“You ready?”
She shook herself out of her own reverie and opened the passenger door, sliding easily into the leather seat.
“I thought we’d grab some food in town. What are you in the mood for?”
Emily thought about it…
“A big burger smothered in bacon!”
When Green looked up at her, she was smiling wide with anticipation.
Green gripped her hand in his for only a beat before he nodded and started the engine.
“There’s my girl. Let’s do this.”
~’~
Emily held a brown paper back tucked in her palm as Green led her towards an old wooden bench in the middle of a park she’d never been to before. It was breezy now that the sun wasn’t so high in the sky, and Emily felt a little bit better about the sticky heat.
Green set his own bag of food down as he slid onto the bench opposite her, a stern look of concentration on his face.
“You didn’t have to pay for my food. I could have done it myself,” She said softly.
He glanced up at her as he tore into his own burger, a piece of lettuce hanging out of the side of his mouth.
“I know ya could, Em. It was ten bucks. Not a big deal.”
Emily still felt like it was a big deal though, because he was being kind to her, and she’d been awful to him for months.
As she picked at her French fries, Green swallowed his food and took a swig of his drink before he gestured to the greenery around them.
“It’s a gorgeous day. You’re healthy, your baby is fine. What’s got you so down?”
If only I could explain it to you.
“Why have you been so nice to me?”
“Because I love you, and you needed a friend.”
His answer flowed so easily, like he was telling the truth, and it made sense. She couldn’t argue with such sound logic, because he’d told her right after Rider died that he wouldn’t abandon her.
His jade eyes were trained on her as she sipped on her own drink, anxiety creeping up the side of her neck, reddening her cheeks.
He leaned in closer to her from across the table, and she looked up at him.
“I wanted to name the strip club Peener Paradise. Did I ever tell you that?”
“Maybe once,” She murmured.
Green chuckled to himself as he nodded his red head.
“Prettyboy shot me down hard on that. But, I did get me and Slayer matching t-shirts. Remember when I got you your own t-shirt, Em?”
How could she forget?
It was tucked away in a drawer back at the club house, hiding the giant penis with wings attached from anyone who could be curious enough to see it.
“Yes.”
“Do you still have it?,” He asked her gently.
Emily nodded again.
Green smiled, more to himself than to her, when he said, “Good. I know girls like sparkly presents and things that smell good, but you’re different.”
Emily frowned as she swallowed a big ‘ol bite of her burger, nearly moaning in bliss when the maple flavor of the bacon exploded on her pink tongue. Her eyes rolled back in her head and when she opened them again, she asked Green what he meant by that.
He shrugged, shoving a fistful of fries into his cake-hole.
“You’re not like the other girls. You don’t get annoyed with me, and you always let me chatter away, even when I’m just rambling. You don’t make me feel weird or like an outsider. I always loved that about you.”
Emily hadn’t ever thought of things in that way before. Maybe because she’d made so many mistakes that had inevitably landed her in hot water, maybe because she’d always been different herself.
Scarlett liked pretty things, sparkly things.
Emily liked leather and ghost stories and more often than not she wore black instead of any other color.
She also secretly coveted the small gifts Green had given her over time, and while shed wanted nothing more than to light them on fire and burn them to ash when he’d hurt her so bad, she hadn’t.
“I wanted to ruin all the little things you’d given me,” She admitted.
Green’s head snapped up as he watched her closely.
“Why didn’t you?”
Emily shrugged quickly.
“I guess because they were the first gifts I’d received in a long time, and you put a lot of thought into them.”
Green was done with his burger, so she watched as he rolled up the wrapper into a ball and shoved it back into the paper bag it had come in.
“At least you have some good memories, huh?”
The question was a light one, but his tone was heady and sad. She could hear it, the remorse he felt still.
Emily wasn’t so sure how to let go of the past and everything that followed, but she couldn’t deny the fact that Killian hadn’t left her side since they brought her home from Sexy Sinners three months ago, covered in blood and brain matter.
Swallowing her negative thoughts, she admitted, “I have a lot of good memories. The best.”
Green looked skeptical.
“Are you lying to me?”
Emily slowly shook her head.
“I’m not lying. And, I know I haven’t said anything, but I really appreciate all you’ve done for me since Rider died. I haven’t handled any of that well, I know that, and I’m trying to change that. I haven’t been myself for a long, long time, and I just wanna get back to that place.”
Her voice shook for less than two-point-five seconds, but it was enough to make her blush. She wasn’t used to opening up to Killian anymore, and truthfully, she hadn’t been too good at that before everything went to hell between them.
Green ran an index finger along the back of her palm slowly, his eyes downcast.
“You don’t have to thank me. I don’t deserve it. I just want to be there for you.”
Emily sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, her dark eyes meeting his over the top of the table.
“I know this may not be…I understand if you want to say no, but I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come to my doctor’s appointment with me tomorrow? The girls will be coming back tomorrow evening, but my appointment is in the morning so I just thought-,” Emily stopped talking when Green lifted her hand into his and kissed the back of her palm, much like he used to do.
