“They really are! So come with me to Wilmington on Friday!” Casey begs. “I don’t really want to go alone, and a night out is exactly what you need. There will be plenty of men there who will sleep with you.”
“How can you be so sure?” I ask.
“Because you’re beautiful, sweet, and innocent. The bikers will all want to eat you up!”
“I’ll think about it, okay?”
“That’s more than I could get out of you earlier, so I’ll take it,” she says. “Forget Fiasco. Or tell him about our plans Friday and see what he does. If he wants you, then he won’t approve of you going to the Knights’ bar.”
“Maybe,” I tell her. “But I think he’s made his opinion pretty damn clear already.”
Chapter Eleven
Fiasco
“I didn’t think it was possible, but you look even worse today than you did yesterday,” Devlin says when I get to the job site the next morning. “What happened?”
“Long night,” I tell him.
“You don’t say that like it was a good thing,” he replies with a chuckle. “I thought the only thing that ever kept you up late at night was pussy.”
“No, last night it was a dog. And Joanna.”
“Joanna?” Devlin exclaims. Rubbing his forehead like he has a headache, he says, “No, Fiasco. Tell me you weren’t messing around with Nash’s sister!”
“I didn’t. I shouldn’t have tried to see her,” I tell him. “Fuck, I’m so goddamn stupid! I’ll never be good enough or smart enough. I’ll always be broke. I dropped out of high school, so I’ll be doing this backbreaking bullshit work for the rest of my life! I’ve got two kids to support that I hardly ever see because their mamas think I’m too irresponsible. I live in a shitty apartment to make sure the kids are taken care of. There’s nothing for me to offer her, so why did I think for even a second that I could ever be good enough for a woman like Joanna?”
“Jesus,” Devlin mutters, blinking at me in surprise after my outburst. “I don’t know what to say to all of that. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know things were that bad for you.”
“Yeah, well, they are. Always have been, always will be.”
Grabbing my shoulder, he says, “Shit will get better, Fiasco. Right now, you’re healing some serious injuries that could’ve killed you. I bet things will look up soon once you’re feeling better.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” I say with a shrug.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. At least you’re one of the dads trying to take care of their kids. A lot won’t even do that. That boy and girl are lucky to have you as their father.”
“Hopefully they got their mamas’ brains and not mine.”
“I don’t know your baby mamas, so I couldn’t say,” Devlin replies. “But I will tell you that if Nash finds out you’re still seeing Joanna, he’s going to be very pissed.”
“Because he knows I’m not good enough for her.”
“No, because he never wanted the MC to crash into her life the way it did,” he explains. “She’s not like us. She’s a good woman, with a college degree and a nursing career she had to work really hard for. Nash wouldn’t want anything to interfere with all she’s got going after she was put up for adoption by the same mom and dad that gave him up.”
“She doesn’t even know he’s her brother,” I point out.
“No, and he wants to keep it that way, for her sake. The MC has rivals and enemies. It’s one thing to bring a woman into the club we want to marry, one who knows what they’re in for, and we can try to protect them. It’s another to drag an innocent family member in, taking a chance that she could get hurt. For Joanna’s sake, think with your head and not your dick for once since you’re not exactly the type to settle down.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about. Joanna doesn’t want me like that, no matter how much I wish she did. I won’t touch her.”
“Good,” Dev says. “Because if you do and I find out, I’ll have no choice but to tell Nash.”
“I know,” I agree.
“You really will stay away from her?”
“I didn’t mean to see her last night, I swear,” I tell him.
“So, you’ll stay the hell away from now on?” Devlin repeats like he thinks I’m too dumb to have heard him the first time.
“I’ll stay away from her,” I agree. And then I remember that I still owe her for paying Ace’s vet bills. It’s a little after seven now, which means the vet’s office should be open again.
I tried calling them several times late last night to check on him, but all I got was the answering service.
“I need to make a quick call before we get to work,” I tell Dev.
He arches an eyebrow. “You better not be calling Joanna.”
“I’m not. I don’t even have her phone number,” I tell him, which is the truth, and it sucks.
“Fine. Hurry up, though.”
I walk over to my Thing for a little privacy while I make the call. Thankfully, a woman answers. When I ask for an update on Ace, she tells me he’s sleeping now but should be able to go home later. One of his back legs is broken, but the vet thinks he’ll be able to get around fine with it in a cast until it heals in a few weeks.
I’m so fucking relieved I didn’t kill it that I could cry, but I don’t since I’m at a job site.
Chapter Twelve
Joanna
On the way to work, I get a call from the vet’s office, the same vet last night I think, telling me that Ace is going to pull through just fine. He’ll have a tiny cast on his back leg, but he is otherwise doing great.
“You can come pick him up this afternoon. I’ll be back around six-thirty if you
