Chapter 2

Quinn – 23 Years Old

I sighas I watch Donny walk over to the counter to order his fifth coffee since arriving forty minutes ago…or is it his sixth?

I swear I feel hyper just watching him drink them, and honestly, I can hardly understand him because of how fast he"s been talking since his third cup. My eyes go to the door, wondering if I can just ditch him and make a run for it, but knowing my mother brought me up right, ditching a guy she set you up on a date with is not a good idea, even if his eyes keep going to my breasts.

I"m also not a bitch, though, right now I wish I was.

I look at him again but roll my eyes, seeing him trying to get Violet"s attention, who has had enough of his unwanted advances by the looks of things. Violet and I went to school together, though the girl was amazingly smart and was a year ahead of me, despite being the same age. She"s quiet but also pretty amazing.

Donny goes to run his finger along her collarbone over the t-shirt she"s wearing, making me snort as she jumps back, scowling. If he thinks she"ll give him the time of day, he has another think coming. She"s been closed off since losing her parents to a hit-and-run six years ago.

"Dani, I"m going to take five," Violet says to her manager, not wanting to be in Donny's presence any longer. I hold in my snort as she raises her brow at me, subtly shaking her head toward Donny.

I nod, making her shoulders relax, knowing I won"t see this sleaze again as said guy scowls because Dani is taking over. She"s in her 50s, but with her light brown eyes and hair—not a gray one in sight—she looks like she could be in her 30s.

I sigh, knowing this date is a bust, just like the last one. I may be broken. It doesn"t matter how many men flirt with me or how many dates I go on, I always walk out.

Donny turns round with another cup of coffee, making me silently groan, wishing this date would end.

"Have I told you how happy I am that your momma set us up?" he comments as he sits down.

I clear my throat and reply, "Yep, you sure have," before I take a sip of my water, silently promising never to let Momma set me up again. That"s the tenth time he"s said it, and I"m not sure, but I think he may be high, too.

I clear my throat, about to end this date early, when he speaks again, "I mean, clearly, if your momma likes me, then you and I were meant to be, you know?" His eyes slide to my breasts again, even though I"m wearing a sweater. "So you ready to head back to my place?"

I"m mid-sip when he speaks, and I end up choking on the small bit of water before I make eye contact with him. His pupils are dilated so much that I can"t tell what color they are, but I can see the lust.

Yeah…. Nope!

I give him a small smile and say, "I"m sorry, but I can"t. I promised Momma I"d pop by and help her with something."

His eyes dim, turning angry, and I clear my throat as I grab my things, causing him to sit back in disbelief that I haven"t "fallen" for his charms.

"It, uh, was nice to meet you, Donny…."

He opens his mouth to say something, but I quickly head to the door and open it. It"s not until I get on the sidewalk that I relax and sigh in relief.

Suddenly, a screech of horror hits my ears. I turn my head to see a woman trying to pull her very small, white, silk top covered in what looks like coffee away from her skin as a cute little boy that can"t be any older than two giggles and points at the woman. I smile a little at the cutie and am about to turn around when I notice the boy"s plush elephant on the ground. The man who"s holding the little boy, who's wearing one of those MC vests things, and must be the most handsome man I have ever seen, even from the back, doesn"t notice. He's too busy trying to calm the blonde down.

I chuckle a little and walk over to them.

"Look, he"s only two; he didn"t do it intentionally. Uh, calm down, yeah?" he tries to soothe her, causing the woman"s face to redden. I furrow my brows as my heart races at hearing his deep, raspy voice.

I wince as she screeches, "I came to talk to you because you"re hot, and your devil child purposely knocked my coffee down my top. You should be consoling me right now and telling the kid off!"

Seriously, clearly, she got close enough for the two-year-old to even touch her cup. She"s gotten into the man"s personal space, which, by the sounds of things, was unwanted, so karma is a bitch. I snort at my thoughts, getting her attention as the man keeps his eyes on a woman ready to explode.

Is that a tattoo on the back of his neck?

She glares at me, seeing where my eyes went, making me focus, and I put my hands up in surrender and bend down and grab the lost plushie.

I clear my throat, tap the man on his very large and very muscular shoulder, and stutter, "Um, uh, excuse me…."

He moves his head a second to acknowledge me without actually looking at me before looking back at the woman and hissing, "Piss off, ya bitch. I"ve already got one patch chaser who tired to flirt with me with my child in my arms, and I don"t need another."

I blink. Huh…. He may look nice, but I guess his personality sucks.

I raise a brow as the woman"s head looks ready to blow. I chuckle and shake my head at the jackass before smiling at the perfect little boy with the deepest green eyes I"ve ever seen.

I wiggle the toy, making him smile wide as he flings his hand toward me. I laugh, pass the plushie to him, and whisper, "There you go, little man."

I smile at the boy's grin as the man looks at his son before groaning, realizing why I interrupted. I ignore him, wave bye to the little tyke, and walk away to my dark blue Fiat.

"Miss?" the man shouts, but I raise my hand and keep walking.

The woman shouts,"Seriously? You"re trying to get her attention when I"m standing here covered in coffee because of your child!"

I chuckle.

All men are just assholes.

