by J. M. Walker
The closer we got to Shadow’s clubhouse, the less I knew what was going to happen.
I didn’t know if Brynn was safe. I didn’t even know if she was alive. I shouldn’t have yelled at Price. It was my fault. All of my fault. Why couldn’t they take me instead? Or Jaron? If it was the mayor who had a hand in this like we assumed, why did he take her? Maybe it was to get back at Jaron. I didn’t know. But I could sense the fear in him that I would blame him. I didn’t. I just wanted our baby back. I wanted to know if there was a new baby growing in me. I wanted to know that we were fine. That all of us were in fact fine.
While the strangers drove us to our destination, Jaron held me and whispered sweet words in my ears. They were words of encouragement. Words telling me how much he loved me. Words telling me to be strong and that although the mayor was an evil bastard, he wouldn’t hurt her. Words telling me that we would get her back, but they were only words. I didn’t believe him. I wanted to. I tried to. But until I had my daughter back in my arms, I couldn’t believe a single thing Jaron told me.
Piper
The guys had driven us to the Mayhem’s Revenge clubhouse, but I couldn’t even remember how we had gotten here. The drive could have been minutes or hours and I never noticed.
“How can I pay you back?” Jaron asked, helping me out of the SUV.
“You don’t need to, kid,” the guy in the passenger seat said.
Jaron grunted. “Everything comes with a price. I don’t want to owe you if I don’t have to.”
The back window rolled down, revealing the smaller guy. “You don’t owe us and there’s no catch either. We help people. It’s what we do.”
“Tike,” the driver barked.
“Now you know my name, so I guess we’re even,” he said, glaring at his friend.
Instead of waiting for us to answer, the window rolled back up.
Before we could find out anything about them, they drove off, the tires screeching out of the parking lot. I found I had more questions about the silent strangers but couldn’t dwell on that too much when we were surrounded by several members of Hell’s Harlem.
To say that I was surprised to see his parents, was an understatement.
“Dad, I…” A shuddered breath left Jaron, his hand tightening around mine as he kept me close.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Jaron’s mom, Eve, shook her head, wiping under her eyes.
“Do you know anything?” Greyson asked his son.
Jaron only shook his head, his jaw clenching.
“How the hell did you get here?” Sammy demanded, rushing toward us followed by Cyrus. “We followed the route you took and only saw the burnt-up car. You weren’t there and then Cyrus gets a call from Greyson that there was an accident.”
“Follow us,” Jaron said. “And I’ll explain all I know but Piper needs to see Ricky.”
Ricky was the in-house doctor for Mayhem’s Revenge, Shadow’s old club. Now that he had retired, his own son, Kian, had taken over much like Jaron would eventually do for Hell’s Harlem. Even though his dad was still the president, we all knew he was wanting to retire. It was only a matter of time before Jaron took over the club. I also knew that his father had been itching to spend the rest of his days with his wife. Now that his son was grown up, he could focus on her and their grandchildren.
As much as I just wanted my baby girl and to go home, I didn’t argue with Jaron. There was no point trying to find our daughter if I wasn’t taking care of myself. I knew that Jaron would go look for her. He didn’t have to tell me. I needed to make sure he didn’t worry about me at the same time, so I did as I was told like a good little girl.
“Jaron.” Eve went up to her son. “Please tell me this is all some sick joke.”
A sob left me. I pushed my face into Jaron’s chest, crying against him over the fact that I may never see our daughter again.
“I wish it was,” he told her, his voice thick.
“Oh God,” she cried.
“We’ll find out what’s going on.” That was his dad.
There were so many voices, all angry and curt, I couldn’t place who was who, but I found that I no longer cared. I just wanted Jaron. I wanted Brynn. I wanted to move on as a family. When he first came home, I thought our biggest struggle would be how to reconnect, but this was so much worse.
“Let’s get you looked at, baby,” Jaron whispered in my ear. “I need to make sure you’re good.”
