Page 11

VIRUS

wasn’t thrilled with the idea of not seeing Rae every moment of every day, but in hindsight, she was right. He needed to focus on Adam. He was priority number one.

Besides, they were very different than they had been almost seven years ago. While he had every confidence in the world they were meant to be and it would work itself out, Rae needed to see he was different.

He understood that. What he’d done hurt her beyond comprehension, shaped the way she viewed things from then on. She said she loved him, but the kind of trust they needed to make it work would take time. He would never give her a reason not to trust him ever again.

He’d swapped his motorcycle for his truck as soon as Rae had left so he could take Adam back to his place. But Nova wouldn’t let him leave without a booster seat. She had an extra one in her car, so Hook showed him how they worked.

“Who knew kids would be so complicated? Back in my day, Dad just tossed us in the back seat and told us to buckle up and shut up.”

Hook laughed at his puzzlement. “Yeah, but we vow to do better than they did, no matter how great your parent or parental figure was or wasn’t. It’s part of being a dad, man. You want so much more for them than you can ever achieve, but you’ll never stop trying to make it so.”

There was happiness and sadness in the enforcer’s voice. knew Hook’d never had a father figure worth a damn. Between the system and being a street kid with a psycho acting as his brother being all he knew before unspeakable abuse; Hook had turned into an amazing father to little June.

admired him so much. “Well, I’ll consider it a success if I turn out to be half the fucking father you are, brother.”

The glitter in his eyes that indicated his words had struck a chord didn’t escape ’s notice, but he played it off.

“Now, if you have any advice on being wooed, I’m all ears.” When a grin split Hook’s tattooed face, knew he’d fucked up. He was just trying to deflect from the overly emotional moment he caused, and now he’d be teased relentlessly.

“Being wooed, you say?”

“I mean, wooing. Any advice on wooing a woman you fucked up with but is giving you a second chance.”

“No, that’s some grade A bullshit, that’s what that is. The I know doesn’t mix shit up. You are getting fucking wooed, brother.”

Hook laughed his fucking ass off at ’s expense.

“Whenever you’re done, big guy, let me know and we can have a mature conversation about love and relationships.”

That scolding just made the fucker laugh more.

Nova came outside with a few bottles of water and handed one to each of them. “I just came out to see what was taking you two so long, but now I feel I need details if something is that funny.”

“Don’t—” started, but his words fell on deaf ears.

“Rae is wooing ,” Hook answered between laughs and air quoted wooing.

Instead of laughing, Nova clapped her hands together.

“Oh, how romantic and very progressive.” She wrapped her arms around before pulling back and planting a kiss on her husband. “I’m so happy for you. She’s a keeper, you know that, right? We’ve already voted her in to the Royal Ol’ Ladies Club, so you can’t fuck it up. You’re not allowed.” She crossed her arms.

“Noted. But what if …” He trailed off. What could he say? What if she doesn’t ever look at me like she used to? What if I always see the hurt I caused her hidden in her blue eyes somewhere? No, he couldn’t give those thoughts a voice. “What if I don’t know how to be wooed?”

It was a valid question. He was a take charge kind of guy. He did the wooing; he made decisions that needed to be made. He didn’t make a lot of friends because he was direct to the point of rudeness sometimes. He had never been a passive participant in any aspect of his life but one, and that resulted in letting Celeste manipulate a situation.

“I think it’s just like anything else in life—if you want it, you figure it out. Besides, you definitely seem like the type to enjoy a woman lavishing her attention on you. So, I say enjoy the process.”

She headed toward the door and spoke right before she entered. “I know the followers will,” she singsonged as she closed it.

Fuck, the ol’ ladies and their social media. He was about to be fodder for the masses.

“Cheer up,” Hook said, as if he could read his mind. “You know you love the attention.”

He did … or had until Rae walked back into his life. How would she feel about women on the internet asking about his dick size? vowed to not feed any of that moving forward, or anything that might hurt Rae.

It was well after lunch by the time Adam and he pulled away from Hook’s place.

“Are you hungry, buddy?” asked in the rear-view mirror.

“Yes.” His son cheered.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Pancakes.” Nova had made them pancakes for breakfast, but if that’s what his kid wanted, that’s what he’d get. He made a mental note to Google if it was bad nutrition wise to eat so many pancakes.

“Pancakes it is, if you promise to eat some fruit too. Deal?” He was pretty sure fruit was relatively healthy.

