The Devil’s Blaze

by Zoey Parker

  Her eyes widened at his accusatory tone. “She’s not going to die. I won’t let it happen.” She kept her voice low but firm.

  “You can’t take care of this on your own. Those doctors said without that treatment or surgery or whatever, she doesn’t have good odds. The insurance won’t cover it.”

  “What does any of this have to do with you?” Josephine yanked her hand from his and crossed her arms over her chest, plumping up her breasts.

  “You’re obviously pregnant. You are having morning sickness, and you are exhausted. I don’t know a shit-ton about medicine, but I do know that if you don’t have insurance, the bills just pile higher and higher. For something like they were talking about, we aren’t talking hundreds or thousands of dollars, we are talking tens of thousands of dollars.” The muscles in his neck pulled tighter with the pout in her expression. She didn’t like being talked to like this, being scolding. Well, tough shit. Reality sucked, but it was real. You couldn’t hide from it. You had to face that shit head on if you were going to get through it. “I was wrong. I’m not walking away from this baby.”

  “It’s not yours.” She gritted her teeth, shoving him hard but not enough to move him. She wiggled around him and stormed off to the elevators. He grunted when her hand pushed his side but stalked off after her anyway.

  “Like hell.” He growled and stepped into the elevator with her when it opened. A glare at the nurse trying to step in with them kept her out, and he slammed his hand against the button that would close the door.

  She scoffed at him and pointed at the doors as they closed. “Really? And you think you’re fit to be a father?”

  “I don’t want to talk about this with other people around, sweetheart, but if you want strangers to hear how you asked me to knock you up after knowing me for ten minutes, then sure, let’s let them all in.” He stepped over to the buttons again to press the stop, but her soft hand on his arm stopped him.

  “No. No, you’re right.” When he turned to look at her, she moved away from him and covered her face with both her hands. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t be sorry.” He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. The burning pain in his side would have to wait; she needed comforting more than he did. “Just stop being so damn stubborn.”

  “I don’t even know you. How the hell can I have a kid with you? What the fuck was I thinking?” She yanked out of his arms and cowered in the corner of the elevator. “You’re in a gang!”

  “It’s a club, not a gang, but I’m sure from where you sit, it looks to be the same.” He didn’t raise his voice. She didn’t need that, not yet. “Look, we don’t know each other. Well, not enough to decide right this second what we want to do about us, but I’m telling you that since I met you, I haven’t gotten you out of my head. And when I saw you yesterday, it hit me. It wasn’t just you I was missing; I was worried that you’d be off having my kid without me. That I would never know him…or you.”

  She swiped a hand across her mouth. “You really want to be involved?”

  “Not just involved, no weekend dad shit, I want us to make this work. Give it a try.”

  “Right now isn’t exactly the time for me to start dating, Lucas. My mom—”

  “Is sicker than you let me think. I get it. We just met, and you were trying to get in my pants, but understand this, from now on, you tell me everything. No hiding anything; no sugar coating it. Now,” he stuffed his hands into his pockets, “how sick is she?”

  “She’s going to die.” The elevator doors slid open on her sob.

  Chapter 7

  What the hell was she going to do? The hospital bills were already starting to get higher with each visit. The insurance had approved her admission, but out-of-network doctors were doing some of the tests. Hospitals didn’t pay attention to what doctors were in what plans, and if you got a radiologist reading your MRI who wasn’t in your network, you’d get a bill from his office, too.

  The medicine alone was almost more than Josephine could handle. Her mom’s savings were nearly dry, and her own wasn’t much to boast about.

  Seeing Lucas at the hospital had reminded her of what she had walked away from. A part of her pointed out that he was there because he’d been hurt in a fight. A fight. A grown man had gotten stabbed in a goddamn alley fight. That wasn’t husband material or father material. No, he wasn’t right for her. Then the other part—the part that found comfort in his arms, felt safe when he stared at her and longed to see him again after that brief encounter the night he was brought in—told her to ignore the danger. He would keep her safe. He would keep the baby safe.

  He’d given her the night to think. After getting off the elevator, he told her he would think of something to help with her mom. He kissed her and told her to get some rest. She watched him walk out of the hospital and wondered what he thought he could accomplish that she couldn’t.

  She didn’t get much time, though. He said he’d pick her up from work. What was she going to say? She needed to tell him he wasn’t going to be in his kid’s life. Right. Because he looked completely reasonable about that when he talked to her the day before. All of a sudden, the baby had meaning to him. He wanted it and her.

  “Uh, Josephine?” Marissa tapped her shoulder. Josephine shoved the last tray of instruments into the autoclave and spun around. “There’s a guy up front looking for you. Said he’s picking you up?” Oh, no. Marissa started to smile. “He’s kinda hot.”

  Hot. He was worse than hot. Just looking at him made her want to blush, and when she thought about all the things they did together that night, she really did blush.

