I stare intently at Riggs, watching as he takes deep breaths through his nose and releases them through his mouth, mindlessly running his hand gently down Eric’s back.
“Riggs,” I start, not really knowing what to say. We never spoke much about his parents but I knew enough to know they were estranged. Riggs washed his hands of them long ago and never looked back. He took his own detour away from the lifestyle of the rich and famous and found what made him happy. He found the Satan’s Knights and then he found me. Still, watching him interact with the people who brought him into this world, the resentment he harbored toward them so evident, it made me want to peel back the multi-faceted layers of him and discover who he was before the MC, before the name Riggs, when he was simply Robert Montgomery.
“I’m going to put Eric down for his nap,” he says, snapping out of his trance as he walks off toward the baby’s room.
I stare after him a moment before turning around and groaning as my eyes scan the mess. I’m pretty sure I failed at making a good first impression on Riggs’ parents, I suppose we’re even now. After all, he did gag my mother the first time he met her.
Yeah, we were awesome at meeting the parents.
Chapter Fifteen
Staring down at my son, I brace my hands on the edge of the crib and watch him sleep peacefully, knowing he’s the only cure to the anger flooding my veins. It’s pretty much a mind fuck to think the one thing that calms me and brings me back to focus is my son. I was so scared to be a father and not just because I was the pimp daddy of the MC world but because I had no fucking idea what being a dad entailed. I don’t have memories with my father, and my mother’s a nagging witch who still tries to use me to keep up with appearances. They hired a fleet of nannies to raise me and when I was old enough to break free from them I fled like a nun running away from a whore house. If it wasn’t for my best friend Bones and his mother, who was our housekeeper, I wouldn’t know how to be a man.
“Don’t worry little guy, those vultures won’t get a chance to sink their claws in you,” I promise as I grit my teeth.
Fuck that.
I press a kiss to my son’s head before turning to leave him to his nap and face Kitten. Running my fingers through my hair, I let out a groan knowing I’m about to be interrogated by my favorite feline. I was in no mood to rehash my shitty childhood but I knew Lauren wouldn’t let that shit die. She’s a woman, asking questions came with the chromosome. I blame this shit on my dick, if I wasn’t horny, I wouldn’t have come home early, I would still be at the clubhouse. I never would’ve laid eyes on the two people I never wanted to see again as long as I lived.
Kitten is waiting for me in the living room nervously biting her lip and staring into space. She lifts her head when she hears me walk into the room and pushes her glasses further onto the bridge of her nose.
“Riggs—”
“Why would you let those people in here?” I interrupt.
She blinks, her big blue eyes narrow as she stares at me with confusion.
“They’re your parents,” she says incredulously.
“No, they’re not,” I insist, waving my hand between me and her. “You and me? We’re parents. Those two assholes don’t know the first thing about being parents. For fuck’s sake, you were there, you saw how that woman held our son. She held Eric like he carried the Ebola virus.”
“So maybe they’re different—”
“Different? God, Kitten, open your eyes,” I growl, losing my patience and my sanity, and losing it with the person who didn’t deserve this side of me. Still, I couldn’t help myself and unleashed the fury building inside my gut since the moment I stepped foot inside this apartment and saw my parents with my family.
“Baby,” she starts, closing the distance between us as she runs her hands down my arms, lacing our hands together. “My eyes were open and yes, your mother needs some work but your dad? I don’t know,” she shrugs. “He looked sincere. He looked at you and he looked at Eric…he cared.”
“Don’t you think for one moment those people came here with good intentions. They found out they have a grandkid, not too sure how the fuck that happened but whatever. Eric carries the Montgomery name, and that shit means a lot in my parents’ world. They look at me and then our kid and they don’t want him to turn out like me, they need someone to rule their fucking empire after they croak.”
I pull my hands away from Lauren’s and run them over my face in frustration.
“They figure they can mold him to be the perfect heir,” I continue, tearing my hands away from my face and pinning Lauren with a hard stare. “I don’t want them near Eric.”
“Riggs—” she starts.
“Lauren, it’s not up for discussion. I don’t want them near him or you for that matter.”
“So if they show up here again, then what? Slam the door in their face?”