by Penny Dee
“It could be that your secret admirer’s obsession is escalating and she’s doing this to get your attention.”
Honey moved around the room and nervously rubbed her palms together. “Is it possible this isn’t from someone else and not the person sending those gifts to Caleb? Someone who might be pissed about the cannabis fields, maybe?”
“This isn’t about the fields,” I said.
Because if another MC was going to send a box to my front door, it wouldn’t have doll heads inside it.
It would have real heads.
No. This wasn’t about the club.
This was personal.
HONEY
I can’t lie. The box of doll heads freaked me out.
And hearing about the other gifts Caleb had received from his secret admirer didn’t help the situation any.
I had a meltdown.
I mean, what crazy-ass person did that kind of thing?
Caleb assured me that I had nothing to worry about, that he would take care of the situation. Slowly, I started to calm down and believe him, because it was hard to fear anything when he had his strong arms around me and his powerful body pressed hard up against mine. I’d never felt so protected and cared for in my entire life.
I spoke to Autumn about it the next day and she seemed more concerned about some woman coming after my man than she was of some woman doing any harm to us. I couldn’t help but share her concern. Because not only did I have to contend with the women who openly pursued him, now it seemed I had to contend with the ones who hid in the shadows.
When I asked Autumn if she thought I could be in danger, or Caleb, she brushed it off.
“It’s not like you’re the Godfather and woke up with a horse head in your bed,” she said. “Relax. It’s some girl with a crush on him trying to freak you out. I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
She was right.
Although, I did get extra locks added to the front door and the windows.
Just to be sure.
By the time I met Indy for lunch two days later, I was feeling less creeped out.
“You’re safe,” Indy reassured me over Caesar salads at the Lakehouse Restaurant. River was sound asleep in his stroller as we sat out on the deck by the water. “After what happened to me, the Kings have put some pretty hefty security in play. Family is protected.”
Caleb had told me about Indy being abducted by an ex-club member but hadn’t gone into specifics.
“Caleb didn’t tell me the full story . . .”
Indy looked at her son, then back at me. “The day after I found out I was pregnant, Elias Knight kidnapped me and tied me to a bed in an abandoned house for a day.”
“Oh my Lord, Indy! What happened? Did he . . .”
“Did he rape me? No. He tried, after he had toyed with me for a while. I fought back but it only turned him on.” She punched her fork into a piece of chicken in her salad. “Although, he wasn’t a fan of the eye gouge or the knee to the balls I gave him. And funny enough, he didn’t like the two bullets my husband put in him.”
I slumped back in my chair. “That’s terrifying.”
“It was. But I survived it. And since then, Bull and the entire club have put things in place to ensure family is safe. They have a lot of friends in this town, Honey. A lot of people who look out for them and their family.” She pointed toward the inside of the restaurant. “They know we’re here. If anything were to happen, it would only be minutes before the club knows.”
“You mean, they’re watching us?”
I didn’t know how I felt about that.
“Watching? No. But aware that we are here? Yes.”
I wasn’t sure of the difference. But I let it pass.
“Believe me, if Caleb thought you were in any danger, there is no way he would let you out of his sight.” Her eyes squinted in the mild sunlight. “You’re with him now and that means you’re one of the most protected women in this town.”
Despite my reservations, that made me feel warm and happy.
“So you’re saying I’m reading more into it than there is?” I asked, rubbing my big belly.
“Look, I’ve seen some women do some seriously bold shit to get a King to notice them.”
“Like?”
She thought for a moment. “There was this one girl who had a crush on Hawke. She got a massive tattoo of a hawk on her back as some kind of declaration of love.” She pointed her fork at me. “Now that is commitment.”
“What happened to her?”
“It got his attention and he married her.”
I choked on my water. “So it worked.”
She shrugged. “I suppose it did, although they’re divorced now. But that was nothing compared to this one girl, God, what was her name? Terry or Kerry, or something like that. Anyway, she pretended it was her birthday and threw a party just so she could invite Griffin. When he accepted the invite, she went all out. Spent a fortune. But he bailed on her at the last minute and never showed up. When she found out he was with another woman, she turned up at his house with thirty pounds of cake and threw it at his front door. Then she committed the cardinal sin and fucked with his bike. Poured sugar in the gas tank. If she wanted his attention, she got it.”
“Caleb’s ex-girlfriend kicked over his bike.”
“Ah, yes, Brandi. That happened not long after I arrived back in town. He was really pissed about that. You don’t fuck with their bikes. Just like you don’t fuck with their women.” She speared lettuce on her fork and took a bite. “But the ones who really get me are the women who flirt with your man right in front of you. Who make offers with their eyes or some kind of lewd body language. They can be blatant. Insistent.”
“Like Tiffani.”
She nodded. “Yes. Just like Tiffani.”
I told her about the encounter with Tiffani at Tully and Heidi’s wedding.
