Page 7 of Relentles
Nervous about readingmorebullshit, he took the papers and unfolded them. He read. Reread.
His eyes widened. “The titles for this house?”
Joe nodded. “I would never leave you out, Kaleb. Roxanne means a lot to you, so she’s my family, too. I want security for my daughter so fucking bad, but I’ll never turn my back on you and your family. You’ve been struggling to pay the mortgage. If she knew, she’d pack up and move to save you the stress. I don’t want that for her and I don’t want that for you.”
“I don’t know what to say, Joe. I…fuck, I’ll pay you back. Your double dealing is more serious than mine. You’re stealing from Sharper and Logan.” If he didn’t want to take care of Roxanne so much, he’d give the titles back, but Joe was right. He was on the verge of losing the house. Though he felt like a hypocrite for reaping the rewards of Joe’s dangerous game, hesaid, “There’ll be no saving you or Meggie. She won’t stand a chance if you don’t rectify this.”
“I’ll straighten it. I’ll divide the profits and we’ll reform the club with a new charter and new ownership. I won’t fail her. She needs me and she loves me. Even if her mother doesn’t,” he muttered.
His mind easing, K-P shook his head. “You almost always attach yourself to the wrong motherfuckers, brother.”
Joe snickered.
“If you hug Roxanne too long once I tell her you’ve paid off the fucking house, I will break your fucking fingers.”
“I’m an irresistible motherfucker, Kaleb Paul. Don’t be jealous of my beauty.”
K-P rolled his eyes.
“Besides, I didn’t do shit, so if you tell her I’m responsible for the titles, I won’t know what the fuck you mean.”
“Joe,” K-P said heavily. “I’m not a sentimental bitch—”
“Then please don’t become one. That’s my territory. I couldn’t take your fucking smarminess.” He held out his hand. “Blood in.”
K-P took the outstretched hand. “Blood out.”
“Iknowyou two motherfuckers aren’t cutting your fucking fingers and dripping blood in my attic.”
“Nope, babe,” Joe called, grinning. “We’re cutting our arteries and gushing blood everywhere.”
Silence, and then, “fuck you,” she said, giggling, and it was the best fucking sound in the world.
Tucking the papers inside the inner pocket of his cut, then turning, K-P started down, holding onto the chain railing and cursing at how the wood and metal trembled underneath his weight.
When he reached the bottom of the steps, his gaze immediately fell on Roxanne. Arms folded, she leaned againstthe wall and narrowed her light brown eyes. She wore jean shorts displaying her smooth, shapely legs and a red, midriff-baring top. The way her tits molded against the material hinted at her bralessness.
An elastic band held the top of her hair, while the rest of it hung around her shoulders.
Her red toenail polish, easily seen because of her flipflops, matched both her top and her lipstick.
She lowered her lashes. “Hi, Kaleb,” she said softly, contrasting the way she’d shouted into the attic just a minute ago. She was still the most breathtaking woman K-P had ever seen.
When he’d met her, he hadn’t expected to fall so hard so fast, but the moment he’d heard about her pastor’s death, he’d known what happened and blazed to New Orleans to check on her. It took her weeks to get over the shock of seeing a man murdered in front of her. By then, he’d been gifted with her virginity, she was pregnant, and he’d fallen under her spell.
Now, she’d given birth to her second daughter, another man’s child. Not that it mattered. K-P would always love her. Deep down, he believed she’d love him for the rest of their lives, too.
“Dadddeeee,” Bailey said, flying from the room that opened onto the hallway. Her dark hair billowed about her, falling down her back. She wrapped her little arms around his leg, then smiled up at him.
She was simply a gorgeous child. At birth, her eyes had been blue. In the first year of her life, they’d morphed to green. Since then, flecks of brown started appearing in her irises. She tipped her head back as Joe reached his side, lifted the attic’s trapdoor, and pushed it closed.
“Has the look of a staircase, but the weight of a sturdy ladder,” he said in approval.
Roxanne nodded. “K-P had it constructed that way. Made it a little safer for me.”
K-P lifted Bailey into his arms and kissed her cheek. “How’s my princess?”
“Okay,” she answered, laying her head on his shoulder. “Tied.”
