand, squeezing as he got close enough to Slick’s nose to feel him suck in air.

“You got it all wrong,brother,” Trouble advised, his voice soft but filled with menace. “She didn’t doshitwrong. I was the one who did her wrong, and that little girl was raised alone because of it. Doc did an amazing job with that little girl. No one—and I meanno onetalks shit about Liz.”

First step to getting his woman back was admitting his wrongs. At least that was the bullshit Hawk told him last night after Church, when Hawk, Fang, Odin, and one of their outside security support comrades, Dog Gentry, got together at Up to No Good for a drink. The men had all fallen hard for their women,fucked up, and had to do whatever was necessary to get their women back.

Trouble was in the precarious position of being where they all were before; in the wrong with his woman. His fuck up, though, was compounded with ten years of hard feelings. He’d betrayed the woman he loved, lost ten years of a life they could have had together, and ten years with a daughter he still hadn’t officially met. Was there any coming back from that? He had to believe there was a way, because he was going to fucking take it. He refused to believe that this was it for him. For them. He wanted his family back, and he’d do anything to that end—even sit down and get roasted by men he respected, then listen to their stories, their advice, and their warnings. By the end of the night, Trouble had a head full of information…and a heart that ached for what they’d gone through. And his thoughts were filled with anxiety about what he could expect during his long fight to reconciliation.

He’d already taken the first step by opening up and admitting all he’d done to his brothers. And that shit hurt like hell.

During Church, Trouble had laid it all out—what he’d done to Liz, why, and how it had all been for nothing since she’d stayed in Vegas. The brothers, not surprisingly, were disappointed in him, shaking their heads in disapproval. Odin, especially, was upset because he knew the shit that had gone down before with Bonnie and her bullshit, how she betrayed the club and got Fang’s woman, Tessa, kidnapped and hurt because of it. All the brothers were also understandably upset that Trouble’s actions years ago created a ten-year-old sore spot between Liz and the Raiders, one they hadn’t known was there until Trouble explained what happened.

“Now her cold shoulder toward brothers makes sense. Yeah, she’ll fix up our shit, but she doesn’t engage with us, ya know? It’s because she hates us.”Hound had been right…and wrong.Liz didn’t hate anyone—except him—she was just wary around the club. She loved the club women—even some of the whores—so it wasn’t the club she had a problem with, it was the men of the club, the brothers she’d known ten years ago, some of which were still active members. Like Hell Hound.“Brother, when you told me to stand at the door and text you when she was there, I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t wrongly assume she was a bitch you wanted to scrape off. You let me think she was trouble for the club…. I did that woman wrong that day, brother, and I don’t know if I can forgive you for that.”That, more than anything else his brothers had said, had hurt the most. But he took it, because he’d earned that anger.

“S-sorry, man,” Slick croaked, dragging Trouble from his troubled thoughts. “ I didn’t mean anything by it. Doc is cool, brother. She helped me out when that tattoo got infected.”

Rolling his eyes, Trouble dropped his hand.

“That’s what you get for getting drunk and getting a cheap tattoo at a truck stop,” Trouble remarked. The club owned an award-winning tattoo parlor, Savage Ink, and club brothers got their ink done there for free. Slick was a dumbass.

Slick rubbed his neck. “Yeah, yeah. I learned my fucking lesson.”

Trouble snorted, then lifted his beer to take a swig. Swallowing, he offered, “And now you have that kickass tattoo of a…what is that? A two-legged horse?” Trouble leaned in to stare at the bad as shit tattoo on Slick’s neck.

Slick drew up his shoulders to try and hide the hideous ink. “Nah, man, it’s a chupacabra.”

“Only you would get a fucking tattoo of a goat sucker on your neck,” Fang declared as he rolled up to stand beside Trouble. “Next time,hermano, don’t trust lot lizards for ink,” he advised, shaking his head, his overlong hair brushing against his ownneck tattoo; his ol’ lady’s road name,Fuega, inked there in red, orange, and black.

Fang turned to Trouble. “Hey man, you got a minute?”

Trouble furrowed his brow. “Yeah, man.” He cocked his head toward the back booth that was designated for officers only. It was where quiet conversations about club business were held. Trouble led Fang to the booth, then slid in. He lifted his hand to signal to Daisy for another beer. Once he had a new beer in hand, he leaned back, cast his gaze to Fang, and said, “What’s on your mind, brother?”

Fang flicked his gaze toward the common room which was filling up with brothers, their women, and a few of the clubwhores. Thankfully, Amelia hadn’t been around much over the last two days—he actually hadn’t seen nor heard from her since he’d seen her glaring at him across the common room yesterday, which was both a relief and worrying. When Amelia was pissed, she thought the silent treatment would net her what she wanted. Always, though, it just gave Trouble and the other brothers blessed drama-free silence for a few days. Unfortunately, Trouble knew she’d be back around soon enough.

“What’s going on with you and that little girl? Tessa said you haven’t been to see her. You know she’s livin’ with Fae and Hawk at their place right now, right?”

Yeah, he knew. At first, Erika had stayed with Skathi, but as Skathi’s pregnancy was progressing, she found that she couldn’t keep up with a rambunctious nine-year-old. So, Fae, the sweetheart, volunteered to take her in until Liz was released from the hospital. From all reports from Hawk, Erika was doing well. Thankfully, she hadn’t had any nightmares about what happened, but she was getting more and more agitated about seeing her mom. It wasn’t a surprise that Liz was putting off having Erika visit; the bruises on her face were still dark and swollen when he’d last seen her only the day before. Liz didn’twant Erika to see her like that. Trouble got it, he understood, really, he did. However…that meant he had to wait to see his own daughter, because it didn’t seem right to introduce himself, especially because of the circumstances surrounding his absence from her life.

He’d have to wait for Liz.

After what went down with her yesterday, you’ll be waiting until you die, motherfucker.

Shit. He could only hope that once Liz had time to simmer down, she’d realize that he sincerely wanted a relationship with Erika. That he desperatelyneededone. She’d been right there, in his city, under his nose, for nearly ten fucking years. He’d cheated himself out of all that time with her.

And he wouldn’t miss another moment.

“It’s complicated. I want to meet her, God, do I want to meet her, man, but it’s not right. I wasn’t there for her all that time, and it wouldn’t be right to just force myself into her life.”

Fang nodded sagely.

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