14. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Tripp - a month later
"Are you ready to celebrate with me tonight?" June asked as soon as I picked up her call.
"What are we celebrating?" I was going through recent receipts for the bar in the clubhouse as I waited for her to fill me in. It seemed like the men were drinking less these days. That in itself might have been worth celebrating if it didn't feel like shit was about to hit the fan. That weird feeling in my gut was almost never wrong, and I'd learned to pay heed and keep aware when it hit me.
"Freedom," June answered cryptically.
"Okay, I'll be there in about an hour to get you."
"Can we take one of your motorcycles?" She asked in such a deceptively sweet voice that I had to stop and think about it.
"You remember what I told you about being on the back of my bike?"
"I remember. I think it's time."
"But you're still…"
She cut me off. "We're celebrating my freedom tonight, Tripp." It finally clued in what ‘freedom' meant.
"How?"
June giggled. "He filed for divorce a month ago when I talked to him about it. He seemed happier than a clam to do it too." That last bit had a bitter note to it, but that wasn't something I'd get into over the phone with June.
"Okay, well wear some sturdy clothing then. Jeans, closed toe shoes, leather jacket if you have one. I'll have to stop and grab a new helmet for you."
"You don't have an extra?"
"No. The only extra I keep laying around is for my daughter and she doesn't share helmets ever."
"I suppose, I can see her point there."
"Be around in about an hour to pick you up." I told her before hanging up. There was something about the way she said that last bit that made me tense. That same feeling in my gut hit me again. Something wasn't right. It was possible that I was projecting that feeling onto something completely innocuous said by June, but it wasn't something I was willing to ignore either.
When I threw my leg over my motorcycle and turned it on, I took a minute to imagine June on the back with me and my stomach knotted in on itself again. I wasn't ready, but considering June had finally freed herself from the husband that was holding us back from taking our friendship to the relationship level, it was the least I could do.
June and I got to the restaurant I picked to take her to. It couldn't be anything fancy, since it was her first time on the back of my bike, and she couldn't get dressed up. Still, I chose a decent place that I thought she'd be impressed with. We were just about to head inside when my phone started ringing. I glanced down to see it was Kip.
"Ignore it. We're here to celebrate," June demanded.
"It's my son. I can't ignore a call from my kids."
"They're adults," she huffed.
I narrowed my eyes on June as I answered the call right in front of her. "Hope this is important," I said into the phone before Kip could speak.
"Yeah, need you at Jared and Star's place. It's a fucking emergency. Get here yesterday." He hung up after delivering his message. I turned right back around headed for my motorcycle.
"Where are you going?"
"Emergency at my daughter's house. You can either get on the back of my bike and hold your questions for later, or you can call for a ride home."
I didn't miss the angry look she threw my way, but June made her way to the back of my bike, threw her leg over, and fastened her helmet back on her head quickly.
It only took a few minutes to get to Star and Bagger's place, but that might have had something to do with the speed I ran the whole way. June's heart was about to beat out of her chest by the time I pulled my motorcycle up at the curb.
"You could have killed us," she hissed at me as she yanked her helmet off.
"What part of emergency did you not understand?" I glanced up to see both of my kids and Jared standing in the doorway of the house. It didn't look like any of them were hurt, but then again I didn't see my grandson either. I yanked June's hand when she hesitated and tried to stay behind. "Come on," I ordered.
"This isn't the best time to reveal our relationship to them," she whisper-hissed to me.
"Too late for that now, since they already saw you on the back of my bike."
"What the hell is going on?" I yelled to my kids as I dropped my helmet and left it behind.
"You better come in and take a seat before we answer that." Star stated before she turned and left the door wide open for us to come through.
"You pregnant or something?"
"No, she isn't but your daughter is sick," Kip mentioned, but there was an undercurrent to his tone that set my hackles to rising.
June reached out to Star and held onto her, maybe a little too tightly, as she spoke. "I'm sorry to hear that honey. Let me know if there is anything I can do, okay?"
