"I'm sorry I think I got wax in my ears because I think I just heard you say that you're Blade's daughter Aria." Mathis said rubbing his ears.
I laughed and took his hand away from his ear and kissed his knuckles. "Yes you heard right. Blade is my father."
"That's why your mother hates bikers so much. Because of him?" Mathis asked me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
"Yes because she still hasn't gotten over how he left. She didn't like it and soon that dislike turned to bitterness to hate. I thought her being with Alanzo had gotten her over it because he's outside the law as well but I was wrong." I pushed myself more into Mathis wanting his warmth and protection.
"What happened last night Aria." Mathis wondered.
"What about last night?" Killer chimed in.
"Aria's phone was going off last night. Woke both of us up, when I turned to pull Aria in my arms she wasn't back in bed so I went to look for her. I found her at the bar with her head in her hands, she held back the tears until I pulled her into my arms. She broke down last night." Mathis explained Wrapping his arms tighter around me and kissed the top of my head.
"My mother called me last night drunk. Basically what she demanded I do is divorce Mathis." I felt Mathis pull back a little when I said that. I took a breath and continued, "I told her I wouldn't and that he wasn't like Blade but she wouldn't have it. My mother basically disowned me."
"Aria if being with me is causing this much tension then I can let you go." Mathis said hesitantly.
"No Mathis I'm not giving you up and you aren't giving me up. They're just have to deal with it damn it." I told them.
Being with Mathis has made me feel something I never thought I could feel. Loved. I know that my family loves me but with Mathis I have this unconditional love like I can do no wrong to him and that he won't leave me if something happens that he doesn't like. My mother is another story, she worked so hard that she was hardly ever home. I never saw her and I never saw Gabriel either. Gabriel had just started with the gang and he was working hard to find security within the gang that he too left me alone. Mathis is never going to leave me alone, that I know with just how he's acted with the two days of us getting married. I'm never letting Mathis go, he doesn't know it but he's my rock.
"So what happened?" Killer asked.
"What do you mean 'what happened'?" I asked Killer back.
"What happen to make your mother hate bikers?" Mathis reiterated.
"Oh that well it happened when I was eleven. Mom and Blade's problem started when I was ten, they were just fighting then. But when I turned eleven everything changed. It was the day of my eleventh birthday and I was busy getting ready while occupying Blade's time so he didn't fight with mom you know. I couldn't choose which dress to wear because I had so many at the time. I wanted to look like a princess because I was daddy's princess, Blade was sitting on my little twin bed just laughing at my antics.
"Suddenly Blade got a call on his phone and his entire demeanor changed, he went from my loving father to the biker you all know now. When he was done with his call I was holding up the finally two dresses to wear to the party, he chose the red dress I was holding on my right. I was glad because I figured to club would be coming to my party as well and red was one of the club colors.
"Blade got down on his knees in front of me and said 'baby girl grandma and grandpa have new present at their house but they can't come, so I'm going to get it for them and I'll be back soon. So put on your pretty dress and I'll be back soon.'
"I knew something was wrong so I placed the dress on my bed and walked quietly towards where my parents were at. I could already hear them yelling, I didn't know exactly what they were saying but their voices were rising. Finally I could hear them, my mother's voice grew louder 'don't you dare walk out that goddamn door. It's your daughter's birthday for godsake, the damn club can wait for one fucking day.'
"I couldn't hear anymore of their fighting, I ran towards my room and started crying and placed my hands over my ears so hard trying to drown out their fighting. Gabe came in just then he picked me up and placed me on his lap. He rocked back and forth trying to calm me down but as long as the yelling remained I still cried. Soon it got quiet in the house, I scrambled off Gabriel's lap and left my room. I searched all over the house but there was no sign of Blade, I heard my mom yelling but I didn't care. I opened the front door and there was no sign of Blade's motorcycle.
"My mom pulled me back inside and told Gabriel to help get me ready that the guest would be arriving soon. I didn't want to leave the front door. I was so confused then Blade had said he was going to get me my presents from grandma and grandpa but mom said it was club business. I was so convinced that Blade wouldn't lie to me so I let Gabriel help get me ready wearing the dress that Blade had chosen. So it was time for the party.
