The intruding sound of a knock at my door annoys me, but breaks me free from the prison of my thoughts. “Yeah?”
“Just wanted to check on our little mother-to-be,” Nova says, peeking only her head in.
Narrowing my eyes, I begin to banter back and forth with her, “Well, I don’t know… how is she?” I return the question to her as I stand placing a hand on my hip. “She’s only showing her face and not her large round bump and swollen feet and hands. Tell me, Nova, how are you holding up these days? Need a few more fans? Should we have one of the prospects go buy you several window units?”
Pushing her way through the door, I begin to fear for my life with the look in her eyes as she waddles toward me. “Look here, Shara. I know you’re on an emotional roller coaster at the moment, but until you’ve been in my shoes, which you’re about to be, choose your words wisely… friend!” Her lower lip begins to quiver as her anger shifts toward a breakdown and I watch as the first of many tears slips down her cheek. “I know I haven’t been the easiest to deal with lately, but I blame Fox.” She slides her way down onto the bed, rubbing her protruding belly. “No, I take that back, it’s Prissy’s fault. That fucking expensive pocket pooch has cost me control over my body, my emotions, and my sanity.” She reaches upward and grabs the straps to my tank. “Run. Get out while you can.”
I can feel the arch of my brow as I gently remove her grasp from my tank. “Nova, my dearest and oldest friend, I don’t think you’re thinking clearly. How about we get you to your room with some nice ice-cold water and possibly a nap?”
She tries to stand abruptly, but it’s obvious she needs my help. Once standing, she does smile at me. “I’m sorry, Shara.”
“It’s fine. I’m beginning to understand this whole pregnancy hormone thing,” I begin to tell her so she doesn’t worry about her little meltdown, but she cuts my words short.
“No, not about what I said, girl I’m sorry you’re about to be dragged to the depths of hell as I have been and get to live it out yourself. Actually, I’m not sorry, not even a little,” she finishes as she makes a poor attempt to run toward the door.
“That’s right bitch, waddle your way out of here,” I holler at her through my laughter.
She shoots me the finger before pulling the door closed behind her. Plopping myself down onto my bed I laugh. Oh, I needed that more than I even realized. Although I did notice her belly does seem to be lower now. I’m not sure what they call that, but by looking at it, I’d say I would feel more comfortable if the men would hurry back now.
Pyro
Four more damn days have passed and all of us are gathered in Rogue’s room. We’re having a hard time grasping that the damn man we met when we got here, the man that was immaculately dressed, is the president of the Steel Empire motorcycle club. When he pulled up on his Harley, all of his tats on display and his cut proudly worn on his back, I couldn’t believe my damn eyes. That man, Gunner, is flat out running this entire city; if not the state. We only got a taste of how far his reach is on the West Coast, but something tells me it runs deep. We handled most of what we came here for. Kolton is safe and back in the protection of Steel Empire evidently. We were also able to meet and successfully retrieve Bones, the plant, from the Death Destructorz. All in all, we took care of what we came to destroy, and didn’t have one casualty on our end. Unfortunately, there’s more to handle.
“Everyone ready to ride out?” Rogue scans the room.
We all agree at once, needing to be back home with our women and families.
“Good, then let’s hit the road and put some miles behind us.”
We pile out and hustle to our bikes. Once on the road, we fly, pounding the tread of our tires against the pavement.
Shara
Our men have been on their way home for nearly three days now, and for some reason this wait feels like it’s taking longer than when we had no idea of when they’d be home.
“Oh, this wait is absolute torture.” I exhale as we’re all gathered around helping Nova wash and fold baby clothes. “Geez, these things are so tiny,” I acknowledge as I tuck away another small clothing article.
“Ugh, I can’t wait to get laid,” Outlaw announces, drawing all of our attention as her daughter is on the floor playing.
“I’m sure by now you realize they are like little sponges at this age,” Harlow interjects, looking down at Melodi.
Outlaw gives her a snarky look. “Are we really going there? Look at the environment she’s predestined to grow up in. I’m sure she’ll be just fine.”
“Boosheet,” Melodi blurts out, causing us all to turn in her direction before erupting in laughter.
“That’s her father’s fault, not mine. Case in point. She’s screwed either way. Plus, I refuse to attempt to shelter my child from every little thing. That in itself is a full-time job,” Outlaw declares before nonchalantly going back to folding.
Looking around at all of us gathered, folding tiny human clothes while bickering threatens to bring a tear to my eye. “Aww, look at us. We’re all knocked up, in different stages of our pregnancies; waiting like good old ladies for our men to arrive home from the war.”
“Oh, I think I’m gonna throw up a little bit,” Aria announces, holding her hand over her mouth. “Oh, false alarm… hopefully.”
“I’m so glad I’m not pregnant anymore, that stage was a real bitch,” Talia remarks, as she looks over to where Kash is sound asleep in the playpen.
“Well, lucky for y’all,” I state begrudgingly.
