Page 13 of Property of Stone (Kings of Anarchy MC: Pennsylvania #1)

Chapter Seven

When Stone pulled his sled into the driveway, he was relieved to see she had done what he said: parked her car in the garage, out of view.

While Taryn’s asshole ex hadn’t been sprung from the joint yet, that didn’t mean he didn’t have anyone on the outside keeping an eye on her.

Or his son.

Because if he was her ex, that was what he would do.

As soon as his daughter got off his sled, she dropped her backpack onto the driveway and began unbuckling the strap on her helmet.

“Wait there,” he told Sunny.

She squinted suspiciously at him. “Why?”

Just like her fucking mother, his girl had to question every-goddamn-thing.

“‘Cause I fuckin’ said so.”

He didn’t bother to avoid cursing around her. Not when she spent plenty of time at the clubhouse. She’d been around her foul-mouthed, pot-smoking, beer-drinking, whiskey-shooting “uncles” since she was in diapers.

What might be shocking to some was simply everyday life to her.

Using the app on his cell phone, he opened the garage door and parked his sled between Taryn’s Pilot and his prized ’67 Ford F-100 Flareside. The restored vintage truck was a lot older than him. Since being repainted in that candy-apple red metallic paint, it was prettier than him, too.

Stepping back out of the garage and into the afternoon sun, he saw— surprise fuckin’ surprise —Sunny actually remained where he told her. His daughter’s life was about to change the second she walked through the back door and he wanted to be by her side when that happened.

Plus, even at ten, Sunny could be pretty fucking mouthy. Just like fucking Sheena. And he didn’t want to scare Taryn off not even a couple of hours after the prospects got finished moving in her shit.

Stone needed Taryn because Sunny needed Taryn, even if his daughter didn’t know it yet.

That meant he needed to keep the woman not only safe, but content.

It also meant he’d be sleeping on the fucking couch for a while. She refused to move in until he agreed with that. While that sucked, it would be another sacrifice he was willing to make when it came to his baby girl.

He took Sunny’s backpack from her and flung one of the straps over his shoulder. “C’mon. Taryn’s waitin’ to meet you. You be nice, yeah?”

She rolled her eyes at him. Just like fucking Sheena.

He should’ve picked a better sperm receptacle for his kid. But then, he hadn’t planned on any of his swimmers having a fucking playdate with her scrambled eggs .

Sunny wrinkled her nose. “Why does she need to move in with us?”

“She needs my help and I need hers, that’s fuckin’ why. Made a deal.”

“But I like to hang out with Juicy and Loosey.”

“That’s the problem,” he muttered under his breath.

Sunny peered up at him as they climbed the deck steps. “What help does she need?”

“Her ex is a bad man.”

“That’s what Mom says about you.”

Stone ground his teeth. He struggled to not say bad shit about her mother. At least in front of her. All bets were off when Sunny wasn’t in earshot.

“He hit her.”

Sunny stopped at the door. “You said boys aren’t supposed to hit girls.”

“Damn right. Any ever touch you, you tell me and I’m gonna handle it.” He unlocked the door—besides making her park in the garage, he insisted Taryn keep the doors locked when he wasn’t around—and indicated that Sunny should precede him inside.

“So, she’s not a patch who?—”

Stone slapped a hand over her mouth before Taryn could hear the rest. He leveled a warning look at his baby girl.

She bugged her little brown eyes at him like she was innocent.

She was far from that.

He wasn’t afraid of much, but one thing that scared the shit out of him was how Sunny would act once she was a teen. Or, hell , even a tween.

Her teenage years were going to kill him. Just dig a goddamn hole and preorder his headstone now. No autopsy needed .

Cause of death: Girl dad.

Any man who had one would nod and simply understand.

With a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, he steered her into the kitchen. Taryn was fussing with something on the counter.

Whatever she was cooking made his fucking mouth water and the house smell the best it had ever smelled.

He had given Taryn a wad of cash yesterday and sent a prospect along with her to the supermarket in Sunbury to stock the kitchen however she wanted.

Apparently, that was scratch well spent.

He couldn’t put the introduction off any longer. He squeezed Sunny’s shoulder to remind her to behave.

When Taryn turned, her gaze skipped over him and landed right on his girl. “Hi!” The smile she wore wasn’t forced but warm and welcoming.

“Hi,” Sunny greeted, not as enthusiastically. She turned to glance up at Stone, “ Daaaad ?—”

“No.” He glanced over at Taryn to see that smile had slipped a little. Fuck. “Taryn, this is the fruit of my loins, Sunny. Sunny, this is Taryn.”

Taryn straightened her smile and asked his girl, “Is Sunny a nickname?”

When Sunny didn’t answer, he nudged her.

When she still didn’t answer, Stone did it for her. “Sunflower.”

“Oh! Sunflower is such a beautiful name.”

“It’s stupid,” Sunny grumbled.

Of fuckin’ course.

Taryn quickly recovered her surprise. Whether it was due to learning Sunny’s full name or because of his daughter’s attitude, Stone wasn’t sure. “It’s unique. ”

“Dumb,” his daughter grumbled.

“For fuck’s sake, be glad your mother didn’t name you Nut Sack,” he growled.

Taryn’s mouth gaped for a second as she turned wide eyes toward him. “Nut Sack?”

“Prospect,” he answered.

“Oh, I thought his name was Gooch.”

“Sent Gooch with you yesterday, but he ain’t the only prospect.”

