“You ok?” I asked, worriedly. Watching as Cammie used the baby heart monitor on her tummy.
“Yeah, he’s ok. I just had a panic then for a minute. I’m sorry,” she said as she wiped the gel off her tummy.
“You don’t need to be sorry.” I placed my hand on her face and gently kissed her lips, we would be a family of four in only a matter of months.
“Mummy, why you sad?” Harley asked as he climbed to his feet on the bed and pressed his hand onto her face much like I did.
“I’m ok, baby. Just checking to make sure your brother was ok.”
“Oh.” He tilted his head to the side and bent down and pressed a kiss on her tummy. “There, all better now.”
“He sure is. Do I get one of those?” she asked pointing to her lips and he kissed her too.
“I need to pee,” he called out as he went running towards our en-suite.
“You sure you’re ok?” I asked her again, climbing up onto the bed beside her and pulling her into my side.
“Yeah, I just hate having that scared feeling. I’d keep that thing permanently attached to me if I could.” She laughed.
She still held the same fears of having another still born baby, she was terrified in the hospital the moment Harley was born, he was so chilled out that he didn’t cry straight away and that put Cammie into a panic, tears were streaming down her face until they placed him in her arms and then she cried for a whole different reason. He was perfect with his red crinkly face, button nose and dark hair just like mine.
“Hello?” Mum called out.
“Nanny’s here!” Harley called out running from the bathroom and out the bedroom doors.
“Careful on the stairs!” Cammie called out as she got to her feet and waddled away from me.
“You’re so sexy. What did I do to deserve you?” I said as I crossed my ankles and laid back on the bed with my arms over my head.
“If you think this is sexy, you need your eyes checking.” She laughed walking out of the bedroom door.
“Nothing wrong with my eyes.”
I shot to my feet and caught up with her on the stairs, I kissed and nibbled her neck as we walked into the kitchen where mum was making a cup of tea.
“Hi, you two.” Mum smiled. “Want a drink?”
“Yes please.” Cammie smiled as she walked into the kitchen and gave mum a hug. Mum placed her hand on Cammie’s tummy and rubbed it.
“That’s a strong kick.” She laughed.
“He knows his nanny.” Cammie smiled again and I stood back and watched them all. Emily and Harley were sitting at the kitchen table colouring in, Dyson and Dusty were sleeping in their bed and Mum and Cammie were talking and laughing. This was what I always wanted, my own family.
* * *
The End
Forbidden Love
(South Coast Brother #4)
Kacey Hamford
Ashlyn
I sat at the hospice, clutching hold of Kayleigh’s hand as she slept. We were in a small room with a window that looked out over a large field full of cows. She was getting weaker and weaker as each day passed. Her daughters, Kelsey who was three and Tegan who was only two weeks old, were being looked after by Janet, a lovely lady who volunteered here.
I hated the fact that I wasn’t here for her, that she had to rely on strangers to help her. I managed to get to her in time to see her give birth to Tegan and to hear the news the doctors gave her that her cancer had spread and they could make her comfortable, the cancer was too aggressive for treatment.
I had been friends with Kayleigh for five years, we met when we both started the same job at a small bar in Plymouth, Devon. We were both eighteen and had high hopes of having fun every night and flirting with gorgeous guys. Kayleigh had always been a lot more outgoing then me; guys flocked to her. Her long, dark, curly hair always hung down her back in a messy, sexy way and she was forever flicking it over her shoulders. She started dating Andrew not long after we got our first flat together and before she knew what had happened she was pregnant and he had upped and left her, she decided to keep the baby and I helped her in every way that I could, her mum had died when she was younger and her dad had taken off so all she had left was a brother. Once she was old enough to take care of herself, he joined an MC and was forever travelling.
