Page 56 of Rebel

“Nikki,” he grunted in a semi-familiar tone. “You have to be careful, please. The Councilman is spooked by all the stories coming out questioning his business ties and donors. Rumor has it that he blames you so watch your back. I’m sorry if my call started all this.” The call was over before I could fix my mouth to ask him anything.

He’d said plenty.

My voice shook as I did my nightly send-off before I packed my bags and made my way down to the lobby where I knew Maverick would be waiting.

Except it wasn’t Maverick. It was Logan and he looked pissed.

Yeah well, so was I, and I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. I marched to the car, slipped into the passenger seat, and watched the world outside, wishing I was anywhere but here.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rebel

Nikki hadn’t said a word the whole drive home. Those assholes threatened her on air for the whole damn city to hear and she still said nothing. I kept quiet too, my thoughts too tumultuous to take one thought and turn it into words. They threatened my fucking kid as clear as day and that was something I would—fuck that, Icouldn’t—let go unpunished. I’ve been angry before, screaming fucking mad, in fact. Been angry enough to start shit with a stranger just to get rid of some of that rage, but this? This was on a whole new level.

The Blood Fangs continued to live, to fucking breathe, fuck, and make money, but as far as I was concerned, they were as good as dead. Because soon, they would be.

As soon as the car pulled into the parking spot in front of the clubhouse, Nikki jumped out and raced inside, giving me no time to say anything. Not that I figured out what the fuck to say. I shouldn’t have gone to pick her up, not after avoiding her all week, but after hearing that shit, I had to. I was grateful as fuck that Slate had been monitoring the show for more calls from the Blood Fangs. When he found me, I told Maverick I’d pick up Nikki tonight.

It felt like I should be there, like I should be the one she leaned on after that kind of threat. Turns out I was dead ass wrong.

Again.

I wanted to go after Nikki, to talk to her and make sure she was okay, but I was still too fucking angry. Every goddamn time I looked at Livvy with those big green eyes, I couldn’t help but think about all the things I had missed. It was fucking with my head—all the milestones I would never get back. I knew it wasn’t logical, that Nikki hadn’t known how to find me all those years ago. But still, when we did find each other again, she took her sweet damn time telling me. And the worst of it was that I couldn’t bring myself to talk to the one person who could tell me about those moments I missed.

Nikki. When I stepped inside the clubhouse I saw her on her knees, eye to eye with Livvy, arms wrapped around her as she hugged her close and kissed her face. She wore a smile for the sake of our daughter, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Luckily for her, Livvy was too eager to get back to playing with Slate’s daughter, Ashlyn, and Chopper to notice. She hugged Livvy one more time, stood up and disappeared into her room.

My room,technically. Though, now I was staying in one of the rooms the prospects used.

“Shit,” I muttered to myself before grabbing a beer. “And a shot of tequila, thanks.” I took my booze and stormed through the club in search of fresh air, which I found behind the clubhouse. The night air was cool but refreshing. It was just what I needed to try and relax. I knocked back the tequila in one swallow and slammed the glass on the table.

“Feel better?” Rocky’s deep voice wasn’t playful like it usually was. Instead he sounded concerned.

“Fuck no. Gonna take more than Cuervo to make that happen.” I took a long pull from my bottle and stared at the sky.

“Might wanna figure out why the fuck you’re so angry.” Diesel said, his deep voice low and firm.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I know exactly why I’m angry. I missed all of her life so far.”

“She’s still a kid,” Slate laughed. “You’ve missed, by all accounts, the hard part of parenthood.”

“Still missed it,” I grumbled and took another pull of beer.

“I get it,” Diesel said as he took a seat at the table, kicked his legs up into a relaxed position. “Hell, I missed about the same amount of years with Leo, and it was because I didn’t get a fucking text.”

“Then you get it!” I seized on that fact, knowing he had to be on my side.

“But I’m grateful as hell that I have him now.”

“Me too,” Slate agreed. “There was no way Emma could’ve found me—she had my first name, Asher, to go on, and that was about it. I wanted to be mad.”

I glared at him. “You were mad, you were furious as fuck that she kept you in the dark once she had found you.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And I was wrong. But I risked losing even more time being an asshole to her mother.” Slate pulled out a joint and lit it. “It was her job, heronlyjob to keep our daughter safe for years. Me being the sperm donor didn’t mean shit to Emma, we were strangers, and she wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be a danger to Ash.” He shrugged. “I get it, and I love her even more for putting Ash first.”

“She had no right,” I insisted despite the wistful smile on Slate’s face.

“No legal right,” Slate agreed. “But she did all the fucking hard work, Rebel. She was pregnant and alone. Had the baby alone. Raised her, also alone. I had no fucking clue, and I never would have if she hadn’t seen that I was worthy.”

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