Mina
It didn’t seem to matter how much time passed. Park wasn’t getting used to the idea of his daughter being knocked up. He sat on the edge of her bed, the lines in his face showing more than usual. His years of riding motorcycles out in the sun hadn’t been kind to him, but he still bore some vestiges of the handsome man he had once been. Mostly, though, he looked tired. “Mina, it’s been weeks. Just tell me who it is.”
She stood by the window, staring out it as though something interesting was happening below her in the parking lot of the converted warehouse. She’d never heard her father sound so desperate before, but it didn’t move her. “What good would it do me? You’d just kill him, or exile him. Then what do I have left?”
“You’d still have your father, and I suppose you would have the baby, too.” He sighed and ran a hand over his weathered face.
“The last time I checked, I’m a grown woman. I’m allowed to make my own choices, and I don’t have to involve you in them. This is my problem, Dad, and I don’t need your help.” She leaned heavily against the wall. She desperately wanted to sit down, feeling tired. It seemed like she felt tired all the time these days. He stomach had turned into a tiny round bump, one that she admired in the mirror sometimes, but it weighed on her like a cannon ball. She slept poorly, and everything she ate made her feel sick to her stomach.
“Apparently, you do need me to get involved,” Park corrected her. “There must be something wrong with the situation if you don’t want to admit the truth. Why hide it if there’s something to be proud of?”
“It’s just something you wouldn’t understand, and I really don’t feel like talking about it anymore.” On the ground outside, she spotted a motorcycle coming down the road. Even before it was close enough for her to see clearly, she knew it was Skid. Mina had been keeping track of his comings and goings ever since she’d found out she was pregnant, and he’d left earlier to do some errands for Park. It seemed ironic to her that Skid treated Park almost like a father figure, when Park had no idea just how true that idea really was.
“Fine.” Her father put his hands on his knees and stood up, watching her carefully. “I guess I don’t really feel like talking about it, either. It’s frustrating to know that you can’t come to me with your problems anymore.”
Mina swiveled to face him, her cheeks flushing with anger. “You have no room to talk to me about those sorts of things. I didn’t see you skipping up the stairs to my room to ask me if I was pregnant before you went and announced it to the whole damn club. I guess my business is really just their business, isn’t it? I’m not your daughter or even a member of your precious gang. I’m just some strange creature you keep as a pet.” Tears sprang to her eyes, pissing her off even more. She cried at everything now, and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t a weak woman, and she didn’t feel it suited her case to appear that way. “You want me to be honest with you, but you don’t care about me enough to do the same.”
“You know that’s not the case.” His words had grown a little higher, and his voice threatened to rise into a yell. “I protect you because you’re my daughter and you mean the world to me. You’re all I have left anymore. And yes, your business is club business. You should feel privileged that you have so many men who are willing to look after your interests. Most girls are lucky to have just one.”
“Yes, they are lucky,” she retorted. “They don’t have dozens of men looking over their shoulders and wondering what they did and with who. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to know I’m the only thing people are talking about? They’re doing it behind my back, but I still know. I think you’ve helped me enough, Dad. I can take care of myself, and it’s about time you realized that.”
Park’s mouth tightened, threatening to turn this into a real argument, but he stomped out the door and closed it firmly behind him. He had yet to try to confine her to her room, a juvenile punishment that she had thoroughly expected from him. But he had already made things incredibly hard on her just by being who he was. She couldn’t go anywhere without someone supervising her, and everyone watched her so closely that she felt like the star of a freak show.
Still, she knew how to have her fun, even if she was stuck at the clubhouse for the moment. She stripped off her T-shirt and threw it on the bed, followed by the plain cotton bra she had put on that morning. Sifting through her drawer, she came up with a black leather number that had once been part of a Halloween costume which had enraged her father. Little more than a few scraps of leather sewn together, it just barely covered her ample breasts and left plenty of her midriff exposed. Her jeans were quickly swapped out for black pants that came up just high enough to cover the tiny evidence of her pregnancy, and these were paired with black boots. Swiping on some purple eyeshadow and mascara, she gave her hair experimental fluff before heading down the stairs.
Skid had said they had to stay away from each other, and she was doing that. She had only spoken to him when it would have seemed rude not to, and she tried to keep her eyes from sliding across the room to look at him.
But even if she couldn’t pay him any attention, that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to grab his. This sexy little outfit was only one of many she had donned since their little meeting at Lake Michigan, and she knew he had noticed. How could he not? It wasn’t every day that the president’s daughter marched around the clubhouse in a tight T-shirt with no bra, or denim shorts so short they could have been underwear. Mina rubbed lotion into her skin until it glowed, and she never left her room without makeup. A casual toss of her hair as she picked up the television remote or a wink across the room as she made herself a sandwich, and she knew she had Skid right where she wanted him.
She made it downstairs to the living room just before Skid did, but she could hear his bike pulling into the garage. Taking advantage of her opportunity, she parked herself on the couch right next to Grill. “Hey there, handsome.”
Grill looked at her briefly before scooting away from her by only a fraction of an inch. He was trying not to be rude, she knew, but being so close to Mina would make any of the guys feel uncomfortable. Nobody wanted to be blamed for her current condition. His face reddened. “H-Hey, Mina. How are you?”
She gave a flirty little laugh just as Skid walked in from the garage. “I’m wonderful, and I think I would be even more wonderful if you would take me for a little ride on your bike. It’s been such a long time since I got to throw my leg over that big machine of yours.” Mina tipped her head down and looked at him through her long lashes.
“Oh, uh, I can’t today. I have things I’ve gotta do.” He took a sip from the can of soda in his hand and tried to keep his eyes focused on the television. “Maybe some other time.”
