Chapter 13
Marco
“What the fuck happened back there?” Axel asked before Quinn could say anything to me.
I had entered the Rusty Pelican and found her standing in front of Axel, surrounded by other men from The Bad Disciples. I had seen the look in her eyes, the look that told me that she wasn’t sure if I was alive or dead. A look of relief had washed over her face when her eyes settled on me. She looked unscathed, and I was glad that I had pushed her behind the bikes in time.
I walked towards Axel and the group, while Gunner, Hunter, and Glock followed me close on my tracks. They were the guys who had saved my life because another minute of being under fire would have been the end of me.
“The Four Skulls appeared out of nowhere. I heard their bikes before I saw them and I pushed your daughter aside,” I replied to Axel as I came to a stop in front of him.
Even though Quinn had moved to the side, I could sense her eyes on me. She was watching me intently like she was trying to make sure that I wasn’t hurt. I could feel a desperate urge in my bones, to pull her into my arms and hold her. She had been close to getting hurt, and I couldn’t stand the thought of that.
“They must have been trying to avenge what we did to the Dragon Knights,” it was Hunter who’d spoken up now, and some of the men nodded. I had heard from Hunter how the guys had ended things with the Dragon Knights. Glock had killed Brick, their president when they had taken his girl, Sage.
“We can go take care of them,” Glock added and Axel shook his head.
“Not now, we can deal with them later. We need to first figure out a method of surveillance for the bar. They know we’re sitting ducks when we’re having church meetings. They know they’ve got all of us in one place at the same time. This attack could have been a lot worse than just four guys on bikes,” Axel continued, and a buzz of agreement and discussion rang out in the bar.
I wasn’t certain of what to add to that, even though I had some suggestions. I was the newest member of the MC, just recently patched as a prospect. I wasn’t sure what the importance of my suggestion was at a meeting like this at this point.
But Axel was looking at me curiously again.
“Before anything else, Marco, I’d like to thank you. You saved my daughter’s life with your quick action,” he said, and I felt an ounce of relief. I was glad that he didn’t suspect anything yet.
He had stepped up to me and was now holding his hand out to me. I shook his hand, and Axel grinned at me.
“Now I know for sure that patching you into our MC was a good idea,” he said, and we shook hands firmly. I was surprised that he was having this kind of conversation in front of Quinn, but now I realized that they had probably already spoken about the MC. Which was also a relief, because it meant that I wouldn’t have to explain why I had spilled Axel’s secrets to his daughter.
While we shook hands, I sensed Quinn walking up behind me. When my hand dropped from Axel’s grip, I felt Quinn’s hand on mine. She was holding my hand, lightly at first before her grip became stronger.
Axel’s gaze dropped to our hands. I couldn’t pull my hand away from her, not in front of everybody, but everybody was watching us now. Fuck.
My eyes met Axel’s, and now I could tell that he knew. It wasn’t a difficult situation to figure out. His eyes grew wide, and I could see his face turning red.
“Daddy,” I heard Quinn say, her voice was pleading. She had made the decision to reveal the truth to her father because she was afraid that I would do it behind her back and get slaughtered as a result of it.
Axel didn’t look pleased. I was sure that he was going to lose it. I could see his fists clenching and his lips trembling with rage. There was pin-drop silence in the bar, and I could sense everyone’s eyes on us.
“Daddy,” Quinn continued. “I know this is probably not what you want, but this is my decision.” Axel looked as though he was about to punch me, but his eyes shot to Quinn’s. Quinn gripped my hand tighter, and I saw the rage in Axel’s eyes slowly start to fade.
“Take care of her,” Axel said. Even though he had spoken in a low, quiet voice, the place was silent enough for everyone to have heard him. Except, I didn’t think I’d heard him right.
“I don’t like it, but I know my daughter. If my daughter has chosen to be with you, I will not have any say it. But I will say this. You’re going to make sure that you look after her,” Axel said.
I clenched my jaw. I was relieved and surprised, and Quinn’s grip on my hand tightened even more. I slipped my hand out of hers then and stretched it towards Axel. He waited a moment, just a heartbeat before he shook my hand again.
“If something happens to Quinn…” he began to say, but I was already nodding my head.
“I will have you and the entire MC to be answerable to,” I completed the sentence for him.
Axel was nodding his head, and then he was smiling.
“Thank you, dad!” Quinn squealed with joy, and she lunged at her father, and I watched as the two of them hugged each other tightly.
We were all relieved that nobody was hurt, and Quinn and I were happy that her father wasn’t going to have me shot.
When they were done hugging, Quinn returned to my arms, and I held her. I was amazed that we could even do this in front of her father, but Axel didn’t bat an eyelid. It was obvious that he trusted me.