by James, Marie
“I’m going to go pack my room,” he says as we pull into the gravel lot in front of the Cerberus clubhouse.
“I think that’s a little premature,” I object.
“I have my orders,” he says with a sigh as he places the vehicle in park.
“I’m going to go talk to my dad,” I inform him.
He clasps my thigh in a soft but dominating grip. “If you get the feeling that he plans to kill me, give me a heads up. I’m more than willing to face what’s coming my way, but I at least want to be prepared.”
I laugh but stop when I see the seriousness in his eyes. I caress his face, loving the feel of his rough beard under my palm. My body is on fire for this man.
“That look in your eyes right now is exactly what got you fucked against an alley wall,” he warns.
“Mmm,” I purr.
“Stop.” I snap out of my horny daze. “Packing my shit while you lay all of this at your father’s feet is one thing. Doing it with a swollen cock is another.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” I offer, but he doesn’t seem to think the outcome will be pleasant.
“Twenty-years-old or not, I’d kill any man that fucked my daughter and got her pregnant,” he advises. “He’s already been more forgiving by letting me work after he found out about the sex than I ever would’ve been.”
“My back was as sore as my pussy after that night.” My eyes flutter closed. “The brick was as unforgiving as your cock.”
“Jesus,” he hisses, mouth meeting mine in a brutal kiss before I can even open my eyes.
We’re panting by the time he pulls away.
“I’m going to sneak in your room tonight.” He swallows and nods. “Will you turn me away again?”
Doubt, uncertainty, and the memory of his rejection last time fill my voice.
“I doubt I’ll still be here, baby, but you’re welcome in my bed no matter where I lay my head down to sleep.”
I peck his lips one last time, youthful glee filling me to the brim even when the news that I have to share with my father burdens me.
“See you in a little while,” I promise as I climb out of the vehicle.
Less than five minutes later, I’m standing, heart racing at my father’s office door. When I entered the house, my mother pointed in this direction and simply said, “He’s waiting for you.”
I raise my hand to knock, praying he’s asleep, which is ridiculous, or on the phone. Hoping that he’s busy and I’ll have to wait just a few minutes longer.
“It’s open,” comes the gruff voice I’ve learned to despise over my many years of fucking up.
I turn the knob, ignoring the near sting of the metal against my palm, and push the door open.
“Close it.” His gruff command is obeyed. “Have a seat.”
I sit in the chair across from his desk. How do these same types of things being barked at me from Jameson make me wet, yet with my father only make me want to cower in fear?
I guess having the same response to my father would be inappropriate.
“How long are you home for this time, Georgia?”
He looks as exhausted as I feel. The sun set long ago, the second half of our trip spent in darkness and silence.
“It depends on how this conversation goes,” I answer honestly.
“A threat?” He tilts his head, the same motion that a few years ago would have me quivering in my chair.
“No. I’m not a teenager any longer. I’ve lived in hell the last couple of years. I—”
“You chose that life. I never wanted that for you.”
“I know that.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “I know that now. I’m grateful to you and Mom. You don’t have to put up with my shit. You don’t have to continuously chase after me, trying to rescue me from myself.”
“Parents do everything they can for their children. We love you. Taking off and leaving will never change that.”
“I love you guys, too.” I love the smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth and brightens his eyes. I don’t say it often enough, not even close to as often as I feel it.
“You didn’t fight Hound in coming back.” I’m not surprised he’s well aware of my agreement to return to New Mexico. “Is there a reason you’re so agreeable to being here?”
Moment of truth.
“I’m pregnant.”
He stops breathing.
“The baby is Jameson’s.”
I’ve never seen that color of red on my father’s face in all my life.
It seems like a millennia before he releases a long, jagged breath.
“Hound’s?” he finally says like Jameson and Hound could possibly be two different men.
He types something on his phone, and I crane my neck to try to see if it’s the execution order Jameson is so sure is coming.
He waits, only looking up from his phone when the door opens. My mother’s softly scented perfume hits my nose, wiping away all hope that Jameson has been called in here to face this with the Cerberus MC President right along beside me.
I can’t look at her, not when she sits in the chair beside me, not when she clasps my hand in her lap, and especially not when the tears that have been threatening since my truth spilled from my lips, begin to fall.
“Your daughter is pregnant,” Dad spits as if I may not stay that way for long.
My free hand protects the innocent life cradled there, and my head snaps up.
My mother gasps, her hand clenching mine even tighter.
“The baby is Hound’s.”
The grasp loosens, but I squeeze tighter, unable to lose her touch in the face of what comes next.
“A baby?” she whispers.
I nod, eyes evaluating my father’s face, still unable to look at her.
“I’m not ashamed.” I raise my head higher, my spine stiffening with the same steel I found in the Vegas bathroom earlier in the day.
“So you’re keeping the baby?” Is that hope in my rigid father’s voice?
“Yes,” I answer.
My mother releases a breath in a long whoosh, relief evident in the gesture.
“And Hound?”