All I could do was nod while he led me to the back of the club. I was in a trance while Ricky, a smaller older man, looked at me. He was nice enough, but he could have also been a douche and I wouldn’t have overly cared.
“She could be pregnant,” Jaron muttered to Ricky.
He nodded. “I’ll be careful. I have pregnancy tests here but if you want me to take blood…”
“Do it,” Jaron said.
“You’ll owe me, boy,” Ricky said, trying to keep his voice firm but when he looked at me, the hard lines on his face, softened.
“I don’t give a shit, Ricky. I already owe Shadow and Kian for letting us be here.” Jaron nodded toward me. “We want to know.”
Ricky did as he was told and took some blood. After, he checked out my head and neck. When he was satisfied that I didn’t have a concussion, he checked Jaron out just the same. Much to his grumbling of course. He kept saying that he was fine but if he was going to go after Brynn like he said he would, he needed to be one-hundred-percent healthy. The crash had knocked us out, so Ricky mentioned something about taking it easy, but being the kind of guy that Jaron was, the instructions only went in one ear and out the other.
He kept looking my way, probably making sure I wouldn’t snap. No. I wouldn’t. That would be him. It was on the tip of my tongue to beg for him not to go after the guys who took Brynn. While I didn’t know exactly who they were or even where to start, his dad had people looking into it. I wasn’t stupid. They knew people. I was sure they owed some favors or were going to cash in on the favors that other people owed them. I didn’t care how they found my daughter. I just needed her back in my arms.
When Ricky checked Jaron out, he went to leave the large makeshift medical room, but stopped at the door, checked his phone, and came back toward us. Showing us the screen, he gave me a small smile. “Congratulations again, little mama.”
My breath hitched when I read the text saying that I was pregnant.
Jaron closed the distance between us and cupped my stomach. “Thank you. Let me know when you want to collect.”
“I will.” Ricky left the room, leaving Jaron and me alone.
Sammy and Cyrus, along with Greyson and a few other guys from the club, took that moment to join us in the room. Even though it was big, being stuck in there with them, made it seem almost smaller.
Jaron sat on the bed behind me, wrapping his arm around my middle.
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I will.”
Jaron was arguing with someone, but I didn’t care to look up to see who he was talking to. I didn’t care. About anything. It felt like a piece of me had been ripped away. Like an appendage was torn free from my body, leaving my sorrow to bleed out on the ground beneath me.
I was pregnant. Again. With Jaron’s baby. Our second baby.
Pain consumed me.
Agony threatened to tear me apart.
Rage coursed through my veins, making every nerve ending inside my body tingle beneath my skin.
As Jaron crushed me back against him, these dark thoughts took hold. They destroyed and yet gave me some sort of solace at the same time.
“We’ll get her back,” I heard him say.
Words. That was all they were. Nothing more. Nothing less. They were empty promises because how could he know? How did Jaron know that we would get her back? He was smarter than that. Than this. Than us. He lived and breathed destruction. He tore through my life like a hurricane, unleashin
g every feeling, every emotion he felt, on me and me alone.
He took. He gave.
He loved. He hated.
And right now, when he turned me around and stared into my eyes, without saying it, I knew, because I felt it too.
He was scared. He knew his words were fake and that I didn’t believe them. Hell, neither did he, but he said them anyway. Why? Why would he make a promise when he wasn’t sure if he could keep it?
He fisted my hair, keeping a tight hold on my head and making me look into his eyes. “I will get her back,” he said, that deep raspy growl brushing over my skin like thousands of tiny kisses.
And there he was, the man I loved. The man I knew who would destroy everything in his path to get what he wanted most. That was the Jaron I wanted. Not the one promising me lies.
I wasn’t sure anymore what was going on. What was real? What was a dream?
Voices sounded around us. Some high. Some deep. Some soft and gentle. Others rough and demanding.
