City Of Sin_A Mafia & MC Romance Collection

by K. J. Dahlen

  “Please give me a second chance. Let me make this right. Today has been a hell of a day for both of us. Our emotions have been all over the place and I fucked everything up. You will never know how sorry I am about that,” Raine told her watching her carefully. “I was only thinking about myself when I should have been thinking about you.” He smiled. “I’m going to be a daddy. We’re going to have a baby. He’ll have some of you and some of me inside him. We can watch him grow up to be the kind of man every parent wants their kid to be. Sweetness, I can’t wait to meet him.”

  “It could be a little girl you know,” she whispered faintly. She watched him with suspicious eyes. Just like the day she arrived here, she didn’t know if she could trust him. She wanted to, she really did but he had betrayed her once and she didn’t know if she could trust him now. “Do you want this child?”

  “Oh god, yes I want this baby. He’s going to be our child and I can’t wait for him or her to be born.” Raine told her reverently. “He or she will have a whole family waiting to welcome him or her. He or she will grow up to know he or she is welcomed by not only me and my family but the rest of the club.”

  Cricket hung her head low. “Do you hate me for not telling you before now?” She waited desperately for his answer. It would break her heart to hear that he didn’t love her anymore but for the sake of her child, she would endure it. She loved her baby and would do anything to make this omission right.

  “Sweetness .I could never hate you. I love you with all my heart. I need you like I need the air to breathe.” Then he reached out slowly to touch her cheek.

  She flinched a bit but didn’t move away from him. His touch began to thaw her frozen heart. “I can stay then? And be your wife? Be a mother to this child?”

  “Dammit.” Raine closed his eyes at the pain and the hopefulness in her voice. “I wouldn’t want you anywhere else but at my side, in my bed and as a wife and mother to my life. My life wouldn’t be worth spit if I didn’t have you beside me.”

  “Do you really mean that?”

  “Yes, oh god yes,” Raine whispered. Tears fell down his face. “I want you so much. I love you baby.”

  Cricket had never seen this man cry. She never knew a stronger man. This finally convinced her. “I love you too. I was waiting until today to tell you about the baby. I wanted the timing to mean something so I was waiting until my birthday to tell you. Then Bane came around and I thought I would save you anymore pain.”

  Raine laid a finger over her mouth to stop her from talking. “Hush sweetheart. I know why you did what you did. I should have realized that from the start but I was an ass and only thought of myself.”

  Cricket tried to hang her head but Raine wouldn’t let her. “I’m a man and therefore a fool. I will do things that will make you angry, and probably make you cry but I hope never to get this close to losing you again. I’m used to taking care of only me, so I’m not used to thinking beyond myself but I’m learning. For a moment, I lost sight of what I had to do.”

  “And what did you have to do?”

  “I had to think about you. I should have put you first and I didn’t do that.” He told her simply. “If I had I would have known that you didn’t set out to hurt me or cause me pain. I would have known that you were thinking about me. Instead, I was selfish and ended up hurting you.” He shook his head. “I want to ask you to forgive me for any acts of sheer stupid that I know I’ll do in the future.”

  “Then maybe I should ask the same thing. I’m bound to make mistakes along the way too.”

  Raine lifted her head to see her eyes. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay? I never thought to ask until now.”

  Cricket shrugged. “I’m sure we’re fine. I haven’t seen a doctor yet but I think we’re ok.”

  “What about the tat you got yesterday?” he asked. “Will that harm the baby?”

  Cricket shook her head. “No I don’t think so. Rembrandt used a special ink. It wasn’t as harsh as regular ink would have been.”

  “Thank god for that,” he whispered. “I just remembered Cassie couldn’t get any ink while she was carrying their kids.”

  Cricket nodded. “She told me that. She told me why she got the ink too. To cover her scars. She’s led a hell of a life huh? And I thought I had it bad. They named her Spitfire here at the club. She really is that too. Her life would have broken me.”