“That doesn’t surprise me. She’s been after him for as long as I can remember. He’s never shown her any interest, so she resorts to other things to get his attention.”
“I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or not.”
Indy put down her fork and folded her arms on the table. “Look, it takes a lot of trust and a lot of patience to be a queen to a King. Especially one with the last name of Calley.” She smiled and played with the crown pendant on a chain around her neck. “But you’ll learn. It’s not easy, but boy it is oh so worth it.”
Feeling better, I left Indy with a promise to catch up the following week. When I arrived home, Caleb was in the kitchen starting a pot of coffee. I went to him and put my arms around him, resting my cheek against his shoulder and enjoying the hardness of his body against mine as I ran my hands over his broad chest. His size and strength reminded me that I was with a King and I was safe. And in that moment I couldn’t have been more grateful for him. He turned around in my arms and slid a big hand along my jaw. He said nothing. But his eyes glittered into mine as he leaned down and kissed me. I broke off the kiss and took his hand in mine and led him to our bedroom where I spent the rest of the afternoon showing him just how grateful I was.
HONEY
Exactly four weeks before I was due, I was at home alone when there was a knock on the door. Surprise and disgust collided through me when I opened it and saw Charlie staring back at me.
“Hey,” he said with a sweet grin.
I raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed to forget the last time we spoke he called me a slut and I slammed the door in his face.
“What do you want, Charlie?”
He dragged his warm brown eyes up and down the length of me. “Wow! You look incredible.”
Unfortunately, so did he.
Not that I would ever, ever, admit that to him.
Lying, cheating douchebag.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
“No.”
“Please?”
I gripped the door tighter. “The last time I saw you, you called me a slu
t. The time before that, you were getting a blowjob from a girl who wasn’t me. So, no, Charlie, you can’t come in.”
At least he had the decency to look contrite.
“I made a mistake, Honey.”
“Yes, you did. The moment you decided to cheat on your girlfriend with me.”
“We’re done,” he said quickly. “Samira and I. We broke up. For good.”
I shook my head. “So, what? You come around here expecting me to welcome you back with open arms?”
Surely, he wasn’t that much of a narcissist.
“You’re having my baby,” he said.
“It’s not yours, Charlie. I’ve already explained that to you.”
“You’re eight months pregnant, right?” When I nodded, his eyes softened and pleaded with me. “We made love eight months ago.”
I sighed. “Sorry, to burst your bubble. But I had a period after our last sexual encounter. This isn’t your baby.”
“What are you talking about? We made love only a couple of days before we broke up.”
His overuse of the words made love made me want to choke. How had I ever had sex with such a—wait a minute, what was he saying? We didn’t have sex that week.
When Mrs. Lawrence, my neighbor in 7B, appeared in the stairwell, Charlie glanced over his shoulder, then back at me. His face took on a pleading expression. “Can I please come in?”
In the interest of not airing my dirty laundry throughout the entire apartment complex, I opened the door wider so he could step in. Closing it behind me, I leaned against it and ensured there was ample distance between us because I had no desire to be anywhere near him.
‘We made love the night of the car wreck,” he said.
Three nights before we broke up, we were traveling home together from the grocery store when someone T-boned us. Luckily, we all escaped the wreck unscathed, although I was pretty shaken up. When we’d come home, Charlie had given me a couple of pills to calm my nerves.
“Those pills made me sleepy,” I said. I couldn’t remember much more than that. “I remember taking them and then nothing.”
My blood ran cold. The next morning I’d woken up groggy, with no memory of the night before.
“What are you saying?” I asked, goosebumps creeping along my arms. My brain squeezed on itself as I tried to recall the night he was talking about, but there was nothing but a big black hole.
“You wanted me to comfort you. One thing led to another—”
“No . . .” I breathed.
“We made love.”
Alarm tingled in the base of my spine.
“This isn’t your baby,” I insisted.
He reached for my belly and slid his palm over the curve. It was an intimate, affectionate gesture. Tender. But Charlie made it feel slimy.
I moved away from him.
I felt sick.
Nauseated by the thought.
This was Caleb’s baby. Not his.
“How can you be so sure?” he asked. “You sleep with me on the Tuesday night, and then someone else on Friday night.”
The fear creeping up my spine made me defensive, and I thrust my hands onto my hips. “So we’re back to calling me a slut. Let’s not remember how I caught you getting a blowjob from your girlfriend, you two-timing douchebag!”
He came toward me and put his hands on my shoulders. His voice was smooth and velvety. Too tender to be authentic. Not from him. “That’s not what I mean. And I’m sorry that I said that. I was in shock when I called you that. I’d just found out you were pregnant and I didn’t know what to think.”
Again, I moved away from him, not wanting his hands on me.
“I remember you knowing exactly what you thought about it,” I said shakily. “You threw money at me and told me to get an abortion.”
He grimaced. He actually grimaced.
Well, there you go. I had never seen him do that before. Mr. Cool, Smooth, and Confident was capable of something other than his usual self-righteous arrogance.
