Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6)

by Muriel Garcia

  “Where are they?” Bella asks him.

  “Living room,” he says, and she pushes past him. “We have a bone to pick.” He looks at me.

  “I don’t do apologies. I was trying to protect what’s mine and get back her son if you happened to have them.”

  “Fair enough. I know you’re taller, stronger, and could kill me with just one punch, but if you ever hurt her, I’ll end you one way or another. She’s like a sister to me. If you’re not serious about you two, then let her go now.” I have to give it to him; the kid has balls to say that kind of thing to me when he clearly knows what I’m capable of.

  “Heard you loud and clear. I don’t want to hurt her, nor do I plan to. I…fuck.”

  “You love her yet you can’t say it?” he scoffs.

  “I do, and it’s not as easy as it seems. I know I’m putting her life at risk with the way I live mine. I should stay away from her, but I can’t. I’ve tried, and it nearly killed me.”

  “How so?”

  “Can’t tell you, it’s club business.”

  “Tell me.” He crosses his arms over his chest and sizes me up. Probably trying to figure out the best way to attack me if I try anything.

  “After we finished club business, my head was in a bad place–nothing to do with Bella. I realized I was bad for her and tried to distance myself. Longest fuckin’ week of my life. I may be bad for her, but she brings out the good in me. I can’t live without her.”

  He snorts. “Never thought I could make a biker confess to anything. I’ve got some street cred alright.” He chuckles and lets me in.

  “Only because I don’t want to lose her,” I tell him and walk in. I stand by the doorway looking into the living room.

  Watching her play with her son is doing things to me I wish it didn’t. It makes me happy that she’s reunited with him again, but it also brings back memories of Billy. Of when he and Alina were alive and playing. Their bond was indestructible, and it lasted until the end their last breaths. I can see so much of Billy in Elijah, it’s taking my breath away.

  Bella looks up and gives me a soft smile. I know she feels bad for hiding the fact that she has a son, and I can understand why. It’s not the easiest thing to say to someone, but it makes me wonder what else she could have been hiding.

  I need to step away from all of this, but if I do, I fear that I’ll never see her again. I can’t. Whoever trashed her apartment was looking for something, and they’re still out there. They could come after her and kill them both.

  It makes me wonder if it could be the guy who killed Alina and Billy. The cops never did a proper investigation, claiming there were no leads and what little evidence that may have been mistakenly left behind went up in flames. If it’s the same killer, why target Bella? She never did anything wrong and if it’s linked to me, he had his revenge long ago. It makes no sense.

  “Are you okay?” Gail’s mom asks me.

  “I’ll get there.”

  “You were worried,” she presses.

  “Yes.” I look at her and nod.

  “There’s something else. You’ve lost a son,” she whispers, and I look at her, confused. “The way you look at her and Elijah, so much sadness. You’ve suffered a great loss.” She pats my arm.

  “It was long ago.”

  “Time doesn’t heal all the scars. Some wounds are left open and will never close. You just have to learn to deal with the pain they bring you.”

  “How?”

  “I’ve lost a kid, too. Probably not in the same circumstances as you, but I did. She’ll help you heal if you let her in.” She disappears in what I’m guessing is the kitchen.

  Elijah gets up and waddles over to me. He tugs on my jeans and I kneel down.

  “Hey, little man.” I smile at him.

  “Hi, fwiends with mommy?” he asks me in his little voice.

  “Yes, I am.” I stroke his round cheek, and he hugs me. I wasn’t expecting this. The wave of emotion taking over me is hard for me to control. I hug him back and tears start streaming down my face. The memories of Billy are bringing me down to my knees. I could control them for a while now, but with Bella and now Elijah in my life, the wounds just opened up again, and I’m not sure I’m ready to face that.