Mina leaned forward, letting her breasts press against his upper arm. “You won’t keep me waiting too long, will you? I’m so bored, and I need someone to … entertain me.” She gave another laugh that pealed like a bell through the room. She knew everyone was watching them, and Skid was, too. At least she hoped so, or this whole thing was pointless. Grill was a nice enough guy, and he wasn’t exactly ugly, but he wasn’t her type. He was too nice, and he wasn’t even a very prominent member of the club. His status, though, made him all the more perfect to flirt with. Surely Skid would be more angered by her having a possible relationship with a lower member.
“I, um, I didn’t think you were supposed to leave. I mean, it’s not my business, but that’s what I was told. And I, uh, I don’t want to do the wrong thing.” He pressed his arm against his side, trying to get away from her.
“Oh, but my daddy trusts you. I’m sure he’d let me go out with you, just for a little while. I could be on the back of your bike, my arms around you, pressed against your body …”
Grill cleared his throat a few times, and now his neck had flushed as well. “You know, uh, I just remembered that I have a phone call to make. It’s my grandma’s birthday, yeah, and she’ll be really mad at me if I don’t call her to tell her happy birthday. I’m sure you understand, Mina.” He extracted himself from underneath her and hightailed it out of the living room.
She laughed, thrilled that she could make someone so uncomfortable. Mina might not have any power when it came to her father or what happened in the club, but she could still assert her power elsewhere. She was a woman, first and foremost.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Skid heading for the staircase. He could try to avoid her by slipping up to his room, but her room was upstairs as well. There was no reason she couldn’t be doing the same thing. Of course, if she had her way, she would be in his room instead of hers.
The stairwell was dark, with spots of bright lighting from the distant ceiling. She trotted up the first set like it was nothing, her excitement over the incident with Grill making her forget for a moment that she was pregnant. There was no sign of Skid on the stairs. He must have made quick work of his ascent and been well on his way to his room, but that served Mina just fine. She could get him right where she wanted him.
Just as she hit the landing and turned to head up the next staircase, a figure appeared out of the shadows. It grabbed her and pressed her against the wall, leaning close so that his breath was hot on her neck. “Mina, you’ve got to stop this.”
She recognized Skid’s voice easily, and her muscles instantly relaxed. She leaned her body languidly against the exposed brick wall, wondering if he could appreciate the efforts she had gone to for him in the dim light. “Well, hello.”
He shook his head. “Don’t flirt with me.”
“Why not? You’re the one grabbing me in a stairwell.” Mina batted her eyes at him. “I don’t think a man does that unless he at least expects to be flirted with, or maybe a little bit more.” She picked up her leg and wrapped it around his, running her thigh against his flank suggestively. “I admit that this isn’t the most romantic place I could have envisioned, but I think I can make it work.”
With a strong hand, he forced her leg back down. “Mina, knock it off. I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work.”
“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who pinned me to the wall. I can’t say that I mind, though. I wouldn’t mind a little roughness now and then. Go on. Manhandle me. See how it feels.” She pushed her body forward so that they were even closer, challenging him to resist her.
Skid pressed his lips together and took a step back. “I mean it. I know what you’re doing. You think you can seduce me. That might work if you were just being yourself, but this isn’t you, Mina.”
“What do you mean?” She stuck out her lower lip, pouting at him. “I’m not doing anything different than I normally do.”
“Right. Because you always dress like that, and you always flirt with any member of Satan’s Legion who happens to walk through the door. You forget that I’ve known you for a long time. You have your own style, your own character, but you aren’t the ridiculous flirt.” His teeth were set and his tone was harsh. He was pissed.
“Maybe I’m not, but I don’t see why you care.” Mina was hurt that her scheme wasn’t working. She had gotten his attention, yes, but not in the way she wanted. She had hoped he would pull her aside and ravish her, tell her there was no point in trying to hide their relationship and what they had done, and insist that they be together. Apparently, her efforts hadn’t been good enough. “You don’t want me, so I don’t see why it matters to you if I flirt with someone else.”
“Don’t you dare say I don’t want you!” He kissed her hard on the mouth, asserting his domination over her with nothing more than the movements of his tongue and lips.
She eagerly submitted, tipping her head back and letting him in. Her hands roved up his hard, flat abdomen and around to his back, gliding over the strong muscles of his shoulders. She’d grown up around tons of men, and she knew there were times that she could have had anyone she wanted. But Skid had always been the only one that made her feel this way, like her very soul was on fire. Mina needed him, and she wanted him to understand that he needed her just as badly.
But he broke off the kiss quickly, just as he had done at the lake. “All right, you got me on that one. But this can’t happen again. Don’t bother trying to make me jealous. You’re just making the rest of the guys uncomfortable.”
“What? They don’t want someone flirting with them or hanging on their arm? I guess it’s time to get rid of the club girls, then.” She gave him a catlike smile, pleased with her logic.
“The club girls are something completely different, and you know it. They’re just women who are here to keep the members happy, but they don’t mean anything to anybody. You’re different ,and you always have been. Besides, everyone is terrified they’ll be accused of fathering your child. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Grill move as quickly as he did today.” He laughed a little at that one, but quickly sobered up. “Seriously, Mina. You’re only hurting yourself by doing this. You don’t need your father to be paying any more attention to you then he already is.”
“Well, I need attention from somewhere.” She ran a finger down his arm but dropped her hand to her side. She knew it wasn’t going to do any good. When Skid was resolved, there was no way of making him budge. It was something she had admired in him before.
Skid wasn’t listening anymore. He turned his head to the side and stepped away from her. “Someone’s coming. Do this for me, Mina.” He trotted up the stairs to the third story.
Mina watched his sexy ass in his tight jeans until he went through the door at the top of the stairs. She waited a moment, staring at the space where he had been, before she finally trudged up the stairs herself. She wouldn’t follow him this time.