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“Just because it wasn’t planned doesn’t mean anything. Fatherhood doesn’t come easy to some, but it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t make a great father. Take me, I didn’t know the first thing about raising kids. I only knocked your mom up because I wanted her tied to me in every way I could imagine. But then you and your brother came along, and I learned how to be a father. After so long, it was a normal part of life.”
“And what if she has the baby, and I resent her for it because I still feel nothing?”
“The fact you’re worrying about that tells me you’d be fine.”
“The fact is, Dad, I don’t want kids. I don’t want her to have this baby.”
“Are you prepared to lose her?”
Isn’t that a great fucking question? The thought of losing Aspen has my chest tightening. But it tightens even more when I imagine us with a baby.
Thankfully, Wyatt’s phone rings and ends this conversation.
“Yeah?” Leo answers, taking the phone from Wyatt.
“Deal’s off. You see, I don’t believe you’d do shit once you’ve got your brother back.”
“So you choose to die?” Leo seethes.
“On the contrary, asshole. We’re going to pick you off one by one.”
The call disconnects, and then the phone beeps with a message. Leo’s eyes narrow as he stares at the screen and then flickers with regret when he looks at me.
“What?” I grunt.
He turns the phone to me, and my mouth goes dry. It’s Aspen. Her face is bloody, and from the little I can see in the background, she’s in a van.
“Don’t order me to hold back now, Leo.”
His mouth remains shut. I don’t believe in rules and regulations, but I’d never go against my president. I just hope today is not the day I go against his order.
“Mason, you want them back, you need to promise I can trust you to act straight. You’re not stupid, and you know rash decisions lead to chaos.”
Holding my president’s gaze, it takes everything I have left not to let the real me out and cause the carnage it wants to inflict.
“Mase, brother, you need to keep your head as clear as possible. We’ll get them back.”
Dad’s hand lands on my shoulder, but it offers me no support. I shrug him off and step outside.
Digging my phone out, I call Grumps. He answers on the first ring, and I light a cigarette.
“Mase, tell me you’ve got him back.”
My reply is lodged in my throat.
“Is he… gone?”
It’s the only reason I can finally speak because no news is still good news.
“No. As far as we know, he’s still alive. However, they have Aspen now, too. We had a fight, she left, and they got to her.”
I clutch at my chest; the pain is borderline unbearable. Saying it out loud doesn’t help ease it.
“Cas called. I know about Aspen. What I want to know is what’s being done about it?”
“Leo’s got me on a tight leash, but he knows as well as I do it won’t last long.”
“My loyalty to the club is telling me to tell you to listen to him. We voted Leo in cause we fuckin’ trusted him to make the right calls. But my loyalty to our family… Well, I’m conflicted. When the time comes, I trust you’ll bring our family home.”
