Breaking Away (Rocking Racers Book 3)

by Megan Lowe

  “Aubrey,” I say, interrupting her monologue, “was there a point to all this?” Not that I don’t love hearing her voice, but her tone when I answered the phone suggested there’s something more happening.

  “Huh? Oh yeah! She went into labour,” she says.

  “Really?”

  “Uh-huh. I’m at the hospital now, waiting for McKnley Rhodes, I mean Matthews, to have her babies.”

  I’m trying not to panic, but holy shit, one of my best friends is having her babies. “Um, okay,” I say, spinning round in a circle, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “All right, but don’t rush, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I say, looking for my car keys before I remember my car is on the Coast.

  “I’ll see you soon, cutie.”

  “Yep,” I say, and end the call.

  “Knley’s just gone into labour,” I tell Rome.

  “Well shit.”

  “So I’ve gotta go and find a car.”

  “Here.” He throws me the keys to Reed’s Mustang. I raise an eyebrow. “It’s in for a service, but I pushed it to do this.” He motions to my bike.

  “Thanks, man.” I give him a manly slap and jump in the car.

  Thankfully the drive to the hospital isn’t long. God, if this is what I’m like for a friend’s babies, what am I going to be like when my own are born? The image of Aubrey round with my child pops into my head, and my dick twitches to life. I try to remind myself I’m here for Knley, but the image won’t go away. Not that I even know if Aubrey wants kids or not. Not that we’re at that stage anyway; it’s still a long, long way off, but still, can’t hurt to plan for the future, right?

  Aubrey is a vision sitting in the waiting room. “Hey,” she says, a huge smile on her face. Without even thinking about it, I go up to her and smash my lips to hers. She tastes like everything good in the world. I know I sound like a sap, but I can’t help it. This is what she does to me. She’s breathless when we break apart.

  “Well hello to you too,” she says, smiling. “What was that for?”

  I throw an arm around her shoulders and guide her to a seat. “Because I could, that’s why.”

  She beams and kisses my cheek. “You are too sweet sometimes, you know that?”

  I kiss her chastely. “Just giving you what you deserve,” I say, repeating her words from last night.

  It’s a few hours before Cole comes out, his face distinctly lacking excitement. Aubrey picks up on it too and squeezes my hand.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask, as he approaches us.

  He rubs a hand over his face. “They had to do a C-section. There were some complications,” he says.

  “Is Knley all right? What about the babies?” I ask, panicked.

  “The babies are perfect. A girl, Nia, and a boy, Ryder.”

  “That’s beautiful,” Aubrey says, her eyes brimming with tears.

  “What about Kn?” I ask.

  “She wouldn’t stop bleeding. There was so much blood and I had to make the decision….” He trails off.

  I grab his shoulders. “Cole, man, is she okay?” I’m trying not to let the panic overtake me.

  “They had to do a hysterectomy. There won’t be any more babies,” he says, almost robotically.

  “But she’s okay now though?” I ask.

  He nods. “Yeah, she’s okay, but what happens when she wakes up and I have to tell her there won’t be any more?” He looks so utterly lost.

  “You give her your son and daughter and remind her that you have two perfectly healthy babies and that’s more than some people get,” Aubrey says, taking Cole’s hand. I give her a grateful smile.

  Cole nods. “You’re right.”

  “Of course I am,” she says, and we all chuckle.

  “Can we see them?” I ask.

  “Knley’s still in recovery and the babies are in the nursery, but we should be able to see them through the window. I just came down to tell you what happened,” he says.

  “Well shit, man, what are we waiting for? Let’s go see your kids.” For the first time, a smile crosses his face. As much as I’d like to say Ryder and Nia are the cutest kids I’ve ever seen, babies when they’re first born all look the same, a bit smooshed and a lot grumpy, like they’re pissed off they’ve been taken out of their hidey hole against their will. I don’t say that though. After dealing with Park and Reed after Chris and Avery were born, I learned to make a lot of cooing noises and tell them how cute they are. Aubrey does a much more convincing job of it than I do, thank fuck.