“Oh. Did he choose that nickname?”

“Fuck no.”

Her eyes widened again when he cursed. This time he realized it was an unspoken message. He shrugged in answer. “So, anyway, now you two met.”

“Are you hungry?” Taryn asked Sunny. “I made Million Dollar Pasta. Have you ever had it before?”

“No.”

While he loved his baby girl and would do anything for her, Stone’s patience was currently running thin.

Taryn’s eyebrows pinched together. “No, you’re not hungry or no, you haven’t had it before?”

His daughter set her jaw and spouted, “Just no. No to you. No to this whole thing.”

For fuck’s sake. “All right, go up to your room and watch TV or somethin’ before you get grounded.”

“Grounded for what?” Sunny screeched.

Stone winced. “For whatever I want. Could start with that shitty attitude you got.”

“I don’t?—”

He pointed toward the front of the house. “Upstairs. Will call you when we’re ready to eat.”

“But—”

“No. Upstairs. Now. ”

With a grumble, Sunny jerked her backpack out of his hand and stomped away.

With his eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to keep his shit together, he waited until he heard her bedroom door slam before turning back to Taryn.

She was now leaning back against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest, making her tits look bigger than they actually were. It also made him want to bury his face in her cleavage.

“She don’t like change.”

“Most people don’t.”

Stone’s eyes rose from her tits. “Kid gets anythin’ she needs, even shit she don’t. No reason for that bullshit.”

“She’s a child. And on that note…do you always curse like that in front of her?”

“Hard to avoid it. Anyway, she’s so used to hearin’ it, ain’t any big deal.”

“Unless she uses them herself where she shouldn’t. Like at school.”

“She don’t. Told her they’re big persons’ words and she ain’t allowed to use them.”

She leveled a skeptical look in his direction.

He shrugged. “Shit happens.”

He expected her to give him more shit about it, but instead, she changed the subject. “You seem very dedicated to her.”

“She’s my only nut nugget.”

She blinked a few times, then shook her head. If she stuck around long enough, she would get used to the shit he said and stop reacting.

“Were you there when she was born?”

“No.”

“Why not? ”

“Wasn’t sure she was mine ’til I got the DNA results back.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Sheena said she was mine, but that baby coulda been anybody’s. If you knew the bitch, you’d know not to trust her. She bounced from dick to dick. She got me at a weak moment.”

Taryn cocked an eyebrow. “Did that weak moment have to do with alcohol?”

“Could be.”

“Does that mean you had no say in her name?”

Stone snorted. “Fuck no. As you heard, she fuckin’ loves it, too.”

“What would you have named her, then?”

“Durex.”

Taryn blinked in confusion again.

“Wrap.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A wrap. The thing you put on your dick so you don’t plant a seed in a bitch garden.” Maybe the woman didn’t use them.

After knocking up Sheena while he was trashed, he decided he’d never be without at least two in his wallet. He made sure he kept a shitload next to his bed at both the clubhouse and the house.

If he ever wanted another kid, he wanted to choose the mother, not have her choose him without him knowing.

“Do you get along with your ex?”

“Ain’t my ex. Just someone I nutted in durin’ a weekend-long pig roast. Ended up bein’ an expensive fuckin’ load.”

“I guess you didn’t take precautions.”

“Hard to do when you don’t even remember the fuckin’ part. ”

“Sounds like a hard lesson to learn.”

“Sure as fuck was. It’s one thing to party and wake up hungover. It’s another to wake up with a goddamn bun in the oven. And a fuckin’ broken oven at that.”

When she turned back to stir whatever was in the pot plugged into the wall, he glanced around.

If there was a six-year-old boy in this house, he sure as fuck was quiet. The exact opposite of that day in the parking lot. “So, where’s your baby bird?”

She covered the pot with a glass lid and turned. “At the playground with my mother. She’ll drop him off in time for dinner. And please don’t call him that in front of him.”

Instead of agreeing, he asked, “She good with you movin’ in with me?”

“I didn’t move in with you, I…” She sighed. “I haven’t actually told her yet. I planned on letting her know when she drops him off.”

“She gonna freak?”

“Possibly. So, can you be on your best behavior?”

He ignored that, too. “Whataya makin’?”

Whatever it was smelled damn good. His stomach growled just getting a whiff of it.

A frown etched her face. “Million Dollar Pasta.”

“Oh, thought you were jerkin’ Sunny’s chain.”

“No, it’s a real dish. I’m keeping the meal simple tonight since I’m tired from unpacking. Since it’s a dish Wren loves and it’s easy to throw together in the crockpot, I hoped Sunny might like it, too.”

“When she ain’t bein’ a brat, she ain’t a picky eater.”

“Are you?”

“A brat? Sometimes. Picky? Nope. Like pussy, long as it ain’t rotten or moldy, gonna eat it.”

Taryn’s cheeks expanded like a chipmunk before her breath exploded from her. “Those are the types of comments you need to refrain from when my mother is here. Please.”

His chin jerked back. “What was wrong with it?”

“If you don’t know, then…” Taryn shook her head.

“Got it. Be on my best behavior when Momma Bird’s momma is here.”

Taryn groaned and a look of defeat filled her face.

Shit. He needed to do better. He needed someone to help with Sunny and doing stupid shit could scare Taryn away.

Problem was, he was being himself. He wasn’t going to change his ways simply to appease her.

Fuck. Maybe he’d try for Sunny’s sake.

He wasn’t making any promises, though.