Dark Mind

by H. R. Owen

  “What the fuck?” How the hell have I been out that long? It only feels like a few hours have gone past since I was in the ambulance. Dahlia stands up from the bed, and that’s when I notice her stomach. “Dahlia? Are you fucking pregnant? Please tell me it’s mine and not that asshole Vince’s.”

  “Callen,” she yells. “Of course, it’s yours. Why the fuck would it be Vince’s?” she questions.

  “Well, I thought, you know… maybe that was what he wanted from you. Replace his child with another. How are you even pregnant? I didn’t think that was possible for you,” I explain.

  “Doctors say she’s a miracle. And don’t be silly, Callen. There’s no way that man’s hands were ever going to get anywhere near me. It’s your baby, Callen. I’m sorry, I couldn’t get rid of her. She’s a part of you, and the doctors didn’t think you’d ever come out of this coma. I just couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t let you go,” Dahlia says on a sob.

  “So, I’m going to be a father?” I ask. “Wait, did you say she? It’s a girl?”

  “Yep. Her name is Laney. Laney Marie Parker. That’s if you’re okay with her being called that?” Dahlia smiles at the name. The name from my dream. My mother’s name.

  “I love you, Dahlia. Now get me out of here so I can finally marry you.”

  “Soon, Callen. You need to get your strength back, then I’ll take you home,” she tells me.

  The doctor comes into the room and checks all my vitals, then takes some bloods to run some tests. “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Parker, it wouldn’t have been much longer, and this machine would have had to be turned off. It should have been a while ago, but your lady friend here is surprisingly scary. She’s the reason you’re still breathing right now,” the doctor tells me.

  Dahlia’s saved my soul, and now, she’s saved my life. I will spend every minute of every day making sure she knows how grateful I am, and how much I love her and our daughter.

  “So how much longer do I have to stay in this bed?” I ask the doctor.

  “We will have to see how your bloods come back, and then you’ll need to be monitored for a few days. If you’re good by the weekend, I’ll have the discharge papers ready to go,” he replies.

  I’ve only just woken up from a six-month coma, and I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks. My eyes start to close, and I hear Dahlia gasp.

  “It’s okay, darlin’, I’m not going anywhere. Just closing my eyes,” I assure her.

  I hear the doctor telling her it’s quite normal for a coma patient to adjust to being awake, and that I’m lucky I don’t seem to have any brain damage. I drift off once again into a deep sleep that hopefully I awake from.

  I awake to Dahlia sitting next to me holding my hand, and Bates standing over me staring.

  “Fuck off, Bates. I’m fine,” I spit. All he does is nod and walk out of the room.

  “What’s up with him?” I ask Dahlia.

  “Harmony left town six months ago, and he’s done nothing but mope around the house ever since. He’s had a few women over, but they usually run out of the house crying just after they arrive. I don’t know what the fuck he’s doing to them, but it’s not good,” Dahlia replies.

  “Ahhh… shit! Please tell me he hasn’t got any guns in the house. That fucker used to get right into a bit of gunplay, and if he’s back to that, he’s dangerous.”

  “Shit! Of course, he has guns. Wait what’s gunplay?” Dahlia asks me innocently.

  “Don’t worry, darlin’, just come lay with me. I’ll catch up to Bates later.” She lies next to me on the hard bed and tries to wrap her arm around my chest, but her stomach is bulging between us, and she struggles to get close enough. My hand automatically comes to her bump, and I feel the movements of our child growing inside her.

  I never thought I wanted to be a father, but at this moment, I couldn’t imagine it happening any other way.

  dahlia

  Six Months Earlier

  Callen’s left and hopefully gotten Harmony and Bates out of here safely. The crowd of men standing in front of me start breaking up and running in different directions. One of the men edge toward me, and I drop my wires to the ground and put my hands up in surrender.

  He grips onto my arm and pulls me back into the house where Vince is being untied.

  “Do you and your friends really think I’d ever be outnumbered?” Vince spits out.

