by Jessie Cooke
“Nicole, it’s Zack. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” It took her several seconds, but she finally stopped fighting him. That was when Zack really looked at her. She had a dark red spot about the size of a fist on the side of her face that would turn into an ugly bruise before the day was over, and purple finger marks marred the delicate skin of her neck. The rage boiled up from his gut and he remembered Liam again. “Where’s the baby?”
Gasping in between words she said, “Stacey has him. She took him back to my place. I need to get over there and make sure they’re okay. I don’t know if Spider sent people there too.”
“Where is Spider?” Zack’s voice was rough and the hands he was still holding Nicole with shook with the desire to be wrapped around the lowlife biker’s neck.
“He’s inside. He was unconscious when I left.” Zack felt the stirrings of a smile.
“You knocked him out?”
“Yes, I bit his tongue and broke his nose, I think.” She stepped away from him and said, “I have to go.”
Zack looked up toward the apartment. He wanted to go in there so badly and make sure Spider knew what it felt like to be as terrified as Nicole must have been, but there was no way he was letting her take off on her own. “I’ll take you.”
“I have my car.”
“And Spider knows what it looks like, and it’s hard to miss.” The little blue Honda had to be at least fifteen years old and most of the paint had been eaten off by the weather. The tires were bald and there was a dent in the left fender. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Zack saw the wheels turning in her head. She knew he was right.
“Okay, but we have to go now. If anything happens to Liam, or Stacey…”
Zack took her hand and let her over to the bike. He handed her the helmet hanging off the handlebars and climbed on the bike. A few seconds later her warm, pliable body was pressed into his back as he drove out of the lot. He chastised himself for the stirrings of an erection at a time like that, but damn, the chemistry between him and Nicole was the craziest thing he’d ever felt.
When he drove up in front of Nicole’s building she jumped off without even waiting for him to kill the engine. She was still wearing the helmet as she ran up to the apartment door and her long hair streamed out from underneath it. She slammed her fists and arms into the door and yelled for Stacey. Zack had almost caught up to her when Stacey pulled open the door.
“Are you okay? Where’s Liam?”
“I’m fine. He’s fine. He’s in the playpen in your room.” Stacey wasn’t finished with her sentence before Nicole was racing to get the baby. They both watched her go and then Stacey stepped back and told Zack, “Come in.”
He stepped into the little living room they had moved Nicole into a couple of weeks before. He’d thought it was an ugly little place and he hated leaving her and the baby there, but with her things in it, dark orange throw pillows on the brown couch, and healthy-looking green plants everywhere, the place looked warm and cozy. “Thank God you got to her,” Stacey said.
Zack smiled. “She left Spider unconscious on the floor. I didn’t even see him.”
Stacey laughed. “Good for her. How did she get away from the other one?”
Zack frowned. “The other one?”
“Yeah, big, ugly, greasy-looking guy named Vinnie. She had a gun pressed into his chest when I left. Spider’s gun, I think.” Zack shook his head. He was torn between smiling again at the fact that the beautiful woman had brass balls and the urge to jump back on his bike and go kill them both for touching her. He glanced toward the bedroom and Stacey said, “Hey, we were going to eat before those assholes scared my pizza boy away. I’m starving. Have you had lunch?”
Zack couldn’t remember the last time he ate. “No, but I’m not really hungry. You think she has any beer?”
“I’ll check. Have a seat.” Zack sat down on the couch as she went to get the beer out of the fridge. He was impressed by how calm she was after everything she’d been through. She handed him the beer and twisted the top off another one and took a long pull from the bottle before dropping down in the chair across from him. Maybe he’d underestimated how calm she was. “This blows,” she said. “I can’t go back to that apartment now, can I?”
“Probably not a great idea. Nicole won’t be able to stay here either.”
