I walked from the treatment area to the front reception desk and when I spotted him, I prayed my jaw wasn’t hanging around my knees. Standing there in all his leather glory was a tall, muscular biker, with a well-trimmed goatee. He had shoved his sunglasses onto his smooth scalp and when he saw me, his smile nearly made me stumble.
“How can I help you?” I asked.
“Found this little cutie on the side of the road when I was in traffic,” he said as he opened his leather jacket and gently reached in to pull out a tiny calico kitten.
“Oh, sweet baby,” I cooed, holding out my hands. “Well, you’re a little thing, aren’t you?” I asked as I cuddled the yowling kitten close to my chest, my finger swiping its way between her ears in an attempt to comfort the spooked baby. “Follow me and we’ll get her checked out.”
He followed behind me as I went into the first exam room and set her down on the table. While I held her, I reset the scale then lifted my hand so I could get an accurate weight. “She doesn’tweigh much,” he rumbled out, his voice doing something to my insides I wasn’t willing to look at too closely.
“She looks to be about five, maybe six weeks old, if that,” I advised as I continued with my exam. Dr. Webber was in with another patient, but I was able to do the basics, at least, and I definitely wanted to hear his voice a little longer.
“What’s your name?” he suddenly asked. “I’m RiffRaff, with the Imperial Knights MC.”
RiffRaff? What an odd name,my mind whispered.
“Jillian Andrews.”
CHAPTER ONE
RiffRaff
I grinas I look at my phone. I can’t believe that it’s been a year since I started seeing Jillian. The first five or six months, our dates were during the day while her daughter was at school, but this weekend, I’ll finally meet her. She knows about me, of course, but understandably, Jilly wanted to take the time necessary for us to become familiar with one another. Kimber wasn’t happy that her mom was dating, but apparently, when she complained to her therapist, she was told that her mother was allowed to be happy. Granted, Kimber doesn’t know why her mom isn’t willing to sacrifice the rest of her life to her dead husband, and unless push comes to shove, she doesn’t ever plan to tell her, so she was resistant at first.
Still, even though this whole relationship thing is new for me since I think the last time I dated anyone might’ve been in high school. Of course, I got the best part of that when that bitch dropped Brick off to me and hit the road. It wasn’t easy being a teenaged father by a longshot, but I had my mom to help, plus the ol’ ladies stepped in as well whenever I was out on a run.Thankfully, when I took over the gavel, I made us mostly legit, with only a few morally gray things we did as a club.
There was no way I was gonna leave my boy to grow up on his own while I spent time in a concrete box or heaven forbid, six feet under, so I made those changes. We lost some brothers along the way, but with Brick at the helm, we have a helluva brotherhood these days. Add in the fact that he’s got a club princess as his ol’ lady and wife, I’m now a grandfather, and life’s pretty fucking good from where I’m standing.
RiffRaff: I see Chloe’s got y’all trained well.
Jilly: She’s a good kitty.
Yeah, she ended up taking the kitten I found on the side of the road home with her for her little girl. Since Ryleigh has her two, and Rory has one as well, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to introduce a kitten into the already chaotic mix.
RiffRaff: We still on for dinner with Kimber before her overnight?
Jilly: Definitely. You positive about this?
RiffRaff: Never more certain. I’m about to head into church, Jilly, so it may be a little while before I answer back.
Considering it’s been fuckingyearssince I’ve been with a woman, since shortly before my original diagnosis, it’s past time for ‘this’ as far as I’m concerned. However, I respect Jilly enough that I haven’t pushed the issue of sex. She’s worth the wait, even though I haven’t told anyone I’ve been seeing her.
It’s not because I’m embarrassed either. The brothers already suspect something’s going on since I take off most days to see Jilly. It’s more that I wanted us to get to know each other, and as crowded as the clubhouse has been with our Cedar Creek brothers staying in Roanoke right now, I didn’t want to send her running down the road until I had her good and hooked.
Jilly: Bikers go to church? LOL.
Silly woman, she knows what it means, but it makes me chuckle because this is what she says every time I bring up that we’re headed into church. And trust me, ever since Kracken’s shit exploded so spectacularly, we’ve had more of them than I think there’s been in the history of this chapter, regardless of the club’s name!
I can’t wait to introduce her to Brick, Ryleigh, and my sweet Aubree, as well as the rest of the chuckleheads who I call brother. Hopefully, the women will balance out those assholes. That thought has me snickering until I hear Brick ask, “What’s going on, old man? You losing your marbles again?”
“Fucker, no I’m not, and when I’m ready to tell you what’s happening in my personal life, I will.”
“He’s got a woman, Brick, I told you that already,” Banshee states, smirking at me.
“Don’t we need to get this shit going?” I question. “Because you called church if I recall.”
Brick rolls his eyes at me, and I want to smack him upside his head. Disrespectful fucker. I may have been in the clouds for a while, but I’m not any longer and I’ll kick his ass if I need to. It’s a father’s prerogative to keep his kid in line regardless of hisage. I’ll threaten to bend him over my knee until my dying day if there’s a reason to. Hell, I wonder how he’s gonna feel when Idointroduce Jilly to the club. I’m only seventeen years older than my own kid, for fuck’s sake, and Jilly’s close to his age. He’s gonna end up with a stepmother who’s younger than he is, even though I haven’t told her where I see things heading with us.
“Leave him alone,” Ryleigh decrees. “Hey, Pops,” she says, dropping a kiss on my cheek. “You wanna watch Aubree later?”