Defiant Dodge by Naomi Porter

3

Emilee

Something strange was going on with my dad. He was humming while fixing spaghetti for supper. Overly chipper. It was annoying the crap out of me.

But humming a tune? He’d never even whistled a tune, let alone hummed one.

Dad had been home for over an hour, clinking pots and rummaging through cabinets. The same scene played out every evening since my little man arrived, sans humming. Dad had taken over dinner duty so I could be on the couch with my baby.

The gesture didn’t make me feel loved or cared for, not when it was my own father who had ripped me away from Danny and a life I loved.

My gaze swept across the small, sparse living room. It wasn’t at all like the Knight’s Legion clubhouse I’d grown up in. Even if it was a motorcycle club full of big burly, gnarly, growly bikers and lots of immoral activities, it was all I knew. My family was there: men who were like uncles to me and women who’d treated me like their daughter.

Danny was there. My first and only love. Dante’s father.

“Em, do you want garlic bread?” Dad hollered from the galley kitchen.

“No.” I didn’t eat anything he made, preferring to fix my own food when he wasn’t around.

There was nothing I wanted from him other than to let me go home to Danny and the club, but he ignored my pleas and death glares. He behaved as if we were okay, like our father-daughter bond hadn’t been destroyed.

“Salad?” He was persistent. I’d give him that. He knew my stance on everything, so why bother?

“Baby mine,” I whispered to my little one, disregarding my dad as he did me. “Your daddy loves you, sweet boy. He’d never hurt you the way grandpa has hurt me.”

Little D’s suckling picked up as I lightly brushed the tip of my finger down the bridge of his perfect button nose. I could stare at him for hours on end, wholly entranced at what Danny and I had created from our love for one another. A beautiful, precious son.

Dante had his daddy’s dark hair and my blue eyes. Of course, his eye color could change. I wouldn’t mind if they did, so he’d look like my handsome Danny.

I swallowed the emotion bubbling in my throat. Somehow I needed to find a way to get out from under my father’s iron fist.

“Em, salad?” This time he stepped out of the kitchen, an expectant arch to his brow.

“No. Thank you.” I held my position just as he did his.

Dad twisted his lips, his gaze trained on me. If he wanted me to eat, he’d have to force-feed me. But he wouldn’t go that far. I ate when he wasn’t around, which infuriated him. Part of me relished making him angry when I refused supper. When I was made to cook, I’d take my plate to my bedroom. I literally wanted nothing to do with him, and he hated it.

A knock at the door interrupted our standoff, but tensions would only rise from here on out.

“Hey, babe.” He greeted her, Tami, his girlfriend. I couldn’t believe he had someone in his life and I was alone. The hypocrisy sickened me.

I shuddered when they kissed, grabbing each other’s butts, once she entered the house. The smacking of their wet, slimy kisses raked down my spine, making me cringe with disgust. Dad never acted this way in front of me at the clubhouse. I knew he had his needs taken care of by the kittens. I wasn’t blind or dumb. He had been discreet about it. Since Tami, he didn’t hide anything.

It was like he was a totally different person.

Tami dropped her purse on the chair and hovered above me, entirely invading my space. “He’s always eating or sleeping when I come over.”

Duh, I planned it this way so she couldn’t get her claws on him. Nobody got to hold Little D, not even my dad. I didn’t trust anyone.

I cuddled Dante protectively. “Well, he’s only going to be three months. He doesn’t do much at this age.” Not totally true. He smiled and cooed a lot. During tummy time, he’d lift his head and work his legs like he wanted to move. My boy was strong like his daddy.

Tami was such an idiot with her fake pouty face. “How much does he weigh now? Any medical concerns?” She leaned in as if inspecting Little D.

Medical concerns?

I glowered at her. The momma bear in me was ready to rip her head clean off her neck. “Why?”

“Just curious is all. Jeez.” She wouldn’t take her eyes off my boy. “Has his eye color changed yet?”

“No.”

“When will you give him a bottle? I’m sure he’d do fine taking one.”

“Why do you care?”

Dad growled. “Emilee.”

“What? These are the strangest questions. Nosy at that.” I shifted on the sofa, tucking Little D’s blanket securely around him to block the witch’s view. At any moment, I’d escape to my bedroom.

Tami sighed. “You’re always so moody.”

“Well, yeah. I’m forced to stay here. Forced to endure the two of you.” I cut my eyes to Dad, letting the disdain flowing through my veins out.

“Can I hold him?” Tami put out her hands.

“No,” I snapped. Hold my baby? Over my dead body. I loathed this woman with a passion. “He’s still eating.”

“Maybe when he’s finished, you can hold him,” Dad told her as he tugged her into his arms. “Come help me in the kitchen. Supper is almost ready.” He shot me a dirty look.

Gah, he made me sick. Why he comforted that bimbo was beyond me. Tami didn’t like babies or kids. Anyone could see it. Whenever Little D fussed or the kids next door squealed with laughter playing out front, a pained expression would cross Tami’s face. She tried to hide it, but she didn’t fool me.

