Baby (Black Rebel Riders' MC)

by Glenna Maynard

  "You shouldn't be here Baby, what are you doing here. I told you never to come here."

  "Why, afraid I'd see what I just now saw that you are a lying piece of shit and Trouble is a motherfucking traitor. You told me women only come here looking to die or to fuck, so which is going to be? Are you going to fuck me or are you going to kill me?" I press my nails into his face and squeeze his mouth hard. I am so hurt, so motherfucking angry, I can feel the Grim in me about to takeover and when my temper comes out there is no stopping me. I will act out; I will fuck someone up if they stand in my way. "Why the big story that you were a cop, why lie to me, can't you grow a pair of fucking balls and face me like a man."

  "Goddamnit Baby," he caps his hand over my mouth. "Don't be saying shit like that, if anyone hears you'll fuck everything up. What's the matter with you?"

  "I'm tired of playing games, sick of being used. So Rush has a plan for me does he, where is he? I'd like to have a word with him." The door to the makeshift bathroom we are in swings open, the dim light from the hall illuminating a tall figure.

  "I'm right here Baby, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to drag you here myself, seems Lucky wasn't very good at getting into your pants and claiming you. Looks like I need to take things into my own hands. Welcome home baby girl." Rush pushes me up against the wall and pats me down. Lucky starts to intervene when Trouble steps into the room and punches Lucky in the jaw knocking him out cold on the tile floor.

  "Fuck you, Reject." I stomp on the toe of Rush's boot with the heel of mine and elbow him in the nose, doing little to no damage. Rush is a tough son of a bitch. What in the hell was I thinking coming here?

  "Kill him," Rush says to Trouble, talking about Lucky. "He is no longer of use to us." I plead to Trouble with my eyes to help me and he laughs in my face as he starts dragging Lucky down the hallway.

  "Please don't hurt him; I'll do whatever you want. I'll do anything name it." I know Lucky is a prick, but I don't want him to die.

  "Baby, you will do whatever I ask of you." Rush grabs a hold my wrists and zip ties them behind my back.

  "What makes you so sure of that?"

  "Because I am your father." He says the word father like it is the most natural thing in the world. I don't believe him. Grim is my father not him. Rush takes me into his office and ties me to a chair with bungee chords. There is a loud pop of a gunshot and my heart sinks, Trouble has killed my only hope of making it out of here. Why is Trouble doing this, he was supposed to be my best friend and he was supposed to be helping Lucky.

  "You see Baby, your mother, my precious Gypsy Red she was nothing but a whore trying to climb her way to the top, she used whatever man would get her there, I was the first, Benji was the second and Grim was the third. But you are the greatest thing she ever gave me. You will do what your mother wasn't able to do. You will kill Grim; it's in your blood. Haven't you ever wondered why you hate the man who raised you so much? It's because he isn't your father and despite what you might say you don't have any loyalty to him. He is the reason your mother is dead after all. The reason you grew up without any real parents to love you."

  Trouble comes into the room and Rush orders him to have his way with me. "Go ahead, claim what's been promised to you. I'd be careful though if she is anything like her mother, she fights back. Don't get any ideas. I'll be out in the hall. If she screams gag her."

  "You sick bastard, I will never be any man's whore...ever!" I scream as he walks into the hall laughing with a smug look on his face.

  Trouble comes over to me with knowing grin on his face. "How could you Trouble, I thought you were my friend."

  "Shut up bitch, what shocked that I grew tired of being your puppet," he smacks me across the mouth drawing blood from my lips.

  "Why are you doing this?" My lip is swelling and my head hurts. I don't understand what Trouble is getting from doing this.

  "I was patient with you Baby, I kept waiting for you to see me, but you kept throwing yourself at anyone but me. Why was I not good enough for you?" He towers over me; his eyes have grown dark with anger. This isn't the guy who held my hair when I puked on New Years or who wiped my tears when things didn't go my way. This guy is a complete stranger. "You're just a dirty biker whore." He spits on me, actually fucking spits on me. If I could get out of this chair, I would rip his filthy tongue off.

