Page 18 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ZADIE

I’m not sure what to expect when my father walks through the door, but it’s not for him to narrow his eyes at me. Sure, I know he’s pissed at me, but he knows I’m pregnant and trying to do the right thing here.

I’m beginning to think that, because it had something to do with the Reapers, I should have probably gone to him first. Except I didn’t want it to be my father forcing anyone’s hand. I wanted to be the one to tell Maverick.

When my father is close enough to speak to me so that nobody else in the room can hear, he dips his chin, his eyes pierce mine, and I suck in a breath, holding it as I wait for him to speak.

I know I’m not going to like it. I’m not going to want to hear it either.

I can just tell by the anger that is radiating off him.

“What in the actual fuck do you think you’re doing, Zadie?” He enunciates every single word with a tongue so sharp that it feels as if those words actually pierce my skin.

If I tell him what I’m doing—that I’m taking care of the situation that he claims has ruined my life—he’ll get angrier because he’ll think I’m being a smart-ass.

So instead, I say nothing. I also don’t in return ask him what the fuck he’s doing with Sable, who is indeed young enough to be his daughter since we’re the same age.

“You didn’t tell me the man who knocked you up was a Reaper,” he hisses.

“I didn’t lie to you,” I state.

His lips press together in the thinnest line I’ve ever seen, and I know if I were brave enough to glance down at his hands, they’d be balled up in fists at his sides as he attempts to dial back his rage. I’m not sure how long that will work before he lashes out at me, though.

“You omitted a fuck of a lot, Zadie,” he growls. “Too goddamn much, and you know it.”

I do know it. I omitted it because I wanted to avoid all of this, every second of it. I didn’t want him to know who the father was because this is what I knew was going to happen. He would come here and do whatever he’s going to do. This isn’t about me and Maverick. This isn’t about our baby.

This isn’t even about me being knocked up by some guy I don’t know and him protecting me as a concerned father.

This is about measuring the size of his dick and nothing else.

“I wanted to talk to him first. It needed to be me.”

He shakes his head once. “No, that’s where you’re fucking wrong. It needed to be me,” he growls. “You fucked up,” he barks.

Every word he speaks begins to grow louder. I stand my ground, though. I’m not going to back down. Like I told him already, I’m a twenty-one-year-old woman. I am not a child, and I did this. Me. Not him.

His fingers curl around the front of my throat before I realize what’s happening. His face is inches from mine, his voice just below a roar as he screams in my face.

“I should have whored you out like I did your mother. You’re just like her.”

My father has never abused me. He’s never been overly affectionate, but he’s never hurt me, although I’ve never stepped a toe out of line, either. To him, I’ve not just stepped a toe out of line, I’ve leaped over the line and run down the hill.

“Better take your hand off her,” a deep voice growls behind me.

I recognize the voice, but only because he growled at me just moments ago, much the same way. Except I think it might have actually been nicer than the way he just talked to my father.

It’s Goose.

My father’s gaze flicks from mine to meet the man standing behind me.

He doesn’t blanch, doesn’t even blink. No, he stares at Goose almost as if he’s actually staring him down.

I’m not sure what to do, but I can’t go anywhere because although my father’s fingers aren’t squeezing my throat any longer, they are indeed still around my neck.

“Says who?” my dad asks.

I can’t even imagine the expression Goose must be wearing on his face right now, but the way my dad’s chin is jutted outward as he looks his nose down at him, I can only assume he is not backing down. And while that’s whatever, what I don’t want to be is in the middle of it.

“Me. Now you’re in my house. Respect that and back the fuck up.”

Part of me wants to thank Goose for stepping in. However, I know he is only doing it to assert his dominance in his territory. This is indeed the beginning of the dick measuring contest. I just didn’t realize it would include Goose, who doesn’t even like me, but this is indeed a principality thing.

My father’s hand falls from my throat, although I have a feeling it is with great reluctance.

I don’t move except for my eyes. I shift them to meet Sable’s.

She’s staring at me with her lips parted.

Her eyes are wide, and I can tell she’s shocked at the man standing in front of her, and that man isn’t Goose. It’s my father.

I’m not sure the word betrayal fits this situation. However, it’s how I feel. It’s not just that I’m grossed out, because truly, that is part of it. Sable is my friend, and my father is my father.

But it’s not just that.

It’s the fact that she told him where I was without hesitation. She told him in an effort to make herself look better for him. Not because she was protecting me, her supposed best friend.

