Page 19 of Loving Her
I frown. “An oddball?”
“You keep your private life pretty private. According to your dad, you rarely look at a woman. He said you took his past into account and promised to never do that to the woman you claimed as your own.”
“His past?”
He shakes his head. “Not my story to tell, son.”
I nod. I don’t really have anything to say to that. I’m too busy feeling relieved I can go back to Indy and assure her that there’s no one waiting for me. I can’t lie, I feel a little disappointed that nothing has sparked my memory. Still, I can move forward with Indy. I need to concentrate on that.
“You okay, Breaker?”
“Yeah, just trying to sort through everything. I was kind of hoping the names of my parents would spark some kind of memory.”
“What about pictures?” Devil suggests.
“Pictures?”
“Yeah, I have a couple of your father, maybe a couple others of your crew. Want to take a gander?” he asks.
“Sure,” I answer with a shrug. I’m not holding out a lot of hope at this point, but it is worth a try.
He pulls out his wallet and flips it open to some worn plastic covered photos. There’s a cute blonde holding a little boy. I stare at it a little bit with a smile. She doesn’t look like Indy, but the blonde hair, her slightly rounded stomach with her hand on it,all while holding another baby, grabs my attention.Could I have that with Indy?
“That’s my wife. She bitched for a month because I knocked her up before LD even turned one. The way we figure, she got pregnant almost right after theall clearfrom the doctor after LD’s birth. I got me some strong swimmers,” he laughs.
“How many kids do you have?” I ask.
“Five. After my two boys, Torrent said I had to give her a girl. It took two more tries, but we got our little Iris, and she’s adored with three big brothers to make sure no one gets close to her.”
I laugh, thinking little Iris—however old she is—probably spends most of her time these days wanting to kill her brothers and her dad. I thumb through some more pictures. Most are faces I don’t know. He tells me their names are Crusher and Diesel, something like that anyway. There are three more pictures. The first is me standing beside a younger version of Devil, who I’d assume is his son, LD. I can’t describe what it feels like to see pictures of yourself and not have any recollection of being in it. When I look at myself, I don’t even feel real sometimes. It’s as if I just woke up inside this body and I’m expected to live my life in it. It’s beyond weird.
“Your son?” I ask, needlessly.
“Yep. You came down the day he got patched in as Road Captain.”
I turn the page and see a couple. They don’t look familiar, but there’s still something about them that calls to me. One is a huge black man, staring at a redhead as if she owns his whole world. There’s so much love between the two of them it literally jumps off the picture and hits you with the emotion. I can almost feel a connection to them, but it’s all fuzzy. I strain to remember something …anything.
“That’s your parents. Bull and Skye.”
I nod. I stare at them again. “I obviously take after my mother, I guess.” I don’t really see any of me in my father. They’re happy—deliriously so. I try hard, but no memory or anything pops up.
Devil laughs. “I hope you’re not going by the color of your skin, because your little sister looks just like your mother, but she has Bull’s attitude and stubbornness. She’s more like him than any of you.” I make a humming noise, but don’t reply. “Anyway, Bull is actually your stepfather—not that he’d thank me or anyone else for saying that. Hell, he’d probably beat the shit out of anyone that referred to him as that. Truth is, you were his son from the first moment he began seeing your mother. He adopted you and made it official later on.” I don’t acknowledge that. I think I’m on overload at this point. I stare at the last picture. It’s a photo of three men. I look back at Devil. “That’s Dragon, the president of your club, Diesel, the president of mine, and the dark-haired one on the end is Crusher. He’s our vice president. He started with your chapter, but moved to Tennessee years ago and took over the same role with our club.”
“Did the pictures help at all?” Cooper asks, but I shake my head no.
“Not really.”
“You can’t still expect me not to let them know you’re alive. These people are grieving you, Breaker. I might be accused of being an asshole, but if you let them keep hurting, you’re worse than that.”
“I’m not ready yet. I need a few more weeks. I don’t think I could handle meeting them. They want their son back and right now, that’s not who I am.”
“So, what? You’re just going to stay away forever, letting them hurt? That’s pretty fucking selfish, if you ask me.”
“Not forever. I just need some time. A couple weeks maybe. I need to get back to Indy’s and talk with her. There are things thetwo of us need to work out. When I get ready to talk to them, I want her to be with me.”
“Indy?” he asks, and I find my first genuine smile of the day.
“She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s my woman,” I announce, making Cooper laugh.