  “What do you want, Vince? Leave my friends alone, and I’ll give you whatever you want,” I reply.

  “You really are a stupid little cunt. You have nothing that I want. And even if you did, I’d still have your friends gutted,” Vince threatens.

  Pulling my arm from the man’s grip, I stalk over to Vince and kneel in front of him. “So, you don’t want your daughter back then?” I ask him.

  “Fuck you, girl. Your friends already tried to threaten me with my daughter.”

  “Oh, I’m not threatening you, Vince. I will get you your daughter, and I will stay in the house with you. I will not let you touch me, though. You can buy yourself a whore for that,” I tell him.

  There’s a smirk on his face when he looks down to me. “If I agree to this, I want my daughter back at the house by tomorrow. Mack will take you wherever you need to go to get her.”

  “That’s fine, but my friends aren’t to be touched, or I’ll have your daughter taken away for good,” I assure him.

  He looks like he’s thinking about whether or not his daughter’s worth it or not. “Fine. You have yourself a deal,” he says.

  The man who drives me back to Vince’s house seems a bit uncomfortable. He’s tall, and his hair is brown with a few gray streaks through it. His body appears muscular from what I can see through his shirt, and his face is quite attractive.

  “Mack. That’s your name, isn’t it?” I ask him from the back seat.

  “Sure is, ma’am,” he replies.

  This man seems to have that good boy, southern charm about him. I wonder what he’s doing working for a man like Vince.

  “You seem different from the rest of the men who work for Vince,” I state.

  “That’s because I am.” Those are the last words he speaks until we arrive at the house.

  Mack comes around to my door and helps me out. “Just do as he asks. It will all be over soon,” he whispers in my ear as he pulls me from the seat.

  What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

  Vince is waiting in the driveway ready to lock me back in the room that I left only hours before. His hand reaches out for mine, and I hesitate. Looking back to Mack, I give him a questioning stare, and all he does is nod. I return my gaze to Vince letting out a deep breath, and I take his hand. I’m pulled through the house and once again find myself in the room made for me to live in with his daughter. The door shuts behind me, slamming with force, and I hear the lock clicking over. I make my way over to the large bed and drop onto it.

  How the hell am I going to get Sandy to hand over Belle? That’s her daughter, and I know she’ll put up a fight. I need to come up with a plan before tomorrow morning.

  After showering and getting some food, I jump back into the bed and think about how I can go about doing this.

  Soft knocks come from the door shortly after, and I yell out for whoever it is to come in. Mack opens the door quietly and then locks it behind him as he stalks over to the bed.

  “Mack, what can I do for you?” I ask.

  “You can keep these next words to yourself,” he replies.

  “Okay. I can do that. I guess.” This guy feels like someone I can trust for some reason, but he still works for Vince, and that’s a bit off-putting.

  “Right, my name is Max… Detective Max Ford. I’ve been working undercover for Vince for five years. We want him put away for a long time, so I’ve been waiting to catch him doing the dirty work with his own hands. Tomorrow, when I take you to get this little girl, we’re going to tell her mother about this. She needs to let you take the child and then have someone come
and try to take Vince’s daughter away from him again. Vince will have a gun on him, so this person must be willing as we need to let Vince get a shot in and then we can take him for attempted murder. That with all the other charges, he’ll never get out.”

  “What the fuck? You’re a cop?” I spit.

  “Shhh… you’ll get us both killed. You need to trust me when I say I’m only here for Vince. Everyone else involved on your side are safe. I’ve been watching this fucker for ten years, and all I care about is putting him away,” he assures me.

  “Okay, well, Mack… Max… whatever the fuck your name is… I want it all in writing that my friends and I will walk free, no matter what you see,” I demand.

  “Call me Mack for now. And Dahlia… I know exactly who you are. If I wanted to arrest you, I would have done it by now,” he replies matter-of-factly. Mack walks over and opens the door, leaves and locks it behind him.

  I can’t believe I’m considering working with a cop.

