Split - Coffin Nails MC (Contemporary New Adult Erotic Dark Romance) (Sex & Mayhem Book 7)

by Merikan, Miss

  Asty spread her arms, looking up at him. “I know.”

  He zipped up his jacket over naked skin and dashed for the window. “You be good.” He gave her a quick kiss.

  Asty followed him. “What about the cello?”

  Hunter looked down, with one leg out of the window already. His eyes softened. “Will you keep it safe for me?”

  Asty nodded and leaned in for a last kiss, nuzzling him briefly before she pulled away. Her gaze swept over all the snow and she petted his shoulder. “Get down safe.”

  “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t meet your dad in the driveway.” Hunter winked at her and climbed down without much trouble.

  Asty waved at him and kept her eyes on his back for as long as he was visible. When he walked behind the house, she closed the window and slowly stepped away from it, looking around the room, which still smelled of yesterday’s candles. She noticed a black tangle of fabric on the chair where Dad had sat just moments ago, and her head felt light. It was a T-shirt, and it most definitely wasn’t hers.

  She took it in her hand and it rolled out, big enough to be a mini dress for her. It had a photo of the Cries of Decay at the front. It was a tour T-shirt from the concert after which they had first fucked. She turned it to look at the back, and yes, even the date was right.

  “That’s a nice souvenir,” she muttered, and she fondled the fabric. As she sat in the chair, her hands rolled to her face, almost of their own accord, and she buried her nose in the fragrant cotton. It smelled just like Hunter, and she curled up in the armchair, enjoying the faint contact. It would have been nice if he could have stayed for lunch.

  Phantom heat trickled down her back, and she pulled off her pajamas, only to replace them with the T-shirt, which reached all the way to her thighs. Hunter was such a big, strong guy. He beat up Ray because of her. Just wearing his clothes was making her all giddy on the inside. She eventually covered the cello with fabric, for protection, and rolled into bed in what would surely become her new favorite nightgown.

  “Hey, Hunter, do you know what you left behind?” she whispered as she typed on her phone. She attached a photo of herself in the T-shirt and sent it to him, rolling into the blanket that they slept under.

  The answer came within seconds.

  “You.”

  Asty

  Fire crackled in the bonfire in front of Asty, and as midnight of New Year’s Eve approached, people gathered around were sharing their plans for the next year. A lot of the younger crowd chose to be out here in the backyard of the clubhouse where Beast’s shed used to be not so long ago. Despite the cold, everyone huddled up in jackets and tried to soak up the heat of the flames as they drank beer and cooked sausages over the fire, since no one thought about buying s’mores ingredients before the stores closed earlier that day.

  She glanced over the orange flames to look at Hunter, who talked lively with one of the male hangarounds. In the trembling air, his hair seemed to dance with color where it fell from underneath the black hood he wore, but she tried to be conspicuous about her attention and transferred her gaze to Prince, who reluctantly followed a barked order from Ray, off to get even more wood when everyone else was having fun. She didn’t fully accept this kind of dynamic, despite both Dad and Hunter explaining it to her. Even if Prince was still trying to get his patches, it was no reason to shout at him or refrain from doing any work yourself, especially since he was a nice guy at the core. She could see why Dad considered him a good choice for her out of all his men.

  The fire radiated a warmth she really needed despite wearing a full-length coat and a long skirt underneath. Contrary to popular belief, it retained heat much better than pants. But even with the fur around her neck and the gloves, her face remained bare and grew numb from the freezing cold on the way to the bonfire.

  When she looked back from Prince, Ray’s gaze burned her so badly that she frantically turned to Jewel, who hung out next to her, roasting a sausage. Asty tried especially hard to look good for this party, even though she ended up not wearing a corset due to the pregnancy, as it would only make her tire faster and possibly put the fetus in danger. She still went for the goth countess look, with a wide skirt and slim waistline, and she never thought it would be that bastard’s thing, considering which girls he chased at parties.

  “How about you, Jewel? Any plans for next year?”

