“I don’t…I don’t…” I stuttered with my words and Tank’s face darkened.
“You can tell me what you want to say. If you want out, I’ll let you go. I don’t expect you to change your whole life around for me. As long as you let me be a part of my child’s life in some way,” he said, releasing me from his grip.
The moment Tank stopped touching me, that panic returned. I could feel it in my soul that I would never feel safe when I wasn’t in his arms, that I would never be happy without him. I would just have to get used to worrying about him; the way that Rebecca, Kylie, and Brooklyn had become.
I reached for him, throwing myself back into his arms again and I voluntarily placed my head on his chest.
“No. I want to be with you. I want to live with you, and I want to raise our child together. Just give me some time, Tank, to accept my reality,” I said, and he placed a finger under my chin and raised my face up towards him.
When he kissed me, I felt warm and safe, happy that I was in his arms. Happy in the knowledge, that no matter what happened during the day, Tank would try his best to come back to me at night, and take me into his arms.
“You can take all the time you need, princess. I’m never going to push you to accept anything you don’t want to,” Tank said, gently prying his lips away from me. I could feel my cheeks flushing, the way they did every time Tank kissed me.
“I’ve already accepted that I’m in love with you and that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but with you,” I said, and we hugged tightly, in everyone’s view, as his friends started clapping and congratulating us with joy.
EPILOGUE
Tank
Axel was thumping me on the shoulder when Kylie walked into the Rusty Pelican. We’d been celebrating all day. The beers were being popped open, and the music was turned on loud. We had managed to safely bring in the twelfth shipment of weapons and Axel had asked me to oversee it.
The Dragon Knights were reduced to rubble by now. When word got out that we had stopped their deal with the Four Skulls no other gangs were interested in working with them, for fear that we would retaliate on them. And, even though we had other problems to deal with and more wars to wage; today was a good day for us. We cheered and clinked beer bottles together, as Kylie walked towards us. Hunter reached out and hugged her, and after they were done kissing; Kylie turned to me.
“What are you still doing here?” she asked, with her brows crossed.
“What are you talking about?” I said, and she looked at her wristwatch.
“Didn’t you get Brooklyn’s message? Jolie needs to be picked up from their house because Brooklyn has a doctor’s appointment at seven,” Kylie said, and I looked at my watch. It was already half past six, and I thanked her and rushed out of the bar.
Jolie was seven months old and a handful, despite the fact that she was the cutest little angel I had ever laid my eyes on. She had her mother’s large blue eyes and dark brown hair, which was in the form of a halo of tight ringlets around her face. She could scream till her lungs hurt if she didn’t get her way; and my daughter, at the small young age of seven months, always got her way. And she knew it. She knew exactly how pampered she was, at least around her daddy. Noelle was the one who had to lay down the rules because she believed that if she didn’t; Jolie would turn out to be a rude, spoilt brat.
Noelle still worked at the hospital because I didn’t want her to give up her career just because she was a mother now. For the first six months of Jolie’s life, Noelle had stayed home to look after the baby, and it had only been a month now since she started taking up a few eight-hour shifts at the hospital each week.
She had worried about how it might affect our lives, given that I never returned home before midnight these days because of the shipments that were on their way. But I insisted that we would manage. With the help of the other old ladies from the MC, and working around my schedule a little; Jolie was cared for while her mother worked and I was determined to make sure that Noelle didn’t feel like she had to give up everything just to be with me. She had already given up enough, by cutting off all contact with her parents when they didn’t turn up for our wedding.
All these years, I had never imagined myself as a family man. I had in fact run away from the idea. My parents had set the worst example for me, and I had no idea how to be any different. But Noelle had changed everything. I proposed to her within six months of being with her, and we got married a few weeks after Jolie was born.
Now, the same guy who never brought women back to his apartment because he was afraid of attachment and feared commitment lived in a two-story brick house with a beautiful wife and a wonderful daughter. Our neighbors stared when they saw my bike parked in the driveway, but Noelle had told me that she didn’t give a fuck. She was fiercely loyal to her man, and I loved her for it.
At Gunner and Brooklyn’s house, I picked up Jolie at the last minute before she was about to leave for her appointment. Jolie was delighted to see me, and I wrapped her in the sling around my chest so that I could ride with her.
I had trained myself to ride slowly when Jolie was attached to me, and I’d even bought her a baby helmet. Noelle had initially disapproved for safety reasons, but she soon saw that I would have done anything to keep our daughter safe from harm and that I would never put her in danger.
I rode us back to our house and carried Jolie in. Noelle was still not home, and there were still a few more hours to go before she returned.
It was difficult to imagine what my life looked like all those months ago, before I met Noelle and before we had Jolie. I would definitely not have been at home, trying to make baby formula at this time of the day. It was just seven, my day would just be beginning.
And now, every time I turned to look at my daughter, sitting on her high stool and flailing her arms around, I felt like I was at peace. I didn’t feel like I missed being at the bar with my brothers. I wouldn’t have been anywhere but at home with Jolie and Noelle.