  I lie back onto the soft pillows and pull the blanket up around my chest. My eyes close, and I drift off into the best sleep I’ve had in ages.

  My dreams are filled with visions of Callen.

  The moon shines brightly as we hold hands in front of the lake. It looks like the property where Callen grew up, but the house itself is different. It’s not the small cottage his family died in, but a big two-story plantation style home. The house is painted a light gray and has white shutters. It’s beautiful, the kind of house I used to dream about living in. My dress is an off-white color, and it’s strappy but simple. The front sits just above my feet, but the back flows down to the ground.

  I hear Callen’s words, and it finally kicks in what’s going on here. We’re getting married under the bright moon just like Callen said we would.

  Everything goes black around us, and I spot a small drop of blood seeping through Callen’s white dress shirt.

  “Callen,” I cry.

  His shirt slowly fills with blood until it’s fully covered, and he drops to the ground.

  I attempt everything I know to wake him up, but he doesn’t move.

  I’m awakened from my nightmare to see Mack standing at the door. “Ten minutes. Get dressed. Boss wants his daughter back now,” he spits out. There must be someone else around for him to be talking to me like that.

  “You heard him, you lazy bitch. Get up now. My daughter needs to be here in no more than two hours,” Vince yells out.

  Of course, he has to be here, it is his house after all. What the fuck have I gotten myself into? Living with a man I despise while the man I love could be laying in a ditch somewhere. I jump up out of bed and quickly dress into some of the clothes I find in the wardrobe. Everything’s fluffy and pink, and I can’t stand to see myself in clothes made for a teenager, so I don’t bother looking in a mirror to do my hair. I throw it up into a loose bun on top of my head and head over to the door.

  “Okay, Mack, I’m ready,” I yell through the closed door. He opens it up with a smirk on his face as he looks down to the fluffy pink thing that’s supposed to be a sweater.

  “Don’t,” is all I say as I walk out the door.

  I had to call Harmony to get her mother’s location, so I could pick her sister up, and take her to live with me for a while. I assured her that Belle will be safe, and that I would never let Vince lay a hand on her. She hesitated, but finally gave in and told me she trusts me, and whatever I was planning on doing. She also told me that Sandy will never let her go.

  Harmony can’t know about Mack being a cop yet—the only people being told are Sandy and me.

  “How’s Callen?” I ask Harmony.

  “Ummm… Dahlia, he's in hospital. Callen slipped into a coma last night, and the doctors aren’t too sure if he’ll wake up,” Harmony replies.

  No. No. This can’t be happening. I need to get out of this car and go straight to see him. All of this is my fault, and I won’t let anyone I love die.

  “Dahlia? Can you hear me?”

  My breathing starts to block out Harmony’s voice, and the phone drops to the floor of the car.

  “Mack. Pull over,” I manage to get out between breaths.

  He pulls the car off to the side of the road, and I jump out before the car fully stops. I’m on my knees as the bile rises in my throat.

  “Ma’am… are you okay?” Mack asks as he gets out of the car.

  No, I’m not.

  Callen may die, and I’m slowing things down by throwing up on the side of the road.

  “I’m fine. Let’s go. If I accidentally kill Vince, though, remember our deal,” I state.

  Wiping my mouth, we get back into the car and head to the address Harmony gave me. It’s a small house in the middle of nowhere. Harmony said it’s her father’s house, but I could never imagine a badass biker living in something like this.

  Mack leads me to the door, and I tap nervously. I really don’t feel comfortable taking a child away from her mother.

  Sandy opens the door and throws her arms around me. “You’re Dahlia? Thank God you’re okay. My daughter’s been worried sick about you. Have you called her yet?” Sandy asks me.

  “Yes, she just gave me your address. Unfortunately, what I came here for isn’t going to sit well with you,” I tell her.

  “Come in, please,” she gestures us in the door. Sandy tells us both to have a seat in the living room while she goes to make some tea. I can feel the bile rise like it did in the car, and I find myself running to find a bathroom. When I return from being sick once again, Sandy takes my hand and leads me into the kitchen.