  Knley’s too tired for visitors, so after telling Cole we’ll be by tomorrow, we leave. For most of the drive home I have my hand on Aubrey’s thigh.

  “They were so cute! I love babies,” she gushes.

  “Yeah?” I ask. She nods. “So you’d want some of your own?”

  She turns to look at me. “Do you want kids?”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” I say, not answering hers either.

  She quirks an eyebrow at me and I quirk one back at her.

  She blows out a breath. “Yeah, sure. A long, long way down the track though.”

  I nod. “Me too.”

  “So, um,” she starts, but then stops. I wait for her to continue, but she doesn’t.

  “So, um what?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “I’m not going to ask you that.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s embarrassing.”

  “More embarrassing than Jax hearing you scream my name last night?” My dick twitches at the memory of last night’s activities.

  A blush comes to her cheeks. “More than that.”

  I’m intrigued now. “Okay, so now you have to tell me.”

  She shakes her head. “Nope, not getting it out of me.”

  “I have ways to convince you,” I warn her.

  “Oh yeah?”

  I nod. “Yep.”

  She doesn’t say anything, but the look on her face dares me to try. Slowly I slide my hand up her thigh to between her legs. Her breathing hitches and her legs widen. With the heel of my palm, I apply pressure to the seam of her jeans, grinding it against her clit.

  “Mmm,” she moans.

  “That feel good, sweetheart?” I ask. She nods. “Good.” I take my hand away so I can change gears.

  “Hey,” she whines.

  I laugh. “Driving here.”

  “Tease,” she mutters under her breath, but loud enough that I hear.

  “You going to ask me your question?” She thinks for a minute, then shakes her head. “Then I’ll be teasing you a whole lot more.”

  She huffs and crosses her arms. “You don’t play fair.”

  “I have three older brothers and Jax. I learned a long time ago that playing fair only gets you so far.”

  “Whatever,” she sulks.

  “Don’t be like that, sweetheart. You know you can ask me anything,” I tell her.

  “I know, I just don’t want you thinking I’m one of those super clingy girls that every guy hates.”

  “What makes you think I’d ever think that about you?” I ask. I’m confused as to where this is coming from.

  She blows out a breath. “The fact that I needed you to take me away so Connor can’t get to me. The fact that I can’t look after myself in the first place, that I even got involved with Connor to start with.”

  I glance at her and see she’s serious. “Why would I think that because of Connor? He’s a bad guy, Aubrey, one of the worst kinds. I doubt there’d be many guys who could protect themselves from him and his goons, let alone a woman. Not that you couldn’t if you wanted, but women aren’t physically as strong as men and he’s pretty built so it’d take a lot of—”

  “Mav,” she says, cutting me off.

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re rambling.”

  “Oh.” I slump in my seat.

  “But I get what you’re saying and I appreciate it.”

  “Good.” I pau
se. “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, right? That I’ll protect you?”

  She nods. “I know.”

  I squeeze her knee. “Good, ’cause I want you around for a while.”

  “Yeah?”

  I nod. “Yeah, long enough for us to have kids of our own.” Her resulting smile is blinding, and I know that she’s my forever.

  Chapter 33

  Aubrey

  Mav and I spend the next few days after Knley gave birth with her. She was devastated about the hysterectomy, of course, but when presented with her twins she saw them as the blessing they are. We’ve become pretty good friends. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think something like this would happen, but Mav lives in a different world than I do. Even if he likes to break away from it every once in a while. Bria and Grayson have also become good friends. I’m in awe of Bria; doing all she does and raising Avery? The woman is a machine. There’s no way I’d ever be able to do all that.

  Quinn, Knley’s sister, arrived today. She’s lovely as well, and we bonded over our similar uni degrees. She’s studying to be a doctor. There’s a weird vibe between her and Jax that I’m dying to find out more about.

  “So you’ll stay here?” Knley asks her sister as we get her comfortable on the couch.

  Quinn shakes her head. “Jax has asked that I stay with him.”

