Page 33 of April’s Fool

April smiles and lifts as I dip my head, meeting her halfway and kissing her soundly.

“I get y’all are married, but I don’t need to see you kiss her,” Twister calls from the bar. “It’s too damn early in the morning to see that shit. She’s like my damn daughter.”

“Sorry, Twister.” April snickers, shoving her face into my chest as I chuckle.

“Time to find you that coffee now,” I tell her, guiding her to the bar. I leave her next to Twister, who pulls her in for a hug as I round the bar and move to the industrial coffee maker.

Once I have two mugs in hand, I move back to April and hand her hers.

“Fool,” Cannon shouts from his usual table, motioning for me to join him and the others already seated.

Twister follows us to the table, taking one of the few open chairs next to his woman, Izzy. Rex and Lola sit between Cannon and Steel. Mikey is on the other side of my Prez’s brother. Horse and Kenny are also at the table, along with Hazard.

I hold out a chair for April to sit before taking one myself. “All right, what’s going on?” I’m getting straight to the point.

“Figured we’d get the full story from Rex and Mikey here on why Steel and I didn’t know we had a cousin,” Cannon explains.

I knew we’d have this talk, but I didn’t think it would be first thing.

“Technically, she was your dad’s cousin,” Lola remarks, waving nonchalantly. “But it doesn’t matter.”

“Mikey, why don’t you start?” Rex grunts.

April’s dad looks around the table, his gaze locking on Horse and Twister for a beat longer as he starts, “I know the two of you probably think I’m a deadbeat piece of shit for not sticking around to raise my girl.”

“Dad,” April gasps.

“It’s the truth, sweet girl, and we both know it.” At least the man owns up to his shit.

“Give us the full story,” Twister demands.

I’m fifteen years younger than Rex. He wasn’t really part of my life while I was growing up. When he formed the Grave Prowlers with others, I went my own way, full of energy and defiance. I met April’s mom at seventeen, but we didn’t start dating immediately. Eventually, she convinced me, and we began seeing each other. Then she got pregnant, and things started to change. She began demanding things from me I couldn’t handle. She believed I was a club member, which I never claimed to be. Mikey pauses to gather his thoughts.

“When April was four, her mom threatened to kill her if I didn’t leave. She said she’d slit April’s throat right in front of me. She held the knife to her throat as she delivered her threat. The bitch claimed she was tired of how I treated her worse than my daughter. I wanted to take April with me. I was going to, but she went to court for full custody. I was only to have visitation.”

April gasps.

Rage swirls in my veins. The need to find the bitch and kill her myself boils to the surface. I’ve witnessed enough shit in my life, but seeing kids die is one of them.

But what Mikey’s saying doesn’t make complete sense.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense,” Hazard says, speaking the words I’m thinking out loud.

“It doesn’t,” Mikey agrees, nodding. “However, I wanted to confirm that April came to no harm. Her mom said that if I stayed away, she wouldn’t hurt my girl. I was just protecting her the best way I could.”

I glance at my wife, not missing her pale complexion and the tears pricking her eyes. Reaching for her, I pull her close.

“Why didn’t you come to us sooner? We could have helped you,” Twister says gruffly.

“I’d have killed the bitch,” Kenny snaps.

“I’d have helped hide the body,” Izzy adds. “There’s still time to do it.”

Both women look murderous.

“Please don’t,” April whispers.

Everyone at the table glances at her, expressions ranging from outright rage to sorrow.