Page 15 of Empower

“Three things. Hate the fucking fact I never read the letter your Mom wrote me. I’ll be doing that when we get home. Two, I missed out on everything in your life. Three, got a lot of money and no one to spend it on. I’m fucking excited. So, humor me, would ya?”

I grinned, then looked at the clock, “Um, actually, eighteen years as of seven hours ago.”

He smirked, “My way of thinking, they all had you for a measly eighteen years, I get the rest.” He rubbed his hands with glee, and then his eyes sobered, “We will be getting you a cake and we will figure something out, alright?”

I nodded, then took his hand and climbed out of the van; he closed the door as I stretched.

What I didn’t know was that a man who stood watching it all had to clench his fists, so he stayed planted where he was when my shirt rose, and a small expanse of my belly was visible. But he knew that she didn’t deserve to have his old ass ogling her like she was a fucking piece of meat.

Not after everything he had found out.

Oh, and he had no doubt there was more.

And he knew that when shit came to light… he would be making that five-hour trip. Alone.

Someone would be meeting the reaper… it just wouldn’t be him.

Seeing that she was good, he turned on his boot and headed into the clubhouse.

He needed to get her off his mind.

Looking up into Red’s eyes, I smiled, “Yeah, she told me I got your eyes. They’re beautiful.”

He winked, “Knew I saw ‘em in the light of day they would be magnificent. Feels like I’m looking in a fucking mirror.”

He opened the back door and then grabbed my things.

With my quilt in my arms, I followed Red and then met Hippie at the front of the van.

I winked at him, “Thanks for covering me up.”

He winked back, “Don’t mention it.”

That was when I saw a girl, she had to be around my age, get up from a picnic table and then make her way to where we stood.

Red looked down at me, and smiled, “Darlin’ this is Raine. She’s the president’s daughter. Raine, this is my daughter, Lena.”

As I took her in, all the way up to her dark auburn hair and gray eyes, she was my height and I liked that maybe we could be the short girl duo. Maybe. As long as she was nothing like Karly.

“Hey, I’m Raine, nice to meet you…” And that was the start of a friendship that I would sell my soul to the devil to keep.

Red smiled, and winked, “Darlin’, this is Raine. She’s the president’s daughter. Raine, this is my daughter, Lena.”

She smiled and then looked at me, and I could tell she could see the nerves that I was desperately trying to keep leashed, when she softened her face and said, “Hey, so tell me, how weird is this?”

I bit my bottom lip and said, “Well, it’s pretty darn weird. Can I ask you something?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “Sure.”

And then I could tell I had made her dumbstruck when I asked, “Please tell me where you got your tee. I’ve been stuck on their music and I’ve yet to be able to find one of their band tees?”

She burst out laughing, all the while shaking her head and then piped up with, “You know, I have a feeling we are going to be best friends.”

“I have the same feeling. It’s a good one.” I returned with a wide smile.

Raine was still chuckling when she said, “To be honest, my best friend, Tank, got it for me. We went to one of their shows. Their music is even better live.”

I gasped, damn, I would have killed to see them in concert.