  Both Knley and I freeze. In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve gotten to know Mav’s little brother quite well, and I know this is way out of character for him.

  “What’s going on with you two anyway?” Knley asks.

  “Nothing, we’re friends,” Quinn answers.

  “Jax doesn’t have female friends,” I tell her. “Plus, I’m pretty sure he never has the same girl in his bed twice. Not that you guys are in bed together—”

  Quinn smiles. “I know Jax’s MO.”

  “I call bullshit,” Knley says. “You two were very friendly at the party Cole and I threw the night before we got married.”

  Quinn shakes her head. “That was one time.”

  “You’re a bad liar, little sis,” Knley says.

  “It’s complicated,” Quinn says.

  “Just tell him no means no,” I say, as I adjust a pillow behind McKnley’s head. Quinn just nods. “He’s not pressuring you into anything, is he?” I ask.

  “No, nothing like that.”

  I nod. “If he does, just let me know. I have a similarly annoying brother, so I know how to handle them.”

  Quinn smiles at me kindly. “Thanks, but I don’t think that will be necessary.”

  “Offer’s always open,” I tell her.

  All three of us are chatting when Mav comes in, all hot and sweaty from working on his bike with Rome, and good Lord in heaven, without a shirt.

  “For fuck’s sake, Mav,” Knley says, “put a shirt on. No one wants to see your fit body with eight-pack abs and gorgeous muscly arms.”

  “Speak for yourself,” I say, as I lick my lips and wink at my sexy-as-sin boyfriend.

  He blushes. “How was your day?” he asks, coming over to kiss me chastely.

  “Oh, you know, just me, plain ol’ Aubrey James, hanging out with McKnley Matthews and Quinn Rhodes from Places, nothing out of the ordinary.” All three of them chuckle. “Seriously, this is not my life. I swear I’m going to wake up any minute now and find out it was all a dream.”

  “You’re a dream,” Mav whispers in my ear, and it’s my turn to blush.

  “You two are so freaking cute,” Knley says, scrunching up her face.

  “It’s all her,” Mav says, nodding to me. I blush again while Knley coos.

  We’re at the diner later that night when my phone rings.

  “Hey,” I say.

  “Aubrey,” Josh sobs.

  “What’s wrong?” Immediately everyone around the table goes still, waiting on my reaction.

  “It’s—it’s Grandpa.”

  “What happened? Is he all right?” I’m trying not to panic, but my mind is running off in a million different directions.

  “He’s—he’s d-d-dead,” Josh sobs.

  “What? What happened?” Tears begin to roll down my cheeks. Mav hugs me tight to his chest.

  “Connor.” I drop the phone. Around me, people are scrambling. I hear Mav’s voice, but I’m unable to respond to any of it. Connor killed my grandpa.

  Chapter 34

  Josh

  Three hours earlier…

  He said he’d give me a week. I was counting on that time; I needed that time. He lied. Five days after our last meeting, Connor bursts into our home.

  “Time’s up, tubby,” he says as his goons shepherd Grandpa and me into the living room.

  “You told me I had a week!” I exclaim.

  Connor shrugs. “Close enough. Besides, I didn’t want to give you too much time, just in case you decided you couldn’t meet our terms and tried to back out of our deal.”

  “I needed that time to get your money together,” I tell him.

  He gets right up in my face. “I told you I didn’t want your money, I want your sister.”

  “She’s not here,” I tell him.

  “Then call her and get her here.” He thrusts a phone into my chest.

  “She’s not in the state.”

  Connor stops dead. “What? Where is she then?”

  “Ran off with her bikie boyfriend,” Grandpa spits.

  “This is your doing,” Connor says, pointing at me.

  I shake my head. “No, I swear it isn’t.”

  “So you’re telling me Aubrey and her cockhead of a boyfriend just randomly decided to go on holiday in the middle of the semester?”

  I shrug, feeling a lot braver than I am. All that matters, though, is that Aubrey’s out of danger. Whatever happens to me from here on in will happen, but at least she’s with Mav and he won’t let anything happen to her.

