Fast: A Pregnant by the Bad Boy Romance (Burns Brothers Book 2)

by Gillian Archer

  I inclined my head in reply, but he’d already disappeared into the elevator.

  Lord, if this was how the night was starting, maybe I’d be better off staying home.

  But before I could think about texting Ryan, my phone pinged.

  Ryan: Am out front.

  I hadn’t heard the rumble of his motorcycle. Although I hadn’t heard Rags’ either, but maybe he’d walked over from the clubhouse.

  I pushed through the front doors and stopped short at the pickup idling at the curb. Ryan hopped out and crossed around to open the passenger door. “Hey, beautiful.”

  “Hi.” I looked from the truck to him in confusion. “What happened to the bike?”

  He shrugged. “Hauling precious cargo. I thought this would be safer.”

  And so it begins. “Don’t you think that should be my call? My body, my decision?”

  “Just get in the fucking truck, Hope.” He heaved a sigh like the conversation already exhausted him.

  I guess I had come off as bitchy and confrontational right off the bat. I tried to shake off the bad feelings my family and Goldie had given me. Curling my lips inward, I walked over to Ryan and stopped when I was in his personal space. Looking up at his tired eyes, I placed a hand on his arm and smiled. “What I meant to say was hi, Ryan. Thank you for coming to get me.”

  He sighed. “Is everything always gonna be a fight with you?”

  “Probably.” Standing on my tip toes, I pressed a kiss to his cheek then made to get into the truck.

  “Whoa, wait.” Ryan held me back from jumping into the cab and pulled me back to him. “That is no way to say hello. Say it like this.”

  Then his lips crashed into mine and he all but swallowed me whole. His lips moved aggressively over mine, his tongue sweeping inside to duel with mine. In seconds I was swaying against him, twining my arms around him to hold myself up. A minute later my knees were weak, and I was seriously contemplating dragging him upstairs to finish what he’d started.

  But then I heard the rumble of a motorcycle, and I remembered where we were. Ryan might be ready to stake his claim and let everyone know what we were, but I wasn’t there yet.

  Pulling back with a sigh, I raised my eyebrows at him. “Hello.”

  His eyes laughed down at me. “Hi.”

  “Is there somewhere we need to be, or was the plan to make out in the parking lot?”

  “There was a plan, but now I’m rethinking it.”

  I rolled my eyes and hopped into the cab. “Come on, Ry Guy. We got places to go and family to meet.”

  Ryan closed my door and walked around to the driver’s side. After climbing in, buckling up, and checking that I buckled too, he put the truck in gear and turned toward the exit. His headlights shone on a pack of motorcycles pulling into the lot. And at the front of the pack, my father. I’d recognize that hulking figure and bike anywhere. Ryan and his brothers had built the motorcycle after all.

  My gaze flicked to Ryan and found him watching the bikes as well. A muscle flexed in his cheek as his eyes narrowed.

  I watched as my father’s head turned toward Ryan’s pickup, and I swore his eyes met mine despite the darkening skies and the truck’s tinted windows. My stomach clenched at the scorn I saw. I swallowed hard.

  “Any time you want to move, just let me know.” Ryan continued to watch the bikes pull into the parking lot.

  I sighed. “I swear when it rains, it pours.”

  Ryan’s head swung around and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Why? What happened?”

  “Just the usual. Crap with my family. Ran into Blondie in the lobby. And that lovely little stare down with my father just now. The Saturday night dysfunctional trifecta.”

  Ryan scanned the parking lot behind me, taking in the pack of motorcycles idling twenty feet away. Then he turned back to me and smiled wide. “Beautiful, you haven’t met dysfunctional until you’ve hung out with my family.”

  I muffled my giggle behind my hand. The way he’d said it made it actually sound like fun. I couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 16

  Ryan

  I tried to act like the scene in the parking lot hadn’t affected me. Between the kiss and her father’s sudden appearance, I was a clusterfuck of nerves and feelings. I didn’t know what to do with it all, so I cleared my throat and changed the topic. “What happened with your family?”

  “What?” Hope turned from her survey of the Saturday night traffic and blinked at me.

