“Why are you calling me, Noelle?” I asked her, trying hard to sound harsh, when all my heart was doing was exploding in my chest. Even though I couldn’t see her, I could picture her exactly as she was. Demure, and luscious with the sexiest body I had ever seen on a woman. I wanted her instantly, just by the sound of her voice.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Tank. I know you don’t want anything to do with me. I don’t want you to think that I’m pursuing you…or…stalking you or something,” her voice sounded weak as she spoke. I wished I could just confess everything to her. I wanted her to know that she could never do anything to make me want her less. I had to clench my jaws to stop myself from screaming.
“What is it, Noelle?” I asked, and she waited for a few beats again.
“I just wanted to let you know, just as information…that I met someone at the hospital today who seemed to recognize me…someone who knows you,” she said and my brows crossed. Every nerve in my body was on high alert.
I had already started striding towards my parked bike.
“What do you mean you met him? How did you meet this guy at the hospital?” I barked, and Noelle seemed nervous again.
“He came in for a few stitches to the forehead, and I was taking care of it. Then he caught my wrist and said that he recognized me. That he had seen me with you at the restaurant we went to for dinner,” she continued, and I kicked my bike with my left foot. I growled right into the phone.
“Tank?” Noelle’s voice was soft.
“Who was he? Do you know his name?” I asked her, running a hand through my hair.
“His name was Mark Kaz, and I saw the patch on his leather jacket. He belongs to…” she said.
“The Dragon Knights,” I completed the sentence for her, and there was silence on her end of the line.
“Well, Tank, I just wanted to let you know what happened today. In case it’s of any use to you. I have no idea how he recognized me, or how he knows me…but he seemed like he was pretty mad at you,” she continued, and I let out a deep breath.
My plan had unraveled. The Dragon Knights had found her. But the point was, would they care about her anymore? Now that they knew that we weren’t together?
“Did he do anything else? Did he hurt you in any way?” I growled, and Noelle seemed to be thinking about her answer.
“No. He was just a little rough with me, but he couldn’t have done anything, we were in a public place. He just scared me a little I think, but I’m all right now,” she replied. Sweet little Noelle… she had no idea that a war between two MCs entailed not caring about how public the place is. If Mark Kaz, or Viper as I knew him, wanted to harm Noelle, he would have done it.
Chances were that they wouldn’t give a shit about her anymore since she wasn’t associated with me. But I was responsible for having scared her, and I was worried. I needed to make sure she was safe.
“Noelle…I know I’ve been rude to you, and I know that you might never want to have anything to do with me, but I want to come and see you,” I said into the phone. She was silent, and it seemed like years before she spoke again.
“You’re right, Tank, you’ve been rude to me and hurt me, and I don’t think I want to see you again,” she replied, and I ran a hand through my hair and pressed my eyes closed.
“I’ll stay away from you if you really want that, but I really need to come over and see you,” I argued.
“I told you I’m all right. I was just calling to let you know what happened,” she said, and I heard the wounded sizzle in her voice.
“I know, and I’m glad that you called. Now, please let me come over so that we can talk this through,” I told her, and once again, she fell into radio silence. It had to be at least a couple of minutes before she finally replied.
“Okay,” she said and ended the call.
I jumped on my bike and rode to her apartment building as fast as I could. I had waited nearly three months to see her, and this was my opportunity.
***
I was nervous when I knocked on the door of Noelle’s apartment. I had daydreamed about this scene before, several times, but these were not the circumstances I had predicted I would be seeing her under.
When I heard the door opening, I felt like I was going to explode. Then I saw her, peeking out from the side of the door. She opened it wide, and we were finally standing face to face again. Me looking at her, she looking at me. Everything I had felt that day when I first saw her at the hospital, had returned. Was she even more radiant now?
She was in jeans and a baggy cotton t-shirt, her dark hair was left down, her bangs fell over her forehead, her blue eyes glowed and were it possible that she looked even more deliciously curvy now? My cock moved in my pants. I wanted to ride her. I wanted to push her back into the apartment and just take her.
“Noelle,” I said her name as softly as possible, hoping she wouldn’t notice the way my cock was behaving in my pants.
“Come in,” she said and dragged her eyes away from me and stepped back from the door to let me in.
I walked into Noelle’s swanky apartment. I knew she lived in the more upscale part of town, but I hadn’t expected her apartment to be this luxurious. Her parents had provided it for her, no doubt. Seeing her apartment reminded me of the world of difference between us and how this could never work. She would never be happy with a guy like me.
She walked away from me, as far away as she could and stood behind her plush leather couch. I watched her as she crossed her arms over her breasts, and for some reason, they looked even bigger and juicier now. It had to be the time away from her, that made her look sexier to me…if that was even possible.
“You didn’t have to come and see me, Tank. I’m quite capable of taking care of myself,” she said and tucked hair behind her ears. I could tell that she was nervous to be around me. Was she afraid of me as well?
“Yes, I know that…but someone gave you a scare today, for which I am responsible. I wanted to come over and make sure that everything was okay,” I told her. We were staring at each other, and I could see that she was struggling to hold my gaze. Did she want me gone?
