HITMAN’S SURPRISE BABY

by Kathryn Thomas

  An idea smacks me over the head as I look towards the workbench. I try to compose myself as I stand up fully again. Dig takes a step backward in caution. His hand readies at his side where his gun is holstered.

  I lower my voice as I reply, “If I’m yours… If I let you take me, you’ll protect me? Let me run the women in the club?”

  “Yeah, baby. If that’s what you want. I can’t say that I’ll protect you from myself though. I do love it rough.” He licks his lips before grabbing hold of my shoulders. In one strong and unexpected move, he turns me around and throws me onto the workbench. The piece of furniture creaks and the drawers rustle open and closed from the movement. I wrap my hand around one of the handles for support. Dig’s rough hands reach down between my legs, to my knees. He squats as he looks me over, examining my thighs just above the hem of my dress. I can feel his breath tickling me while he leans even closer. He hums to himself, a song I don’t recognize, before lifting my dress above my hips. I push myself closer into the dresser, expecting what I know ultimately comes next.

  His hands get closer to my panties, and I know that I have no time left. Whatever plan I’ve got, whatever courage is hidden in me, it’s got to come out now.

  In the distance, over the sound of ringing and pulsing in my ear, motorcycles roar into action. Some men shout. The war that Dig orchestrated is coming, and it’s not going to wait for me to stop it.

  I clear my voice one last time before replying, “That’s okay, Dig.”

  “What did you say, bitch?” He pulls himself up, his own hips pressed into my backside. I can feel his enlarged dick jab into me. He’s loving this.

  “I said that it’s okay,” I repeat before taking a long, deep breath. “I like it rough too!”

  In milliseconds, I take my hand out of the cabinet, managing to grab hold of a large rusty tool. I don’t even have time to guess at what it is, but I slice at his face and nose. I go for his eyes, managing to instead pierce his cheek. It’s a bloody mess, but it works.

  He backs off of me for just long enough that I can pull myself to face him. I go at it again, this time, moving towards his neck and chest. I know it’s not enough, but it will get me out of here. I stab and stab over his shouts and cries, and I don’t stop until his hands are off of me. I can’t stop until he’s on the ground, a bloody mess of a man.

  My feet can’t run any faster than they do now. I forget about the open cuts from the fence or my hands spilling out more blood. I run and run towards the sound of motorcycles at the front of headquarters. Light beams dance and the sound of screaming and shouting only grows louder.

  I push my back against the building, hoping no Snakes will see me, but I need to find Bishop. Every part of my body and my mind scream for him. But all I can see is wheels spinning around bodies lying on the ground. Dirt flies through the air and the sound of tears streaking through the night plays like sirens. Men I know are in that mess. Their hands fall limp on the ground as they call out towards their friends for help, but no one is coming for them.

  “Rivet!” Bishop’s voice cuts like a knife through the rest of the uproar. It’s almost as if the night’s fog has parted and the dust and dirt from the bikes have left a path between us. Bishop stands before me with a knife and bat in his hands. He’s bloody, his shoulder drooping to one side, and his skin looks as if it is falling off the bone. It’s a far cry from the Bishop I saw only hours ago. But it’s my Bishop!

  I go to run towards him, but he puts his hand up to stop me. His mouth opens, and I hear him shout, “Put it down, Dig!”

  The words have me like stones in my shoes. I don’t dare turn around, but I become aware of a shadow at my feet. It limps closer with its arm pointed out near my head. The breath is sucked out of me when the details of a gun become clearer. Dig presses himself into my back, and I go cold and stiff. A hand rests on my head, brushing the hair away from my sweaty temple.

  He whispers, “Did you really think you could get away from me with what? This?” He shows me the tool caked in blood. The handle is broken, but it clinks loudly when it hits the ground at my feet. “You’re a damn fool. You should have taken my offer. Now I’ve got to blow your brains out.”

  “No… please… no,” I whimper, my strength and resolve fading. “I’m pregnant.”

  I don’t know why I feel the need to tell him. Maybe it’s some hope for mercy, maybe it’s that my stomach still aches like I’m being stabbed with a hundred tiny swords all at once.

  But I know it won’t work. Dig has no bone in his body that would care about that.

  Instead, he laughs and replies, “Good. Two Carnivores in one.” He places the gun to my temple, and I look back over at Bishop who fumes in his place. He knows that one wrong move will set Dig off and end my life for good.

  “Bishop…” I try to speak, but the words are shaking as they come out of my lips. “Bishop… I love you.”

  I can’t believe I’ve said it. Nothing I have ever said has felt so right. In all the time I was with Viper, I never told him that. I never felt it. But with Bishop, even now, looking at him makes me feel like this was all worth it. If those are my last words, if I go out knowing that I said what was in my heart, my life wouldn’t be wasted. My heart, my whole heart, belongs to him now. Forever.

