Page 78 of The Fates We Tame
He reaches for me and assists me to my feet, not letting go until he knows I’ve found my center of gravity again. I hate thatpeople are watching me. I wish they’d all turn away and pretend they were doing something else.
“Just caught me off guard is all.” I minimize how I’m feeling because I can see how concerned Theo is. “I can’t seem to rebalance myself when I take a knock. Are you okay?” I look over to where some of the brotherhood are watching us.
“You and I are going to talk to your…family, and then…I don’t know. Maybe we’re leaving.”
I hear the edge to his voice, the struggle for words. “They didn’t vote in our favor?”
He glances back at the brothers who are standing behind him. “They did. But it shouldn’t have been so fucking hard to convince them to have our back.”
I look at my husband, at all the beautiful wedding decorations, and feel…hurt.
I can’t explain why I feel so happy being married to a near stranger, but I wish the world could see that I am. Including my family outside and Theo’s family in the clubhouse.
“We can figure it out together. But I’ll go where you go.”
He cups my cheeks. “You sure?”
I nod. “Are we safe?”
Theo turns to Niro. “Are the gates locked?”
Niro nods.
“Yes, we’re secure. Unless they shoot at us, but let’s face it, it’s you they want back.”
He takes my hand and leads me to the door, but I stop and turn to the rest of the club. “I don’t deserve your help. You’re right. You don’t know who I am. But Theo deserves better than whatever this is. You should be ashamed that when one of your brothers needed you, when he asked you for your help, you held a contentious vote.”
“Sparrow,” Theo says.
I look up at him. “It’s true. I don’t need to know everything you did in the last ten years to know that you’ll have done whatever was required for the club. You’ve done the same for me and you barely know me.”
The expression on his face softens. “Sweet that you’d defend me in a clubhouse full of bikers. But I don’t need you to speak for me.”
I smile up at him. “I know you don’t. But I’m going to do it anyway.”
He smiles at that. “Want to introduce me to your dad?”
I blow out a breath. “Not really.”
He brushes his thumb along my cheek, then kisses me. “You and me against the world, Sparrow,” he whispers.
In return, I nod and squeeze his fingers.
The club falls in behind us, but even without them, I’d feel capable of addressing my family with Theo by my side.
Wind whips leaves up as we step into the lot. My father stands by the gate, wrapped in a long, opened overcoat and an immaculate pinstripe suit. I have no childhood memories to fall back on. Only my opinions of him since I first gained consciousness to a larger-than-life stranger at the side of my bed. He’d seemed kind. But now all I see is hardened features and mean narrowed eyes that don’t hold an ounce of compassion.
Alessio stands to his right, his dark curls lifting in the breeze. While his arms remain by his sides, he lifts his palm gently, as if he is warning me to tread softly. Leo and Luca stand to Papà’s left. Leo bounces on his toes while Luca stands still as a statue.
“Papà,” I say. “There’s no reason to be here.”
But my father doesn’t even address me. He looks past me and Theo.
“I want my daughter back, King,” he says.
“Papà. I’m right here. And I’m not coming with you.” But I might as well be invisible for all the attention he pays me.
King crosses his arms but looks utterly unruffled. “And we’re not in the mood to be handing her over to you so you can traffic her to marry some old mobster back in the old country.”
