by S. Nelson
Addy whipped her head back around. “Riley’s pregnant?” Her mouth fell open and her complexion paled.
“No, she… she was… years ago… but I just found out about it.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, her attention bouncing between me and her husband.
“Did Riley leave?” I asked.
“She rushed past me and went upstairs, but I don’t know if she left.”
I needed to get out of here, but I wasn’t sure how I was gonna get past Stone without something else happening, so I stayed put and tried to come up with some plan, and the only thing I could think of that might have a chance of working was to have Addy try and talk to him.
“Do you think you can get Stone out of here? Or at least to another room so I can leave?”
My mom rushed into the bathroom before Addy answered, and when she saw me leaning over the counter, she practically shoved her friend out of the way to get next to me.
“What happened?”
I was already tired of hearing that question.
“Stone found out Kaden and Riley had been messing around and he came after him,” Addy answered for me.
After my mom made sure I was going to be okay, she marched out of the bathroom and strode toward Stone. She pushed my dad out of the way and shoved Tripp to the side, until it was just her and him.
“How dare you put your hands on my son. He’s just a boy.” Under normal circumstances, I’d take offense at being called a boy, but right now, I was fully on board. My mom was typically a docile woman. She hardly ever raised her voice and was calm by nature. But right now, she looked like she wanted to rip Stone apart.
“He’s not a boy. He’s a man and I treated him like one.” Stone pointed toward me. “He got what he deserved. He knew the rules, yet he ignored them.”
“Doesn’t that sound familiar?” Trigger chimed in, a salacious smile on his face as he looked on.
“Don’t start, ol’ man,” Stone growled.
“You did the same goddamn thing when you went after Addy. I’m just happy Riley and Kaden stuck to their word.”
Trigger had Stone’s undivided attention now. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I caught ’em together years back behind the clubhouse. I promised I wouldn’t say anything but only if I was present when they told you. Doesn’t look like they volunteered the information today, but I was still here to enjoy it.”
“Fuck you, Trigger,” Stone barked, turning to look at the rest of the people who’d gathered to witness the show. “Who else knew about this?” Ace and Brick shook their heads, Linc doing the same before he glared at me from the other room.
Shit! I was so focused on making sure Stone didn’t find out about me and Riley, I completely forgot about her brother. Then everything fell apart years ago, and I hadn’t given it any thought afterward.
When Stone looked at Ryder, Tripp, and Jagger, their response was the same. Then his eyes landed on Marek, his best friend.
“Did you know?”
“No. I didn’t know anything happened between them.” My dad leaned against the nearest wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I thought maybe Kaden had a crush on Riley when they were younger, but I figured he’d grow out of it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you thought something was up?”
“Because there was nothing to tell.”
“You were wrong,” Stone said.
His friend nodded. “I was wrong.” He pushed off the wall and stepped in front of Stone. “You’ve said your piece. You’re not to go after him again.”
“I barely touched him.” Stone’s clenched jaw looked like it was about to shatter. “He has to pay for what he’s done.”
“Yeah? And what exactly do you have in mind? You gonna shoot him like Trigger shot you?”
“What?” I asked, daring to take a step closer, all while still encased in the bathroom with Addy.
“I want to.”
“You won’t.” My dad’s voice deepened, an authoritative tone I’d heard countless times.
“But he went against the code.”
“So did you once upon a time.”
“Yeah, and like you said, I got shot for it. It’s only fair.”
I heard my mom grumble before she shouted at Stone. “You will not lay another hand on my son. You will not shoot my son. So help me, Stone, if something bad happens to Kaden, you’ll regret it.” Everyone looked shocked, and I understood why. I never heard her threaten anyone before. She turned to face her husband. “Fix this,” she demanded before disappearing from the room.
By now, my lungs were able to work at full capacity. I took several breaths and walked toward the edge of the bathroom. Peering into the next room, I saw Kena and Reece standing off to the side, talking among themselves. Ace and Brick had disappeared, Trigger stood in the same place, his grin still plastered on his face, and Jagger, Tripp, and Ryder had moved further away from the scene. Stone and my dad stood on the other side of the room, our VP pacing while running his hand through his hair. He reminded me of a caged animal who was ready to attack if given the chance.
The second I took a step into the same room with him, even though we weren’t physically close, he stopped pacing and looked right at me. He moved toward me, but again my dad stopped him from coming after me.
“You better leave.” My dad kept his back to me when he spoke.
I never said a word as I turned the corner and headed up the stairs. As soon as I cleared the landing, Zoe approached, followed by Braylen.
“What the hell happened down there?” Braylen reached out to touch my face and I winced when her finger glided over my jaw.
“I’m sure my mom or Addy will fill you in. But for now, I need to find Riley.”
“She left.” Zoe spoke that time, shaking her head and flashing me a sympathetic look.
