“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No, I’m not. He wanted to show up and spring on me. It didn’t sit right with my mom, so she sat me down and completed the picture she’d painted over the years.”
“When she called you a few weeks ago?”
“Yes, you can imagine I needed some time to get used to it before I even thought about telling someone else.”
“Fair enough, but it’s been almost a month,” he pointed out, not about to give her an inch of leniency.
“Wanderer had to set things right with his crew. They had no clue he was the father. He’d swept us under the rug. There’s a lot more to it, but it’s club business and not my place to air dirty laundry. I can tell you the next time you see him, his face will verify everything I’m saying. I wanted to talk to you about all this immediately. But I had to wait for the green light.”
“Bullshit.” He growled. “I’m your man, aren’t I?”
“We both know they only honor old lady ties and you don’t have that.”
“So what? You’re the Eights’ princess now? You gonna get your own cut and put their flag on all your shit? Did Daddy tell you I’m not good enough?” He rose to his feet. The chair scraped over the tile.
“No one’s saying that!” Joey shook her head.
“Not outright. But fuck, Jo-Jo, you’ve been lying to my face.”
“I never lied!”
“Okay, omitted,” he sneered.
“What do you want me to say, Moose? You know the rules better than me. I got shoved in an impossible position, and I navigated it the best I could.” She held her hands up, waving them wildly in the air.
He pointed at her. “You’re the daughter of a fucking president. We never would’ve hooked up. Especially without me running it by your old man first and asking for permission. You know how many problems this could cause?”
“Don’t you think I talked to Wanderer about that?” she defended.
“I don’t know what the fuck you did, Joey.”
She slapped her hands down on the counter. “Watch how you talk to me. I’m not the one who caused this.”
“Oh, you find out you’re Eight royalty, and you want to talk to me crazy.” His chest heaved, and heat flooded his face.
She stood up straight. “Because you’re being so polite to me?”
“I trusted you,” Moose said.
“And now you don’t?”
“I don’t know what I feel. I’m not even sure what Tiny will say about this shit. I have to answer to them.” He pointed toward the door. “Tomorrow, I’ll be laying all this shit bare. I’m not about to risk my cut over your bullshit.”
“It’s the truth,” she said through gritted teeth, gripping the edge of the counter tight.
He shook his head. “This is why I don’t do commitment. It gets messy.”
“Like I planned this?” she asked.
“I never said you did. Doesn’t change the fact it affects me.”
“You know what? If you’re so anxious to leave and get out of this commitment, there’s the front door!”
Her words made him turn his head to the left as if he’d been slapped. “Just like that?” The words ripped him open like a sharp knife, turned in his gut and brought up to his chest.
“I’m not going to try to hold on to you if you want to be free. I knew coming into this it was a possibility. I didn’t ask to be Wanderer’s daughter. I went my whole life not knowing that. I would’ve been fine without it. Maybe he didn’t want me ending up like my mom. I don’t know. We don’t talk like that.” She shook her head.