Page 92 of Wrath

“Eden, I can see that you're a strong girl, so I’m gonna give this to ya straight. I wasn’t put on this earth to be anybody’s father. I train men how to kill, I train ‘em how to torture, and how to withstand bein’ tortured themselves. I amnotthe kinda man you need in your life.” He looks a little tortured himself, but I’m not taking that as an excuse.

“You know what? I’m sick of this. I’m sick of all of it. You, Raze, Aaron, you're all the same. You all decided you knew what was best for me and I had to suffer the consequences. Feeling like you weren’t good enough is a lame excuse.Ishould have been the one who got to make that call!”

I realize that I’m yelling, and try to compose myself.

“When Raze first told me about ya, I acted shocked. I had to because I knew he’d be ashamed of me if he knew the truth.”

“And whatisthe truth?” I wonder what more revelations can come from this conversation.

“That I already knew you existed,” he admits, closing his eyes. “Your momma let me know when you were born, she told me that you were bein’ adopted by a nice family who lived by the beach. She was givin’ ya the best chance at a good life and she made me promise never to ruin it.” I feel a cramp in my stomach when I hear him speak about her. I know from talking to the adoption agency that she died not long after I was born.

“At the time I took the call, I had three dead men laid out in front of me. I remember starin’ at them really hard, focusin’ on all the bad things I’d done to them, just to stop me from imaginin’ what you might have looked like,” he admits. “It was a closed adoption. I had no way of findin’ out where you’d gone. I hated that. But I hated the idea of you knowin’ who I was,more. You should never have gone to the club lookin’ for me.” He places his oxygen mask over his face and inhales.

“I’m never going to regret it. I found Raze, I found Aaro–”

“Aaron,” he shakes his head and laughs. “The hero who fucked ya in front of eight men to earn his cut.” He puts it so crudely that I want to launch one of Trish’s elaborate horse ornaments at him.

“That’s not how it happened. Cliff put us in a position of him or them, and I begged for it to be him.” He closes his eyes as if hearing it out loud causes him pain. “Aaron wasprotectingme!” I make that point very fucking clear.

“Aaron should be dead!” He grits the words out through his teeth. “He should have taken on all eight of those men before he allowed you to go through that.”

“Can you hear yourself?” I laugh at him “When did you ever fight for me,Dad?”

“I… I’ve tried fixin–”

“Asking this family to take me on wasn’t the fix I needed. I neededyou. I neededmyfamily. Not this one.”

“All I ever did was what I thought was best.”

“And that’s exactly what everyone else has done. Aaron, leaving me after it happened. Raze, keeping his distance so I wouldn’t be drawn back to the club. You hate them for what they did to me, but you didexactlythe same thing. Is this the life you think I want?” I look around the Collard’s luxurious living room. “It’s not. It never was. I want the life I’m living, right now. Me and Aaron together, the way it always should have been. A brother who proves to me he cares every single day, and friends.Realfucking friends.I know the club is dangerous. I know there will always be a risk but that'smychoice.”

Vex goes to speak but I interrupt him.

“Do you know that, right now, Raze has Cliff Adams? He has him at the warehouse where he made Aaron take my virginity, and he’s ensuring that I never have to worry about him again.”

“At the warehouse, huh?” Vex nods his head as if he’s impressed.

“Did you know that Cliff was in town? Is that why you're here?”

“You tell enough men who ya don’t trust, what ya want your enemy to know, eventually it’ll get back to him.” His smirk is a devious one.

“So, you're the reason Cliff came here?”

“Raze wanted to draw him out, I helped push him in the right direction.” He shrugs.

“How?” For a hermit who never leaves his cabin, my father seems to orchestrate a lot.

“I told a few people that Grimm found out his Mom was bein’ watched and that he asked the guys from Long Beach to take her and keep her hidden.”

“You put Anita in danger? The whole point of Aaron taking her was to keep her safe.”

“A woman loved by Cliff Adams is never safe. And no, I didn’t put Anita in any danger. Ever since I heard you were back in Long Beach, I’ve had my own men watchin’ the club. Cliff was never gonna get close to ya. Me and Errol go way back and I knew Raze would be loyal to him when he took over Long Beach, Cliff would’ve known the same. Which is why he totally bought the story that Anita had bein’ hidden in his whorehouse.” He looks proud of himself, and when he goes to stand up I get confused.

“Where are you going? This conversation isn’t over.” I watch him hobble his way to the door.

“No, but I’m gonna have to put it on hold.” He smiles back at me. “I was happy for your brother to end Cliff because I knew itwas important for the club, but that was before I knew what he did to ya. Now that I do, it’s me that’s gonna take that fucker’s last breath.” He reaches for the door and I quickly rush to get in front of him. I ignore the woozy feeling it gives me as I slam my hand over his.

“I’m coming with you,” I tell him firmly.

---