Skirt (Ruthless Kings MC #5) - K.L. Savage Page 0,91
him yet?”
“It’s been too painful to have his photos up without getting revenge. I guess, I can hang them on the walls instead of being shoved in a corner.” He buries his hand in the box and pulls an old picture frame out. The glass is cracked, but that’s alright; it can be replaced. “Here he is. He was older than me by ten years.”
With a gentle touch, I take the picture frame out of his hands and hold it as if it’s the most precious thing in the world. Simple black wood holds the picture in place and while I look through the glass, I see a pair of eyes that I see every day.
“Oh my God.” I rub my thumb through the dust on the glass to show Conor’s face more.
“What? What’s wrong? Did the glass get ye?” Skirt goes to take the picture out of my hand to check me for cuts, but I hold onto the frame tighter.
“This is Conor? This is your brother?” I ask.
“Aye, it is?”
My voice softens when I ask, “He's dead,” emotion clogging my throat.
“Aye, why?”
“That’s … that’s Aidan’s father.” A tear drips down my cheek and off my jaw, cleaning a spot on the glass. “One night. That’s all it was. Saw him at a bar in Scotland before I made my way to Ireland. We got drunk, and I woke up the next day and slid out of his bed because I didn’t want it to be awkward.”
“Aidan is my nephew? Are ye kidding me?” Skirt jumps off the bed and cheers. “Holy shite. I’m a bloody uncle. I’m an Uncle! My brother has a kid.” The laughter stops a moment later when he falls to his knees. “My brother has a kid, and he will never know. You’re sure? You are positive that he is Conor’s child?”
“I’m positive. His eyes are the one thing I will never be able to forget. A frozen blue, like if the Caribbean Sea was ice. He was beautiful.”
“He told me about you. I remember now. The girl from the bar. He had a picture of you two on his phone, but it was a bit blurry.”
“The whiskey,” Skirt and I say at the same time.
“I can’t believe it.” Skirt’s hands lay on my neck and he presses his forehead against mine, his tears falling onto the glass too. “I was meant to find ye, Dawn. Ye were meant to be mine. I have no doubt now that my brother sent ye to me. I have no fucking doubt because I don’t think I would have found ye or Aidan without him.”
“It doesn’t bother you? That Aidan is your brother’s?”
“Are ye kidding? Ye just made me the happiest man in the entire world. Aidan is my flesh, my blood, my brother’s son.” Skirt places his fist over his heart. “It’s a damn miracle.”
“I never thought I’d see him again. I had … I had no idea of his name or anything. I didn’t know he had died.” Emotions stuff my throat when I see Aidan’s father staring back at me. “I tried looking for him, but—”
“He was the best fighter in Scotland, how did you not know?”
“I didn’t know anything about that life then. I didn’t meet Cohen until after.”
“I’ve had five years to absorb his death; are ye okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just really sad that I didn’t get to know him more and that Aidan will never know his true father.”
“I’ll make sure he does,” Skirt promises, placing his hand on top of the picture. “I’ll make sure Aidan knows everything there is to know about Conor Blackwood.”
It’s hard to believe everything happens for a reason, especially when everything seems so bad, but then I have this moment with Skirt, learn about the father of my child, and have the comfort of having my son safe.
That is the reason.
And everything bad that’s happened, led me right where I belong.
Property of Skirt.
Chapter Twenty-Four
SKIRT
Today is the day.
Holy shite today is the day. I want to puke.
I have everything all set up. It’s perfect. Nothing can go wrong. “Okay, are ye ready?” I hold my hand over Dawn’s eyes as I guide her through the house.
I pass Knives who is at the kitchen table, taking a bandage off his arm that shows new ink, something he has never gotten before. I want to ask about it, but I have something much more important to do.
“What’s going on?” Dawn asks, taking apprehensive steps since she can’t