Jaron placed a soft peck on my forehead before pulling from my clutches. He left the bed and began pacing.
A soft cry escaped me, and I reached out for him.
His dad, along with other club members, his brothers, with their dark eyes and jaws as hard as granite, mumbled amongst themselves.
I was vaguely aware of someone enveloping me in a hug. Who? I had no idea. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jaron.
His mouth moved, talking to Cyrus and Sammy as well as the other guys standing with him. But his eyes never strayed away from mine.
Something switched between us in that moment. In the beginning, it was like we were treading water. We walked on eggshells around each other. The passion was thick, the love was intense, but the fear that something would come between us, was suffocating.
I didn’t know why. I probably never would. I trusted him. I trusted him with every fiber of my very being. It was the other women I didn’t trust. The quiet whispers whenever I had gone to the store. The looks and stares. The jealousy that seeped into the air every time I picked Sammy and Cyrus up from the club.
Jaron didn’t trust the guys I had been with either. Even though I wanted nothing to do with them romantically. Ashton had caused problems for our other friends, so I got it. I understood Jaron’s fear. Even though I had basically shoved them out of my life for no apparent reason but to wallow in my own self-pity.
Jaron said something, his words curt and to the point. He shoved the guys off of him and came back to me. He cupped my face, brushing his fingers over every crease, every line, every freckle. With each touch, he followed it with a kiss. A soft peck. A silent cry for me not to give up. Brynn wouldn’t want that.
Someone cried in the distance.
I realized then that his mom had joined us.
Deep voices cursed.
Jaron stared at me. Begging. Pleading. It had only been a couple of hours since our daughter was taken, and I was already willing to stop fighting. But that part of me, the strongest part, fought with the side of me that was terrified I would never see her chubby little face again. Or kiss her fingers and toes. To watch her grow up into the amazing woman I knew she would be. To see her grow up and be an amazing big sister. She may never know her sibling.
I cupped my stomach, the tears rolling freely down my cheeks.
Hands covered my own. They were women’s hands, so I knew they were Eve’s, but I couldn’t look up. I couldn’t look into her eyes and see the pain that both Jaron and I had put there. If only we stayed home and had someone else grab us groceries. Especially when the mayor had already threatened us.
It was our fault.
Please God. Wherever she is, watch over her. And please give her back to us.
Jaron
Piece by piece, Piper was breaking. Right in front of me and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Not until I brought Brynlee home and safely tucked her back into her mother’s arms.
I had pulled Ricky to the side and asked him if there was something he could give her that wouldn’t harm the baby but would help her sleep. I didn’t care how many favors I ended up owing him after all of this. I just needed my girls safe, healthy, and home.
He ended up giving her a light sedative that knocked her out rather quickly. I kissed her forehead, brushed my nose against hers, and whispered I loved her until I was satisfied that she would get some sort of sleep before everything continued to go down.
When I left the room, a new prospect who had just become part of Hell’s Harlem and who came highly recommended by Shadow himself, came toward me. He was taller than most of the prospects and had an air about him that set me on edge.
“Cheesy,” I greeted.
“Jaron.” He nodded once. “I got you a phone.”
“Do you have any news?” I asked, taking the phone from him.
“No but I was told to watch over your girl,” he said, leaning against the wall by the door leading to the room she was currently sleeping in.
“I appreciate that, but I don’t know you.” Not that I wanted to be rude but after everything Piper and I had been through, Sammy and Cyrus were lucky that I even trusted them enough to watch over her when I wasn’t around.
“I get it.” Cheesy shoved his hands into his pockets. “I wouldn’t trust me either, or anyone else for that matter, but Greyson and Shadow both told me to stand watch. So I’m just doing as I’m told.”
“You can stand watch like you were told but I’m not leaving.” I slid down the length of the wall until my ass hit the floor. Just then, the phone rang.
Cheesy and I glanced at each other before I looked at the small display and saw a number I didn’t recognize flashing across the screen.