Her actions cut deeply, and they make me want to cry. In all the years I’ve known her, which is to say the twenty-one years of my life, I’m not sure if she’s ever hurt me like this before. But maybe she has, and I just didn’t know about it.

“Your house?” my dad growls. “I’m a fucking president,” he snaps.

Goose makes a noise in the back of his throat, then snorts, but before he can say anything in response, the door to the bar opens, the light spilling into the room, and I gasp at the sight of Maverick standing there.

Not because I don’t want him to be here, but because I’m afraid of what’s about to happen now that he is.

MAVERICK

The sight in front of me is not the one I thought would be greeting me when I walked into the clubhouse. I thought I would have a few more hours at least before I would have to deal with this shit.

I open my mouth to ask what the fuck is going on when I hear Bullet’s voice roar from behind me. I don’t know what the fuck is going on. He marches past me, almost knocking me on my ass because I don’t expect it, and makes a beeline for Halo, Goose, Zadie’s friend, and a very shaken Zadie.

I don’t even know how to navigate the expression on my woman’s face, but what I do know is that I do not like it. Not one single bit. I may not know her that well, but I know enough to realize that she is indeed not happy right now. I would say that she’s borderline scared.

Before I can say a word, Bullet is there, in Halo’s face, too close for me to hear what’s happening. By the time I approach, Bullet is walking away, and Halo is behind him. Shifting my attention to Goose, I jerk my chin.

He closes the distance between us, walking past Zadie to do it. Zadie, who has stayed otherwise silent since I walked in. Dipping his chin slightly, he looks down at me, his gaze finding mine.

“He came in here talking some shit and put his hands on her. I almost put him down.”

My spine straightens. “Hands?” I ask on a hiss.

“Hands.”

My brother’s confirmation is all I need. My body is buzzing. It’s fucking vibrating at the concept of that man walking in here and putting his hands on my woman. On my pregnant woman.

Mine.

Instead of busting through Bullet’s door and filling Halo full of bullets, I shift my attention to Zadie, who, instead of looking scared, now appears to be panicked.

I’m sure she thinks I’m going to gut her father, and honest to fuck, that’s exactly what I want to do right now, and I might still in the future.

He’s definitely not safe from me.

Not that he was before he showed up here.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

She swallows hard, and that’s when my gaze flicks down to her neck, and I see some redness there. Chills break out over my skin. Tilting my head to the side, I flick my eyes up to meet hers.

“Did he put his hands on your throat?” I ask through gritted teeth.

I watch—my body being filled with what I can only describe as anxious energy. It feels like sparks might actually fly through my fingertips. I am completely juiced up instantly. My vision blurs before I completely black out.

My body moves without me realizing what’s even happening. When I come to, my hand is wrapped around the knob of Bullet’s office. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m trying to save myself from making some kind of colossal mistake, but it doesn’t matter because I burst through anyway.

I can hear Goose behind me. He’s calling my name, and then I feel his fingers wrap around my shoulder. I’m not sure what I’m expecting from him, but it isn’t for him to pull me backward and storm into the office himself.

I hear Bullet shout, but then Goose has Halo by his throat, his back against the wall. He turns his head, his eyes finding mine. “Just tell me when,” Goose growls.

Bullet stands on the other side of them. “Stand down, Goose,” he barks.

“Fuck that,” Goose snaps. “And fuck him.”

It’s almost as if everything happens in slow motion. I reach for my brother, wrapping my hand around his bicep, and his head swings over to look at me. I shake my head a couple of times.

“Let it lie,” I murmur. Halo lets out a sigh of relief. But I’m not done. “For now.”

Goose releases him and takes a step backward. I watch as Halo doubles over, trying to catch his breath. My lips twitch into a smirk. The scene is kind of funny. Such a big man who puts his hands on a woman, and now he’s doubled over like a little bitch.

“She’s not yours,” Halo wheezes.

His eyes find mine as he stands up tall, his gaze searching. “She’s not yours. You never asked for permission. You broke so many codes.”

My smirk grows wider. “Fuck your codes. They don’t apply to me,” I grind out.

Halo makes a noise in the back of his throat that sounds like a growl, but he doesn’t make a move away from the wall. He can’t. He knows he’s fucked and that he’s fucked up. Turning my attention to Bullet, I keep the smile on my face. It almost consumes me as my gaze dances while I search his.

“I’m claiming Zadie right fucking now in case anyone was wondering. She’s the mother to my unborn kid, and she’s my goddamn old lady.”

And that shit is fucking that.