Page 210 of Smooth Sailing

His lips tipped up slightly. “Biological father,” he repeated and ran a finger along my hairline. “Do you ever worry you’ll turn out like your mom?”

“No. I worry that I didn’t give my dad the credit he deserved for how hard he worked to make sure I didn’t.”

“He didn’t want you to know that, babe,” he reminded me.

“I know. And I have to get past it. I will. But we aren’t talking about me now.”

“I asked the question.”

I gave him a soft smile. “You’re right. You did.” I moved us along. “Do you worry you’ll be like your bio-father?”

“I did. Maybe still do. It’s haunted me.”

I could imagine.

“So this ex-president?” I prompted. “Is he going to help with that too?”

“Tack. Good man. Solid gold. Loving father. Loving husband. Loyal brother.”

“Okay,” I said when he stopped talking.

“Chaos recruited me. They came after me. I didn’t get that, not with who my…”—his lips curled up—“biological father was. But they told me my mom wanted it for me. I see it. She trusted them. And what Tack made of the Club, she knew it was a safe place for me. Somewhere I could be when she was gone with people looking out for me. So I became a prospect, but I did it for her.”

“I wish I’d met her,” I said fiercely.

“I do too, baby,” he whispered. “She would have loved you.”

“I hope so.”

“No, baby, get this, she would have really loved you.”

Fuck, I was going to cry again.

Fortunately, Hugger let that go and carried on, “What I didn’t get was what Ma really wanted me to have when it came to Chaos. Even though they told me from the beginning. I didn’t get it. Until recently.”

“What’s that?”

“Family.”

I closed my eyes and tucked my face in his throat.

He wove his fingers in my hair.

“I had one, and then she was gone, and it was just me,” he said quietly, like it was a confession. “But I’m understanding now, I’ve been grieving her something fierce. I been thinkin’, and I reckon that’s why I fell into just getting through one day at a time. It was always just her and me. Didn’t have any grandparents that I knew. Home wasn’t good for her growin’ up, she never went back. That meant I never lost anyone that meant anything to me. After she was gone, I didn’t know what I was feeling, so I couldn’t know how to deal with it.”

God, he was just killing me.

Sensing why his mom had to do what she had to do to get by.

How alone they were.

How alone he was after she was gone.

How much he loved her and how much he lost.

And that he had enough trust in me to be this beautifully honest.

Yes.

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