Page 76 of Bound by Family
“You’ll be fine. You need to call me when you get there and when you’re leaving.” He wasn’t too happy about the plan to let me go on my own, but this is something I need. I want my father to tell me what’s going on. I want to hear from him and him alone. Having Cooper there may influence what he tells me. It’s time to woman up and get this shit done.
“I will.”
He smacks my ass on the way out, the door clicking behind him.
Driving his truck is fun as hell. It’s a huge four-by-four, and I have to jump to get in the thing. Makes me feel like I can run over just about anything and everything in my way.
When I’m waved into the gates of Sinister Sons, my brain fills with memories. Some great, and some bad of recent.
I can still feel Wolf in this place as I drive up. I shake my head quickly to forget. Wolf deserved what he got. I just wish none of us would have been there to see any of it.
The door opens, and my father stands by the side of it. My pulse picks up, and I swear my heart is going to jump out of my chest.
“Baby girl, I’m so damn sorry,” he says as I jump down from the truck. He then envelops me in his arms, and tears form in my eyes. When he kisses the top of my head, my body shakes. Then, when he pulls away from me, his hands don’t leave my arms. “I fucked up. Bad. I gotta live with that. Never did I want that for you. Never. And I shoulda put an end to it as soon as it was brought up. It’s over now. No one will ever ask something like that of you again.”
I can only nod, too afraid to speak and have my voice crack.
“Love you so damn much. Only ever wanted the best for you. If that’s not in Sinisters, then so be it. But you’re my baby girl.”
Blowing out a deep breath, I ask, “It was all because he said so?”
My father shakes his head, let’s go of me, and runs his fingers over his mustache and down his face. “Come.” He directs me over to a set of picnic tables that I frequented a lot during my time here on lunch breaks. We sit, him across from me.
“Can’t tell you a lot.”
I nod again in understanding.
“But, yeah. Wolf wanted you in the fold. He pressured me to get you in, and that’s my mistake.”
“You had to know I’d never do anything like that, Dad.”
“Part of me hoped you wouldn’t and would get the hell away from here.” He looks down at the table, then at his hands. “Things haven’t been right around here for a while, but I’m in charge now, and I’m gonna make it right. All of it. We’re going back to the way it was. The way it should be.”
“That’s good. Stone, Hunter, and Racer need that, Dad.”
“You need it, too.”
My eyes drift off to the distance, lost in momentary thought. “Not here, though. I decided that I need to carve a piece out of life and make it my own. Not what you want or anyone, but what I want. I want to be with Cooper. He’s part of the Ravage MC, so that means I’m part of them.”
“But, baby girl, you’re doing the same thing that was asked of you with Sterling.”
My eyes bore into my father. “No, it’s not. The difference is that I love him, Dad, and he loves me. There’s more to life than a title. Love without it, there is nothing.” A funny feeling washes over me like the sun got a little bit brighter for a moment. My mom.Thanks.
He sits back. “Got it. He treat you good?”
“The best.”
“He’d better.”
An unusual silence comes over us as my brothers come to the table. They’re not loud and rowdy like always. They’re more timid, and as twisted as I may be, I like that they are. It shows me that they know they were wrong.
“Sorry, Bristyl.” Racer pulls me up from my seat and wraps me in his arms. “Didn’t want to tell you that shit. Didn’t want you anywhere near any of it. I’m so damn sorry.”
I wrap my arms around my brother. “Thank you. I needed to hear you say that.”
“You forgive me?” he asks, pulling back and looking in my eyes.
“We’ll work on building that bridge we had together. It’ll take a while, but we’ll get there.”
