Grabbing her hand, I pulled her out of the room and down the hall to our bedroom. I didn’t say anything until the door was shut and locked behind us. “What the hell did you do?”
“What I had to,” she answered deadpan, but there was no fear in her eyes, not even a flicker of nervousness.
Everything inside of me turned to ice, trepidation eating me alive with fear for her. Michaels was a slimy bastard, sure, but he was still dangerous. What the hell did my girl get herself into? “Rory.”
“I gave him what he wanted,” she said with a shrug, as if it was nothing, and sat down on the chair across the room.
“Which was?”
“Money. He was nearly broke, and my mother’s money comes to me the minute I turn twenty-one. I’m giving him almost all of it.”
“You gave up everything your mother left you?”
For me. Shit, I couldn’t let her do that.
“How much did you give up for me?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How much?” I barked.
Her brow puckered into a frown. “Why does it matter?”
“Because you shouldn’t have to give up anything for me. Ever. You’re not supposed to be the one taking care of me.”
Her frown turned into a glare, and she was on her feet in a flash. Marching across the room, she punched me in the chest. “That’s not how this works, asshole. You aren’t the only one who gets to do all of the taking care of and providing and whatever else alpha shit fills that thick head of yours. We’re partners. That means we share everything, including the bad shit. You only get to take care of me, protect me, as long as I get to do the same for you.”
I caught her fist before she could hit me again. “How much did you fucking give him, Rory?”
“Two hundred and forty-nine million,” she snapped and pulled her hand free. “But I kept a little for myself. He didn’t get everything. I still have a million dollars, dammit.”
I let her go, too stunned to hold on to her. My jaw dropped, nearly landing on the floor, as I tried to comprehend just how much money she had given up to be with me. I knew her parents were well-off. Fuck, she had told me once just how big her grandparents’ house was where she had stayed in the three years we were apart. But, fucking hell, I hadn’t imagined she had that much money to her name.
This girl—my girl—was too good for me. No goddamn wonder her father had wanted her to stay away from a screw-up like me.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” she growled and caught my face between her hands. “You shut those damn thoughts down right now, Matthew Reid. I can see the wheels turning in that head of yours. I didn’t want the fucking money. I have never wanted anything more than you, and as long as I have you, I don’t care about the money. I don’t need it. Not when I have you.”
I covered her hands and pulled them away. “You deserve better than me, Rory.”
“I deserve to be happy!” she yelled in my face, those green eyes spitting flames at me. “I deserve to have a man who loves me and only me and who would give up his last breath for me. Are you telling me that you aren’t that man?”
“Fuck no!” I yelled back. “I would give up everything I have to protect you. You are my entire goddamn world.”
“Then don’t you ever tell me I deserve better, because it doesn’t get better than what we have.”
I caught her around the waist, jerking her against me and covering her mouth with my own. Her fingers tangled in the back of my hair as I lifted her, her lips devouring my mouth as I carried her over to the bed. Clothes went flying, and as soon as I had her pussy bared and my cock out, I thrust into her hard and fast.
“This…mmm… This doesn’t mean I’m not still pissed at you,” she panted.
“Oh, yeah?” I grabbed a pillow and stuffed it under her perfect ass. “What the fuck are you mad about, girl?” I asked with a smirk.
“Because you…you… Shit, I can’t talk when you do that, Matt!”
“This?” I thrust deeper and felt her walls start to contract around me. “Okay, I’ll stop,” I lied and thrust even deeper.
“You’re such an asshole,” she gasped out, her eyes rolling back in her head the instant my thumb touched her clit. “Matt!”
“You still pissed?”
“Yes!”
“You sure?” I kissed her neck then bit into her shoulder and sucked hard, marking what I would kill to keep.
“Yes… No…” she whispered.
“Which is it?”
“No,” she whimpered, her nails slicing into my back. “No, just keep doing that.”
I pushed up onto my knees and wrapped my arms around her thighs as her feet fell over my left shoulder. “I. Love. You.” I punctuated each word with a thrust that took me even deeper inside her drenched pussy.
“Oh God,” she moaned as she fell apart for me. “I love you too!”
A handful of thrusts later and I was falling on top of her as my cock emptied inside of her.
Chapter Eighteen
COLT
I HEARD A SOFT MOAN coming from the bedroom downstairs and set my mug of coffee on the counter. It was getting late, but I had figured Kelli would be waking up soon. I hadn’t given her enough to put her out for long, but she had already been out for longer than I had expected.
The stairs creaked as I descended them, and I heard her moan again. She was going to have one hell of a headache from the shit Raven had whipped together. We had started using the stuff on guys three times her size two years ago, and those fuckers had cried like little pussies when they woke up from that shit.
As I entered the master bedroom, I saw she was starting to struggle against her cuffs, making little whimpering noises as she began to realize where she was and what was going to happen to her. She didn’t have to worry too much. I wasn’t going to hurt her physically. I couldn’t stomach that shit, but I was still dreading what answers she was going to give me. I didn’t want to have to get rid of a body, but if it came down to it, I would do what had to be done.
