Only she’d ever been able to do this to me. Only Lucie, and that was why she was dangerous. Always had been, always would be. Not just to me, but the men who were my brothers too. She was our personal kryptonite, and for some fucking reason, she was back, and she was bringing life-changing news with her.
I watched as she pressed a hand to the little girl’s shoulder, a little girl who looked like my baby sister, Tara, back when she was that age, when she’d been pure and innocent, and before the drugs had made their mark on that delicate doll-like beauty. Then I recognized that was a copout, and I was being a pussy. My baby sister was my goddamn twin… The girl was mine.
Sloan ‘Bomber’ Steeler had tossed out his daughter when she was pregnant with my baby.
Had he known?
Was that why he’d forced her to leave?
For a second, I wished I’d been the one to shoot the motherfucker, to cut the man down in his prime. Then, I realized how fucking wrong that was.
Brothers before bitches.
Just… daughters didn’t fit in that category.
“Open the gate,” I ground out, and was relieved when Flame moved over to the control panel and opened it.
We’d never had any trouble here, but the entrance was always guarded. People knew we were bad shit, and though they might loathe us, we were vital to the local economy too. Funny, right? So, guards stood outside the gates not inside, and leaned over to reach the control panel to let folk in. That was why Lucie had managed to knock Gutter down to the, well, gutter. His nickname was about to become legend.
Of course, none of the newer brothers knew who Lucie was anymore. Bomber had cocked his gun whenever a brother had dared mention her name, and as the years passed, I’d done the same because, fuck if I didn’t miss little Lucie.
The gates squeaked as the hinges opened, and though it irritated me, as it did every time I heard the noise, it was an inadvertent security feature. I heard that fucking squeak in my sleep. After three AM, that fucker stayed closed, and if I awoke to that noise later than that? I’d know someone was breaking into the compound.
My compound.
I balled my hands into fists as the little girl, all white blonde hair and big gray eyes, clung to her mother’s jeans, hiding behind them like she was scared. That she was worrying told me she wasn’t used to the life, and I had to wonder what the fuck Ryan had been playing at—
My throat choked. No. I wouldn’t think about him. Wouldn’t think about any of that just now.
I had a clusterfuck on my hands, and it needed dealing with.
“Come on, sugar pie, let’s get in the car.”
I noticed the cast on her arm, and knew that was the reason she was in a cage and not on a bike. Not that kids could ride on bikes… Although I could imagine Lucie trying that shit. She hadn’t changed. She was still as insane as ever—watching Gutter kiss his own spit was proof of that.
The little girl, my daughter, huddled into her momma’s side as Lucie guided her into the backseat once more.
I got a glimpse of a round ass as she moved away, and when she sat in the deep bucket seat, her tits bunched together in a way that reminded me of the times I’d titty-fucked her sweet jailbait self.
Gritting my teeth, I moved away from the driveway and headed to the side of the road so she could pass. The others followed my lead, but though most brothers kept a wide berth from me, had ever since I’d gone from VP to Prez, Flame, Axe, and Dagger didn’t.
“What the fuck is going on?” Axe hissed at me. “Is this the Twilight Zone?”
I shot him a look. “Fucking feels like it.” I ran a hand over my face. “No paternity test is going to prove shit I don’t already know—that girl’s mine.”
“One hundred percent,” Flame rasped, pulling his lighter out as he began flicking it. I was used to him and the damn pacifier he always had in his hand. The rasp, the flick, the whoosh of flame… it was hypnotic to me now. So much so, I had to focus to blot it out.
As my Enforcer, it was only right that Flame was as much of a psycho as Lucie. You’d think he’d earned his