  “No kid should have had that life,” he agreed with her.

  “I think that’s why Redemption House is so damn important to her. It’s her way of giving back to the people who helped her when she needed it.” Cricket sighed. “I wish I could do something like that.”

  Raine shifted his body and slid down the wall next to her. “Yeah? What would you do?”

  “I don’t know. There wouldn’t be much I could do, I suppose. I didn’t even go to school, you know.”

  Raine closed his eyes. He’d forgotten her life had been so different from his own. Wrapping his arm carefully around her shoulder he told her, “You know you can go back to school online if you want. You could do what Cassie and Peaches did and get a GED. They went to a public library to study. You could at least do it here. If you wanted to that is.”

  Cricket snapped her head around to stare at him. “Really? I could do that? You wouldn’t mind?”

  “Oh course, I wouldn’t mind! Why would I?” he frowned.

  Cricket shrugged. She didn’t want to tell him about that.

  Raine hesitated then cupped her chin and brought her face up. “Why do you think I would mind?” he asked her softly.

  “After we moved to Maine, my dad was so lost he never noticed if we went to school or not. I know he loved us but without my mom, he had no direction. Cordy never wanted to go, so she kept me home with her so much that I never got the chance to learn anything. I mean I could barely read. I tried to argue with her but she was bigger so she always won those fights. Then after my Dad died and we took off, she told me I couldn’t go the school or I’d lose the only home I had and that was with her. Then she had Dusty and I needed to watch over him because she wasn’t going to.” She shrugged. “I guess I never thought about going to school anymore after that. I was too old for one thing. I did the best I could for Dusty, teaching him what I knew but I probably got a lot of that wrong too.”

  Raine shook his head. “But you didn’t get that wrong. Gambler tells me that Dusty is such a smart kid, he’s way ahead of all the other kids in his class. What you did for Dusty was you sparked his mind to want to learn about new stuff. With all your stories and stargazing, you gave him an edge most of the kids now days don’t have.”

  “Really? Wow I did not know that. I thought I was just telling him stories.” Cricket wrapped her arm around his waist and curled into his chest.

  “We’re going to go see a doctor soon and get both you and the baby figured out,” Raine told her. “Then maybe we can talk to Deke about getting our own house, maybe even build one here on the compound. Would you like that?”

  Cricket froze. “Do you mean that? Really, our own house? We could have our own house?”

  Raine smiled. “Yeah baby, we can have our own house. If that’s what you want we can get it.” He looked around the room he’d called home for so long. “This place was all I needed when I was single but now we’re married and we need a place we can call home.”

  “That sounds so nice. Home.” Cricket snuggled in closer to him. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep. The worry and fuss behind her now. She was starting to feel safe again and in his arms, it felt so good.

  Raine felt her relax enough to sleep and he knew she’d forgiven him. He waited a bit longer before he shifted her up into his arms and then he carried her to bed. Lying down beside her, he fell asleep wrapped in her body.

  Max jumped up on the bed beside them and found a spot down by their feet then curled up and soon he was sleeping too.

  11

  They slept for a little while then got up and joined everyo
ne else in the main room. There was some tension in the air but it wasn’t because of the situation Raine had caused earlier it was because they didn’t know what the hell Bane Jessin was up to.

  When Bane had left earlier, he said he would handle the situation with Stark but no one knew exactly how he would do just that. They all knew he was a killer but that’s all they knew about his skills.

  “Have you heard anything about Bane?” Cricket asked Deke at one point in the early evening as they all sat down to supper.

  Deke stared at her for a moment before shaking his head at her query. “No I haven’t. Reaper and his MC are watching Stark’s compound. They figure he’s got about a dozen or so men with him there.”

  “What about the rest of his men?” she asked.

  “We’ve found and neutralized about nine or ten and we’re looking for more.”

  Cricket glanced over at Raine before turning back to Deke. “Nine or ten?”