“Where the fuck is my daughter, Price?” I demanded, shoving to my feet.
“Now, that’s not any way to talk to someone who could very well end your life.”
“Where are you?” I repeated, my voice raising.
“She’s safe.”
“Give her back to me. You can have me instead.”
He grunted, the sound grating on my nerves. “Unlikely, but I do have instructions for you. I want to see you.” He listed off an address and before I could comment, he hung up. I tried calling him back, but the number had suddenly been disconnected.
“Fuck.” I shoved the phone into my pocket.
“What’s going on?” Cheesy asked, taking a tentative step towards me.
I looked at him then.
He brought his knees up to his chest, leaning his head against the wall behind him. A faraway look splayed on his face. He was young but there was something deep within his eyes that showed more than he let on. I had only met him a handful of times. He had become a prospect for Hell’s Harlem when I was in jail. Sammy and Cyrus briefly mentioned him and a few other new members. He was a good kid.
“Jaron.”
My head whipped around, finding my dad coming down the hall toward us with Catch and Tray on either side of him.
“Price just called me and told me where he is but I don’t know if Brynlee is with him.” I shoved a hand through my hair. “I need to go. I need to get her back.”
“Lucas was looking into things.” Dad looked at Cheesy. “You taking a break?”
Cheesy cowered. “I—
“I told him I wasn’t leaving Piper.” I glanced back at the door. It took everything I was made of not to go back to her and pull her into my arms. But I needed to find out what was going on. I needed to go back and bring her information. I needed to meet up with Price and find our daughter.
“Fine.” Dad jutted his chin. “You can leave.”
Cheesy did as he was told and walked back down the hall, leaving us alone. My dad wasn’t normally a dick, but this wasn’t one of those times. Especially where his granddaughter was concerned.
“I need to give Piper an update,” I heard myself say.
“I know.” Dad’s jaw clenched.
A breath left me that I di
dn’t realize I had been holding. Placing my hands on my knees, I bent over, taking another breath and then another. “I need to give her information,” I repeated.
“I know.” Dad clapped my shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
But it was a promise he couldn’t make. “You don’t know that you will.” I shoved away from him and opened the door leading to Piper. All breath left my lungs when I saw her sitting up. Her cheek was creased by the pillow. How much time had passed? It didn’t feel like long, but it must have been. Time was lost on me as we stood around, waiting.
Waiting.
I hated fucking waiting.
Dad cupped my shoulder. “Go to her, Jaron, but don’t you dare deal with this on your own.”
I pushed away from him but never made any promises. Because I couldn’t. There would be no point. We both knew that I was going to go after the bastards who took Brynlee, who hurt my girlfriend. The mother of my daughter and the baby currently growing inside of her.
“Jaron,” she whispered.
I rushed to her, throwing myself against her small body.
She shook against me, trembling beneath my touch. “I thought it was a nightmare and then I realized it wasn’t.”
I fisted her hair, hugging her tight. Breathing in the faint scent of her sweet perfume, I let it soak beneath my skin, trying to give me all the strength I needed to do this. To hurt her again, because I knew that I would. I wasn’t sure how she would forgive me for the things I had to do.
“Jaron,” she murmured, pushing her face into my chest. “You’re shaking.”
“So are you,” I mumbled, kissing the soft spot beneath her ear.
She shivered. “Have you heard anything?”
“No.” I lifted her in my arms and sat on the bed.
Piper straddled me, holding onto me for dear life. As cliché as it sounded, I took it and welcomed her rough hold into my heart.
“What if we can’t get her back?” she asked, her voice soft and unsure.
My jaw clenched, a tremor of rage coursing through my body. It rippled beneath my skin, promising pain and torture to those who wronged my girl.
“We will. We have to.” I leaned back and brushed my hand through her hair, pushing it off her forehead. Her eyes shone, her cheeks red and tear-streaked. “I refuse to have it any other way, baby.”