  “You don’t want her, Dig!” Bishop shouts. “Your beef is with me. Take me out and leave her be.”

  I can feel Dig’s body lighten up as he watches Bishop drop his weapons to the ground. He takes another step forward and then another. When he’s close enough that I could reach my arms out to him, I feel a laugh build in Dig’s stomach. He smiles brightly and reaches his arm out straight to Bishop’s head. His other arm shoos me off to the side.

  “You deserved this, you motherfu—”

  Before Dig can finish, I do the one thing I can. I reach for the tool at my feet, grab it, and take one last swing at him. My hand catches his knee. It pierces him straight in the bone with a horrible, amazing crunch. I try to pull the thing out, but it sticks, and he falls over me, towards Bishop.

  Bishop, as fast as he can move, reaches for the gun sliding through the gravel parking lot and fires.

  One shot. That’s all it takes. One shot and it’s over.

  Dig’s body hugs the ground, a pool of blood forming around his head.

  Around us, the world stops. The motorcycles come to a halt, and the shouting ends. Someone calls out an order and what remains of the Snakes takes off in a hurry, but no one chases them down. The damage the Carnivores has inflicted is enough for now.

  I look up towards Bishop. He drops the gun at his feet and then falls to his knees beside me.

  “Bishop!” I call out to him, my hands cupping his stained, pale face. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with him?” No one says a word. “Call an ambulance! Someone! He needs help!”

  Pain shoots through me again, this time unyielding. I let out a loud, piercing cry.

  “We need help!”

  Chapter Eighteen Rivet

  “The good news is that the baby is okay. You made it to the hospital just in time.” I look up at Abby in her crisp white medical coat. Her arm is in a swing, but she looks unaffected by it all. She brushes a piece of her hair to the side as she looks back down at me. “The bad news is that you’re on bed rest until that kid comes.”

  “Bed rest?” I ask, stunned.

  For the last two days I’ve been here, the doctors have been preparing me for the worst, telling me to plan for the case that my pre-term labor would deliver my child, my son, way too early to save. That’s when I demanded to see Abby. I couldn’t imagine having anyone else take care of me.

  “Yeah. It’s not so bad. We just pump you full of some drugs to keep you from dilating anymore, and you get to lie around and watch TV until you think you’re going to go crazy. Only for a few weeks; until it’s safe to have the baby. You’ve already been here about a week and a half, so I’m guessing it will only be for a few more weeks.”

&nbs
p; “A few more weeks?” I repeat in frustration. This place has driven me crazy. I can’t believe I actually miss the bar and the club meetings.

  “Well, I’d send you home to do bed rest there, but I don’t necessarily trust that you would listen to me unless I can monitor you 24/7.”

  She’s probably right. I try to give her a small smile, but I’m fading fast.

  I look out towards the window to the town glowing in the distance. It’s the same view I’ve been staring at since they brought me here. Everything has changed in my world, but that skyline hasn’t. It’s almost like they are unaware of the battle that went down, the lives that were lost, the price that was paid.

  I place a hand on my stomach and count the fluttering kicks that dance in my stomach.

  “Kicking?” Abby intuitively asks. “Let’s watch!”

  She almost joyfully runs to the hallway and brings back a small ultrasound machine the hospital uses to check in on the labor and delivery patients. She squirts some cold gel on my tummy and presses the wand into my stomach, moving it around till she catches an image on the handheld screen. With a grin, she places it in my hands.

  “There he is, Rivet. Looking healthy and happy in there.”

  “You’re watching?” Abby and I both turn our heads towards the door closing behind Bishop. His tan face glows with a smile unlike any I’ve seen from him. He hasn’t stopped looking like it since he was able to bust out of the hospital a week earlier. Cost him a fortune to keep the nurses and doctors silent, but he demanded it.

  “Yeah, Dad,” Abby says as she ushers him towards us. “It’s your son.”

  “My son,” he says, shaking his head. “I cannot fucking believe I’m having a son.”

  “I’d probably work on the language if I were you two,” Abby scolds playfully.

  “He’ll get enough of an education living in the club headquarters.” I sigh. I catch Abby’s eyes glance towards Bishop knowingly. My heart skips a beat as she excuses herself, making up some imaginary call none of us can hear.

  “What was that about?” I ask when the door shuts behind her. Outside, two Carnivores men stand guard just in case.

  “Well, I wanted to wait, but I don’t think I can.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a velvet box.

  My heart stops, completely stops, in my chest. Bishop moves closer to me, sitting on the edge of my bed. His rough, golden face shines at me as he pushes the box into my hand.

  “Open it.”

  “I—I—” I stumble. My hands shake as I open the top. I sigh as I see the outline of a silver key. “It’s a… a key.”

