“Yeah, baby. And they want to drag me down for forgetting about your doctor’s appointment.” I grasped her waist in both hands and pulled her in close, kissing her softly. When I lifted my head, she leaned against me weakly. My kisses always made her weak-kneed, and I prayed that never changed. “I’m sorry.”
Her smile lit up my heart. “I forgive you. This time. Next time, I might kick you in the balls, though.”
“I take it you only want this one kid, then?”
She gave me a sassy grin. “Who said you were going to be my only baby daddy?”
Jealousy and possessiveness turned my vision red, my fingers contracting on her waist until she squirmed in protest. “Take it back,” I growled, kissing her again. “Take it back right now.”
That sassy grin didn’t falter as she pulled back and went to sit down in one of the few vacant chairs. It was only then that I realized the place was packed and everyone was watching us like we were some soap opera they were enthralled by.
“Raider,” Quinn called softly, amusement shining out of those blue eyes. “Sit down.”
Crossing the waiting room, I sat beside her. She leaned forward, running her fingers through my hair to fix it. I took advantage of her closeness and kissed her. Pulling back, she slapped me playfully on the cheek. I caught her hand, noticing she still didn’t have an engagement ring.
I needed to remedy that—and today.
Ten minutes passed before a nurse called Quinn’s name. I walked back with her, waited outside the bathroom while she peed in a cup, then followed her into an exam room.
“Looks like you’ve lost a little weight,” the nurse commented. “Is the morning sickness still holding on?”
“It comes and goes,” Quinn said with a dismissive shrug.
“Just stay hydrated. Don’t worry about eating if you don’t feel up to it.” She took Quinn’s vitals, made a notation, then left us to wait for the doctor.
Quinn sat on the exam table, her short legs swinging back and forth as she looked around the room at all the different posters on the walls. One was a flyer reminding parents to sign up for the Lamaze classes early because they filled up quick.
I pulled out my phone and started to text the number to sign us up.
“I already did that,” Quinn said, stopping me. “On my first visit.”
“So I’m signed up as your partner?”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip for a second before she shook her head. “At the time, I didn’t know who would end up being my partner, so I just left that blank. Actually, I don’t even know why I signed up. I was still planning on leaving.”
My gut clenched, and I had to force myself to relax. She wasn’t leaving. She was mine now, and she was going to marry me. Soon. I wasn’t sure how long I could wait to have her marked with my last name, knowing she was mine forever.
“How fast do you think we can plan a wedding?” I asked her, leaning back against the wall near the door.
She frowned. “I don’t know. A few months, at least. Raven’s took what—six months?”
“That’s too long to wait. I was thinking more like a few weeks.”
“Yeah, okay,” she snorted, rolling her eyes at me. “What’s with you? Why are you in such a rush? I thought we would wait until after the baby was born.”
“Not happening,” I told her point-blank. “I want my rings on your finger, you sharing my last name, and legally bound to me before this kid is born.”
“I repeat, why the rush?” she asked, tilting her head to the side, studying me.
“The rush is we don’t know what tomorrow brings.” I pushed away from the wall and crossed to her. She spread her legs as I moved between them, cupping my hands around her throat and using my thumbs to tilt her head back so our gazes locked. “I want you as my wife. Now, not tomorrow. I want the world to know that… You. Are. Mine.”
Love flashed in her eyes, and she wrapped her legs around my waist, locking me in place. “I know that I’m yours. Isn’t that enough?”
“Have you seen how beautiful you are?” I demanded incredulously. “Woman, every man looks at you and wants you for himself. I’m the lucky sonofabitch who has you, and I want to make sure they fucking know it.”
Her laugh was soft and precious. “And if I said I want you to wear a ring so the whole world—and more importantly, every woman alive—knows you are taken?”
“Baby, I’m tattooing a ring around this finger with your name. I’ll wear whatever the hell you want me to wear, and if any other woman even looks at me, I’ll tell her I married the most beautiful, amazing, sweetest girl in the universe.” I brushed my lips over hers, felt her soft gasp of air as it brushed over my mouth. “Marry me soon, Quinn. Please, I’m begging. Don’t make me wait.”
She pressed her forehead into my chest, her fingers clinging to my cut. “Okay,” she said without hesitation. “Let’s make it happen.”
Chapter 13
Rory
After cleaning up my mess in the bathroom, I opened the door to the bedroom and glanced out. Matt was sound asleep on our bed, snoring like a bear in the middle of hibernation. The past week had taken its toll on him, and last night was the first time he’d slept more than an hour or two since they’d found Tanner.
Quietly, I left the bedroom, shutting the door on my way out.
Wiping the sweat off my brow from having just spent the last half hour throwing up everything in my stomach, I was exhausted, but there were things I needed to take care of.
In the kitchen, I found Raven and asked for the keys to her Challenger.
“You okay?” she asked as she readily handed over the key ring.