The cuffs rattled as she shook her wrists. “What the fuck?” she muttered to herself.
“Nice to see you awake, babe.”
Her head snapped around so quickly I could tell she was seeing stars behind her eyes. She inhaled sharply and slowly blinked before finally focusing on me. “What are you doing, Colt?” she demanded, then flinched at the loudness of her own voice.
I moved to the end of the bed, so that I could look down over her entire body. I gazed down at her dispassionately. “Tell me about Senator Samson,” I commanded, ignoring her question.
Before my eyes, her entire body went completely still. “Wh-what?”
“I won’t repeat myself.”
“Samson is…” She paused, seeming to think about how to answer, or maybe her head was hurting too badly to understand the question. I didn’t care which it was. I stood over her, patiently waiting for her to answer.
“He was my mother’s lover,” she finally said, lifting her gaze to stare at something over my shoulder. “He’s… He’s my father.”
That answer surprised the fuck out of me, but I kept my face completely blank. If she was Samson’s daughter, then no wonder she was helping that fucker out by spying on us.
Shit.
“But I hate him,” she went on after a small pause, so fervently I didn’t doubt her even for a second. “I hate that sonofabitch more than any other person on the planet. I would have killed him myself years ago if I knew I could have gotten away with it.”
“Why is that?”
“There are a hundred reasons I could think of just off the top of my aching head,” she growled. “Like how he treated my mother before she got sick. How he still treats her. My mother loved that slimy bastard when his own wife couldn’t even stomach the sight of him. But would he marry the woman who loved him, when the one who hated him only wasted his money on facelifts and tummy tucks? No. Because my mother wasn’t the type of woman who could help
him get his Senate seat.”
The passion in her voice, on her gorgeous face, was the most I had ever heard or seen from her in all the time I had known her. The love she felt for her mother shone like a beacon from her eyes.
“So why help Samson by spying on the club?” I demanded, hardening my heart again when I realized I had begun to soften toward her a little. “If you hate him so much, why would you help him?
“Because he threatened to stop my mother’s care if I didn’t,” she said in a voice that was clouded with pain. “My mother has Alzheimer’s.”
That was the first I had heard of it, but then again, this was the first time she had even mentioned her mother. Until now, I hadn’t even realized she actually had family that was alive.
“She has round-the-clock care in one of the best nursing homes in the entire state. But her disease is progressing faster than even her doctors expected. On her good days, she can barely even remember who I am. Her bad days, she can’t remember how to use the fucking bathroom.” Despair filled Kelli’s eyes, and she lowered them before I could read more of her emotions. “Calvin is paying for her nursing home, but he’s also paying for the experimental drugs that are giving her more good days than bad ones.”
“He was holding your mother’s life over your head to get you to find out all you could on me and the club,” I bit out, not a question but a statement.
She nodded, then moaned at the sudden movement of her head. “Yes,” she muttered after she could focus her eyes again. “But he’d been getting fed up with me, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he finally cut my mother off.”
“Why?”
She turned her gaze up to the ceiling, refusing to meet my gaze as she gritted out her answer. “Because I was feeding the mayor and his pervy crony nothing but bullshit. I didn’t have anything to offer to them that could be used against you or the club. Instead, I was feeding them details about Samson’s dirty dealings, and Michaels was going to use it against my father so he would have no choice but to back him in his bid for the governor’s seat.”
“You what?” My voice rumbled, unable to hide my shock this time.
She lowered her lashes, grimacing in pain at how loud and harsh my voice was, but when she opened them again, I saw the truth shining out of her eyes. “I didn’t betray you, Colt. As much as I love my mother, I couldn’t do that to you or the club. It would have hurt you and Quinn, and I just couldn’t bring myself to hurt either of you like that. So I had to come up with a contingency plan. The mayor wants to be governor, and for that to happen, he needs other politicians to back him up. To agree with him when he wants to have his own way and convince everyone else to think just like him. My father has a lot of clout in this state and in Washington, DC. If anyone could get the mayor what he wants, it would be Calvin Samson. Every time I’ve met with Michaels and Royce Campbell, I’ve given him dirt on the senator. Not you or the MC or anyone else.”
“But what about your mother?”
“Do you think I gave him most of that shit for free?” she laughed, then grimaced again when the sound caused her physical pain. “The mayor said he was coming into a big cash flow soon, but I told him I wanted the money upfront at each meeting. I’ve got my mother taken care of. She will be just fine.”
I didn’t know whether to believe her or not. There was too much shit going on for me to just take her at her word.
“Why did you meet with Bubbles?” It was something I had been wondering about more than I had been curious about Samson. Why the fuck would Kelli meet with that cunt and not tell me? She knew we had been looking for the ex-sheep. She knew what Bubbles had done to my sister. “She nearly cost Raven Max.”
She blew out a long sigh. “Samson doesn’t know yet that I’ve been double-crossing him. Michaels wasn’t ready to let that little cat out of the bag. My father called and said he had a contact I needed to check up on. I had no idea who it was. All he gave me was a time and a place and told me to meet up with one of his contacts. I didn’t know it was Bubbles, had no clue who she was until she introduced herself. I spoke to her for all of ten minutes before I left.”
