by V. Theia
They came together like a tornado trying to save the world. Yeah, Butcher remembered that night very well. It was the turning point of him not giving a fuck if he got himself killed for her because he wanted her so much. It was the night they’d fucked for hours in their motel room and she’d whispered a goodbye to his lips.
“I saw her the day after. I heard some talk about her at a rally down south about two years ago. You know how bikers like to gossip at rallies, especially about women they’ve had, hers was a popular name. I thought if I saw her, and she was all fucked up, it would make sense, you know?”
He had a feeling where this was going. His insides hurt for his girl carrying this around with her all this time.
“I needed a reason, Tad. I didn’t want her to be my mom, that wasn’t it.”
“I get it, baby.” He said with understanding.
“She works in a dive bar in Delaware. She’s still hanging around MC’s.” when Roux paused and played with his abs, he prompted her. “You talked to her?”
“Oh, yeah. I don’t know why I thought she’d recognize me. I stayed at the bar watching her flirting with every biker that came in. Sitting on their laps, shoving her tits in their faces. Being a typical sweet bottom. The moment their prez came in she abandoned everyone else to glue herself to his face. She’s still trying to fuck her way to the top. Anyway, I waited until she came back to the bar, and asked a few general questions. She was civil and far as I could tell she wasn’t fucked up in any way. Not a junkie, just a skank who dumped her kid so she could live the high life. I guess I should be grateful she didn’t get another family.”
He’d strangle that fucking bitch if he could for putting that sad sound in Roux’s voice.
Butcher couldn’t take it; he leaned in and took her lips. He made the kiss slow and soft. When he pulled back he ran his nose over hers. “You, Roux Tucker, are the best thing this world ever produced, you hearing me? You are the best of her, the only good she will ever do in her empty life and it’s her fucking lost she misses out on you. It’s no reflection on you, baby. You were born so I could love you.”
She smiled, touching the scruff on his chin which he couldn’t be assed to shave off when he showered, she liked it anyway.
“What if you love the baby more than me?” Her exhale nearly blew him down. “I know it’s stupid. Selfish. But I only just got you all to myself.”
“Roux.” he took her face in his hands and smashed a kiss on her soft lips. “Fucks sake, woman. Our love made a kid, do you get that? My cannon cock and your perfect fucking pussy made a kid when we weren’t trying, and you were taking the pill. What does that tell you?”
A watery laugh passed through her lips and Butcher had to kiss her again.
Who the fuck could he love more than her?
He wanted his kid. Loved the baby already and would try to be the best dad, one like his own old man, but the love for Roux was unparalleled.
It was different to anyone else.
“I don’t want to lose you.”
Goddamn, she killed him and thrilled him all at the same time.
His badass woman had soft parts he was discovering, and he couldn’t deny how much he loved that he was the man to see them.
He’d loved her for hundreds of days already and intended to love her for thousands more to come. It was a possessive pride that split him wide open and wound a fist around his beating heart.
“You have me, Roux. You have me. And you’re mine, no backing out now.”
She snorted. “As if.”
“So, stop being an idiot.”
“You promise?”
“You have my word as a certified Roux-aholic.”
Oh, she liked that because her fingers caught in his hair and she took a kiss this time, he fell in and moaned her name.
“I think I’ll be a shitty mom. I won’t know what to do. Probably fuck them up so they hate me when they grow up.”
Longing punched through him.
He wanted their baby. Their family.
“Look at you,” she said, pushing her fingers in his hair, she brought their faces together, half climbed in his lap. “You’ve been so patient, not telling me what you think, but I can see it in your eyes. You can say it, baby.”
“I meant what I said, it’s your decision. I’m here whatever you want.”
“You’re a big softie aren’t you? Maybe we should change your Butcher monocle to teddy bear.” She teased. “I’m not my mother.” She announced and her voice became firmer, more the Roux he knew. Butcher started to grin. “Fuck her. I have something she never did and that’s you. Someone who loves me the way you do. When I screw up, you’ll be there to make it right.”
