by Lexi Cross
“How’s it feel?” I growled, then kicked him again. He groaned. “Tell me who sent you here, asshole.”
“My boss,” he muttered.
“What’s your boss’s name?”
“I don’t know.” Another kick. He curled up in a ball, holding his hands out to me. “Please, I mean it. I don’t know his real name. Nobody does. He has a million of ’em.”
“A million? Really? You want me to believe that?”
“He has a bunch of offices and a million names. If he finds out I told you about him, he’ll fucking kill me.” He sounded serious. I knew the sound of a man sure he was going to die.
“Okay. He’ll kill you. What the fuck do I care? You came here to kill her.” I crouched down, pressing my knee against his ribs. He cried out in agony.
“No! I wasn’t gonna kill her! I was gonna scare her, maybe steal somethin’ if she had anything worth stealin’. It don’t look like she does.”
He was right about that. “That’s all you were gonna do? Scare her? You weren’t gonna hit her or anything?” I picked up his head, bouncing it off the hardwood. He cried out again.
“I swear, man. I wasn’t gonna touch her. I don’t do shit like that. That’s what other guys do. Not me. I don’t hurt women.” He was babbling, desperate for me to believe him. I didn’t know whether I should.
“Okay, pal. I’ll let you go. I want you to promise me you’ll never come back here again. I swear to Christ, I’ll be waiting here for you if you do.”
“I won’t. I swear I won’t. I’ll just tell the boss I scared her and there wasn’t nothin’ worth stealin’. That’s not a lie.” No, and it wasn’t a lie that she was scared to death, either. He had done his job.
“Get the fuck outta here, asshole.” I got up, opening the door wider for him to crawl out. He literally crawled out on his hands and knees, whimpering like a little girl. I thought about calling the cops on him—they’d probably get there before he made it to the elevator, the rate he was going. But I thought I’d give him a break. I wanted him to make it back to his boss, anyway, to tell him Jess wasn’t alone in the world. She had somebody to protect her. He couldn’t pull his bullshit games with her and get away with it.
I closed the door and turned, going back into the apartment. I knew she would never feel safe there again. Right away, I told myself she could stay with me. No—she should stay with me. End of story. No arguments. She would argue, too, knowing her. I wondered how many more men breaking into her apartment it would take before she agreed that she needed help. I wondered if there were enough men in the world to convince her.
“Jess?” I knocked on the only closed door in the apartment. “It’s okay. You can come out now.”
“Are you sure?” Her voice sounded so scared, I wanted to bring the asshole back in and kick the shit out of him for making her feel that way. I would never stop. Not after what he did to her—and he didn’t even lay a finger on her. If he had, he’d already be dead.
“Yeah, I’m sure. He’s gone. He’s not coming back.” I waited for her to open the door. There was noise. She was climbing out of the tub, pulling the curtain back. A lock flipped, then another. The door swung open slowly. I stepped back to give her room—it was everything I could do to keep from jumping on her, taking her in my arms, promising her it would never happen again. I had already wanted her so much before she called. Knowing how much danger she was in only made her more desirable.
What I saw was enough to freeze me solid. She wasn’t alone. There was a kid in her arms, holding onto her for dear life. She wouldn’t look at me. Why wouldn’t she look at me? When did she have a fucking kid?
“Who is this?” I asked, pointing at it. I couldn’t even tell if it was a boy or a girl. I couldn’t see its face.
“My son.” She whispered it, almost sounding angry. Like she wanted me to try to fight her on it. I wasn’t trying to fight. I didn’t understand a damn thing that was happening.
“Yours and who else’s?” Jealousy rose in me, spreading through me. My fists clenched. Who was she with? I should’ve known—she ran away to be with somebody else. Yeah. The size of the kid told me they were old enough. The shit got her pregnant, then probably ran off on her. So that was why she borrowed the money, to take care of the kid. Why else would she do it? Not for herself. If it was only her, she could get a job anywhere. She had to take care of the kid first.
Everything made more sense all of a sudden, and none of it made me any happier. I couldn’t believe she had betrayed me like that. Never, in all the time we were together—from the minute we started dating—did I touch another woman. I had plenty of chances, too. Women threw themselves at me. They like my looks, my bike, my position in the club. I was the next president. Everybody knew it. Axel had groomed me from a young age to take over for him. I practically had to scrape girls off my bike so I could ride it.
It had never mattered. All I ever wanted was her. None of them came close to her, the way I felt about her. She was better than any of them—not just in bed, not just the way she looked. All of her. She had my soul. She was part of me. And she’d been fucking around on me.
How long? Who was it? I wanted to track the son of a bitch down and end his miserable life. The need for revenge brought the taste of blood to my mouth. I wanted to hurt somebody.
