Page 12 of Protecting His Woman

D amion couldn’t fucking believe what he was doing.

For the longest time, he truly believed he hated kids.

Sure, they were great and part of fucking and all that, but he never wanted them for himself.

Yet, as he walked around the latest Old County Potluck Sunday, with Betsy on his shoulders, Dhalia, Smithy, and Pete close by, and Vicki on his arm, he was actually, honestly, fucking happy. This made no sense to him.

Betsy was a cutie-pie. She had looked up at him, gave him an odd stare, and asked if he was going to be mean to her sister. He told her no, and that he was going to treat Vicki like a queen. At first, she didn’t like that, because all fairy tales suggest that queens are mean.

Damion told her that in his world, his queen would be the sweetest, most precious, and it also meant she could be a princess.

That seemed to win Betsy over, and his reward was carrying her through the high school park.

She held onto his hands and didn’t wriggle, but she was heavy.

He didn’t mind, though. When they saw a bouncy castle up ahead, she gave his hands a squeeze, and he let her down off his shoulders.

Vicki’s other siblings were more than happy to hang around him, but it wasn’t long before they made their excuses and were long gone.

One Sunday every month, Old County had a potluck, where all the stores and families could choose to have a stall, allow the locals to stop by, enjoy some food, and get to know each other. There was also the chance of different families coming around as well.

This was what Damion had insisted on, as he didn’t want people to fear the families.

He spotted the Thames’s up ahead. It wouldn’t be long before the blood test came back.

Damion would receive the results first. Vicki hadn’t talked about it since it was done, not even to ask if he was curious or what he thought.

He didn’t know if she would be happy knowing who her father is.

There was no sign of Annette, which he was pleased about.

He didn’t know if Annette was alive or dead, and right now he didn’t want to know.

Jude was still around, and he paid him random visits, giving him just enough food to keep him alive.

Every time he went to finish the job, he would see him, get pissed off all over again, feed him, and leave.

Next to The Lords, he saw Frank, and he knew that upset Vicki. However, as part of his rules, he could not interfere if a civilian willingly started to look into joining one of the families. That path was up to them, and he wasn’t going to do anything about it. Joining The Lords would not be easy.

Among the families, Damion most hated The Lords.

They bent the rules. They didn’t outright break them, but it was close, and they were always trying to find loopholes.

He knew people ended up dead, and they had a way of hiding it.

Damion always watched his back when they were close, and as he looked in their direction now, he saw they were watching him.

They were up to something, but he didn’t know what?

He wasn’t afraid of them, not even a bit.

Vicki clapped her hands, which drew his attention. Betsy had bounced and done a spin in the air. Being with Vicki, hanging out with her siblings, and seeing how she took care of them, he knew without a shadow of a doubt she would be an amazing mother.

Damion had never wanted kids. And yet, he thought about Vicki pregnant with his kid, and that thought made his dick incredibly hard. Looking at her now, he wanted her, craved her, but he had kept his word. They were not moving faster than she was prepared to go.

“She loves this,” Vicki said, moving closer to him.

He wrapped his arms around her, and as he did so, he looked toward The Lords and noticed Frank was moving away from them and heading to the bathroom.

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

Vicki nodded and Damion headed in the same direction as Frank.

No one stopped him, and he nodded at the locals who said hello to him.

It was all about playing the role, and as he entered the bathroom, he took note that no one else was there.

He leaned up against the sink and waited.

Seconds later, Frank stepped out, and the moment he saw him, he jumped.

“Damion, dude, you scared me.”

“What is there to be scared of?”

“Are you fucking following me?”

He smiled. “I may be dating your sister, but watch your fucking language. You will treat me with respect, or you’ll face the consequences.” There was no way he was going to accept being spoken to that way.

Frank’s jaw clenched, and Damion caught him clenching his hands into fists. “Isn’t this breaking the rules?”

“So, you know the rules, that is good to know. I’m not here to stop you on whatever path you choose to take. That is up to you, however, what I will say is if you are asked to do something you don’t think you can do, come to me.”

“Dude, I don’t know who the fuck you are—”

Damion wrapped his fingers around Frank’s neck.

“You may be old enough to stick your dick inside any willing pussy. You may be old enough to father children and join any family you wish. However, boy, you are still that, and if you keep talking like that, regardless of you being Vicki’s brother, I will end you.

I’m giving you an option. It is up to you if you decide to take it.

I know The Lords. I know what they are capable of. Be careful.”

And with that, he let go of Frank’s neck, and the kid fell to the floor, gasping for breath. It was the one and only warning he was going to give him. The rest was now up to him.