Stacey shook her head and sighed. “I have a friend that lives out in the country. She and her husband split up a while ago and she’s been looking for a roommate. I can stay there for a while. I’m not sure what Nick is going to do, though. As long as she’s in Memphis he’ll find her. I wish she would have shot him.” She took another drink of her beer and said, “Fuck. No, I don’t. If she’d shot him, she would have tortured herself over that. That’s the first thing she needs to do, stop blaming herself for making a lousy choice in men.”
“Agreed,” Zack said. “And the second thing she needs to do is let me take her somewhere that this asshole won’t find her.”
Nicole opened the bedroom door. She’d changed out of her black slacks and white button-up she wore for work, into a pair of cutoff jeans and a tank top. Once again, Zack’s cock did a little happy dance in the front of his jeans. Those long, tan legs of hers were the stuff wet dreams were made of, and he’d had plenty since the first time he saw her. He forced himself to stop looking at her legs, and then he realized that she had a backpack on and a diaper bag that looked like it was splitting at the seams in the arm opposite the one where she was holding the baby. Surprising Zack and her friend, Stacey, she said:
“You’re right. I need to get away from here. Can one of you give me a ride to the train station, please?”
4
Nicole cradled Liam in the papoose that was strapped across her chest and held onto Zack with her other hand. She knew people judged her for riding around on motorcycles with her baby, but she was used to being judged. She always tried to refuse to get on the bike with him when Spider was driving, but “tried” was the key word there. She rarely got away with refusing to do anything Spider wanted her to do. She barely knew Zack, but she felt oddly secure with him driving. He didn’t go over the speed limit, he took the turns cautiously, and every time he stopped he asked her how they were doing. He looked at Liam sometimes like he was a little alien and other times like he was in awe of him. It was cute and it only added to that overwhelming feeling of desire she had for him.
They were about five miles from her apartment when she realized they weren’t going in the direction of the train station. Zack pulled to a stop at a red light and she said, “Where are you taking us? This isn’t the way to the train.”
Zack didn’t answer her for a few minutes. He pulled the bike off the street and into the parking lot of a donut shop. He turned the motor off and said, “Where were you going to take the train?”
“I’m not sure. Just as far as I can get.”
“And then?”
“Find a motel, and a job…”
“What about Liam? Where are you going to leave him when you work? Don’t babies need a lot of stuff? When we moved you a couple weeks ago, one whole load was baby stuff.”
“I’ll figure it all out when I get there. You’ve been encouraging me to get away from Spider all along and suddenly you’re thinking of reasons why I shouldn’t?”
“No, I’m not saying you shouldn’t go. You need to get out of here. But…I have a better idea than some random city and a random motel. It’s not safe, especially for a woman and her baby.”
“You have a better idea about what I should do with my life?”
“I’m flying to Texas today. Go with me.”
“Texas? What’s in Texas?”
“It’s where I’m from.” He sighed and said, “I have some family stuff to take care of, but I still have a little house there. You and Liam can stay there and I can make sure you have everything you need for him. I can even help you find someone to take care of him when you find a job.”
“Why? I don’t und
erstand. Why do you want to do all of this for us?”
He chuckled. “I honestly don’t know. I’m a pretty self-centered person. I was raised by narcissistic sociopaths and unfortunately, some of it rubbed off. All I know is that since I met you, I can’t stop thinking about Spider knocking you upside the head and talking to you like you’re his dog instead of the mother of his child. It’s disgusting and it makes me want to kill him. Since I can’t do that for business reasons, the next best thing is making sure he can’t find you, or your son.”
Zack was looking at her over his shoulder. She knew that she shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions about people’s character since she was obviously so bad at it, but something in his light blue eyes seemed so sincere. He hadn’t made any moves on her or said anything inappropriate…he was completely unlike any biker she’d ever met and she wanted to trust him…she needed to trust him. He was right, being on the run with a six-month-old was going to be next to impossible. Liam deserved so much more than that.
“Okay, but just until I find a job and then I can do it on my own.”