Pulling my phone from the inside of my cut, I shot out a text, asking her to meet me at my house right away. Before everything went down, I had planned on meeting with Tag to triple verify the description of the guys he saw outside Indulge, then check up on the workers to make sure everyone was okay before meeting with Riley.
But starting right now, and going forward, Riley would be my number one concern.
30
Waiting for Riley to show up at my house zapped all my patience. When I texted her before leaving Ryder’s, she replied right away, telling me she wouldn’t be long. That was two hours ago.
After pacing in my living room didn’t hurry things along, I sat on the couch and literally twiddled my thumbs, thinking of how good or how badly our impending talk would go.
I’d just leaned my head back and closed my eyes when I heard my front door open. Drained from the day’s events and my mental warring, I stayed still, my eyes opening and finding Riley the moment she stepped into the room with me.
“Where were you?” My tone was filled with edginess. I hadn’t meant to sound gruff, but my need to see her, to touch her, to finally put an end to the resistance between us had taken its toll.
She faltered midstride before continuing toward me. “I needed to talk to someone before coming here.”
“Who?” I rose from the couch and met her halfway, taking her hand in mine.
“Chelsea.”
“Yeah? What’d she have to say?” I led Riley back to the couch, sitting close.
“Not much, surprisingly. She was shocked, of course, but she mainly just listened.” She kicked off her sandals and sat cross-legged, settling further into the back of the sofa, her hands resting in her lap.
“Did you talk about the pregnancy and… the miscarriage?”
I released a slow breath, not knowing quite how to feel if she answered yes. I understood she needed someone to confide in, and while that should be me, sometimes our friends were better sounding boards.
“It’s the one detail I left out. I wanted to talk to you about it first.” She fidgeted in her seat. “I’ll tell her later.”
“A week before the accident.”
“A week?” I couldn’t stop my voice from rising. “Why didn’t you tell me?” My heart hammered away inside my chest, but I needed to calm down if we were gonna get anywhere. My brain was a scrambled mess with questions and all sorts of impossible scenarios playing out in my head. What would I have done had I known she was pregnant? Would I have tried harder at our relationship? Would I have finally come clean to Stone about us? The man I am today would say yes to all those questions in a heartbeat. But the guy I was back then… I wasn’t as sure. Did Riley know me better than I did myself three years ago. Did she have an inclination that our relationship was on the verge of ending before that night she showed up at the clubhouse?
“I wanted to, but that’s not something you tell someone over the phone or in a text. I wanted to tell you in person, but you kept canceling our plans. Then that night, we had a fight.” Her eyes filled with unshed tears. “And then… then I found you at the clubhouse.”
Riley shifted, placing both feet on the ground. Because I didn’t want her to change her mind and leave, which was what her body language screamed she wanted to do, I asked her another question, trying to take her mind off finding me passed out with some random woman on top of me.
“Were you happy about it?”
“Not at first. I was scared out of my mind, worried about how you would react. And of course, I feared what my father would do.”
I rolled my eyes. “We found out what he would do.”
“Yeah, we did,” she said before turning toward me and reaching for my face. “I hope it doesn’t hurt too much.”
“No. Not as much as before.” I nuzzled my cheek into her palm before she lowered her hand, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
“Two days after I took the store-bought test, I went to see the doctor to make sure it was accurate. It was, and even with all my worry about you and my dad and just the unknown, I was happy. You and I created a life.” A lone tear fell down her cheek. “Then after I lost the baby, and our relationship fell apart, I fell into a depression. I couldn’t tell anyone what happened, so I had to deal with it all on my own.” Another tear fell.
My heart broke all over again. “I’m so sorry.” Those three words weren’t enough to erase or lessen the pain she’d gone through, but they were the only thing I could offer. I wished I could change the past, but I couldn’t. That was my guilt to deal with.
Riley had three years to mourn the loss of the life we created, but now it was my turn. I wouldn’t dwell on it. I wouldn’t even bring up the topic again after tonight, if that was what she wanted, but thinking about her pregnant with my baby, then miscarrying, affected me more now than when she first told me at the party.
I’d been in shock then. I didn’t have any time to wrap my head around the concept of what she revealed before I had to deal with Stone finding out about us.
While I’d been lost inside my own head, I almost missed the flash of reservation that twisted her lips into a frown.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I prodded, finding myself desperate to get inside her head, and out of mine.
“I don’t know. There’s so much.” Riley’s chest deflated with an audible sigh. “Now that my dad knows what happened between us, I’m not sure what to do.”
“About us?”
“Yeah, and…” She shrugged. “Stuff in general.” I must’ve given her a look because she shook her head and smiled. “Don’t mind me. I’m just confused.”
“Again… about us?”
She leaned her head back, tearing her eyes from mine. “Us. People knowing I was pregnant. Trusting you. Trusting myself.”
“Riley.” I waited for her to raise her head and look at me before speaking again. “You can trust me. I’ll never hurt you again. I swear.”
