Second Chance Love (Heaven Hill Book 6) (19 page)

“I don’t blame you,” she was quick to reassure him. “I can still have children and I want you to know it wasn’t your fault, but it was easily the saddest time in my life. I could have used my mom, but at the time she and I weren’t talking and I was devastated. I went to see your mom,” she whispered.

“Jesus Christ,” he sighed, his heart sinking. He imagined her as the young woman she had been walking up to his parent’s house, nervous, scared, and hurt—he knew they hadn’t greeted her with open arms, and it killed him. “How the hell did that go?”

“Not good. I finally understood why you were constantly at our house all the time,” she admitted ruefully.

“It wasn’t that they were assholes or didn’t love me.” Rooster ran his hand through his hair, struggling to find the words to make her understand. “They were just so strict, and there was only so much I could take of it. It was in me to rebel at a young age, and they couldn’t handle that. I hated for anyone to tell me what the fuck to do.” The irony of him becoming a cop always struck him as funny.

“They were older,” she tried to help him verbalize his feelings. She had been shocked to realize how much older they were than William and Lauren. Going to them had been a mistake, and she had often wondered if they were the ones who told William that she was pregnant.

“They were, and I shouldn’t have been such a piss ant, but I always felt like I was at a disadvantage with them. They didn’t have the capabilities to deal with a kid like me. I haven’t spoken to them in months and I think they like it that way.”

“I’m sure they miss you.” She rubbed his arm. It was her pain to know a father who didn’t love her, but it was his pain to have parents with no patience and understanding.

“I’m sure they do too, but they’re nearing seventy. I don’t want to worry them anymore than they already worry. I was the wrong kid born to the wrong set of parents.”

“I told your mom about me being pregnant. This was before William made me get the abortion, or course. I had some misguided notion that they would take me in and let me stay there until you got out of the camp. The only job I’d had to that point was for the club, and I thought if this came to light, William would either kick me out or kill me. I had no idea what
he
would do.
She
slapped me.” She could laugh about it now. “She told me I should be ashamed of myself for seducing a younger boy like you.”

He kissed her neck softly, nuzzling the side with his nose and spanning her stomach with his big hand. “If she only knew the truth, that I was the one seducing you out in the barn that used to be at the clubhouse. You were never a bad influence on me. I was a hell of a bad influence on you.”

“You were, but I was old enough to say no,” she argued. “I didn’t really want to, but I could have. I really should have.”

“The best thing you ever did was say yes to me, back then, and last night. There’s a reason we keep coming back to each other, Roni. There’s a reason that you and I haven’t found other people to love in all these years—we’re meant to be together. That’s all there is to it.”

She hoped that he was right, that this wasn’t going to backfire in their faces. “I hope so, I can’t stand to lose this again.”

He opened his mouth to say something to her, but his phone went off at his side. “I haven’t checked this thing since last night, I hope nothing’s happened.” Rooster reached over and grabbed the phone, squinting as he scrolled through.

“Do you have anything from Liam? What are they doing about Drew?” she asked, not wanting to look over his shoulder but wondering if he’d been informed.

“Looks like Tyler and Jagger are taking the run that had been planned for today, he’s got Steele taking care of the shop, and I need to go see him. They’re taking Drew to the doctor this afternoon.”

She sighed. “That means I need to go check in at the shop, Steele’s super smart when it comes to scientific things, but when it comes to everyday stuff—it’s not so great. It took me a week to set up the system I have now, and if he’s fucked it up, I’m not going to be happy. I hope he hasn’t let the place fall down around his ears,” she joked.

Rooster watched as she got up out of the bed and put on a robe before making her way into the bathroom to get ready to head to work. He wanted to stay here all day with her, but unfortunately they couldn’t do that. They both had places they had to go, things they had to take care of. He slowly got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom door. When she came out, he could smell the mint from her toothpaste. Pushing her up against the wall with his body, pinning her with his gaze, he searched her eyes. He was looking for the answers of his heart, and he hoped like hell he saw them there when this was all over.

“Promise me that we aren’t going to let other people’s shit get in the way of what we’re building here, promise me that,” he told her as he boxed her in.

“We won’t.” She swallowed roughly against the lump in her throat. “We’re going to make this work.”

He leaned down, owning her mouth with one of the steamiest kisses she’d ever had in her life before letting her go.

Dizzy, she leaned back against the wall as she watched him grab a towel and make his way to her bathroom. Life as she knew it had surely changed, and she wasn’t sure that she ever wanted it to go back to the way it had been. She liked this one, so much more.

Chapter Twenty-Three

O
n his way back to his own apartment, a text message had come through Rooster’s phone from Liam, telling him to meet him at the clubhouse ASAP. Rooster figured he wouldn’t be going into the school today, doing the job that he’d been doing for a couple weeks. It was a good thing, since he was doing the walk of shame and he was already incredibly late for the day.

The walk of shame. He was going to have to be honest and straight up with Liam about his relationship with Roni. This time, he wanted to do everything right, he didn’t want there to ever be any misunderstood feelings, any doubt of where his head was. This time it meant too much, and he was too old to let someone tell him how to live his life. He’d done enough of that over the years.

In record time, he’d gotten home, gotten changed, and was walking into the clubhouse.