The offer was typical enough of what someone should say, but there was something about it that tripped my radar. June was not being sincere. The act she put on for my daughter was just that and it did not sit right with me. Before I could say anything, Kip started in.
"Do you remember Vina?"
"Yeah, used to work for the club," I answered cryptically. There was no way in hell that June would take kindly to hearing exactly what capacity Vina had worked for the club previously.
"She had a daughter. She's just a month younger than Knox," Kip went on to say.
"Fuck! Did you knock her up?" I asked as my guts twisted at the thought. If my son got the woman I'd been secretly pining for pregnant, I wouldn't know how to handle that shit.
"No, apparently you did," Kip growled back.
"I – What?" I shook my head, as if to clear the cobwebs that must be there. "What the fuck did you just say?"
June gasped and took several noticeable steps away from me. I moved closer and wrapped my arm around her waist all while maintaining eye contact with my son. Kip pulled out some paperwork and handed it to me.
"I took a test when Bagger told me that she was claiming the kid might be his."
"What on Earth would you take a test for?" June asked Kip and I knew the minute he answered, everything would change. Truthfully, everything had already changed anyway, if what my son said was the truth. There was no way I'd leave Vina swinging in the wind if she had my kid. I also knew from experience that June wouldn't stick around to be a part of that whether I was with the kid's mom or not.
"All of us were potential baby daddies, since Vina was a club girl."
"A club girl?" June's face immediately drained of color when she realized the implications there. My son and I were both potentially the father of the baby along with several of our club brothers. Kip didn't bother to give her more of an explanation and instead turned his attention back to me and nodded toward the papers he placed in my hand moments ago.
"That test says I'm not the father, but that I am related to her. That puts you on the hook," Kip explained as I finally turned my attention to the DNA results on the paper he had handed me.
"Why are we just finding out about this kid if she's the same age as Knox? That's what? Eight months now?"
"Seven," Star corrected.
"Tripp?" June questioned. "This isn't true."
"Fuck!" I huffed out before looking away from the papers and giving June my attention. "That was when I saw you out with Barry."
It killed me to see June standing in front of my kids crying about another pregnancy that would most likely keep us apart. It was as though history was repeating itself. "It looks like I'll forever be punished for that mistake."
"No offense, lady, but I think there are bigger things to talk about here than your hurt feelings," Breakneck snapped at her. It was the first time I realized he was even in the room.
"Excuse me," June gasped.
"What the fuck, Break?" I stood there ready to hand my enforcer his ass, but then his next words nearly doubled me over as if he had been the one to strike out at me physically.
"Your kid has cancer, man. That's what we brought you here to tell you. She needs a bone marrow donation. Star was tested, she's a half match to the kid. Don't know about Kip yet. I'm guessing you won't be enough of a match based on what I know about that shit, so that won't matter. But Vina's been doing this shit alone, brother. I think maybe you need to worry about that woman's drama later," Breakneck said, pointing to June who was openly sobbing in front of all of us. "Worry about helping your daughter and her momma out instead."
"Fuck!" I roared. "She's a baby. How is she sick?"
"Cancer doesn't care, man." Breakneck moved closer and grasped my shoulder to offer me support. I'd been ready to drop from the shock and honestly didn't know whether to knock him off or fall to my fucking feet. I went with option three and pulled him in for a hug because I needed someone to lean on in that moment and fuck, I needed to hide the damn tears that spilled from my eyes at the thought of having a daughter who was so fucking sick that she needed a bone marrow transplant to survive.
"Break, why don't you get June home for us. I think we have some things to discuss as a family and I'm not sure she wants to be here for this." Star ordered.
"Don't you dare try to send me away," June shouted at my daughter as she stood with an angry fist in the air, pointing an accusatory finger at Star for some fucking reason. "None of this is your business."
"You need to sit the fuck down, lady. Tripp is my father. That baby is my sister. And you are absolutely nothing. He hasn't put a fucking ring on your finger or his colors on your back, so you can fuck right on off with that attitude."
