Chapter 4
“Boss, you’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Ox shook his head as he sighed deeply.
Limit could tell his president was ready to rip his own hair out, and he didn't blame him one bit.
“I’m not. Maddie’s little package ain’t so little, and it sure as hell doesn't fall under the category of a package.”
Limit shook his head while Ox ran a hand through his long locks.
“I mean, we were high school sweethearts. We were young and in love, but she wasn't cut out for this life. She was too good for it and I knew that. I never held it against her that she wanted better,” Ox explained.
Everyone at the table knew that the bomb Ox had just dropped on his club was nothing short of atomic.
“You have a twenty-two year old daughter that you never knew about…that’s wild,” Slayer said.
Green snorted.
“You gonna see Maddie?”
“She said she thought it was best if I met Scarlett alone. Said she's been living in Bryson City for a couple of months with her best friend, or something. Maddie said she urged her to move out here because she wanted me to get the chance to meet her, to get to know her,” Ox said.
Limit had no idea what kind of a woman kept her daughter a secret from the child’s father for twenty-two years, but he wasn't impressed by it.
Limit wasn't a golden boy by any means, but Ox had the right to know he had a kid. Ox was a good man.
“Why now? Why tell you about her now?”
“She’s remarried, obviously. Some rich guy, I guess. Apparently they’ve been living in Louisiana all this time. I guess Scarlett just graduated from college and Maddie thought now was the time to tell her…doesn’t help that Maddie’s sick.”
“Maddie is sick?”
Ox nodded solemnly.
“Cancer. Terminal. I don’t know how I feel about it.”
Fury cleared his throat, and it was obvious that Fury knew more about Maddie than any of them ever would- he was Ox’s best friend, so that made sense- but Limit worried for his president just the same.
“Anything we can do?,” He asked.
“Nope. The wedding is this week, so let’s all focus on that. Everything ready?,” Ox asked.
Fury grinned.
“Yep. I’m ready for this wedding bullshit to be over so we can move into our house,” Fury said.
“It’s been done for a couple of weeks, what’s the hold up?,” Rider asked.
“Rayna wanted to wait until we were married. Somethin’ about romance and a threshold, I don't know. Chick shit,” Fury said.
Everyone laughed but Limit.
He didn't do romance very well.
He wasn't trained for it.
Everyone around him was falling in love and getting married or having babies and he wanted none of it.
None of it.
“How’s the baby?”
Prettyboy and Fury both grinned.
“Growing strong. Laura said the baby is healthy and that Esme is taking pregnancy like a champ.”
Prettyboy was obviously proud of his woman, and Limit was happy for him. Women like Rayna and Esme were a rare find.
"What's her name again?," Green asked.
"Scarlett Hunter. Maddie gave Scarlett her last name."
Of course it had to be a fantastical coincidence that Ox's daughter's name was Scarlett. The universe was more than likely playing a cruel joke on Limit since he hadn't been able to get a particular hazel-eyed goddess out of his mind. All that pale skin, the way she screamed his name, her tight little body-
Seriously, my dicks hard again.
Even though Limit told her no strings attached, he was having a hard time believing that himself. It felt like she’d wrapped her own strings around him tight enough to hold him steady. Tight enough to have him thinking about her weeks later; thinking about the way their rendezvous ended, too.
Limit still couldn't figure out why she’d been bleeding, even though the blood was minimal.
Did I hurt her?
Limit liked it rough in and out of the bedroom, but he thought he knew his own…limits.
“Anyone have word on Axel? How him and his men are doing?”
Ox grunted under his breath before he lifted the gavel in his hand.
“The black book idea saved their asses, that’s for sure. Business is booming for them,” He answered.
Limit hoped that was true too, after all the shit they’d gone through to help them.
“So, you have a kid?,” Limit asked.
Ox looked at him before a ghost of a smile lifted his mouth.
“Yeah. I guess I do,” He said.
“When is she supposed to be here to visit?”
Ox sighed, his amber eyes widening for a brief moment before he rubbed his palms over his eyes.
“She’ll be here today.”
Everyone started talking all at once. It was something Limit hated about working with so many people. He liked quiet, solitude. Limit was a simple man with simple needs.
“Guess we better prepare?,” Torch asked.
Limit barely spared the prospect a glance before he nodded in Ox’s direction.
“I guess so. Alright, church is over. Go get to work.”
Ox didn't seem like he was in the mood to talk, so everyone hastily stood in an effort to give their president some time to himself.
If Ox had a daughter that meant one more woman was about to join the ranks at the Seven Deadlies’s clubhouse, and not one man in that room realized the magnitude of that. Limit did, but he rarely voiced his opinion.
As he rose to stand, he decided that maybe working in the garage all day would be a good thing. With any luck at all, he’d miss meeting Ox’s daughter, and he could avoid all that drama.
Or, If I’m lucky, I’ll finally work up the nerve to find that little hazel-eyed work of art I fucked a month ago.