Butcher laughed and pushed their foreheads together. “Eh, Cookie, you’re forgetting I know fuck all about kids either. Can we screw them up together? Go big or go home is what I say.”
“Now say it.”
He didn’t hesitate. “I want our baby.”
“I do too.”
Relief stole his breath and he hauled her over his lap until she buried her face in his neck. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”
“But not sorry about my cannon dick knocking you up,” he smirked and then grunted when she punched his chest.
Perfect, he thought, putting his hand over her flat belly.
Telling the tiny savage inside hello from his Pops.
THIRTY-SIX
“Tucker versus Ruiz.” - Roux
Roux was never going to pull off looking like a princess.
Her half shaved head with her poker straight black ponytail. Tattoos, piercings, metallic blue lips and attitude was the opposite of any prima donna she could ever pretend to be.
And she never wanted to be someone she wasn’t.
She dressed for the occasion though.
A red dress tight as sin clung to her thighs and curved her butt. Long sleeves and low neckline. It was a dress any bitch would love to wear to a grand affair. She’d teamed it with her scuffed boots and wore all her silver piercings.
She was out to get noticed.
A fact of which both of her favorite men noticed before they’d left to head to Boulder.
“What the hell, Cookie.” Tad exclaimed, his eyes both fury and arousal as he skimmed them over her in a perusal so slow she felt eye-fucked.
“Absolutely not. Go fucking change right now.” Axel said in his dad voice, his arms crossed for good measure.
Roux laughed and ignored them both to grab water from the fridge.
“It’s funny that you finally agree on something.”
“She looks hot. She doesn’t have to change if she doesn’t want to.” Tad changed lanes just to argue with Axel.
These two, she swore they were going to bicker for the rest of forever.
It was nice though. At least they weren’t pulling out guns.
“Thank you both for your unsolicited opinions. When I want fashion advice I’ll ask Poppy. Now if you’ve both stopped scowling, how about we leave so we can get this over with.”
A lot of grumbles from both men but they finally got out of the house and on the road.
Pregnant with a badass biker baby. Now she was sitting at what was the most dangerous table of her gambling life, playing with half a million of someone else’s money.
Good going, Roux.
She never did shit easy.
Of course, she didn’t.
She’d fallen in love with a forbidden man. Now that man was standing in the background with his arms folded watching her. Everything worked out okay there.
This would too.
Verónica Garcia Ruiz was in attendance with a new bodyguard. Roux felt sick for a moment remembering the other guy but soon put her game face on.
She knew several of the men around the table by reputation alone. They were the type of gamblers you wouldn’t want coming to a family dinner.
If Verónica thought she was intimidating Roux with her big bruiser, then she’s sadly mi
staken. Roux had two of her own. They’re giving her the space to do what she needs to. But there’s no doubt in her mind Axel and Tad would shoot the place up if even the slightest thing upset her.
Comforted by their presence, but the calm she always felt when she’s gambling came over her. She smiled when Tad placed a hand on the nape of her neck before putting an unopened bottle of soda in front of her. She knew he wouldn’t go far.
A lot of money was already in the middle of the illegal card table.
More was added in the next hour.
Five of the high rollers fell out.
There’s a high from winning and also from losing. The adrenaline coursed through Roux’s veins even though the risks were elevated.
She didn’t want to be here. It was possibly the first card game she was already bored with. Roux trusted that Tad took care of the picture with his hacker, she didn’t need to be here doing Verónica’s bidding. The other woman thought she had Roux over a barrel. She was young, not dim-witted. This card game was to show her you don’t fuck with a Tucker.
“You sure?” Her dad had asked for the tenth time before they entered the small makeshift casino behind a restaurant. She’d told him yes.
Ruiz owned it. Or rather, her cartel husband did.
