“That’s the rental house where Heidi and Paige used to live. You wanted what information I had, but I can tell you not to waste your time. The house is basically empty.”
“Basically?”
He shrugged. “There were still a few boxes in one of the rooms the last time I went over there.”
“Did you go through them?”
“Not really. I looked inside one or two. They were full of books, so I assumed the others were too. I can’t think of anything in them that would be helpful to you.”
“Oh, well, I’ll just have to look elsewhere,” I said and refused to let his words discourage me.
8
I finished my drink and placed my glass down with a notable clink. “Help yourself to another if you’d like,” Sloane offered.
“You sure?” I asked. Normally, I wouldn’t have even considered it, solely because the price of mini-fridge liquor was outrageous, but after the conversation we’d just had, I wanted another.
“Of course. You comped how many of my drinks at the bar last night? Plus food. I’m sure those two drinks cost far less than all that.”
I knew there was no point in arguing with her. Instead, I made my drink knowing I would stop by the front desk on my way out and put some cash toward her bill. With any luck, she wouldn’t notice until after she was long gone.
Disappointment unexpectedly washed over me at the thought of her leaving. “How long are you planning on being in town?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It depends on how long it takes me to find Heidi. I’ll figure out the rest from there.”
“Sloane,” I said slowly. “Don’t get your hopes up. I’ve been trying to find Heidi for months with no luck.” She was clearly excited to have new information at her fingertips and chomping at the bit to start sorting through it. I started to tell her Spazz already searched every avenue I had, but just like with the phone number, I knew she would want to see it for herself. And who knew? The chances were slim, but maybe we’d get lucky and she’d find something we hadn’t.
I sat back and enjoyed watching her squirm in her seat for several minutes before she finally came to a decision. “I’m sorry. I know this is incredibly rude of me, but she’s the reason I’m here. I can’t wait until tomorrow to start on this.”
I chuckled. “I knew that was coming.” Picking up my glass, I emptied the contents and got to my feet. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Her head shot up. “What? No. You don’t need to leave. I’ll only be a few minutes, but I have to at least peek at a few things. Plus, you’ll be here if I have any questions.”
I snorted. “I’ve been down that road. Trust me; you’ll be more than a few minutes.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I won’t, but help yourself to another drink while you’re waiting.”
After spending my day at a bookstore in an itchy pink dress on a few hours of sleep, I decided I was going to make myself comfortable. I started by making another drink and kicking off my boots. “Will it bother you if I turn the TV on?”
“No, as long as it’s not a show with excessive violence, obnoxious screaming, music with lyrics, or basketball.”
“That’s specific,” I laughed.
“To be successful, it’s beneficial to know what things are distracting and remove them,” she said. “Those are my things.”
“I’ve never heard that before.”
She looked up from her computer screen and grinned. “That’s because I just made it up.”
“You should put it in a book.”
I left her to her searching and found a survival reality show marathon to watch. Because I was sure enough to bet my bike she wouldn’t come up for air for at least two hours.
Ring. Ring. Ring
I reached over to smack my phone but hit empty air. After a few more blind attempts, I grumbled as I sat up and opened my eyes. For a brief moment, I didn’t know where I was. Then, it all came back to me. I was in Sloane’s hotel room and must’ve fallen asleep.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
My phone. Quickly getting up, I stumbled around the room and finally found it on the coffee table next to Sloane’s computer.
“Yeah,” I answered, not bothering to look to see who was calling.
“Hey, man. You coming to spar today?” Savior asked.
“Fuck,” I groaned as I realized how late it was. “Yeah. I’ll be there in a few,” I said and ended the call.
“Did I make you late for something again?” Sloane asked sleepily from the bed.
“Yes, but I preferred the way you did it yesterday,” I teased.
“Sorry,” she yawned. “I must’ve fallen asleep while searching. I guess you were right.”
I laughed. “I wish I had time to gloat about that, but I gotta run meet Savior at the gym.”
“What time is it?” she asked and rubbed her face.
“A little before one.”
“In the afternoon?” she shrieked and jumped out of bed.
“Yes. Got somewhere to be?” I teased while putting my boots on.
“How little is little? I have a video conference at one and I don’t even have a bra on!”
“You don’t have pants on either,” I pointed out.
“The navel up is all that’s important for video meetings,” she stated like it was common knowledge.
“As long as you stay seated.”
“Touché,” she replied from inside the bathroom. I hoped she wouldn’t be long, because I didn’t have the time to wait for her. Surprisingly, she emerged less than a minute later and launched herself into my arms. With her legs wrapped around my waist, she captured my lips and kissed me with an intensity I wasn’t expecting.
Breaking the kiss, she jumped out of my arms before I was ready to release her. “Chop. Chop. We both have places to be and things to do.”
“Speaking of, I have to work until nine tonight.”
“Okay, what’re you doing when you get off?”