No chance in hell she’d get her talons on my son.

“Sure, big daddy.” Tami swung her hips, leaving the room.

Gag. If I’d already eaten, I’d barf onto the carpet. I despised hearing her call my dad “big daddy.”

Tami stopped to shoot me a dirty look over her shoulder.

“Bitch,” I whisper-shouted.

To that, she gave me the bird.

I rolled my eyes. Nice.

Tami was thirty-one, though you wouldn’t know it, given her immaturity. My dad was forty-six. She was closer to my age than his.

I hated the witch.

The hypocrisy of it all made me crazy. Dad could be with someone I found repulsive, but I couldn’t be with the father of my baby because he didn’t like him. The place reeked of double standards. It was nauseating.

I lifted off the sofa and went to my room, then closed and locked the door behind me. Those two could eat all the food and suck face without me. Tami would probably spend the night, then I’d have to listen to her exaggerated moans of pleasure.

My baby boy, baby mine… I hummed the Alison Krauss version of “Baby Mine,” fighting the urge to ugly cry as I died inside for the millionth time.

Next month would be a year since I last saw Danny. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take being without him. How could my dad do this to me?

Why have you let him do this to you?

I’d grown up a motorcycle club brat. There’d been firm rules. The life my dad had led as a member of the Knight’s Legion MC wasn’t like typical dads’. It was a scary, gritty world. He’d sheltered me the best he could though, to protect me from the dangers lurking around the club.

Before my mom died of breast cancer, Dad had promised her I wouldn’t end up with a biker. She had wanted me to have a “normal life,” something outside of the club. She’d feared I’d end up dead like Raul’s first wife, who’d been killed in a drive-by shooting when I was four. When I’d gotten older, Dad had forbidden me to even think of being with a biker.

I hadn’t set out to fall in love with a Knight. It just happened.

I kissed the top of Little D’s head, breathing him into my lungs. He wouldn’t be here if Danny and I had resisted each other. If we’d obeyed my dad’s rule. I dropped another kiss on my sweet baby’s forehead. I’d break my father’s damn rules a million times over if it meant being with Danny and having my son.

But we’d paid a high price for our outright disregard for my dad’s wishes. Some might wonder why I’d let him tear me away from the man I loved. The answer was simple: I didn’t have a choice.

The motorcycle club life wasn’t like the average person’s. I couldn’t just say no, even though I was an adult. Things didn’t work that way in our world—the outlaw MC world.

I didn’t know the specifics, but the club had done some heinous things over the years. They didn’t hurt innocent people, but I was confident my father wouldn’t hesitate to kill Danny. He’d threatened his life several times.

I couldn’t risk Danny’s life. Couldn’t call Dad’s bluff. So I’d gone through my pregnancy without my guy by my side.

Morning sickness and cravings. Backaches and swollen ankles.

Labor and delivery.

Danny had missed all the things he’d looked forward to because of my father’s hatred. Our betrayal had devastated my dad after the Dirty Hunters captured me. He’d suffered the greatest fear of his life during that ordeal: losing me.

I’d sympathized with his feelings at first. Any parent would’ve been terrified, not knowing if those evil men would sell me into sex trafficking or rape me… or kill me.

It’d been a traumatizing experience, but the Knights had rescued us. Everything should’ve been okay, except it got worse.

After I went back to college, Dad started acting weird and drinking a lot. I couldn’t figure out when he worked. He was home after school and on weekends. He’d tell me not to worry about it, to focus on school instead.

Then she entered his life.

Tami was a bitch right from the start. Whiney and self-centered. I couldn’t see what my dad saw in her. None of the kittens were like her, not even Carla before Storm had made her leave the state. At least she had been decent to me.

It had to be Tami’s age Dad liked. She was a younger woman who could make him feel youthful again. Or maybe it was the sex, judging by all the racket they made at night. They went for hours. I’d even searched the medicine cabinet for Viagra because I couldn’t believe he could go so long. I hadn’t found any.

What was more alarming than the all-night sex was how Tami kept Dad on a short leash. He checked in with her constantly. It was pathetic for the kind of man he used to be. Why would he let her dictate where he went and what he did?

Then last December, my dislike of her was cemented.

The dining hall on campus was a madhouse. We only had one week until winter break, so everyone was cramming for finals. I sipped my milk and nibbled my sandwich, relishing my false sense of independence.

A pretty brunette caught my eye across the room. She had on a Knight’s Legion MC T-shirt. I jumped out of my seat and ran toward her, nearly trampling into her.

“Oh my gosh!” she cried.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to knock you into the table like that. But your shirt. Where did you get it from?” She must have thought I was an idiot.

She hiked her brow. “Why? Who wants to know?” She scanned the dining hall as if preparing for an ambush.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m Emilee. My dad is a member of the Minnesota chapter.” A small lie. If I told this girl he’d turned in his cut, she might disregard me.

“The Minnesota chapter?”