  He bends down to my ear and whispers, "I'm sorry Baby, it has to be real. I'd never hurt you, but he has to believe me." Trouble takes out a syringe and jabs it in my arm, at some point I lose consciousness.

  Rebel

  **Chicago One month earlier**

  "Fuck, my legs hurt." I kick back on the couch in the apartment Kilmore set me and Striker up with over the old warehouse he wants me to build the still inside of, I think this used to be an old carpet outlet or some shit.

  "Quit being such a pussy." Striker smacks me on the back of the head as he walks by me. He has been on the phone with Aspen since we got here. She has chewed his ass out for a good twenty minutes, because he blew her off last night, I laugh thinking if she only knew.

  "Ask her if she needs to smell your dick while she's at it." Striker flips me off and Trouble is eyeing me wanting to know what it is that I am privy to.

  "So what was the deal with Baby this morning?" Trouble tries to pry.

  Running my fingers through my hair trying to get the knots out from the wind, and kicking my feet up on the table, I laugh and say, "figured you'd know more than me, aren't you and Baby like this," I cross two of my fingers being a smartass. "Haven't you hit that yet son?" I ask knowing good and well that he hasn't come close and I want to see what kind of reaction I can get out of Striker.

  "Whose ass hasn't he hit yet?" Striker flops down beside of me on the couch with a beer in his hand.

  "Baby's fine little ass, that's who." I see the tips of his ears turning red. that's how I can tell when my brother is pissed, his ears get beet red.

  "Don't talk about her like that motherfucker." Striker punches me in the rib.

  "Easy asshole, I was just giving my man Trouble here a rough time. Though I bet he'd like to rub up against Baby, show her a real man, ain't that right Trouble, I see how you look at her, you follow her around like a lost little puppy."

  Trouble doesn't answer but I can tell by the look on his face that is exactly what he'd like—to fuck Baby. "I told you don't talk about her like that." Striker gives me a pointed look cocking his brow at me wanting to know what I am getting at.

  I send Trouble over to the Disciple's clubhouse to check in with Kilmore and see when he wants us to get started. Once he is gone I corner Striker. "Have a good time last night?"

  "What the fuck is your problem today?" He shoves me, just a little brotherly affection.

  "I want to hear you say it?" I flip the ashes of my cigarette and wait.

  "What?" He looks at me with an innocent look, knowing good and well that I know who he did.

  "You fucked Baby, admit it."

  "Fuck you, you don't know shit." He removes his glasses laying them on the counter. Little brother wants to fight.

  "You like her don't you little brother?" I spit the accusation at him.

  "Worry about your own shit, afraid she won't be pinning after you if I show her what a real man is all about." Damn, I was just messing with him but now he is getting serious with it.

  "Oh like you fucked her and ran out on her, then paraded your fucking girlfriend whom you won't claim in front of her, making her watch what you won't give her. Is that the real man shit you are referring to?"

  "I said don't fucking talk about her," he shoves me into the wall.

  "Truth hurts don't it," I shove him into the opposite wall.

  "So what, you can fuck her but no one else can, is that it Rebel?" Striker lunges for me but I grab him around the waist and send him back into the wall.

  "I never fucked her, she's been hurt a lot, and you shouldn't fuck around with her unless you plan on claiming
her ass." I punch him in the side and he lands an uppercut to my ribs.

  The ringing of my phone interrupts our conversation with Romeo on the line. "Yeah, we just got in a few hours ago, I'm about to get some shut eye, I'll keep you posted."

  14

  Baby

  **Present day-Devils Rejects hideout**

  When I come to, my head is foggy, but I can tell I am still wearing my clothes and I am still in this fucking chair, but what did he inject me with? I hear lots of shouting and gunshots and I am afraid of what is on the other side of the door when the handle begins to turn.

  "Romeo," I cry out in shock and relief. What in the hell is he doing here? He tells me that there isn't much time explain, but he needs me to tell the police when they arrive that the Devils Rejects kidnapped me and that I don't know anything else, no matter who asks, that is the story I am to give. Romeo promises me that I am going to be okay, but he has to leave before the cops come and he will come by the hospital when he can to explain everything.