“Everything is okay. He has nothing to do with me,” she replied, and my eyes traveled over her body, drinking in all the curves I’d missed and fantasized about.
“How are you, Noelle?” I asked her, and she thrust her chin up in the air, looking down at me over her small cute nose.
“Why do you care, Tank? If you’re asking me all this out of some sort of guilt, let me stop you right there. You don’t need to concern yourself about me. I heard you loud and clear when you said that I wasn’t your type of woman,” she went on, and there was that same sizzle in her voice again. I knew I had hurt her, and just like me, she hadn’t been able to get past it either.
“I know what I said, and I’m sorry that I hurt you,” I told her and Noelle jerked her face away from looking at me.
“It’s over now. I’ve moved on. You’ve come over here and done your duty of checking on me. So you can go now,” she said, and she was refusing to meet my eyes.
“Okay, I’ll go if you want me to,” I said, but she still didn’t look at me. This was a fruitless effort. I had successfully managed to ruin everything between us, and it was all my fault…just like I had planned it.
I drank her in again, staring at her beautiful body one last time before I left her apartment. When my gaze fell on her belly, I noticed that her baggy t-shirt looked tighter over it. At first glance, it could have just been that she’d gained some weight…it made her look even more delicious for the taking. But as I scanned the rest of her body, I noticed that only her breasts looked bigger. There was a red flush on her cheeks…she was glowing. I hadn’t imagined it when I first thought that she looked even more luscious somehow. At that moment, I knew. Noelle was pregnant.
“Noelle!” I exclaimed and stepped hurriedly towards her. She looked frightened for a second, and she jerked her head to look at me. She’d caught me s
taring at her belly, and her hands flew defensively to it. Any doubts I had in my mind regarding her pregnancy were dissipated immediately by that reaction.
“You’re pregnant!” I said, drawing closer to her and she stepped away from me, in fear. Like I was going to do something to the baby she was carrying in her belly.
“Talk to me!” I growled at her, losing control of myself. She was near enough to touch, and yet I could see that she didn’t want me to touch her.
“Are you pregnant with my child?” I growled, and she clasped a hand to her mouth, as though she was afraid of what she might say.
CHAPTER 18
Noelle
“Noelle?” I heard him repeat my name, but I was too dazed and too much in shock to respond to him immediately. Seeing Tank again, after all these months, had brought back all those memories and feelings which I thought I’d managed to get over.
He was still as hot, and the way he was looking at me now could make me melt. He was angry and disappointed and curious…all at the same time, and I just couldn’t get the words to come out of my throat.
“Noelle…you have to tell me what’s going on!” he was scolding me, and came even closer. I could smell him, he was close enough to touch, and I had never been tempted to fall into someone’s arms like this before. I knew I’d feel relieved, I’d feel safe in his arms…but he didn’t want me! He never wanted me for anything more than one night.
“What do you want me to say?” I snapped at him, realizing that any second now, the tears were going to start gushing down my cheeks.
Tank was quiet, he was glaring at me, his gaze drifting to my belly from time to time as he stared at me.
“I want you to tell me if I’m the father,” he said, in a quiet deep voice. The silence in my apartment, between us, was deafening. I could hear the clock ticking on the wall, and I could have sworn that he could hear my heart beating in my chest too.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I could have just lied to him, and told him it wasn’t his. That would send him away. But did I really want him to go away? Hadn’t my heart leaped at the sight of him at my door, at the sound of his voice over the phone?
“Noelle?” he came even closer to me, and now he had placed a hand on my shoulder. His touch was electrifying, and it seemed to weigh my shoulder down. I couldn’t believe that Tank was touching me, that I was so close to him again. I had only been fooling myself all these weeks by pretending that I had managed to move on. That I would be able to live my life without seeing him again. I opened my mouth and let the words pour out.
“Yes, it’s yours. The baby is yours,” I said and hung my head down. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see the look of horror and disgust on his face. I didn’t want to see just how badly he regretted sleeping with me.
We were both silent again, till his grip on my shoulder became tighter. I felt the pinch on my skin, and I looked up at him instinctively.
He wasn’t horrified like I’d predicted, in fact, there could have been a smile on his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Noelle? Why did you keep this from me?” he asked, and he placed his other hand on my other shoulder. We were inches away from each other now. I was so close to just falling into his arms.
“Because you didn’t want me. And I was afraid of how you would react if I told you. If you didn’t want me, why would you want my baby?” I could hear the cry in my own voice. My eyes had filled with tears already, and they were threatening to roll down my cheeks.
“That was a lie, Noelle,” he said, in a deep, gruff voice and I jerked my head to look up at him again. That smile on Tank’s face had stretched wider. He was grinning, his eyes were lit up.
“What?” I asked, and slowly, he pulled me closer to him by my shoulders.
“I was lying when I said that you weren’t the right kind of woman for me,” he told me, and I stared at him with my brows knotted. The tears were gushing down my cheeks now, but I didn’t care. I didn’t know whether to believe what he was telling me.
