A Love So Hard (Aces High MC - Charleston Book 2)

by Christine Michelle

  “Yeah, okay, sorry. I didn’t know.”

  That was still a blow. It had only been six months and I was so forgotten that the new guys didn’t even know I existed. I suddenly did not want to walk through those doors. The only thing that made that possible was knowing I had to be strong for my girl, and that I knew whores weren’t allowed in the clubhouse anymore.

  “Go on in, girls. I bet he’ll be glad to see you both here,” Crow announced.

  “You’re not coming in?” I asked. Yes, I was the one procrastinating now.

  “Nah, came out here for some fresh air. Thinking on taking a night ride.” He pointed up at the sky that was just darkening as the last of the sun set off behind the clubhouse. “Stars are going to bright tonight.”

  “I bet it will be a gorgeous ride,” I agreed and then I pulled up my big girl panties and pushed inside. Even though the lighting was somewhat low inside it didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust since it was already dusk outside.

  It took a full two minutes of standing there and scanning the place to see the clubhouse was mostly empty, but I recognized the head full of silver hair over at the bar, and he wasn’t sitting there alone. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach just then and the only thing keeping me standing was the firm grip that squeezed the shit out of my hand. I turned to my daughter and saw the worry there in her eyes.

  “It can’t be what you think,” she said quietly. “It can’t be. He wouldn’t.” She sounded just as heartbroken as I felt. “We can leave,” she offered. “I’ll come earlier tomorrow, on my own. Or, I’ll get Ever to set something up for me.”

  “No. We’re here. Let’s get all of this over with now.” I wasn’t just talking about her problems now. It was clear that my marriage was over. You couldn’t get any clearer than seeing your own husband laughing at the bar with another woman. A woman, judging by the new club rules, he must have brought here since he was the only brother sitting in the vicinity with her.

  Chapter 30

  (Lucy – age 44, Double-D – age 47)

  Sandman had brought two women home with him tonight. One was the best friend of his new girl who had apparently been stood up for their double date. Kelly was sitting beside me while Sandman took his woman back to his room to show her something. I just bet I knew what he had to show her. I laughed at the thought as the new prospect behind the bar grabbed Kelly a drink.

  “What’s so funny?” Kelly asked before taking a sip of the girly drink that had been made for her. She then turned the prospect. “That’s fantastic, what is it?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and blushed. “Just something I came up with,” he mumbled.

  Shy ass bastard was about to earn himself a road name. I was thinking Blush, just to make it extra good. I again chuckled to myself at the thought.

  “Okay, Mister, that’s about enough of the laughing without letting the rest of us in on what you have going on up there,” she tapped a manicured pink fingernail against my forehead causing me to raise a brow. “Oh, that’s a good look on you,” she laughed out.

  “I just thought of his road name, if he makes it through prospecting for us.”

  She clapped and giggles giddily. “Oh! Do tell! I always wondered how you guys came up with those things.” Again, her fingernail flicked out and she touched my kutte. “Especially yours,” she added with a waggle of her own brows. I moved back a little just out of reach of her hand and then shook my head.

  “Can’t tell you until he knows,” I informed her.

  “Well,” she poked her painted pink lip out in a pout. “He’s standing right there, you can tell him and then I’ll overhear it.”

  I laughed at that before I saw the worried look on the prospect’s face. He’d just answered the phone and glanced at me then to the door. I followed his gaze and there stood Lucy and Anna. I was floored. My heart immediately kicked up a notch or fifteen in my chest as my elation rose. My woman had finally come for me. Thank fuck! Thank fuck! “Thank fuck!” I ended up hissing out the last under breath.

  “Thank fuck?” Kelly muttered, parroting my words behind me. Then she must have noticed who I was looking at. “Of course, all the good ones are always taken.”

