King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(49)

“You shouldn’t have come here, King,” Bethany said to me through her screen door an hour later.

I’d left Ivy and taken my sweet fucking time coming here. It was unlike me to hesitate to do the shit I needed to do, but just thinking about this woman threw up all kinds of red flags.

I squared my shoulders. “We need to talk about Ivy.”

“What about her?”

“Fuck, Bethany, what the fuck do you mean, what about her? You say that like you don’t even fucking care about her—”

Her lips pursed. “I’m not interested in standing here listening to you swear. If you have something to say, say it, but do not use that language with me.”

If her appearance was anything to go by, the years hadn’t been kind. She stood hunched over, her frail hand gripping the door to steady her. Lines wrinkled her face, grey hair sat in a mess of a bun on her head, and breaths wheezed out of her. Mostly, though, she looked defeated by life. And the way her face pinched, she appeared to be full of resentment and bitterness.

“Open the door and let me in,” I demanded. “Your daughter needs you, so you need to hear me out.”

She debated about allowing me in for another good minute before finally unlocking the door and swinging it open.

I entered the house and walked into the kitchen, doing my best to ignore the onslaught of memories. Fuck, they were like a hundred motherfuckers coming at me all at once. Fucking stabbing me all over.

“Tony Romano is dead,” I said, facing her.

I would have expected a reaction to that statement, but all she gave me was an arch of her eyebrows.

Fucking stunned, I said, “That’s all you have to say when I tell you your daughter’s husband is dead? You’re a fucking piece of work, Bethany.”

“Watch your mouth,” she snapped.

“You care more about a fuck coming out of my mouth than the fact your daughter is alone in this world?” This woman made my fucking blood boil, and I regretted coming here. Ivy was better off without her.

“I care more about being subjected to your presence than the words out of your mouth. As for Ivy, she made her bed years ago. In fact, she made it the first time with you, and I should have known she was incapable of making better decisions, but I fell under her spell again for a while there.”

“You fell under her spell? What the hell does that mean? She’s your child for fuck’s sake. What kind of parent talks about their children like that?” Fucking hell.

Her displeasure plastered itself over her face, but I ignored it. I didn’t give a flying fuck if I upset her. “She’s not my blood. I tried to help her, and look what I got in return—nothing but heartache.”

My breaths came harder. Heavier. They carried my fury as I let loose on her. “There’s a reason you weren’t blessed with children of your own. Heartache is part of love, and when you choose to bring a child into your life, you choose all the things that go with love. You can’t fucking have love without pain. As a parent, it’s your job to teach your child how to deal with both so that they can go out into the world and stand on their own two feet and weather the fucking storm of love. If you weren’t ready for that job or to accept that sometimes those you love will tear pieces of your heart out, you should never have taken Ivy in. Because the very word mother means unconditional fucking love. It means protection. It means safety. And while you knew how to make cookies and decorate a house so it looked like you were a mother, you never had a fucking clue how to give any of those things.”

My tirade angered her to the point where she finally gave me the kind of emotional response I felt this conversation deserved, but it wasn’t the response I’d hoped for. Pointing at the front door, she snarled, “You’ve said what you came for and now you can leave. And don’t ever come back here. You are never welcome here again.”

I had no intention of ever coming back here. I wasn’t sure why I thought this had been a good idea to begin with.

Anger and disappointment punched through me as I stalked out to my bike. Thank fuck I hadn’t told Ivy I was coming here. Bethany’s rejection would have killed her.



Thoughts of Bethany filled my mind for the rest of the day. As much as I tried, I couldn’t get her out of there. A headache settled in at lunchtime and intensified to the point where I wanted to rip my fucking head off by 6:00 p.m. I called Lily to let her know I wouldn’t be over tonight. Fuck knew I was in a mood, and she didn’t need to be subjected to it.

“Hey you,” she answered with a smile I could hear all the way over here. “I’ve just put dinner in the oven, and the best news of the day is that Linc took the kids, so we have the place to ourselves.”

Fuck.

“I can’t make it tonight.” I was a fucking bastard, but the choice was made for her, and as far as I was concerned, it was the right one.

She went silent for a beat. “What’s wrong, King? You sound off.”

I rubbed my temple. “It’s been a shit of a fucking day, and trust me, you do not need me there tonight.”

Silence again, and then softly—“Okay so while I get that, here’s something for you to consider. Maybe when you have a shit of a fucking day, coming to see me is exactly what you need. That’s what relationships are about, right? Sometimes you give, sometimes you take. Let me give tonight. And if all you want is to sit in front of the TV in silence, I’m good with that. We can just be tonight. We don’t have to do.”