Verónica was trying to shaft her own hubby by having Roux play his tables and win more than the money she’d put up.
Sneaky bitch.
Any other time Roux would have been impressed. But not when she was blackmailed into being here.
She was all for women solidarity, she’d signed a petition once for equal pay from some chick on the street. But Roux didn’t care if Verónica had a bad homelife and needed the cash to run away. Her give a fucks ended the moment the older woman had taken a photo in order to use it as collateral.
Roux could be petty as fuck as well as all the Tucker’s before her.
The games went on.
Became more intense.
Those who dropped out stayed behind to watch the pot become fatter.
They spoke in hushed Spanish, smoking cigarettes, gulping whiskey.
Roux would kill for a beer and she only realized beers were out for the time being.
While she waited for the woman across from her to place her bet, Roux put her hand to her stomach. Smiling on the inside. Yeah, she didn’t mind so much not having beer.
With eyes on the table, her fingers over her cards, she heard feet shuffling a few feet behind her. Roux knew without looking that it was Tad. He was pacing like a caged tiger waiting for release. He hadn’t wanted her to come, he wanted her home wrapped in cotton behind their front door. She loved him all the more that he supported her decisions.
They’d be home soon enough.
Sooner still if the man striding inside the building had anything to do with it.
Julio Ruiz wore a dark blue blazer, white shirt cuffs peeking out with a silver pinky ring on his left hand and a gold Rolex at his wrist. His muddy hair was disordered on his head as if he’d dragged his hands through the strands. He had eyes for no one there other than his wife.
Verónica reacted and though Roux’s eyes were on the game, she noticed everything. The sharp hiss as Ruiz grabbed his wife’s arm and leaned in to whisper. It was then Roux lifted her eyes and met Verónica’s. Ohh, if looks could kill.
Roux then played her last hand and threw every last chip into the pot.
There was a collective gasp. The stake was up to two million.
And Roux was cool as a fucking cucumber in winter when she laid her cards down.
And lost.
She’d lost the whole lot.
Verónica’s face was a picture. Roux would have pawned her last pair of leather boots so she could whip out her phone to snap a photo to laugh over later.
She got to her feet and smiled to the woman opposite who was now richer than when she walked in. “Good game.”
“You too.” The dark haired beauty returned and went to collect what she was owed. Thank god for bank transfers.
Roux then looked over at a furious Verónica. “Shit happens. Told you I don’t cheat. I do lose sometimes though, so bad luck and all that.”
“You bitch,” Verónica hissed and Roux smiled. “Oh, honey.” She stretched the word as condescendingly as she could, “if only you knew.”
Axel exchanged a chin lift of unfriendly recognition with the male Ruiz, who was looking fit to exhale fire. He spat out rapid Spanish to his wife, looking chastised before she stormed off in front of him. Ass sashaying like Jessica Rabbit.
A hand she’d recognize in a line-up of thousands curled around her neck before Tad came into her eyeline. “Time to go, Cookie.” His voice was both like sandpaper and liquid desire. She grasped onto his fingers and smiled up at him.
“Lead the way, handsome.”
Her dad took her other shoulder and she realized what a lucky girl she was to have them both. “You did great, kiddo.”
“Thank yo—”
“But for the love of my sanity, you think you can stay away from the tables for a while?”
Hmph. So much for his praise. Did he realize what skill it took to actually lose like that?
“Yes, she will.” The man of her dirty dreams answered for her and Roux scowled at him, giving her own reply. “We’ll see.” She’d already decided to give it a break, but it didn’t do well for them to think they were bossing her around.
She was in charge of this family, and they’d have to learn that damn fast.
Axel took off for his bike when he was outside leaving her in the arms of a man who felt like fire when he dropped his head.
Lips met in the middle.
“To my club?” He asked against her mouth and Roux nodded, a little dazed with his taste. It was only when he helped her into the truck that he grinned at her and took her hand, laying it on his thigh. “My smart Cookie. Swear to god, you didn’t even pop a sweat.”
