Page 54 of Rebel

“I’m gonna get the biggest cheeseburger ever!” Livvy was full of excitement as we slid into a booth at the twenty-four hour diner that straddled Steel City and Las Vegas. “With extra cheese!” she exclaimed with a dazzling smile.

My little girl was amazing. I spent all day with her, and she was fucking incredible, so smart and curious about the whole world. And she gave her laughter and her joy so freely. She asked a lot of questions and listened intently at the answers. And she had my eyes, the exact shade of green with flecks of light green and gold.

My eyes.Now that I knew, I saw it so fucking clearly that it pissed me off I didn’t see it sooner.

“Extra cheese?” Nikki asked with a smile just for Livvy.

“Yep. I’m really cheese hungry, Mommy.”

That pulled a laugh from Nikki but when the waitress came, she ordered a kids’ cheeseburger with extra cheese as requested. “With curly fries. And baby carrots,” she added, smiling when Livvy groaned.

“Oh my god Mommy, I love Chopper so much,” she began again. “He’s so sweet and so slobbery,” she laughed and talked about his wet kisses.

“Sounds like you’ve made a new friend.” She smiled affectionately at our daughter, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

And it was my fault.

She mostly stayed quiet over dinner, letting Livvy do most of the conversational lifting. She never once looked at me or talked to me.

Again, it was my fault.

Almost as soon as her fries were finished, Livvy started dozing off into her plate. Nikki finished her food and stopped our waitress as she rushed by. “The check, please.” The check had barely been laid down when she whipped out her card and tapped the reader.

“Thank you. Have a good night!”

Nikki stood and draped her purse across her chest, put on her hoodie, and grabbed Livvy, hitching her up on her hip. “You’ll be home soon enough sweetheart.”

The car ride back to the clubhouse was painfully silent. Without Livvy’s nonstop chatter, we were forced to ignore each other or talk. Nikki kept her gaze out the window, either to shut me out or to avoid looking at me.

“Nikki, I think we should talk.” It was well past time.

“I’m going to find alternative living arrangements,” she said at the same time. “I appreciate your help in putting us up, but staying here isn’t a solution.”

“No. Absolutely not.” There was no fucking way I was letting her, or my daughter, out of my sight more than I had to.My fingers curled tighter around the steering wheel, making me wish I was on my bike, eating up the freeway to ease my anger.

Nikki sucked in a breath and turned to face me. “I wasn’t asking, first of all. The Blood Fangs don’t know Mia, we’ll be safe there. And she has a refrigerator and a kitchen we can use.”

“You think you’ll be safe at Mia’s, but you won’t. They don’t know Miayet, but the minute you go there, they will—and then she will be in danger too. Look, I know the clubhouse isn’t ideal, but at the moment it’s the safest place for you to be.” I hated to instill more fear in Nikki, but she wasn’t thinking clearly. If I didn’t lay it out explicitly, she would continue to argue with me, or worse, she’d leave.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“This isn’t an ideal situation for Livvy, and don’t tell me that your friends’ kids manage just fine. She needs to be able to go outside and she has to go back to kindergarten. It’s not normal.”

“Yeah, well, this is my life,” I shot back, suddenly defensive. My club brothers’ kids were all well-balanced and happy, and I didn’t like her insinuating that the club was a bad environment.

“Your life, not mine. When Livvy is with you then you decide. But when she’s with me, I decide.” She jumped out as soon as I cut the engine and slammed the door.

I jumped out and grabbed Livvy before she could, holding her close as I carried her inside. I felt Nikki’s anger simmering behind me, but I brushed it off and took Livvy to her room, removing her shoes and tucking her into bed. She was so fucking small, so vulnerable and I knew without a doubt that I wouldburn down the world to keep her safe. My heart exploded with the kind of love I never knew existed when I looked at my daughter curled up on her side, her rosebud lips curled into a slight smile as she slept.

Nikki entered the room and kicked off her shoes, dropping her purse onto the desk to her left. She moved around behind me, saying nothing as she straightened the room.

I kissed Livvy’s forehead and stepped back to watch her mother. “We should talk.”

She looked up at me with that same damn blank expression I was starting to hate. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Like hell there isn’t. You can’t leave.”

Her eyes slid closed for a brief second and when she looked at me the next moment, anger darkened her gaze. “I don’t need your permission to live my life, Logan. I’m not staying here any longer than I have to, and that isn’t up for debate.”

---