“Where’s Liam?” Rooster asked Jessica, who sat at the huge table in the commons area, laptop and notes strewn everywhere.

“He’s in there.” She hooked her thumb to the room where the club normally had meetings. “Don’t think he’s in a great mood though, he took a bottle of alcohol back there with him.”

“Shit,” Rooster mumbled. “Thanks.”

He was hesitant as he made his way to the back. Liam wasn’t the type of guy to tie one on in the middle of the day just to do it. He had to be feeling bad. Rooster realized he was going to have to be careful where he stepped, an emotional Liam was a volatile Liam. He knocked on the door before walking in.

“Hey.”

Liam looked worse than he had imagined. “Hey, shut the door.”

Rooster did as he was told and then walked over to where his friend sat, pulled out a chair, and had a seat. The last time he’d been in this room had been when he’d told everybody about his and Roni’s relationship as teenagers—he couldn’t believe how long ago that felt, when in reality it hadn’t been that long. “How are you?”

“Gutted.” Liam leaned forward and took a drink from the shot glass that sat in front of him. “We’ve done shit we shouldn’t have done as a club. We’ve dealt drugs and put people in bad situations, but we always made sure not to mess with children. He’s a kid, Brandon, a kid.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. He’s really close to being the age we were when we made very adult decisions. He’s a lot older than you give him credit for, and he fucked up. He’s got to live up to that. We can’t coddle him just because we all think highly of him. That’s going to get him in situations he can’t get out of.” He was gentle in his delivery because he knew Liam was a hurting parent, but the mistake that they would all make was in letting Drew get away with this. He had problems, and they all needed to be addressed.

“But we weren’t adults,” Liam argued, shaking his head.

“We weren’t kids either. You and I both know that. We were drinkin’, smokin’, and fuckin’ just like the people we grew up around. He made a bad decision, and now he’s gonna have to pay the price. I guarantee you; him withdrawing is the worst feeling he is ever going to have.” Rooster reached over and grabbed the bottle, taking a drink from the open mouth. “Is that where he is right now?”

Liam nodded. “Ashley came over as soon as I called her and told her what’s going on,” he mentioned the doctor the club most of the time had on their payroll.

“Then why ain’t you with him?”

Liam looked his friend dead square in the eyes and swallowed roughly. “He didn’t want me there. He wanted his mom and Tyler, but not me. Do you know what a piece of shit that made me feel like? My son doesn’t want me there when he probably needs me the most.”

Suddenly it clicked in Rooster’s head what was going on with Liam. “You are not your dad. You are not William. Drew loves you and he respects you—he probably thinks that right now you don’t respect him and that you’re disappointed. You were the first person besides his mom to show him love. Chances are, he’s just as gutted as you, because he thinks you’re disappointed.”

“I am.” Liam blew out a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. “I am disappointed, but it’s at myself. I knew somethin’ was wrong, but I turned a blind eye to it. What if he woulda killed himself by accident? I wouldn’t be able to come back from that guilt.”

“Now you’re reaching.” Rooster had to get his friend out of his own head. This was a blow to all of them, but it wasn’t anyone’s fault besides Drew’s. He made the decision to do what he knew was wrong, even though it was obvious that he knew right from wrong.

Rooster got up and had a seat in the chair directly beside his friend. Leaning over, he put an arm around him, and a hand on his back. “You need to reel yourself back in. The worst case scenario didn’t happen with him. You can’t beat yourself up over it. You make changes, you watch him closer, you be in his shit a little more. Things happen. You love that kid.”

“That’s the thing, how could I not see it?”

He needed to bring his friend back around. “Do you see that the kid is dating Jasmine’s daughter, Charity?”

“What?”

“They are, they’re dating. They’re probably doing other things too. The shit I see at that school…” Rooster trailed off, shaking his head. “Anyway, my point is, he’s old enough now that you aren’t going to know everything he’s doing. In a few weeks he’ll be driving, as will Mandy. Do we
want
to know what they’re doing? Probably not, but it doesn’t make you a bad parent.”

“This is hard.” Liam slammed his hand down on the table. “When you care about your kid, it’s hard as hell.”

“And it’s not gonna get easier. They’re only gonna get older, and you’ve got Tatum.”

“Fuck, man, don’t remind me.”

Rooster didn’t know if now was the time, but he needed his friend. The friend of his childhood. “I don’t want to drop my shit on you, but I need somebody to talk to,” he started.

“Friendship isn’t a one-way street. We can drink together if we need to.” Liam motioned to the bottle.

Immediately, Rooster sat up a little straighter. “Did you know that Roni was pregnant with my baby when we went away?”

“What? No.” He shook his head, shock hitting him in the gut. Between her and Drew, this was a one-two punch of epic proportions. “I had no idea. What happened?”

“William made her get an abortion.” It was hard to push the words out of his mouth, hard to come clean with anyone, much less this person whose friendship had once meant so much.

“What an asshole. It doesn’t surprise me, but…shit. I actually kind of figured, just because of some things that have been said over the years, but I had hoped that he wasn’t that big of an asshole.”

“Nope, he really is that big of an asshole.”

Liam poured another shot and this time passed it over to Rooster. “Did she come clean with you?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed the amber liquid. “It about killed her to tell me. It about killed me to hear it. We were young, but I would have done what needed to be done. Even at seventeen I wanted to marry that girl.”