  Annabella

  Holding Elijah and knowing that he and Gail are okay is such a relief, but something inside of me breaks for Callum. The way he’s looking at me and Elijah isn’t normal. He doesn’t look mad, he looks sad and heartbroken. I suddenly realize that I don’t know anything about his past life either. We’re very intimate, as intimate as any couple would be, but we both have been avoiding talking about what we’ve been through. I know he’s not a saint, far from it, but there’s something big he’s been hiding, and I want to figure out why. All in due time, I guess.

  Elijah pulled away from me and waddled in his cute way to Callum who is now a crying mess and none of us know why.

  I get up and walk to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, embracing him and Elijah who’s comfortably cuddling into his big arms.

  Callum sits on the ground and just holds Elijah and me.

  “Are you okay?” I stroke his cheek, wiping away the tears.

  “Later,” he says softly.

  “Alright.” I kiss him softly and he kisses me back, so he can’t be that mad at me.

  “What happened?” he asks, looking at Gail.

  “I spent the evening here; we had dinner as usual, and around eight I went back to our place. The door was ajar and I could hear someone was trashing the place. The noise alone was enough to make me back away and come back here,” Gail says, still shaken up.

  “Why didn’t you call the cops?” Callum asks.

  “Well, it could be a stupid reason, but knowing that the cops don’t do shit anymore around this town and that you’re in an MC, I figured that maybe you could deal with this…” She gives him a sheepish smile.

  “Smart thinking.” He nods at her.

  “Thanks. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary outside other than a big truck that I’ve never seen before. I took the plate number.” She hands Callum a piece of paper with a number written on it.

  “That’ll be really helpful. It’s a good thing you didn’t go in. Whoever trashed the place was either looking for something specific or he wanted to scare you both.”

  “Either way he did a good job of it. I don’t want to go back there.” Gail frowns.

  “Nor me.” I sigh and lean against Callum.

  “You three can stay here,” Gail’s mom says.

  “Thank you.” I smile at her.

  “Of course, sweetheart. I’ll go make some coffee.” She disappears in the kitchen.

  “Be straight with me. Do you have anything of value that somebody could be looking for at your place? Either of you?” Callum asks, looking between Gail and me.

  “No, not that I know of,” Gail says.

  “Besides the money we make stripping, but that’s in a box in each of our rooms.”

  “I’ll go tomorrow with a few of my brothers to have a look. See if the money is missing. If so, someone knows you’re stashing it. If not, then I don’t know.” He sighs.

  “Could it be the same person who sent the notes?” I ask.

  “Did you get any more?”

  “No, not for a week.”

  “Okay. Either we solved the problem that this city had and this incident has nothing to do with it, or someone is trailing me, and they knew we took care of the issue so they laid low,” Callum says, sounding frustrated.

  “Why would they trash the apartment then?” Gail asks, confused.

  “Your guess is as good as mine. We’ll figure it out.” Callum doesn’t sound so sure of himself right now, but I trust him.

  “You two should go. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about,” Suzie says.

  “We’ve got Elijah, he’s asleep already,” Gail presses.

  “Up to you.” I look up at Callum.

  “A
lright,” he says, blowing out a breath. Neither of us is looking forward to that talk, but it’s needed. No matter what comes out of this, we both need to say some things we have been keeping from each other. Well, I know I do, I’m not sure if Callum is actually going to talk or be his moody self because I hid things from him.

  Suzie takes Elijah from Callum’s arms and goes to put him in the room they set up for him. I hug Gail and leave with Callum, worried about our future together that doesn’t look too bright if the rage emanating from him is anything to go by.

  Callum

  While I’m glad I could get away from Elijah because of the memories it brought back, I’m not sure I’m going to like this talk. I know I should come clean to Bella, but I don’t think I can. The wound just opened again, and it’s too fresh. She deserves to know why I’m in such a mood, but mentally I’m not ready yet.

  Parking in front of my house, I help her off the bike and get off myself. We’re silent as I unlock the door and let her in. We both know this isn’t going to be pretty.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I don’t waste any time. It’s like a band-aid, you gotta rip it off quickly. It’ll sting for a few seconds but then you can move on.