“Oh, I haven’t even hit that stage yet,” Outlaw admits, taking us all by surprise as we look up at her. “What? We’ve been trying and although my period isn’t late yet, I’m already showing symptoms. Seeing as I’m only four days away from my monthly cycle, that’s right, I peed on one of those tests this morning. Turns out I am in fact expecting. C’mon, I couldn’t let y’all go through this alone; especially you, Shara,” she explains.
Congratulations and hugs are passed around. Seeing as how those two were trying to get pregnant, it feels more appropriate for her even though I, too, was greeted the same.
Nova is the last to hug and as she does so, she groans. “Aww, thanks, Novalee. I know I’m good in the sack, but I never knew I could do it with a mere embrace. You’re the second one, ya know? And although I’m obviously not into women, if I were…”
“For fuck’s sake, Outlaw! Shut your damn trap for one second. That is not a moan of pleasure, that is a groan of pure pain. Nova, are you okay?” I place my hand on her arm as she hunches over grabbing at her belly before hollering out again.
“Oh, shit! I think this could be it,” Outlaw exclaims.
My eyes narrow to absolute slits as I glare at her. “Uh, yeah, Sherlock. You might be onto something.”
“Oh, you’re five minutes pregnant with your first child and suddenly you’re some expert?” Outlaw fires back.
“Ladies, ladies,” Harlow intervenes, escorting Nova to the sofa. “Let me get the stopwatch on my phone going so we can time these pains of yours, okay, sweetie?”
Nova nods with a scrunched nose in obvious discomfort. Looking around, I have no clue what to do now. I do however notice Aria go completely pale. Outlaw and I make eye contact at the same time. “I’ve got the Bobbsey twins here, you help Harlow with Nova,” she tells me.
“Okay, I’ll call Fox.” Not that he can hear on the road, but hopefully he has his earpiece in. Surely they can’t be too much further out, or at least I hope.
18
Pyro
Finally, I can breathe, forty-five minutes and counting before we turn down the exit that’ll lead us home. As we ride in formation, I’m enjoying the breeze blowing through my hair, when a blur passes by me, catching me by surprise. As I do a double take, I realize that it’s Fox who’s breaking formation and passing our pres by without a second thought. It’s against our code to disrespect Rogue in that manner, something’s gotta be up.
Pressing
a specific button on my Bluetoothed helmet, I initiate our group call. It only rings once before he answers and it sounds as if he’s out of breath. “Gotta jet, brothers, don’t have time for a chat. Nova’s having my babies, wish me luck, I’m fixing to go spend some time with the devil incarnate.”
“Well, boys, you heard the man. Time to kick it into a higher gear. We’ve got babies about to enter the world!” Rogue states excitedly.
Fox, you lucky bastard, I think to myself. Any other time this would be cause for a serious reprimand. On the other hand, you unlucky bastard, sleeping is now in the days of your past, times two. I inwardly chuckle.
As we arrive at the clubhouse the women are already escorting Nova to a car. I don’t think Fox even had enough time to turn his bike off. He parked it and jumped off so fast, running up to Nova.
I notice what appears to be him arguing with Harlow and Shara, so I quickly park then dismount and run up to them. “Hey, hey, everything’s fine. You’re here now. What’s this struggle I see?”
“DP! Oh my God!” Shara leaps into my arms and latches on for dear life and I squeeze her hard in return, still trying to understand what was going on.
“No struggle, brother. I just want to be the one to take care of my woman now that I’m here,” Fox shoots back.
Novalee cries out bending over before declaring, “You’ve done enough don’t ya think?”
Fox throws his hands up in defeat. “Fine, I’ll do whatever you want me to, sugar pie.”
Novalee shoots him the glare of death and he backs up as she doubles over once again, grabbing his cut this time, pulling him closer. “No, don’t leave. I need you here, close to me. Help me, please. Drugs, get me all the drugs. Knock me out, Fox! I’m begging you!”
“Baby, I only have this joint right here.” He hesitantly extends it toward Nova.
“You can’t be fucking serious. Recreational drugs? Please for the love of everything holy tell me this is another one of your jokes?” Novalee scolds him as we all stand idly by cringing at the scene unfolding before our eyes.
“So, that’s a no? Like a hard pass?” Fox questions.
“Get him away from me!” Novalee begins to once again slowly make her way with help from Harlow toward the waiting vehicle.
Fox stands, like a soldier yet also looking like a deer in headlights. His eyes shift to mine and I just shrug.
Harlow opens the passenger door and Novalee doubles over. “Fox! Where are you? I need you.”
Again, he peeks over at me for guidance. “Brother, why do you keep looking at me? I’m as confused as you are, but just do as you're told right now.”
I can feel Shara’s lips press against my neck as she softly traces her nails up and down my spine. “Is that how you’ll be?”
“Well, I mean, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, my little savage,” I whisper in her ear.
“Good. You’ve got around eight months or so to figure it out,” she whispers back in mine and I feel the ground beneath me begin to sink.