“He’s on board with my decision.”
“I’m not okay with you sleeping with my men.”
Here it comes.
“I’ve only slept with Jameson.” A knot forms low in my stomach, and I beg it not to start turning. Getting violently ill right now is the worst thing that can happen.
“I fired Grimlock a mere two months after he started working here your senior year,” he reminds me.
“Okay?” I don’t hide the confusion in my voice.
“I fired him because rumors of you two together spread through my club like wildfire.”
I can’t help the chuckle that slips out.
“That’s why he was here one day and then gone the next?”
My father nods. “I don’t like you sleeping with my men. It’s dangerous. I can’t take the risk that they think they can disobey orders because of their connection to you.”
“Man,” I correct.
He shakes his head. “What?”
“I slept with one man. I’ve only slept with Jameson. No others, not from this club. He’s the only one.” I take a long breath and release it slowly. “Ever.”
“Really?”
I hate the disbelief in his voice. Hate that I’m going to have to explain the rumors that started in high school and ruined my reputation. How I fed those fires because people already had those opinions so why argue with them. It seems my parents aren’t even immune to the talk of the town.
“I will stay as long as you’ll have me.” My mother begins to cry silently beside me. “So long as Jameson is still employed with Cerberus.”
“No,” my father hisses. “I can’t have it. I didn’t even want to keep him after Dallas, but Dominic talked me into it. This just cements that I should’ve followed my gut instinct in the first place.”
“Yes, Sir,” I say
as I stand. My father has made my decision for me.
“Diego,” my mother sobs as she catches my wrist on my way out. I look down at her. “Go take a nap, honey. I’ll be up in just a few minutes.”
I leave the room closing the door on the hushed voices of my parents arguing.
Chapter 23
Hound
I think waiting for the confrontation is worse than the actual confrontation itself. It’s the anticipation. The worry about what will happen. The hundreds of scenarios you work through in your head are never what actually happens.
I’m not startled by the knock on my door. I’m not even surprised that it’s both Kid and Shadow on the other side when I tug the door open. A show of force. It’s exactly how I’d handle the situation.
“Kincaid wants to speak with you,” Shadow says, his gruff voice not giving anything away.
I grab the straps of my two rucksacks and follow them from the room. It may seem overdramatic, but I could be walking toward my death, yet, even knowing that I trudge along with my head held high the short distance to the conference room. I don’t miss that Kincaid is waiting for me in a room that leaves no chance of my seeing Gigi before I face him.
Smart.
It’s also what I would’ve done.
Kid pushes open the right side of the double doors, but he doesn’t follow me inside. He and Shadow turn, hands clenched down by their sides. The fact that they’re both standing at attention isn’t lost on me. It’s another show of force, one of unity with their president.
I swallow thickly, but enter the room and close the door behind me. At the end of the table, Kincaid sits silently with his hands steepled, index fingers resting against his bottom lip. I step forward, and resisting the urge to salute him, I reach into my pocket and pull the lone key to my room down the hall from my pocket. Once within arm’s length, I pass it to him.
“Room’s clear, Mr. Anderson.”
He accepts the key, turning it over and over in his palm. I take a few steps back, hands gripping my rucksacks so hard they begin to ache. Time stretches for what seems like hours before he speaks.
“Mr. Anderson?” He clears his throat. “Now you treat me with respect?”
When his eyes meet mine, the fury in them is enough to make my blood run cold. My eyes dart, looking for an escape. There’s one way in, and one way out. The passage to safety is guarded by two of Kincaid’s Marines, two of his closest friends, men so close Gigi considers them uncles.
“My intention was never to disrespect you, Sir.” Dressed in civvies or not, this man deserves my respect, not only as the leader of the club I’m fixing to be booted out of, but also because he’s my child’s grandfather.
“Georgia is keeping the baby.”
“Yes, Sir.” This isn’t news to me.
“And you plan to stick around?”
I nod. “I may not be a part of Cerberus any longer, but I’m not walking away from my child.”
“Just your child?” I shake my head, but he continues before I can argue with his wording. “Do you plan to marry her?”
I shake my head and wait for him to come off of his chair and pummel my face with both fists. When he doesn’t, I try to do my best to explain.
“This isn’t the fifties, Sir. The last thing any of us need, including our unborn child, is to be brought into a loveless marriage.”
At this he growls, so deep and so long in his throat, my life nearly flashes before my eyes.
“That’s my daughter you’re talking about,” he hisses, and I reflect back on the way I responded nearly the same way last night when Gigi was saying horrific things about Izzy. I commend his restraint, the control over his instincts I wasn’t man enough to have myself.
“Can you tell me that you loved every single woman you touched before you met Mrs. Anderson?” He narrows his eyes at me. That’s just as scary as the growl. “I’m not saying I hate her, but I hardly know her. Standing here and confessing something to you that I never even considered telling her would be a lie. I’m not, by normal practice, a liar, Sir.”