“I better be doing y—fuck!” I cursed. “It’s my weekend at the clubhouse; I’ve gotta be there from eleven to seven tonight and tomorrow night.” I paused and looked to ceiling while I tried to remember what I had scheduled after that. “Pretty sure I work the morning shift the next day, but after three o’clock, I’ll have a few days off,” I said suggestively.
She stopped running around long enough to face me and ask, “Is that so?”
“It is what it is, Sweet Sloane.”
“Okay, so come by when you get off work.”
“You’re still going to be in town two days from now?”
She shrugged. “I should be. Even if I found Heidi an hour from now, I’d still have several days of work to do before I can head out.”
“Well then, I’ll see you soon, Sweet Sloane.” With that, I pulled her to me and devoured her mouth one more time before I left.
9
Rolling over, I stretched and yawned before I opened my eyes. Judging by the lack of light filling my room, I knew it was far too early to be awake, but I didn’t want to look at my phone and know for sure.
Closing my eyes again, I settled back into the bed to go back to sleep until my alarm went off for work when the sound of someone lightly knocking on my door filled my ears. “What?” I barked and started to get pissed when no one answered me.
Throwing off the covers, I stormed toward the door and yanked it open, ready to lay into whoever was determined to keep me from sleeping. But no one was there. Then, I heard it again.
Realizing the sound was coming from the front door, I pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed my gun from the nightstand. No one should’ve been knocking on the front door to the clubhouse because they shouldn’t have made it past the gate.
I didn’t bother checking the security feed to see who it was. Trouble didn’t usually knock. To my surprise, I pulled the door open to find a furious middle-aged woman I didn’t recognize. She glanced at what looked like a picture in her hand and back to me. B
efore I could open my mouth, she nodded and shoved something into my arms.
“Your demon spawn killed my daughter and ruined everything! You keep that thing away from me!” With that, she turned and quickly walked toward her car, which obviously plowed through the gate we recently had repaired.
I looked down at the squirming, and now screaming, baby in my arms.
“Hey!” I yelled and started after her. “Hey! Crazy lady, wait! What the fuck?”
She whirled around and aimed a pistol directly at me. In the most eerily calm voice, she said, “I have just lost my child. I will kill you and yours if you take one more step.”
“I won’t. Just go,” I vowed and prayed she would leave as I cradled the screaming infant against my bare chest.
She waited for several long seconds with her gun trained on me before she finally got into her vehicle and drove away. All the while, I stood stock-still with absolutely no idea what to do. I was a grown-ass man and had been in plenty of unthinkable situations—ones that many men wouldn’t have been able to face. But the possibility of being the father of the child in my arms was the breaking point where my brain and body no longer functioned properly.
And that’s how my older brother found me. Standing in the forecourt holding a crying baby with a look of utter shock mixed with complete panic on my face.
“The fuck is going on?” Copper barked, though I could hear the worry in his voice. “Whose baby is that?”
“I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “She said it’s mine! I opened the door, and she shoved the baby into my arms. I tried to stop her, but she pointed a gun at me. What the fuck am I supposed to do, Copper?” I asked, hoping my older brother would know how to handle the situation.
“Wait. She who?”
“I don’t know. Some woman I didn’t recognize,” I said shakily.
Copper’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Let’s go inside and get this shit sorted.”
I dazedly followed him into the clubhouse with the crying baby still in my arms, unsure of where to go or what to do. “Sit down and tell me exactly what happened.”
I relayed the events of the morning the best I could with the baby wailing the entire time. Just as I finished, Layla came running through the front door with a phone pressed to her ear. Her eyes landed on the baby, and she gasped. “Oh, it’s a fresh one,” she almost whispered. “Like newborn newborn.”
“Who the fuck are you talking to?” I demanded.
Copper tagged the side of my head with his fist. “Don’t disrespect my woman, especially when she’s trying to help you. She’s talking to Leigh, who’s at the store getting baby shit.”
I blinked at my brother. “How? When?”
“Fuck,” Copper swore. “You can go into shock later, but I need you to function right now,” he demanded and met my eyes. “Who’s the baby’s mother?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed and tried to think back. “I’ve never seen the woman who brought the baby.”
“Well, start thinking, bonehead. Who were you fucking eight to ten months ago?” Copper asked.
Layla took that as her opportunity to leave. “Can I?” she asked and held out her hands. I didn’t miss the way her fingers lightly danced with delight, but something happened in that moment. Some deep-seated natural desire to protect the innocent child in my arms from any potential harm sparked to life inside me. I hesitated. Layla smiled knowingly. “I won’t leave your sight.”
“I’m sorry. I-I don’t—I didn’t—”
“It’s okay,” she soothed. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
Reluctantly, I handed the baby over to her. She immediately began gently rocking the bundle while she softly cooed. Soon, the cries quieted to little whimpers. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
My eyes widened, and I jumped to my feet. “I don’t even know what kind of kid I have! What kind of parent does that make me?”
“The kind that just found out,” Leigh said as she entered the common room with bags and bags of baby stuff. She pulled out a pack of diapers first. “Bring the baby over here. We’ll find out while I teach you how to properly change a diaper.”
