Nothing Else Matters (Demons Disciples MC Book 2)

by Allana Walker

  I hiccup, trying to keep the sob from escaping. I need to calm down.

  “Hello?” Alexa’s voice hits my ears. “Are you all right in there?” I compose myself enough to open the door. “Daria, sweetheart?” She rubs my folded arms.

  I can’t keep the tears back anymore. I shake my head. She gathers me in her arms and lets me cry.

  “What’s going on?” Alex has always been a mom to me; she was with me when I miscarried my first baby after having Emily that resulted in a fallopian tube removal. She helped me through the recovery, looking after Emily, and helping with the groceries and cleaning around the house. I would have been lost without her and Jess.

  “I’m pregnant. I just got a pain when I was in the stall there. What if it’s happening again, Alex? I can’t lose another baby.”

  “Oh, sweetie.” She pulls me to her again. “Have you been to the doctor yet?”

  “No. I just took the test before the ceremony.”

  “So, that’s why you were both in the bathroom for ten minutes. I’m guessing Striker doesn’t know?” Alex gives me a knowing smile.

  “No.”

  “I’ll take you to the doctors on Monday and get you checked out, okay?” She wipes the tears away from my eyes. “Will you be okay to come out?”

  “Just give me a minute.” I sniffle. She nods, about to leave. “Alex, I love you.”

  “I love you too, sweetie.”

  I place my hands on my stomach. “Hang in there, baby.” I take a deep breath and exit the bathroom.

  I’ve got this.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Striker

  The way she looked down at her ex-husband during the ceremony pissed me off. Then, at the line-up, where we congratulated the happy couple and the parents, she was three people ahead of me, Dad, and Emily. I watched her hugging Tyler, Alexa smiling happily, then she got to Nico and Jess and her face dropped a little, and she hurried to the bathroom. Nico and Jess exchanged a weird look. Alex followed her after the line-up was done; she didn’t come out for ten minutes. Yeah, I was counting.

  I’ve been watching her all day, trying to grow some balls and go over to talk to her to see what’s going on, I just can’t. She looks pale, even with make-up on, and she looks thinner than the last time I saw her last week when she blew up at me.

  After the meal and the speeches, it’s time for the first dance, but the leader of the band said they were doing something different. Everyone gathers around Jess and Nico standing in the middle of the black and white dance floor of the party tent, who look just as confused as everyone else. It’s their wedding; surely they would know what’s going on.

  Oh my God. I see her walk onto the stage. Her hands are shaking. Then she opens her mouth to sing.

  All the hairs all over my body stand up on end; her voice is incredible. Jess is crying as she dances with Nico in the middle of the dancefloor, but my eyes divert back to Daria on stage. I mean, I’ve heard her sing before, but not like this, and not with so much love and emotion poured into it. The MC asks for the rest of the bridal party to join the bride and groom. I know I’m supposed to dance with the chief bridesmaid, but she’s on stage. I can’t help but think, did she plan this so she didn’t have to dance with me?

  “Whoa, Mom can sing?” Emily’s soft voice breaks the spell Daria has me under. Daria’s voice and the way she is on stage, it’s like she belongs up there. It’s hypnotic. I glance down at Emily as she’s watches her mom with her mouth slightly open. “She’s amazing.”

  “Would young Madame care to dance?” Dad bows, asking Emily to join the rest of the wedding party. Emily looks up at me. I nod, telling her to dance with dad. She takes his hand and dances with him, giggling when he spins her. A smile pulls at my lips. She’s grown up so much in the past two and a half years I’ve been in her life. It scares the shit out of me that one day it’ll be me dancing with her on her wedding day.

  “Want to dance?” Lauren walks over to me. I’m about to say no, but I see the way she looks at me, as if to say just do it, and leads me to the dance floor.

  When Daria is finished singing, the whole room erupts into applause and cheers. I want nothing more than to go over there to take her in my arms, tell her how proud I am of her, and how much I love her, but all I can do is watch from afar as everyone does it for me.