And she had the nerve to stand there looking scared and innocent. She brought every bit of it on herself. It was all her fault for leaving me to begin with. I wouldn’t have done that to her. I wouldn’t have gotten her pregnant and left her alone, like some fucking coward. I would’ve taken care of her until the day I died, with or without a kid. I was prepared to do that. With a kid, it would’ve meant even more.
She didn’t say anything to me. She only stared at me, arms still around the kid. The kid moved a little, picking up their head to turn and face me. Blonde hair, short. A boy.
He looked at me, and the whole world shifted. I remembered only feeling like that once before, when I walked through the door and found her letter…and her ring. I moved back, away from them, hitting the wall. I couldn’t catch my breath. I thought I might be having a heart attack, or a panic attack. Some kind of attack. Nothing made sense. Everything fell apart around me.
The kid only looked at me, not saying a word.
His eyes. My eyes. And my color hair. My nose, my chin.
What the hell was really happening?
Chapter Ten
Jess
“What the—what’s going on here, Jess?” He was a volcano ready to erupt, only holding himself back because there was a child present. There was something funny about that, the way he censored his language for the sake of his child.
I knew the recognition in his eyes the minute he made the connection. They were the spitting image of each other—he’d be blind not to see it. Still, I was blonde. I could’ve easily said the blue eyes came from somebody else in my family. He didn’t need to know.
He knew, and he wouldn’t take any excuses. I knew it before I even spoke a word to him.
“It’s very late, and I think we should talk about this in the morning…”
“Like hell.” His voice was a snarl. I glared at him, jerking my head in David’s direction. It didn’t do much to calm him, though.
A moment I’d dreaded for years had finally come to pass. Grayson stood in front of us, muscles jumping in his clenched jaw. I was afraid he’d put his fist through a wall if he didn’t get answers soon.
“Hey, sweetheart.” I looked at David. He managed to pull his eyes away from his father’s to look at me. “I think you should go to your room. It’s late. You need your sleep.”
“Who is this man, Mama? Is he the one who was here before?” He trembled, and his voice quivered. I glanced at Grayson from the corner of my eye. He visibly relaxed, and the tension in the room dissipated just slightly. Enough for me to smile at David with real reassurance.
“No, sweetheart. He’s not the one who came in—he’s the one wh
o made the man leave, actually. He protected us from getting hurt.” I looked at Grayson, cuing him to be cool. David needed to see him as a hero, not as someone to fear.
“Thank you,” David said. His voice was a shy little whisper. My heart clenched. My boy was talking to his daddy. Emotion swept over me.
“You’re welcome,” Grayson muttered. I kissed David’s cheek, putting him down before patting his bottom and directed him to his room.
“Now get to bed. I’ll see you in the morning, baby.” He went to his room slowly, looking at us the entire time. He wasn’t a stupid kid, at all. He knew something was up. I waited until the door was closed before I turned to Grayson. He turned to me at the same time.
“What the fuck?” he whispered, teeth clenched, veins popping out on his neck.
“Get in here.” I took him by the arm, pulling him down the hall to my room and closing the door behind us. It was time to have it out. I didn’t want him to know—God, I dreaded telling him—but there was no way around it.
“What’s this all about? Tell me you weren’t fucking some other guy while we were together, Jess.”
My eyes widened. That was what he thought? That I’d left him for another man? I almost laughed, it was so ludicrous. He didn’t know he was the only man I’d ever been with in my entire life. No other man compared to him.
For a second, though, it was a pretty good option. I could tell him I’d been with another man all along. David wasn’t his. No, that would never work—I was a terrible liar, for one. For another, he would demand to know who it was. I couldn’t make up a phantom man who’d moved to Canada.
I sighed. It was pointless. “No, Grayson. I wasn’t sleeping with anybody else while we were together. I was never unfaithful to you. I can at least say that much.”
“What, you’re saying I was unfaithful to you? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“No, I didn’t say it—although, now that you mention it, don’t try to tell me some of the whores who ran around the clubhouse weren’t throwing themselves at you night and day.”
“So what if they did? I’m a grown fucking man. I can handle my shit. I never cheated on you.”
I smirked. “Okay. Sure. That’s why they all stared daggers at me whenever I was around.” I crossed my arms, glaring at him. It wasn’t lost on me that we were in my bedroom, and I wore only a camisole and shorts. His eyes found my body again and again, though he tried to look away. He was at least attempting to control himself.
“That was their problem. Did you ever think maybe they didn’t like you because I wouldn’t fuck around with them? If I did, they would’ve left you alone. Did you ever even think?”
I didn’t care, honestly. It was in the past. It was also a way to distract him from the little boy sleeping in the next room. I didn’t want him to know. This would be played my way, by my rules. Not his.
“Whatever, Grayson. I’m tired of going back and forth on who hurt who more. It’s pointless. Can’t we let it all go?”
“Let it all go? What is this, a fucking joke to you?”