“My wife thinks you sticking around is a good idea.” My burden lifts, if only a fraction of an inch. “I wholeheartedly disagree with her.”
The burden increases tenfold.
“Georgia will leave if you leave.” I nod, knowing it’s true. I promised her that raising the child together is what I wanted. She’s the one who suggested the awful idea of a three-bedroom apartment. “I let that factor into my decision about you.”
Silence grows heavy between us once again. I can tell he wants me to ask, to plead, but it would only show weakness. He’s both hoping for it, so he can prove himself right, and wishing against it because his daughter and I are having a baby whether he likes it or not, and needs me to be a man he can trust her and his grandchild with.
The moments stretch on, lasting an eternity in the already late hours of the night.
He clears his throat. “You still being a part of Cerberus changes nothing. You impregnating and dating my daughter doesn’t give you any allowances the other men don’t have.”
My eyes snap from the front of his shirt where I’ve been staring at for what seems like hours to his eyes.
“Dating,” my voice cracks, “Sir?”
“Dating,” he affirms.
There are worse things than waking up to Georgia Anderson’s body against mine.
I shake my head to clear the thought.
“You don’t want to?” he asks questioning my physical response to thinking of his daughter naked and splayed out across my chest.
“I will,” I agree so hastily I forget the last part. I swallow again. “Sir.”
“Do you want to?” he asks again.
“Yes, Sir. I’d like nothing more than to date your daughter.”
“She may run again.” This is something I know about her.
“I’ll chase her and our baby to the ends of the Earth.”
He nods, the only physical approval he’s shown other than his words.
“Maybe Dominic was right to vouch for you.”
“Thank you, Sir.” I step forward to thank him and shake his hand, but he just passes me the key to my abandoned room back.
“Rack up. You have shit to do tomorrow.”
“A new mission?” Why I ask I have no idea. Being allowed to stay in Cerberus, the privilege of being this close to Gigi is more than I could’ve ever expected.
“Georgia has a doctor’s appointment. Shadow is taking her.”
“I’m taking her,” I insist.
His eyes narrow at the challenge, but there’s something else there, something akin to pride or expectation.
“So be it,” he agrees.
Backing away, I open the door and step out into the hallway in one swift move. Shadow is as stoic as ever standing sentry over the room, but I don’t miss the slight twitch of Kid’s mouth as I walk past. I ignore the groups of guys, the ones I’ve spent numerous months with in foreign countries as they hover near the hallway door to the conference rooms. Those nosy fuckers are just as bad as teenage girls. I should know. Izzy prattles on relentlessly about the girls in her school.
I don’t bother unpacking once I get inside my room. It’s a simple task and can be completed in mere minutes. I hit the shower, scrubbing every inch of my body, preparing myself for Gigi’s visit later. Her sneaking into my room will do nothing but anger Kincaid, even though I’m now dating his daughter, but he didn’t lay out any ground rules, so I’m going to play ignorant to the fact that fucking her in his clubhouse will piss him off. Gigi is irresistible, and I promised her I’d never turn her away again. My promise to her is more important than any emotion her father could face with the news.
The damage has already been done, right?
I wait.
And wait.
And wait some more.
I wait until sleep drags me under and the erection that sprang up just thinking about my dark-haired girl deflates in desperate s
adness.
Chapter 24
Gigi
“It’s late,” Mom says with a yawn when she finds me sitting on a stool at the breakfast counter.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I say and stare down at the uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the counter in front of me.
“Want some milk,” she asks as she tugs the fridge door open.
“No thanks. Where’s Dad?”
“At the clubhouse,” she answers.
“Doing what exactly?”
She turns in my direction and frowns. “You know exactly what he’s doing.”
“Firing Jameson? Getting his guys to hide his body?”
She chuckles, but it’s guarded as if she knows what Dad is capable of when he’s protecting his family.
“I doubt he’s going to kill that man.”
“He wants to,” I mutter.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not the way your father was leaning when he headed over there.” She places a cold cup of milk in front of me. I eye it with disinterest.
“Why are you staring at me?” I ask when I look up and find her leaning against the counter, arms crossed over her chest, and her eyes drilling holes into me.
“We only want what’s best for you, Georgia. We want you to be happy.”
“Is this when you tell me that marrying Jameson is what is best? It’s what will make me happy?”
I don’t know how to be a wife or a mother, but I can’t deny the pain I get in my chest at the thought of having both.
She shakes her head, a soft smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Marrying a man you don’t love just because you’re pregnant is the last thing you need. It’s not a decision to be made lightly.”
I spin the glass of milk around on the counter, concentrating on the ring of condensation it leaves behind as if it’s the most interesting thing in the world. I usually run from serious conversations, opting to ignore anything that may resemble an adult choice.
“Marrying a man for anything less than being madly in love is a huge mistake.” I look up to find her eyes distant, pain pulling at her previously smiling eyes. “You don’t marry out of fear or some obligation to another person. Love. Love is the only reason you stand before your friends and God and say vows, commit to one person for the rest of your life.”