Daria
It was strange that in the few months we’d been back in town, I still hadn’t gone to see my mother at the diner where she worked. I knew that Rocky hadn’t either, something he’d told me with slight traces of shame in his voice.
Walking in with Rocky and Cameron, I felt fresh waves of guilt roll over me as I waited for my mother to come out of the back room after her shift. She would have no idea what was waiting for her when she arrived, and I knew that I would be catching her completely off guard. I also knew that this would be the only way to stop her worrying, so I was grateful for Cameron and Rocky’s help.
It didn’t take too long for my mom to finally appear. She spotted me instantly and rewarded me with a loving smile, probably happy that I’d come visit her and spend some time with her. Her smile faltered as she glanced at the rest of the table and noticed Rocky and Cameron.
Her eyes flickered once over to the door and I thought for just one moment that she might leave and not listen to anything we had to say. Thankfully, her eyes returned to us and she approached our table.
“Daria, what are you doing here,” she said in a strained voice, eyeing Cameron.
Her gaze softened a fraction when she looked at Rocky but I doubted anyone else noticed, even Rocky. Sometimes I forgot that Rocky and Mom used to be quite close when we were kids. I used to drag him to our house a lot so we could hang out, and looking back, I knew that she was the closest thing he’d ever had to a mother.
Rocky seemed to deflate slightly in his seat, though he maintained his hardened exterior. It was his eyes that gave him away. I think at that moment Mom remembered that too, but when she looked away from him again I realized how serious she was about not wanting anything to do with the Walkers. Maybe this would be harder than I thought.
“Corinne, take a seat,” Cameron said, gesturing to the empty spot at our table. Mom remained standing for a beat, I think mostly out of defiance, before taking the seat beside me, eyes never wavering from Cameron.
“What’s going on?” My mom was understandably confused, considering all she knew was that I’d taken a job at Rocky’s shop. She had no idea how close I’d gotten to him or how much I knew about certain club business.
“We need to talk.”
“Daria,” Mom’s eyes cut to me and they were filled with steel. It was like she had a sixth sense about what was yet to come and was already chastising me about it. “I told you not to get involved with all this.”
“I tried Mom, I really did.”
Truthfully, I had tried my best to stay away from Rocky, but I couldn’t help what had happened or how close we’d gotten. I hadn’t anticipated that we would become such close friends. Looking back now though, I knew that my heart had never really been in it. That was why it was probably so easy for Rocky to convince me to take the job.
“I can assure you Corinne that Daria has full club protection, no one will go anywhere near her. You have my word.”
My mom scoffed and met his gaze fearlessly. “Your word, huh?” She said mockingly. “I’m sure you’ll understand why that means very little to me.”
I felt something pass between the two of them, but I couldn’t identify what. One look at Rocky told me that he was just as confused as me. I knew that they had some type of history, back when Mom was a member of the club, but now I was wondering if there wasn’t something more at play here, something that I didn’t understand.
“Talk around town is that you’re going after Jason Steele,” Mom said.
“Not yet,” Cameron replied. “And you shouldn’t listen to talk.”
There was a lot of veiled hostility between them, and I couldn’t understand it for the life of me. I looked to Rocky and tried to communicate silently with him but he just shook his head and continued watching the dynamic between them.
“You’re biding your time then? Waiting for the opportune moment?” I couldn’t understand the mocking tone to Mom’s words. It was perfectly reasonable to be patient and wait before acting, but the way Mom said it sounded like she knew something I didn’t. I vowed to speak to her after this and find out what she knew.
“You know how it is,” Cameron ground out.
Mom turned back to me and sighed in defeat. “I never wanted this life for you. We shouldn’t have come back.”
“You can’t protect me from everything, Mom. Sometimes I’m going to make my own decisions.”
“I guess that means I can’t stop you from being part of this, can I?”
I shook my head in the negative.
“Full club protection, right Cameron?” Mom confirmed, staring Cameron down.
“Absolutely.”
“And Rocky, sweetie. You’ll take care of her, too, won’t you?”
I could almost feel Rocky’s emotions from the other side of the table, so strongly radiating off him.
“I swear,” Rocky replied instantly, and I knew it was more a vow than anything else.
“Good,” Mom conceded. She looked between us once more and then stood to leave, walking out the door without a second look behind her.
“Thank you for doing this,” I told Cameron.
He nodded in acknowledgement and I quickly bid both him and Rocky goodbye, following my mother out the door.
She was standing there waiting, looking ragged and exhausted, and I knew most of it wasn’t from her long shift.
We stood in silence for a moment staring at each other. I waited for her to open her mouth, to say anything so that I knew she forgave me.
“Be safe.”
At her words, I knew everything would be okay.