Flash
Instead of going back to my parents’, I parked on the street, then jogged across to Ace’s ho. Several of my dad’s club brothers lived close and it made life both easier and harder. Harder for us kids to have any kind of autonomy, but easier because our family was always within reach.
I rang the doorbell, and heard Tillie yell out, "I’ll get it."
Tillie was Ace and Cassidy’s daughter and she was a few years older than . She had two older brothers. Maverick, who was married to Hawk’s daughter, Lily, and Liam, who was currently spending a few months in London at the club Chapter there.
The door opened, and Tillie raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Jackass."
"Hey, Snotface."
She chuckled. "You need Dad? Liam’s still in London."
"You, actually," I said.
She cocked her head and frowned, then just as quickly, her eyes widened, and she waved in. "You found out Tate’s ho."
"Who is it?" Ace bellowed.
"Flash, Daddy," Tillie answered, and Ace appeared in the foyer.
"Hey, bud. You okay?"
I grinned, and we fist bumped. "Yeah, I’m good. Just needed to ask Tillie sothing."
Ace crossed his arms and Tillie settled her hands on his shoulders and pushed him backward. "Away with you."
"Till—"
"Dad, it’s Flash. Your services are not required."
Ace laughed, but gave a warning look before walking away.
Tillie grinned and led downstairs to their tricked-out basent. It was the place where a lot of us older kids hung out when we needed a break from the parents. They had a pool table, air hockey table, and huge flat screen television with the latest video gas. We walked into the family room and Tillie sat in an oversized recliner, while I sat facing her on the sofa.
"Talk to , Goose," she said.
"Actually, this is the part where you talk to ."
"About what?" she asked.
"Why the fuck Tate hates ."
"Oh, maybe it’s because she walked in on you ramming Madison Payne from behind."
I almost puked in my mouth. "She sure as shit did not."
"No?"
"No," I growled. "If she told you that, then she’s lying."
Tillie chuckled. "She didn’t tell that."
I relaxed.
"Hayden did," Tillie admitted.
"I swear to Christ, Tillie, never, at any ti, have I ramd Madison Payne from behind."
She raised an eyebrow. "From the front?"
"God, no."
She shrugged. "Bud, she told Hayden that she walked in on you fucking Madison, and Tate doesn’t lie, so were you, maybe, I don’t know, drunk?"
I scrubbed my hand over my face. "I have never been so drunk I didn’t rember shit."
"Well, I don’t know what to tell you. She was pretty wrecked by it."
"Jesus, why?"
"Are you serious?" Tillie asked.
I frowned. "I feel like that question’s a trap."
Tillie rolled her eyes. "That girl’s been in love with you since the day she t you."
"Bullshit."
She patted my face, a little harder than she probably needed to. "Sweet, sweet, stupid Parker."
"Hey," I snapped, leaning away from her.
"My job here is done," Tillie said, rising to her feet. "We never spoke. If Tate finds out Hayden told any of this, she will never forgive her sister and I don’t want that on my conscience."
"Wait, I need more information."
"Well, you’re not getting more information. You’re smarter than you look, buddy. Ti for you to figure so shit out."
Tillie walked out, and I dragged myself to my truck, my mind swirling with what felt like bees. None of this shit made sense. Tate had never given any indication she felt more for and that pissed off even more.
Jesus Christ, the woman had no right to keep that from .
Instead of going ho, I went back to my parents’, slamming the front door a little harder than I expected, and squeezed my eyes shut.
"Who the fuck slamd the door?" Dad bellowed.
"Sorry, Pops, it was ."
He appeared at the top of the stairs. "Garage."
I waited for him to descend the stairs, then followed him into the garage. "Your mom’s sick, bud, you know this, so there a reason you’re slammin’ the door hard enough to bring the house down?"
I sighed, walking over to his bike, and tapping the seat with my finger. "I think Tate’s in love with . Or she was."
"No shit."
I faced my father. "Seriously?"
Dad chuckled, crossing his arms. "I just lost a bet, Flash, thanks for that."
"What do you an?"
"Your mother insisted that you had no idea how Tate felt about you, and I was sure you knew but were waitin’ for her to express her undying love for you."
"What did you lose?"
He smiled slightly. "That’s not relevant."
"Yeah, your weird sex gas are best left unexplained."
My old bedroom shared a wall with my parents and the noises I heard, more than I cared to admit, were traumatizing enough that I’d moved out the second I could afford to.
"So, did Tate tell you how she felt?"
"No," I growled. "Tillie, by way of Hayden, did."
"And how do you feel about that?"
"No fuckin’ clue," I admitted.
Dad gave a sympathetic smile. "You’ve always been our quiet one, Flash. If it were Jamie in this situation, he’d have a slide show at the ready, complete with bullet points on every emotion he was experiencing, and at what ti he experienced said emotion. You’ve always been a bit harder to read. Your mom says you’re inscrutable to everyone but her."
I smirked. "That word of the day calendar seems to be working."
Dad chuckled. "Yeah. But she’s right about most things and it’s why she does the heavy-lifting with the emotional side of shit when it cos to you kids."
"Except Poppy," I pointed out.
Poppy was my big sister. She was actually my half-sister, but if anyone was ever caught saying that, Dad would box their ears. My mother had been a widow with a twelve-year-old daughter when she t my father and he’d officially adopted Poppy when they’d gotten married.
"Even Poppy," Dad admitted. "She cos to when she wants her dad to fix it, and to your mom with everything else."
"That’s because Mom’s... well... Mom."
"True." He closed the distance between us. "What did Tillie say?"
I filled him in on the conversation.
All of it.
"Did you fuck Madison?"
"No," I ground out.
"Then why would she think you did?"
"I don’t fuckin’ know, Dad."
"You think maybe you wanna find out?" Dad challenged.
"Not sure she’s ever gonna talk to again."
"Hatch, love?" The garage door opened, and Mom peeked her head in. "What’s going on?"
"Goddamn it, woman, get your sweet ass back into bed," Dad growled.
Mom pulled her robe tighter around her body and frowned. "I just ca down for a cup of tea and heard you two going at it out here. Now, what’s going on?"
"Flash has just discovered Tate’s in love with him."
Mom’s face softened and her lips ford into a slow smile. "So, I won."
"No," I snapped. "We are not going there."
Dad chuckled as he closed the distance between himself and my mother. "Yeah, you won. We’ll settle up when you’re feeling better. Now, back to bed."
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