Temper: Road Roses MC

by Ada Stone

  The mayor? They were talking about my father! Oh no! I hope he hasn’t realized who I am. That could ruin everything!

  I hadn’t told Luke that I was Amelia Rice, daughter of the rich Mayor Rice, who happened to absolutely hate the Road Roses. Knowing that about me didn’t seem like a good thing. They were constantly at odds and I doubted that he would think it was wise to be hooking up with the mayor’s daughter—not unless he thought it was a good swipe at my father’s character.

  No, Luke wouldn’t use me just for that, I admonished myself, though a small bit of the fear lingered.

  “You worry too much. The mayor will cool down. He just doesn’t like being approached on his own turf.” Luke paused. Then, “Yeah, it probably was, but I can’t take it back now. Just keep a look out. We’re still coming to the cookout. Yeah, alright. See you in twenty.”

  Luke hung up the phone and let out a sigh that sounded a little worried, a little frustrated, and very tired.

  I bit my lip to keep from asking about my father. Instead, I got up and went over to Luke. Softly, I asked, “Are you sure you want to go to that thing tonight? We can just stay home instead.”

  He looked over at me, letting his eyes trail over my body and then back up to my face. I could see desire flickering there—good to know it hadn’t disappeared—and hesitancy. Like he was considering it. Seriously, he said, “Would you rather stay? We don’t’ have to go.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not that. I’d really like to go. But if you’re too…” I wanted to say if you’re in too much trouble, but refrained. I didn’t want him to think I’d been eavesdropping. Which of course I had been. “Too tired, we can stay in. I’ll make you something for dinner.”

  He smirked at me, pulling me against him. I wrapped my arms around him easily. “You must be the perfect woman,” he muttered against my mouth. Then he kissed me before I could say anything in response. “You ready?”

  I nodded.

  “Let’s go, then.”

  …

  Despite wearing a dress, we took his motorcycle. It was fun to ride on the back, clutching him tightly as the wind completely messed up my hair and tugged at the fabric of my dress. It reminded me of our first night together.

  It didn’t take us long to get to the cookout which was held in the rather large backyard of a very beat up little house. The yard had thick grass, several trees, and surprisingly enough rose bushes that were thriving. Garrison lived here and Luke explained that, while not much of a housekeeper, he was great with plants.

  I’d laughed at that and thought of The Gentle Green Giant.

  When we made it around back, the place was already pretty full. There were men and women both, the woman Luke explained were the wives and girlfriends of the Road Roses. I realized instantly that I fell into that category, too. They were dressed in different ways, thankfully. Some wore leather pants, some wore short skirts, some wore dresses like me. It meant that I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb, though I seemed to be the center of everyone’s attention.

  “They’re all staring at me,” I murmured, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

  He smiled and nodded. “I don’t usually come to these things with a woman.” He left it at that, but I couldn’t help but wonder if this was significant, that he was taking me. Maybe it was only because I happened to be living with him and he thought it would be rude to leave me behind. Maybe he didn’t usually have a live-in girlfriend, but if he did, he’d bring her just as easily.

  Or maybe I’m special, a little voice whispered hopefully in my head.

  I bit my lip to keep my smile from becoming too big and silly. Luke took me around the whole place, introducing me to everyone. They seemed mostly nice, though some were a little more aloof and some were downright rude. I’d seen at least one nudge Luke and say that I had an ass he’d love to tap sometime if Luke wouldn’t mind. Luke’s reply had been too low to hear, but I could tell by the tone, his expression, and the way the guy backed up quickly that his answer hadn’t been an affirmative one.

  It made me relax a little bit. No one would mess with me, even if they weren’t friendly, because Luke would protect me.

  I went to the grill and got myself a hamburger. The cook was Garrison and he gave me a one-armed bear hug, his laugh booming, as he slid a burger onto my plate. Luke was off talking with a couple of other guys, one was that young guy Sorenson from Wicked Rose. I waved and he waved back, though the group looked tense.

  I found a space for myself to sit and eat at an old bench table that looked like it had been stolen straight from a park. Maybe it was, I thought mildly.

  When I was about halfway through my burger, a man a little older than Luke and a little gruffer slid onto the bench beside me. I had a mouth full of meat when he greeted me, offering his hand to shake. “Hello there. I’m Armand. You must be the pretty little thing that everyone’s been talking about.”

  I chewed quickly, pointing at my mouth, then forced down a not entirely chewed mouthful as quickly as I could. “Sorry. I’m A—I’m Lia.” My heart thumped at my near slip. I’d almost said Amelia, and especially after Luke’s earlier phone conversation involving my dad, I definitely didn’t want anyone figuring out who I was.

  He smiled at me. He had a tan that looked like a darker version of what was a natural olive complexion. His eyes were dark to match his hair, which was hardened by gel and slicked back. There was a little bit of stubble across his angular jaw and I admitted that he was pretty attractive. But I didn’t feel attracted to him. In fact, I felt a little uncomfortable, though I couldn’t say why.

