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Do I get a reward for being right and does it involve Monroe riding my dick?
With Monroe’s secret out, my uncle takes the conversation to a private side room. Skipping an invitation, I follow Lowell, Topanga, Monroe, Bronco, and Anders inside. There is zero reason for the last two to join the party. Bronco just wants gossip, and Anders follows his president everywhere. At least, I have some stake in what happens next.
Wearing her Rooster’s work uniform—a tight, black T-shirt, too-short shorts, and black heels she can’t quite get the hang of—Monroe stands full of awkward energy in the corner. Topanga sizes up the younger woman while Lowell looks unconvinced.
“Who was your mother?” Bronco asks after everyone stands silently as if waiting for a bus.
“She was a bunny,” Monroe says, shifting from foot to foot. “That’s what she said. I’m not sure.”
“What was her name?” Bronco asks, suspicious now.
Monroe looks to me as if I might help her, but I don’t know the answers to these questions.
“You’re scaring her,” Topanga says, suddenly Monroe’s best friend despite the still-blazing red mark on the younger woman’s face.
Bronco crosses his arms and frowns. “I’m asking a simple question.”
After a long pause, Monroe looks at me for reassurance before saying, “Needy Hobbs.”
“That’s a terrible name,” Topanga immediately declares, despite her name being Topanga. “Did her parents not want her?”
Monroe’s dark eyes flash with anger she normally hides better. “They were chronic drunks with possible brain damage, so I think maybe her name was a joke. Her sister is Immee. As in ‘I’m Me.’ So, no, they probably didn’t want them.”
“Poor thing. And she was impregnated by a biker who dismissed her into the world.”
Lowell gives his wife an annoyed frown. “Wait, how am I the bad guy?”
“Do you remember someone named Needy?” I ask, wanting to offer Monroe her answers rather than amp up the drama.
“Yeah, we all knew Needy,” Bronco says, giving his vice president a taunting smirk. “She did that thing with the lime.”
“Did what now?” Topanga asks, losing her plastic smile. “Is this a trick that Lana and I can learn?”
Hearing his wife’s name, Bronco loses his smile. “Behave.”
“You say that word all the time,” Topanga says, batting her eyes, “but I don’t think it means what you think it does, Bronco Parrish.”
“Can we focus?” Lowell asks, exhaling roughly. He focuses his dark eyes on Monroe and asks, “Why me? Needy was a bunny. She did what bunnies do. Well, you know. You’re a bunny, too.”
Topanga, Lowell, and Bronco frown in sync. I think they just caught up with how Monroe could have been plowed by most of the guys in this club if I hadn’t called dibs.
“Yeah, you’re not doing that anymore,” Topanga says.
Lowell reaches for his wife as if hoping to rein her in. “I still don’t know how she’s sure it was me.”
“Did your mom lie a lot, baby?” Topanga asks, giving Monroe a sympathetic pout.
“Rarely,” Monroe lies, revealing a defiant snarl at where this conversation is headed. My dick rightfully twitches in response to her lips’ reaction.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Bronco asks, serious now. “You’ve been hanging around for weeks.”
“I came here looking for Lowell but then chickened out,” Monroe says, refusing to look away from Bronco. She’s stuck between quiet defiance and childlike fear. “I planned out what I wanted to say, but the bar was busy, and a bunch of you came in together. I didn’t know who was who.”
“You poor thing,” Topanga says, but I sense she doubts Monroe’s story. “Where is Needy Hobbs now?”
“Missing,” Monroe says, revealing both her little snarl again and her tell when she lies.
Topanga frowns, seeming confused over whether or not to feel bad for Lowell’s maybe-daughter.
“Tomorrow,” Lowell says, getting his back up as he gestures for his wife, “we’ll take a test to find out what’s what. I mean, I knew Needy, but she was a bunny. I don’t know why she’d assume I was your dad rather than Bronco or one of the other men.”
Monroe refuses to look at Lowell, which is odd. She was ready to punch Topanga after the slap, and she didn’t mind eyeballing Bronco. But with Lowell, she falls into the submissive routine and lowers her gaze.
“What did Needy look like?” Topanga asks.
Monroe wakes up from her compliant vibe and whips out her phone to reveal a picture of her mom. I smile at how happy a brunette Monroe looks next to her beautiful blonde mother.
“This was her before she went away.”
