Dragon

13 - Trying to explain

Kyla

I put Greer to bed. She was still sniffing back tears, afraid something terrible was going to happen. I hate how frightened my little girl was, but I assured Greer that those men wouldn’t hurt me.

I explained who they were - her family - and she told me how they already said that to her. But it did not stop her from worrying that they would hurt me. It took me a while to calm her down enough to let me leave the room. I kissed Greer’s head, and she smiled and snuggled into her pillow with Mr. Goo, her stuffed rabbit. I told Greer not to worry because I would never let anything happen to her, and I would always be here for her because she’s my everything. I kissed her head again and left her to sleep.

I pray that she believes what I told her and that she can fall asleep.

God, I am so mad.

Couldn’t Connor’s family have waited before knocking on my door?

Why are they here when Connor isn’t?

The last thing I imagined would happen tonight was that Hammer, Noah, and Tate would be the ones knocking on my door, wanting to speak with me. I have no idea how they knew I lived here, but I guess it wasn’t hard to figure out.

I’m annoyed that Connor met his daughter, yet it’s his father, brother, and cousin who found out where we lived. I understand that Connor is more than likely still in shock, and I don’t believe he even knows that his family has turned up on my doorstep. Connor won’t be pleased with them when he finds out. He’s the one who should be here demanding answers. I bet he was just trying to sort out his thoughts before trying to find me. Connor would have been here tomorrow, I guarantee it, if I had not found him first. Now, his family has spoiled that!

With my stomach churning with nerves, I enter the kitchen and take a seat at my dining table. I sigh while looking around at the three huge bikers now staring me down.

They’re angry with you, Kyla.

I can see that.

“What can I do for the three of you? I’d offer you a beer, but I don’t drink alcohol.”

“That’s fine,” Noah waves away my none offer. “We didn’t come here to drink beer with you. We came to find out how the hell my brother has an eight-year-old daughter that no one knew about.”

“Easy,” Hammer tells him with a stern look.

That prick just spoke to me like I was shi.t on his boot! In my own house!

“I’d appreciate it if you keep your tone in check in my house. My daughter is right upstairs. She’s frightened enough that you’re here; I don’t want her scared anymore. I’ll tell you what you want to know. You don’t need to try strong-arming me, Noah.”

“No one is doin’ that, Kyla.” I nod at Tate, or Rabid as his cut reads, or whatever he wants to be called these days.

“I’m sure you know how Connor and I made Greer, even a dumbass biker like you can figure out the mechanics of se.x, Noah Marshall.”

His eyes widen, but I sense the smirks of Rabid and Hammer. “Why you...”

“Enough!” Hammer snaps at Noah – Storm, making me jump. “Go on.” He tells me.

I swallow hard.

“It was just once.” I shift in my seat. “I was leaving for Hawaii the next day, Connor’s birthday. We were kids and didn’t think about what might happen; we just wanted to be together. Connor was my best friend; I couldn’t help loving him. Hell, we loved each other.”

I chuckle to myself.

“You have no idea how many times my mother yelled that I couldn’t possibly know what that kind of love was. She had no clue.” I shake my head.

My mother made my life a living hell for weeks after we left Bardsville, all because I missed Connor and wanted to call him. She’d never allow that, and I swear she enjoyed my misery.

“I didn’t want to go; I wanted my mother to leave me here with my grandmother; that way, I could stay with Connor. My mother was having none of it, so I had no choice but to leave. I missed Connor every day, and I begged my mom to let me call him every day for a week. She refused, told me never to mention his name again, and that was that.

“I found out that I was pregnant a month after my fifteenth birthday, and I was so frightened. I’d been ill, and my mother took me to the Navy doctor on-site and had me checked out. God, she was so angry with me.”

I breathe deep and look at the ceiling for a second.

“I’m taking it she came around as you have the child.”

“No, Hammer, she didn’t come around.”

He narrows his eyes, wondering what the hell happened. I’ll tell him. I’m not a liar, and I have nothing to hide.

“My mother took me to a clinic and tried to force me to have an abortion. She threw everything at me that she could think of to make me go through with it. She blackmailed me with my father’s love and how he’d ruin Connor’s life if I didn’t do what she wanted. I wasn’t to know that they were empty threats; I was fifteen.

“My mother didn’t care about me, only about what it would look like to her friends that she couldn’t control her daughter. The daughter that she couldn’t bring herself to love because she suffered from postpartum depression after I was born. She told me that I’d end up like her, that I’d hate my child because she’d ruin my life.

“I didn’t care. I begged my mother not to make me go through with the abortion,” I laugh sardonically to myself. “God, did I beg her. I may not have known how to be a mother, but I didn’t want to hurt my baby. I told her to send me to my grandmother. That way, I could be with Connor and would have all of you to help me. My mother wouldn’t hear of it, and she forced me into that room. I sat and listened to everything the nurse told me about the process and what would happen after I took that pill. I couldn’t do it.”

I wipe a tear from my eye with my sleeve. I hate thinking about that time. I’ve never told anyone other than my aunt and social worker what happened.

This is so hard, having to tell Connor’s father. It’s hard because I thought I’d be saying all of this to Connor himself, not his family.

“Long story short, I ran from the room after telling the nurse that I didn’t want to have an abortion and that my mother was forcing me. The nurse told my mom that no law in the land would force anyone, including a child, to have an abortion, and if I didn’t want it, there was nothing my mother could do about it.

