Biker Baby (The Kings of Mayhem MC Book 3)

by Penny Dee

  Inside the car, Brandi started to cry.

  “I love you so much, but you simply cast me aside.” Her chin crumpled, but then she sucked in a deep breath through her teeth and a weird calm settled across her face. Her voice was low. Dangerous. “Tell me you love me.” When I didn’t say anything, she screamed it. “Tell me!”

  She had a gun. And she was in charge of the vehicle. So of course I fucking loved her. I would do or say anything she wanted.

  “Yes, I do. I do love you. Now will you please slow the fuck down.”

  For the briefest moment, her face softened and her eyes glanced at me pleadingly. But then her madness returned and they turned sharp and wild. “No, you’re just saying that!”

  I felt the tires slip beneath us with the increase in speed. I needed to reassure her.

  “Baby, please . . . I love you.”

  “Then why are you with her?” she cried, almost veering us off the road.

  I grabbed onto the seat again. “Because I thought she was pregnant with my baby.”

  “And because you love her and not me.”

  “No, that’s not true. If the time away from you has shown me one thing, it’s how much I . . . miss you.”

  She scoffed. My words had lost their affect on her because she had spiraled too far down the rabbit hole of craziness. I had to act. I had to end this now before she killed the both of us.

  I lunged for the gun on her lap. But she slammed on the brakes and the car spun wildly off the road, tires screeching, our world spinning in circles, around and around. When we came to a stop, we both sat stunned and breathless. Brandi slowly looked at me and I saw the light go out of her eyes and the madness shimmer across her face. With a wild, psychotic scream she slammed her foot down on the accelerator, and with a squeal of tires, drove us straight off the road and into a tree.

  HONEY

  As soon as they left, I called the police.

  And then I rang Cade.

  After hanging up with him I wanted to run to my car and speed off in the direction of Cavalry Hill. But the police insisted I stay where I was and wait for the deputy who was on his way. I paced the floor waiting for him, chewing my thumbnail down to the nail bed as I panicked, my head wild with thoughts of a crazed Brandi behind the wheel. When the deputy turned up five minutes later, I grew frustrated by the minutes we lost as I explained to him what’d happened. How Brandi had knocked on my door and insisted she needed to show me something. How that something ended up being a gun. How we’d sat at the table at her insistence and she’d demanded I stop seeing Caleb. That he loved her. That they belonged together. That I should be ashamed of myself for trapping him with a baby.

  “They’re heading to Cavalry Hill. Please, you have to stop them. She’s crazy.”

  “It’s okay, ma’am. The sheriff and another deputy are on their way. We’ll find them.”

  Panic was a violent wave crashing through me. Brandi was so unhinged it could already be too late.

  I rubbed my big belly. My daughter was restless and kept moving. This morning when I’d woken up, she seemed to have dropped lower and my belly appeared to be even bigger than it had been when I’d gone to bed the night before. After leaving Caleb in the studio, I’d come home and crawled into bed, absolutely exhausted from breaking up with the man I was in love with, and cried myself to sleep. The longing to be in Caleb’s big, strong arms was crushing, and now the idea of him being hurt by his psychopathic ex-girlfriend was too much to bear.

  I stopped pacing and sat down at the table, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.

  “Are you okay?” the deputy asked when I started to rub my lower back.

  Before I could answer him, his radio crackled and I recognized Sheriff Buckman’s voice as he requested assistance. “We’ve found them. But we’re going to need an ambulance.”

  Alarm shot up my spine.

  I tried to swallow, but my throat wouldn’t work.

  Seeing my panic, the deputy requested further information. “Can you confirm you have the suspect?”

  Again the radio crackled. “Both suspect and passenger are in need of medical assistance following a single vehicle accident.”

  I stood up so quick I saw stars. “Is he alive?”

  The deputy excused himself and stepped outside to speak to the sheriff while I tried desperately to control my madly beating heart. I took up pacing the floor again, chewing my poor thumbnail and rubbing my belly. When the deputy walked back in, he looked at me gravely.

  “There’s been an accident,” he said, and I watched his throat work as he swallowed with the hesitation of telling someone bad news. “Both passengers have been transported to the hospital.”

  “Please tell me he’s alive.”

  Again, another deep swallow. “I can’t tell you that. I’m sorry, miss, but that information isn’t clear.”

  I drove to the hospital with shaking hands, terrified. Panicked. I don’t even remember the drive. I was on autopilot.

  What had Brandi done?

  Was Caleb alive?

  By the time I got there, he was already in the ER. I wasn’t able to see him straight away. After being assessed, he was transferred from the ER to surgery.

  It was hell waiting for news. I paced the crowded waiting room where Caleb’s family and half of the MC also waited. No one seemed to know anything. No one knew the extent of his injuries or if he was conscious, and it was torture.

  “Maybe you should sit down,” Cade suggested, adjusting his baby son in his arms. We were standing with his mom and Bull, while seven of his club brothers filled the noisy plastic chairs that wheezed every time they moved their massive bodies in them.

  Thankfully, Indy was able to find out what was going on.