  “I don’t know. At first, we weren’t close enough for me to tell you I had a kid, and then we got too intimate, and I thought you’d be pissed that I hadn’t been honest to begin with.” She sighs and leans against the back of the couch.

  “How did you end up pregnant?”

  “Do I have to seriously explain to you how I got pregnant?” She snorts.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, met a guy while I was working in a hotel. We had sex, he was my first time. We didn’t use protection, and I ended up pregnant. I didn’t know what to do. I was on my own, so I packed up my stuff and left.” She shrugs and seems so detached from all of this.

  “Left from where?” I don’t know anything about her, I’m not sure Annabella is her real name at this point.

  “I might as well start from the beginning.” She moves from the couch to the big chair and curls up in it. We’re both going to need a drink at this point. I quickly grab us two beers from the fridge and hand her one as I sit on the couch. “I was six when my parents’ died in a plane crash. I had to live with my aunt and while it was alright in the beginning, she quickly became an alcoholic. She wasn’t abusive for the longest time, but she made me promise that if she ever became abusive, that I’d pack my stuff and leave for my own safety. She was afraid she’d turn into an abusive alcoholic like her father did. On my birthday, she hit me and I left. I never looked back. I went to a couple different cities and would stay until people started to ask too many questions. I met that guy, got pregnant and left again, then ended up here. The day I landed here, I met Gail and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s helped me through so much, and I’ll forever be grateful. If it weren’t for her I don’t know where Elijah and I would be. Josie hired me the following week, and I gave birth a couple weeks after I started working there.”

  “Fuck,” I say blowing out a breath.

  “I didn’t have a hard life compared to some people, but I’ve been through my own struggles. I never planned to be seventeen and pregnant, but it happened, and I went through with it. Gail’s family took me in as one of their own and we really bonded. I finally have a family. Whoever trashed our place just makes me want to pack up and leave again.” She wipes a few tears that started running down her cheeks.

  “You don’t have to leave. The guys and I will get to the bottom of this,” I say truthfully. I know they’ll help me, even for a personal matter.

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to help you.”

  “The way you look at me since you figured out I have a kid changed. It’s a mixture of hatred and sadness,” she says, sounding hurt.

  “I’ve been through my share of fucked up shit too, and some of this has brought back memories I didn’t want to remember.” I shrug and down half of my beer.

  “Are you ever going to tell me?”

  “I don’t know. Not right now at least.”

  “Why not?”

  “Too soon,” I simply say, and she nods. “What’s your real name?”

  “Why do you want to know? Want to look into me and see if I’ve been telling you the truth?” She raises her eyebrow at me.

  “I’ve looked into Annabella Williams, and she doesn’t exist prior to when you moved here. There are absolutely no records of you besides a couple of things.”

  “I can’t believe you looked into me. You could have just asked me!” she exclaims.

  “I know, so?”

  “Annabella James is my real name. Williams was my mother’s maiden name.”

  “Why did you change your name? Did you have anyone after you?” I ask, concerned. Even if I’m fucking mad, I still fucking love her.

  “No, not that I know of anyway. I changed my name when I came here because I couldn’t run anymore. I needed a fresh start, and with a fresh start comes a new name.”

  “There’s one thing that baffles me, though.”

  “What’s that?” she sounds perplexed.

  “Why the fuck did you start stripping when you have a kid?” I can’t help the disgust from my tone. I get that some women don’t have the choice, but she has a roof over her head and an adoptive family that would help her at the drop of her hat.

  “That’s none of your fucking business why I did. And who the fuck are you to tell me such a thing? I’ve never heard you complain about it anyway!” she yells, clearly mad at me for my comment.

  “I get that it’s easy money, but you have another job. I’m sure Suzie and Ga-”

  “I’m going to stop you right there. Yes, it’s easy money, and I know Suzie and Gail would lend me money if I needed some, but it’s not about that. It’s about being able to take care of Elijah properly and not have to scrape every month. I want to be able to get him nice things and for him to have enough food and keep that roof above his head. Do you have any fucking idea of how much it costs to take care of a kid?”

