by Kacee Kupser
She was looking at me with wide eyes, obviously not expecting what I just told her. “Okay Beast. You sure I’m okay at the hospital?”
“Yeah Bren. If I didn’t believe you were safe I would have a brother here to watch out for you. You’ve got to trust me baby. Can you do that?”
Brenna nodded and went up on her toes, giving me a soft kiss on the lips. “Of course I trust you Beast. You would never do anything to put the baby at risk.”
I leaned my forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. “Don’t you get it Baby Girl? It’s not just the baby I would never let anything happen to. You are an important part of my life. You have been since before I found out about the baby. Why do you think I came over that night to see you? I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
“Okay, I’ll see you at 7:00. I have to get back to work.”
“Okay, wait for me inside the hospital. I don’t want you coming out by yourself.”
She turned around to walk back into the hospital, adding a little sway to her steps, trying to entice me, the little minx. I watched her ass until she entered the building and I could no longer see her.
Getting back on my bike, I headed back to the clubhouse. Arriving, I noticed that most of my brothers were there. The lot was full of bikes.
Walking through the front door there was no partying going on. Everyone was looking serious with groups of brothers at different tables, each group seemingly discussing serious matters.
Walking up to the table with Joker and Irish I stopped outside their circle to listen in on what they were discussing. Joker was leading the discussion.
“I heard back from Axel and they haven’t had any problems with new players in their town. He’s going to pass the message on to his boys and put some feelers out in their area to see if they can come up with anything.”
Joker turned to me when he was finished talking. He always knew when there was someone behind him. “You got anything Pres?”
I walked back from the group and putting my fingers between my lips, whistled to get everyone’s attention. “Brothers, we have a lot to discuss. Is everyone here?”
Brick stepped forward “Yeah boss. Everyone but the prospects is here.”
“All right boys. I’m officially calling church then. Let’s head in.”
I turned around and walked towards church. It’s a room where we have weekly meetings and only patched in members are allowed to enter it.
Sitting at the table, I waited for the rest of the brothers to enter, Tiny, as the club enforcer, entering last and closing the doors behind him.
I slammed down the gavel, calling church to order. “As you are all aware, someone went into our place of business and left us a message. Now, we don’t know how big of a threat this actually is because we don’t know who is issuing it, but I am making the assumption that someone or a group of someone’s thinks they can take over our town. I’ve put a call in to my contact at the FBI to see if he can find out any information. He’s going to get back to me in a day or two.
Joker has heard back from Axel who hasn’t heard anything either, but he is going to see if he and his boys can come up with something.
We are not going to go on lockdown yet, but all of the women and children will have someone on them at all times. They are not to be left alone.
Does anyone have anything to add?”
Techy spoke up first. “Well boss, I’ve been searching around on the dark web, seeing if I could see any chatter about possible newcomers to the area. It’s surprisingly quiet. I’ve got some programs running as we speak, searching for key words so we can hopefully get a lead.”
Reaper was sitting beside Techy and was the next to speak up. “I’ve been out on the streets all morning. None of my contacts have heard about anyone who has it out for us, but there has been an uptake in dealers on the East side of town. This might be where this new group intends to try to push their way in.”
“Okay. Anyone else got anything to add?”
Nobody spoke up so I picked up the gavel to call an end to church. “If there are no other issues we will call church to an end.”
Right before I slammed it down Doc spoke up. “Before we end Pres, what is the plan once we figure out who is threatening us?”
I put the gavel back down and sat back in my chair. “Well Doc, I guess it depends on how far they take it. If they leave it at this one act of destruction I’m sure we can come to an agreement about them leaving town peacefully. However, if they progress in their threats, that will be a whole other matter. Nothing will be done without a vote.”
Doc nodded, accepting what I told him. I picked the gavel back up and knocked it down ending our meeting.
I walked back to my office with Joker following behind. I grabbed us both beers from my fridge beside my desk and handed him one before sitting down.
“So, how did it go with Everly?”
“Not too bad, considering. She’s not impressed that she can’t go anywhere without a brother with her, but once I told her how serious I was she accepted it. I told her that even with all of this going down, I’m still only giving her three months to get everything set up for the wedding, which was a whole new argument. I don’t care what it takes though, I’m not letting this bullshit interfere with me marrying her.”
I leaned back in my chair and took a sip of my drink. After spending the last couple of days with Brenna, I’m starting to understand how he feels more and more.
