Page 2 of Rebellious

“I should’ve aborted you. Your precious daddy didn’t want you. That’s why he doesn’t want me now. Because of you. Because you humiliated us—”

Unable to bear her mother’s vitriol a second longer, Harley disconnected the call, doubled over and sobbed. Mommie had spoken similar vileness a few days ago after she found out about…about…them. Today, though, when Harley felt so lost and alone, the soul shattering words made her question her worth and her existence.

Aunt Zoann would soothe her. And, yet, Harley couldn’t be that selfish and burden her any further. She could call Aunt Kendall, but her aunt hadn’t contacted her in the last two days. She had her own problems.

Blinded by tears, Harley crawled onto the bed and curled up, broken inside. In the aftermath of Nardo’s abuse and Pillar of Earth’s invasion of privacy, she coped as best she could. Many days, she tried not to consider either of them. She just wanted her life back to normal. Rekindling her friendship with CJ helped. But he was busy too. Nowadays, he fit her into his life. She wasn’t an essential part of it.

Too late, she realized that might not ever happen.

She—

A knock came on the door. Ryan was allowing her to use his room and she didn’t want to inconvenience him if he needed something.

Using her T-shirt to wipe her face, she lifted her head and called, “Come in.”

Devon stuck his head in and scowled at her. “It figures you’re crying again.”

She wouldn’t dignify that with an answer. He didn’t know or care about her heartache. “What do you want?”

“Mom still has a stomach bug,” he said, still not knowing the truth. Harley understood why Aunt Zoann didn’t want her jerk of a son to know. “She won’t be attending CJ’s fair. Ryan wanted me to tell you we’re leaving at five.”

“Thank you for telling me. Anything else?”

He smirked at her and slammed the door behind him, leaving her to her misery.

Walking into the Burning Hounds clubhouse alone was a new experience for Rory Donovan, but he had no one to invite to accompany him. Although his cousin, CJ, had eased up on his anger and hatred, Rory still wasn’t CJ’s favorite person. Devon had slid back into his hole now that their secrets were outed, while Ryan, like everyone else, gravitated to CJ.

It was 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon, and the club was surprisingly deserted. No naked girls strutting around. No strippers on the stage. Only a handful of bikers at the bar. Most importantly, he didn’t see Derby, the Hounds’ president and the motherfucker Rory sought.

The bartender spotted him before he reached the bar.

“You’re Johnnie’s kid, aren’t you?” he asked, his name patch identifying him as Jax, an enforcer.

Rory swore he’d heard Mom giggling about a Hound named Jax. At the thought of his mother, Rory stiffened. A month or two ago, he’d been firmly on her side, but she’d disappointed him. No, she’d torn him to shreds when she promised to take him to see Gypsy and then baled with no explanation. He finally understood his father’s motivations and why he’d turned into such a fuckhead.

It was all on Mom. Sometimes, Rory felt as if he hated her.

“What are you doing here?” Derby’s voice traveled to Rory from behind.

Rory turned, meeting that motherfucker’s gaze and scowling.

Lighting a cigarette before addressing Rory again, Derby smirked at him. “Don’t want to piss off Outlaw, so I’m warning you once. Keep your disrespect to yourself.”

“Don’t you mean my dad?”

Blowing smoke from his mouth, Derby grinned. “If that helps you sleep at night, who am I to burst your bubble?”

Before Rory responded, Derby nodded to a table in the center of the room. “Let’s sit. Bring a setup to my table, Jax.”

Tempering his anger and resentment, Rory followed Derby to the table that afforded the club president a full view of the room in all directions.

Derby sat, then withdrew his pack of cigarettes from his cut, and threw them at Rory. He caught the pack on reflex. “Have a smoke. It’ll relax you.”

Not necessarily. Rory had smoked more than his fair share of cigarettes since Gypsy’s death. Most of the packs he’d stolen from Dad’s stash.

Instead of immediately questioning Rory, that fucking asshole waited until Jax delivered a bottle of bourbon before he spoke again.

“Are you going to sit, Rory?”