A Family Man (6 page)

Spike smiled. Joe was wrong, he did have kind eyes. "He went out early. Don't look so worried, sweetheart, he'll be back soon."

"Okay." She climbed onto the chair next to him and gave a tiny smile as Nana Sophie put a plate of bacon and scrambled egg in front of her. She swallowed the urge to cry and forced the food down. She wasn't sure exactly how far away Florida was, but she knew they were going by plane. Amy was terrified she would never see her family again. "Nana Sophie?" It was barely a whisper.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"When I go to Florida. Will you come to visit?"

"As often as I can."

"And Beth?"

"Of course."

Amy took a deep breath "An' Joe?"

"Yes baby girl. And Joe."

Spike watched the exchange with interest. He didn't really know Tiny's mom at all, having only met her once, when they had stopped off at her place while on a run. He knew, though, from what Tiny had said, that she was a tough old broad and he guessed that she and her son were cut from the same cloth. She clearly loved the kid as much as Joe did, and judging by that little exchange, the feeling was mutual. He stepped outside for a cigarette and Sophia followed him. "You're going to have to watch out for him, Spike."

"I know."

She ran her hand across her brow. "I've got a real bad feeling about all this."

Spike said nothing, just stood looking out across the barren yard. He had a bad feeling too. And his feelings were rarely wrong.

Joe parked his bike and let himself into his ma's house. Spike and Sophia were still outside, and Amy was sitting at the table pushing a piece of bacon around her plate. He snuck up behind her and snatched it of her plate. "Hey, I was eating that."

"Didn't look like it, sugar." He sat in the chair that Spike had vacated and put a bright pink cell phone in front of her. "This is for you. If you want to talk to me, just press '1' and that key, there. You can call me whenever you want, and if I can't answer, I promise I will call you back as soon as I can."

"Okay. Thank you." She picked up the phone. "Mommy said I was too young for a phone."

"Don't give a shit what your mom said, sugar."

She smiled. "Joe?"

"Yes, sugar?"

"Will you come and see me in Florida?"

"I'll do my best." He kissed the top of her head. "It don't matter how far away you are, I'll always love you."

She sniffed loudly and roughly brushed away a tear; she wasn't a kid that cried easily. "What if I never see you again?"

"You will, sugar. I promise."

NINE

Joe shut his cell and hurled his beer bottle across the clubhouse. Fucking Maria. Just when he thought she couldn't hurt him any more, she gave one more twist of the knife. He stalked out of the clubhouse towards his bike. "Mac."

"What d'ya need?" The chapter’s newest patch looked up from the bike he was working on.

"Call Samson. Get him to cover for me on tomorrow's run. I gotta go to Fillmore."

Mac nodded and watched as Joe sped off the lot.

"Was that Tiny?" His VP, leaned on the wall and lit a cigarette.

"Yeah, said to get Samson to cover for him, had to get to Fillmore. Must be a problem with his mom."

Spud frowned. "Not like him to take off like that." Mac shrugged. It wasn't his business. And to be honest, the mood Tiny had been in for the last week, he was secretly glad he wasn't joining them on tomorrow's run.

As Amy dawdled behind her mom, her scowl deepened. It wasn't that she didn't like Rob, and she really didn't care whether her mom married him or not. But despite her liking for pink, she wasn't a girly girl and she really, really didn't want to wear a stupid frilly dress and be a stupid bridesmaid. She knew her mom was annoyed with her, but she couldn't help that she didn't want to move, and she didn't see why she had to change her name. And no matter what they said there was no way she was going to call Rob 'Daddy.' She didn't love Rob and he wasn't her daddy.

"Amy. Hurry up, please." Maria frowned. "Most little girls would give their right arm to be a bridesmaid." She gritted her teeth as they walked towards the bridal salon. Little bitch better not try to sabotage this. Rob had explained that the company he worked for was old fashioned and looked more favorably on married employees, and if Amy had his name, it would mean embarrassing questions would be avoided when they started their new life.

Maria was more than happy to go along with this. He was well paid, from a respectable family and when she had first met him at the local church after one of her group sessions, she had thought there was no way he would show an interest in someone like her. He had surprised her, though. As far as he was concerned the past was the past. She was clean now and was turning her life around. That was good enough for him.

She smiled as she thought of her fiancé. He may not have set her world on fire like Joe did, but he was kind and he genuinely loved her. He offered her the kind of future Joe never could.