  Still, knowing the words she had just uttered the woman stood and moved to my side. My whole body stiffened at Lucy’s response. She definitely had the wrong idea here. Kelly, not picking up on the seriousness of the situation stuck her hand out. “Hi, I’m Kelly,” she offered. Lucy just gawked at her and Anna looked like she was about to attack. I put my hands on Kelly and moved her back a few steps.

  “NO!” I huffed out at her. I then turned to the prospect. “Go get Sandman. Don’t care what he’s doing. Tell him to come collect his other person now.” It was the best way I knew to let Lucy know what was going on without embarrassing her, or having Anna fly off the handle, which she was apparently prone to do the older she got.

  “Sorry, I don’t understand,” Kelly mumbled.

  “He didn’t mention he had a wife?” Lucy asked.

  Kelly flushed, embarrassment staining her cheeks even through the makeup she had on. Probably because of the makeup she had on since it was understated and classy. Whatever moron had stood her up would regret that shit one day. “I um,” she started. She had noticed the ring on my finger. I knew because I was watching her when she clocked it. Made me lose some respect for her right off the bat since she was still willing to try to flirt with me after seeing it, but I hadn’t reciprocated.

  “Sorry,” I apologized to my wife. “Sandman brought his girl here to show her something, and they had an extra along. He asked me to keep an eye on her until they were done.” It was the truth, but I could see Lucy thought it was a bunch of contrived bullshit.

  “Oh,” Kelly huffed out. “I thought he was kidding when he asked you to babysit me.” The woman looked completely embarrassed now. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, if that looked bad. I thought Sandman was trying to set me up since I got stood up tonight. I didn’t realize he literally meant for you to babysit me until he was done.”

  Lucy’s shoulders lowered from the tense position they’d been. “We need to talk, privately,” she mentioned as she glanced at our daughter. Just then Sandman appeared at the top of the landing and looked down.

  “You couldn’t wait a few more minutes?” His question came as he adjusted his pants before he noticed whom I was speaking with. “Shit! Right, sorry about that. Kelly, come on up here. We’ll just get our shit together and head out.”

  “Sure,” the woman said, not hesitating about getting away from the tension in the air. Sandman threw me an apologetic look and then turned to walk away as soon as Kelly made it to him.

  “You didn’t believe me,” I stated as I turned back to Lucy.

  “I considered your new club rules when we walked through the door after being told by the man there that you didn’t have an old lady. Look through my eyes,” was all she said.

  “You were told what the fuck now?” I growled.

  She waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. Crow set him straight before sending us in. Obviously we never come up in conversation around here since the five-month old prospect wasn’t aware of who we were,” she added. “It’s whatever. We need to talk though.”

  She moved past me toward the kitchen and I followed. I noticed Anna was holding on to something that looked like maybe pictures, and I will admit it had my curiosity peeked. If she had come here to claim I was cheating or anything else, I would nip that in the bud too. Though, I honestly couldn’t think of a single time during our separation – tonight excluded – where anything I had ever done could be even closely misconstrued as cheating.

  “Is Evan around?” Lucy finally asked.

  “Evan? Who?” I asked, and then it hit me when I glanced back at Anna. A quick look down to the things she was holding, the black and white images there on the flimsy paper. I glanced back up to Lucy who was chewing her lip and running a finger down her cute little button of a nos
e. SHIT.

  “Joker?” I asked.

  Anna smiled. “That’s perfect for him,” she admitted and then the smile disappeared to be replaced by a frown and a hint of tears as the back door opened up and laughter filter in along with my other daughter, her old man, Joker, and what looked like his date for the night. Fuck.

  “Momma-Luce? Anna?” Ever called out when she noticed all of us standing there. Then she turned to me. “What’s going on?”

  Anna, my beautiful daughter who never had a lick of sense for how to be subtle just blurted out the words I knew were coming. “I’m pregnant.” Joker’s face paled immediately.

  “Shit!” That was from Deck.