He was starting to look like the old Charlie. The one I’d fallen in love with only a few months after we’d met. Before I knew what a douchebag he was.
I opened the door. “You need to leave.”
But he didn’t move. He just stared at me. The handsome man in the three-piece suit with the chocolate brown eyes and the full set of lips I’d pressed a thousand kisses to. The man who’d pursued me with such vigor I’d finally given in and agreed to date him even though I knew I was probably walking into hell. The man who’d lied to me for two fucking years. The man I no longer loved.
The man who was so completely opposite of Caleb.
“I’ll go. But you know it’s my baby.” He came toward the door and stopped. He looked down at me, his handsome face full of affection. “I think you and I need to try again. For the sake of our baby.”
I couldn’t believe his audacity.
But then again, he was arrogant enough to think that I would even consider it.
“Get. Out.”
He left and I quickly closed the door behind him and slid to the floor. My face crumpled with tears and I let out a strangled sob. Because he was right.
If what he said was true, then there was a very good chance this baby was his.
CALEB
I knew something was wrong the minute I walked in the door.
And by wrong, I didn’t mean crazy wrong like we’d experienced over the last few months.
I mean, fucking wrong.
Honey had been crying.
She was sitting on the couch, her face tear stained and pinched with emotion. She hugged her DO WHAT YOU LOVE EVERY DAY cushion to her chest. Scrunched up tissues lay scattered across the coffee table.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, a tingle of alarm starting in my chest.
Her chin quivered and she wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
I sat down next to her, and without a word I pulled her to me, holding her against my chest. I didn’t know what was wrong. But as I held her in my arms, she went limp and started to cry.
“Baby . . . speak to me,” I said gently.
She pulled away, and the agony on her face shoved my tingle of alarm into a full-blown panic.
She swallowed thickly as she struggled with the words.
“The baby . . .” she started to talk, but then her chin trembled, and her face broke again. Slowly, she regained her composure and delivered the words that changed my life in a calm and almost alien voice. “There is a good chance it’s Charlie’s.”
It took me a moment.
And then boom!
It hit me like a fucking car bomb.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She looked at me, her big, beautiful green eyes glittering like the ocean. “Charlie came to see me today.”
I bristled at the mention of his name.
“Apparently, we had sex only three days before you and I met.”
“Apparently? What, you don’t remember?” I didn’t mean for my voice to sound so sharp. But fuck.
With a shaky voice she explained to me about the night they were in a car accident and about the pills Charlie gave her to calm her nerves. And I swear to God, I saw red when she told me what he did afterwards. Clearly, he had taken advantage of her while she was out of it. My fingers trembled. She couldn’t even remember it.
“You and I used a condom. Lots of them,” I said, my throat thick. My breathing started to come quicker as my mind buzzed. I hated asking. But I needed to know if the odds were in my favor or his. “Did you use protection with him?”
When she didn’t answer, I pressed her. “Did you?”
She shook her head. “Not always. We were together two years . . . ”
I stood up. I felt punched in the chest. Heat traveled up my spine and across the back of my neck, and it became harder to breathe. There was a terrifying possibility my baby didn’t even exist. And that thought fucking killed me.
I closed my eyes against the thought. My
heart squeezed and rattled against my ribs. This was so fucking wrong. We were having a baby together and I was fucking in love with the idea of us being a family. Of holding my daughter in my arms. Of being a good father to her. Of all the milestones. The first steps. The first words. The first loose tooth to the first day of school.
Fuck.
I forced back the pain and opened my eyes. I gave Honey a reassuring but fake smile because Jesus Christ, it was hard to make those face muscles work. “We’ll work it out.”
“It will mean the end for us.”
“I’m not with you because you’re pregnant—”
“So you’ve been saying. I guess we’ll see . . .” Her words faded away as she turned her head and sank her teeth into her bottom lip. I wanted to stop those lips from trembling. But damn if I could stop the sudden whirring in my head.
“I’ll make an appointment for the doctor—”
She cut me off. “I already have.”
“For when?”
“Tomorrow at two pm.”
I had a full day booked at the studio, but I would reschedule it.
“I’ll pick you up at one thirty,” I said, taking her hand and lifting her to her feet. I pulled her to me, as close as I could while there was a big baby bump between us.
Which was fucking ironic.
Her bump was coming between us physically for now.
But was it about to come between us completely?
With two fingers I raised her trembling chin so I could look into her beautiful blue eyes. They were stormy with torment and wet with tears. Without a word, I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers. At first it was chaste, but when it came to Honey I couldn’t help myself. Her lips parted and I kissed her hard, my tongue drinking her in, my lips moving passionately over hers. She twisted her fists into my shirt and I felt her agony sweep through me. I pulled away, caressing her face with my thumbs.
“Whatever happens, what we have is real.”
Sadness washed over her beautiful face. She nodded but I knew she didn’t believe me.