Half an hour later, I walk into my parent"s large bungalow shouting, "Momma?" feeling agitated about the date and the extremely good-looking man"s attitude toward me for no reason, when I was trying to help him out!

Argh….

"We"re in the kitchen," she calls back, and I freeze for a moment. I quickly look at the shoes near the front door but sigh in relief when I notice my brother's.

I still don"t speak to my dad, and I don"t plan to, either. Since I"ve moved out to a dorm, and then to my small apartment, I only see him if Momma begs me to come to dinner. Even then, I limit them to only once a month; otherwise, I ensure I come around when he"s not here.

I walk into the spacious room to see she"s making a crust for a pie, and my brother is sitting in the kitchen nook drinking coffee. I kiss his cheek while glaring at Momma, whose brows raise high as I state, "Seriously, Momma? Donny?"

Jack chokes on his coffee as Momma looks confused but soon winces as he says, "Please tell me you did not set her up with Donny Kellers, the local drug dealer that the MC has been having problems with?"

My mouth drops open in shock. A drug dealer…. I gasp. "Really, Momma?"

She clears her throat. "I, uh…. Crap, he seemed like a nice boy, and his mother is in my Bridge Club. I had no idea."

Jack snorts as I growl, "I didn"t even know the color of his eyes; they were that dilated. He spent forty minutes downing coffee after coffee while trying to get Violet"s attention with inappropriate touches, then asked if I wanted to go back to his place!"

Her eyes widen in shock, and I nod, placing my hands on my hips as Jack asks, "What else happened?" causing me to look his way. I raise a brow at him because, seriously, what else needs to happen, but he shakes his head. "Nah, don"t give me that look, squirt. I know you. Normally, you"d laugh it off; the date was clearly funny in a bad way that you"d joke about, but you"re more sore than normal…."

Crap.

Momma looks closer at me, and I fidget a little, looking between them before sighing. "Fine, I also bumped into an arrogant asshole. His son, or at least I think he was his son, had dropped his toy on the ground, and the man hadn"t noticed because some woman was too busy screaming at him. When I tried to get his attention, he called me patch chaser. Whatever. I don"t even know what a patch chaser is!"

Jack cuts in, "A patch chaser is a woman that wants an MC brother"s patch. Those men make lots of dough and treat their women like queens. A patch chaser is classed as a user. Basically…a whore."

My mouth drops open before I blurt, "Oh, great, I"m a whore now for-for helping a child?"

He winces. "To be fair, sis, women stop the men a lot, especially Breaker, who has a son, Noah. They love that he"s devoted to his son but as soon as they think they land him, they try to get him to spend less time with him. He may be the brother you saw. A clubwhore tried trapping him by poking holes in his condoms. Her pregnancy coincided to his being patched over as the club"s Sergeant-at-Arms. It"s how Noah was conceived. He"s a good dad and a good guy. He actually helped me get the job at Devil"s Garage."

My eyes widen. "Holy…." I shake my head. "It doesn"t matter. How he spoke to me was out of order. All I was doing was being a good citizen, helping him out despite the busty blonde glaring at me, covered in coffee…."

I trail off as I notice him and Momma watching me with raised brows before Jack states, "You like him," making Momma"s smile widen.

I shake my head. "No, no, I don"t. I don"t even know him; he just irked me, is all."

They both grin, making me narrow my eyes. I hate that they can read me because, yeah, the man made my heart race, but he"s a biker, which has heartbreaker and cheater written all over it. I go to say all this but my dad"s voice echoes from the front room, "Sweetheart?"

I clear my throat, making Momma"s smile fade, knowing I"m about to leave. I promised I would stay for dinner, but it looks like Dad"s home early tonight.

"Squirt…" Jack states, but I just shake my head as Dad walks into the room. His eyes light up when he sees me, and part of me wants to sit down and talk, but the other part of me still sees what he did…then all the blood…and can"t understand it.

His excuses were just that, excuses. He hurt Momma because he was selfish, plain and simple. Yet he never acknowledged that, just stated he succumbed to the woman"s advances after months of her trying.

If that was the case, he should have reported her, not unzipped his pants.

Dad kisses Momma"s lips gently, making her smile at him as she presses her chest against his. Jack smiles watching them, and I just feel sick picturing him with that woman.

"It"s good to see you, pumpkin," Dad states, looking my way, hope shining in his eyes. I internally flinch at the nickname, but on the outside, I harden myself and give him a small smile, being respectful for Momma"s sake as I go over to Jack and kiss his cheek.

"It"s just dinner, sis…."

I look at him but furrow my brows as guilt shines through his eyes and I look over at Momma who also looks guilty.

I"ve been set up…. Of course.

I shake my head as Dad looks confused, clearly not involved with their plan. I go to Momma and kiss her cheek before stating, "I"ve got to go. I have a job interview tomorrow."

Momma goes to grab my hand, but I"m already out of reach.

"Quinny, please…" Dad pleads.

I raise my hand and continue walking, unwilling to give him the time of day. I head out to my car and climb in, feeling angry that they sprung this on me. Looking at the door, I see my dad standing there looking upset, but I can"t. He has no right to make me feel guilty for not forgiving him when he ruined my childhood.

I pull away from the curb and head home without looking back, wondering if I should distance myself from Jack and Momma now, too.