“I hear you brother. With everything that’s going on with me and Brenna, I am starting to understand how you feel.”
“Yeah? How are things going with you two? How did she take the news?”
“Well, we went out for lunch today. I figured we should probably get to know each other better. When I dropped her back off at the hospital I let her know what was going on and she was actually quite accepting of it.”
“I’m glad you’re happy man. Did you guys discuss when you were going to tell your families?” He asked with curiosity.
“Nah, we were too busy learning about each other. I figure we’ll wait another few weeks before we tell anyone else. Brenna was saying that she needs to make it until she’s 12 weeks before telling anyone. So, once we pass that we can tell our families.”
“That makes sense,” he replied. “I can’t imagine you telling your mom she’s going to be a grandma and then something terrible happening. She would be devastated.”
I agreed with him. My mom had been through enough. She’s one of the toughest women I know, but breaking her heart like that is not something I will ever do if I can help it.
Joker and I had a few more beers and discussed some different possibilities of who could be messing with us. Soon enough it was going to be time to meet up with Brenna and I needed to go grocery shopping. There were no prospects available to do it so I’ll just do it myself and drop them off before I go to meet up with her.
Chapter 18 – Brenna
The rest of my day actually went by quickly. I was looking forward to spending the night with Beast and getting to know more about him.
I’ve been thinking about how to tell my family about the baby. They would be excited. They love my niece Inara and would love to have more grandchildren to spoil. I know I told Beast that I wanted to wait until the first trimester was over before I told anyone, but I don’t think I can keep it from my family. They know me too well and we have dinner as a family twice a month.
Once my shift was over, I grabbed my stuff and headed down to the exit where I would be meeting Beast. When I got down there I didn’t see him anywhere so I took a seat and pulled out my cell phone to see that he had texted me while I was working.
Beast: I’m going to be a few minutes late. On my way. Stay in the hospital until I get there.
There was no point in texting him back. If he was riding there was no way for him to respond to me.
I know it was probably too soon, but I decided to spend my time waiting looking up baby things. I
logged onto Pinterest and started searching for different items of furniture and baby gear, saving them to private boards.
A shadow came over me and I looked up to see Beast looking down at me and what I was doing on my phone.
“You doing some shopping already Bren?”
I turned off my phone and put it in my pocket, grabbing my purse and standing up. I gave him a peck on the lips and wound my arm through his and led him out of the hospital.
“I know it’s early, but I just love looking at the possibilities so I thought I’d see what is available.”
“Hey, we can start shopping whenever you want. You just say the word and I will give you some cash to go pick up whatever your heart desires.”
We stopped outside of my car and I turned my back to the driver’s side door, leaning back on it so that we can finish our banter.
“Oh the big bad Navy SEAL doesn’t want to go baby shopping with me?”
He moved up into my personal space and rested his forehead against mine. I just love it when he does that. It makes me feel how much he cares.
“If you want me to come shopping with you I will, but I figured it would be a girls’ day thing with your mom, Danielle and Ev.”
“You figured right. Now back up big boy. I’m starving and ready to head home.”
He backed away and didn’t get on his bike, which was parked right beside me, until I was seated and buckled in.
I turned on my car and started my drive home with him following directly behind me. Once we got to the house he pulled his bike right behind my car and came up to hold my door open for me.
Grabbing my hand he walked us up to the house and used his key to let us in. When I came through the door something smelled delicious.
“Oh my GOD, what is that smell?”
I walked into the kitchen with Beast behind me and saw that my crock pot was on the island with some fantastic smells coming from it.
Turning to look at Beast, he was standing in the doorway, actually looking bashful.
“Did you do this Grayson?”
“Yeah. The prospects didn’t have time to go grocery shopping so I did it before I came to meet you. Then I ran here and quickly threw together some chilli and threw it in the crock pot. It won’t be ready yet, but I figured we could have some appetizers that we can just throw in the oven and then eat the chilli when it’s ready.”
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest and just squeezed him.
“Thank you so much. I haven’t had someone take care of me for years, since I lived at home.”
He squeezed me back and rested his chin on the top of my head.
“Baby, from now on you don’t need to worry. I’m here to take care of you.”
I backed out of his arms and walked over to the freezer to see what appies he picked up. I didn’t have any on the grocery list, but I have a feeling that Beast is going to be here most nights so he can buy whatever groceries he wants.
