“Yes, brother,” Ranger said sternly as he took a step forward. “As is yours…”
Snake looked at Sarah instinctively, and she could see the sadness oozing out of him. He lowered his head and ran a hand through his hair.
“Fuck,” he whispered as he kicked at the ground and held out his arms.
“It’s okay,” she said as she took a step backward. “I would never want to keep you from what you need to do…”
She looked from Ranger to Snake and from Snake to Ranger, and then she pulled her robe tighter around her chest and smiled weakly.
“You both go,” she said with a shake of her head. “I… Listen, don’t worry about me… I know you have a place you need to be.”
Snake walked past Ranger and came and took hold of her, he put his palm to her cheek and looked at her longingly in the eyes.
“They may take me out of town,” he said in a hushed voice, although it was clear to all of them that Ranger could hear. “I may have to travel to another city, I just don’t know…”
Ranger cleared his throat as if he were trying to stop their conversation.
Sarah felt so much disappointment, but at the same time, she knew she had no right to try and stop him. She wouldn’t want to. This was his life, and this was what she had gotten herself into.
“It’s fine,” she smiled. “Honestly, I don’t want you to worry.”
She smiled at him weakly again, and Snake nodded his head slowly before he took a step backward and stood side by side with Ranger.
“I’ll be in touch, sis,” Ranger said sternly as he turned and started to walk away. “Duty calls.”
Snake looked back at her with affection and longing in his eyes.
She was devastated that he was leaving, and it was even worse not knowing when she would see him again, but all she knew was he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
And nothing, not even her brother, was going to keep them apart.
11.
She spent the next few days in depression mode.
Sarah lounged around the house in her sweats, she ate ice cream straight from the tub, she didn’t wash her hair, and she didn’t answer the phone when Nicole called.
She didn’t know why, but she just couldn’t face it.
There was part of her that wanted to answer and see if Nicole had heard from Ranger, but then there was also a part of her that wanted Snake to get in touch with her and tell her everything she may need to know himself.
She didn’t know a whole lot of what was happening with these so called Russians… but she could tell it was bad.
For a gang outside of Slate Springs to come into town and start picking off the bikers’ businesses, there was only one way it could possibly go… And Sarah was sure it wasn’t going to end well.
She lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling and remembering her night with Snake. Everything had been so incredible and so perfect. From their secret kiss in the old storage room to them making love out in her parents’ back yard in an old toolshed.
Coming home had exceeded her expectations, and now she was having trouble wanting to say goodbye.
It had been a full week by the time she finally heard from Snake, and it came in the form of a text message deep in the middle of the night while she slept.
S: Things have been bad babe. I’ve had to keep my head down. I miss you, and I can’t wait to see you again. Have faith in me xx
When she read it the next morning, she had held the phone to her chest and smiled before she re-read it, over and over again.
“Oh Snake,” she had whispered. “Hurry up and come home.”
***
“I haven’t heard a damned thing,” Nicole pouted as she grabbed the two takeout coffees from the barista and thrust one of them into Sarah’s hand. “At least you’ve had some contact.”
The girls were walking down Main Street and heading toward the park. It was another beautiful day, and they had spent it looking around the stores in the morning and trying to distract themselves from the raging war within Slate Springs, and also the fact that both of their men had been missing in action for the best part of four weeks.
“We were just getting started,” Sarah said with disappointment. “And I still can’t believe what a jackass Ranger was about everything. I really hope he hasn’t been trying to change Snake’s mind while they’ve been away at wherever the hell they are…”
Nicole shrugged.
“I love Ranger, but he’s a big baby,” she said sympathetically. “But he’ll come around, I’m sure he will…”
Sarah was proud of Nicole’s optimism, but she wasn’t so sure she was right.
“I just wish they would come back,” she said as she took a sip of her coffee. “One text isn’t exactly the stuff dreams are made of. He said to have faith in him, and yet how am I supposed to?”
Nicole laughed and looked across at her.
“I’m engaged to be married to Ranger, Sarah, and I haven’t heard a damned word from him. This is just what these bikers are like. I think it’s admirable and totally gorgeous that Snake sent you that message in the first place. He’s telling you how he feels, he’s saying he needs to be careful and keep his head down, but that he wants to see you, that he can’t wait to see you, and he wants you to have faith in him, and no doubt in the two of you together.”
Sarah nodded her head and let Nicole’s words sink it.
She had to believe she was right.
“Also, you’ve got to look at it from their perspective,” Nicole continued under a hushed voice. “Girls like me and you, once we get involved with a biker, we’re a target, Sarah…”
“What do you mean?” she asked nervously.
“They’re in the middle of a gang land war,” Nicole whispered as she linked her arm with Sarah’s. “The reason they can’t contact us is because their lines may be tapped.”