Layla handed the baby back to me, and I approached Leigh as if she were holding a ticking time bomb instead of a tiny diaper. Leigh shook out a folded pad and placed it on top of one of the tables. Then, she carefully put the baby on the pad and unwrapped the blankets.
“What in the hell is that?” I shouted. “Its insides are coming out of its stomach! We need to go to the hospital!”
Leigh started chuckling. “That’s the umbilical cord,” she explained. “It turns black and falls off within a week or two.”
“You ever seen this shit before?” I asked my brother.
He shook his head. “Nope. Knew what it was though.”
“Sure you did,” I grumbled.
Leigh was still studying the umbilical cord with a look of concern etched on her face. “Something wrong?” I asked and wanted to laugh because I should have asked if something else was wrong.
Leigh silently reached for the tiny hat covering the baby’s head and gently lifted it, gasping when the baby’s clearly unwashed head came into view. “Bronze,” she said slowly, cautiously. “You were right. We need to go to the hospital.” She paused. “Right now.”
“What? Why?” I shouted, failing to quell the internal panic building inside of me.
“Because this baby is very, very new. Maybe only a few hours old.”
“Okay, okay. I’m following your lead. How do we get it there?”
Leigh turned to Copper. “There’s a baby carrier and car seat base in my trunk. Will you get it and install it in whichever vehicle y’all are going to take while I help Bronze get the baby ready to go?”
“Why do you have that?” I asked.
She huffed. “I bought it on sale a few months ago because I liked that pattern, and I knew one of you were bound to need it sooner or later.”
“Or you were saving it for when Judge and River have one,” Copper said knowingly as he picked up her keys from the pool table where she dropped them with the bags she was carrying.
“All right, let’s see what we’ve got here,” Leigh announced and started to unfasten the diaper. My world froze. Because a part of me already believed that the baby squirming on the pool table was mine. And I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to know if I had a son or daughter. I wasn’t ready for any of it.
Closing my eyes, I heard her gasp and waited for the words I knew would forever change my life.
“It’s a girl.”
When I opened my eyes, blue-gray ones that mirrored my own were staring back at me. With one look, she stole my heart and replaced it with her soul. Reaching out, I ran my fingers over her tiny cheek. “You sure are a beautiful little girl,” I murmured.
She closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists as she let out a hellacious wail and proceeded to pee all over me, Leigh, and the pool table.
“How is she doing that?” I blurted as I watched the tiny little baby continue to anoint the common room with an impressive arc of piss.
“Where is it coming from?” I asked and genuinely wanted to know because there was no way a baby her size could piss that much. Nope. Wasn’t possible.
“Quit gawking and get some damn towels!” Leigh snapped.
“On it.” I turned and rushed down the hall to whichever bathroom I came to first.
When I returned, Leigh wrapped the baby in a towel and held her out to me. “What? No,” I said and waved my hands in front of me.
“You can take the baby in the clean towel or wipe up all the piss. What’s it going to be?” Leigh demanded.
I nodded and reached for the squirming bundle. Her cries had tapered down to little whimpers, and I briefly wondered if she might be cold. Before I could say or do anything about it, Leigh was reaching for her again.
“Did you wash your hands?”
“Of course, I did,” she huffed.
> I laughed and handed her the baby. “I know, but after all the times you’ve said it to us, I’ve always wanted to have a chance to say it back to you.”
“I don’t even want to know what else you’ve been waiting for a chance to say.”
“Good, because I won’t tell you and ruin the surprise.”
“All finished,” she declared and handed me a fully dressed baby. “I’ll show you how to do everything next time. We really do need to go.”
Right on cue, Copper came back inside to tell us the car seat was installed and ready when we were. “The truck’s running. I just need to grab my ph—What the fuck happened to my phone?”
I looked over and saw his phone lying in a puddle of piss. “Sorry, Uncle Copper. I got too excited and made a little wee on your phone,” I said in the best baby girl voice I could manage.
“For fuck’s sake,” he cursed and curled his lip in disgust. His eyes flicked to another spot on the table, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face. “She got yours too, Baby Brother.”
“Fucking hell,” I grumbled.
Changing his tone, he added, “Should probably hold off on the Uncle Copper shit until a paternity test proves that’s your child. Just because some crazy-ass woman showed up at the clubhouse and put a baby in your arms saying she’s yours doesn’t mean she is. You feel me?”
I nodded in agreement. He was right, very much so. I was getting way ahead of myself. But, it was hard not to because I could see my features in her tiny face.
However, Copper’s words triggered the logical side of my brain, and I realized something else might be going on. For all we knew, someone could be using the baby as a distraction or as a way to pin something on the club. “Shit! We can’t leave the clubhouse unattended.”
“I’ve already called Grant and Coal to come in. Leigh’s going to wait for them and meet us at the hospital once they arrive,” Copper explained.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. If this is some kind of setup, I’d rather the clubhouse be completely empty than have Leigh here alone like a sitting duck.”
Bronze (Blackwings MC - Devil Springs Book 5) Page 5