“I’m sorry,” I hissed, glaring. “A man just broke into my apartment and threatened me. I have bigger things on my mind right now. I’m still a little freaked out, actually.” More than a little freaked out. It was all too much for me to handle at once.
“I asked him who he was working for. He said he didn’t know the guy’s real name.”
“You talked to him? The robber?”
“Yeah. He wouldn’t tell me anything.” He looked at me. “Why don’t you try telling me?”
“Telling you what?” I asked.
“Who the fuck you borrowed money from, Jess. Come on. I told you, I wanna take care of this for you.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“But you’ll text me practically in the middle of the night to ask for help? Right?” He advanced on me. I tried to move away, but he pinned me against the wall, one hand on either side of my head.
“Come on, Jess. Stop fighting it. Let me be the one who helps you. I can’t keep risking my neck riding like a bat outta hell every time you need me. I wanna take care of this once and for all. Let me do it. Just say the word, and it’s done.”
It was tempting—even more tempting than Cindy’s offer to help. How great would it be to hand the problem off to somebody else? Especially somebody like Grayson, who I knew would take care of things with no problem?
Only…what if he didn’t? I remembered the old days again, and the real reason why I left him. It was more than the violence, the tension, the knowledge that my husband and his club were doing terrible things. He was right when he’d accused me of knowing what he was up to all along. I wasn’t blind. I knew the man he was, and I’d married him anyway.
It went far deeper than that, and the thought of him putting himself in danger for my sake dredged up all the old fear. I couldn’t let him go to extremes for me. He thought I needed protection, when he didn’t realize how badly he was in need of it himself.
“I don’t want you to do that,” I murmured. “I don’t. I’ll find a way. You can’t go after these guys. You said it yourself, they’re bad people. They don’t play by the rules.”
“Do they know you have a kid?” he asked. He was so close to me, his breath hot on my face.
“I don’t think so.” Was that true? Had somebody followed me on the way to or from school? They could know. It was completely possible.
“They might. Especially if your burglar went into his bedroom.” I squeezed my eyes shut. Of course. And there were pictures of us all over the place, too. Grayson took my response for what it was. “So, do you wanna rethink me shutting this shit down for good? It’s not just you. It’s him.”
“You don’t owe us anything. I never wanted anything.” I needed him to know it. It was so important he understand I didn’t expect anything from him, back then or in the present moment. I wanted our lives to be totally separate, but Fate had a funny way of throwing us back together and backing me into a corner, much the same way Grayson had me backed against the wall.
“I didn’t say you did. You’re in trouble now. Big trouble. That’s all that matters. You and the kid.” His voice was thick, choked with emotion. Whether it was rage or frustration, I didn’t know for sure. Energy came off him in waves, sending a shiver through me. I was never any good at making the right decision was he was so close.
“Tell me,” he murmured, his face just inches from mine.
“Tell you what?” I trembled, my insides quivering the closer he got. I resisted the urge to lean forward, to meet his lips with mine. It would be so easy. I could give in to what I’d missed out on for so long.
“Tell me whose son he is. I already know. I need to hear it from you.” He leaned just a bit further, enough to brush his lips across my cheek. I sighed, closing my eyes, leaning into him. It was electric, just that little bit of contact.
He moved toward my mouth, caressing it with his. “Tell me,” he murmured, kissing me softly, teasing me. Turning my knees to jelly. I felt warm wetness between my legs, and the promise of things to come.
His words and his lips worked together to draw the truth from me. I felt it bubbling up, the secret I had kept from him for so long.
“Yes. He’s your son,” I said.
Grayson froze. I opened my eyes, looking over his shoulder. Damn. That was probably a mistake.
He straightened up, then took a step back. “You lying bitch,” he snarled.
Yes. It was definitely a mistake. I braced myself for battle.
Chapter Eleven
Grayson
I wanted to kill her. I couldn’t be anywhere near her. She was a stranger to me—somebody who would lie to me that way. For seven years, she knew she had my son. I wasn’t worth talking to about it. I didn’t deserve to know I had a kid out there.
I pushed off the wall and backed away. Everything was a lie. The last seven years. Just when I thought she was out of my life, I found out she ha
d a tie to me the entire time. I was too furious to speak.
She stood there, watching me. “Say something, please.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t. She didn’t wanna hear anything I had to say, anyway.
My son. My blood. She kept him from me.
“You need to calm down. He’s right next door. I don’t want you to scare him. Got it?” I didn’t answer, but I did walk to the other side of the room. I had to put as much space between us as I could. I leaned against the wall, pounding my hands on it every once in a while.
“I mean it, Grayson. Calm down, or get out of here. I won’t have you scaring my son.”
“Our son.” I hissed it. Her eyes went wide, then she looked away. She was right, though. I had to keep myself under control. He might know one day that he was mine—I didn’t want his first memories of me to be of me losing my shit on his mother.