“What did she say?”
“She bragged about being my father’s newest lover. Apparently, she thought he was better in the sack than Kevin had been.” Her lips twisted in disgust. “She didn’t have much to tell me, other than what to watch for and which brother was the easiest to get the most information out of.”
“Which is who?” I had a feeling what name she was going to give me, but I needed confirmation.
“Warden was on the list. She said he liked to talk after he got good head.”
Warden never had been able to keep his mouth shut after he got his dick sucked.
Damn it.
I glared down at her, hating that I was feeling relieved she hadn’t betrayed me. “How the fuck do you expect me to believe anything you say?”
“I have proof,” she assured me. “Have Raider go to our house, tell him to lift the loose board under my bed. I have a USB drive under there of the recordings I made of each meeting I had with Michaels and Campbell.”
I put my hands on the end of the bed and leaned over her menacingly. “You better hope he finds it, babe. Because if he doesn’t, you won’t ever be going home.”
Chapter Nineteen
SPIDER
I STOOD IN THE CORNER of the private hospital room, watching as a nurse changed out Willa’s IV fluids then checked her blood pressure again. Willa looked weak and pale, her worry not completely hidden by the small smile she gave the woman who had done nothing but poke and prod my girl all damn day.
Doc had admitted Willa the night before for observation and to run some tests to figure out what was going on with my female’s blood pressure. The nurse had come into the room at random times throughout the day to take countless vials of blood. A heart monitor had been put on Willa as soon as we had gotten to the room the night before, and her heart rate had varied between low and normal—or so Raven would tell me every time I texted her what the numbers on the screen said every few hours.
The nurse had given us no answers when I’d demanded to know if the blood test results were back. She said I would just have to wait for the doctor to come in. I called bullshit because I knew the nurse had to be aware of what was going on with my wife. She just wouldn’t fucking tell me.
The nurse was working on making Willa’s pillows more comfortable when Doc finally showed up.
“About fucking time,” I snarled at the man. He was wearing his white lab coat and carrying his damn iPad. He barely looked up from it when I growled at him. “Well?”
Doc turned to the nurse with a tired but commanding kind of smile. “Could you give me a moment alone with my patient and her husband, nurse?”
She grabbed her things and made a quick exit. While the door shut behind her, Doc moved to stand beside Willa. Taking the stethoscope from around his neck, he started listening to her heart and then her stomach. He was quiet for so long, I was beginning to lose what little bit of sanity I still held on to.
“For fuck’s sake, Doc. What the hell is wrong with her?” I wasn’t even sure I had meant to bellow the question, but I was at the end of my rope. If Willa was scared, it was nothing compared to how terrified I was right then. I wanted answers, damn it, and I wanted them now.
“James,” Willa started to scold me, but when our gazes met, she pressed her lips shut. She could see that I was seconds away from having a damn breakdown. This female was everything to me, and if anything happened to her, it would kill me.
Doc sighed and wrapped the stethoscope back around his shoulders. “Her labs are basically normal. Heart enzymes are perfect. Glucose levels within ranges that don’t worry me. She’s fairly healthy.”
“That doesn’t mean shit,” I snapped. “I want to know why she passed out last night. I want to know why her blood pressure hasn’t gone up, and I want to know what the hell we’re going to do to fix her.”
/> Doc scratched at the stubble on his chin, seeming to contemplate what he was about to say. Willa held out her hand, and I didn’t hesitate to cross to her and take it in mine. Her fingers trembled as we waited for Doc to speak.
“I said her labs were basically normal. I do know what is wrong with her, but I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you that won’t send you into a catatonic state, Spider.” He blew out a harsh breath and shook his head. “When I say basically normal, I mean normal for someone in her condition.”
“Just tell us,” Willa commanded, seemingly at the end of her own rope now. “Spit it out, Doc. I can take it.”
“You’re pregnant, Willa.”
My knees went weak with a mixture of relief and terror. Thankfully, the hard as fuck recliner I had slept in the night before was behind me, and I dropped down into it hard. She was fine, she was healthy and fine.
Pregnant.
Fuck.
Pregnant.
Ah, fuck.
No one word had ever scared the shit out of me more. My wife had life growing inside of her.
I was going to be a father.
“Pregnant?” Willa asked with awe in her voice. “Why couldn’t you just come out and say that in the first place, dammit? I was scared to death something was seriously wrong with me.”
“Your hormone levels suggest that you’re carrying more than one baby, Willa,” Doc explained. “And I figured your husband was going to freak when I told you about being pregnant, so I could only imagine his reaction when I mentioned the word multiples.”
“That’s crazy! He’s…” she started to chide the doctor. But then her gaze landed on me, and worry wrinkled her brow. “Babe? You look like you’re going to pass out.”
“I might,” I croaked out.
Multiples? More than one baby. Shit. Shit. Oh, fucking shit.
If the idea of one baby was scaring the living hell out of me, two was going to send me into an early grave.
Angel's Halo: Fallen Angel (Angel's Halo MC Book 6) Page 13