“What the hell are you doing in my mother’s house?” I sneer.
“Stephanie?” She says my name but seems unable to offer me an explanation.
“Where’s Justin?” I rub my stomach and see her staring at my baby bump.
“You haven’t heard?” Her gaze moves to my face, softening.
“Heard what?”
“Stephanie...I am sure I am the last person you want to hear this from, but Justin is in the hospital.”
“What do you mean he’s in the hospital? Is he sick or something?”
“He was shot and there was some problems with one of his lungs…”
I cut her off. “What hospital?”
“Vanderbilt. In Nashville. Do you want to come in? Can I get you anything?” She moves like she might touch me, and I yank back.
“No. I’m going to the hospital you idiot. When I return I expect you and your little boy to be out of this house. I don't care what Justin told you or what he might have promised you, but I’m back now and we’re going to be a family just like we were always meant to be.”
I turn on my heels and run for the car. I have wasted enough time talking to that skank. When I get to the hospital it is past visiting hours, but I lie and tell them that I am his wife.
Justin has pneumonia. A complication from being shot and getting fluid in his lung. He’s knocked out on pain medication, but they expect him to recover fully. I pull a chair up next to his bed, taking his hand in mine as I sit down. I stroke my fingers over his knuckles growing tired myself from so much driving. I can’t wait until he wakes up and sees me here. Sees that we are having a baby and that life is giving us a second chance at our happily ever after.
If a whore like MaryAnn can have it all with an asshole like Cupid, why can’t Justin and I have it too? My eyelids grow heavy and a nurse come in to check his vitals.
“You can get in the bed with him, just be gentle and don’t tell anyone I gave you the idea, but it might be good for him to feel you with him.” She grabs an extra pillow and I maneuver myself against his side, placing his hand on my stomach, feeling like I am finally home now that I am with the man that I love. The man that I have always loved.
Chapter 19
—Melissa
“Thanks for everything, Shawn.” I smile at him as he loads the last of my stuff from the truck and moves to the stairs to carry the boxes to my new apartment.
Stephanie, Justin's ex-wife, blew into town a few days ago and threw me and Jimmy out of the house we had been staying in. Justin is still in the hospital battling pneumonia, but he is expected to be released any day now. Things were really scary there for a few days when I first learned he had been shot. He seemed to be doing okay but then he got around Jimmy and me and Jimmy had been battling a cold and I guess it was too much for his immune system. He scared the shit out of me. He stopped breathing when we were in bed together. The jackass wasn’t even supposed to be having sex with me yet, but I was an idiot and believed him when he said the doctor had cleared him.
Thanks to some extra shifts at strip club, I was able to find an apartment for rent within my budget. Shawn has been great to me these past few days, helping me get moved. Keeping me up to date on Justin, because Stephanie is being a bitch and acting as though they are still married and refuses to let me see him.
“How are you holding up?” He questions as he puts the boxes on the counter.
“I’m fine. Really I am.” I squeeze his arm and he pulls me in for a hug. His lips brush my forehead and I look up at him, feeling safe. “You know I love you, don’t you?”
Apparently, this is the wrong thing to say because his eyes light up and he brings his mouth down on mine with a bruising kiss. It catches me off guard and I am ashamed to admit for a few seconds I return the kiss, getting swept away in the moment. Swept away by the feelings of what if. Things between Justin and me are up in the air and I have no idea where I stand with him now that Stephanie is back claiming she is having his baby. I know how desperately he wanted a baby with her. He told me that it was a big reason they separated to start with. I can’t imagine how he must be feeling, having her back in his life, knowing she is giving him the one thing he has always wanted.
I pull back, breaking the kiss. My fingers move to my lips as confusion plagues me.
“Don't say anything and just hear me out, Lissa.”
I start to shake my head no, but the pleading look in his eyes has me giving into him. I always did have a hard time telling him no. “Okay,” I concede. “I’m listening.”