  I can vaguely here sirens in the distance as Romeo leaves me tied to this fucking chair. Moments later, I can hear the police swarming the building. "In here captain," an officer shouts as he kicks the door open to the room I am in.

  "You alright miss," I nod that I am. And the jackass has the nerve to tell me to sit tight, like where in the fuck am I going to go to tied to a fucking chair. I am trying to work out in my head how Romeo ended up here and what in the hell happened while I was knocked out. I am coming up blank.

  The cops have been questioning me for hours and I keep telling them what Romeo told me to say, but they aren't buying it. No one has been allowed in to see me, but I am finally given a reprieve when my doctor comes in and tells the detectives I need my rest.

  "Miss Jones, I would like to speak to you about your test results. We found traces of a mild sedative in your blood stream and THC. I will assume that was due to where you were being held. The fetus seems to be unaffected by any of it."

  "Hold up," is she crazy? "The whooba whatta? I'm not pregnant." Sweat beads breakout across my forehead. This cannot be happening to me. They must have made a mistake. I think I am going to be sick. She must be mistaken. I am not pregnant. He wore a condom didn't he or did he... My cheeks flush slightly remembering the way he made me feel, my body is a traitor, but my heart knows he did me wrong.

  "Your blood doesn't lie, I suspect you are very early in your first trimester, the hormone found in your blood stream was very faint, but I am sure if we were to do further testing we would find the same results. I see that this is quite a shock to you. I'd like to keep you over night and monitor you just to be on the safe side. Get some rest; you will not be bothered anymore tonight. I have given strict orders that you are not to have any visitors until tomorrow."

  I try to count back in my head she said first trimester early, fuck me I am not ready to have a baby and with Striker, after he fucking shit all over me. I am mentally exhausted and I drift off to sleep as I try to figure out what in the hell I am going to say to my father come morning. He is going to kill me. I can't tell anyone I am pregnant just yet, until I know what in the hell I am going to do.

  **

  I awaken at some point in the night to Romeo whispering in my ear. "Baby, can you hear me, I need you to wake up, it's important."

  Rubbing my eyes, I sit up in the bed. My wrists are sore from being bound to the chair. My lip feels puffy but nothing physical pains me, it's the mental pain that I can't bear.

  "Shit got crazy yesterday, I know you have questions and I have answers but right now isn't the time for them. No one is to know we have spoken." I nod urging him to continue. I know shit must be serious if Romeo is involved and talking club business with me. "What did you say to the cops?"

  I try to speak but my throat is scratchy, feeling parched I take a sip of the water on my side table. "I told them what you told me to, but they weren't buying my story, they kept pressing but I didn't crack."

  "Good girl, today you tell them that you remember more, that you weren't able to think clearly at first but now you remember. You tell them that Trouble took you there under the rouse of going to buy some weed and when you got there, you were ambushed. Trouble was shot trying to defend you, and if they ask you about Lucky, you deny knowing him. My friend at the station says that they have been looking for your phone, they are trying to place a link between you and Lucky, he was a fed and the boys in blue ain't too happy about losing one of their own and they are looking for someone to pin something on, don't give them shit. I was able to get your cell phone and put a new sim card in it. I have your old one; I'll give it back to you later. Don't tell anybody, not even your sister what went down, it's better for all of us. You're going to make one hell of an old lady one-day kid, we'll meet up when things die down. I gotta' go."

  After Romeo leaves I try to get some sleep, but I can't, my mind is working in overdrive trying to piece the lot together. The detectives are back by the time breakfast is served and I tell them the story Romeo gave me and they seem to buy it. Turns out Lucky wasn't lying to me, he was an undercover DEA agent and he had been working undercover for the past few years to bring down the Devils Rejects for dealing in drugs and he was looking for a way to bring down The Rebels but he didn't rat on us. Maybe a part of him really did love me. The swat team that raided the Rejects hideout was there to serve a warrant on the evidence that Lucky had turned over. I still don't know how Trouble fit into the story but I suspect Romeo knows and he will tell me when he can. When the detectives arrived on the scene, I was the only person found alive other than Trouble who was shot in the arm. How is that possible, did Romeo kill them all, including Rush? And is Lucky really dead?