I was lucky enough that my mum and dad sent me money regularly so we could afford to stay together, she didn’t have anyone else and I wanted to help her. After another one night stand two years later, she learnt that she was pregnant again, also finding out that she had breast cancer. She refused to abort the baby which meant that her treatment had to be delayed. I wasn’t a fan of abortion but I begged her to have one, she needed the treatment to fight for her life, but she was stubborn and refused.
I went in search of her brother, Blade, she had contact from him and he was staying at one of the clubhouses that was close by, I decided to go and speak to him, to see if he could make her see sense. I was running out of time, it was getting closer and closer to her cut off time for an abortion. I never dreamt that by going to see him, by trying to help my best friend, who was like a sister to me, that it would end so badly.
“Kay,” I whispered as she began waking up. I had been here with her for the past two months and every day I saw her getting weaker. When I returned to her she wasn’t mad that I had been gone, she was pleased to see me. I explained that I had a family emergency and that I wasn’t going to leave her again.
“I need to see my girls,” she whispered. She gave me that look to say that she didn’t have long left and I put on my brave face and tried to control my emotions. She didn’t need me balling my eyes out every two seconds. I managed to push my torment aside and focus just on her.
“I’ll get them.” I kissed her on the top of her head, grabbed my phone out of my pocket and headed towards the large living room. My fingers flew over the keys as I sent Blade a message, he needed to be here. Kayleigh had already told me that he would get custody of the girls. I leant back against the wall, closed my eyes and let my head drop. I breathed deeply trying to keep my tears at bay.
“Ashlyn, is everything ok?” I looked up to see Janet stood in front of me.
I shook my head slightly and took a deep breath.
“Kayleigh wants to see the girls.”
“It’s the middle of the night, they’re both sleeping.”
“I don’t think she has long left.” I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip to stop it wobbling.
“I’ll get them.” She hurried off down the hallway and I stood motionless in the same spot, I didn’t know how long I was stood there until I saw a sleepy Kelsey walking towards me. I bent down so I was facing her and she threw her arms around my neck.
“I’m sleepy.” She yawned. I picked her up, held her close as I walked back to Kayleigh’s room.
I pushed the door open and the room was softly lit up from the one lamp in the corner of the room. Kayleigh’s smile was bright and she held her arms out for Kelsey.
“She’s sleepy,” I told her as I placed her on the bed.
“Mama,” Kelsey mumbled.
“I’m here, sweet baby.” Kayleigh kissed her on the top of her head. “Can you wake up for me?” She nodded as she rubbed at her eyes with her tiny fists.
“You tired, Mama?” Kelsey asked as she placed her hand on Kayleigh’s face.
“Yeah, baby.” She softly smiled at her. I kept quiet where I was sitting in the chair beside the bed, Kayleigh needed this, she needed to say goodbye to her.
We all looked towards the door as it flew open and standing in the doorway was Kayleigh’s brother, Blade. I gasped as I recognised him, he was the guy that had saved me from the hell I was in. He was tall and broad, with the same dark hair as her, and he had stubble covering his face. He marched over to the side of her bed and kissed her on the cheek.
“I love you,” he mumbled.
“I love you.”
“Uncle Kade,” Kelsey sung and he
kissed the top of her head. A few moments later Janet walked in with Tegan in her arms and I got to my feet to take her.
“I’ll leave you all alone.” I smiled my thanks at her and she closed the door softly behind her.
“Mama, when are we going home?” Kelsey asked as she laid her head back on the pillow so she was facing her mum.
“Do you know what, I love you so much. You are a brave little girl and I need you to do me a favour. I need you to look after your little sister. Can you do that?” Kelsey nodded her head as she placed her thumb in her mouth. “You see, mummy is going away…”
“Can I come?”
“No, baby, I’m sorry. Mummy is going away with the angels; she’s going up to heaven. But I will always be with you, I’ll always be watching you and you need to remember that I will always love you.”
“I don’t want you to go.” Kelsey wrapped her arms around Kayleigh’s neck as she cried. Kayleigh was trying to compose herself and you could see the hurt on her face as tears ran down her face.