“I don’t understand,” I said, and Tank smiled more.
“I don’t expect you to, and I’m sorry for hurting you. But believe me, Noelle, I told you that so that you would hate me. So that you never had to get involved with all the messed up things in my life. In some messed up way, I was trying to keep you safe,” he continued, and I shook my head. This was crazy. This couldn’t actually be happening. I had to be dreaming.
“Noelle…” he breathed my name and pulled me to him. I fell on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me, and I could feel myself sinking into him. I had fantasized about being in his arms, I had fantasized that he would hold me close to himself and promise that he’d make everything all right. I just never thought that fantasy could ever come true.
As he held me and rocked me gently, I felt like I was finally home. I had no idea just how much I’d missed being in his arms. He gently kissed the top of my head.
“This is the best thing you could have ever told me, Noelle. That I’m going to be a father,” I heard him say. I moved in his arms to look up at him. Even though he was smiling, I was still finding it difficult to forget about everything and just pick up where we’d left off.
“So, you want the baby?” I asked, and Tank peered into my eyes, his hazel eyes bright and excited.
“There is nothing I want more than to have a child with you,” he said and then as fast as he had started smiling, he was frowning again. My heart dropped. Had he changed his mind so quickly?
“Fuck. This gives them the bloody leverage that they needed,” he said.
***
“What are you talking about?” I asked him, as he stepped away from me. I could see the panic in Tank’s eyes when he ran a hand through his hair. I wanted him to hold me again.
“Tank?” I begged him to explain, and he finally looked at me again.
“Noelle…I’m sorry that you’re involved in this because of me,” he told me, and I shook my head in confusion.
“Involved in what?” I asked.
Tank seemed to take in a deep breath, and he clenched his jaws before he spoke again.
“The reason that I forced you to stay away from me all those weeks ago, was because I was afraid that the Dragon Knights were going to come after you because of me,” he revealed, and my lips parted in shock. What he was saying was making very little sense to me.
“They wanted to come after me?” I asked in a small voice.
“They were tailing us, watching you. That’s how they knew we were at the restaurant together. I saw them there that night, which is why I brought you back to my place,” he said, and I noticed how he had his fists clenched angrily. I gulped, trying to assimilate the information he had just given me.
“They wanted to hurt me because of you?” I asked, and Tank glared at me, searching my eyes for a reaction.
“I knew they were going to use you, to hurt me, to trap me…to do something. I didn’t want them to find out that I cared about you,” he said, in a deep quiet voice. He cared about me? That was all that seemed to matter.
I stepped towards him, my hands shaking as I drew closer to him.
“And you broke up with me to keep me safe?” I asked, and Tank remained silent for a few moments.
“I thought I was keeping you safe, but the truth is that you’ll never be safe as long as you know me. I know that now,” he said, and his gaze dropped to my belly. I reached for him, for his shoulders…just to touch him again. I wanted him to know how safe I felt with him. That I had never felt more like myself, or safer, than when I was with him.
He caught my hand and lifted it to his lips and kissed my fingertips gently.
“Did he realize you were pregnant? ” he asked and looked at my belly again. “Do they?” he asked, and I gulped. My throat had run dry, I was slowly beginning to understand what he was talking about.
“Yes, he saw…he knows,” I replied and with one pull, he yanked me to himself,
and we were hugging again. He stroked my hair, kissed my forehead, and I placed my head on his chest. I wanted to hear his heart beating.
“Now they know that I will always care for you…I will always care for our child,” I heard him say.
“So they will use our baby and me against you,” I added in a quiet voice, and he kissed the top of my head again.
“I’m sorry, Noelle, I should have stayed away from you. I shouldn’t have asked you out on a date. I don’t know what made me think that I could have a normal life with you,” he said, and I drew away from his chest, to look up at his face. I wanted him to see it in my eyes…how much I disagreed with that statement.
“Tank, I have never wanted anything as much as I’ve wanted to be with you. Please don’t say that…meeting you has changed me, it’s made me stronger and even though it hurt me to stay away from you, I never regretted my decision to be with you,” I told him and Tank stared into my face, searching me with his deep hazel eyes. Despite everything he had just told me, despite the fact that I should have been afraid for my life at that moment…I actually felt happy. I actually felt at peace to be in his arms.
Tank’s hands drifted from my arms towards my belly. Slowly, he stroked my stomach, where he imagined his baby to be, and a glimmer had entered his eyes. When he looked back up at my face, I could see that his anger had vanished, and there could have been a glint of happiness in his eyes.
“Noelle…I promise you that I will do everything to make sure that you and our child are always safe,” he said.
I nodded my head.
“I know you will,” I replied.
“I don’t want to push you away. I want us to be together, it’s the best way for me to take care of you…of you both,” he continued, and I nodded my head.
My heart was already leaping out of my chest with happiness. I didn’t care what the future held for us. I didn’t care who came after us. At that moment, all I really cared about was that we could finally be together again.
Snake (The Road Rebels MC Book 3) Page 41