  “Talk to her, Striker,” Lauren says, watching Nico and Jess hug Daria as she comes off the stage. “Sort this out before it’s too late and there’s no way back.” She walks away from me, leaving me with an internal war.

  My eyes follow Daria to the table opposite the bar and the closest to the exit. Travis sits beside her, saying something to make her smile a little. My lips lift when I see her smile. Then I see Austin sitting beside her, kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear. She nods, then stands, saying something to him before she looks over to me. Her eyes shine with unshed tears when the twinkling lights on the roof of the tent hit them. Our eyes lock for a few seconds, but then her head drops, breaking the eye contact, and she walks out.

  I contemplate following her, but I turn back to the bar with a sigh and drink my beer instead.

  “How are you doing, son?” I look to my left and see Nicholas staring at me, which surprises the hell out of me because I would have thought he’d hate me for breaking his little girl’s heart. Again. “Look, Striker, I’m going to give you a little bit of advice. Daria is stubborn.”

  I snort out a laugh. “No shit.”

  “But I know my daughter, and she just needs time. She’s been through a ton of shit, even before you steamrolled into her life.”

  “Time,” I scoff, finishing my beer. “Everyone keeps saying she needs time. Daria needs time. Daria needs this and Daria needs that. There were two people in that relationship.” I sneer, giving him a cold, hard stare. “I need time, and I need everyone to butt out of my fucking business and leave me the hell alone.” I point to my chest to emphasize my point. I grab another beer, leaving the room, and walk toward the lake.

  I need to clear my head.

  Everyone is hell-bent on blaming me for everything. I was willing to make it work and talk it out. She’s the one who dumped me and started fucking Austin, Jessica’s older brother. I saw them at the rehearsal dinner, flirting. When I walked out of the restaurant, I saw her kiss him. I wanted to rip his head off, but I refrained. One, because Emily was with me, and two, I didn’t want to ruin Nico and Jess’s dinner. I watched as he took her home and probably screwed her. As I walk farther down, I spot Daria sitting on the grass under a big willow tree, looking out to the water. She looks so beautiful. She lifts her hand to her face and wipes her eyes.

  I think back to when I last saw her at Nico’s bachelor party, and she saw one of the whores giving me a lap dance. She called me out on my double standards by saying it was okay for me to have a girl rub herself on me, but she couldn’t watch a guy strip down to his underwear. Yeah, I see how she could see me as being a hypocrite. Difference was, we weren’t together when she came in shouting her damn mouth off at me, and we were when she was getting another man’s dick thrust in her face. I admit, I should have been a bit calmer, but I was jealous and pissed that she was lapping it up. It wasn’t until she turned away from me after screaming at me that she still loved me, that she was coming to try to fix us, that I felt like some had punched me right in the gut when she mentioned about comforting Emily. It hit me full on that the actions we take affect everyone around us. Especially Emily. My heart broke further watching her speed off into the night, taking my heart with her. Since then, I haven’t been able to get her words out of my head; “I actually came here to try to sort out everything. To fix us.”

  I take a breath as I walk toward her. I notice someone else standing above her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She looks up then back at the water. Austin. Seeing him even breathing next to my woman. Ex. Makes me want to go over, grab him, and throw him into the lake. My nails bite into the palms of my hands, and my lips curl
into a sneer when he sits beside her and puts his arm around her. The feeling of wanting to go over there and rip his arm clean from his socket and pummel him with it is overwhelming. I can see their lips moving, but I have no idea what they're saying. I can't tear my eyes away from them. Well, Daria. She's the most beautiful woman I have ever known. I begin to turn, but not before seeing something that makes my rage grow rapidly, making my heart hammer against my chest and break all at once.

  He kissed her. She kissed him back. I've lost her completely.

  I make my way back inside toward the bar; the need for a drink is overwhelming. I need to forget all about Daria fucking Denver for good.

  “Beer and tequila,” I snap at the bartender. He hands me my drinks and I throw the beer down my neck, followed by the shot of fiery liquid. The way it burns is satisfying; it momentarily makes me forget the pain in my heart. “Another.” I slam the glass on the bar, sucking on the lemon.

