Sable laughed. “You taught me loyalty? What you taught me, Mother, is to spread my legs for any man who dares look in my direction.” She looked at the whole club. “Look around you, I could have fucked my father, for all I know. You don’t even know which one is my dad. Don’t try to pretend you’ve taught me anything. You haven’t. I shouldn’t be surprised, though, that you’d throw your daughter away. All you ever cared about was the next dick to ride instead of what I was actually doing.”
Sweetheart slapped Sable across the face. It was hard, and Dog’s instinct was to grab the older woman and pull her away.
He stayed seated.
This was wrong.
He knew it.
The slap was hard enough that he expected to see blood.
They’d caused a scene and now Forge stood up. “Time for us to leave.” He didn’t explain himself.
No one said a word.
One by one, they left. Sable stood, spine straight, glaring at her mother. She didn’t touch her face or show any sign of weakness.
Fuck, she looked like a queen.
They all climbed on their bikes. Dog allowed himself one last look into the diner. Sable hadn’t moved. She gave herself a shake and glanced toward them. The moment she caught sight of him, she averted her gaze and turned away.
Damn it, he had really fucked up when it came to her.
They rode all the way back to the clubhouse.
The guys started talking. Sweetheart put a hand to her chest as if she’d just gone through some great tragedy.
He followed Forge, going into the prez’s office and slamming the door closed.
“Are you happy?” Dog asked.
Forge sat down and nodded. “Yeah, I am.”
He shook his head. “This is wrong.”
“And why is that?” he asked. “Because you can’t stand to see Sable in pain?”
“Her mother just hit her, Forge. What do we do when all of this is over, what then? You think it’s going to be easy for her to accept the club with open arms?” he asked.
“It doesn’t really matter right now. The club will accept her with open arms, whether they like it or not. It’s not up to me to fix family relations. Sweetheart and Honey see what they want to see.”
“I don’t like this. I don’t like any of this.” He slashed his hand through the air.
Forge chuckled. “I think you really need to calm down. The plan is working. Or it will work if you give it a chance. Sable’s going to pull this off and when she does, I’ll make sure everyone in the club knows her devotion and loyalty. She will never be just a club whore again. I can guarantee it.”
Dog knew he shouldn’t say what he was about to, but he couldn’t hold back. “She’s not a club whore. Sable has never fucked a single one of the men. She’s untouched, a virgin. All she ever did was provide a room for the boys. None of them have touched her. They just assume they have.”
****
“I can arrest her for assault,” Hank said.
Sable hated this so much. Forcing a smile to her lips even as her face ached, she shook her head. “There’s really no reason. It’s not like they would care.” She shrugged. “They’re not worth it.”
When she got home, she’d wash her mouth out with soap. It was the only way she was going to be able to deal with all the lies she had spewing from her mouth. What she couldn’t tell Hank was after her mother’s hit, she’d gone into the bathroom and cried. She’d cried so hard that it had taken her longer than her break to get herself together. She had to ask for a personal afternoon off. She would need to make up her shift, but the pain, it had stayed with her. Seeing some of the men she’d given up her bed for, her mother, her sister, all of them saw her as less than them.
It really did hurt.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, she glanced down the street. They’d just enjoyed dinner together at a cute little Italian place. Hank loved the pasta and she hadn’t complained. Holding her small bag, he walked her home. She’d been able to avoid going in his car or being alone in a small confined space with him.
He placed a hand at the base of her back and she wanted to scream. She made no move to stop him from touching her.
“They’re scum, Sable. You’re better than them. Believe me. Luther Grass has plans for the entire MC in this town. They need to leave and I, for one, will do whatever it takes to make sure Grass wins.”
“I don’t know who this Grass person is.” She rubbed at her temple. “I’m so sorry. I think the slap was really bad.”
Hank stopped and touched her cheek which had bruised slightly beneath her eye. One thing she would say about her mother, she was pleased that as she’d grown up, she hadn’t made it a habit to punish them with her hand. Wow, the woman had some force on her.