Page 25 of Cain
Chapter Eleven
Cain
When she doesn’t say it back, I play it off like I understand, but it fucking kills me.
My dad always talked about how he fell in love with my mom the day he met her, that one minute in her presence felt like a year. I always thought he was full of shit. Now I’m living everything he described to me and there is some asshole trying to rip everything from me.
I know she’s scared and that’s why I don’t say anything to her about my feelings. I can wait for her. She’s worth it.
“Can you take the day off?”
She nods. “Let me just tell Donna I need to leave.”
“Okay, I’ll go get Amy.” I place a kiss on her head, knowing as much as I need to touch her right now that she is fighting to keep everything together and that will just make it harder on her. I grab Amy from her classroom and walk out to find Emma staring out the door. “You ready?”
I touch her back and she jumps, screaming. “I’m—I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Let’s just get you home.” Home. It’s what I want with her. Somewhere I can come home to the both of them. The family I never knew I wanted or needed. “So I need to warn you. I was supposed to leave for a little and have Evan cover me. My parents were coming to the club today and I was going to meet them for lunch. They’re probably already there.”
She looks over at me, her eyes wide. “Your parents?”
“Yea, they used to be in the club. My dad stepped down a few years ago and he and my mom moved out to the country more. They come down every once in a while, though.” I pull into the lot and see my dad’s bike. “Casey is home, so you can go surprise her if you want.”
Amy is out of the car before I even finish my sentence. I think it’s great that she and Casey hit it off. Ryan has raised that little girl all by himself and I think having Amy around gives him a little bit of a break.
“How are you feeling?” I turn to Emma, who is still pale.
“I…um, I’m not really sure.”
I take her hand and she looks at me. “I doubt she’ll care if I tell you, but my mom had a really bad ex when she met my dad. He roughed her up a lot. She might be able to relate a little bit. At least to the fear.”
She gnaws on her bottom lip and I get out of the car, heading around to her side. She always jokes she’s too short for the truck, but I love helping her get out of it. I take her hand and walk into the clubhouse with her. Dom is hanging out on one of the couches, but I cock my head and he walks over. I hand him the note.
“I’m gonna guess you won’t get anything, but it’s worth a shot. Keep scanning those tapes and see if we’re missing anything.”
“On it.” He walks off.
“Cain.” My dad walks over and Emma squeezes my hand. “Thought you said we couldn’t meet her?”
“Plans changed. Emma, this is my dad, Cutter. Dad, this is Emma.”
“Nice to meet you,” Emma says and offers him her hand.
“We don’t shake hands here unless it’s a business deal, sweetheart.” He pulls her into a hug and I can tell at first she’s uncomfortable, but she relaxes quickly. “Go say hi to your mother and let me talk to her for a few minutes.”
I look over at Emma and she gives me a small nod. I find my mom talking to Logan in the office.
“Hey.” She turns around and gives me a huge hug.
"Cain, you must have walked right past your father. We weren't expecting you for a little bit."
“I saw Dad. He’s in the mailroom talking to Emma.”
Logan’s eyes meet mine. I know he’s asking if we had to leave and I nod. He mouths ‘fuck’ before walking away presumably to find Dom.
“Emma? I thought you said she had to work?”
“She did, but something came up.” I walk over to the couch and sit down.