  “Isn’t that your little sis, Ev?” Asked the girl who was with them, and was obviously Joker’s date. Then she stupidly tugged on his arm, not taking in the fact that he’d lost all his color. “We better leave them to the family stuff. Looks like it’s gonna get brutal.” The girl seemed to take a little pleasure in that and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Ever cut her eyes right over to her and looked like she was about to say something, but I jumped in instead.

  “You will go nowhere!” It was an order. The bitch froze in place, but I hadn’t been talking to her. I scanned her anyway, sizing her up for the bitch that she was, and then cut my eyes back to Joker. “I see it didn’t take you long to move on from my daughter after knocking her up,” I roared at him.

  “The fuck!” Joker volleyed back. “I didn’t even know she was pregnant. You told me to stay away! She lied about who the fuck she was and how old she was, and who knows what else she lied about too. Probably everything. Probably lying about being pregnant too, for all I know. What did you expect me to do? Sit around pining for a liar who never told me she was pregnant to begin with?”

  Well hell, he had a point. Rock, meet hard place. “Ever,” I said, turning to my daughter. “Get her out of here, please.”

  “No!” The girl spat back at me, obviously not knowing who the hell she was talking to. “I came with Joker, and I’m going to leave with him,” she insisted as she clung to his arm.

  “You sure as fuck aren’t talking to my family like that!” Ever declared and yanked her off of Joker. “I don’t give a fuck if Joker wants that pussy, we’ll chalk this one up to him losing out.” When everyone went still Ever turned back around and saw the look on her sister’s face. “Shit!” It was her mumbled apology that followed that caused the first tear to fall from Anna’s beautifully wounded eyes.

  “What in the fuck is happening to my family?” I asked while simultaneously losing all the steam I had in me. Ever turned to the girl, but before she could get a word out Deck stepped up and pointed behind me. “Prospect there is gonna show you the way out and see that you get home,” he told her.

  “Yeah, whatever,” she responded snidely. “Joker, I like you, but I’m not trying to raise anyone else’s babies for them just because they’re baby mamma is too young to do it.”

  “Fuck you!” Anna shouted and I had to grab her up before she could launch herself at the woman. “You’re not coming anywhere near my baby, bitch!”

  “Holy fuck!” Joker’s words were my thoughts exactly.

  “Come on,” I told them all. Then I remembered we had an audience still because Anna hadn’t invited Ever and Deck into this. “Actually, just you,” I told Joker. I saw the flash of hurt that moved quickly across Ever’s features, but there was also understanding. She nodded and that’s what we were about to do before Anna stepped in.

  “It’s okay. I’d rather you be there, Ever.”

  “If that’s what you want,” she agreed.

  I took them all to the room where we normally held church. We didn’t allow women in here, not for club business, but it was honestly the only place I could think where we’d all fit with enough room that we also might not kill one another.

  “You want me to wait out here?” Deck asked.

  “Why? You’re family too,” Ann told him simply as she walked into the room and immediately went to sit in the chair I usually occupied during church. I was two down from Merc down, still on his right hand side. Sandman had the chair next to him these days though. Ever and Lucy planted themselves on either side of Anna, as if to hold her up like bookends on a shelf.

  I sat opposite Lucy with Joker and Deck taking up the next seats. We had closed ranks on him too. I wondered briefly if he felt trapped there like that, or if having Deck next to him made him feel more secure. No one spoke so I started.

  “I’m assuming since you’re here with her, the pregnancy was confirmed?” I asked then nodded down to Anna’s hands that were invisible under the table. “I saw what you were holding,” I added.

  She glanced up at me with tears in her eyes, but she couldn’t hide the beautiful smile that bloomed across her face at the mention of those images. I wasn’t the only one to notice since I felt Joker stiffen beside me. Yeah, the asshole was still just as affected by my daughter’s presence as he was when they were sneaking around behind everyone’s back. Well, when she was sneaking and he was clueless.

  I turned to him then, curious because I never had asked for any type of details. Not about that the sex they had been having, that was a given. I never wanted to know about that, but the rest of their relationship. I’d just dismissed it. He was so angry with her, I didn’t think was an issue, but now I was seeing how wrong I was. Those words were becoming the story of my life.

