“I should.”

“You didn’t know.”

“Robin, I was drunk.”

“I didn’t exactly put up a fight.”

“Because you couldn’t,” he said.

“We could go around in circles about this. We can’t change what happened.”

“You’re being very logical about this,” he said.

She smiled. “Would you rather I freak out? Run around screaming? Break down?”

“Have you?”

“I’ve not run around screaming. Breaking down, a little bit.” She stared at the ground for a few seconds, and while she did, he looked at her. She was the woman in his bed. He couldn’t believe it.

“You’d been a virgin.”

She looked up but didn’t dispute his claim.

“You and Bishop have never?”

“Never. Not because he doesn’t want to but I was never ready.” She winced.

“You don’t need to try and protect my feelings. I’m very much aware of what I’ve done and I’ve fucked up.”

“I don’t want to marry Bishop. I don’t think it’s right that I do.”

“You’re going to marry him, not for any other reason than to protect the club. You know how important it is to protect the club, don’t you?”

“I know. I remember.” Her hands were clenched into fists at her side.

“I’m sorry,” he said. It was rare for him to ever utter those words. In fact, he couldn’t recall a time he ever had spoken those words to anyone, not even his own son.

“I know.”

He noticed she didn’t forgive him. He didn’t ask for it because in all honesty, he didn’t want it.

“Bishop,” he said, yelling for his son.

Seconds later Bishop arrived.

“Take Robin home. Make sure she’s safe and comfortable. I’ll deal with everything else.”

Bishop didn’t say a word.

As Robin passed him, Preacher grabbed her arm. He couldn’t believe what had happened, but there was no getting away from it. He’d done this. “I will take care of everything.”

Robin nodded but didn’t say a word.

It explained her absence in his son’s life. It explained everything, and he didn’t even realize she’d been suffering. He had no idea it was her, and now, he couldn’t get her out of his head.

Bishop took her out of the club and made his way across toward the basement where Bear was waiting on the top step. The moment he opened the door, Bear stood.

“I had no idea you were talking about my daughter,” he said.

“I know. If you want to punch me, hurt me, now’s your chance. I won’t give you another shot like this.”

Bear laughed. “Oh, believe me, I want to fucking hurt you. You knocked up my daughter, and you know what’s worse, I didn’t even realize anything was wrong. Rebecca did.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, a couple of weeks ago. We were having breakfast, rare for us, but she started talking about worrying about Robin, how withdrawn she’d been. She noticed she lost a little weight and wasn’t eating much, and she hadn’t seen Bishop. I figured she was causing drama for the sake of it.” He shook his head. “It’s all fucked up if you ask me. I can’t believe I … fuck!” Bear yelled the last word. “That’s my little girl.”