by Naomi West
I blushed, hating that he would even have learned to ask something like that. And hating that now Jake had heard him ask that. It made me feel like a horrible parent. I should have left Brian a long time ago, and I knew that.
Jake crouched down next to Cole. “We're not fighting,” he told the boy, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. “But we need to talk about some boring adult stuff, and we don't want to bother you while you're watching the lions.”
“Oh, okay,” Cole said. “That's good.” He beamed at Jake, who smiled back before standing up and leading me off into the kitchen.
“You're good with him,” I commented as we entered the kitchen.
Jake shrugged a little. “I grew up in foster homes,” he reminded me. “Usually there were other, littler kids around. I got used to trying to comfort them, especially when they were in strange new places.”
“Oh,” I said, blinking. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Jake pulled me into his arms, holding me for a brief moment. “So, how are you, anyway?”
“All right,” I said. “Still nervous?”
“Yeah.” Jake sighed. “Look, I talked with Frank, and he says… Well, unfortunately there's nothing that we can do unless you're willing to pledge yourself to the Devil's Route.”
I frowned. “What exactly does that mean?” I asked.
“Well, we'd have to get engaged,” Jake said. “Just as a kind of show, not like we were actually planning on getting married or anything like that. But there would need to be a clear sign that you were mine. And unfortunately, just having a kid with you isn't going to cut it.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said. I smiled shakily at him. “So consider us engaged. If that's what you want, anyway.” Suddenly, I bit my lower lip. “Oh. Oh. Shit.” I shook my head. “Look, I know showing up and dropping a kid on you is shock enough. Sorry if you feel like you're being dragged into this. I'm sure you—”
“Hey, relax,” Jake said, rubbing my arm. “Look, I just want to keep the two of you safe. If an engagement will solve that, I'm in. Especially if it means getting to spend more time with the two of you. But one thing that you have to know is that this is going to change your life, Halley. Maybe not in ways that you really like.”
I frowned. “How so?” I asked. “I mean, I've seen those mafia dramas on TV. I assumed there's a whole sisterhood thing to go along with the brotherhood of bikers. We'll, I don't know, have silly get-togethers where we gossip about everyone's kids and all that, and I'm fine with that.”
“We're not totally clean,” Jake said reluctantly. “I mean that we deal with weapons and drugs.”
I bit my lip. “Yeah, I kind of figured there had to be something like that going on,” I admitted.
“At the moment, as far as the club is concerned, you don't know anything. You don't know the members of the Devil's Route, you don't know any of the specifics of the illegal things that we do, you don't know—”
“Right,” I said. “But does that have to change once I'm engaged to you?”
“Well, kind of,” Jake said, shrugging a little. “At the very least, in order to have a security detail on you, you're going to meet some of the members. And again, like you said, there will be social events with the other women and sometimes with their husbands. It would be odd for you to not attend any of those. So, you're going to know who's involved. I'll keep you out of the loop as to what exactly we're doing, but you might learn some things. And that would give them a reason to kill you if you were to suddenly call off your engagement.” He paused. “So, your option is really to leave town now and never come back, or...”
I stared at him in shock. “Is that what you want?” I asked. “For Cole and me to just disappear?”
“No,” Jake said emphatically. He pulled me back into his arms, holding me tightly. “Jesus, Halley. The last thing I want is for the two of you to disappear. Even if you aren't going to stay in my life, I want to have a relationship with Cole. But I can't force you to join our biker club. I know that it probably goes against your morals and everything. You need to make that choice. I'm just making sure that you know what your options are.”
“What would happen to Cole, if you and I got engaged?” I asked. It was the elephant in the room. “Would he have to join the club as well?” I hated to think that my need for safety, because of the stupid decisions I'd made in the past, might affect him for his whole life.
“Of course not,” Jake said. He frowned, though, and reluctantly said, “One thing that I will tell you is that kids who are brought up within the biker framework often choose to become a part of it. But Cole's a good kid; I don't know if you have to worry about that. It's just a possibility.”
“But it's not a certainty?” I asked, making sure that we were fully on the same page.
“No,” Jake said, shaking his head. “It's definitely not a certainty.”
I sighed. “Good.” I bit my lower lip. “Can I have some time to think about it? At least just for the night. I know that with Brian out there, I don't really have time to think about it, but...”
“Of course,” Jake said gently, stroking back a lock of my hair. “You can take as long as you. The offer will still stand.”
“Thank you,” I said. I took a deep breath.
“Why don't I give you a minute to compose yourself and maybe order us some pizza? And I'll go make sure Cole's still doing okay.”
“Okay,” I said, smiling wanly at him. “Is there anything you don't like on a pizza?”