  Deke nodded slowly. “Normally, I wouldn’t discuss club business with an old lady but you have the right to know. Stark sent three men here, another couple of men to Boston, at least two to Maine and another two or three to the Hellspawn MC. We also have heard that more than a couple of his men just took off on him. They left their colors behind but they’re gone and they don’t plan on coming back.”

  Deke sat back in his chair and stared at her for a moment. “That fact explains just what kind of leader this Zeron Stark is. And it isn’t good news by any means.”

  Cricket frowned. “What does it tell you that it doesn’t tell me?”

  “For a man to join an MC they have to commit to that MC with his whole heart. It is a lifetime membership you know. The MC demands first place in its members lives. It’s not a commitment they take lightly. But for a man to leave his colors behind and hit the road, they are breaking that commitment. They all know they can never go back. In this case, they would face certain death if they even tried to go back. They know Stark would put a bullet in their heads without even flinching.”

  “Oh…” Cricket whispered as she thought of that very possibility happening.

  Deke shook his head. “I don’t know if Stark was crazy before he went to prison or he got crazy inside but Pound said he came out a changed man and it wasn’t a good change. It doesn’t look as if he’s giving up on finding the woman he knows as Cricket and we all know Cordy is dead.”

  The whole room was quiet now as they listened to their leader.

  “To answer your earlier question, no I don’t know what Bane is going to do. He wanted twenty four hours so now we wait. We’ll give him his twenty four hours.”

  “And after that? What happens after his time is up?” she asked.

  “We have eyes on Stark’s compound. For now, we wait and watch. After that, we might have to gather our men and take him out. Do I want to go to war with a crazy man? Hell no, but I won’t go in alone. We have the backing of at least three other MC’s. We’ll have the manpower we need to take him and his crew out. It’s not a decision we make lightly either. They have a right to exist the same as we do. Most MC’s follow the rules. Stark isn’t playing nice with the others and for that, he needs to learn a lesson.”

  Just then, Deke’s phone pinged with an incoming message. He logged in and read the message then swore a blue streak. Swiping to view a picture that was sent to him, he swore again. Then he turned to Cricket and snarled, “What in Sam’s hell is your uncle doing?” He turned his phone around to show her and Raine the picture he got.

  It was Bane all dressed in black siting high in a tree. He had a pair of binoculars around his neck and more guns on his body than he would need going in to combat.

  “Who sent you this?” Raine demanded.

  “Reaper. He and his men are watching Stark’s compound.” Deke growled.

  “He’s looking like he wants to start World War three,” Cricket whispered. “What is he doing there?” She glanced at the windows overlooking the dooryard. It was dark outside now, just as it was in Pennsylvania. What was her uncle doing at Stark’s compound?

  The phone pinged again and Deke checked his messages. “Oh, fucking shit.” He swore. Looking up at Cricket he announced, “Your uncle just began a fucking war and he’s not taking any prisoners.”

  Cricket rushed to her feet. The chair she was sitting on crashed backward to the floor. “He did WHAT?” she screamed.

  Deke read the message Reaper sent him a few minutes ago. “Quote, “The old bastard is picking off Stark’s men one by one with a silencer attached to his fucking rifle.” Unquote.” Deke glared. “So far, he’s gotten three and the numbers are rising fast.”

  “Are Reaper and his men helping?” Raine asked.

  Deke shook his head. “No, they don’t want Bane to know they’re there. They don’t want to catch any crossfire or get shot accidently on purpose. Right now, they’re just watching.”

  “They’re crazy if they think for one moment, Bane doesn’t know they’re there,” Cricket warned Deke. “He’s smarter than they give him credit for. He can sense a person even if he can’t see them. He knew I was in his house but he couldn’t see me.” She ran her fingers through her hair. Looking at Deke she begged, “Please tell Reaper that. Tell him Bane knows he and his men are there. Tell them not to try and stop him.”

  Deke nodded and began to type her message.