He’d done it a few times since Rider died, but he never crossed the line with her physically.
Yet, when his gaze darkened the slightest bit and his lips touched her skin, Emily could feel a glimmer of her feelings for him spark to the surface.
“I would love to come with you. You don’t need an arsenal of excuses to get me to go with you,” He said.
Emily nodded, deciding it was best not to say anything to that.
What can I say?
As fucked up as it is, I can’t imagine anyone else going with me?
Emily decided to change the topic of conversation.
“How did you and Ox’s dad meet in prison?,” She wondered.
A flicker of surprise ghosted across his face, but he didn’t say anything about it.
“When I went in my family arranged for some protection for me. I stuck with the guys they told me to because it was easiest. I had a few other groups of people wantin’ me to join their ranks, but I was loyal to whom my family chose. They went through a lot of trouble to pull strings from the outside, but my family has people everywhere. One day I was outside, enjoying the sun, when a fight broke out.”
Emily listened, riveted, as he told her more about his past than ever before.
“It was Archer, Ox’s dad. He’d also been mindin’ his own business when a rival gang decided they wanted a piece of him. He was injured, older, but damn could he fight. He held his own for a second, but I couldn’t just watch him go down like that. He wasn’t in for very long, that much I already knew about him, so I stepped in and helped him out.”
Emily nodded.
“What then?”
“Archer didn’t necessarily need protection, but I kept an eye on him just the same. He found in the cafeteria one day and asked me about my life outside of my cell. I told him who I was and he recruited me for the Seven Deadlies. The club used to be a lot bigger than just seven men, but after an inside betrayal got a lot of the original members killed, Archer and his VP, Riker, decided to keep the circle small. See, Archer had this club entangled with so many illegal activities that ATF was constantly breathin’ down their necks. That’s why he was in the slammer with me. His lawyer got him out ahead of time, but he told me about how he wanted a change. He wanted to go green, eventually, because at the end of the day, the love they’d had for just riding had disappeared along the way.”
Green’s tone of voice had gone nostalgic and sentimental and Emily could honestly admit she’d never heard him speak about his past before. He usually avoided all talk of who he was before he joined the club.
“So, how long until you got to join the club?”
Green grinned like a madman and sighed, his white teeth making an appearance as he ran a tongue along them.
“A couple of years. I didn’t have to prospect like Torch though, so that was a bonus. I just bought a bike and joined the ranks. When Archer realized I was so good with money, he made the club accountant.”
Emily couldn’t help but feel a blip of pride at how he’d saved Archer.
“That was very kind of you, to help him.”
Emily knew that Green had a habit of helping people, even when he didn’t have anything to gain, and that was something she’d always loved about him. Something that had drawn her to him all those months ago.
They hadn’t had long together, but somehow, it felt like it she’d known him for years.
“Don’t go thinkin’ I’m a hero, baby. We both know I’m not. I don’t know how to do that. But, I earned my place and I’ll keep earnin’ until I can’t ride anymore or someone takes me out.”
Emily’s brow furrowed at that last bit, because she couldn’t imagine him leaving now. Her stomach rolled at the thought and she shook her head.
“Don’t talk like that. You’re not going anywhere.”
Green paused, his eyes landing on her.
“Em, I was just making a point. I’m not gonna die.”
Panic.
Blood.
Bang!
Fear rippled through her, and even though she knew that she was at the park with Killian and not in the basement of Sexy Sinners, she felt panic overtake her at the thought of Green dying, too.
“You can’t, okay? Promise me you won’t!,” She demanded shakily.
Green scooted closer to the edge of table, his hands lifting hers and squeezing.
“Calm down, Em. I’m not goin’ anywhere. I promise.”
Emily blinked slow, and then realized he was holding out a pinky in her direction.
“You broke the last pinky promise you made to me,” She muttered anxiously.
Green ducked his head for a second.
“I pinky promise I’ll never-ever-ever hurt you.”
The tragedy of it hung in the air between them.
“I know I did. But, I won’t this time. Talk is cheap, baby, so you’re just gonna have to trust me. Okay?”
Trust me.
Trust him?
He’d singlehandedly ripped her heart out, but Emily realized that was how she was going to move on. She needed to take that chance.
She hooked her pinky with Green’s.
He smiled easily at her, as if they hadn’t gone months being estranged.
“I promise I won’t leave you, Emily Monroe.”
A strange feeling wormed its way into her chest and settled there, burrowed in deep.
It felt an awful lot like contentment, but Emily knew that was crazy.
Wasn’t it?
Chapter 14
“Your baby is doing great, Em.”
Laura smiled at both her and Green, who were sitting side by side, watching the monitor with wide eyes.
Laura motioned towards the monitor, speaking softly about the baby’s anatomy but all Emily could do was stare.
There was a little baby in her womb, a person, and it was half of her and half of Rider. Green was riveted by the moving baby on the screen, by the sound of the baby’s heartbeat, she could tell. He’d lifted her hand in his the second Emily caught sight of what was growing inside her.
