by Fox, Nicole
I rolled my eyes.
“And how many chapters have you gotten to agree to help?”
“None of your goddamn business, you fucking flake—”
“That’s all the answer that I need.” I took a drag from the cigarette that I held in my hand. It was burning its way down on its own, and I didn’t want to waste it. Besides, dealing with Leech was enough to drive a man to eat a pack of cigarettes, let alone smoke it.
“I’ve got the Rough Riders and Marco’s boys headed your way this week. They should be enough for now. I’m gonna round up some more and drive back with whoever is willing to lend a hand.”
“You’re sure taking your sweet ass time about it,” Leech said. “You planning something, Wheeler?”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m doing what Satan wanted me to do.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not too happy about how you’re going about doing it. Thinks you not telling him was a sign of dissention.”
That made me stiffen.
Satan would know better.
“I’m loyal to Satan,” I said. “So if you’ve put it in his head—”
“I don’t have to put anything in his head when you’re the one that’s done the deed,” he said. “You just watch yourself, Wheeler. Keep in mind who is here and who ain’t.”
He hung up the line.
Sniveling, conniving little bastard …
But his words didn’t sit well with me. Keep in mind who is here and who ain’t. I didn’t like the sound of that. Was he spinning me being gone a certain way? I’d known coming to Boss would be risky—what was Leech telling Satan?
It wasn’t anything that I could act on at the moment anyway. I had other things to worry about. Keeping an eye on the news. Keeping an eye on Ember. Getting other chapters together. Seeing if there were still any friends of Satan willing to get themselves into a tangle for the man.
One thing I didn’t have to worry about, at least, was how Ember was going to fare. Boss would let her stay indefinitely. That was something that I could count on and didn’t have to question.
Tiny miracles.
Ember
We sat in Wheeler’s room, on his bed, with a box of pizza I had ordered between us. We munched on it, and had some cheesy, terrible horror movie played on the television screen. I didn’t mind, though. This was the most fun that I had had in ages, and Wheeler was good company, making all sorts of funny commentary to go with it.
“That blood is so fake-looking.”
“Well, not everyone can afford the fancy corn syrup stuff, Wheeler.”
“And this chick’s screams are totally fake.”
“She is acting.”
“Yeah, but it should at least be believable.”
I laughed and took a swig from the bottle of Coke that I had bought to go along with our pizza. It was nice to have something to fall back onto to relax with everything going on. Wheeler had been getting in contact with other chapters of the Sons that neighbored San Diego. Apparently, he had managed to round up two or three that were willing to go as back up to the Big Sur clubhouse. Wheeler had sent them ahead, had some that were waiting for when Wheeler was ready to head back to Big Sur to confront the situation head on.
He didn’t talk about it a lot, but the chapters that he had sent ahead at least did a little to halt the full-force retaliation that the police department had intended on launching against the Satan’s Sons. It bought time—but I wasn’t sure what kind of time or for whom it was being bought. Eventually we’d have to find a way to clear my name, but that was up in the air. It would boil down to Jameson coming clean, and there was about as much faith in that happening as, well, the sky falling to the ground.
I pushed those thoughts away though. Instead I focused on Wheeler and how he folded up a massive slice of pizza like a taco, munching on it in just a few bites.
“You’re like a garbage disposal, you know that, right?” I shook my head and got down and dirty on my own piece—I had no room to talk.
Wheeler was quick to point this out to me.
“You’re just as bad. It’s even worse because you’re a woman. Aren’t you supposed to be dainty and prim and proper?”
I gave him the middle finger and proceeded to shove the rest of my pizza in my mouth.
“Prim and proper, my ass,” I said when I finally swallowed down the massive amount that I’d consumed. “I do what I want. You do too.”
Wheeler laughed. There was no more pizza, and he slid the box out of the way, crawling over to me on the bed. He got into my space, pushing his face against mine to nuzzle.
“What if I wanted to do you?”
I grinned.
“Then I guess you could do that. If it’s what you want.”
He laughed and tugged me so I was under him. Sex was becoming a favorite pastime of mine, and with Wheeler being the man giving it to me, I didn’t have any real objections to that fact. I was eager, and we’d fucked every night since coming to San Diego. It was thrilling.
He kissed me, hot, and heavy. My lips parted and I breathed against him, tugging at his clothing. It was quick to come off, and I was quick to get my hand around his cock, pumping him. I had come to really like the way he felt in my hand. He was heavy and thick, and he pulsed with every stroke that I gave him. He bucked into my hand and I squeezed him hard.
“Fuck, you’re gonna get me addicted to your hands,” he said.