  Jewel looked at the fire with a smile. “I’m not sure yet. I’m starting a cleanse tomorrow. I was thinking about doing a bartender course, or something. Priest said he’d put up half the money if I can save up the other half myself.”

  Asty barely kept from scowling. Oh, God. Was Dad fucking Jewel? Mom only died three months ago, and he’d go for possibly the dumbest of all the hangarounds? She cleared her throat. “Oh? That’s nice of him. He must like you ...”

  Jewel’s smile widened. “You’re lucky to have a dad like him. He’s so thoughtful.”

  Asty nodded, anger bubbling up inside her. “You two have been spending time together?”

  “Duh, he’s the prez, and I hang out here all the time.”

  “But, you know, in private.”

  Jewel laughed. “Oh, no, honey. It’s not like that. We’re just good buds.”

  Dad never had female “buds” and did not believe in the existence of friendships between men and women. Asty smirked. “Relax. I know he’s lonely and needs some female companionship,” she said, cringing on the inside. If he did need some companionship, it wasn’t Jewel’s, especially after his attempts to police Asty’s sex life. And on top of that, Jewel was only a year older than Asty herself!

  Not aware of Asty’s thoughts, Jewel took a large bite of the sausage and then kept it between her teeth, blowing air on the piece of meat. Asty didn’t want to know anything about her relationship with Dad. But then, Jewel dropped a bomb that made Asty forget all about her father’s secret affair.

  “So, do you have any plans for next year? Apart from … you know, the baby?”

  “Oh, he told you?” Asty muttered, taken aback. Her skin broke out in goose bumps underneath the warm coat when she realized she couldn’t have been the only one to hear it.

  Jewel stopped chewing. “Oh, my God. I didn’t know it was a secret. I’m so sorry!”

  “I assume everyone knows now,” said Astaroth and stuffed her fingers into her pockets.

  A voice she wasn’t expecting so close made her cringe. Ray. “You’re pregnant?” He must have slid to the bench next to her when she was turned toward Jewel.

  “That’s none of your business,” Asty said without looking back at him, even though her back felt frozen stiff. Holy fuck, why did he have to be there? She quickly came up with something to talk about, just to ignore him. “So, that bartending course? Do you want to work here or find a job in town?”

  Jewel looked between her and Ray in confusion, but then went on about the course. Asty could barely listen and nod when she noticed Ray and Hunter murder each other with their gazes. It was a romantic fantasy to have two guys fight over you, but this wasn’t fun at all. Not when it happened in real life. Hunter could get hurt, or Ray could spill the beans about Halloween to everyone and make her look bad. Asty believed she had the right to have sex however she wanted, but she knew most people didn’t think that way, no matter what they declared in abstract terms. She didn’t want to be put in a position where she would have to defend herself.

  “I want to get a job in a good department store where I can actually have a career path, not just stay in the same position on the same paycheck as I do now,” said yet another girl, and it was a relief that the topic of Asty’s pregnancy didn’t dominate the bonfire. Maybe everyone noticed how uncomfortable she was with it.

  “I want to get a place nearby,” Hunter said and glanced at her. “So I can have some privacy for whatever comes.”

  Asty held his gaze, and her heart jumped at the thought that he was most likely talking about her and the baby. He was really serious about this.
He didn’t try to run or suggest an abortion, which she would have understood. She essentially tricked him into getting her pregnant, and yet he was still willing to give this relationship a shot. He really would be the perfect father for little Beelzebub once she was gone. And yet, the notion of leaving the two of them behind made her so unbelievably sad, she had to look away. With the conversation developing around all the items on yearly bucket lists, she stepped back into the darkness, eager for a bit of peace to collect her thoughts. No one warned her that the last few months of her life would only get more stressful as time passed. And she had been thinking that getting fucked by an anonymous stranger would be the hardest part of this process.