I met her gaze, let her see everything in my eyes, but I didn’t say the words that wanted to trip off my tongue. Green eyes widened, and then she shook her head. “Something in the freaking water,” she muttered.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back. Don’t tell Matt where I’m going.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know where you are going, so no worries there. Just be careful. If it looks like someone other than a brother is following you, call me or Matt.”
Driving into town, I left the window cracked, and I didn’t miss the man on the motorcycle following me like a dark cloud over my head. But I refused to think about the constant babysitter I had whenever I so much as left the clubhouse compound.
The chilly breeze felt good on my flushed skin. First stop was the drugstore. I needed a pregnancy test, stat. Raven was right. There was definitely something in the water. If I was pregnant like I suspected, that would make four of us in the clubhouse who were expecting. Gracie and Willa both announced their pregnancies the previous week, and with Quinn pregnant too, at least I wouldn’t have to go through all this crap alone.
I touched a hand to my stomach, unsure how I felt about being a mother this early into my relationship with Matt. If I were honest, I was still having issues with the three years we’d been apart. I’d thought I was okay with everything after we talked about him hooking up with Steph while I was gone. But then Joslyn showed up with her son, and I realized I wasn’t nearly as over it as I kept telling myself I was.
Reid wasn’t Matt’s son, but it drove home to me just how easily he could have been. The man I loved hadn’t been a monk while we were apart. He could have fucked any number of women during that time, and it was driving me crazy.
Was I ready to bring a baby into this relationship when everything was so up in the air with my feelings?
What if I couldn’t get over this jealousy that ate at me just thinking of all the other women he’d had sex with?
“Pull your shit together, Michaels. Find out if you are or not before you go buying more trouble.”
I walked into the drugstore and straight back to where the pregnancy tests and condoms were kept, grateful the MC brother waiting outside wouldn’t be able to see exactly what I was about to buy. I grabbed the one that would give me a
digital reading and headed for the checkout. Thankfully, the place had had a recent update, and there was a single self-checkout, which I took full advantage of instead of having the woman behind the counter know my business.
Tossing the test in a bag, I swiped my card, took my receipt, and stomped out.
As I walked through the automatic door, however, someone was walking in. Catching his gaze on me, I clenched my hands on my bag, glad the gray plastic would hide the contents as I glared up at my father.
Dressed in one of his thousand-dollar suits, his hair slicked back, and his face glowing from a recent facial, no doubt, he looked like the politician he was. His bid for governor had already been announced, and it was only a matter of time before he started campaigning. He just needed me to release the money I’d promised to start the ball rolling.
“Hello, Aurora,” he greeted with a tight smile.
“Dad,” I bit out and kept walking.
“It’s good to see you,” he called after me.
“Can’t say the same,” I said as I jerked open the car door.
Tossing the bag into the passenger seat, I got in and locked the doors before starting the vehicle. Ten minutes later, I pulled up outside of Jenkins’s office. As I walked in, Jenkins was coming out of his office, as if he were expecting me.
“You didn’t have to come in,” he said by way of greeting. “I could have brought the contract and release papers out to you.”
I shrugged. “I was already out. Might as well get this over with.”
Something in my tone had his eyes widening, and I quickly pushed down everything else that was bothering me. One thing at a time. I would deal with this first, officially shutting my father out of my life and the MC’s business, and then I would conquer the other shit on my never-ending list.
“Come on back,” Jenkins urged, and I followed him to his office. “Gracie already drew up everything, but she’s out of the office this morning. She said she had to go to the hospital for Tanner. How is he doing?”
“Matt said he’s lucky to be alive.” I didn’t know how much to tell the lawyer, so I kept it at that. I wasn’t even sure I knew everything. Matt hadn’t talked to me much the last week, and I’d been a little distant to him ever since Jos and Reid arrived. “It surprised everyone when we found out Tanner didn’t die from the bomb that was in Matt’s truck.”
I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that he was alive. I was so happy to have him back, not just for Matt’s sake, but because I loved Tanner like a brother. He never treated me like an outsider, always put me at ease, and joked with me. I wanted to visit him at the hospital, but Matt asked me to wait until later in the week, after his brother had gotten through the surgery to fix his broken arm. They didn’t want to overwhelm him with too many visitors at once, I guess.
That didn’t sting at all, though.
Not one little bit.
It was okay. Matt pushing me back, keeping me on the sidelines was fine.
The sarcasm of my inner voice was giving me a damn headache.
“Let’s see,” Jenkins muttered as he shifted a few files on his desk. “Here it is.”
He passed over the paper to me that released my inheritance. I traced my fingertips over my mother’s name, and I wished she were there with me. All that money, but it wasn’t enough to save her or bring her back. I needed her guidance so desperately right then. How was I going to deal with being pregnant if I really was? What if I fucked up being a mother?
Why did she have to die before I was ready to face the reality of the world without her?
“If you’re not ready, we don’t have to do this today,” Jenkins assured me in a quiet voice.
“N-No,” I told him with a trembling smile. “I’d rather just be done with it all.”
