“You carrying?”
“Always. I’m not stupid.”
“Good girl. Now, tell me what else is new? How are things going with that guy?”
“Over.”
“Already? That was quick.”
Bonnie shrugged. All her relationships ended quickly. She didn’t mind. Boyfriends were a hassle. She was an ER nurse. Sometimes shifts ran late. Sometimes she came home bruised up from a three-hundred-pound meth head gone wild. None of the guys she dated could handle that.
When Todd broke up with her, he said she was an adrenaline junkie. As much as she wanted to argue that with him, she couldn’t. It was part of the job. She loved what she did. She loved helping people.
She nodded toward her stranger. “What’s his deal?”
“Bunny,” he warned.
“Yes?”
“Leave my boys alone.”
Bonnie scoffed. “I just asked a question.” She didn’t mess around with members. Most were slimy womanizers. Plus, she had a rule about getting involved with criminals. Her dad was the exception to that rule. No matter how many times she tried to cut him out of her life, he was still her father, and she loved him.
“Huffy. He’s been with me just over three years now. Showed up one afternoon on a bicycle and never left.” He chuckled.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t they all?”
“No, he rolled up on an actual bicycle. A Huffy.”
She felt the smile spread across her face. She looked over where Huffy was seated. He was animated as he talked to a couple patched guys she knew. He had broad shoulders and a way about him she found fascinating. Yeah, he talked the talk and walked the walk when she got here, but there was something different about him. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
One of the men glanced her way. Doing a double take, he threw his hands in the air, walking toward her in an awkward predator crouch. Had this been anyone else, she would have been creeped out, but he was as good of a guy as you could get in a club such as this.
“As I live and breathe.” Mother skittered over, picking her up and spinning her around. He was in his early sixties. He wore his silver hair longer than its matching beard. Icy blue eyes that danced when he laughed but turned to daggers when you met his bad side. She only needed them directed at her one time, when she was about seven years old, to know she never wanted to be on that side again. He grew up with her father, and they had been thick as thieves their whole lives. He was her godfather and loved her like she was his own.
“I haven’t seen you in ages. It’s about damn time. What finally brings ya around?”
Her father sipped his drink. “Some news we need to look into.”
“What kinda news, LB?” Concern etched Mother’s face. “Are you okay, sweetheart? Did some boy do somethin’ stupid? I can have five guys ready with one word.”
She shook her head. “No, Mother, nothing like that.” She was one hundred percent certain Mother wasn’t exaggerating his willingness to have her honor defended.
“Renegades.”
“We haven’t had beef with the Renegades in two decades.”
Bonnie resumed her spot on the stool next to her father. “One came in last night, carved up pretty good. One of his boys told him it was you guys. I overheard him mention a shipment of stolen guns and drugs.”
Her father growled. “We don’t deal in drugs.” He slammed his fist on the bar.
Once her father became president four years ago, he changed the club rules. He had a strict no-drugs policy. Shirley Malone, Bonnie’s grandmother, had overdosed when her father was a teenager. Her death hit the family hard. Lloyd had no one else except his father and the club after that. Both dabbled in pharmaceuticals. So began his hatred of drugs. He would overlook marijuana if you were outside, but no smoking that inside the club either.
“Herein lies the problem.” Bonnie knew she was stating the obvious, but sometimes that’s what you had to do with a group of stubborn men. Not many men were as stubborn as Lloyd Malone.
“Stay out here and try to play nice with the boys. Mother and I need to talk.”
“Sure thing, Dad.” She didn’t want to know whatever they were planning. She only wanted to help her dad stay safe and possibly avoid a war. No one won in a gang war. Too many lives lost and ruined to ever consider a winner. She saw the aftermath more frequently than she wanted.
Bonnie watched Huffy walk toward her, his stride less cocky than their first encounter. He sat on the stool her father vacated. She was intrigued. Cogs handed him another beer. He sat there for a while in complete silence. He turned to her, looking her in the eye.
“I apologize…you know…for earlier.”
“Well, that’s new.”
“I’m serious. I had no idea you were LB’s daughter. I always assumed you were a teenager the way he spoke about you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know what the guys are like in clubs. It’s part of why I was kept away after I turned sixteen.”
“Buy you another beer?”
He seemed harmless. “Fuck it, why not?”
Once he stopped acting like a caveman, Huffy was a pretty nice guy. He was funny, attractive, and seemed incredibly smart. She was surprised to find him in a club. He was the type of guy she usually found herself interested in, minus the patch. She didn’t want a life like her mother had. Her father was a patched member way before they married, so her mom needed to shoulder some of the blame for how her life turned out.
Her father had numerous affairs, most of which were never secret. Sometimes he didn’t come home for days because he slept in the rooms above the bar with a mouse. Most of the time, her mother was home sipping a bottle. She wasn’t a laid-back drunk, either.
Bonnie’s childhood was volatile. Most of the time her mother blamed her for her father’s actions. Her parents decided to split when she was ten years old.
After three DUIs and a suspended license, her mother finally got the help she needed. She’d never kept more than a year sober, but she was trying. They say one day at a time. Bonnie was proud of her. It took courage to wake up and face the same damn demon every single day.
Her father gave her everything she wanted, except his time. She wanted more out of her life. She worked as an ER nurse at Saint Anthony’s Hospital. The job didn’t leave her with much time for dating, but she felt like she was making a difference. That could be why the more she drank, the less Huffy looked like a mistake.
Chapter Two
Huffy
Her laugh was deep and throaty. It turned him on like nothing he’d ever experienced before. This girl was trouble. If he was smart, he would walk away. No, run away as fast as he could. She would be his undoing. She didn’t know him, and like everyone else, she couldn’t. It was getting late. The bar was packed now. Scantily clad women were practically throwing themselves at whomever would take them.
He didn’t want to be rude. He’d finish his beer and then go find some companionship elsewhere for the evening. She would be safe here. Cogs and Cherry would keep her company until LB came back out. That’s what he should do. Only he couldn’t bring himself to leave her. She was intelligent and real. She had no filter. Whatever she was thinking, she blurted out. He really liked that about her.