“You say that now, but what if you decide it’s too much dealing with my dad and splitting your time between me and the club? I can’t take you pulling away from me again.” She played with the hem of her dress, the material riding up and exposing more of her thighs.
“I’ll deal with Stone,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. I had no idea how any of our future interactions would go but I knew one thing for sure, I wouldn’t allow him to keep Riley and me apart any longer. “And while the Knights are a big priority for me, you are, too. More so.”
“I don’t—”
I leaned closer. “I was younger then, new to the dynamics of the club. I felt like I had to prove myself, so I immersed myself in it. I got caught up and lost sight of everything, including us. But now I’m established, and I realize what’s important. I want you to be a part of my life again. I need you to be a part of my life again.” She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say something that might potentially hamper her from agreeing to be with me, I grabbed her and moved her on top of me, positioning her so she straddled my lap. She didn’t resist. “I love you, Ry. I always have. And I’ll regret the way I treated you. But please don’t hold the past against me. Give me another chance. I swear you won’t regret it.”
My hands rested on her waist, my fingers flexing against the fabric of her dress in nervousness. I prayed she didn’t pull away from me, physically or emotionally.
“I’ve loved you since before I knew what love was, Kaden. But—”
My grip on her tightened. “Don’t say but.”
“I just don’t see how this is going to work. My dad hates you now. I don’t ever see you two being in the same room together without a fight. And even though he drives me insane, I don’t want to be the reason he’s miserable whenever he sees you or thinks of us together.”
“Let me handle your dad.”
“How? How are you going to change twenty-two years of overprotectiveness towards me?” She leaned back right before her eyes widened. “What if you get kicked out of the club?” She tried to wriggle off my lap, but I held her in place. “You’ll resent me if that happens.”
“I’m not gettin’ kicked out. That’s not how this works. If Stone didn’t get booted after he divulged his relationship with Addy, then I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
“But Uncle Trigger shot my dad for being with my mom. Is that what it’s gonna take for him to accept us? Shooting you?”
I didn’t tell her Stone mentioned exacting his revenge in that very manner because that would solidify her reasoning for wanting to back away from giving us another chance.
“He’s not gonna shoot me.” I wasn’t convinced of my own words, but I’d never let on. “Once he sees how good we are together and that I can take care of you, he’ll back off.”
“I don’t need you to take care of me, Kaden. I can do that for myself.”
Instead of arguing, I pulled her closer until our mouths were inches apart, her hands resting on my chest to balance herself. “Will you let me do it right now, then?”
“Do what?” she whispered.
“Take care of you.” I raised my brows and licked my lips.
Her mouth fell open right before she squirmed in my lap.
I never waited for her answer before I sealed my mouth over hers, begging for entrance with the tease of my tongue. Riley parted her luscious lips, our kiss starting off tentative and evolving into an animalistic need to devour the other.
She’d finally given herself back to me and I wasn’t ever letting her go again.
31
Kissing Kaden again after all these years was surreal. On one hand, I never thought we’d be here after our relationship fell apart, the mere thought of him making me angry and sad at the same time. On the other, it was as if we’d never been separated, our connection so strong, so visceral there was no denying we belonged together.
We belonged to each other.
He grabbed the bottom of my dress and pulled it up to my waist, digging his fingers into my backside and grinding himself into me. His arousal bruised me
, but I craved more.
I broke away from his mouth, panting and barely able to control the air leaving my lungs. “I… I think we should—”
He rocked me back and forth on his lap. “Please don’t ask me to stop. I will… but I don’t want to.” His eyes pleaded with mine, and all I could envision was throwing him down on the couch, ripping his clothes off, and fucking him until every muscle in my body gave out.
I pecked his lips, then pulled back. He groaned in frustration. “I think we should get naked.”
I didn’t think I’d ever seen him smile as big as he did right then. He wasted no time in finding my zipper and yanking it down, pulling my dress over my head and leaving me in my bra and panties.
He rested his hand on the back of my neck before pulling me down to him. “I thought you were gonna tell me no.”
“Would you have listened?” I couldn’t help the upward curve of my mouth.
“Of course, but I would’ve internally ranted the entire time.” He laughed, the sound deep and full of pure happiness.
I leaned into him, our breath melding together, and looked into his eyes, preparing for my next words to take flight. No matter his answer, I wouldn’t hold anything against him. At least, I would try not to.
“Before we go any further, I need to ask you something.” Kaden pulled the cups of my bra down and freed my breasts, the air hitting my nipples right before his mouth was on me. I bit back a moan and refrained from slinking my fingers into the back of his thick dark hair to grab his head and hold him close. His mouth did delicious things to me, and he almost got away with distracting me. I shoved at his shoulders until he sat back. I didn’t adjust my bra, and when his eyes fell below mine, I snapped my fingers to get his attention.
“They’re so perfect, though.” He grinned like a fool.
“Focus.” His smile slipped and he gave me his most serious face, complete with a deep crease between his eyes. “What I want to know might be a mood killer, but I need us to talk about this.”