Page 104 of Love is Strange
"Not sure how that's possible. He's her father, and it's pretty obvious he's been sexually abusing her for years."
“He’s not her father.”
“What?”–I stammer out my answer– “But he said?......She thinks?”
"I'm not hundred percent certain, but I'll be surprised if she isn't who I think she is."
“Who?” This conversation is losing me. One minute ago I had Snake pegged for a sick incestuous pedophile, now I’m not sure what the fuck is going on.
“About ten years ago my father wanted me to learn about different clubs. I spent some time traveling around with Ebony and Siren. My wife wasn't overly impressed at being uprooted every few months. You didn't know Siren for long, but she liked her home here. We spent a bit of time in the Chicago chapter, which is run by a man called Gunner. He's a good man, and his wife, Ginger, became great friends with Siren." He pauses and swallows deeply. I can tell he's reliving a lot of shit with this story – it’s bringing up far too many bad memories, and some he's not ready to face, yet. But he needs to tell me what’s going on.
“Prez, I can ask one of the others to tell me,” I offer.
"No. Iron's aware of what happened, but nobody else was there. I'll be ok, might take Penny up on her offer a bit later. That'll get me through."
I nod in approval.
“Gunner and Ginger had a little girl. A sweet little thing with big brown eyes.” He looks toward the room where Layla is sleeping, and it dawns on me who he thinks she is. "She and Ebony became really good friends. Then one day, she disappeared. The entire club went into lockdown. Ebony had been with her just before she disappeared. I think she's forgotten a lot of the bad memories, but she was pretty messed up for a while. We all were. All clues led to a rival group. We went in hard, and a lot of men died. Women and children were left with nothing. We didn't take any prisoners. They told us it wasn’t them, but we’d had issues with them before so didn’t believe them. The club was wiped out, but Gunner's daughter wasn't found. That was just over ten years ago. My family and I returned back here. Snake was Gunner's best friend and VP. He said it was his fault and asked for the transfer out here. It was granted, and the rest is history."
"You think Layla is Gunner's daughter? That Snake had her all along?" I'm struggling to keep up with where this tale is going. If it's true, then innocent members of a club died. Well, no member of a biker club is guiltless, but there’ll be consequences over what happened. Retribution will be demanded by the people who lost loved ones.
“I don’t think. I know. She’s the spitting image of Ginger. Fuck”–he buries his head in his hands– “The night we went into the rival club still haunts me. I’ve been strict with Ebony all her life as a result. She’s been restricted because I’ve been scared of losing her, and all along the man responsible has been here in my club and doing things to that poor girl nobody should ever experience.”
The door behind me creaks, and we both spin around to see Layla standing there. She’s paler than when we first saw her.
"Uncle Tank?" The words fall from her lips when she sees clearly, for the first time, who my president is and then stumbles backwards. I rush forward to hold her up. "I remember everything." Her legs are giving way as Prez and I both carry her back into her room and put her on the bed. She leans over the side and dry heaves. I rub her back while Prez leaves the room, and I hear him calling for a bottle of whiskey.
"He's not my father. He did all this, and he's not my father."
“No. He made you think he is because he’s a sick man.”
“I had to call him Daddy.”
“I know.”
She heaves again.
Prez comes back with Iron and Ebony in tow.
I jerk my head to tell him to get Ebony out of here. She doesn't need to see this. Our leader's daughter is a tough cookie, though, and only raises an eyebrow at me before striding into the room and coming to sit on the bed with Layla.
"Hey"–Ebony hands her the bottle of whiskey–"take a sip of this. It’ll burn your throat, but it’ll make you feel better."
"Ebony." Layla's eyes go wide as the bottle is pressed to her mouth, and she takes a swig of the amber liquid.
“Yes,” –Ebony turns to her father and asks– “she’s Aunt Ginger’s daughter, isn’t she?”
Her father nods.
“Willow?” Ebony smiles at her and helps her take another sip of whiskey. I’m beginning to feel helpless watching the two girls together. I stop stroking Layla’s, or is it Willow’s, back, but she turns and looks at me. She doesn’t need to say anything – I know from the look in her eyes she wants me to continue. My hand resumes stroking her.
“Is that my real name?” Layla asks.
"Yes. Willow Thomas," Ebony tells her.
“It doesn’t feel right.”–she looks to me– “Your name, Caim, you said it means a man with a sword.Hetold me Layla means dark beauty.”
"We'll call you whatever you prefer." Ebony takes her hand and squeezes it.