  “Lia. That’s a pretty name. Is it short for something?” he asked innocently, tilting his head to the side as he continued to smile.

  I swallowed and forced a return smile. “It’s what my friends call me,” I told him, avoiding a direct answer. “Do you work with Luke?” I asked hurriedly so that we wouldn’t get stuck on names for any longer.

  His smile faltered, but he regained it easily. “We are members of the Road Roses. I suppose everyone here works for Luke, though I don’t work at Wicked Rose.”

  I frowned. “For him?” I repeated, picking up on the thing that sounded weird.

  He nodded. “Sure. Luke hasn’t been leader for very long, but we do all work for him.” He smiled tightly and looked like he wanted to add something, but I wasn’t listening. Instead I was focused on what he told me.

  Luke hasn’t been leader for very long.

  Leader. As in the head honcho when it came to the Road Roses, the illicit motorcycle club that my father was working so hard to get off the streets. The leader whose child I had growing in my womb as we spoke.

  Armand was speaking and had asked me a question, but I didn’t care. I stood abruptly. “I’m sorry, I have to go find Luke. It was nice to meet you.” Then I left him before he had the chance to say anything more. I knew in that moment that I had to talk to Luke and come clean about a few things.

  I didn’t care that he was the leader of the motorcycle club.

  I didn’t care that my father was the mayor trying to get rid of him.

  But he might.

  I found Luke still talking to Sorenson. Smiling as best I could, I grabbed Luke by the elbow and apologized to Sorenson. “I’m sorry, but I need to borrow him for a moment. Is that alright?”

  Sorenson nodded before Luke could say anything. “Oh, yeah, sure. I really need a burger anyway.” He winked at us, then headed towards the grill.

  Making sure there wasn’t anyone else in earshot, I whispered to Luke, “I need to tell you something.”

  He must have sensed the urgency or the panic in my voice, because his brow furrowed and his voice dropped, too. “Lia, what is it?”

  Lia. Jesus, I didn’t even tell him the truth about my name!

  I opened my mouth to come clean about all of it—me being the mayor’s daughter, how he’d kill me if he figured out this baby’s father was a Road Rose, much less the leader—when a sudden sharp
pain tore through my middle. I let out a sharp cry, my hands going to my stomach automatically.

  “Lia? Lia! What’s wrong?” Luke cried, reaching for me and holding me by the shoulders as I doubled over in pain.

  It was excruciating, searing, and in a hot flash I had a sudden thought: what if there was something wrong with the baby?

  I clutched at Luke. “Oh god. The baby. I think there’s something wrong.” But I couldn’t say anything more. I slumped to my knees, Luke keeping me in a sitting position when I felt like just slumping over into the grass. I was sucking in harsh breaths through clenched teeth, tears forming in my eyes. My vision was starting to go dark and in a faraway sort of voice, I heard Luke talking to someone.

  “…have to get her to the hospital!”

  “You can’t go!” cried someone else. “They’re looking for you.”

  “I have to risk it. The baby…”

  And then I slipped into unconsciousness, hoping against hope that the baby would be okay.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Luke

  Going to the hospital was a risky idea that was likely to get me arrested. The cops were still looking for me, confirmed by Derek and several others. If they got ahold of me, I could fight my way through the legal bullshit, but if they found anything else—like the drugs we sometimes sold—then they could potentially put me away for a long time.

  Which I definitely didn’t want to happen, but I didn’t have a lot of options. Lia was in some serious pain and I couldn’t help but notice when I picked her up that there was a smear of red between her legs. Blood. She was bleeding and I knew it wasn’t her damn period. There was a very real possibility that there was something wrong with the baby—and if there wasn’t, then there was just something wrong with Lia.

  Either way, I couldn’t just wait it out. I had to get her help.

  Several of my guys offered to take her to the hospital for me, but with the trouble with Armand, I didn’t trust anyone enough to leave Lia alone with them. Not even my lieutenants.

  Which isn’t fair, I thought as I carried Lia into the hospital. Sorenson and Garrison both already adored her.

  But that didn’t matter when I was hurrying to the hospital. All I could think was I had to get her here and I had to be here when they figured out what was going on. I got her checked in, but realized when I was filling out her paperwork that I only knew her name and her age. And only her first name at that.

  Shit, I don’t know anything, I realized. I made a promise that when she got out, I’d learn everything there was to know about her.

  I had no idea that I’d be getting a crash course in her life before she left.

  It was several hours before I found out anything about Lia. More than that, it took about forty-five minutes to convince them to even let me see her. They said family only, and it wasn’t until I explained that I was the father of the baby that they finally caved and let me see her.