Sophia paced up and down her small kitchen. As soon as Joe had called, she knew that Amy had told him what was going on. This was not going to be pretty. Her pacing stopped as a Harley pulled onto her driveway and her son stormed into her house. "Joe."

"Hey, Ma." The hug was perfunctory. "Did you know about this?"

"Not till Amy came in this morning in tears. Poor kid. It's all getting too much for her."

Joe sank onto the sofa. "Son of a bitch wants her to call him Daddy."

"I know. That's what upset her the most." She sat next to her son. "You're going to have to be careful how you handle this, Joe."

Joe shrugged. He hadn't given any thought about what he was going to do. Amy had been upset and he had just jumped on his bike without another thought. Shit. What was happening to him? Joe Taylor was not impulsive. This shit was getting to him as much as it was to Amy.

~ oOo ~

Maria scowled as she pulled onto her driveway and spotted Joe's bike next door. Her daughter gave a squeal of delight and was out of the car and running towards Sophia's house before she'd even killed the engine. Goddamned Joe, and that goddamned phone. She should have made Amy throw it away.

Amy let herself into Nana Sophie's house and ran into the living room. "Joe! I didn't think you'd come." She climbed into his lap and hugged him.

Joe didn't answer; he just held her tight and savored the moment. Eventually he cleared his throat. "Amy. Why don't you tell me what's going on."

"He ain't my dad, Joe." She sniffed. "An' my name's Miller, not Hunter. I don't wanna be his kid."

"You don't have to be, sugar."

"But Mommy said…”

"I don't give a shit what your mommy said. You want me to talk to her?"

"No I jus' want to you to stay here with me."

"Okay, sugar." Maria could wait.

Unnoticed by Joe and Amy, Sophia slipped outside to the little house next door. Heading round the back, she let herself into the kitchen where Maria was preparing dinner. "Think you and me need to have a little talk."

Maria frowned. "I don't have anything to say to you."

"Well it's me or Joe, sweetheart. Take your pick."

With a resigned sigh, the younger woman walked slowly into the living room and sat down. "Just say what you've got to say."

Sophia sat in the armchair opposite her and folded her hands in her lap. "I ain't judging you, Maria. If you want to tie yourself to a man you don't love, that's your affair." She straightened up. "But when your actions hurt Amy, then I have to step in. I'm sure you think you're doing what's right, but she don't love Rob and he's not her daddy. Please Maria, back off the kid."

"Why, what's the matter? Your precious son feeling threatened?"

"Oooh now, you are way out of line, lady." Sophia stood and leaned over her. "I don't pretend that Joe is an angel, and I know he's done some bad shit in his time. But he loves that little girl of yours and all he wants is for her to be happy."

"Well, Rob thinks their relationship is inappropriate."

Joe may never raise a hand to her, but Sophia had no such compunction. She slapped Maria hard across the cheek. "How dare you. You should thank your lucky stars that I don't plan on passing that information on to Joe. Cuz if I did, I doubt very much that either of you would be breathing for much longer."

Suddenly the resemblance between mother and son was glaringly obvious. "I know he wouldn't ever do anything to hurt her."

"And don't you forget it."

Maria swallowed. "I won't. I'm sorry."

Joe and Amy were snuggled up on the sofa, watching TV, when she walked back in. Sophia smiled. "Amy, honey. How about I make some fajitas and you can stay here for your dinner."

"Okay." Amy looked up. "Did you talk to Mommy?"

"Yeah. I don't think Rob will mind if you don't call him Daddy. Can't see of any way of getting you out of wearing a bridesmaid dress, though."

"Okay." She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to Joe.

"Joe?"

"Yes, sugar?"

"You love me?"

"You know I do."

"But you ain’t ever asked me to call you Daddy."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Cuz I ain’t your dad, sugar."

"So what are you, then? You ain’t my dad and you ain't my uncle."

"I'm your friend, sugar."

"Okay. Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"I wouldn't mind calling you Daddy."

"That's sweet of you, but calling me Joe is just fine."

~ oOo ~

Amy squirmed as yet another middle-aged woman kissed her on the cheek and told her what a cutie she was. She didn't feel cute, she felt ridiculous. This stupid dress was too frilly, and, really, curls? Amy's hair had never been curly. She dug her toe into the dirt as the photographer took more and more pictures. Apart from Beth, Nana Sophie and her friends Betty and Joan, she didn't know anyone. All the other guests at the church were Rob's friends and family. She had begged and begged her mom to invite Joe but was told emphatically 'no.' She sniffed and blinked away a tear. Tomorrow, they would be flying to Florida, and she was sure she would never see Joe again. She looked over to where her mom was standing with Rob—there was no way she'd ever call him Dad. She looked happy, which she guessed was a good thing, and Rob was kind. He bought them both presents and never yelled like Joe did. He didn't give hugs like Joe did either, and told her she was too old for bedtime stories. Mommy never really hugged her either. Maybe she'd never be hugged ever again.

