Page 51 of Hammer

“What do you want me to say?”I growled, tightening a bolt harder than necessary.

“I don’t know.Maybe that you’re happy?Terrified?Ready to run for the hills?”He shrugged.“Anything other than looking like someone shot your dog while you’re supposed to be fixing an easy carburetor job.”

I straightened up, my back protesting after being hunched over the engine for hours.“It’s complicated.”

“Life usually is,” Dice agreed easily.“But Amelia seems good for you.Aura’s over the moon about having her around.And those boys --”

“Those boys need a father who isn’t pushing retirement age,” I interrupted, the words escaping before I could stop them.

Dice’s eyebrows shot up.“That what’s eating you?Your age?”

I grabbed a rag and wiped my hands, buying time.Dice wasn’t going to let this go -- the younger generation never knew when to mind their own fucking business.“She’s young, beautiful,” I said finally, my voice gruff.“One day she’s gonna wake up and realize what it’s like being married to an old man.”

“You’re not that old,” Dice countered.

“I’m sixty-one.She’s thirty-six.”

“So?”

“So?”I repeated incredulously.“So I was riding with this club before she was born.”

Dice considered this, then shrugged.“My dad and his wife have twenty plus years between them.They couldn’t be happier.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

I turned away, focusing on organizing my tools rather than meeting his eyes.“She didn’t choose this.She needed protection.For her and the boys.”

Understanding dawned on Dice’s face.“Ah.You think she’s just using you.”

“Wouldn’t you?”I challenged.“In her position?”

Dice leaned against the workbench, his expression thoughtful.“Here’s what I think.I think a woman who’s survived what she has doesn’t waste time with bullshit.She wouldn’t be playing house with you if she didn’t want to be there.”

I snorted.“She doesn’t have much choice.”

“Bullshit,” Dice said flatly.“Woman like that always has choices.She could’ve picked someone younger.Could’ve kept running.Hell, she could’ve stayed in the duplex instead of moving into your place.I bet she’d have found a way to convince Savior, at least until Piston and the Devil’s Minions are handled.”

His words hit a nerve I didn’t want to acknowledge.Amelia had agreed to move in with minimal protest.In fact, she’d asked to be mine.Had made my house more of a home in three weeks than I had in years.Had cooked meals, learned my schedule, asked about my day like she genuinely cared about the answer.

“I’ve seen how she looks at you,” Dice continued.“That’s not a woman biding her time until something better comes along.”

“What do you know about it?”I muttered, though the heat had left my voice.

“I know good women don’t come along every day, especially in our world.”Dice straightened up.“Don’t waste this chance at happiness just because you’re scared, old man.”

“I’m not scared,” I protested, the lie bitter on my tongue.

Dice just laughed.“Sure, and I’m the fucking Pope.”He slapped my shoulder as he walked past.“Take it from someone who wasted his chance once.You’ll regret the happiness you talked yourself out of more than any pain that might come from taking the risk.”

I watched him leave, his words echoing in my head.Was I really so transparent that a kid half my age could read me like a manual?The thought was almost as unsettling as the truth he’d laid bare.

I turned back to the Softail, but my focus was shot.All I could think about was Amelia -- the way she’d felt in my arms during that brief kiss in the kitchen, the hurt in her eyes when I’d pulled away, the quiet dignity with which she accepted my distance while making it clear she wanted more.

Maybe Dice was right.Maybe I was sabotaging the first good thing to happen to me in decades because I was scared of eventually losing it.The thought sat heavy in my chest as I mechanically finished the carburetor adjustment, my hands working on autopilot while my mind wrestled with possibilities I’d refused to consider until now.

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