Chapter Seven

Avon stared at the closed door of the child psychologist’s office. They had brought Matt to visit Dr. Luna, who’d squeezed them in last minute the next day. Robyn was busy ignoring him across the waiting room, like he hadn’t been buried balls deep in her less than twenty-four hours ago.

 

The woman was strange. He laced his fingers together, another wave of confusion coming over him. She was carrying his child and didn’t even want to tell him. Not that they knew each other super well, but damn. That stung. He teetered between excitement and anger. Part of him wanted to throw everything to the side and be there for her. Give her anything she needed or wanted, even if she claimed to want to go it alone.

 

The other part of him wanted to say fuck it and move along.

 

Avon was good at moving along. But when it came to this unborn baby… his unborn baby… well, now shit was different. He’d never knocked a girl up before, at least not to his knowledge. And no matter how good he was at being distant, a primal urge to protect was burbling inside him that felt like a hit out of left field.

 

Robyn thumbed through a magazine, glancing at him over the tops of the pages when she thought he wasn’t looking. She was definitely strange, but he liked it.

 

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He stared at her until she made eye contact with him, her cheeks red.

 

“What?”

 

“Have to force you to look at your baby daddy.”

 

She cleared her throat, lowering the magazine slightly. “Can you please not talk like that?”

 

“Like what?” He grinned.

 

“Like you’re actually planning on sticking around.”

 

Ouch. The smile fell from his face. “There’s no reason I wouldn’t.”

 

“Yeah, but there’s also no reason for you to stay either. I’m not trying to be disillusioned.”

 

Avon studied his knuckles. “You gonna give me a chance or what?”

 

Robyn was silent for a while. Avon glanced around the empty waiting room, catching the gaze of the receptionist behind a glass window. She jerked her eyes away. Avon always caught people’s eye, especially women. It was always for one of two reasons: he was a “big scary biker”, or a “big sexy biker”. He was used to drawing the attention. But now, he wished he could funnel that attention into convincing Robyn there was more to him than the biker part.

 

The door opened, and Dr. Luna stepped out, a bright smile on her warm, caramel-colored face. She introduced herself and asked the three of them to follow her inside. Matt trailed behind Avon, clutching the edge of Avon’s kutte. The chains connecting his wallet to his jeans jangled as he bumped into the side of the hallway as Matt got underfoot.

 

“Come on, buddy.” Avon guided Matt ahead of him, following Dr. Luna into the playroom. Dr. Luna encouraged him to sit at a small table with her and told Robyn and Avon to sit on the far side.

 

While Dr. Luna chattered with Matt, doing her psychologist thing, Avon turned back to Robyn. She watched Dr. Luna and Matt with a glassy look in her eyes.

 

“So? You never answered me.”

 

Robyn heaved a sigh, her gaze falling to her hands. She examined each nail in turn before shaking her head. “I don’t need help. But thanks.”

 

“This isn’t about help.” Avon made sure to keep his voice low. His gaze skated up the tan length of her legs to the hem of her jean shorts. Shorts that wouldn’t be fitting her soon. Shorts that were probably already bursting at the seams to keep her growing belly in. “This is about doing what’s right.”

 

Her nostrils flared like it was a challenge to keep her thoughts contained. She swallowed, fidgeting with the rings on her right hand. He propped his forearms against his knees, watching Dr. Luna speak in soothing tones to Matt for a while. Then he turned back to Robyn.

 

“So, what are your plans for when the baby comes?”

 

“Jesus, Avon.” Robyn crossed her legs, tugging at her T-shirt. “Can we not right now? I want to listen to this appointment.”

 

He clenched his jaw, turning his gaze back to Dr. Luna and Matt. She was right about that – he should be paying attention – but it was also a convenient out. He wouldn’t let her off the hook so easily.

 

He would let it lie for now, but not for long.

 

Matt’s appointment was fairly quiet. He didn’t interact above and beyond what Dr. Luna prodded out of him and stuck mostly to coloring when requested. By the end of the appointment, Dr. Luna approached them with a tight smile.