"Star!" I bellowed. "This was big news to hear. Have a little fucking heart."
"You know what, Dad? You're the one who has been keeping whatever the two of you have going on a secret, so if you want to blame anyone for how that shit just went down, go look in a mirror."
"You are a disrespectful brat."
"You're standing in my motherfucking house!" Jared reminded June. "You will not speak to my woman that way."
"Get out!" Star pointed to the direction of the front door. "He's right. Our family is in crisis and the last thing we need is for you to stand here and pretend that everything happening is all about you."
June took one menacing step toward my daughter when I called her off. "June!"
"Don't be angry with me because I'm his daughter. He was married to my mother." Star spouted before I could deescalate the situation.
"He was supposed to be married to me then!" She turned her hateful glare on my son. "But your mother got knocked up with you conveniently when Tripp and I were having a fight. He was my fiancé back then. She stole him away. Now, history is repeating itself again."
My face drained of all the blood that had been in it. In all her anger, June had just outed herself as the other woman in my life before I met Kim. My kids had heard stories about her from their mother and uncle when they were growing up. They knew the truth. Because they knew the truth of our history, I didn't think they would take too kindly to June being welcomed back into my life. She would be a constant reminder of their mother and how we wouldn't have been a family if June had gotten her way.
"June, you need to go. I'll come find you once I know everything. We'll talk then."
"No." In the most literal sense of putting her foot down about something, June stomped at me. "Either you leave here with me now, or that's it, we're done. I won't come in second to your children you had with some whore again."
Jared grabbed Star just as she launched herself toward June. "Call my mother a whore again, you fucking cunt! I will kill you! I will fucking gut your sorry ass!"
"Holy shit!" Breakneck called out. "Shoulda taught baby girl how to ride. She could have been an enforcer too."
"Get the fuck out, June." I yelled at the woman who just today had become free to date me in the way we had been working toward for months – years, if you counted our shared history.
"You can't be serious. I left Barry for you."
"Maybe you should have stayed with him. You're not the same woman I used to know. The woman I once knew would never have spoken to my children that way or demanded to be elevated above them."
"They ruined my life!" She screamed at me.
"No, I did that. I screwed up and ruined what we had. That was on me, not them. You will not put that blame anywhere other than where it belongs." I thumped my chest twice to indicate where the blame lie. "Right here. Now, leave before we end things on an even worse note. You made your choice, go on."
"Tripp," June whimpered out my name. Then she stepped back as if I'd slapped her. Maybe I had with the fierce look I'd thrown her way.
"My daughter is sick. She's going to need me right now. You're not going to agree with that choice, so there's no point in having this argument."
June turned and stomped out of the house. Breakneck followed behind her, because as my enforcer, it was his job to see to any threats to our family. In that moment, June was a fucking threat.
"I never intended for the two of you to know," I said to my kids.
"How did you think that would work? You've been dating her again for how long?" I asked.
"Two years, except the time when I saw her out with her husband."
"Her husband?" He nodded. "Holy shit, what the hell? You know what? Never mind. I don't even want to know what you were thinking. You need to get in touch with Davina about everything. She got a copy of all three DNA test results, so she knows that Kip is a relative, which leaves you as the father. Let her know that I would like to meet my sister sometime soon." I nodded at Star.
"It sounds like you're kicking me out." I made a joke of it, but in all honesty, that's what it felt like.
"I am," Star agreed, much to my surprise. "You need to leave because I'm so infuriated with you right now, the things I want to say will do permanent damage."
I hung my head, knowing I deserved it. There was no getting around the fact that I'd screwed up by ever entertaining the thought that I could have a healthy relationship with June. My kids would have never allowed that, and if I was honest with myself, that was exactly the reason I'd kept it quiet until it blew up in my face.
"I'll be angry with him later. Right now, he needs someone to be there for him." Kip called back to his sister as he followed me out of her house.