  The tension in the room skyrocketed and everyone waited with bated breath for the next message to come in. It took forever for Reaper to get back to Deke.

  Supper was long forgotten and Cricket had retrieved her puppy and was holding him in her arms when the next message came from Reaper. It was close to midnight and everyone was still sitting there waiting.

  Deke read it then began shaking his head. He hung his head for a moment then looked over at Cricket.

  Raine moved to hold her as if to prepare her for bad news.

  Cricket began to shake. “What? What did Reaper say?”

  “He said Bane took out four more men before Stark even noticed they were missing. When he found his men gone, he closed his clubhouse up and took up a fighting position. He barricaded what was left of his men and they just began shooting at anything that moved outside. Reaper and his men had to pull back but stayed as close as they could to see what was going on.” He paused and then said, “They are at a stalemate right now.”

  The phone pinged again. Deke looked at the message. “Oh my god… That crazy bastard.”

  “WHAT?” Cricket cried out. “What is it?”

  Deke looked up at her and shook his head. “Well, he got what he wanted, what we all wanted. He just blew up the clubhouse and killed Stark and all of his men in one fell swoop. Bane hit the LP tank and blew it up.”

  Cricket felt herself falling as she lost consciousness. She lost her hold of the puppy and he jumped to the floor.

  Raine swung her up in his arms and carried her over to the sofa. Laying her down gently, he patted her cheeks. “Sweetness, wake up. Don’t quit on me now. Cricket, I need you to wake up,” He called out gently.

  Deke and the others gathered around her and watched as she came back to them.

  Opening her eyes slowly, Cricket seemed dazed by everything. She couldn’t even speak for a moment. Then she croaked out a name. Max. The little puppy came over to her and she scooped him up in her arms and held him tight. She looked over at Raine. “What happened?”

  Raine shook his head. “You passed out on me, that’s what happened. It scared the shit out of all of us.”

  Cricket snuggled down into Max’s fur before she looked around the room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare anyone.”

  Raine leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s ok baby. You got some pretty bad news just now.”

  Deke knelt beside Raine and looked at her.

  Cricket dared to ask, “Is he still alive? Is Bane still alive?”

  “I don’t know. Reaper got back to me while you were out. He said Stark stumbled from
the burning house and saw Bane walking away. He got one shot off and Bane was hit but Bane turned around and smoked Stark. Reaper said the shot took him completely off his feet. He hit the man right between the eyes. Took off half his head before he fell. He flew back about five feet before he hit the ground.”

  “And my uncle? What happened to him?” Cricket dared to ask.

  Deke shrugged. “Reaper said he continued walking into the woods. He said he wasn’t going to look for him until daybreak. He didn’t want to get accidently shot.”

  Cricket nodded. “I understand.” Again, she buried her face in Max’s fur. Tears wet her cheeks and the dog’s fur. Raine pulled her into his arms but just held her for a moment. When she looked up at Deke she said, “I guess we won’t find anything more out until morning.”

  “Probably not. Reaper said the fire department was just getting there to put out the fire. He said the cops wouldn’t be far behind with all the bodies lying around the compound.”

  Cricket nodded then looked over at her husband. “Can we go to our room now? I want to be alone with you.”

  Raine nodded and gathered her and the dog in his arms and carried them both down the hall.

  Closing the door behind him, Cricket slid down to stand on her own feet. She let the dog down on the floor and turned to Raine. Wrapping her arms around his body, she planted her face in his chest. Raine wrapped her into a hug and just held her while she cried.

  A few minutes later, she stopped and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Why? I don’t understand why he would do something like that. He’s proven time and time again that I mean absolutely nothing to him and he’s never been one to show emotions. Hell, he never had any to show. He was like Cordy and Michael. He didn’t have emotions or feelings or any sense of family from the day he was born. So why would he take on Stark and his followers? What did he have to gain by taking them out? I don’t understand.”

  “Your uncle is a very complex man. I don’t think anyone even took the time to understand him before.”