“Deal.”

may have mentally patted himself on the back. He’d just achieved a fruit promise, that had to be some sort of milestone. He’d missed so many firsts with Adam that he’d have to start a new set of firsts.

Today was his first successful fruit negotiation.

let Adam pick their booth and he looked so proud of himself.

He felt like that was another dad first for him. His son looked so thrilled to get to decide where they sat.

“Hello again,” Nana said to Adam, and he waved to her. “Let me guess, pancakes and apple juice?” Adam nodded enthusiastically.

“And fruit, please,” he added with the level of enthusiasm only a kid could muster.

“You got it, cutie.” She turned to . “And I should’ve realized he was yours the other day. Carbon copy, that one. What about you, hun?”

“I’ll take the lunch special with a Dr Pepper.”

Nana smiled and wrote on her pad, turning back to Adam. “So, where’s Mom today?” Before he answered, she turned back to and raised an eyebrow. He felt the scolding as if she’d let him have it.

Yeah, he’d have some explaining to do sooner or later. Nana treated the club like family.

“Mom died,” Adam answered matter-of-factly.

She gasped and turned to , looking for an explanation.

“I’m sorry for your loss. That was so sudden, they were just here a few days …” She trailed off and laid her wrinkled hand on ’s shoulder.

“Oh, no.” He kept his tone low because he didn’t want Adam confused. “Rae’s his aunt and very much still alive. His mother passed a while back and she wasn’t my … I mean … thank you for the sentiment, Nana. The young woman he was with was his aunt, and she’s fine.”

It rubbed him the wrong way to refer to Rae as Adam’s aunt. She was, for all intents and purposes, his mother. She’d had more experience being a mother than he had at being a father, so she’d earned it.

“I feel like I’ve missed out on some key points. You’ll have to fill me in sometime.” She retreated back to the kitchen.

looked at his son who was staring out the window almost expressionless. Was he sad about having mentioned his mom? He had no clue how kids were supposed to express themselves other than a screaming tantrum or raucous laughter. Those were easy to read.

“Do you miss your mom, buddy?”

He shrugged his shoulders before nodding. What did that mean? Adam had already told him last night about how Celeste had prepared him for the transition. Shit, if he still didn’t feel guilt for having murderous thoughts about her.

She really had done a great job with Adam, even if she’d never bothered to tell he had a son.

“Would you like to talk about her?”

Adam hesitated, seemingly pondering his answer. “Auntie Rae is pretty like Mom is.” Okay, not what he was expecting, but it was a start.

“Yeah, she was,” he agreed. Many people confused them from a distance. But where Celeste had a cold feel about her, Rae was all sunshine and warmth.

“Does it make you sad that she’s gone?”

“A little because I can’t see her every day, but she said if I close my eyes and wish for her, she’ll come even if I can’t see her.” Adam’s words choked him up a little. Then it hit him maybe Adam didn’t fully grasp the concept of death and permanence. But did he need to right now?

He seemed perfectly content with his perception of things, who was to steal that comfort from him with harsh truths.

Nana returned with a plate of pancakes all cut up and an apple juice for Adam. “And … fruit as ordered,” she declared as she set a bowl with cut grapes and melon next to the pancake Adam was already stuffing into his mouth.

“Yours is coming up right away. As always, holler if you need anything.”

got lost watching his son eat with enthusiasm when a voice interrupted his observation.

“Hey little man, how you doin’?”

His son squealed. “Uncle Barks.” He watched as his son fist bumped a man with a very familiar face. One he hadn’t seen in years.

“Darrin,” he said tightly.

could tolerate a lot, but his ex-best friend having an apparent relationship with his son wasn’t fucking one of them.

“What the fuck do you want?” winced when he failed to control his language. Barker crossed his arms over his chest.

“I am saying hello to my favorite nephew, ain’t that right, Adam?” he proclaimed smugly, then he sat next to Adam.

Adam nodded.

“He’s not your anything, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak to my son.” did his best to keep his voice low as Adam was paying more attention to his pancakes than their conversation. The last thing he needed or wanted was for Adam to see him being mean to someone he apparently liked.

“Well, his aunt is something to me, so that makes him something.” The bastard hadn’t changed one fucking bit. Still trying to get with Rae. She’d been clueless back then and was apparently still blind when it came to Barker. A major wedge between them back then was sitting there smirking.

Before the words left his mouth, knew he shouldn’t have said them, but his fucking filter was stuck open. “Is that so? She didn’t mention you when I had her on her back all night.”

