“Danner, aren’t you going to arrest this girl?” my dad demanded, turning to Lionel when he failed to rile up Zeus. “She assaulted my daughter.”
Lionel’s usually stern face looked years younger when he fought a smile as he did then. “Mayor, I understand you’re angry, but really, I think this was a harmless bit of teenage drama.”
“Detention then, at least!” my mother tried, her hands shaking as she pressed one to her heart and one to Bea’s shoulder to bring her even closer to her side. “Your daughter needs to understand there are consequences to attacking someone. Maybe in your… home or wherever it is people like you live…you encourage behavior like this but in the real world, it’s completely unseemly.”
I thought it was funny that my parents were so staunchly defending me when they didn’t even know I’d been saved and piggybacked by one of the very bikers they hated so much.
I rested my cheek against Mute’s shoulder, my chin in his neck. He stiffened for a second then rested his head lightly against mine. My heart melted even in the midst of this chaos.
“H.R., you gonna do somethin’ like this ever again or have you learned your lesson?” Zeus called to his daughter, his voice mild like he was bored with the conversation and was only placating my parents.
They noticed and both their jaws went tight with anger.
“I’m on my period,” Harleigh Rose admitted with a defeated scowl.
Zeus nodded like that explained everything. “Look there, my girl’s on the rag. ’Course she’s feeling emotional. I think we all can understand that, can’t we, Officer?”
I laughed into Mute’s neck.
Officer Lionel looked about ready to laugh himself, but he schooled his face admirably and frowned at Harleigh Rose. “I’ve picked you up more times than I care to count for minor offenses. Let’s not level up to a bodily assault charge, okay?”
To my surprise, H.R. blushed and ducked her head so that a soft curtain of hair partially hid her expression. “Yeah,” she muttered petulantly. “Whatever.”
“Looks like this thing is all cleared up, then. I’ll just be takin’ my daughter home and we’ll let you folks get on your merry fuckin’ way,” Zeus said magnanimously, already moving his family to the other side of the parking lot. “Okay, Mute, let Louise go.”
I giggled again as I slid from Mute’s back and made my way back over to my parents who stared at me in horror.
“Louise,” my mother breathed. “Are you… friends with one of those men?”
I smiled at her, pulled a highly entertained Bea into my arms and started walking toward the car. “Yes, Mum. Mute’s been one of my best friends for ages now.”
“Ages?” Phillipa echoed as she followed us to the car, casting a fearful glance over her shoulder at Zeus and King, standing so fierce and proud on the other side of the lot beside their huge motorcycles.
I understood her fear. They were like gargoyles, horrifying at first sight in their ferocity but utterly beautiful up-close, intricate with detail and gruesome because their role as guardians called for them to be so.
I was glad my mother feared them. She had cause to.
Men like that only protected the innocent and the loyal, and my mother was no such thing.
“Yep,” I confirmed as I pushed Bea into the car and then opened the door of the Lexus SUV for my mother. “He’s been over to the house nearly every day for the past few weeks.”
“Oh,” she said as I closed the door on her after she’d gotten in.
“Dad,” I called to Benjamin who was arguing with poor Officer Danner again. “Come on!”
They ignored me and as I walked closer, I caught sight of the utter disgust on Lionel’s face as my father spoke.
“You better get on board with things here, son,” my dad was threatening, his habitually immaculate hair gone slightly astray in the ruckus. It was a small thing but it reminded me of my father’s fallibility. “Your father is always vouching for you but I’m beginning to doubt your investment in this.”
“I’m invested, Ben, and I don’t have to answer to you,” Lionel said.
“I’m the mayor,” my dad said as if that explained just how wrong Lionel was.
“And Javier is the one with the money and the connections. My dad is the one with the intel, Jack and Ace are the ones with the inside track and Mitch is the one with the dealers. That makes us equal.”
“Fuck,” my dad swore viciously, so unlike him I stayed frozen between two cars, only a meter away from them. He ran a hand through his mussed hair and looked, for a moment, utterly lost. “I don’t know how it got to be this way, Danner, I really don’t.”
Lionel squinted at him. “As a cop you learn pretty quick what motivates people and you know what it is 85% of the time, Ben? Greed. Plain and simple.”