“My go-to is sausage and green peppers, but I'm down for anything. I bet Cole is a pepperoni kind of man, right? I'd be okay with that too.”
I blinked and grinned at him. “Yeah, we usually get pepperoni for him and some breadsticks. I guess I'll just get our normal order, if that works.”
He smiled back at me and went back into the living room. I called to order pizza and then went into the living room as well, just watching as the two of them chatted about the Animal Planet special. Jake glanced back at me and smiled reassuringly.
I blinked back tears and went over to the couch, curling into the man's side.
Chapter Ten
Jake
Halley gave me the go-ahead for the engagement plan the day before we had our end-of-the-month meeting, which was perfect timing as far as I was concerned. I looked around the room, noting who was there and who wasn't there. Of course, most of the older guys would have my back: they'd seen how I'd risen through the ranks, from a dirty street-rat to Frank's right-hand man. They respected me—some of them a bit grudgingly, albeit.
It was the younger ones that I'd have more of a problem with. I didn't really command respect with many of them, especially not the ones who were ambitious and just a little older than me. And with Max in the room, there was no telling how that faction would break down.
For a moment, I silently considered Max Cordell, Frank's son.
By birthright, Max should be the one inheriting leadership of the Devil's Route MC. But Frank had nixed that idea a couple years ago, when it had become clear to everyone that Max's impulsiveness was really a hazard to the club. There were too many botched missions, too many foolish slip-ups, and the authorities had started really pressing the club, in a way they never had in all the time that Frank had been in charge. Frank had turned to me to step in and get things back to normal. He trusted me, and we were closer than he and his notoriously ill-tempered son were.
Max, of course, had never forgiven me for that, and I wondered how that would affect the announcement that Halley and I were engaged and that we needed to use club resources to protect her and our son. There would, undoubtedly, be a vote — because that's how things were always handled when club resources were in the mix. Max would vote down anything that I wanted, but I didn't know how many people would go along with him.
Towards the end of the meeting, Frank nodded over at me, and I stood up. “I have some business,” I said, folding my hands behind my back and presenting a
strong and confident front. “I'm engaged.”
There was a quiet pause, and then a couple of the older guys broke out clapping, while some other people gave wolf-whistles or cheers.
“About damn time,” Chris said loudly. “Is there a woman in this city who you haven't slept with?”
There was raucous laughter at that. I held up my hand, though, before everyone could get too far into celebratory mode. “I've got a son as well — Cole. He's seven.” That sobered some people up. “I just learned about Cole, and … well, I'm going to do right by them. But there's apparently some trouble with Halley's ex-husband...”
That brought silence to the table. “So, another man's been taking care of your son for seven years?” Max jeered.
“I didn't know the kid existed,” I said defensively. Then, I relented. “But yes. He's apparently a drunken, abusive piece of shit, though. Halley served him the divorce papers last week, but now she's terrified that he'll come after her and—”
“And you want us to protect her,” Max surmised.
“Let the man talk,” Frank said, a sharp rebuke, and although I appreciated his standing up for me, I winced a little, wondering how that would further widen the gap between me and the younger generation of bikers, many of whom had grown up with Max.
Max stood up angrily, ignoring his father. “No, listen everyone. We have much bigger problems than Jake's latest whore and her abusive husband. Are we forgetting about the fact that Emilio Alvarez and the Holy Flames MC are encroaching on our territory?”
“We've had a truce with the Flame for years,” Bryce said, rolling his eyes a little. At least that was one younger supporter that Jake could always count on to be at his side.
“They've been encroaching on our territory for months now,” Max insisted. “First, they started doing their drug-running in the same area as ours, but with all their fucking ineptitudes, this is really just drawing heat to our guys, meaning that we either have to move out or risk being busted. And then lately they been squeezing our arms buyers, which–”
“What the hell does this have to do with Halley and Cole?” I interrupted heatedly. “Yeah, we all know that that's going on, but—”
“Rather than using our resources to protect your little slut and her offspring, we should have every man we can working against the Flames.”
“And just what do you suggest we do?” I sneered. “We've been fighting back against the Flames. Why do you think their guys keep getting busted and our guys keep ending up clean? Anyway, one or two guys isn't really going to make a difference there.” I turned to the group at large. “Look, I'm not asking for a full army to protect her or anything like that. I'd just like one or two guys there, when I can't be there, mainly during the days, when I'm at the shop.” I cracked a smile. “I'd do it myself, but I don't trust Bryce to take over for me!”
Bryce snorted, and a few other guys chuckled. I'd left Bryce in charge of the shop in the past; that was never a problem.
“It's really just until the divorce is finalized and everything goes back to normal,” I insisted. “It's not forever, just until things get a bit less heated.”
“I think we should take a vote,” Frank said, before Max could say anything else. “All those in favor?”