  “I do, trust me I do,” I say, my voice close to breaking again.

  “What?” she sounds shocked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. This is not the time.” I sober up and rub my face.

  “Why not? I just told you my life story yet you can’t tell me one part of yours?”

  “I told you no, end of.”

  “You’re such a fucking hypocrite. Everybody has to fucking bow down to the all mighty Callum and do as he pleases, but when someone actually cares and wants to know more about you, you just shut them down.”

  “Don’t you dare talk to me like that. You don’t know anything about me,” I bellow and she flinches but gets up in my face quickly.

  “No, I don’t know anything about you, Callum,” she spits my name as if it’s leaving a sour taste in her mouth. “And I’m not sure I want to know more about the man that you are. Tonight alone has shown me that you only care about yourself. This is all about you, but newsflash—the world doesn’t revolve around you. Your brothers from the MC might think so but I don’t. I thought we had something good, but clearly I was wrong,” she screams and slaps me before leaving, and I let her. I let her slap me, I let her words cut me deep, and worst, I let her go.

  She’s better off without me. I’m sure whatever happened tonight is because of me. I knew that getting close to her would only bring trouble in her life, but I was too selfish to stay away from her and now she can’t even go back to her place.

  Going to the window, I see her sitting on the curb, calling someone. Maybe a taxi, maybe Gail, I don’t go out to see. I want to, but I can’t. It’s too soon.

  What happened tonight really fucked with my head. I promised myself I would never hurt her, and I just did that by not opening up to her. I wanted to, but how can I tell her about Billy and Alina? I’ve been repressing those feelings for far too long, and they came back to the surface, k
icking me back down like when it first happened.

  Watching her get in the taxi and closing the door is like she’s closing the door on this part of our lives. It feels like a part of my life is leaving, and I hate watching her go, but it’s the best thing to do for her. Maybe one day we’ll be together again ,but neither of us is ready at this point in our lives.

  Annabella

  One Week Later

  In the back of my mind, I knew it was going to end like this between Callum and me. I knew we wouldn’t survive that night, but I still went. I’m not mad at Suzie and Gail for the offering. It would have come out sooner or later. I just hate the double standards that he can do whatever he wants and keep whatever he pleases from me, but I have to tell him everything. That’s fucking bullshit.

  It’s been a week since it happened and it still hurts as much as when it happened. I left him that night and got in a taxi. I knew he was watching me from his window, but he never came out and let me go without a fight. It makes me wonder what happened for him to be so damaged. It must have been pretty bad. I questioned Josie, but she told me that it was something only he could talk to me about. That it was too big for her to tell me and it wouldn’t be fair to him.

  She told me to give it a couple of days and to go see him, that he needed to cool down after what happened with Elijah. And being the nice girl that I am—when I’m not pissed off—I listened to her and waited. Which brings us to today.

  I have a day off, and Elijah is in school so I have the day to myself. I know Callum’s at the compound and while I’m a bit scared to go because I’ve never been there or been introduced to anyone, I have to go and confront him. If it goes south, then it won’t be just him and I. Not that I don’t trust him or that I think he’d physically hurt me, but since apparently he’s a mess, having his brothers around might be a good thing.

  Josie told me where to go and here I am. I’ve been parked here for a few minutes, trying to gather up the courage to go inside and face him, but the truth is that I’m scared shitless of him having a go at me like he did last week. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have yelled at him, I shouldn’t have slapped him, but he pissed me right off with his comment that I shouldn’t strip if I have a kid. I still don’t get that. A lot of strippers have kids, hell, only three of the ones working at the Blue Moon aren’t mothers, and that’s including Gail. Maybe he was trying to hide something else and made that comment on purpose? Or maybe it was just a way to push me away from him without actually having to dump me? I need answers to my questions.