  “Whoa, slow down, man.” Nico stands by me. Ignoring him, I continue asking the bartender to keep them coming. I should just ask for the fucking bottle. I’ll be here all night. “Striker?” He places his hand on my shoulder, trying to gain my attention. I move my shoulder to get him off me. Every touch burns. “What the fuck is the matter with you?” His voice is low and pissed.

  It’s his wedding day, you selfish prick.

  “Yeah, it’s all on me, right? All my fault.” I shake my head, letting out a mirthless laugh. “You all think she’s this sweet, kind and gentle girl,” I look him dead in the eye. “She’s nothing to me. She’s a fucking whore.”

  “Hey, I swear to fucking God, Striker. If this was any other day, I would kill you for that remark. But I’m going to put it down to the fact you’re hurting and you’re drunk.” He grabs my wrist to stop me from drinking any more. “Pull your head out of your ass. I’ve been there for you through every God damn fight you’ve had with Daria, and I’ve been on your side for the most part. But lately, you have been a complete tool.” He growls at me. “You keep talking shit about my sister like that, and I will finish what I started three weeks ago.”

  I believe him. Three weeks ago, he stormed in the clubhouse and started beating me up over a huge misunderstanding that effectively started the downfall of Daria and me. Daria grabbed me to stop me leaving. I was pissed and shrugged her off. She lost her footing and hit her head on the side table, causing a cut above her eye. He thought I hit Daria, which is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. And I was hurt he thought I would even think of doing that to her. I love her. I mean, yeah, it did look suss when I saw her blood on my shirt, but he knows I would never do that now.

  Not like you don’t have previous. Trying to kill her, for example.

  “Whatever.” I snatch my wrist from his grasp, continuing to drink. He shakes his head, walking away from me.

  Goodbye, Striker the pussy-whipped dick head.

  Welcome back, Striker the asshole.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Daria

  “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the dance floor, Mr. and Mrs. Nico Sanchez,” the band’s front man shouts; everyone in the room claps and cheers. “We’re going to do something a little different with this. Someone very close to you wants to do something special for you.” He looks over to me. The guitarist lends me a hand, helping me up to the stage. The lead singer smiles, handing me the microphone.

  I look out on to the beautifully decorated party tent that’s beside the lake I usually go to for serenity; the twinkling fairy lights on the roof looking like the night sky, the crisp white table covers and white chairs with ice blue sashes wrapped around the middle tied in a bow at the back. My eyes roam around the room that’s filled with Jess and Nico’s friends and family, all these eyes staring at me, wondering what the hell I’m doing up here. My hands tremble and I break out into a cold sweat. My eyes land on Striker. I instantly feel a little calmer, and the nerves ebb away. I know we’re going through a rough patch and we’re no longer together, but he will always be the keeper of my heart and calm me when I’m scared.

  “Wow. I didn’t think I would be this nervous.” A giggle escapes me. “Jess, you have been my rock over the years. You tell me how it is and don’t sugar coat anything. You always know how to make me laugh, even when all I want to do is curl up and die. You’re the only constant in my life. My ride or die. I would be lost without you. You’re officially my sister now.” Jess blows me a kiss and wipes her eyes.

  “Nico. What can I say about you? Up until a few months ago, I thought you were just this guy my best friend had fallen for, and to be honest, I thought she was too good for you at the beginning.” I hear a snort of a laugh from the right of me. “But, I got to know you, and you’re the most caring and sweetest biker I have ever known. Little did I know you were my brother. All the dinners we had together, and all the times you let me lean on you, being my shoulder to cry on. I will always be in debt to you both.”

  I nod to the pianist to begin.

  I knew what song they had chosen; I practiced and practiced. With help from Austin and Travis, I got the number for the band and called them, and they were all for it. They even let me come by and rehearse with them. When I start singing, the whole room disappears as I close my eyes and feel the lyrics within my heart. I think about Striker and me fighting, and it causes my heart to break further. I never wanted our moments in our little bubble to end. The song says that all the stars in the sky will never be enough to hold the amount of love I had for him. I pour my heart and soul into every lyric. The lead singer helps when my emotions get the best of me.