To my surprise, most of the group raised their hands. As expected, Max was the main, sulking dissenter, and a couple of his close friends voted with him purely out of principle. But it seemed that my good work for the club was beginning to pay off, and they were beginning to go along with my decisions. I had no doubt that that would help in the long run.
For now, I smiled up the table at Frank and nodded gratefully towards him for giving me the seal of approval.
“You're going to regret this,” Max snapped, and I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to the table at large. “Just wait until we find our arms supply totally cut off — until our main source of income is gone, because the Flames have taken over everything. Just you wait until then.”
A couple of the other men rolled their eyes at his antics, but for the most part, he seemed to be totally ignored.
“Well, I think that's all of today's business, then,” Frank said, and the room began to empty.
Chapter Eleven
Halley
I knew Jake had his meeting with the Devil's Route that day, when he was going to tell them about our engagement. When I heard a knock on the front door, I expected it was him, coming to tell me how things had played out.
Cole was in the kitchen with me — we were baking chocolate chip cookies, all put together from scratch. “Can you keep stirring this just like that for a minute?” I asked him, even though I knew that was probably a recipe for the bowl of batter falling down on the floor and going everywhere. But my parents weren't home at the moment; they'd taken a weekend trip to their beach house, so there wasn't anyone else who could supervise him, and I wasn't about to make him come to the front door while I signed for a package. If anything happened to the batter, we would just make another batch. We had plenty of time.
“Okay!” Cole said enthusiastically, continuing to stir, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth as he focused on it.
I walked to the front door and pulled it open, trying to remember if Mom had said anything about having things delivered to her or something like that. I couldn't remember anything, but that didn't mean something hadn't just slipped her mind.
I practically choked on air when I saw Brian standing there.
He wasn't the sexy, clean-cut man who I had fallen in love with. His beard was a little too scruffy, and his hair was limp and dull. His face was gaunt; he probably hadn't been feeding himself well now that he had to take care of himself again and couldn't just order me to have something ready for him when he came home from work. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked half-mad. And he stank of vodka.
“You little bitch,” he snarled, striding forwards and forcing me back into the hallway before I could slam the door shut, before I could even move, stunned as I was. “You think you can just run off one day, and I'm not going to come find you? Thanks for serving me the divorce papers. As soon as I saw the address on them, I knew you must be back here. You dumb cunt.”
I cowered back against the wall, curling in on myself. “Brian, please,” I whimpered, hoping that Cole would stay out in the kitchen. The house was big enough that he probably wouldn't be able to hear us from there, but if he came out here…
Brian slapped me hard across the face, and I collapsed to the floor, crying out in pain.
“Please, Brian,” I repeated. “Cole's just in the other room; let's not—”
Brian hauled me up by my hair, putting his face in close to mine. “Good,” he said. “That'll make it easy to take him with me once I've finished with you.” He grinned sharply. “It's not kidnapping if you left the kid in my care when you came out here, which is what we'll tell the jury when we go in for our custody battle, isn't it, sweetheart?”
He hit me again, and when he released my hair, I fell to my knees, cracking them hard on the linoleum. I fumbled in my pocket for anything I could use as a weapon against him, but all I could find was my phone. As much as I'd like to call Jake, there was no way Brian was going to let me do that.
Brian kicked me in the stomach, and I folded forwards, coughing.
That was, of course, when Cole came into the kitchen. “Mama!” he cried out, running towards me.
“Hey, Cole,” Brian said, scooping the kid up. “Haven't you missed your papa?”
Cole struggled against him. “Is Mama okay?” he asked fearfully.
“Your mama is just fine,” Brian said impatiently. “But we're going to have to leave her for right now while we go on back to Louisiana to see Grandma and Grandpa.”
“No!” Cole cried.
I used Brian's distraction to pull out my phone, opening the dialer to the last person called and putting out another call. Then, before Brian could realize I had done it, I jammed my phone back into my
pocket, praying that Jake picked up.
Brian had put Cole back on the floor, clearly sick of the way the kid was squirming and struggling against him, but he kept a firm hold on the kid's wrist, tight enough that it would probably bruise.
I narrowed my eyes at that grip and launched myself at Brian, who had no choice but to let Cole go. “You bastard,” I spat, trying to claw him. “Leave Cole alone! Fight me if you want to. I'm the one who—” The rest of what I was planning to say was cut off as Brian swung a fist around again and slammed it into my jaw.
I fell back against the wall, tasting blood.
Cole crawled over to my side, curling into the dubious safety of my arms. “Mama,” he sobbed, his fingers tightly twisted in my shirt. “Mama, why is Papa being so mean?” he asked. “I don't want to go away from you. I want to stay here, with you and Jake and—”