  “You said you had some crap with your family? What’s going on?”

  Hope hitched a shoulder. “I don’t know really. I got a text from my little brother asking when I’m going to be in town to see him next, but he didn’t respond to my reply. When I finally got him on the phone, he sounded…off. I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever it is it doesn’t feel right.”

  “Has he had trouble in the past?”

  “What, like been a difficult kid? No way. Sage is the nicest, calmest kid you’d ever met. He just goes with the flow and is so freaking funny. But today he was monosyllabic and just not himself.”

  “Are you going to talk to your mom about it?”

  She hitched a shoulder. “I tried but she didn’t answer and Cal was his usual charming self. I’ll try to get answers from Sage again before I escalate it.”

  I felt like there was a lot that she was leaving out, but when she didn’t say anything more, I decided to let it go. For now. “Speaking of dysfunction, are you ready for tonight?”

  “You keep saying that. What exactly do you expect to happen?”

  “It’s not a Burns family get together unless one of us leaves pissed off, bleeding, or—in the case of Sabrina—in tears. Although the bleeding part hasn’t happened since we filmed and only with the guys. No one will lay a hand on you, I swear.”

  “Okay, now you’re kinda freaking me out.”

  I signaled to turn. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

  “Keep trying.” Hope shook her head. “Or maybe don’t. I’m a little afraid of what you might say next.”

  “You and me both.”

  Her giggle turned into a full belly laugh. I grinned at the sound. I don’t think there was anything on this earth I loved more at that moment than the sound of her laughter.

  Hopefully tonight turned out better than it’d started for her.

  Doubt hit me as I pulled up to the curb outside of Austin’s glitzy house ten minutes later. While the rest of us had gone the townhome route, not ready to commit to so much house—or mortgage payments—Austin had gone a different way. His house was modern, sleek, and fucking expensive. Judging by the vehicles parked in the driveway and up and down the street, also full of my family and friends.

  No pressure.

  I don’t know why I’d thought this was a good idea. My family was a lot to take on a regular, low key day. But I hadn’t wanted to go a whole week without seeing Hope. And I knew there would be a shitstorm if anyone inside recognized her. The Kings were our biggest client, so I’d had to do some tap dancing lately to avoid them—tap dancing that I hadn’t explained to most of my brothers. Austin and Nathan had no clue of the big changes happening in my life.

  Would I be able to reign in my anger if any of them went off about Hope and the Kings? I needed to show her that I was a responsible man and not that asshole with the anger problem from our reality show—the angry guy who broke his brother’s nose. I had to keep my shit under control, which would be tricky, because my brothers really knew how to push my buttons.

  My earlier feeling of dread roared back with a vengeance.

  I forced a smile as I opened her door for her and held her hand as we walked up the driveway. It’d be fine. I was worrying about nothing. Taking a deep breath, I raised a fist and knocked on the ornate front door. Up until a month ago I would’ve just walked right in without knocking, but that had changed when Austin’s girlfriend, Rachel, moved in.

  Speaking of, Rachel was the
one who answered the door. She smiled as she held the door open. “Ryan. Hey.”

  “Hey, Rachel.” I stepped into the house as she ushered us inside. “This is Hope.”

  “Hi.” My girl gave an adorably awkward wave with her free hand.

  “Hello.” Rachel tilted her head. “You look familiar. Where do I know you from?”

  Hope’s eyes darted to me then away. “Really? I don’t think we’ve met.”

  “We’ve only been dating a few weeks.” I cut in. “She hasn’t had a chance to be introduced to most of the crew yet.”

  “Oh, well, tonight will definitely be fun then.” Rachel’s eyes twinkled. “Tossing her into the deep end, huh, Ryan?”

  “It won’t be that bad,” I reassured Hope. “We were nice to Rachel when we first met.”

  Rachel raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything to contradict that. “Most everyone’s in the kitchen. I think Austin, Wyatt, and my mom are out back with the grill. Make yourselves at home. Nice to meet you, Hope.”

  Hope nodded. “Nice to meet you, too.”

  I led the way to the kitchen with Hope’s hand still in mine. Rachel shut the door behind us then murmured something about checking on her mom.