  “You expect me to believe that?” Connor asks.

  “It doesn’t matter what you believe, it’s what happened. Aubrey’s not here,” I say.

  “When will she be back? I mean, I’m disappointed I don’t get to see Mav’s smug, superior face, but his money’s just as good as anyone’s when push comes to shove. I may have even been able to convince him to pay six figures this time. Never mind, it’s nice to keep things in the family, isn’t it? No need for meddling outsiders,” Connor says.

  “I don’t know when Aubrey will be back. She didn’t say.”

  “Forget about the girl,” Grandpa says. “You can do better than that bikie slut.”

  Connor looks at Grandpa for a minute, studying him, before he throws his head back and laughs.

  “What a family you lot are,” he says through his laughter. “The gambler, the slut, and the ignorant old bastard.”

  “I may be a bastard, but I’m not stupid,” Grandpa says, “and Josh here says you promised him a week.”

  “To get me Aubrey. She’s not here, so that means I can do whatever the fuck I want now.”

  “Now that’s not fair,” Grandpa says.

  “Neither is tubby here promising me something he can’t deliver. He owes me. Now it’s time for him to pay up.”

  “If you don’t want his money and you can’t get the girl, what do you want?” Grandpa asks.

  Connor stops to consider. “The old man has a point,” he says finally.

  “If you give me more time, I’ll get you your money,” I tell him.

  He brushes me off. “You and I both know there’s no way you’re getting that money. You couldn’t get me the five grand you owed me before. I can’t see you pulling five times that much out of thin air.” I hang my head. “And seeing as though I need something, I have to teach your fat arse a lesson as well as sending a message. Looks like it’s going to have to be Grandpa here.”

  My head whips to where Connor’s goons are holding Grandpa. “What? No!” I fight against the goons who are holding me, but it’s no use.

  “Yeah,” Connor says, no
dding. “I think that’s a reasonable exchange. I mean, I would’ve preferred Aubrey for obvious reasons, but I think Grandpa here will serve as a good warning to you and any other fuckhead out there who thinks he can skimp me out of what I’m owed.” He starts to walk over to Grandpa, and I sob.

  “No, don’t do this, please! I’ll get you your money. I’ll double it, triple it, just please, leave my grandpa alone.”

  A sadistic smile crosses Connor’s face. “You made your bed, tubby, now grumpy gramps here has to lie in it.”

  “No, please, no! I’ll do anything!” I beg.

  “Oh, I know you will, that’s why I’m doing this. Maybe next time you think you can cheat me out of what’s rightfully mine, you’ll think about what happened this time.”

  He’s standing in front of Grandpa now. My legs have buckled and I’m being held up by Connor’s goons. “No!” I scream again, fighting to get free. “Grandpa!” I yell. His head is high, the look on his face defiant. “Connor, please,” I beg.

  “Tie him up,” he orders. “Let’s give him a front row seat to the consequences of his actions.”

  A chair is brought in from the kitchen and I’m tied to it. The rope, which appeared from nowhere, cuts into my skin, my hands and feet quickly going numb.

  “You think you’re real smart, don’t you, boy?” Grandpa asks Connor.

  “Nah.” Connor shrugs. “Just doing what I gotta do.”

  Grandpa shakes his head. “No, my lad, you’re a bottom feeder, the lowest of the low. Fancy coming after an old man.”

  “Well you see,” Connor says, explaining his motives to Grandpa like he was explaining how one plus one equals two, “if I kill Josh then I cut off a valuable source of income. The dude has a major gambling problem, which is good for me ’cause he just can’t help himself and keeps coming back. It also means I can give him crappy odds and he’ll take them. Why would I want to get rid of that?” he asks. “But, if I take you, I get to keep Josh and scare him into paying his debt, so really, it’s a win-win for me.”

  Grandpa shakes his head and looks at me. “Josh, my boy, you’ve got to get help. Don’t let this leech suck you dry anymore.”