  She needed to hitch up the front of her coat and skirt to walk comfortably in the deep snow behind the buildings. Normally, grass and weeds covered this part of club-owned land, and asphalt roads used for racing and testing out equipment crisscrossed the area, but at this time of year, it was nothing but thick white mounds that creaked under her feet. The few trees that grew there were completely bare, except for a white layer that would have transformed them into something out of a gothic picture book if it weren’t for the naked brick skeleton of a new building the Nails had started working on in the fall. The work had stopped halfway through the second floor, and the whole thing now looked as dead as an abandoned church, albeit with less soul.

  When Asty heard footsteps behind her, she looked over her shoulder, thinking it could be Hunter and they’d steal some time for just the two of them, but the moment she recognized Ray’s tall frame, she started moving faster.

  “How far along are you?” he asked, following her at the same pace.

  Asty cursed beneath her breath and wondered whether she could just change direction and walk around him somehow, back to all the people gathered for the party. Her temples pulsed, and her legs became heavy. “A month. Stop following me!”

  “You sure it’s not two months?” Ray sped up, and she wished he could just disappear, go back to his old club, and never come here again. “Bitch, I’m talking to you.”

  “It’s a month. Fuck off,” she said and grabbed the fronts of her coat and skirt, rushing forward to the building. Something told her he would not let her just run back, so maybe she could at least confuse him near the unfinished structure and rush to the clubhouse. Her heart thudded at double the usual speed as she hopped through the thick snow despite her ankles protesting in the big platform boots. All she could see was the dimmed white of the snow and the dark form of the house ahead.

  Just as she reached the bare brick wall, Ray grabbed her arm and shook her so hard it got her head spinning a bit. “You sayin’ you slut around with no rubbers all the time?”

  Asty pushed back at him, but he just stayed in place, like a rock. “Let me go. I don’t want to talk to you,” she uttered, but the fact he dared to manhandle her, the daughter of the club president, made her gasp in fear. With the moon shining from above, Ray’s face was obscured by shadows as he leaned over her, and not being able to read him made her even more frantic on the inside.

  “Do I look like I care? If this is some stint to get me in trouble or paying child support, you’re gonna regret it.” Ray swung her back and forth again and pushed her against the cold wall, towering over her.

  She took a deep breath, trying to be calm. She needed to take him by surprise, and for this, she needed to get his attention on her words. Her muscles were stiff where he touched her, and she exhaled some steam into the cold. “It has nothing to do with you. It’s been a month.”

  Before she could go through with her plan of kicking him in the nuts and running, Ray was hauled back, and Hunter shoved him away with a hiss.

  “The fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Hunter said but looked at Asty, and she could sense the question without him asking. He was trying to work out if she invited Ray’s attention, and it stung her more than she could have imagined.

  “He followed me,” she offered weakly, leaning back against the wall as relief coursed through her body.

  Ray spat into the snow and rustled his short hair, stepping uncomfortably close to Hunter, as if wanting to prove who was an inch taller. “She’s pregnant, haven’t you heard?”

  At least Hunter didn’t doubt her words, and pushed Ray’s chest again. “I know she’s fucking pregnant, I’m the father, so fuck off. You follow her again, and I’ll fucking kill you!”

  Ray stepped back and released a sharp laugh. “Really? You can’t kill for shit, choirboy. How far along is she?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  Ray’s mouth spread into an unpleasant smile. “It’s two months, isn’t it? The bitch wanted this, that’s why she had us without rubbers. And what? You’re in love with her now, or something?” he mocked, and Asty’s heart sank.

  “Just shut the hell up!” she yelled into the night, balling her hands into fists

  “I’m in love with her for a thousand other reasons, you cunt! But the fuck could you know about that? And now that you know it’s mine, you can fuck off. There won’t be any paternity testing.” Hunter grabbed the front of Ray’s jacket and shook him. “Or do you want to lose more teeth than you already have?”

  Asty pressed her back harder against the cold wall, as blood drummed in her lips and made her face hot against the freezing cold. She watched Hunter’s broad back as it rose and fell, and his words echoed through her mind like a boomerang that got stuck in there and refused to go back where it came from. Hunter was in love with her? No one was ever interested enough in her to ever say that, or fight for her. She wanted to say something when Ray suddenly charged at Hunter, delivering a surprisingly sharp blow to the center of his chest. Hunter folded and stepped back, and she screamed out.

