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“No. Never got the chance. Tavy sings his praises though.”
I nodded. “He’s a good guy. Upstanding. Has a good job. Loves Tavy like she’s his own.”
“Good man,” he murmured.
I wanted to ask Smoke why he hadn’t been there for Tavy’s childhood. Sure, he and Tavy’s mom hadn’t worked out, but that wasn’t Tavy’s fault. He could have at least visited.
“Ask,” he said softly.
“Ask what?”
“Ask me why I wasn’t there to see my daughter grow up. I know you want to know. So, ask.”
“Okay mind reader…why weren’t you there?”
“The club was involved in a lot of shady shit back then,” he said. “So, I stayed away. Sent money, sent presents. Paid for her college. The club is how I paid for all of it. But what we were doing…” He shrugged. “Sending money was my way of doing what I could without pulling her into my world.”
“What kind of shady shit?” I asked.
He glanced at me. “You don’t really think I’m gonna tell you that, do you?”
“No. But I had to ask.”
“We’re not involved in that shit anymore.”
“Illegal stuff?” I prodded.
He didn’t reply.
I realized that Tavy’s college education had been funded by criminal activities.
Smoke was a criminal.
A modern day outlaw.
It was hard to wrap my head around what he’d said with the picture he currently presented. He’d been teasing me, bringing me chocolate bars, letting me listen to angry metal music to help me work through my fury.
The man was a dichotomy.
“You paid for her trip to Europe,” I said in realization.
“Yeah.”
“We had a blast,” I said.
“Good to know.”
I thought about my own father. He was there for me when I fell down. He was there to dry my tears. He was there when I got rejected from my dream college. Smoke hadn’t been there for Tavy in the same way, but he’d provided for her in the best way that he could.
It was still hard to process that Tavy’s life had been funded by illegal means. Tavy never said anything about what her father did aside from the fact that he was a biker—and neither of us really thought too much about it when we were having fun.
“So, you were suite mates?” he said finally.
“Yeah.” I grinned.
“And you were fast friends.”
“The fastest. We were going to join a sorority together.”