  “I’ll be right there.” Josephine finished setting the autoclave to start and wiped her hands on her scrub bottoms. It had been a long day. The insurance company was sticking firm to their decision about not paying for the Gamma Knife treatment unless her mother went with an in-network doctor, but the only one in-network had only just started his training on the procedure. Since, technically, he could perform the procedure, the insurance company said she’d have to take her mother there. So much for quality healthcare.

  “Josephine, you coming? He’s tapping his fingers on the counter and looking like he’s going to come get you himself if you don’t hurry up.” Marissa appeared in the doorway of the break room.

  “I’m coming,” Josephine snapped, then swung her purse over her shoulder. He couldn’t give her a few minutes to grab her things? He wanted what he wanted that very moment, just like a child. She was about to go on a date with a child.

  A motorcycle club captain who acted like a child. Her stomach rolled, and she paused a moment to be sure the lunch she’d eaten hours ago was going to remain inside her stomach before she continued on down the hall.

  She turned the corner to head to the front desk and bumped right into a massive chest. A massive chest covered in a leather vest. “Shit.” She rubbed her nose and took a step back.

  “You were taking a while. I got worried.” He cupped her chin and lifted her face to look at her nose. “Not broken.” He gave her a charming smile and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger.

  “No thanks to you,” she bit out. “Do you have cement for ribs? Cripes.” She rubbed it again.

  He laughed. “Nope, just muscle. You okay?”

  “Yeah. Just a bit tired.” Her stomach took that moment to grumble loudly between them. “And apparently hungry.” Her face heated under his smiling stare.

  “Good. Let’s go get something to eat, then.” He plucked up her hand into his and led her out of the office before she could do more than wave to Marissa, who watched them leave with an opened mouth and envious stare.

  When they walked up to his bike, she took the helmet he handed her and shuffled her purse strap around her head. “Where are we going?”

  “My place.” He winked, then finished snapping her chin strap into place.

  She maneuvered onto the bike behind him and wrapped her arms around tight. It fe
lt too good. It shouldn’t feel so good just have her arms around someone like that. She did her best to pretend he was nothing more than a pillar, something to keep her from falling off the bike, but the longer they rode, the more she couldn’t ignore the hard muscles beneath her hands, and his musky scent mingled with the leather of his kutte.

  Lucas’s place was a bi-level ranch on the outskirts of town. The grass was neatly cut, and all the bushes outlining the property were perfectly trimmed. There were even flowers blooming in the garden out front. Not what she expected from a motorcycle captain.

  He took her helmet to stow, then grabbed her hand again. Josephine let herself be led up the few steps to the door and inside the house. Her apartment should be as clean as his house was. Not a thing was out of place, no dust on any of the furniture, and the carpet still had marks from the vacuum being run over it. When she looked to him, he laughed, a deep chuckle she was coming to enjoy hearing from him.

  “I’m a little bit of a neat freak.” He shrugged and waved her toward the kitchen.

  “You cook, too?” She didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but she was. Most men she dated knew enough to read the package for instructions on their frozen dinners. She wouldn’t expect the captain of the Fury Riders to be so domestic.

  “Oh, no, sorry, you’re not that lucky.” He opened a drawer and pulled out a takeout menu. “The pasta up at the cabin is about as good as it gets for my cooking.” Opening up a menu, he started to look it over. “Pizza okay with you, or do you have a taste for something else?” He looked up over the pizza stained menu at her. “Any cravings?”

  It was her turn to laugh. “I don’t think that happens for a while yet. Like maybe after all the puking stops. Pizza’s fine.” She removed her purse and plunked it on the kitchen island.

  While he put the order in, she took her time walking around the kitchen. Beautiful marble countertops, custom made cabinets, and stone flooring she’d admired in catalogues had her warning herself never to let him into her apartment. Between the size and the big box store furniture, it wasn’t much to boast about.

  “All ordered. Half cheese and half veggie.” He pulled open the door on the stainless steel fridge and pulled out a beer. He gave her a side-glance. “You want a soda or water?”

  “Wine. I want wine.” She pointed the bottle on the counter—sweet red. Perfect.

  “No way.” He shook his head and picked up the bottle, stowing it in a rack out of her reach.

  “Why? It’s okay. A glass now and then won’t hurt the baby.” She tried to assure him and kept her eye on the wine bottle. She’d been careful about everything she ate since she saw that plus sign pop up on the stick, but at that moment, she wanted wine. Something to take the edge off her nerves. “Lucas, the doctor even said,” she tried again when he just raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t give a shit what the doctor said. You’re not drinking.” He reopened the fridge and put his beer away. “There. I won’t either.” He yanked out a container of what looked to be ice tea and brought it to the counter. Grabbing two glasses from the cabinet above him, he poured them each some. “Here, sweet tea.”