Taking the pen he offered, I scribbled my name across the bottom of the release form and handed it back to him. Next came the contract detailing the deal I’d made my father. I read it over, saw that everything we’d discussed was there, and then signed my name on the line under my father, who had already signed the night I’d made the offer.
Once it was done, I felt a little of the pressure that was weighing down my shoulders release.
“You have your grandparents’ house and a little over a million dollars that is still yours,” the lawyer reminded me. “Should I release that to your personal bank account, or would you like me to be responsible for investing it for you?”
I pressed my fingers to my temples where a headache was starting to throb. “I want half to go into my personal account. The other half, I want to go into a trust fund for any children I have.”
He made a notation. “And the house? I can have it sold for you. It’s worth a good bit of money.”
“No, not yet,” I advised him. “Let me think about it for a bit. I don’t know what I want to do with it just yet.”
“Your choice. Just let me know.” He smiled warmly. “Is there anything else you need me to take care of?”
I shook my head, trying to relax a little. “The special election is next week. Are you ready?”
Since my father had resigned as mayor to put in his bid for governor, the town was having a special election to replace him. Jenkins was running, and there was only one other opponent—Royce Campbell, the current DA.
But since Campbell was running for mayor, he’d had to resign from his position as DA as well. His assistant had stepped into his place, which was a good thing, from all the talk I’d heard lately. Rita Sheppard was a ballbuster but under no one’s control, unlike Campbell, who’d always been my father’s little bitch lackey.
It was going to be a close election, though, but I knew who I was voting for. If Jenkins won, however, that meant Gracie would have to step into his shoes completely.
“I’ll be glad once it’s all over,” Jenkins told me with a tired laugh. “This crap is exhausting.”
“Creswell Springs will be a better place with you as our mayor,” I assured him. “We need you.”
“I guess we’ll have to see how many people think the same way. Just make sure you vote on Tuesday.”
The sound of my phone had me pulling it out of my purse. Seeing the name on the screen, I quickly said goodbye to Jenkins and walked out of the office before answering. I unlocked the car as I lifted the phone to my ear.
“Where are you?” Matt demanded.
“I’m on my way back now,” I assured him. “I had a few errands to run.”
“Like?”
“Jenkins needed me to finalize my inheritance distribution. Dad is officially out of our hair once and for all.” I started the Challenger. Putting the phone on speaker, I tossed it into the cupholder then backed out of the parking space.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice softening.
I shifted gears and headed for the clubhouse, once again seeing the motorcycle and its rider in the rearview mirror. “I’m good now that I know Derrick Michaels can’t ever bother you again.”
“You should have woken me up,” he grumbled. “I would have taken you.”
“I wanted you to sleep. You haven’t slept in an actual bed in over a week.” And I didn’t want you to know what I was buying earlier, I thought to myself.
“I’m getting ready to head back to the hospital. Tanner’s surgery is in an hour. Do you want to meet me over there?”
I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth, hesitating. “I thought you wanted me to wait until after his surgery before I came over.”
“I changed my mind. Meet me there, okay?”
“Yeah,” I told him, turning at the next stop sign so I could head over to the hospital. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Be careful, baby. I love you.”
I clenched my eyes shut for a moment before opening them again to focus on the road. “I love you too.”
Chapter 14
Matt
Raven’s car was already in the parking l
ot when I got to the hospital, but Rory wasn’t waiting on me. Instantly, my gut clenched and my heart started pounding. I jogged into the hospital lobby, looking for any sign of her even as I pulled out my phone.
It rang twice before she answered. “I’m in the bathroom. Stop freaking out,” was her greeting. “Give me, like, two more minutes, okay?”
I let out a relieved breath. “Okay, baby. Take your time.”
I found the women’s bathroom and stood outside the door as I waited for her, scrolling through the group texts on my phone I’d missed earlier. There was one from Bash to all the MC brothers, letting us know to avoid Bates for the moment, and he would explain more during church later that night.
Nothing unusual about that. We were always avoiding Bates, but something about the text left me feeling uneasy.
The door to the bathroom opened, and Rory came out, still drying her hands with a paper towel. I took one look at her and knew something was wrong. Her face was pale, and there was sweat on her brow. Her eyes were unfocused as she stepped into the corridor, as if her mind was a million miles away.
When she realized I was standing right in front of her, she jumped in surprise. “You didn’t have to wait for me,” she said, her voice weak.
I took her hand and guided her down the hall to the chapel. Shutting the door behind us, I turned to face her. For some reason, I felt anxious just looking at her. Whatever was going on, I needed to fix it now. I knew something had been off with her since Jos arrived. The whole confrontation with Butch still hadn’t been discussed because I’d been so fucking busy.
“Are you sick?” I asked, touching my thumb to her forehead and wiping away a smear of sweat.
“Just an upset stomach. Maybe I shouldn’t be here, after all. I don’t want to chance giving Tanner this stomach bug.”
“Stomach bug,” I repeated, shaking my head. There were enough pregnant women in the clubhouse for me to recognize the signs. A grin started to tease at my lips despite the shit we still needed to talk about. “Is it really a bug? Or did you catch something else?”
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