“She has blue eyes,” Topanga says and looks back at Lowell. “And you both have brown eyes.”
“That means absolutely nothing,” Lowell grumbles as if his wife is nuts. “Bronco has brown eyes, too. Two of his daughters have brown eyes. She could be his.”
“No, she’s not,” Bronco says immediately, instigating a dark glare from Lowell. My uncle shrugs. “I can tell.”
Lowell shakes his head, digging into his position as the skeptic. “She doesn’t look like Dunning or me.”
“Your son,” Monroe mumbles, seeming tired now.
“He’s a wonderful boy,” Topanga gushes. “So handsome. He has brown eyes like his daddy, too.”
“No,” Lowell says, tugging his wife away from his maybe-daughter. “Look, Monroe, I’m not trying to be a dick, but you can’t expect me to welcome you into the family based on your mother’s word. First, Needy never said shit about you to me for two decades. Second, you’ve been here for weeks without mentioning anything. You only fessed up once Topanga attacked you.”
“A minor thing,” Topanga says, waving off his concerns. “I barely hit her.”
“We’ll get the test. If I’m your dad, then, yeah, that’s great,” he says, sounding as if he’ll pitch a fit if Monroe’s right. “If I’m not, we’ll run tests on the rest of the guys from back in the day. Hell, Wheels could have had another daughter, and Conor’s been hot for his sister for weeks.”
“Nope,” I say and provoke a hint of a smile out of Monroe.
“That’s not appropriate,” Topanga growls at Lowell. “Edit yourself.”
“It’s late. We’ll meet tomorrow and figure things out,” Lowell says, wrestling with his wife to force her out the door.
There’s a moment when I think he’ll look back and offer Monroe a reassuring glance. Instead, he’s out the door, more focused on corralling his wife than soothing his maybe-daughter.
Bronco doesn’t follow immediately. He’s considering hitting up Monroe for more details. I also suspect he’s worried she might be his. I think that’s why he looks at her for a long minute. Monroe doesn’t believe he’s her dad. That’s why she fearlessly holds his gaze. I learn a lot about Monroe right then, understanding her past and seeing through at least one of her lies.
No way is there an abusive ex-boyfriend hunting for her. Women who get smacked around don’t tend to be so brave around powerful men like Bronco. Monroe knows what he is and how he can get rid of her. But she doesn’t bow. Monroe’s either naïve as fuck, or, more likely, Bronco isn’t the scariest man she’s met. Since the Scary Asshole Award winner didn’t break her, she assumes Bronco won’t, either.
No, she’s hiding from someone besides a slap-happy boyfriend. That’s a conversation for another day, though.
First, I watch Bronco and Anders leave the room. The former gives me a side-frown, likely wondering if I knew something that I chose not to share with him. Oh, Uncle, I know plenty of stuff! Of course, I learned long ago to keep my mouth shut until the time was right to speak up.
Bronco doesn’t shut the door behind him, letting the sound of Toby Keith filter into the room where Monroe and I still stand.
“Why did you come into the room with us?” Monroe asks, now challenging me with her unflinching gaze.
“I figured they might gang up on you.”
“Why don’t you ask me out if you want me?”
“I know you’re hiding behind a wall of lies. I’m worried the reality of you won’t live up to the fantasy I’ve created in my head.”
“You’re too honest,” she says, losing her confidence.
“Juggling lies only works for so long. Sooner or later, you’ll start dropping a few. Then, the rest is bound to hit the ground. Tonight, you lost control of one of them.”
Monroe gives me a pained look. “I thought of seducing you into bed and making a baby. Then, using our kid to manipulate you into protecting me. Wouldn’t that be a solid plan? You have no old lady to threaten me to leave town, and you’re an important guy. With your kid in me, you’d have no choice but to protect me.”
“Then, why did I remain unseduced?”
Monroe considers smiling at the idea of seducing me. Instead, she shrugs. “The kid would exist, and my troubles would become its troubles. I could love it as much as my mom loved me, but it wouldn’t wash off the bullshit it inherited from me,” she says and crosses her arms. “And I don’t know you. I have fantasies built up about what a great guy you are and how you called dibs on me because the universe whispered in your ear. And not because my fat lips made you think of blowjobs or that you wanted to tap my pussy before all your friends and family got a chance. So, I did the right thing by not seducing you, even if it wasn’t the smartest choice.”