The freezer had some very yummy looking things in it. Sausage rolls, cheese sticks, cheese puffs, mini quiches, to name a few. My freezer was packed. I grabbed the sausage rolls and cheese puffs and put them on the counter. Looking at the back of the boxes I turned the oven on and put them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Once the oven was up to temperature I put them in and then grabbed myself and bottle of water and Beast a beer. He had been patiently standing there watching me work so I walked over and gave him his beer and headed into the living room.
“Why don’t you have a seat, find something to watch, and I’ll go get into something comfy. I’ll be back out in a couple of minutes.”
He nodded at me as I turned away and walked back towards my bedroom. I heard him turn the TV on and it made me smile to myself. I like knowing he’s here. It feels so natural, like we are a long time couple.
I usually have a shower when I get home, but I really didn’t have the energy. I just wanted to curl up beside Beast and chill out before dinner.
Walking back into the living room, he was sitting on my couch with his booted feet up on my coffee table. I walked up to him and slapped his feet.
“Get your boots off my table.” I said before sitting on the couch beside him.
He took his feet down and leaned forward to undo his boots. Once they were undone he picked them up and took them back to the front door, lining them up neatly before coming back to sit down and pull me into his side.
I leaned my head on his chest and did my best to keep my eyes open. “How was the rest of your day?”
“My day wasn’t all that productive unfortunately. We are no closer to figuring out where the threat is coming from, but we have our contacts on the lookout and the rest of the club is hitting the streets to see if we can find anything. How was your day?”
“Surprisingly it was pretty good. The duty nurse who was on today doesn’t like me for some reason so I hate working with her when Cody isn’t there, but surprisingly she wasn’t a total bitch today so the day moved faster than it normally would.”
Beast pushed me up so that I would look at him. “Who is Cody?”
Oh this could be good. Should I play it up to see how jealous I could get him? That might be fun.
“Cody? Oh he’s just this tall, dark, handsome man that I absolutely LOVE to work with.”
He growled at me and pushed me onto my back on the couch, leaning over me. “Woman, do not make me torture you. Who the hell is Cody?”
God he was easy to get to. “What do you mean? I just told you who Cody is.”
“Uh huh, more details please. Do I need to kill somebody, because you are mine and you know it.”
“I’m yours? Wow you really are a caveman. Who says I’m yours?”
He leaned further forward so that we were a hairs breadth apart. “Baby even if you didn’t have my baby in your belly you would be mine. Don’t you realize that yet?”
“Don’t you think that’s a little quick? I know we are having a baby together, but we still barely know each other. We’ve really only spent a few days together all told.”
Beast sat us back up and pulled me into his lap. I wasn’t sure if I upset him, I didn’t want to look at him and see disappointment on his face.
“Look at me Brenna.”
I reluctantly looked at him and thankfully there was no disappointment, just a soft smile.
“I’m going to tell you a story. My parents met one night at a bar and hit it off right away. They were married one week later before my dad headed off on deployment. They loved each other for 20 years before my dad passed away and to this day my mom still loves him. So, really, I don’t think we are moving too fast. When you know you know.”
Chapter 19 – Beast
Brenna still hadn’t answered me on who Cody was, but I’d let it go for now. I had a feeling I didn’t have anything to worry about, she was just busting my chops. Once I reassured her that I really didn’t think we were moving too fast I could tell that the appetizers were ready to go. They smelled fantastic and I’m sure the timer was going to go off any minute.
I lifted her off my lap and put her on the couch, handing her bottle of water back to her. “I’ll be right back. I’ll grab the appetizers and check out the chilli.”
When I walked into the kitchen, I opened a few cupboards until I found plates and grabbed a large one for the food and two small ones so that we could pick what we wanted. The timer went off and I pulled the food out, moving it over to the large plate and bringing everything out so we could dig in.
“The chilli will be done in about a half an hour or so. Help yourself.”
She filled her small plate with food and sat back, taking a bite right away. She was obviously hungry.
“So Beast, I was thinking. I know I said that I wanted to wait until 12 weeks before we tell anyone, but I don’t think I can wait that long to tell my family. We see each other for dinner twice a month and they will just know that something is di
fferent with me.”
I put my plate down and turned to face her. “I’m good with whatever you want. We can go over and tell them before your next dinner or wait until you see them next. I’d like to be there to meet them when you tell them the good news though.”