Taking me by the hands he leads me to the couch. I take a seat next to him as he gazes deeply and so damn intensely into my eyes. “I’ve been keeping my distance. Giving you time to settle into a new life here. Giving you time to explore your feelings for another man. One of my best friends even though it has killed me to do so, but I’ve always loved you. Always have wanted you. I would do anything to see you happy but watching you lately. I know you aren’t happy and, baby, you deserve to be happy. I want to be in your life. I want to be the man you turn to. I want to be your man. Give me a chance, Lissa. A real fucking chance to prove myself to you. I know I fucked up before. I know I told you to move on with your life, but I’m here now, and I am more determined than ever to win you back.”
My breath catches in my throat. I wasn’t expecting him to say these things...things that I waited years to hear. “I…” Tears burn in my eyes and a painful sob rips from my chest.
“Shh…” he pulls me to him, hugging my head into his neck. His familiar scent washing over me. His fingers rub circles on my back. “Don’t say anything right now. Don’t give me an answer today. Or hell even tomorrow. All I ask is that you will think about it. I’m not saying this to hurt you, but because it is the honest truth and you need to hear it from someone who cares about you. Uno and Stephanie have a long history. You weren’t here before to see the hold she had on him. There is no way he will walk away from her now. Not with her having his son. Something he has wanted for years.”
I know what he says is true, but he doesn’t know for sure what Justin wants.
“I hear you and I need time, Shawn.”
He brushes his lips over mine and I allow him to kiss me like he used to, but part of me can’t stop thinking about Justin. Shawn moves his tongue, delving between the part of my lips. It would be easy to allow myself to get caught up in the moment and let things go further than they should, but I put a hand to his chest and push him back.
“We can’t.”
He lets out a heavy breath. “Okay. I’ll go for now, but I’m not going to stop fighting for you, Lissa. I won’t ever stop.”
He gets up from the couch and goes to the boxes he just brought in minutes ago. He takes the top one and brings it over to me.
“Just because you didn't receive my letters, doesn't mean I wasn’t writing to you every day.” He drops it on the coffee table and leaves.
Tears fall down my cheeks as the door closes behind him. It takes me a few minutes to get the courage to open the box.
He wasn’t lying, there are hundreds of letters inside the box. I pull a bundle of envelopes out. There are stacks of them, all addressed to me and dated. I hold the first stack to my chest and fall back on the couch unsure if I am able to open them. Unsure if I want to go back to the past by reading them. But I know I owe him that much.
I think back on his kiss…all the nights I lay in his protective arms feeling like all was right in the world. I loved him. He was my first love. The first person to ever care for me. The first man who told me I was beautiful. I always dreamed we would run away together. That we would live the life we never got growing up, but we were young and dumb.
I don’t want to go back to being that naïve girl. I was her for far too long, but still there is part of me that wonders if there is still something between us or if there could be.
My mind drifts to Justin and I smile. He could be my future. I thought we were finally in a good pl
ace and building a solid foundation, but Stephanie came back and now everything is fucked. I open the first letter and instantly Shawn’s words make me cry for the love that we lost…for the love he still feels.
Chapter 20
—Uno
Hades is furious, but he understands that we did what had to be done. Tiny had brought his hand down on us and squeezed our necks one time too fucking many. I know I will deal with his wrath later for what I did, but I will pay the price. Reaper enters the room last, wearing a smug look of satisfaction on his face, carrying a box. Stopping at the other end of the table by Rebel Black, he places the box on the table in front of the man.
“What’s this?” Rebel asks with a bored look on his face.
“You told me you’d give me your blessing to marry Harley when I brought you the head of Tiny Leone. I came to deliver.”
Rebel takes one look inside the box and grins. “So the bastard is really dead.” He strokes his greying goatee. He looks at his brother, Striker, and he nods toward Reaper.
Reaper grins with pride knowing that Rebel gave him his word.
“I gave you my word. You have my blessing but if you ever make her unhappy I will kill you with my bare hands.” Reaper nods and takes his seat next to Cupid.