“I don’t want to go either, baby. Let’s have a cuddle with your sister too. Yeah?” Kelsey pulled away and I climbed to my feet to rest Tegan on the bed in between Kayleigh and Kelsey, she wasn’t strong enough to hold her anymore.
“I love you,” I told her as I squeezed her hand and kissed her on top of her head.
“I love you too, thank you for everything.” I nodded my head and stepped back. I looked over to where Blade was now standing against the wall, his fists were clenched at his sides and his eyes were shut. I sat back down in the chair and watched over them.
Every hour a nurse came into the room and the last time she turned off a machine that was at Kayleigh’s bed side and quietly murmured her sympathies.
“Mama?” Kelsey’s voice brought me out of my head and I jumped to my feet, I grabbed Tegan out of the way. “Mama, wake up.”
“Kelsey, sweetheart,” Blade began as he walked closer to her and sat on the edge of the bed. “Mummy’s gone with the angels now,” he told her as he rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Give her a kiss and tell her you love her.”
Kelsey leant forward and kissed Kayleigh on the cheek. “I love you, mama.”
Ashlyn
I never contacted my mum and dad once I was rescued from the Satan MC; after they kidnapped and tortured me. I was out of contact with them for four months and now that I was tainted, now that I was a different person, I didn’t want to ruin their lives by showing them the mess that I was. I was glad that I hadn’t contacted them now that Drake was forced to take me away, to try and hide me from Switch, the VP of the Satan MC.
They had arrived at the clubhouse this morning to a letter from Switch.
‘You can’t keep her from me. She’ll always be mine. Those marks on her body proves that. Hand over Ashlyn and I won’t bother you again.’
That letter was the reason that I was now pressed up against Drake on his bike as we hurtled through the back roads until we got to the A30.
Everything this morning was a blur, one minute I was eating some toast for breakfast and the next minute I had a small bag thrown at me and was told to pack what I absolutely needed. Prez had explained to me about the letter and the course of action he thought was right, I wanted to argue with him and tell him that I would be perfectly safe at the clubhouse but then I was putting everyone else in danger and in all honesty I was scared out of my mind at the thought of Switch getting his hands back on me.
“You tired, darlin’?” Drake asked over the mics we had in our helmets. I had no clue how long we had been riding for.
“Yeah,” I said quietly and then felt the bike coming to a stop.
“Hop off, darlin’,” he spoke and I climbed off the bike, noticing that my legs were stiff and my back ached.
“Where are we?” I asked, looking around as I removed my helmet. My long blonde hair fell down around my shoulders. There was a large building in front of us and a row of bikes were lined up to the left hand side, Drake had abandoned his bike in front of them.
“This is the Wiltshire Crusaders MC. We’re staying here for the night.”
“We can’t just waltz up to any MC and expect a bed.”
“No, darlin’, you’re right, we can’t. But this one is one of our charters.” I must have looked at him blankly. “We are all one big MC, but we have our own clubs.”
“And who is in charge of all these clubs?” He climbed off the bike and took hold of my hand leading me towards the door. I pulled back and he stopped walking.
“Each Prez is responsible for their own club. Come on.”
“I’m not sure about this.” He placed his hand on the side of my face and I nuzzled into it.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.” I gazed up at him and the look I saw on his face was genuine. His short beard was always kept tidy and I couldn’t resist running my hand over his head, he kept the sides shaved which left a tidy, short Mohawk. His muscles were big and bulging and I had caught a glimpse of an arm tattoo on his right side.
I had been having feelings towards Drake for a little while now, but everyone kept reminding me that he wasn’t allowed to touch me, that I was considered club property as they protected me and until Drake was patched in I was off limits. It would be a forbidden love.
I ached to feel the softness of his beard against my lips instead of my cheek and I couldn’t deny the sexual tension that radiated between us.
