Dragon

8 - My brothers daughter

Storm

“You all right, Storm?”

I nod my head at Rabid, but I can’t speak. I don’t know what the fuc.k to say. He was a kid – a fuckin.g kid! A randy little bastard if this turns out to be true.

“What do you know about your dad?”

“Everything my mom knows.” The little girl smiles at me. She is cute, I’ll give her that. “She told me everything. How they met, how they became friends, how they fell in love, what happened when she had to leave, and the promises they made to each other.”

“Tell me.” I climb off my motorcycle, and the others follow. I feel like a dic.k straddling my bike while this little girl is genuinely trying to find her father. She might be eight, but the least we can do is show her a little respect.

I crouch down on my haunches in front of her, and she smiles at me.

“They met when they were twelve, almost thirteen. They became best friends and always got into trouble together. My mom was a tomboy and enjoyed doing everything boys did.

“My parents loved each other very much, and they did everything together. But my mom had to leave because her daddy was in the Navy. They traveled all the time, and her parents dragged her from place to place. I don’t know them because they gave my mom away when she refused to kill me when I was inside her belly.”

I look at the men around me, watching this little girl, telling me about her parents, and I know Axel sees what I see. Being this close to Greer, seeing her smile, I see him so clearly.

Jesus Christ, he was a child!

“Mommy told me all about my dad’s family, and how nice they were to her, and that she loved them a lot. She said they would love me too when they know about me. I already love all of them because of the stories Mommy told me about them.”

“That was nice of her,” I practically mumble.

I don’t know why I feel angry, but I do. I’m not mad with Greer; she’s a child. I’m mad at her mother for keeping her a secret for eight fuckin.g years!

“My mommy is a very nice person. She told me that my dad was the bestest friend she ever had, and she knows he’ll be the best father in the world.

“Mom also told me that she and my dad promised to meet in their special place one day. He promised to wait for her under the old oak tree, no matter how long it takes. They’ll meet there one day, and Mom will tell Dad all about me. But now that we moved back here, I thought I could find my dad first.”

“Are you sure that’s okay with your mom?” I ask.

Greer nervously tucks a fallen strand of hair behind her ear. Her mother doesn’t have a damn clue about this; I can see it in her eyes.

“Little lady, you shouldn’t be here,” Eagle tells Greer. “You should go home where you’re safe.”

Greer looks right at me with pleading eyes.

“I promise I’ll go home as soon as you tell me where my dad is. Please? His name is Connor Ethan Jaxon Marshall. But the lady in the ice cream place said he goes by the name Dragon now.”

Every single one of my brothers standing around us sucks in a shocked, sharp breath.

Me?

I close my eyes and shake my head for a second.

“He’s not very old. Just a month older than my mom. They’re both twenty-four now. My mom’s name is Kyla.”

Kyla. The girl Dragon was obsessed with when he was a kid. I remember how close they were and how you wouldn’t find one without the other. Sometimes, you’d find Talisha with them. But I don’t remember a time when Kyla was in town that you’d see her without Dragon.

I can’t believe he got her fuckin.g pregnant, and here we all were, thinking he was still a virgin. The boys and I have spent years trying to get my brother laid. Every damn time, he either walks away as soon as he sees the woman or plays along for a hot minute. Dragon has taken so much crap, but never cares a shi.t what any of us had to say.

I finally get it now. Dragon was never interested in anyone because he had been waiting for Kyla to return to him.

Who the fuc.k actually does that?

“Kyla Swanson?” I ask Greer for clarification.

She shakes her head.

“Not anymore. When Mommy was eighteen, she changed her name so it would be the same as mine. She didn’t want me to have a different name anymore. Mommy wanted us to be the same ’cause people always gave her dirty looks when I called her Mommy because she was so young and had a different surname.”

“What did she change her name to?”

“Marshall. My name is Greer Willow Rose Marshall. Mommy said that one day she’d bring me here, that she’d meet my dad in their secret, special place like she promised, and then we’d be a family.”

She shrugs.

“She always told me stories about him, and they were always good. Mom told me that she will always love my dad, and he will love me as she does. Do you know my dad?”

I honestly don’t even know what the fuc.k to say right now.

I get to my feet and rake my hands through my hair. My eyes catch Eagle’s. My cousin is as stumped as I am right now.

Out of everyone in Snakes Henchmen MC, it’s with Eagle and me that Dragon confides in the most. Neither of us knew about Dragon and Kyla, so I know the man has been hiding a lot. How the hell he managed that, I will never know.

We all should have listened closely when Dragon repeatedly said that he didn’t want to be with anyone. We should have realized there was more to it, and I should have asked Dragon to tell me the truth. I would have listened to his reasons for not wanting to be with a woman. But he didn’t trust me enough to tell me.

It should never have mattered why Dragon wanted to be by himself. As his brother, I should have understood. More than anyone, I shouldn’t have pushed the subject. I didn’t listen, and I feel terrible about it.

Cobra looks at me and shrugs. He didn’t know anything either. None of us knew a damn thing because Dragon didn’t want us to, and that sucks.

Why did my brother feel he couldn’t talk to his family?

I’m so angry for Dragon right now. He’s missed out on eight years of his daughter’s life, and nothing Kyla says will make a difference. Sure, she was a kid when she gave birth, and she wouldn’t have been able to come back here.

But what about the years that followed?

She could have written to Dragon, asking him to write back. He would have sent his cell number, and they could have spoken on the phone. Kyla could have even come back to Bardsville way before now. But she didn’t, and I could strangle the bitc.h!

“Mister?” Greer tugs on my cut. I look down at her. “Do you?”

“Yeah, kid, I know your dad.”

Her eyes widen, and a smile of glee spreads all over her pretty face.

I open my mouth to say something, but I’m cut off by the sound of my brother’s motorcycle engine. He would choose now to turn up.

Shi.t.

“What you fucker.s doing standing around like you’re doin’ something you shouldn’t be? I swear to God, if you’re still planning on setting me up with a woman tonight, you can think again!”

“Dragon, Dragon, Dragon, what have you been up to?” Rabid laughs.

“Is that him?” Little Greer asks me with tears in her eyes. “Is that my daddy?”

“Yeah. That’s him.”