I’m still feeling rough as fuck, but I am out of the hospital and being driven mad by Stephanie. I don’t know what I am going to do with the crazy cunt. She says she is pregnant with my son. I want to be happy about the fact, but I don’t trust her. I don't know if I can believe anything she says. The woman is manipulative. She was able to con an evil but highly intelligent monster like Tiny Leone into marrying her. He trusted her with his deepest secrets and she used them against him. His daughter is now under Stephanie's care and remains in school in Georgia. She will be eighteen soon and will receive her trust fund. I’m sure Stephanie can’t wait to be rid of the responsibility. The rest of Tiny’s organization is in Stephanie’s hands. She says she doesn't want anything to do with that shit, but here I am at this meeting representing her interest because she says she trusts me.
I know she wants us to try again, but while she was gone I moved on with Melissa. Stephanie being back shouldn’t change that, but it does. I’m confused, and I don’t know what to do. I want the baby and know I don’t have to be with Stephanie to help raise him, but I grew up in a loving home with both parents until my Mom passed away. I want that for my kid. Melissa is a good Mom to Jimmy though and I have no doubt she’d treat my kid as good as her own. However, our relationship was just getting started and I have a history with Steph. I’m broken from my thoughts when Hades kicks me in the shin. “Are you good with that?”
I blink my eyes a few times. I’m tired and need to take a nap. The doctor wanted to keep me a few more days but I was tired of laying in that fucking hospital bed and walked out. “I’m sorry. Good with what?”
“My boys taking over in Texas. Cleaning up the cartel mess that Tiny left behind. My sons will run the new Texas chapter and will welcome any of your members that you wish to send and look after all of our interests. Unless, that is, if you are planning on stepping into Tiny’s overpriced shoes.”
Axel and Abel are itching to get started building the new charter from the ground up, but shit doesn’t happen overnight.
“Sounds good to me. The less I have to do with his bullshit the better,” I tell him.
He gives me a chin lift and he and Hades continue discussing the terms of the moonshine trade in Texas and what it will mean for our club with the BRRMC taking the territory left by Tiny’s demise but accepting any members we want to send them. I tune it all out, unable to get Stephanie and Melissa out of my head. Do I take a chance with Melissa and see where things go, or do I try to work things out with my ex-wife who carries my future, my son in her womb?
I walk out of church feeling lightheaded as I lean against the side of the building. Riding my motorcycle to Kentucky days after I walked out of the hospital isn't the smartest thing I have ever done. A sharp pain stabs through my chest and Boogeyman grabs me under my arm as my legs give out beneath me.
Stephanie
I’m sitting at home waiting on Justin to come home so we can sit down and have a real conversation. He had to go on a run to Kentucky. I didn’t want him to go but he said it was important. He’s changed during the time we were apart. We both have. My phone vibrates, and I hurry to answer in case it is him calling me.
“Hello,” I answer a call from Cupid.
“It’s Uno, he’s back in the hospital. He passed out today and he hasn’t woken up yet. It’s bad, Steph. I just thought you should know.” I drop the phone as my hand covers my mouth. I can't lose him now. I won't lose him now. My other hand goes to my stomach, caressing our unborn son.
“Don’t worry baby. Daddy will be fine. He has to be. He has to be.”
Melissa
A loud banging sounds at my door. I get up from my spot on the air mattress in the bedroom, hoping Jimmy doesn’t wake up. I peer through the peephole seeing Shawn on the other side. I unlock the door and step into the breezeway. “Shawn, what are you doing here? It’s late.”
He’s out of breath, breathing hard. “It’s Uno. Thought you should know. He passed out and is back in the hospital. Last I heard he was still unconscious.”
“What? I didn’t even know he got out.” I shake my head. “Is he okay?”
“Don’t know but I drove straight through to tell you.”
“Thank you,” I whisper out feeling so many emotions. “Would you like to come in?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m headed back to the hospital. MaryAnn is in labor.”