Zack smiled. God, it should be illegal to be that hot, she thought. She was going to have to keep her hormones in check. No matter how hot he was, or how nice he was being, that kutte he was wearing and the bike he was sitting on represented everything she wanted to escape. “Good. I have to go to Clarksville and then we’ll head to the airport in Nashville.”
“Okay…Zack?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
He smiled again and winked at her, and then started the bike and headed for the on-ramp to the highway. She closed her eyes and said a little prayer to a God she wasn’t sure even loved her any longer, that she was making the right decision for her baby. She’d made so many mistakes, but Liam was her blank slate and his life was going to be a work of art, even if it killed her.
“You weren’t supposed to hit the road for another three weeks.” Stone was looking at Zack like he’d just told him that he was turning state’s evidence or something. It was a mixture of disappointment, sadness, and confusion. “You’re not considering going back to the Head Hunters and leaving us, are you?”
Zack smiled and shook his head. “Not just no way, Stone, but no fucking way. I wasn’t even planning on going to this memorial service. If you had told me weeks ago that my mother would be able to guilt me into anything after all these years, I would have said you were crazy. But, she claims that she needs me and since I’m really all she has in the world, I guess I should go see what I can do for her. I’m not due in Massachusetts for the meeting with Dax Marshall for couple of weeks so, if you can spare me in the meantime, I’ll take care of this family shit and carry on from there.”
“What about that girl and baby you got up in your room?”
Zack smiled. Sometimes he wondered if Stone had the place bugged and if maybe there were cameras in the rooms and the old fucker got off on watching as much as Zack did. That made him wish that there was something going on in his room with Nicole that was worth watching…and that made his dick twitch. “You don’t miss a thing, do you?”
“It’s my job not to.”
Zack nodded and said, “The world would be a better place if everyone did their job as well. I’m helping her get out of an abusive situation, but that piece of shit Spider has no idea I’m involved today. She knocked his ass out herself and threatened his brother with Spider’s gun. She’s a badass in her own right even though she doesn’t seem to know it.” Zack realized he had gotten off track and said, “Anyways, this won’t affect your alliance with the Defenders…although, I would still like to go on record as saying I think that idea is all bad.”
“It’s been noted,” Stone said with a grin of his own. “Alright, Zack. You know how fond I am of you and I trust you more than I trust just about anyone. I’ll get you some cash and have one of the prospects get you and the lady to the airport.” Zack stood up and put out his hand. Stone stood up and ignored Zack’s hand, embracing him instead. “Don’t do anything to get your stupid ass killed.”
Zack patted Stone on the back and pulled out of the embrace. With a grin, he said, “No chance. Everything is bigger in Texas, remember? Especially the love for Zack.”
A few hours later after dozing off on the plane, Zack woke up to the feel of warm flesh against his face. He smiled, thinking Nicole had finally given in to the desires for him that he knew she had. He opened his eyes to realize the warm flesh was a baby hand and while Nicole was as fully asleep as he had been, Liam was wide awake and exploring the stubble on Zack’s face.
Zack sat up straight and the baby’s hand fell away. The little guy immediately scrunched up his face and stuck out his bottom lip…it was even quivering. As he opened his mouth to scream, Zack said:
“Hey, little man, don’t do that. You’ll wake up Mom.” Zack stuck out his hand and the baby wrapped one of his around one of Zack’s thick fingers. That seemed to satisfy him for the moment. Zack and the baby stared at each other. Zack wondered if Liam was as wary of him as he was of the baby. He’d seen babies around the club over the years, and he’d pretended interest when he had to, but he’d never known one personally. “You got a sweet life, you know that, kid?” The baby gave him a crooked smile. Two little teeth showed through on his bottom gums as slobber ran out of the side of his mouth. “You don’t know how good you have it. You got the boobs all the time, whenever you want them. If you’re not eating out of them, you’re cuddled up into them.” Liam’s grin grew wider as if he knew exactly what Zack was talking about. “I have to work for it. They don’t let me just grab them whenever I want. Nope, when you’re my age, that could get you killed. You do it and they coo and say, Oh, he’s so cute.” Liam babbled something incoherently. “Right? I think I’m cute too. I mean let’s compare us, shall we? For one thing and I don’t mean any offense here, but you don’t have any hair. I guess you could count that fuzzy stuff up there if you were desperate, but your head kind of looks like a cantaloupe, kid.” Liam giggled and grabbed another one of Zack’s fingers with his other hand. “Then there’s the lack of teeth. People think you’re so cute because you have those two there on the bottom…I’ll bet you don’t even get smacked when you bite down on the boobies, do you?” Liam had a whole string of babbles in answer to that. “That’s what I thought. I have a whole mouthful of teeth, quite a nice set if you ask me. But, do they let me use them to bite? Rarely.”