Sarah’s heart started to pound.
“I don’t know a whole lot about it, but I know they keep distance from loved ones when something bad is happening. It’s just to ensure everyone is kept safe. They wouldn’t want a Russian turning up on your doorstop and kidnapping you for ransom, would they?”
Sarah gritted her teeth.
“Jeez,” she said. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Well, yeah,” Nicole said sympathetically. “And think about it, not only are you now romantically linked to one of The Forsaken Riders, you’re also one of their sisters too…”
“True,” Sarah said as she sipped her coffee and nodded her head. “Maybe I should just wait it out and stop driving myself nuts about it all. He’ll get in touch.”
“Of course he will,” Nicole reassured her. “There isn’t a single doubt in my mind. He’s just being careful and keeping you safe.”
The girls continued walking through the park and out the other side, sipping their coffees and chatting about the life they were both now leading in Slate Springs.
“When are you going to head back to the city?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged.
She hadn’t fully admitted it to herself, but she had been hanging around to see if Snake returned quickly. But four weeks had now passed since she had seen him, the wedding had been put on hold and was going to be rearranged, and Sarah still hadn’t decided what the hell she was going to do with her life next.
“I think I’ll chill here for a little while longer,” she said. “It’s been nice spending time with you and my parents, it’s been such a long time since I’ve spent a significant duration back here. I have to admit, I’m kind of liking it.”
“Good,” Nicole beamed. “Because I love having you here too! In fact, if you left again, I can’t imagine what it would be like. It would be weird not having you around.”
Sarah smiled and pulled Nicole into a hug.
“I better get home,” she said. “I should really be job hunting, or at least doing something constructive.”
“Yo
u deserve the rest,” Nicole told her. “Go home and take a bath. You’ve got the rest of your life to worry about applying for jobs.”
Sarah nodded her head in agreement and waved goodbye to her over her shoulder as she turned the corner onto her street.
Her parent’s house stood tall and proud at the end, and she was secretly glad to see that their cars were both missing.
“So I’ve got the house to myself,” she smiled smugly. “Maybe I will take that bath…”
She closed the bathroom door and ran the water hot and heavy until it steamed up the entire room and thick clouds of fog were all around her. She smiled as she recalled her night at the club, and remembered how much fun it had been to be with Snake, running through the crowds and hiding.
It had been the only thing keeping her going while he had been gone. The memory was so strong and powerful in her mind, she knew it was too good to go to waste.
He was going to come back to her. She just had to do what he asked of her and have faith.
She slipped out of her clothes and let them fall into a pile on the floor, before she looked at herself in the mirror over the sink. The summer sun had done her good, and her skin was a rich brown. She looked healthy and radiant, and she was sure her skin was flushed and glowing in the most delicate of ways.
She reached up and opened the cupboard, and stared up at all the cosmetics in front of her. She reached for her eye make-up remover before she tipped some onto a cotton pad and swept it over her eyelids, to remove the mascara she had slicked on earlier in the day.
When she looked back up to get another, something caught her eye… And for some reason, her heart suddenly began to race.
A box of tampons.
She reached up and took hold of it, then she put it back down.
She had always suffered from a terrible memory, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t had a period for the entire time she had been back in town.
Her heart hammered on in her chest.
She put the box back in the cupboard and she shook her head.
“No,” she told herself angrily. “Your memory must be playing tricks on you…”
And she turned off the taps before she let herself slip into the hot water and she began to wash away her dread and the rest of the day.
But her mind wouldn’t let up. Something was niggling at the back of it, and now she couldn’t let it go…
Snake had been gone four weeks.
She had been back in town at least five and a half.
She swallowed and rubbed her forehead. Something was definitely afoot… And she had a terrible feeling she knew exactly what it was.
12.
She looked down at the tiny window, and two blue lines stared back up at her, clear as day.
“Fuck,” she hissed as she shook it in her hands to make sure it wasn’t broken.
She slapped it against her palms and looked at the result again, before she grabbed hold of the box and reread the instructions. But there was no denying it. The result was clear.
She was pregnant.
“Oh my fucking God,” she whispered as she slid down the wall in the bathroom and covered her mouth with her hands.
She had spent the majority of the previous evening trying to banish the worry from her mind, and so first thing in the morning when she had woken up, she had run down to Main Street to the pharmacy where she bought a test. When she got back home, she locked herself straight in the bathroom, and now there she was…
Sitting on the floor…
And PREGNANT.
“Oh sweet Jesus,” she whimpered as she rubbed her temples. “This wasn’t part of the life plan, not at this point, anyway,” she chewed her bottom lip nervously and reached for her cellphone.
Snake had been gone for four weeks, and now Sarah was pregnant with his baby.