“Oh my God, she is!” I squeal but then I feel terrible for being happy. Justin should be my main concern, but I am happy for my friend. I know she was getting anxious and nervous about the birth.
“I’d offer to take you to see him, but Stephanie is there, and I don’t know if that’d be a good idea right now.”
“I understand.”
“Have you been thinking about what I said…about us.?”
“Now isn’t the time…I need to call the hospital and check on Justin. I need to call the girls and see how MaryAnn is doing too. We’ll talk soon, okay?”
“Yes, Lissa. We will.” He leans into me and kisses my cheek. When he pulls back, he gazes into my eyes. “I’ll be waiting.”
I nod, offering him a weak smile feeling a bit crazy and wild, then I pull him to me and kiss him on the lips. Maybe I am being foolish. But right now, I need to be careless and forget everything for a while. I don’t want to think about anything but the here and now and right now Shawn is here. His mouth moves against mine but then he pulls back, breaking our connection and does something that confuses the hell out of me. “I won’t win you like this. When you are upset and not thinking clearly. Trust me, God knows I want you, Lissa. I always have but when you are with me, I won’t have Uno laying between us. When I am with you it will only be the two of us.”
I swallow my emotions and know he is being the smart one here, but I wish he would take advantage. If he did then my choice would be a helluva lot easier.
His fingers brush over my lips, along my jaw, and down my throat. “Don’t be cross with me. I want to do this right. I want to prove to you that I’m serious about us.”
“I know,” I whisper as my pulse throbs in my throat.
To be continued…
Coming Soon!
Cocky’s Fight
Book 6
Devils Rejects MC
Some loves are worth fighting for.
When Cocky sees something he wants he goes for it, consequences be dammed. But when what he wants means crossing boundaries and blurring lines that could break more than hearts, he has to decide how far he's willing to go. There’s a new enemy in Webb Hollow threatening to destroy the one woman he cherishes most. Life is unpredictable, and all is fair in love and war, but this is one fight he can’t lose.
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
I hope that you aren’t reading this until after you have finished reading Uno’s Truth. Spoiler warning now! Turn back if you are just sitting down to read the book.
The ending of Uno’s Truth was supposed to end a different way. Uno wasn’t supposed to be shot, he was supposed to have wrecked his motorcycle. Little did I know at the time, when I was typing that scene and messaging my besties Dawn, Morgan Jane, and Michelle about how I was ending the book on this major cliffhanger with this accident that a member of the book community would be fighting for his life due to his own serious motorcycle accident. I wrote the scene that I had envisioned in my head then I logged onto Facebook and saw the outpouring of posts that a cover model on my friend’s list had been involved in a life-threatening motorcycle accident. I was in shock and had no clue what to do. I watched the details unfold with everyone else online, praying that he would survive.
Fiction had crossed into reality and it was not a good feeling. I sat on the scene for a day and decided to change it. I didn’t want to come off insensitive to the man’s accident or like I had taken his life altering event and incorporated it into my story for my own benefit. That isn’t who I am. Why am I even telling you this then? It’s important to me to tell you how this story evolved and changed. I myself lost my Uncle, Cowboy, in a motorcycle accident in 2014, so hearing the news of this accident hit home.
I have never changed the ending of a book before based on what was happening in the book community or in the world, but I did so out of respect. I didn’t feel right about keeping the scene in my book even though the two are not directly related. I hope that the ending still delivered the way I hoped and brought out the emotions I did my best to bring out.
My dear friend, Michelle Simm worked like a champ to help me get it right and bring Uno’s story the justice it deserved. With a sick kid home from school, her head in my lap, I typed the last chapters of this book one handed from my phone on Google Docs. Michelle was online with me from the UK, (I live in Kentucky) and she was with me the whole way as I powered through, correcting my crazy typos so I would finish by my deadline to bring you this book the way it was meant to be. I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Uno's Truth (Devils Rejects MC Book 5) Page 10