Page 42 of Piston

How in the hell did he know?

Trying to swallow past the lump forming in my throat, I manage to get my feet to move and walk into the kitchen to start dinner, knowing Coop will be hungry. All the while, I try to harden my heart again, willing it to stop wishing things were different.

Our past is too messy, and my childhood still haunts me, threatening any potential future.

Piston and I were supposed to end over two years ago, and as soon as I can convince Steal to allow us to divorce without Piston losing his patch, we’ll go our separate ways, and he can find someone who he’ll trust 100%, who he won’t accuse of trying to trap him, believing the worst and me. And I’ll try to open my cold, dead, unlovable heart….

14

Piston

Squeezing the steering wheel, I pull up into the pickup line outside Cooper's school, not giving a shit that I’ve got my cut on in a cage, my mind baffled by what I just learned.

Her stepmother fucked her high school boyfriend, her only actual boyfriend, but the guy she gave her virginity to.

My grip tightens on the wheel at that thought.

I knew she wasn’t a virgin when we met, but fuck, the thought of someone else touching her makes me want to kill someone.

How in the fuck did I go from the guy who just wanted a casual fling to not being able to enjoy women fucking each other, and needing to be near the woman I was forced marry?

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Steal! She fucking lied, the test wasn’t even positive, why can’t I divorce her!”I shout as I bang my fists on his desk, my emotions all over the place after Natalie dropped the bomb that the test was negative. Steal doesn’t flinch.

“You know the club law, Piston. If you divorce her and take your cut back, then you’ll lose your patch, and I’m not willing to lose you. I’m sorry, but you made your bed, and now you have to lie in it, just like all the other brothers who believed they made a mistake in who they chose.”

I chew my bottom lip before mumbling, “I really need to thank Steal for not allowing me to divorce her….”

I don’t think I would have gone through with it if he had agreed, but if I had, fuck me, would I have destroyed the clubhouse with regret, which is something I believe he foresaw.

A relationship was something I never wanted, and even now, I’m terrified I’ll turn into my father, and then there’s the whole baby-trapping thing, but the thought of not having her in my life…I feel like I’m suffocating.

But how can I get over something like that?

Maybe by talking to her,a voice whispers in the back of my head just as the backdoor opens.

I smile as Cooper climbs in, and his eyes light up seeing me, “Piston!”

I grin. “Buckle up, kid.”

He nods and does as he’s told, before talking about his day and asking how his sister is.

The kid’s fucking amazing, despite the fact his mother is a bitch. I’ll ensure she never hurts him again, that her vile, nastiness won’t touch him, even if it’s the last thing I do.

I won’t let him become jaded like his sister…like me….

One Week Later

“That kid is awesome,” Acid states as he sits next to me at the counter, and I chuckle, turning to check on him.

Cooper is hunched over in the booth, drawing another picture for his sister’s fridge, a chocolate milkshake in front of him.

Natalie has a meeting with two parents this afternoon, after two boys started punching the shit out of each other during recess. She called me while I was underneath her kitchen sink, begged me to pick Cooper up, saying that she doesn’t trust Christy after last week, and I agreed instantly.

The kid’s become family, and Aunt Holly adores him.

I nod and agree, “That he is.”

Smiling at how much he’s trying to concentrate, I turn and calculate the numbers before me.

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