“I’m sorry, I think I just had a mild stroke. It sounded like you were attempting to tell me something important. Like perhaps my days of not being a father were also limited?” I stare into her eyes, and can feel my own blinking rapidly as I await her response.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, no implications. Asher, I’m pregnant.” The trace of a smile grows on her face.
While this is an enormous surprise and extremely unexpected and I have some serious questions, all I truly feel is complete joy. “So, I’m gonna be a… and you’re having my?” I never finish either of my questions fully, but she smiles wide and nods her head yes.
I twirl my woman around and shout, “I’m gonna have a baby!”
“Not before me, fucker. I’m out of here!” Novalee alerts the entire block.
As they drive away, we all mount our bikes with our women in tow. “Hey, Pyro, I always knew Shara was the man in that relationship.” Rogue shoots me a wink before we ride off to celebrate the birth of the newest club members.
The End… For Now
Epilogue
Shara
Waiting for the birth of a new child is time consuming, but waiting on two, is absolute hell. We are all in a bit of shock since we were informed that the delivery wasn’t going well and they were taking Nova to the operating room for an emergency c-section. One of the babies was turned in the wrong direction or something of that sort, so a natural delivery wasn’t going to happen.
Since that announcement was made, each of the men have been pacing the waiting room as if they are the man expecting the birth of these little girls and not Fox. These are some very excited uncles and it brings a smile to my face knowing that when my time comes, they’ll be doing this exact same thing, minus Pyro.
As time passes by, the room grows more anxious and the men are beginning to get all growly. “How long does this shit take anyways? I don’t remember Outlaw being back for that long when she had Melodi?” Edge mumbles as he watches the seconds tick by slowly.
“Merc, baby?” Outlaw calls out his name, but she gets all of our eyes on her as well. “Honey, sweetie, you knocked me up!”
“Daddy, laid!” Melodi claps her hands together.
My head swivels in Rogue's direction as I hear a disgusted, disgruntled sound vibrates from his chest. “Come to Papa, my little Angel. These two clearly need some time to talk, alone.” He narrows his eyes into slits as he pulls his granddaughter from her father’s arms.
“So, what the hell is going on around here? Did you women get together and schedule your monthly cycles or something? Fuck, the whole club is knocked up,” Sandman questions, causing Aria to close in any space between the two of them.
“Oh tell me that you’re joking with that asinine question? That is not how this works. And if you are having some sudden problem with our child and me being pregnant, you’d better speak the fuck up,” Aria chastises him.
Before a full-blown argument between the two of them can erupt, we’re interrupted with Fox as he busts through the doors. “They’re here! And they’re girls!”
As ridiculous as he sounds, we all know he’s excited and, well, just being himself. We all rush to smother him with our congratulations and when we’re done, he pulls out his phone.
“This is them! So, here’s Emmi, and this is Elli,” he proudly announces their names.
“They’re adorable,” I announce. “Beautiful, just like their mother.” I wipe away the stray tears of joy that have made lines down my cheeks.
“Gross.”
“Ew.”
“Oh, man.”
Ah, the audacity and honesty from the three fathers-to-be who have never truly paid close enough attention to a newborn until it was their own fatherless days on the chopping block. Each of them earned a smack on the chest from us as Rogue and Merc just chuckled.
“Don’t worry, guys. I honestly thought the same thing. You wouldn’t believe the stuff they’re covered in and all the blood,” Fox starts and I loudly clear my throat issuing an order for him to stop.
“Thank you. I promise not to tell Nova as long as you can keep those details to yourself, eh?”
I look at Pyro who still appears to be well and full of color. The other two, not so much.
Pyro
Rogue passes out pink bubblegum cigars to all of the women, and of course, we all step outside to celebrate with real Cuban tobacco.
We exchange congratulations to one another as this birth has us all thinking ahead to our own future children. As I puff away, I glance inside at the women and notice my beautiful Shara as she stands there happily with not a care in the world. Now I have more than just her and this club to protect, I have a child. I can feel my blood boil at the thought of anyone even remotely thinking about getting their hands on either of them. Unfortunately, the secret we’re all harboring right now will keep us up for many nights in the near future and with more on the line than ever.
War is comi
ng.
End note: You may notice some jumps in time and some unanswered questions. These were left open-ended on purpose, we plan to fill in the blanks in the next, upcoming book in the Twisted Iron Motorcycle Club. Next up is Rogue and Bella, this one will be done a bit differently from the previous books in the series. It will be in two parts. Past and Present times. Until then, we hope you enjoyed Pyro and Shara’s HEA.
Dedication
To all the women and men out there who believe in love, through all walks of life, this book is dedicated to you.
Kayce & Liberty
Acknowledgments
We’d like to make sure our PAs Nicole Lloyd and Sharon Renee get recognition for all of their hard work they do on our behalf. We love ya ladies.
To our editor and partner in crime, Darlene Tallman, thank you for taking our words and hard work and making them come across as expertly written. We love ya to the moon and back.
To our support readers team, Twisted Iron Groupies, we love and appreciate all of your support.
To our readers, thank you for always believing in us. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Kayce & Liberty
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