  “Can we have the rest of the bridal party to join the bride and groom on the dance floor,” the MC says in the middle of the song. Opening my eyes, I see Striker still standing on the side-lines, his eyes trained on me. Lauren looks over and makes her way across, asking him to dance. I can see he’s about to say no until she gives him a look, and he quickly drains his bottle of beer. I place my hand on my stomach as I sing, and a tear slips from my eye.

  You have to tell him. Tell him he’s about to be a father for the second time.

  As the song finishes, tears are streaming down my cheeks. I hand a band member the mic and walk off of the stage, needing air. Jess and Nico run up to me and crush me with a hug before I can make my escape.

  “That was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. Thank you for making this day even more special,” Jess weeps on my shoulder.

  “Who knew you had an awesome set of pipes on you?” Nico jokes.

  “I told you she was amazing.”

  “I didn’t know what to get you guys.” I shrug my shoulder, trying to disguise the sadness clouding my eyes. Nico looks at me like he’s trying to read me. “I’m going to get a drink and have a seat.”

  “Little Miss Denver has a voice.” Travis smirks, coming to sit by me. I give him a small smile. “Seriously, Daria, that was stunning.”

  “You’re wasted as a trainee lawyer.” Austin leans down to kiss my cheek.

  I need to get out of here. “I need some air.” My eyes clash with Striker’s. I drop my head and walk out.

  I go to the lake I come to to think. Lately, I’ve been down here a lot. It’s the closest I get to the clubhouse since it’s only a fifteen-minute walk from here. So, I was close enough to the clubhouse and Striker without being physically with him.

  The way Striker was looking at me, like he wanted to follow me down here. A large part of me wanted him to. I miss him so much, but I still feel hurt that as soon as I said it was over, he slid right between a whore’s legs.

  You don’t know what happened. You left before his lips touched hers, if they even did.

  “Still have the voice of an angel.” Dad pulls me out of my internal battle about whether what I saw was real or not and sits beside me. After a lot of heart to hearts, I feel like I'm getting him back. “I always loved hearing you sing.” He looks out toward the water. “I had so many dreams for you to be
on Broadway. That's where you belong, not behind a desk representing crooks and criminals.”

  “That's all I wanted to do. Singing and music make me forget everything.” I look out at the calming water as memories of my stepmom, and how controlling she was, take over.

  “I’m sorry for everything, pumpkin.” I glance around to see him looking down, sadness consuming him as memories of the past hit him.

  “I know, Dad. I just want to get back to where we were.” I take his hand in mine. I need to draw some strength from him to get through the rest of this night with Striker’s eyes on me.

  “Are you really doing okay?”

  My eyes burn with unshed tears, and my nose stings. How can I tell him I'm pregnant again? We've just started talking again and getting closer than ever before. I don't want to ruin it and have a repeat of what happened when I told him about Emily. “Pumpkin? You can tell me anything, you know.” I gaze into his blue eyes, still debating whether to tell him.

  I take in a big breath and let it go. “I'm pregnant.”

  To my surprise, he pulls me into his arms, kissing my head like I wished he had done when I was seventeen, pregnant, and scared.

  “I guessed.”

  I shoot up quickly, looking at him. “How?”

  “You have the same look you had when you were pregnant with Emily. The fear, the bathroom trips, the color draining from your face. That, and you haven't touched a drop of alcohol. I would have thought you would at least have a glass of champagne at your brother and best friend’s wedding. Besides, you're a Denver, with Scottish blood flowing through your veins. We're known for drinking too much at a party.” His shoulder bumps me. “I'm guessing Striker doesn't know?” I stay silent as a tear slips out of my eye. “Is he abandoning you again?” Dad getting angry is the last thing I want right now. “That fucking feartie.” He must see my confused look. “Coward,” he explains. “Is it not bad enough that he knocked you up when you were seventeen, left you to deal with it at eighteen, and now he's doing it all over again?”