Page 10 of In It for the Long Ride

I shook my head, not bothering to deny it.

“I don’t involve myself with women who have little ones. Shit, Sue’s girl is ready for High School this coming year. That’s bad enough,” I grumped.

Sue and I had been falling into bed with each other for years. The relationship between us wasn’t anything special, but it was convenient, and her mouth was a sacred thing. She had a daughter named Nikki, and the pair had moved in with me when Sue’s husband died last year.

I hadn’t meant for it to be a commitment. I was only being generous and thoughtful when the woman was grieving. My invitation to stay the night and get her mind right had turned into an ongoing thing that I’d never bothered to redirect.

She had a talented mouth, but that didn’t make her my soul mate.

It was past time I put her on the path to starting over and stepped out of her way. It’d be the best thing for her and Nikki both.

“Carl?” Daisy’s voice cut through my thoughts, and I abruptly jerked and blinked, only to realize that she and I were now alone in the kitchen.

“Hm? Where’s the boy?” I blurted out.

“I put him to bed.”

I gave a dismissive snort and looked away, but it wasn’t enough to get her attention off me. I sighed and rubbed the stubble along my jaw. I hated it when my mind got away from me and my thoughts roamed. It wasn’t the type of daydream most people experience. When I became stressed, I had the ability to lose hours. That was the worst-case scenario, though. It’d been years since I lost more than a few moments, and I’d almost never been caught doing it.

I prided myself on my ability to seem normal and cool headed.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“Hmm?” I realized I still hadn’t met her gaze and forced myself to meet those big, brown eyes.

They were filled with concern and compassion, despite her violent hatred of me. I didn’t know brown eyes could be bright, not until I met her. The memory of those dark, glistening jewels was the only thing that kept me sane in that tiger cage.

“Carl,” Her voice slapped at me, and I flinched again.

I knew the moment I heard it that I’d spaced again. I shot out of my seat, and she placed herself in front of me, pinning me between her body and the chair.

“Daisy,” I quietly urged, trying to step around her.

The woman danced with me, planting a delicate hand on each of my shoulders. There was a reason I’d been working my ass off in the heat. I was keeping my hands and mind focused. Sitting in a cabin wasn’t going to be good.

Not for me.

And not for anyone trapped there with me.

I’d done a fine job of telling myself that shit happened. Chef took out his old lady, and half his mobile home when his meth cooking went wrong, and we all somehow told ourselves that while it was a tragedy,shit happened.

The same thing was repeated when Princess, Anthony, Big Vick, and so many others perished over the years.

Shit happens, and that’s the gamble you take if you want to live fast,we told ourselves again and again.

And then the day came when a member's daughter was snatched up as collateral in our war with the Valentino mob.

A fucking woman. Not just any woman, she was the daughter of a founding member. She was Mark’s little girl, and yet she was a woman. Easy’s wife, to be exact. She was the perfect pawn, and Demetri had made sure we all heard her singing and dancing to his tune.

It was a tune I was familiar with. I’d danced to it myself a few times when I was a prisoner of war. That wasn’t the type of treatment I wanted to think of any woman experiencing, least of all the daughter, or wife of one of my disciple brothers.

I didn’t realize I’d closed my eyes, until I felt her soft, warm hands on either side of my face.

“Carl, talk to me…” she pleaded.

I opened my eyes and hot tears streamed down my cheeks.

“I need a drink,” I blurted out in a whisper, and stepped past her.

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