Page 54 of Rock

He shrugged. “I couldn’t blame them. All I could do was always be polite and courteous around them. I didn’t want to do anything to get out of their good graces.” He squeezed her hand.

“Because of me.”

“Yes.” It was always because of Lyla. Everything he did in those days was because of Lyla.

She leaned her head back against the seat. “Did you see the look on my brother’s face when I kissed you?”

Rock’s entire body shook from laughter. Thank goodness he was at a traffic light. “I thought we were going to have to put his eyeballs back into the sockets.”

“It took him damn near half an hour to wrap his head around the fact that we’d had a thing for each other back then. I wasn’t sure we’d hidden it that well. I wasn’t sureI’dhidden it that well.”

Rock lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Apparently, we did. I bet he picked up a pizza, checked into the motel, and he’s now staring at the wall, trying to think about the signs he missed.”

“I kinda feel bad about leaving him to his own devices tonight.”

“I know. But we offered.”

“It’s better this way. I don’t think I can juggle adding my brother to our evening. I’m freaking out enough about meeting your daughter and all the other members of your club.”

“You’ve met damn near all of them, Little Lyla. It’s the girls you haven’t met yet. And they will welcome you with open arms. They’re the nicest women you’ll ever meet.”

She sighed heavily. He knew she was nervous. He couldn’t blame her, but they had to rip this bandage off. He was confident she had a strong Little side and always had. She just hadn’t had the opportunity to let it out and explore.

He pulled into the compound, parked, and shut off the engine before turning to face her. “If you get overwhelmed, we’ll leave.”

“I’ll be fine.”

He kissed her fingers one more time before sliding out of the car and rounding to her side to let her out. Threading their fingers together, he led her toward the side entrance, so they entered into the main living space, the common area.

It was filled with people, and the noise level was high, but as soon as someone spotted them entering and grabbed the next person’s arm and so on, a hush fell over the group.

Remi was the first to step between everyone and make her way toward Rock and Lyla, smiling warmly as she approached.

Lyla stiffened by his side, but Remi didn’t say a word. Instead, she took Lyla in her arms and hugged her tightly. “Welcome,” she said just loud enough for Rock to hear. Bless his sweet daughter.

Remi was wearing all black, including her combat boots. She had high pigtails with black ribbons, black eyeliner, and black lipstick.

Rock pulled Lyla back to his side. “Remi, this is Lyla. Lyla, this is my daughter, Remi. I forgot to mention she’s in a goth phase,” he teased.

Remi rolled her eyes. “Dad, it’s not a phase. And besides, Kade doesn’t mind. He likes it.” She stuck her tongue out.

Kade joined them and tipped Remi’s head back. “Did you just stick your tongue outandroll your eyes at your father?”

Remi shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Lyla has been here two seconds. Did you want her to watch you get your bottom spanked before she’s all the way through the door?”

Remi cocked her head to the side, giving Kade sass. “You wouldn’t.”

Kade set a hand on the back of her neck and turned her away. “We’ll be back.”

“Daddy!” Remi shouted.

Rock wasn’t overly surprised by his daughter’s behavior, but he was kind of shocked she pulled out all the stops so quickly.

What did surprise Rock was the fact that Lyla was covering her mouth and fighting a giggle.

He bent over to whisper in her ear. “Sorry about that. Welcome to the Shadowridge Guardians MC. The age play here is strong and abundant, especially now that so many Littles have joined us.”

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