 

“Matt has experienced severe trauma,” she said in a low voice while Matt sorted crayons at the table. “I know that probably isn’t a surprise, based on what we know he went through, but the most important fact remains: he must be made to feel safe. Extra safe.”

 

Avon nodded, his eyes on Matt as his sandy-haired cousin plucked a blue crayon hesitantly, only to replace it with a green one. Anger made a slow pulse through his veins. Who knew what the boy had lived through? And the person who had put him through that deserved punishment.

 

A punishment Avon would personally bestow, even if it took him his entire life to track down who’d done it.

 

“I think our repeated sessions will eventually be fruitful,” Dr. Luna went on, “but consistency is key. And this might be a slow process. We just have to hang in there.”

 

Avon and Robyn shuffled out of the appointment later with forced smiles and plenty of encouragement to Matt. Robyn suggested a surprise trip to ‘Red Robin’ again, just because he’d done such a good job.

 

Avon pushed open the front door, the blinding midday sun assaulting him. He slid his sunglasses on, waiting for Robyn and Matt to catch up. Sunlight sizzled on the asphalt parking lot, making tar covered cracks melt in its wake.

 

Avon squeezed Matt’s shoulder as they waited for Robyn to open the car. “You okay to sit in the back alone?”

 

Matt nodded, offering a tiny smile. Avon opened the door for him, a surprise wave of emotion catching him, making his throat tight. Once Matt was buckled in, he shut the door and slid into the front seat. Robyn started the car, blasting the air conditioning while a shitty 90’s song played.

 

“Turn this off.” Avon snapped off the radio, knowing full well that his irritation had nothing to do with the radio and everything to do with Matt’s situation. The confusion ate at him: who would have targeted Matt? Was it a coincidence, or did it have something to do with the Chained Kings? With him being the president? How badly did they hurt him? The questions cycled endlessly, and he was tired of not knowing. He just wanted to end the son of a bitch’s life who’d done this to his little Matty, take their life with his own bare hands.

 

“What’s gotten into you?” Robyn’s voice was soft. He scrubbed his face with his hands, like this might help erase some of the tension or at least keep the unanswerable questions at bay.

 

“I just can’t stand this.” He squeezed his fists together, trying to keep the swell of anger at bay before it turned into something ugly. He knew his own temper well enough, but this was a different sort of anger. This was the type that could break bones and leave him with a worse record. The type that needed to be squashed for now until it could be let out at the right time. “I’m going to find whoever was behind this. I don’t care how long it fucking takes.”

 

The blinker clicked softly as Robyn waited at the parking lot exit to turn into traffic. Her face reflected the worry and pain that circled inside him. If she was feeling even a fraction of what was going on inside him, then she was in the right profession. Caring for the kids she helped. He was sure some social workers would not give a damn.

 

“I wish all kids had someone that would fight for them like you do for Matt,” she murmured. Tears shone in her eyes, but she blinked them back.

 

He raked his hand through his hair, studying the greenery of summer as she drove away.

 

“Is that why you became a social worker?” He needed to divert – if he had any hope of calming this anger. “So you could fight for the underdogs?”

 

She shrugged, wisps of blonde hair fluttering along the side of her face. “Yeah. Everyone needs someone in their corner, you know? I’ve just always been called to help.”

 

“But why kids?”

 

“Because not all kids have a voice,” she said, easing the car into a turn lane. Her sharp blue eyes met his, and for a moment he felt rooted in place, like she’d both hugged him and slapped him across the knuckles at the same time. “It’s important to help those who are the weakest.”

 

He let her words turn over inside him, watching as she squeezed those pretty hands around the steering wheel again.

 

If she was impressed by how he fought for Matt, then she had no idea how hard he would fight for his own kid. She was crazy if she thought he’d let this one go.

 

All Avon had to do was bide his time.

 

Make her see that he wasn’t half the deadbeat she had him pegged for.