  Gently, I pushed open the door to her room, aware that she might be sleeping. They said she was resting, but that if she was up, she could have visitors. Just not too many and not for too long.

  I took a full step into the room when I saw that she was sitting up and awake, if a little pale. Her head turned at the sound of the door and her face broke into a tentative smile when she saw me. “Luke. I wasn’t sure that you’d be here,” she said softly.

  I frowned at her, coming to sit in the chair beside her bed. “Of course I’m here. Where else could I be? You had us all worried.”

  Her smile brightened a little as her hands went to cover her stomach. “They said the baby’s going to be okay. I just have to be more careful. Less stress, no more coffee—” she made a face, clearly not happy with that one, “—and vitamins. I got a long lecture for not taking any yet.”

  I nodded. “That was stupid. I should have gotten you some as soon as you showed up.”

  She was silent for a moment, considering me. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth as she worried at it, thinking something over quietly. Finally, she said, “Why, though? We weren’t planning on keeping it.” She said it softly, hesitantly, but the words made my chest hurt just the same.

  I realized then that I had been hoping that she would keep it. And not just that, but that she’d keep it and stay with me. Maybe that was incredibly stupid to hope for. We just didn’t know each other very well and she was so young, but I couldn’t deny that I felt a strong, fierce connection to her. Like we were just meant to come together somehow. The sex was great, but I was finding that she was more than that to me. There was something about her that brought out the best in me and I liked that.

  I wanted more of that.

  Taking a deep breath, I asked her carefully, “What if we changed that plan?”

  I heard her breath catch. “What are you saying?”

  I cleared my throat and tried again. “I’m saying, Lia, that maybe we should plan on keeping the baby. Maybe we need to get you those vitamins and schedule doctor’s appointments and make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Maybe we should start thinking of names.”

  Her eyes had grown wide and her lips were just barely parted. But she didn’t look horrified. And she didn’t look terrified, though I could see she was at least a little bit scared. But not of me. Her hand reached for mine and she said, “Are you sure that’s something that you want? If I go through with this, I can’t walk away. You can.”

  Clutching her hand tightly, I brought it to my chest, placing it just over my heart. “I would never walk away. Not from you, not from the baby. If we do this, I’m in it for the long haul.”

  It took a while, but when her smile came it was so happy I thought it made the whole room somehow brighter. “You really mean that?”

  I nodded, feeling my heart hammering wildly in my chest. I can’t believe we’re going to do this, I thought, but it wasn’t filled with apprehension. The thought was filled with wonder. “I do. I absolutely do. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, Lia. I don’t want to lose that. What do you say?”

  Her smile, so bright and filled with excitement, remained on her face as she nodded eagerly. “Yes. Let’s do this. We can make it work.”

  I leaned forward and kissed her, still not quite sure that I could believe this all had happened. Was this real? We kissed for long moments, my tongue sliding along hers, one hand wrapped in her blonde hair while the other continued to clutch her hand over my heart. I felt happy and excited and nervous all at once.

  Is this what it’s like to find out you’re going to be a father? I wondered.

  We finally broke apart only when the nurse came into the room. She gave us a glance, a knowing smile on her face, then went to her business. She was filling out a chart as she asked, “Do you need anything, Miss Rice?”

  I froze.

  Rice?

  For a second, it didn’t quite click. There was a moment where I heard her name in a far off kind of way, like it was in a foreign language being shouted across a river towards me, the water catching and muffling the sound. But slowly, my brain processed it, and I looked over at the beautiful young woman lying in bed.

  Her expression looked guilty and worried.

  Rice.

  My eyes moved over her long blonde hair, her blue eyes. She was nineteen. In my head, I did the quick match. Thirteen, maybe fourteen, I thought, picturing a cute little girl with pudgy cheeks and braces. I’d seen her once at the wedding, walking down the aisle with a bouquet of flowers right before my mother. We hadn’t said a word to each other, and over time, that didn’t change. Later, I saw her only in pictures. My mother had said she liked the girl, though their relationship was strained.

  What was her name? I found myself wondering as Rice bounced around in my head.

  Amelia. Amelia Rice. She was six or seven years younger than I was, Mayor Rice’s daughter from his first marriage. I was my mother’s son from her first marriage. Which meant that the girl lying in that bed in front of
me, whose mouth I kissed and whose pussy I devoured, who was carrying my child was my stepsister.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head a little. “It’s not possible.”

  But Lia bit her lower lip, tears in her eyes, and nodded her head. “Yes, I know. I should have told you that I’m the mayor’s daughter, but I was so scared that you’d kick me out! That you wouldn’t want me anymore and—”

  I held up a hand to stop her tirade, standing and putting just a little bit of space between us. “Do you know who I am?” I asked carefully.

  She blinked at me. “I only just found out at the cookout tonight. I had no idea you were the leader of the Road Roses. I thought you were just a member.”