Page 20 of Outlaws of Tulsa

Her brown eyes flare with the lie just as my daughter’s used to. Only thing is, nowadays, I don’t have patience for this shit.

“Guess you’ll have to come with me then.” My hand squeezes around her bicep when I feel her tugging away. “You stay right by my side until I can figure out what to do with you.”

“Are you gonna kill me?”

I bark out a cold laugh. “I’m a cruel sonofabitch, but I’m too lazy to rescue some kid only to turn around and put a bullet in her head. Tell me what the fuck would be the point of that?”

“Are you…are you going to sell me?”

Stopping right before we reach the door, I turn to look down at her. Her big brown eyes widen impossibly more when I step close enough our chests touch.

“Do I look like some sick bastard?”

“You’re a one-percenter, aren’t you?”

“I’m one hundred percent evil, but I don’t deal in fucking kids.”

Her nostrils flare. “You kidnapped me.”

“No, little girl, I fucking saved you.”

“You. Killed. My. Boyfriend.” Fat tears race down her cheeks.

“Your boyfriend was a piece of shit. It’s a good damn thing I came when I did. The fucker was going to hurt you real bad.”

“Maybe I was into it,” she challenges with false bravado, lifting her chin.

“Then you’re just another dumb, brainless bitch who’s gone cock crazy because she gets a good dickin’ every now and again. I don’t take well to liars. You’ll figure that one out real quick. Ask my guys what happens to liars. I’ve taken a belt to my nephew’s ass many times for lying. Don’t think I won’t do the same to you.”

She gapes at me. “You’re not my daddy.”

“Until you tell me who is so I can drop your ungrateful ass on his doorstep, I sure as hell am. Now get the fuck inside before you catch a cold.”

Animal, Copper, Filter, and myself all sit at the table with a big-ass bottle of Jack we keep passing back and forth, trying to put our heads together as to where the fuck Putnam would go. Animal is going to keep an ear out for that motherfucker to resurface and when he does, I want him alive. I’ll pay Animal handsomely and he fucking knows it.

Loud music blares from the other room as both our chapters party it up in celebration for taking out most of the Roaring River MCs. My eyes keep drifting to the bathroom where Hadley last went. I already checked it. There’s no windows or anything, so she can’t get out. She’s just taking forever in there.

I catch Copper staring at me and give him a lifted brow. His lips press together in a firm line. With a heavy sigh, he picks up his shot glass, slams back the amber liquid, and then rises from the table.

“Can we talk a minute?” he asks.

I mimic his action and drink my Jack down, relishing in the burn. I follow him over to the living room near the bathroom where I keep my stare fixed.

“You okay, man?” He clutches my shoulder. “Above everything, you’re my brother. I remember…I know how all that shit irrevocably fucked you up.”

I grit my teeth. “Your fucking point?”

“That girl ain’t Blaire.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

He lets out a frustrated huff. “You’re watching over her like she’s yours.”

“For now, she is.”

“You can’t replace your daughter.”

The alcohol burning through me ignites into a blazing inferno. I grab the front of my brother’s shirt and slam his back into the wall beside the bathroom door. “Who the fuck says I’m trying to replace my baby girl?”

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