Our moment was cut short by the loud shrill of a phone ringing, I stepped back and reached into my pocket. I pulled out my phone to see Cory was calling me. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face, he was sweet to me, caring, and just what I needed a couple of weeks ago but I came to the realisation that he was too caring, he was forever asking me if I was ok and never just took charge of a situation.
“What the fuck!” Drake roared as he snatched my phone out of my hand, threw it onto the floor and crushed it with his large boot.
“What are you doing?” I screamed.
“You’ll have to find another way to talk to lover boy,” he growled, his face getting closer to mine. “No mobile phones.”
“What if we get into trouble? What if Cammie needs me? She’s due to have the baby soon.”
“They have a way to get into contact with me.” That was all he said before he turned around and banged on the large wooden door, it creaked open. “Ashlyn!” he shouted and pointed to the floor beside him, was this what I wanted when I wanted a guy to take charge?
“Drake, good to see you man.” An older guy with white hair slapped Drake on the back and then opened the door wider. “Come on in.”
Drake clasped my hand in his and pulled me inside behind him. My eyes darted around and I was surprised to see how quiet it was, the bar was empty and no girls were around.
“Who is this young beauty?” He smiled at me and I couldn’t help but tighten my grip on Drake’s hand and step in closer to him.
“Ashlyn, this is Dredge.” I nodded my head at him and offered him a small smile.
“She yours?” he asked Drake as if I wasn’t in the room.
“Yeah. Prez said you had a room for us?”
“Yeah, the last door on the left.” He pointed to the long corridor. “Food’s in an hour, if you’re hungry.”
“We’ll be there.” Drake patted him on the shoulder and pulled on my arm to get me to follow him.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we walked down the long hallway that was full of doors, the dark wood made the hallway gloomy and I wondered why there wasn’t any lights on.
“No idea.” We stopped once we reached the door and Drake opened it up and stepped back for me to proceed ahead of him. I looked around and there was a double bed, bedside table and wardrobe.
“I’m hoping that’s a bathroom in there,” I muttered as I pointed at a door. Drake sauntered over and pushed the door open to reveal a toilet, sink and small shower. Well we both wouldn’t be fitting in th
ere, shit, what was I thinking? That wouldn’t be happening between us, it wasn’t allowed. I would just have to keep a lid on my feelings for a bit longer, until he was patched in. “Where are you going to sleep?” I asked.
“Right here.” He smiled as he jumped on the bed and crossed his arms behind his head. “I need to sleep on the right hand side, darlin’, it’s closer to the door.”
“We’re sleeping in there, together?”
“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” Hell yes, what if I couldn’t keep my hands off him?
“Uh, no, it’s fine. I’m probably just going to grab an early night.” I pulled my bag closer to me and routed around in it until I found my toothbrush and something to sleep in.
“You not hungry?” I shook my head. “Ok, I’m gonna go grab some food and a drink.” He straightened out his clothes and headed for the door.
“What… What if someone tries to get in here?”
“No one is coming down to this room, darlin’. This is a small chapter, less than ten men. All married, all over sixty. It’s pretty much like a retirement chapter, you’re perfectly safe.”
“Ok.” I dipped my head and let my hair cover my face. I didn’t want to be left in here alone and I didn’t want to go out there either. I could feel my eyes start to water and I didn’t want to make Drake feel like he had to stay with me.
“I’ll be no more than an hour,” he told me as I turned away from him and headed into the bathroom.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror and my mind drifted off to the first time I knew I wanted Drake as more than just a friend.
It was party night at the Cornish Crusaders and Cammie and I were sitting at a small round table with a glass each and a bottle of wine between us. It was one of the locals nights so it was fairly busy.
“Have you seen more of that Cory guy?” Cammie asked. I had told her a couple of weeks ago that I had seen a bit of one of the local guys, his name was Cory, he was tall and had a dark long Mohawk on his head.
South Coast Brothers: Part One Page 50