“What are you teaching my son?” Nicole’s eyes were still closed, but she was smiling. Zack pulled away from Liam and sat up straighter. The baby immediately began to cry. “Aw, baby boy. It’s okay.” Proving Zack’s point, Nicole sat up straight and pulled the baby into her chest. Liam stopped fussing and peeked out from the protection of his mother’s beautiful breasts with one eye and smiled. Zack had to laugh. It was like the kid knew he was winning. Zack had rarely felt the sting of competition. If he wanted something or someone, he usually got it without a lot of effort. He had the feeling that Liam might just be his stiffest competition yet.
5
Zack saw the black SUV and wished that he had warned Nicole about his mother before they got to the house. He’d hoped that they wouldn’t have to deal with her until morning, but he should have known better. Mona had to be in charge…of everything. As soon as the Uber drove up out front, Mona burst through the front door and raced toward them. Nicole looked slightly disconcerted as she threw herself at Zack. Over her shoulder as she held onto him, he told Nicole, “This is my mother, Mona.” Taking her arms from his neck and holding her back so that he could see her face he said, “Hey, Mona. This is Nicole, and Liam.” Mona gave them both a confused and slightly annoyed look. She looked back at her son then and said:
“Is that your baby?”
“No.”
“Good,” she said, rudely ignoring Nicole completely. “I got you all stocked for groceries…I didn’t know you were bringing a guest.”
“We’ll be fine. Skeeter i
s bringing a bike out for me. If we need anything I can run to the store in town.”
“Well, I was only trying to help.”
Zack rolled his eyes and said, “And I appreciate it. We’ve just had a long day and the baby is fussy and tired…”
Mona looked at Nicole and Liam again as if she’d forgotten they were there. Liam reached his little fat arm toward her and smiled. She didn’t smile back. Zack wondered if that was what she’d been like when he was a baby or if she just didn’t care for Liam since he wasn’t hers. He decided he really didn’t care. She was a cold bitch, and he’d come to terms with that a long time ago. “Fine, I’ll leave you to it,” she said, looking back at Zack and raising an eyebrow. “You’re coming by the club tonight though, right?”
“No, Mona. I’ll be there in the morning.”
“Zachary, you told me your father was dead and then you left town. I have to beg you to come back and now that you’re here, you’re not going to even spend any time with me? I raised you better than that.”
“No, Mona,” he said, steering her toward her car. “You didn’t.” She pulled her arm away from him and with blue eyes blazing, she turned on her six-inch heel and marched toward the SUV. Her jeans were so tight that Zack had to wonder how she walked in them at all, and the leather vest she had on didn’t look like it had much more give than they did. He shook his head and not for the first time wondered what his life might have been like if he’d had “normal” parents. As she was pulling herself up into the car she said, “Zack, can I have one more word before I go?” He resisted rolling his eyes. He looked at Nicole and said, “Go ahead and get Liam inside. I’ll bring the bags.” She nodded but picked up her backpack and Liam’s diaper bag anyways before going inside. He watched her until she disappeared, wanting to follow her much more than he wanted to have any conversation with his mother. He sighed and finally went over to where Mona sat in the SUV with the door open. He’d barely gotten close enough to hear her when she said: