Naughty Kitten parked her bike as her Ma pulled into the driveway behind her. Stud wasn’t working until later, so her Ma had taken advantage of being kid-free to run errands before they arrived.
“How was work today?” Ma asked as Naughty Kitten helped grab groceries from the back seat.
“All right. Business is slow after the holidays until people get a couple of paydays to catch up. It should pick up next month,” Naughty Kitten replied.
They carried the groceries into the kitchen and started putting them away until voices from the back porch caught their attention. Curious, they moved to the sliding glass door, opened it, and listened to Pops and Diamond talking.
Naughty Kitten had been furious with Diamond ever since she’d found her and Knox together in Diamond’s office. She hadn’t held back, spilling everything Beth had told her about the MC Knox belonged to.
She’d been trying to protect her sister, but the hurt on Diamond’s face when she revealed how new women were initiated into The Last Riders made Naughty Kitten regret her harshness. There were gentler ways to share that truth.
“What’s wrong?” Pops sat beside Diamond on the swing.
“I love Knox. I love him so much,” Diamond said, burying her face in her hands. “I don’t even know why I love the big jerk.” Pops put his arm around her as she cried on his shoulder.
“How does he feel?” Pops glanced over his shoulder, noticing Naughty Kitten and Ma standing silently behind the swing. He started to get up to let Ma handle it, but she shook her head.
“He doesn’t love me back,” Diamond sobbed harder.
“Are you sure?” Pops pulled her closer.
“Yes, now he won’t even talk to me.”
“Then make him,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What?” Diamond looked up from his shoulder.
“Make him talk to you. It’s what your mother did.”
“When?” Diamond asked.
Naughty Kitten knew. She’d heard their arguments as a kid, sitting outside their bedroom door, terrified they’d split up like her friends’ parents, and she’d never see Pops again.
Pops took a deep breath. “When you girls were little, we broke up for a while. We argued over custody, so we decided to live together until you were older. It was the worst six months of my life. I loved your Ma, but she was sick of me putting the Destructors first. She didn’t want me to leave the club; she just wanted equal time. I was stupid, put the club first and you girls second.
When I missed Naughty Kitten at her birthday party, she’d had enough. Living with your Ma but not being with her was terrible. I’m ashamed to say I did stupid s**t I regret, that I’ll always regret, Diamond.”
Naughty Kitten I remembered that time. She’d tried to make everyone’s life easier, cooking meals, keeping Ma busy when she was bored or overwhelmed, and never asking for another birthday party.
“How did you get back together?” Diamond asked.
“It was because of you, Diamond,” Pops said.
Naughty Kitten stiffened beside her Ma at his words. After everything she’d done, it was Diamond who kept them together?
“After you saw me at the club with that woman and stopped talking to me, your Ma and I talked. She couldn’t understand the change in you toward me. You went from being a daddy’s girl to not wanting to sit at the dinner table with me, so yeah, she knew something was wrong,” Pops continued.
“How did you know?” Diamond asked.
“One of my men saw you running from the back of the club. When I got home, I could tell from how you treated me that you’d seen. I didn’t know what to say, and your mother finally made me tell her. It was the worst day of my life, confessing I’d cheated on her and had been for a long time.
The thing was, she’d known all along, and that was another reason she had a problem with the club. We talked all day and night, Diamond, and worked it out, but I paid for that day for years. It destroyed my relationship with you, and your mother wouldn’t marry me for a long time. I’d lost her trust; it took years to get it back, but I lost my little girl forever.”
“Diamond, go after Knox, make him talk to you,” Pops urged, his eyes watery.
“But you loved Ma. Knox doesn’t even care about me,” Diamond said.
“Does he ever give you a nickname? Even when you were messing around?” Pops asked, his face reddening.
“No,” Diamond replied.
“Not once?” he pressed.
“No, he always called me Diamond.”
“Do you know why we called you Diamond?” Pops asked, his voice gruff.
“No.”
“Because the second we saw you, we knew you were going to be the most precious thing in the world to us. Our precious jewel, our little Diamond.”
Naughty Kitten wondered why they couldn’t have thought of something like that when they named her f*****g Norma.
Diamond burst into tears, throwing her arms around Pops. Naughty Kitten felt a pang of guilt for her jealousy over a name, even if it was a freaking ugly one.
“If Knox hasn’t called you anything else, then he knows what he’s got, probably just too stubborn to admit it. Go talk to him, sweetheart,” Pops said.
“Maybe I’ll go see him tomorrow,” Diamond hedged, as usual.
“f**k that. Get off your ass, I’ll take you,” Naughty Kitten snapped.
Diamond stood, noticing her Ma and Naughty Kitten behind the swing.
“Go ahead, Diamond. What have you got to lose?” Pops urged.
“My dignity?” Diamond said.
“Dignity isn’t gonna keep your ass warm tonight, move it,” Naughty Kitten said, grabbing Diamond’s hand and dragging her inside. They were almost out the door when Naughty Kitten changed her mind and turned toward her bedroom.
“You can’t go on a manhunt wearing that s**t you got on,” she said, pulling a pair of jeans and a top from her closet. “Get dressed.”
Diamond was wearing the dark blue suit she’d had on all day and, for once, didn’t argue. She put on jeans and a top. Diamond’s breasts were larger, and the low-cut top showed them off perfectly.
“Do you have another top I could borrow? This one’s too tight,” Diamond said, checking herself in the mirror.
Naughty Kitten eyed her. The top looked great, and Knox wouldn’t resist those t**s. “Nah, you’re good. Let’s go.”