There was nothing else for it, she was going to have to call him and she was going to have to ask him to come home.
“But they’ll hate you down at the club,” she said as she gritted her teeth and covered her eyes. “You can’t win here…”
She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, hugging into herself.
“A baby,” she whispered, as a little smile spread across her lips. “My baby…”
The surge of emotions she was feeling was like nothing she could ever describe. She hadn’t been expecting anything so drastic and life changing to happen to her, but it had.
She was pregnant.
With Snake’s baby.
She was going to have a baby with a badass biker outlaw.
“Fuck,” she hissed again.
And not only that, but he was her brother’s best friend.
“Double fuck,” she whispered.
She lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. The night was cooling down, but Sarah still felt as if she were on fire. She had spent the day trying to get her head around what was happening, and her emotions had ranged from complete euphoria to absolute fear.
While she had been thinking, she had come to a decision.
“I am having this baby,” she had told herself. “Whether Snake is going to be involved or not.”
Sarah had always tried not to be, but she was a big believer in fate. She had never planned on returning to Slate Springs, her life was supposed to take her into the city where she would live and work as a hotshot lawyer. But, by complete chance, she had been pulled home, she had met someone, and now she was pregnant by them.
She was going to be a mother.
Her whole future and set of priorities had changed.
And she had never felt happier.
She let her hand lay flat across her belly and she smiled. She never, not in a million years, could have expected this would happen to her, but she had found herself there, and now it was time to move forward.
She rolled onto her side and picked up her cellphone where she tapped the screen to life and opened up her messages. She scrolled straight to Snake’s name and started to type…
S: I know I shouldn’t be contacting you, but we need to talk. It’s really important. Meet me at the cabin tomorrow at dusk… If you can’t get there, let me know xx
She hit send and hoped it sounded vague enough so that if any of his messages were being intercepted, then at least no one would know exactly where they were meeting.
She placed the phone down on the nightstand and then she lay back down in bed.
She knew she was going to have a long night ahead, but there was nothing else that could be done.
***
When morning came, she had barely slept, and she had checked her cellphone obsessively throughout the night, anticipating a reply from Snake.
When nothing came, she began to second guess everything she had decided already, and as the day wore on, her head became more and more tangled up with angst and emotions.
She didn’t know how, but she made it to dusk. And by the time she called through to her parents to tell them she was going to have a little walk down to the golf course, she was almost a nervous wreck.
The night air was crisp, and the sun glowed a deep pink in the distance as it began to sink down behind the mountains. Crickets chirped and in the distance, she could hear the roar of trucks thundering down the highway, and she wondered if on one of them, Snake was on his way to see her.
She walked slowly to the bottom of her garden, and when she started to slip behind the trees and disappear out of view from the house, she saw the cabin peaking up ahead of her. She smiled as she remembered the last time she had been there, and then she frowned.
Fucking Ranger.
Why was he so determined to ruin things for her?
She crossed her arms over her chest and cast her eyes all around the sprawling golf course ahead. It was clear, and no one was still playing, but she couldn’t help but wonder if anyone was watching her, and she started to feel uneasy.
She reached the cabin and began to walk around the side, and when s
he stepped into view of the door, she gasped and her heart skipped a beat.
“Babe,” Snake said as he rushed toward her with his arms opened wide.
“You came,” she breathed as she collapsed into him and let him hold her tightly.
“Of course I came,” he said as he cupped her face in his hands and stared deeply into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up at him and smiled. It was so good to see him. He looked tired and weary, but he wasn’t hurt in any way, and that in itself was something to give her immense heart.
“Where have you been?” she said almost in a whisper. “Are you okay?”
Snake kissed her longingly on the lips and wrapped his arms around her.
It had been four weeks, but for the entire time, Sarah had felt like she had been starving. Now that she had him back in her arms, she wanted to feast on him. She never wanted to let him go.
Their lips broke apart and they smiled at each other.
“I was in Iron Hill,” he said quietly, before he began to lead her toward the cabin and he opened the door and pulled her inside.
“Are you worried someone has followed you?” she asked nervously.
Snake shook his head.
“We don’t need to worry about that,” he said as he traced a line with his finger down the side of her face and looked into her eyes.
“I was worried about you,” she said.
“And I’ve been worried about you too,” he admitted as he smiled at her and pulled her close.
“I’m sorry I had to contact you,” she whispered. “But there’s something I need to tell you, and it couldn’t wait…”
His eyes lit up for a moment, but then his brow furrowed as if he was worried what she was going to say. Deep inside her, Sarah’s nerves were rife and out of control, but she had to be strong. She had to carry this through and act like the capable woman she knew she was.
“Snake…” she said, before she had to pause and take a breath. “There’s no easy way to say this… I’m pregnant.”
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