  I am waiting for the doctor to release me when Grim and Sunshine come barging into my room. My father looks like he is ready to rip someone's head off, until he sees me and he breaks down in tears as he brings me into his arms. I don't think I can remember a time I have ever seen my father shed one single tear. Not one.

  Grim takes me into the chapel after I am released and he tells me everything that Romeo was supposed to. Trouble took a bullet in the arm and is being held for further questioning, but they do not have enough against him to really charge him with anything. After Trouble came back from Chicago he went to Romeo about the deal, he made with Lucky and the Devils Rejects all so that he could keep me safe. It doesn't escape me that there is no mention of Rebel being involved. Isn't that just like Trouble to protect Rebel, because he knows he is important to me.

  Rush was planning to lure my father out using me as bait and he was crazy enough to think that I would really shoot Grim. Trouble had no choice but to kill Lucky, if he hadn't he was going to use the evidence he had against all of us to blackmail us for money or who knows what else. Trouble knew he couldn't take them all out on his own. When he went to Romeo, he took Trouble to my father. Grim ordered Trouble to stick by Lucky's side until Rush made a move on me. My father was ready to kill Trouble when he found out he was working with a cop, but he soon realized Trouble did what he did to protect all of us and our way of life. When I showed up at the Devils Rejects hideout Trouble called Romeo for backup. When Trouble drugged me, it bought him enough time to wait for Romeo to arrive. My father was too far away to come and says if anything would have happened to me he would have never been able to forgive himself. I remind him that it didn't. For the first time in years, I feel closer to my father.

  **Chicago**

  Rumor

  Chicago is amazing and living with Aspen is great, except for the fact that she is constantly fighting with Striker. Their relationship has been strained since we got here. The guys have been occupied handling club business. Rebel has been really great to me. He has taken me out on his bike a few times and shown me around the city. He hasn't pressured me for more, but I know he will grow tired of the friend zone and then there is the fact that he is clearly a man, a good-looking man that has needs. I know a man will go and get his
needs fulfilled somewhere—Tread did, not that they are anything alike but I know I am not giving him what he needs even though he says it is enough for now. Now being the keyword. He is going to want more from me soon.

  Baby has been distant and down every time I talk to her, whenever I mention Aspen or Striker she hangs up with me, or stops responding to my text. I know Striker has something to do with it, I just wish I knew what. I mentioned it to Rebel, he told me he didn't want to tell me, because I am friends with Aspen and it would put me in an awkward position, which lead me to believe Baby and Striker messed around, and now she feels used yet again. On the other hand, I am reading much more into the conversation. I'd ask Baby but she never tells me anything unless she wants me to know anyways.

  I found a job at a coffee shop near our apartment and we live close enough to the university that I can walk on warm days, but in the winter, I foresee that I'll be taking the bus. Aspen has her car, but she will need it for work. I thought about getting a car but the parking fees in the city are insane. I am only signed up for the basic classes until I decide what it is I want to do with my life. Aspen says as much as she likes Rebel she thinks I need to experience life and get to do the full college experience without a boyfriend, like she is one to talk she can't go five minutes without keeping tabs on Striker.

  In fact he is here now and they are fighting because he is driving back to Drag Creek, Foxie called and said they need him home right now, something big went down but I have no idea what, because it is club business, and none of my concern. I left that life and I am not going to be sucked back in, not even for Rebel. And there it is—the biggest thing holding me back from him. How could we ever really work, he belongs to the life, no doubt about it and I want no part of it. Look at Aspen and Striker they can't go a few minutes without his loyalty to the club coming between the two of them. She is upset, she wants him to wait and drive back with her this weekend so she can visit her folks, but he says he has to leave now.