Bitter Sweet Beginnings Read Online Free Page B

the wafting smell of their culinary treats that I swore I would never eat again.

    ~*~

    NOW

    The front door is knocked upon again. I know Dana hears it. She knows I hear it. We’re having a battle of wills to see who will answer it.
    She invited them… I think she should be the one to let them in. If it were up to me, I’d shut the lights off, and hide in the bedroom until they came to the conclusion that no one was home and left.
    With the next knock, Dana finally gives up on me and turns into the instant hostess that mom would be proud to call her own. There is a masked awkwardness to the voices I hear. How could there not be? This situation is fucked up in more ways than one.
    The first official visit to the bastard daughter of the man they all hold in such high regard. A man they refuse to believe could do the things I’ve been told he had.
    The fact that I’d infiltrated them under false pretenses and tricked them all into the relationships we’d formed seems to not matter anymore… not since I’d saved that very same man from being taken from them.
    “Hi, Dana,” a familiar voice greets my sister as she welcomes them. This voice is perhaps the most surprising of all that could cross my threshold today. “Thanks so much for arranging this.”
    Jean’s words are full of sincerity.
    Curiosity gets the best of me and I stand to face the wife of the man I had come here to seek retribution against only to save his life months later. Her casually-tight jeans and black top with perfectly blown-out hair and makeup are her signature style, and more than a stark contrast to my own mother’s usual dress although they are close in age.
    “Hiya, darlin’ ” she reaches for me and carefully hugs me close. I submit, but don’t exactly return the embrace. This doesn’t seem to bother her much as she holds me close.
    Her hands are careful to avoid my back and she’s more than considerate with the amount of pressure as she squeezes me one last time before releasing me.
    “How ya feeling, Charlie?” she asks.
    I force a smile. Thankfully I don’t have any time to answer this loaded question, as Lil’s is next to take hold of me.
    “She’s fine,” Lil’s answers for me. “She’s a tough cookie. It’s in her blood. She looks like shit right now, but… she’ll be fine.”
    Leave it to Lil’s to put it bluntly.
    Once my de facto best friend/sister-in-law is through with me the room falls silent. All eyes switch back and forth between me and the man before me.
    My brother.
    We stare at each other. His eyes are hard to read, just as I’ve been told over the years about my own eyes.
    I see his shoulder twitch as his body begins some sort of forward momentum and then stops short. I feel my own body beg to move in some way but fight against it to hold still.
    I can see Jean and Lil’s step back out of my periphery. Jay looks like his dad here, tall and broad like Vince. But the eyes… the eyes aren’t hardened like Vince’s yet.
    He clears his throat. “We’ve tried to see you for the last couple of days.”
    I shove my hands into my pocket like a nervous child. “I know. I—I just needed some time.”
    I can see him swallow hard. Men like this… they don’t show emotion easily. The big bad tough biker. He may not be in his element with his club around, but old habits die hard, I guess.
    He nods. “Did you have enough time?”
    Truthfully? No. But what good will it do to admit it?
    I shrug my shoulders. “Guess so,” I answer him.
    He inhales. I see his shoulders relax a bit. “Good.”
    He pulls me in, wrapping his arms around me. I’m taken off guard, but his demeanor and confidence in his action calms me. His grip is tight. I instinctually wrap my arms around his waist and return the hug.
    “You kids are gonna make me ruin my makeup,” Jean proclaims.
    Jay releases me, embarrassed at the attention our sibling reunion is causing. There’s not a dry eye in the place as I abashedly take stock of