I smiled, nodding like a bobblehead. “Mhm. He’s the club’s secretary—an original member, getting his start in South Dakota with David.” I threw out Storm’s dad’s name to prove to her I was legit.

“David is my dad’s cousin. My dad is the president of the North Dakota chapter.” She tugged on her top. “Hence the shirt. I’m Piper Knight.”

Piper and I fell into easy conversation, spending the next two hours together. She was my age, studying nursing, and Storm’s cousin.

Meeting Piper was like a dream come true. I told her all about my crazy dad taking me away from Danny.

“Shit, Emilee. That’s rough.” Her gaze dropped to my stomach. “How far along are you?”

I patted my tummy. “Almost five months.”

“Fathers are so over the top. My dad is like that too, and my five brothers.”

“Five?” My eyes bulged.

“Yep. I’m the youngest. As you might imagine, I’ve never had a boyfriend. Not with so many men watching after me.” She looked around. “Which reminds me… I gotta get going. My brother Spectre will be here soon to pick me up.”

“Spectre?”

“Silas. He’s my dad’s SAA. Wanna meet tomorrow, same time and place?”

“That would be great. I’ve been so lonely.”

She covered my hand with hers. “I get it. We can’t really get close to ‘civilians.’” She made air quotes.

“No, we can’t.”

The next day, I met Piper for lunch with a plan to ask her for help. As scared as I was to put Danny’s life at risk, I was confident he’d want me to, so I’d thrown caution to the wind.

“Hey, Emilee.” Piper sat in the chair beside me. “Did you eat already?”

“Yeah, sorry. I couldn’t wait. I don’t eat a lot at home so I’m always starving by lunch.”

“No biggie. You gotta eat for your baby.”

I smiled, placing my hand on my baby bump. It was now or never. “Piper, will you help me get back to the club?”

She choked on her drink. “Whoa, I wasn’t expecting that.”

I winced. “I can’t take it anymore, Piper. I’ll be twenty next month. Danny should be sharing this experience with me.” I rubbed my belly.

Her gaze dropped to my hand. “It is wrong what your dad is doing. My dad would probably chain me to a wall if I interfered. My brothers would beat my ass.”

All the hope I had dissolved into thin air.

“But when do I ever listen to my dad?” She popped her shoulders up. “Never. And my brothers don’t scare me.”

“I don’t want to get you into trouble.” I’d feel awful if she was punished for helping me.

“Nonsense. My mom has drilled it into my head to never let a man control me. To fight back when I see fit.”

“Really? But she’s an old lady. Your dad is the president. She’s supposed to obey.” Although, I knew Madeline stood up to Storm when needed, and Sugar had put her foot down a time or two with Matt. Maybe all this time, I should’ve been less obedient and fought back.

“Yup, you’re right about obeying your man. But Momma gave him five sons and me.” She pointed to herself. “Birthing and raising six kids shows who has all the power. It’s right between our legs, girlfriend.” Piper giggled, waving her hand at me. “My brothers would lose their shit if they heard me talking like this.”

“Why?”

“Well, because I’m a rebel.” She exuded pride in her statement. “They’re freaking intimidated by a strong, independent, driven woman. It’s why they plan to remain single and get their kicks with the club girls.”

“I want to be you when I grow up.”

“Darlin’, you’re not far behind me. Let’s figure out a plan to get you home to your man.”

Our plan never came to fruition. Piper was set to drive me home to Bastion Township after my last final. Convincing her dad to let her take her car to school hadn’t been easy, but she’d done it with her momma’s support. We’d had everything planned to a T. It should’ve gone off without a hitch.

When I went to meet Piper in the parking lot, I never made it. Tami had stopped me, putting a gun to my back. That bitch must’ve been spying on me. It couldn’t have been a coincidence she was there, like she’d played it off, and Dad had believed her.

Had he gotten furious about her pointing a gun at me? Hell no. He’d thanked her for stopping me.

I hated him. Hated Tami.

Hated the whole damn world.

I took Little D off my breast, fastened my bra, and tugged my shirt down. Anger bubbled in my chest as I paced, rubbing his back to burp him.

Since giving birth, the only time I left the house was for well-baby checkups or when Dad took me to the store. I was a prisoner in my own home.

A knock at my door made me freeze.

“Supper’s on the table,” Dad said.

“I’m not hungry.” I wished he’d stop trying to make me give in.

“Don’t be like this, Em. I’m running out of patience. I’m trying here.”

Trying?

I was a freaking adult. A mother. This was my life he was screwing with. My heart that he shattered. And I was supposed to give a crap about him?

Nope, I wasn’t having any of it.

I placed Dante in his Pack ’N Play, ignoring my dad. I shook out my tired arms and stretched them above my head. My little man was getting heavy.

Dad jiggled the doorknob and let out an exasperated breath. “Fine. Stay in there for all I care.”

That was just it. If he cared about me—loved me as he proclaimed—we wouldn’t be in this situation. I’d still think he was the greatest father to ever live.