Whisky State of Mind (4 page)

“No, no. It’s fine, really. I just have to get to work. I’m running late…again…and my boss is a bit of a jerk…thank you again for the coffee.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you again tomorrow,” he said.

She managed a weak smile.
Not likely.
God she was going to miss him. She didn’t even know his name—her perfect, beautiful, mystery man who smelt like a night of hot sex and coconut oil…okay, maybe she was imagining that bit…she didn’t even remember what hot sex
felt
like, let alone
smelt
like!

He was a cop.  She almost whimpered at the injustice of it all.

The cop and the biker’s daughter...it had Greek tragedy written all over it.

****

Sky pulled out her phone and madly swiped her fingers across the screen. Bella would probably be busy with meetings and other fashion guru stuff by now so she didn’t want to risk a phone call. She’d have to do the next best thing.

Sky: OMG, dude…I spoke to Mr
. Mysterious!

She shook her head and gave a small groan. She could
not
believe she snorted coffee through her nose in front of
him
of all people!

Bella: What?! Spill. Now!!

Sky: I made a complete idiot of myself! Dude, he’s a cop!

Bella: A cop?
Holy crap! Does he look sexy in uniform?

Sky: No uniform…he’s a Detective!!

Bella: No shit?

Sky: DID YOU HAPPEN TO MISS THE PART WHERE I MENTIONED I MADE A COMPLETE IDIOT OF MYSELF?!

Bella: There’s no need for shouty capitals. Calm down woman. What did you do? Surely you’re overreacting.

SKY: I SNORTED COFFEE OUT MY NOSE. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE I’M OVERREACTING?????

Sky glared at the phone as she stopped to rest against the front wall of the store next door to the diner. She needed a moment to pull herself together before she went in there this morning
. I will not stab Sparkles with an eating implement today. I will not stab Sparkles with an eating implement today.
The phone blasting out “Barbie Girl” snapped her out of her mantra. “I thought you were in a meeting?”

“I was. I made up an excuse to leave. Shouty capitals are serious. Dude, what
’s going on?”

“He bought me a coffee.”

“Oh my God! So what happened?”

“He sprang that he was a cop on me. It caught me off guard and I covered him in coffee and snot. Kill me now,” she groaned, close to mortified tears.

“Come on, if he’s a cop chances are he’s been covered in worse than that before,” Bella soothed helpfully.

“I blew it. I won’t ever see him again.”

“You can’t let this put you off. Come on, this is a major breakthrough. He ordered you a
coffee!”

“And then
wore
it. He must think I’m a complete a moron.”

“I bet he laughs it off.”

“He was kinda’ worried that I thought he was some kind of stalker,” Sky hedged, for the first time able to get past the coffee-through-the-nose part.

“There you go. See
?”

“But I don’t think I can face him tomorrow.”

“Maybe give it a day or so, I’m sure he’ll have forgotten all about it by then,” Bella suggested, giving Sky her first glimmer of hope all morning. “I’ve gotta’ go, it’ll be okay. I promise. He bought you coffee! That’s huge.”

It
was
kinda’ huge, she had to admit and felt a smile tug at her lips. Okay, maybe she’d slightly overreacted. People snort coffee through their nose all the time…it was no big deal…
right?

****

As she walked home that evening her phone beeped and she reached into her bag to retrieve it. Frowning, she stared at a number on the screen she didn’t recognize and wondered who it belonged to. “Hello?”

“Do you always walk home alone at this hour?”

Her heartbeat skid to a halt as she recognized the voice. “How did you get my number?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” he hedged.

“And you didn’t answer mine.” She stopped and turned around on the pavement glancing up and down the quiet street.
How did he know she was walking home alone?
Then she spotted him. There he was, large as life, sitting on his bike, looking all tough and shit, talking on his phone as he watched her.

Who did he think he was?
She snapped the phone shut and stormed across the road. “What do you think you’re doing? It’s
illegal
to stalk people.”

He put his phone away and leaned forward so that his arms dangled loosely over the front handlebars. “I was making sure you got home safely.”

“Well stop it. I didn’t ask you to play guard dog. Go away.”

“We’re not finished talking. I had to wait until you weren’t working.”

“I’ve finished talking. My father doesn’t get to order me around anymore—he gave up that right ten years ago when he gave me away like an unwanted pet.”

“When did you turn into such a selfish brat?”

“When did you turn into a mobster thug?”

“Mobster?” he chuckled…
Chuckled!

“I don’t want anything to do with the club or any of its business. I’m happy doing what I’m doing with no one to answer to, so you’re wasting your time. Whatever my father wants with me—tell him to forget about it. I’m not getting mixed up in any of his crap.”

“The club’s clean. Has been for a long time now.”

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed.

“It’s true. He was already cleaning up his act before he went to prison. He didn’t want to lead that kind of life around you anymore.”

“Well it wasn’t
soon enough, was it?”

“He’s not the monster you’re making him out to be.”

“No, he’s not a monster. He’s just a man,” she said sadly before turning away. And that was the problem. All her life her father had been this larger-than-life hero. She loved him, worshiped him and then in a blink of an eye she’d had all her illusions stripped away and she’d caught a glimpse of the man behind the curtain…he wasn’t the great wizard of Oz…he was just a man. A man who made human mistakes—but mistakes that hurt those he loved.

“He needs you, Whisk. Just give him a chance.”