Studying Monroe, I try to put myself in her place. Her earlier calm is slipping now. I see her get smaller as her gaze checks the door.
“I know you got a ride to work from Lisa Leigh, who doesn’t leave for a while. I’ll drive you home.”
“Why?”
“Getting to feel up my sexy body will help distract from your tough day.”
Monroe offers a small smile. Yet, on her face, I watch tonight’s reality hit her harder than Topanga’s hand. She walks past me and keeps moving until we’re in the parking lot. I take a moment to appreciate how she automatically knows my bike in a parking lot full of them. Nice to learn she wasn’t as oblivious to me as I sometimes sensed.
I slide on the bike and glance back at her. Monroe doesn’t join me with the ease of a woman accustomed to motorcycles. I add that little detail to the file in my head. One day, I plan to know everything about Monroe Hobbs, even if I have to pry the information out of her one fact at a time.
Once her arms wrap around my waist and her cheek rests against my back, I start the bike’s engine. Monroe doesn’t tense at the sound or tighten her grip. I take a minute to enjoy the feel of her against me. This moment’s been a long time coming. Too many nights, I had to talk myself out of offering her a ride that would end up with her on all fours in my bed.
Tonight, I pull the Harley out of the parking lot and drive on the quiet roads of the only home I’ve ever known.
A block from the Woodlands’ security entrance is the small apartment building housing the bunnies. I park my bike out front, not really in a spot. Who’s going to give me a ticket in Elko?
Monroe climbs off, and I sense immediately how the last sliver of her confidence is about gone for the night.
“You can’t take Lowell’s shit personally,” I say as we stand at the entrance to the four-story, sixteen-unit apartment complex. “He’s not used to feeling on the spot. Topanga’s drama didn’t help.”
“Why wouldn’t he be bummed to find out about me?” she asks as the corners of her luscious lips get stuck downward. “I mean, when Bronco’s kid showed up, it was a baby with a bunch of possibilities. Lowell gets stuck with a club slut with no real future. I’d be disappointed, too.”
“Monroe,” I say, slipping my fingers under her chin and lifting her face so she’ll look into my eyes, “I know tonight left you feeling like the bottom of a shoe. You’re probably assuming the worst, no matter what the blood test shows. You might even be wondering if you ought to bail on Elko before you get hurt or embarrassed more. But I need you to promise you’ll stick around.”
“He doesn’t want me to be his kid,” she says as tears threaten her brown eyes. “I mean, I knew he wouldn’t be excited, but I guess I didn’t really let myself imagine how crushed he’d be at finding out. I feel as if leaving would be best for everyone.”
“Fuck that,” I say in barely more than a whisper. “You have friends here. I know you’re tight with Amity. And I’m here. Do you have that anywhere else?”
Monroe’s broken expression falls more. I’m just rubbing salt into her open wound. Earlier, she claimed her mother was missing. I ought to be more careful with my words.
“Fuck Lowell,” I say as my fingers linger on her chin. “If he doesn’t want you, that sucks for your heart, but you’re owed shit. You have his blood in your veins. He doesn’t have to like a surprise kid from his past. But his daughter deserves to have certain things. Don’t let him weasel out of what you’re owed like your mother did.”
“She might be wrong about who my father is. She was a bunny.”
“Look, she got pregnant while living here. If you’re not Lowell’s, you’ve got to be the daughter of one of those guys.”
“What if I’m your sister?” she asks, getting a little fire back in her dark eyes.
“Then, I’ll have to break my no-incest rule.”
Grinning now, Monroe no longer looks ready to cry. “Needy kept a journal, and she swore that Lowell was the guy she slept with during the time she got pregnant.”
“Don’t leave Elko,” I say, stroking her pouting bottom lip. “No matter what happens with the blood test. Even if you’re crushed at learning your dad wasn’t who you thought, I’ll make sure you’re okay. No seducing or baby-making necessary.”
“Why?”
“Because the universe whispered in my ear.”
Monroe offers a tender, appreciative smile. “I won’t leave without telling you first.”
I consider kissing her, but Monroe’s too vulnerable right now. I need her to cream her panties over me rather than feel indebted to me.
So I keep my lips off hers. We have time. I fully trust Monroe won’t run off despite her hurt feelings over Lowell’s reaction. As long as I get what I want in the end, I can be endlessly patient.
