Page 123 of Riot

“We don’t need them,” Cash assures me. “I have men who can run circles around the PD. If there’s one person in this club who knows how to survive, it’s Riot. Sit tight, okay, we’re comin’.”

“Okay.” I have no idea what to do when he hangs up, but I let the phone fall to the bed. I curl onto it and I can’t stop the tears. My poor Riot. Myles. The man I love more than anything in this world. He’s suffering right now. He’s in trouble. And I can’t help him.

I can’t fucking help.

I feel a nudge at my leg that’s dangling off the bed and I glance down. Cookie is nosing me and I cry even harder. I know he doesn't like me crying because he whimpers every time I do. I slide off the bed and onto the floor, landing on my ass. Cookie circles and then climbs into my lap.

“It’s going to be okay,” I tell him. “All of it. We’re going to get Daddy home, I promise.”

I rest my head back on the bed and try to think. I don’t know anything about Riot’s past, so I can’t do anything. Then, like a brainwave, I pull my phone out.

Ian. I can call Ian.

I flick through my phone. I don’t remember deleting his number, but maybe I did. I bite my lip and then realize that I didn’t. Thank God. I dial and it rings out. I decide to leave a message.

“Ian, it’s me, Halo. Call me back when you get this, it’s urgent. I need to talk to you.” I hang up. It probably won’t do any good, but if I’m being honest with myself, it makes the most sense. Ian did have a vendetta, and Riot did put him in the hospital. But these lengths seem so extreme,tooextreme. If Ian did this just to hurt me, then he went the right way about it.

I hear a tap at my door. I glance up and I see my mom in the doorway. “I made some tea,” she says, her voice low.

“Thanks, Mom.”

For once, I see some emotion on her face as she comes closer. “For what it’s worth I’m truly sorry this happened, I really am. But can’t you see that it’s because he’s in a motorcycle?—”

I’m on my feet before I can even stop myself. “Don’t!” I point in her face. “Don’t ever speak that way about Myles, Mom or I swear to God this will be the last time you see me. You don’t know anything about him?—”

“Neither do you!”

“I know he’s good and kind. He’s funny and loving. He cares for people and animals, he loves his family and wishes he still had his mom. You know what he told me before I went in to see Dad? That I should give you a break. That no matter what you’d done in the past, it was only out of love. That you love me so much that you only want what’s best for me.”

“Well, that’s tru?—”

“I’m not done!” I snap. “I wanted to agree. I wanted to see your side, but all I could see was the truth; that you don’t want my happiness at all. You just want to keep up with the Joneses, and Myles doesn’t fit that mold, does he? He’s a biker who will bring shame upon this family, not that it would even occur to you that he loves me. He protects me and would never ever hurt me.”

“Honey, you’re getting upset, just calm down…”

“What’s going on here?” Dad storms in, his face annoyed as he takes in my Mom, well, glares at her like I’ve never seen him before. Then he comes toward me and takes me in his arms.

“It’s time for some home truths,” he says. “What we did was wrong, Genevieve. I tried to force our will onto our daughter because I thought we knew what was best for her. I thought being with Ian, despite not knowing those vile things he said to her until recently, would make her happy. That in time, shecould grow to love him, but now I see that it was just another way for you to gain control.”

My heart almost stops beating in my chest.

“Rowley, your heart!” Mom presses her hand to her chest, worry written all over her face.

“Dad, Mom’s right, you need to calm down.”

“How can I when my daughter could’ve been kidnapped, too?” he roars. “My beautiful baby girl who I loved and nurtured in these two hands could have been harmed tonight, even killed.”

“And that’s because ofhim,” Mom fires back. “If he weren't in a biker gang, then none of this would be happening.”

“Really?” I shake my head. “Because I seem to remember Ian showing up at my apartment and I’ve no idea where he could’ve plucked the address from.”

Dad stares at Mom. “You didn’t?”

Mom straightens her back. She’s in fight or flight mode now. “It was just a little push. That’s all. I want Lourdes to have a good life; I don’t want her to struggle like we have.”

My dad scoffs. “Like we have? You haven’t worked a day in your life, Genevieve, and I’ve given you everything I possibly could to make you happy, but it still wasn’t good enough.”

“Dad, you really need to calm down,” I say, but he tightens his grip around me.

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