  “Our key,” Bishop corrects. “I couldn’t imagine bringing my son, our son, home to headquarters or to a trailer like we grew up in. I want him to have better; to know better. I know I should have asked, and I don’t have to move in if you don’t want me there. I put it in your name so you’d always have the right to say no or kick me the hell out when it gets to be too much.”

  “Oh, Bishop…”

  He continues to talk over the top of me, “But this key is a promise that you will get to be who you want to be with me and that I will take care of our family. Go back to school. Get a job. Become whatever the hell it is you want to become. All I ask is that you are mine, and you give me a chance to be our son’s dad. I love you, Jane. Forever. I love you.”

  The ticking of my monitors clicks on by as seconds’ pass. I close the lid on the box and place it in my lap. Despite Abby’s orders to stay in bed, I allow myself to scoot over to where Bishop sits. He pulls me into his lap and chest, and I listen to his own heartbeats.

  And in the silence, I whisper back to him, “Yes. Forever. I love you too.”

  THE END

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  OTHER BOOKS BY KATHRYN THOMAS

  HE’LL PUT A BABY IN ME SO HE OWNS ME FOREVER.

  The artist in me wants to admire him.

  The bad girl in me wants to strip for him.

  But Bo Braxton doesn’t care about what I want.

  Because he’s about to put a baby in my belly.

  A man like Bo is used to getting his way.

  He doesn’t say please.

  He doesn’t say thank you.

  He just sees what he desires and claims it as his.

  And his sights just landed on me.

  From the moment he walks into my tattoo parlor, he owns me.

  I can’t say no.

  And I wouldn’t, even if I had the chance.

  He’s just too much in every way.

  Too much man.

  Too much power.

  And far, far too much danger.

  It’s not enough for Bo to own my body, my heart, my mind.

  He’s got to brand his mark on me – permanently.

  By putting his baby in my womb.

  But what I didn’t know is that he has enemies.

  And they’ll do whatever it takes to hurt him.

  Even if that means hurting me.

  Now, I’ve got a child growing inside of me and a war raging around me.

  I’m gonna give Braxton a piece of my mind…

  As long as we both get out alive.

  ***

  THE DEVIL HIMSELF PUT A BABY IN MY BELLY. I let things go too far.

  But I couldn’t stop him – the mystery man who owned me for the night.

  Submitting to him was a welcome escape from my horrible life…

  But there’s no escaping the baby he put in my belly.

  It was a wild Halloween party where I met him.

  The masked man with a kiss like fire and a body like a god.

  I wanted to feel alive again.

  And when he held me down, I felt freer than I had in years.

  I wanted his touch, his kiss, his power .

  But I didn’t ask for what he gave me:

  A child in my womb.

  He left as suddenly as he came.

  Now, I’m worse off than I ever was.

  Pregnant and alone.

  No hope in sight.

  Even though he was masked, I swear I’d recognize him if only we crossed paths again.

  There’s no mistaking that aura.

  Danger.

  Freedom.

  Strength.

  If I could only find the devil who did this to me…

  I’d make him pay.

  But as I soon discover…

  The devil might be closer than I ever could have imagined.

  ***

  I CAN NEVER LET HIM KNOW THAT HE GAVE ME A BABY. Submitting to Leon was heaven and hell all in one.

  I’ve tried my hardest to put it behind me.

  Because if he finds out that he gave me my son…

  He’ll never let me out of his sight again.

  I’ve had a lifetime’s worth of bad luck in my twenty-five years.

  Dead parents.

  An abusive older brother.

  The list goes on and on.

  Everything I do ends in pain and disaster.

  But I can’t let that happen to my son.

  He’s the one good thing that ever happened to me.

  And I’ll be damned if this harsh world lays a finger on him.

  But just when I think we’re finally safe…

  The past comes hurtling back into the picture.

  In the form of one dangerous, sexy man:

  Leon.

  The biker, the rebel, the bad boy.

  The one who took me to the peaks of pleasure…

  And then left me – alone, sixteen, and pregnant.

  But even the devil himself deserves a second chance.

  And somehow, against all reason, I feel safe in his arms.

  But if he finds out that Jack is his son…

  That I’ve been lying to him…

  There will be hell to pay.

  With his hands, his mouth, his dark, s
tormy eyes, he’ll make me see the truth:

  We both belong to him.

  ***

  CARSON WON’T REST UNTIL HE HAS ME BENT OVER.

  He’s a violent man.

  And he’s here on a violent mission.

  If I want my family to live…

  I have to give him all of me.

  There was no hiding from him.

  Once his eyes landed on me…

  That was the end of it.

  No running.

  No avoiding what was to come.

  And when it came –

  When HE came –

  It was as brutal and rough as his reputation.

  He took everything he wanted from me.

  And the craziest part was…

  That I didn’t want it to end.