He hadn’t said a word, nor had he looked away from the screen, and for some reason Emily was speechless.
Laura was smiling again as Emily cleared her throat and asked, “That’s my baby?”
Laura nodded, her hair falling into her eyes as she chuckled.
“Yeah, that’s your little baby. You’re still too early to determine the gender, but in a few weeks, we should be able to figure that out. You do want to know, right?”
Emily hadn’t thought about that before. Did she want to know? Would it be better if it were a surprise?
As Laura handed over a few printed pictures of her peanut, Emily told Laura the truth.
“I need to think about it,” She whispered.
Laura nodded and gestured towards the door.
“You’re all set whenever you’re ready, you can get dressed. I’ll see you guys later, okay?”
Emily nodded and watched Laura leave the room.
The door closed softly behind her, and Emily sucked in a deep breath. Green’s thumb was moving gently across the back of her hand, almost in tandem with her heart rate, and just when she was about to ask him what he was thinking about, he shocked the hell out of her.
Green settled a large hand on her rounded belly, his mouth upturned in a smile.
“Hi, little one. My name is Green, and I’m your mama’s friend.”
Emily’s mouth fell open when Green wiped her belly off with a dry paper towel, removing all the gel from her flushed skin.
“I can honestly say this is the first time I’m seein’ a baby as small as you, but you’re so beautiful. Just like your mama,” Green said as he threw the paper towel away.
Emily opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing but he started to talk to her belly again.
“I read that the second trimester is when you can start to hear voices. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I figured it can’t hurt to try.”
Emily wasn’t so sure she far enough along for that, but Green’s words stopped her from telling him.
He’s been reading about babies.
Why?
His fingers scaled across her hardened abdomen and he scooted closer to her belly, his beard brushing against her belly button. It was as if she wasn’t in the room with them, but Emily didn’t think that was a bad thing.
Green was doing something she hadn’t anticipated or expected. Sure, she’d asked him to come to the appointment, but she hadn’t expected for him to be so…affected by it.
“I kind of hope you’re a girl, like Flora. Maybe you’ll have dark eyes like your mama, or hazel eyes like your daddy. Your daddy would be so proud of you already, little one. I know I am,” Green said.
Emily’s eyes filled with tears and she fought the urge to fall apart right then and there at Green’s sweet words. He was doing as he promised he would; he was making sure Rider wasn’t forgotten, and even her baby couldn’t understand what that meant yet, she did.
Green glanced up at her, a smile on his face, but it faded when he saw that she was crying.
“I’m sorry, did I upset you? I didn’t mean to over-step my boundaries-”
Emily lifted his hand to her face and shook her head. Green’s face softened as he turned to face her completely, his other hand still resting on her belly.
The sunlight made his eyes appear even brighter as they narrowed in her direction and he ducked his head, his plaid shirt falling open to reveal a blue t-shirt with the outline of a pair of tits on it. Emily would have laughe
d at the ridiculousness of his t-shirt if she weren’t already crying, an emotional mess.
“You didn’t over-step, Killian. I’m really glad I brought you with me,” She admitted.
“Why you cryin’ then, lady? You should be happy.”
Emily sniffed, her mouth lifting for a second in a rueful smile.
“That’s the thing…I am. For the first time this all seems so real, but a part of me was worried that you’d be upset that the baby isn’t yours. I know that doesn’t make sense, because we aren’t even together, but..,” She admitted.
He winced at the truth as it left her lips, but he didn’t argue either.
“When I first found out, I was upset about that. I know it didn’t seem like it, but I was serious about you. I wish you were havin’ my baby, Em, but I won’t love this baby any less just because it isn’t mine.”
Emily watched him with wide eyes, confusion marring her face.
“Sometimes you talk like we’re still together, like we’ll be a couple again,” She whispered.
Green lifted the hand she was holding and caressed her cheek, his lips pursed beneath his beard.
“Maybe we’re not a couple, but you’ve still got your hooks in me. I haven’t lied about that in any sense, and I won’t start now. I was fuckin’ ecstatic when you asked me to come with you today, because you’re sharin’ something so special with me. I know this isn’t a date, and I know yesterday wasn’t either, but someday it will be. One day the situation will change, and I won’t mess it up again, and we’ll find our way back to each other, just like we were always meant to.”
Emily blinked, her dark eyes still wet with tears that she still didn’t want to shed.
“What about my baby?”
It was the first time she’d claimed her child out loud, and it sounded so right to her. Green shrugged his wide shoulders as he ran his free palm over the mound of her stomach, stopping right above the hem of her yoga pants.
“I told you, I’ll love the baby like it’s my own. I’m not lookin’ to replace Rider as this baby’s father, that ain’t my place. But, I can be a father to the baby, Emily. We can always have one of our own, later.”
He’s not giving up!
Greed (Seven Deadlies MC Book 4) Page 10