Page 109 of Love is Strange
“Willow, honey. Come back inside. Let Daddy deal with this.”
Layla shrinks back at the use of the term ‘Daddy’. She struggles to get air into her lungs.
“He’s not Daddy. Never.”
Ginger, as if not realizing why her words are drawing this reaction, looks between her daughter and husband in confusion.
“It’s what he made her call him.” I explain and stepping forward, I start to stroke Layla's back. Gunner's eyes turn even darker, and his men surround us.
“Don't touch her,” the Chicago MC leader orders.
“Gunner,”–my president steps forward– “I think this might not be the way.”
“What the fuck? He fucked my daughter just after she’d been rescued from the perv who had her for the last ten years. He’s no better than that snake in the grass,” Gunner exclaims.
“You aren't listening to me. I’m not the little girl you lost. I’m not Willow,” Layla screams, and I feel the force of her agony shoot through my body with ferocity. She turns to her mother. “I’ll heal even more and recover from this, but I'll forever be Layla. He changed me, Snake, with what he did. I've experienced his degradation for half of my life. I was dead inside until I met Caim. You’d have had a shell of a daughter returned to you if Caim hadn’t acted the way he did. He’s made my heart beat again. It doesn't mean I love him, and we’re going to marry and live happily ever after. It just means he made me breathe again. You should be praising him, not putting a bullet in his head.”
“Willo...Layla,”–Gunner moves closer to us both– “you need to come with us. We need to recover as a family.”
I don't know why, but I want to draw Layla even closer to me when he talks of her leaving. I’ve known all along she would go but hearing that I’ll never see her again, despite the fact I'm more than likely about to die anyway, scares me.
“I’ll come with you if you let Caim go.” Layla stands up tall, and I'm pretty sure Tank’s, Iron’s, and Heat’s mouths just fall open in shock.
“It doesn't work that way,” Gunner replies.
“Screw the fucking rules. It didn't work for me when I couldn’t kill the man who abused me for ten years, but you know what, I stuck a sword in his throat anyway. I'm not a part of your rules anymore. Your rules got me into this situation. The desperate need for retribution is why I was taken. I know about Mom and Snake. He told me with his parting words.” Ginger gasps and the anguished sob that leaves her mouth is almost otherworldly. “Walk away. Let’s go home and learn to be a family again.”
Gunner looks over at Prez.
“You tell her what I was doing?”
Tank shrugs. “He’s a good man.”
Gunner lowers his gun, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“He takes a beating for disobeying orders, though. No below the belt shots, he may need those parts. I have a strange feeling my daughter is protesting a little too much about the marriage and baby bit.”
My head starts to spin. Woah! Marriage! Babies? Am I about to be at the head of a shotgun ceremony?
“Not until we recover as a family first,” Layla contends, telling her father off for teasing before turning to me.
“Do you want me to stop the beating?”
I shake my head. I'm sure I deserve it for some reason or other. I've never been a stickler for rules.
“Uncle Tank, Heat, and Iron are to inflict it. I just want to go home,”–Layla tells her father, and I groan when my three supposed friends crack their knuckles– “Go, get in the car. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“I’m not sure I should be taking orders from my little girl?” Gunner raises an eyebrow at her.
“We’ve all got a lot of healing to do if you think I'm going to be anything like I was before.” Layla waves her parents and his men off. My club-mates hang back, knowing they have an ass-kicking to inflict. They give Layla and I a little privacy though.
“Thank you.” Layla leans forward and kisses me on the lips. Our first proper kiss.
“Anytime,” I reply, trying to act cool.
“You know why I have to go, don't you?”
“Yes,”–I nod– “you gotta sort your head out, first.”