✽✽✽
“Your father is still alive, and he’s tucked back in those mountains you keep seeing from your apartment. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I just didn’t know how.”
Scarlett kept replaying her mother’s words in her head.
“Scarlett, be reasonable. You can’t hold a grudge forever.”
Emily was being the ‘reasonable’ one for once, and Scarlett didn't want to admit that like always, she was right.
“Maybe I’ll just hold it for, I don't know, twenty-two years.”
Emily’s face lit up when she smiled affectionately at her friend.
“Come on, who would have thought that prim and proper Scarlett Hunter had a biker for a daddy? And not just any biker, the president of a gang!”
Scarlett instantly wanted to tell Emily the correct term was club, but she refrained.
Scarlett groaned as she buried her face in her pillow instead.
“This is not a good thing!”
“On the contrary, this is amazing! Come on, you always told me that you didn't feel connected to your step-father. That you’ve wondered all these years about your real dad. Come on, your mom told you he was a one night stand. This is the universe giving you the opportunity to have a family,” Emily argued.
“Okay, okay! I’m going to visit him for the first time today and I’m just nervous. What if he doesn't like me?”
“Scarlett, everyone likes you. You’re like a delicate rose blossom, okay? Maybe you're a little emotionally stunted, but that’s not your fault.”
Scarlett cut her eyes to Emily as she rolled to sit up.
“You’re so funny, I forgot to laugh.”
“Oh ho, do you know that this means? Scar, I’ll be able to maybe find Green!,” She cried happily.
Scarlett actually laughed.
“Yeah, good for you.”
All that makes me think about is Limit, and I told myself I wouldn't do that!
Even though she had no idea what club he belonged to, or what club Green belonged to, she found herself wondering what it would be like to belong herself. Would she finally feel at home, amongst her father and his men?
Won’t know if I don’t go…
“Alright, Em. I’m ready. Let’s go,” She said.
Emily planted her hands on her hips, her black nail polish glimmering in the sunlight.
“You’re wearing sweatpants.”
Scarlett looked down at her sweats and sighed.
“Alright, let me change into some jeans and then I’ll drive us up there.”
“Us? No, way! This time you need to go all alone, Scar. I’ll join you once the current settles, but right now you need to go meet your father.”
Meet my father.
Meet my father!
Her whole life Scarlett was led to believe that her mother was some uptown real-estate agent who’d wined and dined with the richest of the rich, and that was all a lie.
Turned out her mother was no better than the people she'd spent her whole life warning Scarlett about- the trash, the gutter rats, the people from the wrong side of the tracks.
Not that Scarlett was anywhere near as judgmental as her mother, with a degree in fine arts she was much more accustomed to mingling with folks from many different classes.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”
“You’ll never be ready for something like this, but time’s a-wastin’, darlin’.”
Time.
Wasted time.
Even though her mind should have been trying to wrap itself around the fact that Scarlett’s mother, Maddie, was obviously an entirely different person than the one she’d grown up idolizing, her thoughts instantly fled to her mysterious bar lover.
Limit.
As Scarlett tugged on a pair of tight-fitting dark denim jeans, she heard her phone ring. Seeing that it was her mother, she ignored it, and promptly grabbed her purse.
“You takin’ your Mustang all the way up those mountains?,” Emily asked with a smirk.
“Well, I don't ride a bike, so yeah.”
Emily waved a hand in the air before she fell onto Scarlett’s bed.
“I’m just giving you a hard time, girl. Now, quit stalling.”
Scarlett ran a brush through her freshly bleached tips before she sighed.
“Bye.”
“See ya later!”
Scarlett closed the door to their condo and headed for her car, which was conveniently parked right at the bottom of the stairs. As she climbed inside and turned the air on full blast. Even still she was sweating and it had nothing to do with the muggy heat making her silk blouse cling to her skin.
“Fuck,” She whispered as she started the engine.
She set her GPS to the address provided to her by her mother and swerved onto the empty road, knowing full well there wouldn’t be any traffic to delay her trip, and for once, she wished there was. Bryson City disappeared in her rear view as her trusty pony climbed the hills that led her to her father’s- Ox’s- clubhouse.
A clubhouse.
What kind of a name was that?
She shook her head at the stupidity of it all; a long lost father, a liar for a mother, her ex-fiance breaking her heart…
Then, there was Limit.
The beautiful man she couldn't stop thinking about no matter how much expensive wine she ordered over the internet.
His hands, the way he spoke to her, the way he made her feel fucking special- even for a bar hookup.
He was gentle with her when he’d needed to be and just the right amount of rough…
Scarlett pinched her thighs closed as his face came to her mind.
She had to nip that in the bud before her body got the wrong idea, because seeing him again wasn't probable and a man like him would never settle down.
A man like her father?
Well, fuck, she couldn't judge the man before she met him!
I can do this.
I can do anything I put my mind to.
“This is it,” She muttered to herself as she came to a rolling stop outside of a large gate.
This was the change of everything.