Page 84 of Idaho

"Not interested."

"We haven't seen each other in-"

"Who's fucking fault is that?" Lock snapped, slamming a fist on the table in front of him to accentuate his point.

"I distinctly remember calling you and you saying, what was it? Oh yeah. I could go fuck myself and that you never wanted to see me again," I reminded him.

"And yet here you are." He leaned forward, his eyes blazing with fury. "I'm letting you stay because I offered to let you into the club once. That doesn't fucking mean I'm going to forget what a piece of shit you are."

I sighed. I thought we'd been making progress. It had only been a few weeks, and I knew it would take a lot longer than that to fix the break between us. That didn't mean I wanted to slide right back to where we were on day one. "I've wanted to explain what happened to you," I started.

"Told you before that I didn't want to fucking hear it." He pinned me with a hard look. "Still don't."

"Fine," I said, standing up. "But this shit can't go on forever, Liam."

"It's Lockout," he growled at me. "And it can go on as long as I fucking want it to."

Stalking out, I opted to leave before I lost my own damn temper and ended up brawling with the fucking president of the club—my new club—and started shit neither of us were prepared to deal with.

My brother would have to hear me out one of these days. I just hoped once he found out the truth, we'd be able to put all the animosity behind us.

CHAPTER 28

Idaho

Grabbing Eva's hand, I led her down the stairs. I'd spent the last few hours talking to and comforting her. We would be meeting with her father soon. I didn't tell her my plans. Or that I'd claimed her. I could see the misery written all over her face. The last thing I wanted was to add to her confusion. And I knew better than to tell her everything would be fine before the deal was even done.

I linked our fingers together and grinned when we got to the main floor of the clubhouse. Squeezing her hand, I jerked my chin when she looked up at me.

Her eyes followed the movement and her steps hesitated as she saw everyone standing there. The women were smiling, trying to keep the worry from their expressions. They all knew there was a chance my plan wouldn't work. The men, my brothers, were all standing there, looking ashamed. Most were scowling down at their feet.

"What's this?" Eva asked me, her gorgeous green eyes returning to mine.

"Everyone wanted to say goodbye."

"And some wanted to say they were sorry," Lockout added, folding his arms over his chest as he tried not to smile.

"We're sorry that we embarrassed you, Doll," Butcher said. He almost spat the words out, as if apologizing offended him. He walked forward, staring down into Eva's face. "We'll see you later tonight." It wasn't a question. He was letting her know that he expected her to come back. To come home. Without another word, he brushed past us and went upstairs.

That started the hugging, crying, and apologies. The hugging and crying came from the women, though a few of the men gave her one-armed, awkward hugs. Except Toxic. The fucker. He pulled her in for a long squeeze that had me grinding my teeth. He looked up at me and shrugged. "Just saying goodbye. Don't get your dick twisted into a knot."

"Fuck off," I told him with a laugh. I knew he was just fucking around.

"I don't want to go," Eva said, a heavy sigh escaping her.

"We'll explain that to your father" I told her, kissing her temple as I opened the door and led us out to my car. Static had gone earlier to get it for me.

She waited until we were on the road to speak again. "I'm going to tell him that I'm staying."

"Good. We all want you to."

She studied me, but didn't say anything else. I reached over and put my hand on her thigh as I drove. This wasn't the time to admit to her how I felt. One, because I wasn't exactly sure how I felt. And two, I didn't want her to think I was just trying to manipulate her into staying so we could keep sleeping together. There would be plenty of time for all of that once I had her back home at the clubhouse. Once I sorted through my tangled emotions.

It didn't take long for us to pull into the hotel at Dove Mountain. I got out of the car, handing the keys to the valet. "Scratch it and we're going to have a problem," I growled at the attendant.

"Yes, Sir," he said, eyes wide. When mine narrowed he shook his head. "I mean, no, Sir, I-I won't scratch it."

Going around the car, I opened Eva's door for her and helped her out. She was in a nice pair of slacks and a flowy blouse, but I decided not to wear a suit. Her father was going to have to get used to me as I was. We waited until Lock and Static pulled up behind us. They drove separately to give us a chance to be alone before the meeting.