  “He’s going to be okay,” she said calmly, walking back into the room from visiting the ER. This was her world. Where she worked. “He has been X-rayed and has a couple of breaks in his ankle. He’s being prepped for surgery.”

  “Is he in any danger?” Ronnie asked, looking understandably rattled. Her youngest son had been driven into a tree by a crazed ex-girlfriend.

  “There is always danger with surgery. But as far as his injuries are concerned, no, he’s not in any danger.”

  A relief settled across the room.

  Indy walked over to us and took her son from her husband.

  “I was able to speak with him,” she said to me. “He’s groggy and in a lot of pain. But he asked for you. He wanted to know you were alright.”

  Affection and longing flared in my chest.

  “Can I see him?” I asked.

  Indy shook her head. “He’s already in surgery.”

  “He’s going to be okay,” Cade reassured me.

  “Maybe you should go home, get some rest,” Indy suggested, rocking her son in her arms. “I’m heading home to put this one to bed. I’ll give you a ride.”

  “No. I want to stay here. I want to be here when he comes out of surgery.”

  I felt my baby move and shift, and I rubbed my belly. She had been very active all morning, and in my fatigue she felt heavier, my pelvis fuller.

  “Is my grandbaby awake?” Ronnie asked, her tired eyes momentarily brightening.

  My heart dropped. It was going to disappoint Ronnie to the bone when she found out this wasn’t her grandbaby. And these people. What would they think when they found out?

  The truth was, I still didn’t have the paternity results back from Dr. Perry’s office. I’d told Brandi I did because I was terrified she was going to hurt someone. I lied to her, and I was so convincing even Caleb believed me. I’d seen the hurt on his face. Seen the disappointment momentarily replace his concern for the high-tense scene unfolding before us. And in that moment I knew, just knew, I’d done the right thing by breaking up with him. Because the look on his face and the emotion in his eyes told me just how gutted he was, and how he would always struggle with it. Over the years it would eat him up.

  I rubbed my lower ba
ck as a tightening spread through my abdomen. I let out a deep breath.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Ronnie asked.

  I nodded, sliding my hand beneath my round belly. Everything felt . . . tight. “I’m fine.”

  But Ronnie looked concerned. She looked at Indy. “Maybe Honey should see a doctor.”

  Indy’s big brown eyes studied me. “Are you having some tightening in the abdomen? Contractions?”

  “No. Well, tightening, yes, but contractions, no.”

  Indy put her hands on my big belly as a minor cramp tightened through me. “I think maybe we should get you into a room. It will be safer to get you checked out.”

  “I’m fine, honestly,” I replied. But one look from Ronnie and I knew I would be going to an ER room.

  Ten minutes later, I lay on a hospital bed with a doctor checking me out. After hooking me up to different monitors and doing a thorough check, he sat down on the chair next to me, flicking through a chart. He looked up and smiled kindly at me.

  “Braxton Hicks,” he said. “You’re not in labor.”

  “I’m not?” Relief spread through me.

  “No. You’re not.” He smiled reassuringly. “And everything looks good. I’m releasing you.”

  I nodded, relieved. The last thing I needed was to go into labor three weeks early. And definitely not when Caleb was in surgery following his ex-girlfriend’s death wish into a tree.

  “Is Caleb okay?” I asked the doctor. He was friends with Indy and knew exactly what was going on.

  He nodded. “He’ll be in a bit of pain, but he’ll be fine once they’ve set his ankle.”

  “And the girl he was with when the accident occurred?’

  He paused, unsure if he should share the information with me or not. Thankfully, he relaxed and took pity on me. “She came out of it rather unscathed. But she’s been admitted to psych. I’m not sure she was right in the head.”

  HONEY

  Four days later, Autumn drove me out to her family’s lake house. Caleb was recovering from two surgeries to his ankle and was in and out of consciousness. I’d spent hours at the hospital but I was only allowed to see him briefly, and even then he was so high on pain medication he didn’t even know I was there.

  I needed some time out. And the lake house was just what the doctor ordered.

  Literally.

  Yesterday, when I was visiting Caleb, my doctor ran into me in the corridor and told me to get some rest away from the hospital.

  When Autumn and I arrived at the lake, I knew he was right. The time out would do me a world of good. I needed to catch my breath. I needed to sit out on the magnificent veranda and watch the boats on the water. I needed to still my mind and suck in the heady scent of the trees fringing the waterline, and the smells of fall like smoke from chimneys and the crispness in the air.

  Winter was almost here, and the trees dotting the shore were a collage of red, gold, sienna, and burnt umber. In a few weeks, Christmas would be on our doorstep, and then a new year.

  A new year and a new start.

  “For someone only staying one night, this thing weighs a ton,” Autumn said, placing my suitcase on the double bed in the main bedroom of her parents’ large vacation home. Open planned and with sprawling timber floors and a high-pitched roof, it was the perfect place to take some time out and catch my breath.

  I followed her back out to the spacious living room.

  “I brought a couple of books with me. This kid is going to be here in less than a month and I have no idea what to do with her. Best I start learning.”

  With a yank, she parted the curtains and the vastness of the lake came into view. In the distance, storm clouds gathered over the bay.