He stepped outside of the bathroom as his cell phone beeped. Damion was not in the mood for bad shit to happen today. He pulled out his cell phone, and it was like wondering what the results would be had magically made them appear. Vicki was in fact Neil’s biological daughter.

Well, fuck.

****

V icki once again sat in the diner, opposite Neil, and waited. Damion had told them both the news, that they were in fact father and daughter. He had also opted to give them some space. She looked over at her dad and didn’t know what to say.

“Did you try the chili on Claire’s stand?” she asked.

“Yeah, it was spicy this year. I swear, she tries every year to make it spicier than the year before.”

She nodded her agreement, then she didn’t have a clue what to say.

“Look, I honestly didn’t know,” Neil said. “Your mother, she was fucking everyone and everything.”

Vicki held her hands up. “You don’t have to say anything. It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. Nothing about this is fine. I mean, I knew there was a chance you were mine.” He shook his head, running a hand down his face. “I’m kind of blown away by this news.” He suddenly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. “I want you to have this.”

Vicki took the envelope he slid across the table, and looked inside to see a lot of money. She shook her head and moved it back toward him. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I wasn’t there to help, and I know you’ve had it rough. Annette is not exactly a good woman.”

In that moment, Vicki couldn’t help but feel a little curious about her mother, only another part of her didn’t want to know what was happening to her.

“It’s fine.”

“No, I should have fucking been there. I should have gotten you checked sooner, and then I could have ... fuck. You’re a Thames, Vicki.”

“I don’t want to change who I am. I’m not joining your family, I want to remain a civilian.”

She didn’t want anything to change.

Neil nodded. “That’s fair.”

Within families, she knew members when they were old enough could opt out of the family, choose to become a civilian, and make it work without them.

There could be no consequences for those choices, and she knew it was very rare for members to do that.

In most situations, it was impossible, as they had lived in their family’s world and didn’t know what it was like to be a civilian.

This was different for her, as she had only ever lived life as a civilian.

“I want to get to know you.”

“Neil, Dad, I, uh...” Wow, that felt strange.

She had never said the word “Dad” before.

Well, she probably did when she was a kid, but that was a long time ago.

Now the word seemed strange to say, unlike “Mom.” She was used to saying Mom, not Dad.

“I have my brothers and sisters, and I don’t know if you know this or not, Frank might be joining The Lords.

Again, I don’t know for sure because he doesn’t tell me anything, but I don’t know how that is going to work with you knowing me, or if it will have any impact. ”

She tried not to wince. This was hard.

“No, it won’t. I know what Frank is doing.

We all know, but that is not going to affect our friendship.

I am happy to get to know you and your family, Vicki.

I know I’m the leader of the Thames, and I’ve done a lot of bad shit.

” He then stopped. “I want to get to know you. I want to be there for you.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” she said.

“I guess, we take it one day at a time,” Neil said. “So, I guess we start with, hi, I’m Neil, your father.”

This made her smile. “Hi, I’m Vicki, your daughter.”

He held his hand out, and she took it, giving his hand a shake. “Would you like some lunch?”

“Actually, it wasn’t so long ago that I ate.” She saw how disappointed he was when she refused, and she quickly thought about it. “How about tomorrow? I’m working here tomorrow. You could stop by. We could have lunch?”

“I’d like that.”

“Great.” She looked toward the time. “I’ve got to head back. I’ve got to get Betsy.”

“Say no more.” Neil got to his feet, and then shook her hand. “I’m glad, about the news.”

“Me too.” She offered him a smile, although, for her, it didn’t really change anything.

He left the diner first, and Damion came to her side. He placed a hand on the center of her back. “You okay?”

“Yes and no. I mean, I never really thought about my dad, you know. There was no reason to think about him.”

“And now?”

“It hasn’t sunk in. He’s my dad, but ... that is all it is right now—a title. I don’t know what I should expect. Should I call him my dad?” She shook her head and frowned. “I have no idea what he expects from me.”

“I imagine right now he doesn’t expect anything from you. He just wants the chance to be with you when you need him to be.”

She looked up at Damion and nodded.

“You ready to head back to the high school?”

“Yeah, Delphine was okay with taking care of Betsy, right?”

“Sure is. She thinks she is adorable.”

Vicki laughed. “Everyone loves Betsy.”

He pulled her close and kissed her head. Vicki didn’t realize how much she needed his support until that moment. She had never really thought of what it would be like to meet her father. She certainly hadn’t expected it to be so hard.

From a young age, she had known it was going to be difficult to find out who her dad was.

There were always so many different men close to her mother.

Running fingers through her hair, she tried not to think of the life she could have had.

She didn’t know if it was better that she had grown up not knowing who Neil was, or if it would have been better for her.

Either way, the past was the past, and she wasn’t going to allow it to affect her future.