Page 27 of Deuce

“Dad!”

The sight of my dad lying motionless on my hallway floor sent a punch straight to my gut.He was annoying, grumpy, hard-headed, and stubborn, but he was my dad, and I loved him.

When Thor had shown me the picture of the guy breaking into my house, I’d realized things could go real bad real fast.It was my dad, and he had the code but probably forgot it.He was never really good with that kind of thing.He didn’t know what was going on, and none of the Riptide guys would recognize him so they’d assumed he was one of the bad guys.

I had Thor text both Deuce and Tiny, but neither of them answered.Thor was adamant that we not go back to the house until Deuce okayed it.

I don’t take orders well.

Janet and I had smiled nicely and told him to go to hell.We tossed some bills on the table for our lunch and headed back to the house.Thor trailed behind on his bike.I didn’t think anyone would die in the time it took us to get there.

I knelt down beside Dad and slipped a hand under his head.He made a grunting noise, and his eyelids fluttered.He was alive!

Janet put a comforting hand on my shoulder.“I’ll get some ice.He’s got a nasty bump on the side of his head.”

“Thanks, sweetie.”Dad gave her an innocent smile.

I rolled my eyes.Faking it, at least somewhat.He was hurt, but not as badly as I thought.

“I’m going back on perimeter guard.”Thor beat a hasty retreat out the front door as Deuce came out of the kitchen, followed by Rattler.

I jumped to my feet and stomped over to him, hands on my hips.“That’s my dad!What did you do to him?”

Deuce caught me by the shoulders, holding me at arm’s length.“I didn’t know it was your dad, and he jumped me from behind the door when I got here.I just defended myself.What the hell is he doing here, anyway?I thought you said you weren’t going to involve him.”

“Involve me in what?”Dad sat up, one hand going to the lump on the side of his head.

Deuce let go of me and I dropped to my knees beside my dad.“Are you okay?”

He grunted.“Takes more than an uppity biker or two to kill me.”

Yup.That was my dad.Grumpy to the core.Janet returned with a bag of frozen peas and handed them to him.

I winced as he placed them against the lump on his head.“What happened?”

“He took out Tiny and jumped me with a baseball bat.”Deuce sounded grudgingly impressed.

I glared at him.“I asked Dad, not you.”

“What he said.”Dad jerked his chin at Deuce.“I would have took him out too, but that other guy come in.Two young fellas against one old guy.Not fair odds.”

Amazing how he could play the age card when it suited him.He couldn’t be that badly hurt.“I wasn’t expecting you, and they were just trying to protect me.They didn’t know who you were.”

Dad gave me a shrewd look.“And why do you need a bunch of bikers to protect you?”

Damn.I looked up at Deuce.

He raised his brows but kept silent.

Rattler stirred.“I’ll put on a pot of coffee.It’s a long story.”

“I’ll help you.”Janet winked at me as she skirted the two men and followed Rattler into the kitchen.

Dad looked up at Deuce.“You plan to stand there all day?”

“Don’t have anything else to do at the moment.”

“Lazy bugger.”He turned his attention back to me.“So what am I not getting involved in?”

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