The clubhouse was packed to the rafters. Freaks from visiting charters filled the building prior to tomorrow's run to Vegas.

Joe rubbed the point between his eyebrows, trying and failing to rub away the pounding headache that had been a permanent fixture for the last couple of days. The rage inside him was building, he could feel it. Nothing he did would shift it. It had taken three brothers to pull him off the nomad he'd taken in the ring; the poor fuck wouldn't be making the run tomorrow and the beating he gave him did nothing to erase the rage that had lodged in his chest. He had to get out, away from the noise, away from the crowds. If one more person bumped into him, he swore he would rip their heart from their chest. Pushing himself away from the bar, he stalked outside to where his bike was parked. He needed to rid himself of the noise in his head and shake off the darkness that threatened to overwhelm him.

Joe feared nothing, but right now as he mounted his Dyna, he was afraid. The only woman he had ever loved was marrying another man and taking the single ray of light in his life away from him, and without that ray of light, he was scared that the darkness would stay, lodged in his heart forever.

He hadn't planned on heading for Fillmore, his ma had told him in no uncertain terms to stay away. He had to see them, just one more time. He wouldn't cause any trouble, he just wanted to say goodbye.

The wedding reception was being held at a fancy golf club on the outskirts of town. Pulling up outside his ma's, he let himself in and left his cut hanging on the back of the chair in the kitchen. Even without it, he knew he was going to stick out like a sore thumb, and he didn't want to make things difficult for Maria. All he wanted was to touch her one more time and to give her daughter one last hug.

Amy could hear a Harley. For the first time all day the grin on her face was genuine. Joe was coming! She ran down the long gravel driveway towards to the entrance. Joe grinned and killed the engine as she ran towards him. "Hey sugar, you look ridiculous." He picked her up and sat her on the back of his bike. "Hang on, your mom will kill me if you fall off and rip that monstrosity you're wearing."

Amy gripped Joe's hoodie and laughed out loud as he rode slowly towards the reception. She knew her mom would be pissed, but she didn't care. Joe was family and he should have been invited all along.

Maria's heart lurched as the sound of Joe's bike reached her ears. Shit, she'd told him to stay away. Rob was going to flip. She rushed outside as he lifted her daughter off his bike. "Joe. What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I'm not here to cause any trouble, M. I just…”

"I know." Maria walked slowly towards him and touched him gently on the cheek. "It's for the best."

"Is it?" He swallowed. "You know I never stopped loving you."

"I know. I never stopped loving you, either. It's not enough though, is it?"

"No, it ain’t." He turned to where Amy stood, kicking at the gravel, her eyes downcast. "Amy."

She looked up. Her eyes were glassy, full of tears.

"Amy, sugar. You're gonna have a great life. You know you can call me whenever you like. And I will come see you. I promise."

"Okay."

He crouched down and pulled one of her stupid ringlets, smirking when it sprang back into place. "There's a McDonalds round the corner. Wanna Happy Meal?"

She smiled through her tears. "Sure."

He strapped his helmet onto her head and sat her back on his bike. Maria frowned. "Joe."

"I know, I'll be careful."

She grinned. Of course he would. She was the most precious cargo he would ever carry.

Rob frowned as his new wife walked back inside. "Tell me that you haven't let Amy go off with that biker scum."

"They've gone for a burger. She'll be fine. Joe will take good care of her." She shook her head as he puffed himself up with indignation. "I know you're not comfortable with Joe being around her. But she has known him all her life and she loves him. I'm not going to stop them spending her last night here together."

"Well once we get to Florida, she'll soon forget him."

Maria said nothing, but she knew he was wrong. You didn't forget Joe in a hurry.

Joe and Amy sat outside on the grass eating their burgers, both lost in their own thoughts.

Amy pulled at tuft of grass."Joe?"

"Yes, sugar?"

"Do you really think I'll have a great life?"

"Sure."

"I will miss you, though."

"I'll miss you, too."

"Rob said I'd forget you. I won't, though."

"I won't forget you, either."

She fell silent and picked at the lace on her dress. Joe stroked her hair. "C'mon, sugar. It'll be fine, you'll see."