  “Looks like there is a storm brewing.” She swung around and gave me a gentle look. “I must be crazy letting you stay out here by yourself. Not when you’re about to pop.”

  “My due date isn’t for another three weeks. And you know how much I need some time out.”

  She did. But she gave me a pointed look.

  “You have tonight to chill out and then I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” She pulled a Tupperware container from her oversized bag and gave it to me. “Here, Mom made your favorite. Spicy chicken tomato soup.”

  I grinned. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “I told her not to put too much cayenne pepper in because I didn’t want you going into labor early.”

  When I went to mention my due date again, she held up her hand and waved them around. “I know, I know, you’re not due for a while yet.”

  She dug into her bag.

  “And here, this is from Maverick.” She handed me a can with some kind of air horn on the end.

  “Maverick knows I’m here?” I asked, momentarily distracted from the weird object I was now holding.

  Autumn shrugged. “He was kind of inside me when you called.”

  As usual, TMI from my best friend. Although, it was nice hearing she was giving him a chance and seeing him again.

  “That’s waaaaay too much information,” I said, looking at the can in my hand. “What is it?”

  “It’s a bear horn.”

  I raised an eyebrow at my friend. “Maverick thinks I need protection from a grizzly bear at the lake?”

  “The noise . . . it’ll scare off potential threats. Animal or human.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the gesture.

  “Please thank him for me. He is very sweet.” I put the air horn on the table. “Oh, but let him know that if he tells Caleb where I am, I will cut him.”

  Autumn rolled her eyes at my lame threat, and then paused in the doorway. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

  I loved Autumn. She was the best friend every girl should have. Since day one she’d always had my back. But for right now, I just needed to be alone.

  “I’m sure. Now go. Don’t keep that Jason Momoa lookalike of yours waiting.”

  Autumn grinned and her eyes glazed over. “He’s such a beast.”

  She sighed dreamily and I had to shoo her out the door to actually get her to leave. After watching her pull away, I closed the door behind me and crossed the room to the big bay windows overlooking the lake.

  Finally, I was alone.

  Finally, I could breathe.

  Finally, I could work out what the fuck I was going to do from this moment on.

  I pulled a crumpled envelope from my pocket. It had arrived earlier that morning and contained the results of the paternity test. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d paid extra to put a rush on it.

  I looked out over the lake. This was it. After days of uncertainty I was about to find out the truth.

  With trembling fingers I ripped open the envelope, unfolded the letter, and began to read. And as the truth began to settle through me, I began to cry.

  CALEB

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Came the voice from the doorway.

  I looked up to see Cade walking into the room.

  “Trying to get the fuck out of bed! What the hell does it look like I’m doing?”

  One thing about breaking your ankle in two places, it was hell getting out of bed. Especially if that bed was a hospital bed so high up off the ground you were practically sitting in the ozone layer.

  Everything hurt. It had since the day of the accident. But that wasn’t going to stop me. After one operation and four days spent lying in the hospital, I was done. I knew what I needed to do, and no hellfire or brimstone was going to get in my way.

  Or two broken bones.

  “I have to get out of here,” I said to Cade who continued to watch me struggle. I glared at him. “Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me?”

  “Are the doctors releasing you?”

  “Fuck the doctors,” I said, trying to get my goddamn ankle off the bed since my asshole brother refused to help. A ball-searing pain shot up my leg as my booted foot hit the floor. “Fuuuuck!”

  “Why the fuck are you t
rying to leave?” Cade asked, taking pity on me and handing me my crutches.

  “Because I have a girl out there who thinks I don’t love her.”

  Sweat poured down my temples and I struggled to talk, because goddamn it, I was in so much fucking pain it was torture.

  “You’re putting yourself through this to go tell Honey you love her? Have you not heard of a phone?”

  “You’re so fucking funny, asshole.” Frustrated, I held up my cell phone. “It’s dead.”

  I tried to stand up, but the pain was almost unbearable.

  “Why the fuck are you in so much pain? I thought they put you on kick-ass medication.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t take them earlier.”

  Cade looked at me like I was crazy. And maybe I was. But I’d spent the last four days high on pain medication, hell, I was still a little high, and I didn’t want anything more in case it knocked me out. I had to find Honey and somehow get to her. And I didn’t want to be as high as a junkie when I asked her to marry me.

  “You’re fucking crazy, brother.” Cade helped me get stable with my crutches. My brother was a mountain of a human being, which was good, because I appeared to have no control over my legs.

  “I love her, man. I don’t care that the baby isn’t mine. I will be a good father to her.”

  “You know for sure it’s not yours?”

  “She got the results back the other day. Told me it wasn’t mine.”

  A familiar ache punched its way through my medicated haze.

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  My jaw clenched. At first I hadn’t been. I was gutted. My biological daughter was gone. Replaced by a child fathered by another man.

  But when my psychopathic ex-girlfriend drove us into a tree and almost killed us, it kind of put things into perspective.

  Well, that, and four days lying on my goddamn back with nothing to do but think while high on drugs and in excruciating pain.

  I was in love with Honey.

  And I wanted to be with her.

  “I will love that kid with everything I’ve got,” I said. “It doesn’t matter that it’s not mine.”