I chuckled.
“Shame it’s just my hands you’re going to get addicted to.”
“All of you. Hands. Lips. This.”
I arched as he slid his fingers into me, plunging at least two in in one go. His fingers were filling and hit the mark as he strummed and stroked inside me in time with the way I stroked his cock.
“Just like that, Ember.” His jaw clenched as he continued to work me open. Eventually, I got impatient. I wanted him in me, and I wanted him in me now. I didn’t need him to pad and paw around me.
I slapped his hand away and guided his cock toward me. I watched his face as I did the initiating of rocking my hips down on him, taking him in me. I bit my lip through a grin, seeing his eyes roll as my tightness and wetness surrounded him. I wrapped my legs around him and bucked my hips up, urging him to move.
“Come on, I thought you wanted to do me,” I teased him. I ran my nails down his back and Wheeler bucked up against me. He took my hands in his and pinned them roughly down to the bed. I gasped when he hit deep—he talked about getting addicted, but he had a cock that could make me weep just to have it inside. I moaned when he reached deeper and deeper on every thrust.
“Doing it enough for you?” he taunted between my moans.
“Fuck you. Could be harder.”
He drilled into me, rising to my challenge, and I let him have me harder, faster, until he was knocking the bed against the wall with the force of his thrusts. It was a good thing that he didn’t have anyone in the room across from him. It would have kept someone up late.
Not that I really cared. I was busy being kept up late myself.
I rolled my hips against every thrust until it was impossible to keep up. Wheeler was like a freight train and he just didn’t stop, didn’t let up; there was nothing that slowed him ramming into me. I tossed my head back, moaning as my walls tightened around him and I clung to him.
“Don’t stop, fuck.”
He didn’t.
Again and again.
He drew out an orgasm from me.
Then another.
After the second, I was still rolling high, and he was still hard. The stuttered staccato movement of his thrusts told me he was close.
I tightened around him intentionally. I fluttered and flowed around him. I was so sensitive. My pussy ached and my clit throbbed, but it ground onto him hard, wanting to make Wheeler cum and milk him for what he was worth.
“Come on, come on,” I urged. I buried my face into his neck, nibbling and biting on him to get him to keep going.
He gripped my wrists and pinned me harder as he fucked me harder too. Harder, harder, until he snapped into me and I felt my insides coated hot and sticky with his cum. He pumped himself in and out of me, working his hips and cock until he couldn’t anymore.
Wheeler collapsed beside me, a panting mess in the wake of our release—in my case, multiple. I was getting a little used to it if I did say so myself.
I threw my arm over Wheeler’s chest and snuggled into it. He was so big and muscular. I loved that he let me do this. So many men were afraid of any show of intimacy after, but Wheeler wrapped his arm around me and kept me close. His nose buried itself into my hair.
“Hm, you’re going to make it hard to get up and out of bed in the morning,” he said. His voice was already thick with sleepiness and grogginess that I thought was endearing. I laughed at him.
“Says the person that just laid into me like a freight train. I doubt that I’m going to be getting much done tomorrow myself.”
“At least you don’t have to get on and ride a motorcycle.”
I smirked. No … I didn’t. I doubt that I would decide to bite the bullet and do so anyway even if I had to get up and go anywhere tomorrow.
I could get used to this.
Used to us.
Man, what on earth had I gotten myself into?
Chapter Fourteen Ember – Two Weeks Later
I was happy I was able to roam about San Diego while Wheeler dealt with the issues plaguing the internal affairs of his MC. I didn’t know about all of that, and I wasn’t much help as far as fixing all of it went. All I could do was put my faith in Wheeler that he knew what he was doing.
At this point … I trusted him with at least that. And if I were honest with myself, even more.
I walked about the streets of San Diego, a new, shoulder-length blonde wig on my head and a pair of shades on. The blonde wig was easily the favorite out of the small collection that I was amassing. I had bought it on one of my (frequent) outings around San Diego and had surprised Wheeler at the bar we were meeting at. I had hit on him—he hadn’t even recognized me, and he hadn’t even hit on me back.
Well. At least not until I told him that it was me. I had enjoyed that.
So today it was out and about in that blonde wig. I wore a cute sundress, something that I usually wouldn’t wear myself, but Wheeler had figured that it would be a good idea to look as little like myself as possible. It had been almost two weeks since we’d been here, two otherwise amazing weeks.
Until I had woken up this morning.
And realized that I should have had my period by now.
The cute sundress was mostly a crutch to have something nice for myself and not completely lose my shit while I processed that.