“Whereas you were pacing like a frantic papa.” She grinned. “It wasn’t my first rodeo.”
“Fucks sake, you were playing with a cartel bitch’s money.” He sounded so proud of her that she felt sixty feet tall.
“I wasn’t letting that bitch win. If she’d approached me with a genuine business offer, I would have won money for her…for a price. But fuck her. I hope he cuts her allowance or whatever a pampered wife gets.”
Fuck her. Roux had played a ruse from the moment she knew she’d have to sit at a high stake table for the blackmailing bitch.
No one gets anything over a Tucker.
Not when she can play better than anyone else.
They pulled up to the Souls compound.
“Looking for my old lady?” Asked Grinder as he strode out of the entryway as they got there. He had a half grin on his beard face.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“She’s inside.” He slapped hands with Tad. Roux left them there and headed in. She found the Latina woman sitting at the bar talking to Jed, who she liked a lot. He slid her a beer and she smiled at him, hopping up on the stool.
She had a long black ponytail much like Roux’s, only she wore hers with a blue bandana holding her hair from her face. Wearing a black zipper playsuit with a glint of diamonds on her hand and ears.
The women have had several conversations since Roux became official with Tad. The woman in front of her was loud, moody, she swore a lot in Spanish, usually at her husband who got off on it. Roux liked Luxe from day one.
“You check your account?” She asked, sipping on a clear drink.
It was the first thing Roux had done on the drive home. The money Luxe had won at the card game was now in Roux’s account, minus her share. The two women lifted their drinks and clinked. “Nice doing crime with you, Roux.”
“Same.” She put the beer bottle down without drinking.
“Not drinking? The guys will want to celebrate.”
“Wish I could, but I’m pregnant.” Roux said, not sure why she shared their secret
with Luxe, but it felt good to say those words.
“Yeah?” Luxe smiled. “Me too. Congrats.”
“You too.”
There was going to be a few biker kids born at the same time, she realized. Little gang in the making.
It was then a hand slid down her back from behind and a mouth so sinful she shivered appeared at her neck. He kissed her a few times. “Hey, Luxe.” He greeted, then accepted the beer bottle Roux offered him. “You wanna hang here a while, baby, or go home?”
She wasn’t all the way comfortable being at his club, but this was part of their compromise. “We can stay.”
Her phone started to blow up and she laughed out loud reading the reams of messages. “Who is it?”
“The boys sending their congratulations.”
“Little badass ripping off the cartel.” He smirked with pride and kissed her lips. “You need to eat.”
She did, but what she wanted more was time with her man. She told him that and he all but carried her over to one of the sofas, plonking down, he took her onto his lap.
Almost as though he was in her skin with her and knew what she needed, he cupped her cheek and brought her face forward.
It wasn’t rushed and frantic when his lips took hers and the storm of his kiss caused a sweep of air to leave her lungs.
His taste sank deep into her bones, his heat and embrace as familiar as her own. He kissed the fuck out of her in slow sips.
Hard and fierce. Possessive and loving.
They hung out with his boys for a few hours then headed out to go home, both silently agreeing they wanted to be alone.
Roux was richer then she’d been this morning, but her intention was never to keep the money if the card game went as she’d planned it to.
“I’m proud of you, baby, but couldn’t give a shit what you do with the cash. I got plenty enough for the both of us.” Tad had told her when she’d shared with him how she wanted to give it to Axel to invest in the MC. What with his deal with Ruiz going south and some of the boys still in jail, the Diablos were close to breaking point and she couldn’t see that happening.
She had plans to go to Manhattan soon, hit the gambling there. The Bianchi organization ran a big table, she’d caught sight of the man himself milling around the underground basement on the night of Tag’s fight. There were always secretive games going on and her luck was high right now, she wanted to capitalize on it before the baby came.