  “If you’re still trying to make a case for me to stick around with you, you’re off to a pretty shitty start,” she pointed out, snagging a glass and taking a sip. It was damn near perfect, not too sugary.

  “You have my baby in your belly, and you’re standing in my kitchen. Baby, you are already stuck with me.” He tipped his glass toward her, then drained it. She watched his throat move while he swallowed. Thick. His neck, his shoulders, and his voice—everything about him was just so large. How had he gone so long without being noticed by someone?

  “Do you have a girlfriend? Or did you? When we first met?”

  His eyes widened at the question. He leaned back against the counter. Setting his glass down, he pulled her to him, his hands heavy on her hips. “I don’t really do the girlfriend-boyfriend thing.”

  “Oh, because you’re a biker?”

  “No, because it never works out. Most girls don’t really like my brand of relationship.”

  His eyes held a warning in them, but she was too close to stop now. “What’s that?”

  He remained silent for a long moment, searching her expression. Maybe he was trying to find the right words or was deciding if he should tell her at all. Then, he confided. “I’m old-fashioned. I say no wine, the answer’s no wine. I tell you no more coffee until this baby’s born, then I expect you to not drink any coffee.”

  She tensed. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, she tried to clarify. “So, you like to be in charge, a little power play.”

  He shook his head. “No power play. Just the way it is with me. When I have a girl, when she’s mine, really mine, I will protect her with my life. Everything I have belongs to her and only her. I don’t fuck around. And I expect her to follow my lead, follow my rules.”

  “Obey you. That’s what you wanted to say there, but you hesitated.” She yanked out of his hands.

  He sighed. “See. Like I said.” He pointed at her as she started to pace the kitchen.

  “So, if I say okay, let’s do this, that’s how it’s going to be?”

  “That’s the way it already is, Josephine.” He pushed off the counter and walked around her, going for another drawer. She stayed silent as he put an envelope on the counter, sliding it to her. “We take care of our families first. The club won’t let a member’s family suffer if they can stop it. The bill at the hospital is cleared. I took care of that this afternoon. This,” he stabbed the bulging envelope, “this you’ll deposit into your checking account so you can pay anything that comes in. When you get low, you tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”

  Not sure what to say, she just stared at him. One minute he was telling her she needed to obey him in everything, the next he was telling her the money worries for her mother were over. The doorbell rang, giving her the moment of reprieve she wanted. He gave her one more look before going to meet the pizza delivery guy at the door.

  She picked up the envelope, fingering the flap until it opened. A thick stack of one hundred dollar bills was in the envelope. Her breath caught in her chest, burning her for several seconds as the tears welled in her eyes.

  The aroma of pizza preceded him into the kitchen, but when she saw him, she looked up. He slid the pizza box onto the island and stared back at her.

  “This is a lot of money.” She waved the envelope. “Where’d you get this? Why would your club give this to me? I’m not a member. I’m not even dating you.”

  He moved around the island, keeping her pinned in place with his eyes. When he reached her, he framed her face with his hands. “I just told you, I don’t do the dating thing. You are carrying my baby. You’re already mine. You just need to accept it in your mind.”

  “You don’t even know me,” she whispered.

  “I know enough.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And you’ll get to know me. I’m not telling you that you have to move in here tonight. I’m saying you’re not alone. You have me now. I’ll take care of you, of the baby, and your mom, too. We’ll get her the best care. Okay?” So sincere were his words and his tone, she nodded. How could she not? He was offering her the world. What harm could really come from at least trying to be his girlfriend? No, not girlfriend, something else. Something more.

  “What happens when you get tired of me? I’m not like those girls I see hanging around your clubhouse when I drive by.” She waved her hands over her body. She had a nice body, but those girls were made for sex.

  “I won’t ever tire of you. And if I wanted one of those girls at the club, I’d already have one of them upstairs chained to my bed.”

  “Is that what you’ll do to me? Chain me to your bed?”

  He hadn’t let go of her face yet, and his lips were so close but not close enough. “Oh, baby, there are a lot of things I’m going to do to you. Tying you up in my bed is only the beginning.” Finally, he brought his lips do
wn on hers. She moaned right into his mouth when his tongue pushed through her lips and swept over hers. He pressed her against the counter, and she could feel his erection pressing against her hip, but it couldn’t compare to the desire she felt burning inside of her for him at that moment.

  Maybe it would be okay. Being his might be good.

  # # #

  She tasted too good for just one sampling. He broke the kiss only to dive right back in for a second and a third. The pizza sat on the counter, chilling as the moments ticked by. It would keep.

  “Take this thing off.” His hands gripped the hem of her soft blue scrub top and pulled it up over her head. She raised her arms to make it easier for him. Good. No need to go over the whole obey rule again; she’d already caught on. “What the hell is this?” He took half a step back and pointed at the cami she wore.