Page 42 of Speed

We stepped out the back, and I was immediately hit by a tiny body. “Speed, yous came back. I missed yous at breakfast.” I bent down and hugged my daughter who had no issue letting anything out of the bag. The back door opened and Sami and Reed joined us.

“Reed and I seem to be the last to know what’s going on. Imagine you know how that feels.” He looked at Carly while he spoke, probably because of the smirk on her face. “Sami, you girls go in the house and finish the rest of the stuff for dinner. Reed, Speed, and I will sit down here and watch the grill.” Sami glared at me but nodded to acknowledge her dad, then she took Ally’s hand and headed inside with Carly right behind them.

Reed reached in the cooler, handed his dad and me a beer, and we sat in the chairs at the corner of the patio.

“Let’s get right down to it.” I pointed with my beer for him to start. “Sami kept your name from us no matter how much I badgered her. But I could kick my own ass for not figuring it out. I knew your dad from the military, you look just like him, and my granddaughter is the splitting image of you both. Don’t know how I missed that shit. Anyway, I’m not going to ask how this happened because I’m a dad, we still like to imagine that our daughters don’t have sex and I like that little fantasy. You’ll understand that when Ally becomes a teen.” Reed laughed, but it didn’t last. “Don’t laugh, the way you whore around I keep waiting for some woman to come by yelling about you being the baby’s daddy.” I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep my own self from laughing.

“I don’t want to like you, but I think I’m going to. Any man that comes to the door of a woman’s house to confront her dad and brother without one thought to getting his ass kicked is a brave motherfucker or a stupid one. There is no in between. Since you’re wearing that Enforcer patch, I’m going with brave motherfucker.

“That being said, what you need to remember is I am a bigger and meaner bastard. I will kill you and bury the body where no one will find it, and if they do, they’ll have to put the pieces together to identify you. Now, why don’t you tell me, what’s going on between you two? Ally isn’t calling you daddy, so she doesn’t know, why is that?” The man never blinked while he spoke. Not once had he diverted his eyes away from me.

“I’ve been getting to know my daughter. I’m letting Sami think she is getting her way. If I had known she existed, I would have left the military sooner. The only thing you need to know is she is mine, and I protect what’s mine. Your daughter is a little trickier, but I got that handled.” Reed shook his head.

“Really, you got her handled. Even Prez over here,” he pointed his beer at Wild Bill, “had a hard time with that when she was growing up. She’s stubborn, and sometimes if you push her too much, you end up with scars.” He lifted the hair off his forehead to show a scar at the hairline. “I walked into her room while she and Carly were having a sleepover. They were dancing, and when she saw me, she threw a school book at me. Clocked my ass good before I could duck.”

“I won’t waste your time with bullshit. Sami is mine, and so is Ally. By next week they will be on the Black Hawk compound, living in my house. They’ve got two families right now, Black Hawk and Haven. You know as well as I know any enemies get wind of that and it will be used against both clubs. We know you are having issues internally, Stroker told me to tell you to call him. Our clubs may not have seen eye to eye before, but we have a reason to work toward that now.

“Since the next time you come they will be at the compound, I want to extend the invite to you that you’re welcome there. I know Sami and Ally would like it. I’m not going to tell you what’s going on as far as Sami goes because I haven’t told her. Once I do, I’m sure she will let you know.” I finished my beer while Wild Bill cocked his head at me. When he straightened, he smiled.

“I am going to like you. I like what I see in you.” The door opened, and Sami stepped out and looked between us.

“Food is done.” Reed finished pulling the meat off the grill and started for the house, Wild Bill stood.

“You joining us?” Sami asked me, and I shook my head.

“No, babe. Going to let you and Ally visit with your dad and brother. I got to get back.”

“Okay.” Wild Bill watched the play, I knew he was evaluating us together. I also knew Sami was banking that I wouldn’t put her on the spot with her dad there. Her eyes informed me I was right when they flashed fire as I stepped up and kissed her forehead.

“Forty-eight hours, babe. Don’t forget.” I shook Wild Bill’s hand, went through the house, hugged my daughter bye and told her I would see her soon.

I looked over my shoulder as I drove down the street, Sami stood in the doorway watching. I’d go back to the compound, and I would stay away from her. She’d either come to me willingly, or I would come back and get her. Made no difference, the clock was ticking down, I wanted my family, together.

Sami

When I closed the frontdoor, I felt him behind me. I turned and fell into his open arms, resting my cheek on his chest.

“God, Dad, he confuses me.”

“Do you love him, baby? Not because of Ally, because of you.”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the problem, Sami?”

“I don’t know if he does, not for me, but because I’m Ally’s mother. I need it to be for me, Dad.”

“Know what I see?” He moved me back so he could look in my eyes.

“What?”

“A man who sees what he wants and is going to have it, no matter what. Don’t protest, I’m not done. I also saw how he looked at you, which I imagine it is the same way I looked at your mother. When you look at him, it’s the same way your mother looked at me. You need to tell Ally, Sami. She needs to know. Her heart is already his. I’ve never seen her look so happy until he walked outside earlier. You make your own mind up, but don’t keep her from him. Now, anyone else going to stop by that’s going to hold my dinner up?”

I chuckled at his lame attempt to lightening the mood and put my arm around his waist and led us to the kitchen.

“What was the forty-eight-hour business?”

My dad listened as I explained the ultimatum given and told him I didn’t know if I was going to ignore or not. He laughed and squeezed me.

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