Jolie giggled as I flipped her feeding bottle in the air for sport. I walked back over to her and presented it to her, on bended knee like she was my Queen. Which she was. As I fed Jolie, stroking her soft curly hair as she drank her formula, I realized that now more than ever; I was determined to keep doing my job. No matter how dangerous it was for me, I was going to make sure that nothing ever touched my wife or kid. And Noelle was my perfect partner in crime.
EPILOGUE
Noelle
After I had parked my brand new silver Mercedes in our driveway, I pulled my phone out again and found a volley of text messages in my inbox. Eight of them were from my mom and a few of them from my dad. They had been texting me non-stop for the past week since my last explosive phone call with them.
That phone call had been an olive branch from me. Since they hadn’t attended the wedding and refused to meet Tank; I had made up my mind to keep my distance from them. However, the older our baby doll grew, the more I wondered if it was right on my part to keep her separated from her grandparents.
So, on a quiet Sunday morning, when Tank and Jolie had both been asleep, I’d called my parent’s home. That conversation, which I had tried starting off by being apologetic but firm, had quickly spiraled out of control. They blamed me for everything; for ruining my life and theirs, for getting pregnant out of wedlock, for marrying a man who they didn’t only disapprove of, but were also afraid. I had ended the call and threw my phone against the wall from rage.
I hadn’t told Tank anything because he would have been upset to see me upset and probably blamed himself. Instead, he had gone out and bought me a new phone when I told him I dropped my cellphone accidentally.
It was nearly ten at night, I was still in my scrubs from the hospital and exhausted from a tiring shift. I climbed up the short flight of steps that led into our porch, and I stared up at the house.
It was a beautiful red brick house, in a quiet suburban neighborhood and there was nothing that Tank didn’t provide fo
r. He had insisted on me having a career, taking as much time away from the MC work as he could to care for Jolie. Brooklyn, Kylie, and Rebecca had all stepped in to help with raising Jolie, and I stopped for a few moments, to wonder how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t met Tank. If it could have been any better. Now, despite all of the hateful messages in my phone’s inbox in my purse; I couldn’t think of a single way in which my life might have been better. What more could I have asked for?
My parents disapproved of Tank’s lifestyle, but they didn’t know him. They didn’t know him for the man he was. He was the only man in the world who would have taken a bullet for Jolie and me, and I loved him. I couldn’t get enough of him.
Biting down on my lip, at the thought of seeing Tank and Jolie again, I opened the door of the house and stepped in.
The house was warm, and a curious smell of home cooked food wafted in from the kitchen as I walked towards it.
“Tank?” I called out for him. When I entered the kitchen, I was amazed by the sight that greeted me, and a hand rose up to my heart.
Tank had not only prepared a dinner of roasted vegetables and lasagna, but he was now laying the table out for us. Two candles were lit between the plates, and he was pouring a glass of wine for me as I walked towards him. A bottle of beer was lying unopened on his side.
He smiled at me in greeting, and my gaze fell on Jolie sleeping soundly in her cot.
“She ate, played, tried to have a conversation with me and then fell asleep,” Tank whispered in my ear when I came to him.
My heart was flooding with joy and happiness. I couldn’t believe that I had allowed myself to think, even for a second, about the things that my parents had said to me. They had no idea how beautiful my life was, how much I would have missed if I had married stupid Damien Robinson instead. My parents would never understand the love I had with Tank and how powerful and real it truly was.
He drew me into his arms, and I kissed him. My lips slid over his, his tongue parted my mouth and thrust in. His hand traveled over my back and down to my ass, and he pressed himself against me, rubbing his growing cock against my pussy.
“Every time I see you in these scrubs, it reminds me of the time I kissed you in that supply closet,” Tank said when he pulled away from me for breath. I was already breathing hard, my eyelids with heavy with desire for the man I had married. The handsome man, with his chiseled features and muscular body. His dark hair tied in a short ponytail behind his neck. His large warm hands settled on my ass, and he squeezed and drew in a sharp breath.
“You are even sexier now, Noelle,” he whispered in my ear, and I smiled. It delighted me to know that Tank was always so conscious and aware of being around Jolie. Like he was afraid that she would understand and disapprove her daddy having his hands all over her mommy.
“And I want to thank you,” I said, looking into Tank’s eyes, as his eyebrows furrowed from surprise.
“You mean for getting Jolie to sleep? You know she doesn’t throw a fuss. It was easy,” he said, rocking me as we held each other.
“Not just for that, but for everything,” I said and laid my head on his chest so that I could hear his heart beating in his chest. He was stroking my hair now.
“I am so glad that I wasn’t stupid enough to walk away from all this. I am so happy that I wasn’t scared of the unknown and I trusted in you, and my love for you,” I continued, and Tank tipped my face up so he could look into my eyes.