  “Before you found out who she was, how did you feel about my daughter?” My question jolted him from the stare down he had launched with the table in front of Anna. I’d made him curious about what she held there. He turned his gaze to me, but didn’t answer. Instead his lips were pulled tight in anger and he just watched me. “How long were you seeing one another? Were you seeing one another or did you just think she was nothing more than club pussy since she was hanging around?” Those words tasted vile on my mouth, but I used them for a reason. I was watching for the reaction, and I fuckin’ got it.

  He didn’t say a word, he stood and then he laid me out in one punch. He didn’t knock me out, but my ass was no longer in the chair it had once been sitting in.

  “CJ!” Lucy gasped and that was music to my ears. She hadn’t called me CJ since before her blow up at the cemetery when we buried our boy.

  “You talk like that about your own daughter?” Joker yelled at me, not knowing what my name on my woman’s lips meant to be in that moment. That’s okay though, because I had a feeling he’d understand that soon enough considering how he’d just laid me out. I just started laughing as Deck came around him to help me up. I swatted my son in law away, because I had a feeling I was looking right in the eyes of another one.

  “Now you’re laughing?” He accused. Yeah, I was, but not for the reason he thought. Probably not the reason anyone thought I realized as I looked around and saw the horror filled faces. Not quite all of them had horror etched in their features. I could see that Ever understood, because she was smirking and she flashed me a quick thumbs up. “You’re seriously sitting there laughing after insinuating your daughter is a whore? What the fuck, man? No wonder your family’s falling apart and your kid’s acting out. Jesus. She told me her family was fucked since her brother died.” He glanced back over at Anna. “I see that now.” Looking back at me he offered up, “She told the truth about something, at least.”

  Well, that hurt. I’m sure it hurt my baby girl too. I picked my ass up off the floor, fucking old ass knee creaking as I did so. Shit, that was embarrassing. Then I massaged the jaw where he’d tagged me, and I knew that shit was going to be aching for a few days at the very least. Damn fine punch. Once I was all the way adjusted and firmly on my feet I grinned at Joker. He took a step back, because he obviously didn’t like what he was seeing in my eyes. He had every right to feel that way, because what I was thinking, it was crazy. I was going to do it for my daughter though, and for once, I didn’t think I was getting it wrong.

  “Looks like
we need to set up a good ol’ southern shotgun wedding, son!”

  His eyes bulged in horror as shocked gasps rang out around the room and Ever, being the only one who understood, tried really hard to contain her mirth. Then I turned to my own woman. “We’ll talk details tonight, in bed.” With that, I got up and walked out of the room leaving them all behind to stew on that shit.

  Chapter 31

  (Lucy – age 44, Double-D – age 47)

  My mind was blown. When we set out for the clubhouse I can honestly say that I did not foresee things going the way they had. When I first stepped foot inside the clubhouse I hadn’t seen it either. I had actually seen the complete and total end of marriage at that point. Now, I was sitting with CJ in our living room, on our couch, with our bodies cocked sideways just so to where our knees were touching and he was holding my hands in his.

  Ever had taken Anna home with her after Joker blew up and walked out. Deck followed him, and even though the man lost his damn mind, I knew he’d be back. I wasn’t blind, and apparently my old man wasn’t either because we both saw the way he watched Anna. Sure, he would have done what he had to in order to stay away from her as directed. He would have used his anger about her lies to sustain that until he felt something for someone again one day. Knowing she was carrying his baby though, I had a feeling that would change everything.

  “Tonight was crazy,” I finally spoke to kill the silence that wrapped around us like a familiar blanket, and not a comfy one. The blanket in question being one of those scratchy ones that itched and make your skin crawl.

  He just nodded and then tilted his head as if to take all of me in from a different angle. “If you hadn’t brought Anna there to deliver her news would you have come looking for me?”