Page 45 of Big Red

“Baby girl, we can talk about this la?—”

“Is this her? Is she my mom?”

Her eyes fill with tears, but not out of sadness or hurt. She looks angry. “Is it?” she presses.

Red watches her with a sad and defeated expression before he nods. Cindy whirls back to Chloe, who has a light smile on her face, but Cindy's next words wipe that smile clean off her face.

“Why did you leave us? I want to know.”

I notice Cara and Sara standing off to the side with clenched fists. Knowing those two, if the kids weren’t around, they would be dragging Chloe down to the ocean to drown her.

“Sweetheart, you wouldn’t understand. I just couldn’t?—”

“You’re right. I don’t understand. You left us andnevercame back. Now you’re back and expect us to just accept that. How do we know you won’t leave again?”

“I um…it’s not that…Cindy…” She sighs, rubbing her forehead.

Cindy shakes her head and backs away, tears running down her cheeks. Colt is right beside her, eyes full of hurt. “I don’t want her here, Dad. Make her go away.”

Cindy turns and runs away, and Colt is right behind her. Sara and Crystal take off after them.

“I’m going to go check on them.”

Red nods and pecks my lips. Walking away, I hear an irate Chloe going off about Red trying to replace her with me. This bitch is delusional. She chose to leave and thinks that she can just pop back up with no hard feelings. Maybe, if Cindy and Colt were too young to understand, but that isn’t the case. They’re older now and completely understand what she did to them.

When I approach the kids, they pull out of Sara and Crystal's grasp and run to me. I sit on the ground and hold their shaking bodies as they cry. A few tears of my own drop as I understand what they’re going through all too well.

“I don’t want to see her, Alice,” Cindy cries.

“Me either,” Colt mumbles.

“Then you won’t,” I tell them.

A part of me feels like I’m speaking out of turn, but I’ve grown to love and care about Cindy and Colt. I want whatever is best for them. Plus, I know Red doesn’t want Chloe anywhere near the kids, so I don’t feel like I’m lying to them.

I don’t know what Chloe has up her sleeve, but I have a feeling this is just the beginning of this storm.

Chapter Nineteen

BIG RED

As soon as Alice went after the kids, Chloe’s head looked ready to explode. I couldn’t care less. I don’t give a damn how she feels. The minute she walked away from our kids, any ounce of care I had for her dissolved.

“Those are my kids! You aren’t about to try and replace me as their mother. I am warning you, Red, either we come to some kind of agreement as far as custody or I’ll take you to court and go for full custody.”

I ball my fist at my side, attempting to simmer the rage building inside of me. Blade notices the look on my face all too well and whispers something in Bianca’s ear. They get up and start ushering all the smaller children further down the beach, far away from the commotion.

I turn to Chloe and look her dead in the eyes. “Are you forgetting you willingly walked out of their life for over five years? You aren’t exactly the picture-perfect parent.”

Chloe titters, placing her hands on her hips. “Oh, and you are? The biker dad who’s linked to a club that’s known for partying, doing drugs, and drinking. I’ll bet my last dollar a judge would prefer the married couple over the single biker dad.Not to mention, my man is the CEO of his company. He can give them a life you never could.”

By the time she’s finished, I feel like I’m seconds from beating the hell out of her husband since I can't slap her ass. Most everything she said was true. The club does party and drink, but we don't indulge in drugs. The most the brothers might do is smoke pot here and there.

On paper, Chloe and Jeffery are stellar parents. Even with Chloe being absent from their lives for the past six years, I’m not willing to gamble at the chance of her taking me to court.

“Why the hell are you doing this, Chloe? Even if I did agree to allow you to be around the kids, you heard what Cindy said. She doesn’t want to see you.”

“I don’t care!” she snaps. “She is a child. Her feelings don’t matter. She does whatever the hell she’s told.”

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