“I’m not sure what’s brought this on, but princess, you should never thank me for what I do. Just like you should never apologize. I fucking love you, Noelle,” he said, and we were kissing again. This time, Tank didn’t care that Jolie was in the same room.
THE END
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Kisses <3
Savannah
Turn the page for Protected by the Biker!
Protected by the Biker
by Savannah Rylan
Chapter 1
Thorn
Gun shots pierced through the quiet night making my heart start to race.
“Get cover!” Enzo hollered.
My brothers scattered, running from the shipping container that they were unloading to take cover.
Enzo was our president of the MC. He was crouched behind his Harley with two of our other members. Flashing blue lights coming from unmarked sedans were the only thing besides a few rusty lights on the edge of a warehouse that lit up the darkness.
“Put down your guns!” a voice on a megaphone yelled. “We have you surrounded.”
Enzo was yelling again at everyone, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying over the sound of bullets whizzing by me. Enzo jumped up and returned fire at the ATF agents that were coming out of the fucking woodwork.
The rest of my brothers followed suit and started firing at anything that moved. They needed to get out of there before more agents showed up. I tried my best to yell at them to leave but none of them listened to me. I felt my throat start to become raw from trying to get their attention.
I heard the sound of sirens get closer as more police officers and agents drove inot the port.
Four of my brothers decided to make a run for it, and try and hop over a nearby fence. I watched in horror as four of them were gunned down. Their bodies fell to the ground in heaps and I tried to rush over to them to help them, but my feet wouldn’t budge.
All I could do was let out a loud scream.
My body shot up from my bed with a start. Sweat covered my body and my bedsheets were kicked to the ground. I knew I was dreaming because I wasn’t there the night that my club got busted. I should have fucking been there with my brothers. More importantly, I should have looked into our Mexican contacts more. I should have realized that their deal was too good to be true. Because of my mistake, now our President, Enzo, was in jail.
The fucked-up thing was, Enzo wasn’t supposed to be there at the port either. He didn’t usually attend the collection of our gun shipments because we all knew that it was risky for the President of an MC to be there for a collection. That night, however, because we were getting a shipment from our brand-new contacts in Mexico, Enzo decided to go. He wanted to oversee it himself; especially since I wasn’t going to be there to look into it.
I had gotten shot the night before, right on my shoulder during a shootout with one of our rival clubs. The Steel Skulls had tried to raid one of our storage warehouses and steal some of our AK-47’s. The bastards had been trying to get into the gun business for months, and we had managed to lock them out of ever deal. SoCal was our fucking territory and we weren’t going to let them take it.
We defended our assets and scared the fuckers off, but not before one of them snagged me in the shoulder. The wound was nothing to worry about, the bullet just grazed my skin. I tried to convince Enzo and the boys that I was fine, but they told me that I needed at least a day to recover. Now, I wished that I hadn’t listened to them. I was blaming myself. Maybe if I was there that night, I might have been able to do something differently.
Every time I closed my eyes, I was pictured the moment that the ATF raided the port. Even though I wasn’t there, I kept imagining it in my sleep. Enzo and my brothers, going about their business, talking about what a goldmine these new contacts in Mexico were. Little did they know that all of it was a fucking set up.
I had my doubts about them from the very beginning, and I should have listened to my gut. When something seems too good to be true, it probably was.
They had been working with the ATF all along. It was a trap. We all knew that the ATF had been working hard to infiltrate our club for several months or catch us in an act that they could then hang over our heads. Raiding our se
cret port at night, in the middle of a weapon shipment being collected was ideal. They were able to arrest all the club members who were present at the time.
Thankfully, the rest of us were still free. They had no hard evidence on us, not yet anyway.
Now, four of my brothers were dead. Six of them were arrested, including Enzo. Our club was under attack, and I was sitting in my apartment, drinking endless cans of beer and watching some shit on the television. I didn’t need rest; there was nothing wrong with my shoulder. I should have been there with my brothers, putting up a defense, fighting beside them. I deserved to be in jail with the rest of them if that was our fate.
Maybe we wouldn’t have lost the four others if there were more of us on the scene.
I woke up in a cold sweat, panting.
Our club had taken a bad hit. We were without a President. Enzo was the man we all looked up to. He was our guide. He was fair and harsh, and we all respected him. Now he was sitting in prison, and there was nothing that the club could do for him to get him out.
Enzo had taken me under his wing several months ago; as the new VP and now with him gone-the natural progression was for me to take over. I didn’t know if I was ready to be the President of The Grim Reapers motorcycle club. I didn’t know if I could handle the responsibility. I was just a tough kid from a rough neighborhood who was given a break by The Grim Reapers. I didn’t know if I had any leadership skills, I didn’t know if I could replace Enzo-but what choice did I have now?
I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Every night, for the past three days since the ATF busted us, had been like this. I hadn’t slept more than a handful of hours since then. My mind was wrecked with thoughts of the night, what I could have done to help, what I was going to do now that I was President, what Enzo and my brothers were going to face in prison now.
Fox (The Road Rebels MC Book 4) Page 42