Page 23 of My Darling Mayhem

Iris pursed her lips while tapping her pencil against her desk. “I don’t make the rules, Mr. Green. I’m just here to explain them to you. The parenting model of taking a village rarely works with family court. They want to know you’ve got a stable home without a village and the chaos that would go with that.”

“You just suggested I get help?—”

Iris cut me off, “Encouraging you to have a partner help pick Kane up from school is hardly the same as an entire village.”

I bit back the rest of my response because it was clear it didn’t make a fucking difference. Instead, I grabbed my folder and walked out.

Thistle was working on his bike when I pulled up to his house. He lived in a single-family home a few blocks away from our club. It had been a while since I’d ridden into the city. The time on the road gave me time to process the meeting with Iris.

Several things she said were on repeat in my head, circling like a drain down to my stomach, where my nerves twisted into knots. But one thought in particular had me driving all the way to the city so I could share my concerns with my vice president.

“You preppin for winter?” I asked as I tossed my friend an energy drink.

Thistle gave me a solemn nod while cracking open the can. “Hate puttin’ her away…I’m hoping the snow will hold off this year.”

“Does it ever?” I laughed, walking closer to his bike, seeing that his exhaust had been upgraded.

Thistle sipped his drink, then continued working. “You’re here…why is that?”

I never thought I’d hear the day when my own VP questioned why I was in town, but fuck my life, this was what it was now.

“Kane’s social worker hinted at Saul getting involved, contesting my guardianship.”

Thistle’s hands stopped moving as he tipped his head back, his bushy brows crowding his forehead. “That would mean your piece of shit old man was back?”

I nodded my head, staring at the concrete.

“It’s possible.”

Thistle sipped from his can, still sitting on his tiny stool, glaring up at me. “What’s the worst-case scenario with himreturning? You think he wants to go through all that shit just for the sake of being a dad?”

“Nah, it has to do with me. He must know that I want Kane, or maybe he knew about my meeting with Brit when she asked me to take Kane two years ago. It was right after that conversation that her accident happened.”

With a heavy sigh, my VP tossed a tool into his open tool bag. “Let’s just do a hit, Arch. Your dad killed Kane’s mom. He’s dangerous…let’s not give him a chance to fuck with you.”

My eyes narrowed on a small crevice in the driveway with weeds growing inside as my brain worked out the possibilities. “There has to be another angle I’m not seeing. He knows Brit’s death can’t be proven. But there was enough speculation. I should have tried harder and pushed to get the detectives to track him down.”

“It’s not your fault, you know that. Shit, man…honestly, I still wonder if Kane is even his. I mean, Saul got some twenty-year-old bunk bunny who was bouncing around on various cocks knocked up? Just seems?—"

I gave my VP a look, and he shook his head. “Yeah, yeah. He’s your fuckin’ twin.”

Kane looked exactly like me. If I did get custody of him, people would assume he was my kid his entire life, most likely. Brit was a gorgeous woman, but she was a brunette with freckles and a fake tan. My father, Saul Green, looked like he’d just stepped out of some Viking show with his blond hair, white eyebrows, and beard. His stark blue eyes and pale skin were almost identical to mine. According to what my mom had told me, he was almost one hundred percent Norwegian, and those features were passed down firmly through his genes.

“If I had to make an assumption, he will try and leverage the club for Kane. We need to be ready for it. I want all the captains out on a ride, investigating him and seeing what they can findout, but tell them to be discreet. Kane’s social worker mentioned New Jersey, so send the boys out; we’re likely looking into the Gentry Brother’s MC.”

Thistle nodded, finishing off his can.

“You sticking around for the rest of the night?”

A pair of amber eyes flashed in my mind as I pictured home and remaining here. She’d been rude enough that I shouldn’t continue anything there…but the image of her lying in her driveway, hurt with no one but her kid there to help her, hit me right in the chest. As if I’d been shot with a pellet gun, the wound stinging and remaining. Not lethal but agitating.

“I have work to do.” I needed to see her leave tomorrow morning, knowing she’d made it into her little job. This morning, that woman from the doctor’s office had picked her up, while Cruz had gotten on the bus. I had stupidly driven by Wren’s job to make sure she’d made it safely.

I’d seen her work when I first stopped in to discuss the purchase of my home, but she’d been with a customer and hadn’t even noticed me.

I noticed her though.

The problem was, now that I had met her, I wanted her attention. Like a kid back in grade school, I wanted the girl next door to see me, smile at me, and talk to me. For all the women I had met in my life who wanted my time, how ironic was it that I only seemed to want a single mom with an attitude issue to have it?

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