Why? Why did he say it? He wanted to take it back. It was disrespectful and a violation of their relationship, but he let that fucker get under his skin, as always. Some things never change.

Barker’s face was red as fuck. He looked ready to explode. “Just because you fucked her doesn’t make her yours. It never did.”

was one point two seconds from punching the fucker in the nose when a plate appeared in front of him.

When he looked up, there was a pretty young woman with her tits spilling from her top. She looked vaguely familiar, but he didn’t bother giving it much thought until she practically squealed when he murmured his thanks.

“Oh my god, ?” She scooted into the booth next to him before he could protest. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

That makes two of us , he thought, as he couldn’t remember seeing her in the first place. But Barker seemed to hang on every word. wanted to punch that smug look off his face.

She pouted and wrapped her arms around his bicep as he lifted his sandwich toward his mouth. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

The whiny, nasally voice was starting to tickle a foggy memory from the back of his head, but he didn’t admit to it either way.

“Carrie. We spent an amazing night together last summer.” When he didn’t acknowledge her one way or another, she practically rubbed her tits against him and lowered her voice. “I did that thing with my tongue that you loved? You said no one did it quite like me?”

Choking on the bite he’d just taken. He placed the sandwich back on the plate, then slapped his chest until he managed to swallow the bite.

Yep, he remembered her now. Fuck, he did remember her. Hard to forget who tossed your fucking salad in the alleyway behind a bar before she dragged your drunk ass back to her place and did more than that all night.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. If he’d known she worked at one of their regular spots, he wouldn’t have touched her, no matter how drunk he was.

You don’t shit where you eat, so to speak. Not to mention, Nana would give him the business for it when she found out.

Plus, Adam’s eyes were pinging back and forth between himself and Carrie while he continued eating. He remembered Hook saying that kids made the best spies because they don’t miss a thing, and in June’s case, blurts it out to the exact wrong person at the wrong time. Not to mention fucking Barker was eating the shit up with a spoon.

When she snaked her arm around him to stroke his opposite shoulder, he shifted farther down the booth and Carrie followed. He was pinned against the wall, and she was practically sitting in his fucking lap.

was trying to think of a way to extract himself without making it more memorable to Adam when her other hand found his dick.

“Shit.” He jumped, bumping the table and toppling his soda.

Carrie just sat there smiling as the puddle spread toward Adam. Barker jumped up and fled not only the seat, but the diner, at the threat of getting wet.

He threw his arm across the table to stop the puddles from spreading. Still, she wouldn’t budge away from him. “A little help, please?” he shouted at her louder than he intended. Carrie just rolled her eyes and slowly slid from the booth.

“Good heavens.” He heard Nana exclaim before she slapped some bar mops down and slid the puddle of ice and soda into a bowl.

The older waitress thrust the bowl into Carrie’s arms, and she huffed. Nana produced a clean towel for . With another, she finished drying the table.

“Go on, get that to the back and take care of those dishes.” Carrie eyed Nana with obvious disdain, then cut her gaze to . All traces of anything other than seduction were gone.

“But I’m?—”

“I know what you’re about, and I’ll have none of that here, especially while you’re on the clock. Now go, or you can leave and not come back.”

Carrie waited only a second before she turned and stomped back toward the kitchen.

“I’m sorry about that, . New hire. I don’t think she’s going to last.”

A small bit of relief coursed through him. He hadn’t broken his rules about who he engaged with. She hadn’t worked there when they’d had their one and only drunken encounter.

“Not on you, Nana. That one’s totally on me.” It didn’t escape how tired she was looking.

“Why don’t you stop doing this? Make good on that threat you’re always tossing around and retire?”

“Retire? If I retire, people like her will run this place into the ground. Milton didn’t build this place from the ground up to have me abandon it for a life of leisure just because he’s not with us anymore.”

A sad smile crossed his lips remembering Milton. The club gave him a hell of a sendoff. He’d been like an honorary Bastard—and Nana, she was family.

“Besides, if I’d retired when I first threatened to, I’d be in Florida right now wondering why flamingos stand on one leg, and I would’ve missed meeting this precious young man.”

Nana slipped into the booth next to Adam and just stared at him as if he were the most fascinating human in the world, and didn’t disagree.

“So, you gonna tell me about the deal with his …” She covered his ears and whispered, “Not-the-mom aunt, or do I have to guess?”

gave her the PG-rated version of Rae was an ex, Adam wasn’t hers, but she was caring for him, and that he loved her still.

“I hope it’s the lifetime kind of deal like you and Milton had.”