  When we reached the kitchen, I found Sabrina, Dylan, Nathan, and a few friends huddled around the island.

  “Ryan!” Everyone chorused, like this was Cheers and I was Norm.

  “Hey guys. This is Hope. And this is Sabrina, my cousin. Nathan, my brother. You already know Dylan. And this is Phil from Performance Builds and Tom from Rancho Custom Paints.”

  “There will be a test later.” Sabrina laughed. “Can I get you something to drink, Hope?”

  “A water, please.” Hope replied.

  “Still, sparkling, or tap?” Sabrina asked.

  Hope laughed and turned to me. “Is this a Burns thing?”

  “We just really like our water.” I shook my head then jerked my chin at Sabrina. “Still and one for me too.”

  “Water?” Nathan raised his eyebrows as he tipped his beer up. “Since when do you not drink? Or go out with teetotaling women?”

  “Ooooh!” Dylan mocked. “Cracking out the big SAT words. Teetotaling.”

  Sabrina smiled at my brothers teasing. But I didn’t miss the way her eyes flicked to Hope’s stomach as she handed over our waters. I’d asked her and Dylan to keep the pregnancy news quiet since we weren’t ready to tell everyone yet. But between the two of them, it was probably a matter of minutes before the news leaked.

  I shrugged. “It’s a little early to drink and Hope is a classy gal. What can I say?”

  Austin waded into the kitchen, holding a cutting board and tongs aloft. “Five thirty is early? How late are you two planning on staying?”

  “We thought we’d give Wyatt some sugar and see how long he runs around,” I replied, referring to Austin’s girlfriend’s three-year-old son.

  “Well the joke’s on you because Wyatt doesn’t like sugar.” Austin snorted. “You’d have better luck if you tried cheese.”

  “Okay, that makes no sense,” Dylan retorted. “Cheese doesn’t make kids hyper.”

  I pulled Hope close to me as my brothers bickered in the background. She gave me a smile and settled into my side. Maybe I was wrong. I’d built this whole thing up in my mind, and it really wasn’t that bad. No one had recognized Hope. Or spilled the beans about the pregnancy. What had I been worried about?

  “So Ryan,” Nathan said with a raised eyebrow, immediately raising my suspicions. “How did you and Hope meet?”

  There was a pause as I—and possibly Hope—considered our answers. Then at the same time Hope said, “At the clubhouse,” I answered, “At a club.”

  “What?” Nathan asked with a wrinkled brow.

  I squeezed Hope and replied, “At a club.”

  It wasn’t technically a lie. The West Coast Kings was a motorcycle club after all. I didn’t want anyone here to look at Hope that way—like she was a girl who hung around a motorcycle clubhouse and all the slut shaming that came with it. But judging by the way Hope had gone rigid, she didn’t appreciate the white lie.

  “Oookay.” Considering Nathan’s raised eyebrows, he didn’t believe me anyway. “What do you do, Hope?”

  “I’m the assistant program director at a local Boys and Girls Club.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun,” Sabrina waded in, smiling at Hope. “Do you get to work with kids and play sports and stuff?”

  “Sometimes. I usually do more of the behind the scenes, hiring, background checks, work with vendors. That kind of thing.” Hope shrugged like it wasn’t an important job. “But I do love to hang out with the kids and hearing about their days and what’s going on. That’s why I took the job. Kinda sucks that I don’t get to do more with them.”

  “It sounds like fun.” Sabrina shoved her hands into her pockets. “I wish I was as passionate about my work, but how much fun can payroll and paying bills ever be?”

  “Well, if you have the time you should come down. We’re always looking for responsible adults to help out, and I’m pretty sure an accountant is the definition of responsible.”

  I grinned as I wrapped an arm around Hope. I knew she and Sabrina would get along. But a small part of me niggled that she’d never asked me to come down to volunteer. Did that mean she didn’t see me as a responsible adult?

  “I gotta go check the grill.” Austin grabbed a platter and clean tongs. “Nice to meet you, Hope.”

  “You too.” Hope smiled.