"I was greeting all my friends but looking at the door as well. I was watching for club members and Blade. I was so focused on waiting for them that I don't even remember my party. It was like I was on autopilot. About an hour to an hour and a half later the party ended but there was no sign of Blade or the club members all day. My little heart broke then, Blade had done something he promised me he would never do. He lied.
"I couldn't sleep at all that night. I was waiting up for Blade, it was maybe about midnight when I left my room to go to the living room. When I walked past my mom's room I heard her crying, I had no idea what was going on. I placed my body onto the living room couch and just wrapped myself up watching the front door. I stayed up all night waiting but Blade never came home. When Gabe came down stairs he saw me on the couch looking at the front door.
"'Aria were you down here all night?' I remember Gabriel asking me. I didn't take my eyes off the door, I nodded my head yes. Gabe sighed and gave me a kiss on the head before he went to make us food.
"'Aria what were you doing down here all night? Did you get any sleep?' Gabe asked me. And I remember the answer I gave him.
"'I was waiting for daddy to come. He lied to me. But daddy never came home. I watched the door all night. It never opened.'
"After that day we never heard from the club or Blade again even though we were only fifteen minutes from the clubhouse." I told them.
After I had told them the story of how my family had fallen apart I felt a lot better. Finally someone knew what I was dealing with. I've never heard Blade talk to me that way before but then again I hadn't seen my father since I was eleven. He ruined my party, he ruined my life. Well I wouldn't go that far but he ruined parts of my life. I would've understand if he had told me it was club business there was no need to lie. I curled myself practically onto Mathis' lap after I was through telling the story. I think they understood I need silence right now. There was so much going on that I needed to figure out. I knew my new life was going to be complicated but hell I didn't think it would be this complicated.
Sometimes I just wanted to curl up and hide. Life had never been easy for me but never did I expect life to get this fucking hard. I got married. I find I've got a long lost brother. I've found my father who walked out on my brother and I. And lost my mother because she doesn't approve of who I'm married too. I know my mother should just get over her shit and see her daughter being happy but she's too goddamn stubborn to do it. My thoughts are just a repeat from this morning and it's like I can't stop them. At all.
I still can't believe the club broke off contact with us. In fact I don't even know if my parents got a proper divorce. All my life I've wondered what happened with the club to break off contact and the fact that I might know right now makes my heart speed up. But at the same time I'm still that little girl who waited all night for her father to come home. The only way I know how to react to Blade is being a cold-hearted bitch but can anyone really blame me. I don't know how to act around him.
I feel like when I'm around him I'm his little girl but then I remember how he lied and abandoned me. Then the bitchiness in me just explodes, years of pent up anger and hurt just comes out. Around him and around the club. A part of me blames the club for taking him from me. I mean it's because of the club that my father left my party and never came back to me. Ugh. sound like a spoiled child right now.
Placing my head on Mathis' chest wanting comfort and praying for the headache to go away. My eyes slowly closed and my breath slowed as I fell asleep. Feeling Mathis' arms around me is what keeps me from falling onto the ground and into the past. Being with Mathis' I haven't had a nightmare about the night in Vegas. I wasn't in deep sleep when I felt my body moving and being place on something warm. Looking around I saw we were back in the truck with Mathis closing the back door quietly thinking I was still asleep.
I moved to face the front of the truck as Killer gets in the passenger sit. Mathis gets into the driver's seat and then looks behind him. Seeing that I was awake he smiled at me and adjusted the seat to his liking before looking back at me.
"Aria your family wouldn't have taken away the house they got us just because I'm a biker would they?" Mathis asked me.
"No because they didn't get the house for us. Marco got the house for us as wedding gift and they wouldn't go behind Marco's back just to take away something he got me. They know he's extra protective of me. But why ask about the house?"
"Because Killer wants to see what the house looks like and after what was aired out today I think it would be better if we both stay at the house for a couple of days. After the night you had you need peace and quiet. I know that if we take you back back to the clubhouse you will never get the rest you need."
I just nodded and went back to sleep. I slept easily and it felt good. Getting back the rest I lost last night will definitely get me back in the right mood. Mathis is a good man no matter what my mother has to say and I will not lose him just because of her bitter self. My mother has a lot to learn about me that she had forgotten over the years. I'm a very territorial girl and no body is taking away what's mine.