Page 23 of Blue-Eyed Jacks (Destroyers MC: Skilletsville PA #1)

“Well, I’ll admit some fault and say sorry for some of it.

See, I took a woman who was scared to death, almost dead, and ready to turn state’s evidence on your golden child; and I placed her somewhere she’d be safe and happy.

That’s on me and I’m not one damn bit sorry for that part.

What Shock has been doing to women is wrong. You and I both know that.”

“She’s his wife, asshole!”

“Wife or not, she’s got a mind of her own.

And she’ll do whatever it takes to stay clear of that asshole.

And the only thing I’m sorry about is the fact that I got fucking caught.

That’s it. I’m sorry I got caught helping.

Such a damn shame.” Nonno wasn’t going to be happy with me no matter which way this went. I might as well own it.

Kate froze mid-stuff and stared at me open-mouthed.

“Nonno, get mad at me. I don’t give a shit. But she ain’t going back to Shock. If I have to help her find a hole in Timbuktu where she’ll never have to see that asshole again, so be it.”

The connection ended. Nonno was going to set stuff in motion that would seal my fate. I’d fucked up royally.

Yet somehow, it wasn’t the end of my world. I was staring at the end. This beautiful, courageous woman, with her hair mussed and her face a mess of emotional turmoil. She was my future. Destroyers club or not, I knew my dying breath would be for her. “Hey, Kate.”

“Who was that on the phone?”

“The national president for the Destroyers.”

Her eyes went wide. “You stuck up for me against the—I’m still not staying. I’m sick and tired of being caged up even if it is for my own protection.”

Zoe talked over her. “Dad, Mom is going to leave again. I’m not going. I’m staying here.” She hit my side and wrapped her arms around me.

There was a split second I almost reached for my gun. Kate’s eyes flicked to my hand.

I wiggled my fingers to loosen them and wrapped my arms around Zoe.

“You are more than welcome to stay. But to set the record straight, your mom’s upset because she heard part of a conversation, not the whole thing.

But that part was bad, got it? Any sane woman would do exactly what she’s doing right now.

” I pried Zoe off me and looked her square in the eye.

“You’re too old to play games like you’re doing with me, though. I see you.”

Her eyes were almost a match to mine. Instead of the clear green of her mother’s, my mud-splattered blue ones glared at me. “I’m not playing games.”

She was a damn good liar, too. “You barely know me, and you’re hitting me up with hugs to try to get your way. I grew up knowing every game a woman could play, and trust me, I see you.”

That glare turned ice cold.

I laughed. My girl had a killer instinct. I loved discovering that. I asked Kate, “How did you deal with her for sixteen years?”

She set the bag down. Her eyes wandered to Zoe. Her words were barely a whisper. “I loved her every day.” Then she pinned me with a glare of her own. “And that’s why she hugs. I’m a little pissed at you for thinking she has an ulterior motive.”

Another laugh barked out of me. It didn’t go over well. “Sorry. I’m not used to it.”

Kate blinked. “Like being kissed.” Her eyes searched inward for answers.

Damn. She remembered that about me?

“Exactly.” I closed the gap between us and nudged her to get her attention. “ Your kisses.” My gaze fixed on her lips, and I forgot about anything but kissing her again. It had been so long since—

“Wait…ugh. I don’t wanna hear more of this. You two are disgusting.” Zoe plugged her ears and began that annoying “la-la-la” kids see in videos.

Kate’s spine straightened, and she brushed herself off, as if to dust off memories. But mine weren’t so easily forgotten. How could I? She was the only woman I’d kissed in the last twenty years. My one and only. The woman who gave me a smart ass little girl who liked hugs. Damn .

“Zoe, get over here.”

She unplugged her ears and stopped chanting. “Why?”

“Because you caught me by surprise earlier, and I wanna fix that. Hug?” I held my arms out, hoping like hell I hadn’t ruined a good thing.

Sure, it was a shock to the system, and my first instinct was to grab my gun and shoot whoever was attacking me, but once it sunk in that this was my girl—my baby I never got to hold?

Well, my whole soul missed what it never had.

Zoe wrapped around me and squeezed. I checked with Kate before wrapping my arms around my baby girl. She nodded, giving me permission to hug back.

Like a flood, emotions I didn’t know I had pushed up out of my gut and clenched my heart hard.

I barely felt Zoe in my arms. I squeezed her just a little to ground me.

Kate joined us, wrapping an arm around Zoe and one around me.

Her breath brushed my neck as she tried and failed to bury her face in my shoulder.

Her body shuddered with a sob.

And I couldn’t let that go. “Sorry, kid. Mom’s turn.” I let go of Zoe and wrapped Kate up tight, pulling her into me like I had those too-brief nights we had together. “Shh. I’m here. It’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t. But that won’t stop me from trying to make it okay. You gotta trust me on this.”

Kate searched my eyes before speaking. “I don’t want to stay here. It holds bad memories for me.”

I understood why. “Only tonight. I’ll set something else up for tomorrow. No cages.”

Kate relented and curled back into my chest.

I looked over her head to check on Zoe.

She mimicked her mom’s move earlier and wrapped around us.

We were one, finally. A family. Even as fucked up as the situation was, we were whole.

I kissed Kate’s hair, then her cheeks, which were wet with silent tears.

And held on tight to see her face and feel her warm skin in my hands.

She was kissably close. But I hesitated, knowing I didn’t deserve their love.

Kate’s lips hit mine. It was almost as much of a shock as the hugs.

But I remembered this. I remembered every second of passion and torment and treasured that blissful fall into a peace so deep it was like the perfect sunrise every damn day.

She was mine in that kiss. And I was hers.

Wrapping it all together in perfection was Zoe.

The cutest damn teenager I’d ever seen. I broke the kiss and held Kate close so I could check to see if we weirded the kid out.

Zoe rolled her eyes, but her smile quirked off to the side, just like mine. I raised a brow in a silent question. “You okay with this?” I asked.

Her matching eyebrow went up, just like mine, with one eye squinted and the other drilling into mine to make the point clear. She skewered me with a command that was easily read. I’d seen it too often in the mirror and from my father. “Don’t screw this up,” it said.

I shook my head. I’d move heaven and earth to make things right. She had my vow on that.

Zoe smiled and squeezed us both.

I wasn’t a good man, but one of the luckiest sons of bitches ever because of the two beautiful women who trusted me. I would not screw this up.