  Ray shook his head as his gaze alternated between them. “That’s fucking typical. You finally found a slut to save, your mom would be so fucking proud. And that kid? It’s not yours. I fucked her first, remember?” He walked up closer and leaned down to look into Hunter’s face. “I pushed her to the floor and fucked her dirty cunt. Before you did.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” hissed Asty, though humiliation snaked its way up her body and settled in her stomach as the held on to Hunter’s back, trying to steady him.

  “Don’t you fucking dare talk that way about her!” Hunter pulled away from Asty and charged at Ray, grabbing him at the waist and throwing him down to the snow.

  The white dust flew into the air as they rolled on the ground, wrestling and throwing punches, too quickly for Asty to intervene and try to somehow pull them apart. “Ray, go fuck yourself,” she finally shouted. “Go now, or I’ll call everyone over. I bet Tooth would love to have some fun with you again!”

  Hunter spat at Ray and got up, somewhat wobbly. “Did you not hear her? Fuck. Off.”

  Ray grumbled as he got to his feet as well, both of them covered in snow and heaving steam. “I can’t wait to see you regret all of this,” he said in a low, menacing tone and turned around without waiting for an answer.

  Hunter was taking deep breaths and shaking off the snow when Asty grabbed his shoulders, trying to see any bruises or blood that could have resulted from the fight. “Are you okay?” she uttered, only now realizing how bad this could have been if Hunter hadn’t come for her.

  “I’m fine,” he said despite not sounding fine at all. He watched Ray go back toward the buildings and only turned to Asty later. “If I see you around him again, I will fucking kill him. If you don’t want me to go to prison, you better scream if he even dares approach you. Do you understand me? He’s vile and dangerous. You cannot handle him.”

  Asty nodded wordlessly and cradled his face in her palms, petting his cold cheeks. She couldn’t imagine how hard this was for him, and yet he stood by her despite just having listened to the horrible things Ray had said. “I will, I promise.”

  He touched her hands and she noticed dark stains on his knuckles. “When will you tell everyone I’m the father?”


  Asty stiffened and kissed the front of his chest, still filled with adrenaline from the confrontation. “You heard my father. He’s furious. I don’t want him to hurt you.”

  Hunter sighed and pulled her into a tight hug. “We can’t stay like this forever …”

  She shuddered and slid her arms around his waist, pushing against his powerful form. “I know. I’m working on him every day, but he’s so stubborn. I don’t want him thinking you coerced me into this.”

  Even through all the clothes, she could sense Hunter’s rapid heartbeat. He was silent for a few moments, looking somewhere far away above her head before finally glancing at Asty again. “I’ll wait. But I don’t want you to think that this sneaking around is fine with me. If it’s what it takes, I’ll wait. I just wish the whole world could know you’re mine.”

  Words were stuck in Asty’s mouth as she looked at him, completely out of her depth. “Me too. I want everyone to know, and so I was thinking ... maybe once he’s less angry about it, we could just tell him we got together when I was already pregnant. This would make you look like the good guy, too.”

  Hunter was silent for a moment that felt like forever. “If that’s what it takes. But you have to give me something as well.”

  Asty stepped back to look into his face, which looked like marble in the cool moonlight. “What is it?”

  “I want you to go with me to my family reunion in March. I want everyone to see how great I’m doing. What an amazing girlfriend I have.” Hunter watched her, oblivious of a trickle of blood that dripped from his nose.

  Asty exhaled, and her mouth spread into a smile. “Of course. Of course, I’ll go with you. I want to get to know them, too. That’s where you came from,” she said and quickly pulled out a tissue, which she brushed over Hunter’s upper lip, gathering the blood.

  “I’ll wait then.” He ran his fingers through a strand of hair hanging out of her hood, and the softness in his eyes confirmed the truth behind his earlier words.