  Nathan still frowned at Hope like he couldn’t make sense of why such an amazing woman was on my arm. I felt that familiar simmer of anger bubbling under the surface. But after a few deep breaths, I let it go. I wasn’t here to score points off my siblings.

  After one more searching look, Nathan nodded at us. “I’m gonna go help Austin stand over the grill. Nice to meet you, Hope.”

  She didn’t notice. Sabrina had grabbed her and the two were talking about different programs at the Boys and Girls Club.

  Nathan slipped out with Tom and Dylan on his heels, leaving me alone with the women and Phil.

  “Ah, Ryan, since I’ve got you, can we talk for a minute?” Phil gave me a grim smile.

  Oh shit, this wasn’t gonna be good. I sent a look Hope’s way—she and Sabrina were still happily talking—before jerking my chin at Phil. “Sure. How about in here?”

  I led the way to the living room, knowing and dreading what was coming next. Standing next to the sofa, I crossed my arms and waited for the shit storm to rain down.

  Phil stopped a few feet away, just out of arms reach. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with us.”

  I’d heard that line with women a time or two, but never from one of my friends before. I shook my head, not expecting it from Phil. “What?”

  “I know things didn’t exactly go as planned with your father. I’m sorry that I had to fire him, but I hope that won’t affect things with our relationship personally or professionally.”

  “This is not even remotely how I thought this conversation was gonna go down. I thought you’d be pissed that Dylan asked you to hire the fucker.”

  Phil blinked. “I thought… Dylan made it sound like it would be a personal favor to him and you if I took your father on.”

  “That son of a bitch. I can’t believe he brought my name into it.”

  Phil grimaced. “To be honest, it made me a little uncomfortable when he asked. Especially since he didn’t want me to talk to Austin or Nathan about it.”

  I closed my eyes and bit out a curse. “I’m sorry that Dyl brought you into this fucking mess. And I’m not surprised that you had to fire that fucker.”

  “Well, I told him when I hired him that it might’ve been a personal favor, but I still expected him to do the work. Hell, showing up would’ve been a nice start.”

  “He pulled a no call no show?”

  “Five. After a few warnings, I had to let him go. I can’t have some guys
playing by the rules but not all.”

  “No, I understand. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Any of it.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’ll have a talk with Dylan. But I swear, everything is completely fine between us. I consider you a friend, and I hope this won’t sour shit between us.”

  “We’re good.” Phil stretched a hand out and we shook before he slapped me on the back. “I’m gonna get a beer. You good?”

  “Yeah, man. Thanks. I’m gonna get back to my girl.”

  “Sounds good.” Phil tipped his chin at me then left the room, leaving me to think over the situation Dylan had put me and Phil in.

  This shit had to stop. Now. The old man was already sniffing around looking for another job, and after the shit he pulled with Hope, he wasn’t getting a fucking thing from me. Dylan had better leave my name out of anything he did for that fucker in the future.

  I just had to hope news of their little arrangement didn’t hit Aunt Wendy’s ears. Shit would rain down from high for sure then.

  “Really, Ry?”

  I jerked my head up at Nathan’s confrontational approach. Fuck me, he’d heard about the old man already?

  I hitched a shoulder. “It’s Dylan. What could I do?”

  “What’s Dylan? I was talking about you bringing that chick from the Kings clubhouse here. What the hell are you and Dylan into?”

  Right. Hope. I bit off a curse. Nathan had been there the night Hope and I hooked up. It’d been too much to hope he wouldn’t recognize her. “Nothing. Just a little side project. And Hope is an awesome woman.”

  “She’s a motorcycle club slut. What the fuck you doing bringing her around our family?”

  “Do. Not. Ever. Talk about Hope like that. I will end you. Do you get me?”

  “Whoa. Are you seriously gonna throw down over some Kings’ club pussy?”

  I was across the room, shoving Nathan before he finished the sentence. “I don’t ever wanna hear that shit from you again. Ever. We clear?”

  I jabbed a finger in Nathan’s face and he slapped it away with a glare.

  “She was at the Kings’ clubhouse. Think about what that means for a second. You’re happy letting her hang around Sabrina? Around Aunt Wendy? Rachel and Wyatt? What the fuck is wrong with you?”