  “Excuse us for a minute,” she says to Mack.

  “Honey, are you okay?” she asks.

  I don’t know what it is about this woman, but I feel completely comfortable around her.

  “I’ve just been a bit sick today, and I’m so hungry,” I tell her.

  “I see… is there any chance you could be pregnant?” she questions.

  “No, definitely not. A doctor told me I could never have babies after they ran some tests when I was a teenager.” She edges closer and holds her hand up to my cheek.

  “I think you need to see another doctor because your skin’s glowing. You’re sick, and you’re hungry… they’re all symptoms of pregnancy,” she explains.

  “But how can it be possible?” I ask.

  “Honey, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Anything’s possible when it’s meant to be.”

  After returning to the living room, Mack and I explain everything to Sandy, who’s surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

  “I’d rather watch that man die for all the things he’s put my family through, but there is no fucking way you’re taking my daughter. Dahlia, please, I can’t let him hurt my Belle?” she begs.

  “I can promise you that I will take care of her as if she were my own,” I assure her.

  Well, after all, I may very well have my own child to worry about soon. I have no idea how Callen’s going to feel if I am pregnant. That’s if he even wakes up.

  Sandy still refuses, and I don’t blame her.

  “Sorry, Sandy, but you really don’t have a choice. You either hand the girl over or I take her. I’ve been working on this case for too long now,” Mack chimes in. Sandy is a mess when Mack goes to find Belle and carries her out to the car. Belle screams as her mother swings her arms around trying to hit Mack.

  “I’m so sorry, Sandy, I promise I’ll look after her. You’ll have her home soon,” I tell Sandy. Belle is sitting in the back seat of the car right next to me, and I can tell that the poor little girl is terrified to see her father, and it brings back memories of when I was her age.

  “Come here, sweetie, don’t worry about Vince. I won’t let him hurt you. I promise,” I tell her as I wrap my arms around her tiny frame. I can feel her body shaking while she cries into my shoulder. “It’s okay, Belle, this will all be over soon, and you’ll be back with your family,” I say stroking her hair.

  CALLEN<
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  Present

  I’ve been awake in the hospital now for a whole month, and spending a lot of time in rehab, and all I want to do is go home and fuck my girl. Dahlia’s pregnancy is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. She’s here with me every day, and she’s looking a bit tired. “Go home, darlin’, I’m getting out tomorrow morning, and I want you to save your energy for when I’m home. Even if it only felt like a few hours that I was out, my cock seems to know that it hasn’t been inside of you for seven months,” I tell her with a squeeze on her ass.

  “I could use some sleep, but only if you’re okay here by yourself?” she asks.

  “I’m okay, sweetheart. Go home and sleep. By the time you get up in the morning, I’ll be laying on the bed beside you.” Dahlia presses a long kiss to my forehead and leaves the room. My eyes grow heavy, and I’m asleep within minutes.

  I awake the next day feeling refreshed and ready to go back to my life outside of this hospital. Today’s the day I get to go home, the rehab has given me back most of my strength, and the doctors are happy with my progress. All the discharge papers were signed last night, so all I’m waiting for is the doctor to sign me off. I spent the morning packing up all the things Dahlia had been bringing in for me over the last month. She’d brought me in fresh clothes, so I had something to leave in—my favorite black jeans. I really hope she doesn’t want me to kill anyone one today, I just don’t think I’m up to it yet. I pull the jeans up and grab the tight white shirt from my bag. It’s a bit looser than it used to be. Apparently, I have lost a bit of weight over the last seven months. My body is still muscular and big, and the weight loss is unnoticeable without my shirt, but I’m going home to get back the body I work my ass off for. It might take a while as I’m not a strong as I used to be, but I will be soon.

  Once I’m dressed, and the doctor gives me the all clear, I head outside to where Bates is waiting to pick me up.

  “Bates, good to see you. You haven’t been around since I woke up. What the fuck’s going on?” I ask him.

  “Nothing, man, just trying to sort some shit out. Let’s get home.”