I didn’t want to panic. That was something that I couldn’t afford right now on top of everything. So when Wheeler offered to drop me off in the city while he hit up another MC, I took it.
“You gonna be good?” he asked, looking around like he expected the police or some undercover cop to come running around the corner. His concern was endearing, and I smiled at him, waving him off.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. I’ll call if I want to get out of here early, but I’ve never been to San Diego and I want to get in as much of it as I possibly can for now.”
“Whatever you say.”
He sped off and the anxiety settled once more in the pit of my stomach. I almost wished that I had told him why I wanted to go out and about alone today, but I didn’t think adding more things to his plate when this was already a huge helping on mine would be a good idea.
One step at a time. Actually figure out if you’re pregnant or not. Then we can figure everything else out.
It didn’t take me long to find a drugstore. A generic store with everything from first aid to candy and snacks. Avoiding the inevitable, I loitered around the candies, taking my sweet time in choosing one for myself. Chocolate or gummies? Off-brand or name? Choices, choices.
Eventually I realized I was taking entirely way too much time to look innocent. One of the clerks came up to me, an older woman dressed neatly in the store’s blue and white uniform.
“Hi, dear, do you need any help?”
“Oh, uh, no, just looking.”
She smiled kindly at me. Knowingly.
“Is there something other than candy specifically that you’re looking for?”
I swallowed. It wasn’t like I needed to feel ashamed around this woman. This was what she was paid to do. She was paid to help people like me. Unbiased. No judgement.
“Um.” I grabbed one of the candy bars, just so it didn’t seem too much like I was intentionally trying to stall on this. “I actually also need. A pregnancy test? Or two.”
The woman nodded and put her hand gently on my shoulder.
“Right this way, dear.”
The woman led me out of the candy aisle and past a few of the other aisles before getting to the dreaded reproductive section with all the fancy condoms and preventative aids—and all the pregnancy tests.
“Now,” she said, “they say that you should take a couple, from different tests, just to make sure that you don’t have a false positive or negative. I would recommend this brand and this brand.” She leaned forward and picked up two of the brands mentioned and showed me. They both had pretty colors and depicted smiling babies and happy mothers. I wondered how many people had stared at them and felt dread.
I didn’t feel dread when I took the boxes from the woman. I didn’t really feel anything, but that slight calm that came before something big happened. Didn’t need to be something bad—just something big.
A baby was definitely a big thing.
Did Wheeler even want to be a father?
Would he even want to be a parent with me?
I had gotten to know him but … we hadn’t known each other for long. There was no denying the unbreakable chemistry that was between us though.
“Dear?”
I blinked.
“Hm? I’m sorry. I guess I just. Spaced out a little.”
“That’s quite all right, dear. Is this all you’ll be getting or do you need a little more time to look around or make a selection?”
“No, no, this will be fine,” I said. I followed the woman back to the front counter, where I paid for the two tests and the candy bar that I’d snatched up.
“You have a good day, dear, and good luck,” she said.
I smiled and nodded, taking my things.
“Thank you.”
I headed back to the bathroom, intent on taking the test then and there just to get it all out of the way. I stopped about halfway back there.
I couldn’t find out if I was going to be a mother in a drugstore bathroom.
I also couldn’t risk Wheeler seeing these before I was able to get the tests taken, either.
Stricken, I went into the bathroom. I removed the tests from their boxes, took the instructions for each one, and popped them safely into my purse after wrapping them up in tissue paper. Wheeler didn’t look through my things—this was the safest way to get this done and kept from him, for now.
I felt bad about hiding this, but I felt that it was for the best. I would tell him when I knew for certain if I was pregnant. After all, if I wasn’t then there was nothing to tell, right?
Right.
I ducked into a little café, deciding that I needed to treat myself to something nice while I was out. The woman that seated me was a petite thing, young, fresh-faced. Her smile made me feel a little better about the situation.
“Hey, my name is Marie. What can I get for you today?”
“Um, just a mocha and a cherry Danish?”
“All right, sounds good, I’ll get that put in for you.”
“Thank you.”
Marie flitted off, and I was left to my own devices. I was jittery. I couldn’t sit still. I tapped my feet on the floor and fiddled around with my napkin. Thought when I got my mocha, I would feel better—it had
whipped cream on it and everything; that was enough to make anyone feel better—but no dice.
I was wholly aware of the pregnancy tests that were in my purse.
They were going to seal my future for good.
“Oh, damn it.”
I needed someone to talk to. I thought about calling Wanda, but I had decided to try and keep her as out of this whole mess as I possibly could. That left … my mother. My mother would know exactly what to say, I knew it.