Sky stared at the big man straddling his bike and felt a wave of old hurt rising to the surface. “I
needed
him. Once. Not anymore.” She turned and walked away, fighting the memories of how utterly alone and abandoned she’d felt the day her father had walked away from her all those years ago.

Why now?
Why did he have to come back into her life now, just when she’d been finally getting herself together?

****

Sawyer watched her walk away and felt as though he’d been crash tackled. The air in his lungs had been stolen at the gut-wrenching agony he saw in her eyes as she’d answered him. He’d known it wasn’t going to be easy to approach her again after all this time, but he hadn’t expected that unguarded raw emotion to have such a huge effect on him.

He’d tried to tell himself he needed to be professional and do what he had to do to get her to meet with her father. He hadn’t entirely ruled out force if it came to that, but he’d prefer to get her to agree to come along peacefully. However after witnessing what he just had—he
realized that there was a hell of a lot more going on beneath the surface here and he really wasn’t comfortable getting mixed up in Johnny’s personal life to this extent. But he owed the guy.

If it hadn’t been for the gruff old biker—Sawyer’s life would have turned out very different. For sure, he would have done time in prison if he’d continued down the line he’d been heading as a disillusioned teen after his father had died if Johnny hadn’t pulled him into line—literally.

If Johnny wanted his daughter brought home—then that’s what Sawyer would do…one way or another.

Chapter
4

Sky was wiping down a table,daydreaming about an alternate universe where her tight-ass boss decided to send her home early because it was so quiet…with full pay of course, when she heard the doorbell ring signaling a new customer, quickly followed by a rather startled and loud gas
p
fro
m
Sparkles.

Sky turned then paused, slowly straightening as she took in the three men heading toward her. No wonder they’d given Sparkles a near heart attack—they looked more than a little formidable dressed in their leather jackets and faded, ripped jeans. Her attention shifted from Sawyer to the two men who flanked him and felt a lump of emotion lodge in her chest. They looked older than she remembered. Dog’s salt and pepper,
gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail, whereas Brick’s almost white hair was left hanging loose, a bright red bandana tied around his head to keep it off his face.

“Hey there darlin’,” Brick said quietly as the three men came to a stop before her.

Sky opened her mouth to reply but found she’d lost her voice…or mind…
or both
. Suddenly there they were—two of the gentlest giants known to mankind who had been such an important part of her childhood
.

She hadn’t expected to come face to face with this part of her past.  A small smile tugged at her mouth as she remembered them both seated awkwardly at her small table on child-size chairs sharing a tea party with her. Friends from school never came over for a play date. Apparently there was something about dropping a five
-year-old at the front gate of a motorcycle club house that turned off most of the parents of kids in her class.

She didn’t mind so much though, not when she had more than enough victims to invite to tea from the thirty
- or forty-odd members of the Black Mustangs. It proved that no matter how tough a man thought he was—when a five-year-old hands you an empty teacup—you pretended to drink!

Blinking back surprised tears, she was grateful she didn’t have to speak—Brick simply pulled her to him and awkwardly patted her back. “We’ve missed you, sweet thing,” he said in his deep
, gruff voice.

Before she could recover from that, she was passed into Dog’s embrace and there was no hope of stemming the flow of hot tears that streamed down her face. Distracted as she tried to wipe at the tears, she didn’t realize she’d been passed on to yet another set of arms until she
realized the chest beneath her cheek was a lot firmer…and the hands were not uncle-like on her waist, but slung low across her hips. Pushing away and looking up she saw the light of humor in the two eyes that stared down at her, smugly.

Bastard.

Straightening her back, she glared at Sawyer scornfully, which only made him chuckle but he took the hint and stepped back to take a seat in the booth she’d just finished wiping down.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked
, finally finding her tongue even though she had a fair idea, now the initial shock had worn off.

“We came to ask you a favor,” Dog said
, easing his big frame down into the booth a lot slower than he once would have.

“I can’t
believe
you stooped so low as to get these two to do your dirty work,” she said, sending a glare across at Sawyer, who simply shrugged his shoulders and reached for a menu.

“Darlin,” Dog cut in, “we get that you’re hurt and a little angry at your dad…but he needs you right now…we
all
need you.”

Damn it to hell.
She felt her resolve weakening and scrambled to gather it back up around her like a cloak. She couldn’t cave on this. How could she simply wipe ten years of heartache just because two old bikers who once used to let her braid their hair and put makeup on them asked her too? A long sigh escaped and she knew that she’d never be able to deny them.

As she lifted her gaze and encountered Sawyer’s satisfied grin, she narrowed her gaze and made a silent vow. He may have thought he’d won the battle…maybe he had this time, but
no one
could make her simply forgive and forget her father’s betrayal—not even these two loveable rouges across from her. After all, they hadn’t sent her away from the only family she’d ever known…that had been all on her father and she was not going to be the pushover she’d been here today where he was concerned. She’d go and see him—but if he thought all it took to wipe away all that hurt was a summons, after a decade of no contact at all, he was about to get a very rude shock.

“Who are those men?” Sparkles demanded when Sky came to the counter to make their orders up.

“Old friends,” she said in a clipped tone that she hoped relayed that she had no intention of saying any more than that.

“I’ve got the police number on speed dial—if they’re not gone as soon as they finish their drinks—I’ll call them.”

“They’re not going to cause trouble, Spark—” She stopped and cleared her throat quickly, “Mr. Glitter. They’re good guys.”