“My mom caught up to me. She slapped me to the ground and told me that she never wanted to see me again, that I was dead to her, and that’s what she’d tell her friends. She said that my father wouldn’t want me either, and I was never to try and contact my sisters; I could rot in the care system until I was no more use to them.

“I found a policeman who helped me. I then ended up with a social worker who contacted my grandmother, who told them that she wanted nothing to do with me either. My parents must have gotten to my grandmother and told her not to help me.” I shrug.

“My aunt, my dad’s sister, took me in, even though my father had warned Jane that he’d never speak to her again if she did. It broke her heart, but Jane refused to leave me in a children’s home when she could be taking care of me.

“Jane was amazing. She petitioned for custody of me, and she let me keep the baby. Jane showed me how to care for Greer properly while allowing me a three-month break from school so that I could bond with my little girl. Then Jane helped me find childcare for Greer while I went back to school. All she asked of me was that I finish school, take care of my baby, and attend to my schoolwork.

“I did just that. I may not have had a social life, but I had my daughter, and that’s all I needed. I graduated from school, attended community college, and became an interior designer. I even got myself a job that paid well.”

I notice Noah rolling his eyes while Hammer keeps his eyes on me, listening intently.

“I told Greer all about Connor from the moment she was born. I told her about the promises we made to each other and how she and I would come and find him one day. Then my grandmother died and left us this house. Maybe it was her guilt that made her do it, because I hadn’t seen her since I was fourteen. But Greer got it into her head that it was a sign – a sign that it was time for us to find Connor.”

“Is that what you believed?”

I look at Hammer. I know the answer already, and that’s why I nod my head.

“I know one of you is going to ask why I didn’t come to find him sooner. I don’t have any excuses, so I’m not going to make any. I could have written to him years ago, but I thought he deserved more than hearing about his daughter in a letter. I didn’t have a phone number for him, though I know I could have done more to find one. I looked on social media, even though I knew I would never find him, which I didn’t.

“The truth is, by the time I was in a position to find him, I wasn’t sure Connor hadn’t moved on with his life. I was scared of turning his world upside down.”

“Yeah?” Noah leans in across the table. “How’d that work out for you? My brother had to find out he had a kid because she came looking for him, not you. Do you have any idea what this has done to him?”

I’ll smack his damn face in if he keeps giving me attitude! I know what I’ve done to Connor; I don’t need Noah talking to me like this!

“I can imagine, Noah.”

“Storm!” He snaps.

“Fine,” I sigh. “Storm. Greer shouldn’t have run off to find Connor the way she did. I would have contacted Connor and talked to him, explaining everything about Greer to him, but she couldn’t wait. How would you feel in her position? This is all she’s wanted since the moment she could talk.

“We’ve been in the same town as her father for three days, and Greer has been restless. She wanted to find Connor the second we got here, but I couldn’t just go charging into his life. He could have been married for all I knew. How fair would it have been for me to turn up on his doorstep with a child if he had a wife?”

“I don’t give a damn about your excuses! You’ve broken my brother, you b***h!” Storm’s fists come crashing down on my grandmother’s old dining table, his chair skidding back as he gets out of his seat.

My eyes are wide. Storm is a huge and angry man, and I’d be an idio.t not to be scared right now.

“Calm the hell down!” Hammer roars at him, getting to his feet and pushing Storm down in his chair by the shoulder at the same time. “Don’t you dare speak to her like that, you little fuc.k!”

“I didn’t mean to hurt Connor.” I interrupt. “I was fifteen, Storm; what did you expect me to do? I lost my family, everything I ever knew. I was lost and alone, and I needed someone to take care of me. I couldn’t just run away and come here; we were just kids ourselves. What could Connor have honestly been able to do for me and our baby back then?”

Storm says nothing; he just stares at me as though I were the devil himself.

I don’t know what the man expects from me.

What the hell does he want me to say?

Finally, Storm speaks. “You know my brother has rights, don’t you?”

I narrow my eyes at him. I’m not stupid; I know what he’s saying, but never once have I said Connor couldn’t see his daughter. Now that he knows about her, there is no way I would stop Connor from having access. My baby wants her father in her life, and I would do anything for her.

“Why isn’t Connor here telling me this himself?”

“Because my brother is fucke.d up over this! I’ve told him to take you to court for custody of his daughter. You’ve kept her from him long enough.”

“What?” I gasp out.

They want Connor to take Greer from me?

Oh my God!

Connor wouldn’t do that to me, right?

“That’s enough, Storm!” Hammer yells while getting out of his seat again. “We’re leaving. We’ll be in touch.”

With that, they all get up out of their seats and walk out of my house. I’m not finished with them, so I chase them outside.

“No court in the land will take my daughter from me! I am a good mom!” I yell at them as they straddle their motorcycles. “You have no right to come here and say this stuff to me; I did nothing wrong!”

“Tell it to a judge.” Storm snaps.

I chase after them as they ride away on their motorcycles, out of my driveway and into the road.

They can’t do this! I have to speak to Connor; he would never do this to me. But if he’s part of that club like his brother, they might ride his ass until he does.

I can’t lose my daughter. I just can’t!

“You can’t do this to me!” I yell after them.

I’m a fuckin.g mess of frustrated tears, and I don’t hear the car coming up behind me, but I sure as shi.t feel it hit me from behind...