Jag (Black Hawk MC Book 5)

by Carson Mackenzie

  “Dom, you don’t need me there. Your focus needs to be on Poppy.” River touched my arm and rubbed.

  “I don’t know anything about taking care of a baby. What am I supposed to do?” I asked and moved her hand off my arm only to grab both her hands with mine.

  “You’re just overwhelmed. Once you get there and see her everything will fall in place.”

  I knew it wasn’t rational to put River on the spot, but at the moment she felt like a lifeline to me. And if she weren’t by my side, I would drown.

  “Please come with me. I want you there. I need you there,” I said, and River looked at Sami who only shrugged.

  I glanced over my shoulder at Speed, Coast, and my dad.

  “Say yes, girl, so we can get it in gear,” my dad said, and I turned back to River.

  “You all realize this is crazy, right? I’ve known him a total of three days. And I’m supposed to get on plane and travel across the country to meet his daughter whom he didn’t know about.”

  “Does your babbling mean you are considering it?” I asked, and River stared at me.

  “I might be able to sway her,” my dad said, then looked at River. “That your new vehicle beside Sami’s car?” he asked her, and I frowned.

  “Yes.” I noticed River was frowning, too.

  “Nice. Will you make my boy happy if I stand in the road and let you back into me?” River didn’t answer, she just stared at my dad.

  “Dad, enough,” I said, but kept my eyes on River. “Sorry, he’s just trying to lighten the mood.” River looked back at me.

  “Good, we’re going to need his humor for the long ass flight.” It was my turn to stare.

  “That a girl! Live in the moment,” my dad said, then cupped her face and kissed her forehead. “Thanks, darlin’. I think he does need you.”

  I still held River’s hands and I gave them a squeeze, drawing her attention back to me as my dad stepped back.

  “You’re really coming?”

  “Yes, which if we don’t get a move on it, I may change my mind. You go with your dad and get want you’re taking ready to go. I need to pack my own bag and call my dad and tell him I’ll be out of town. Neither one of you need to drive, so we will take my vehicle to the airport. I’ll need it there anyway because I’m not sure how long I’ll get to stay. I’ve got to get things ready before schools starts.”

  “You’re amazing,” I said and kiss her cheek. “See you, in say, an hour?”

  “That should work,” River answered.

  “While we’re waiting on you, I’ll go online and book the tickets,” my dad said, then started toward his truck.

  “Thank you,” I said, kissed her, then turned to the others. “Ready to go?”

  “Coast will follow you and your dad. Sami and I will wait on River, and she can follow us to the compound,” Speed said.

  “Thanks, brother. Didn’t even think of that.”

  “You got other things on your mind. Now get going, you have a daughter to get ready to meet,” Speed said, slapped me on the back and followed River and Sami into the house.

  I walked to my dad’s truck as Coast started up my bike. My dad pulled out once I was in the truck and Coast pulled out behind us.

  In a few hours, I would be on my way to meet my daughter. It seemed surreal.

  Chapter Fourteen

  River

  Dom and his dad were ready and waiting as I pulled up to Dom’s house. I was glad Speed and Sami stayed while I put together a bag because I would have missed the turn off otherwise.

  The drive to the airport was a somber one with benign conversation to pass the time. As I drove, it gave me a chance to observe the relationship between Dom and Flyboy. What I witnessed was a father and son with similar personalities. As they spoke, there was also no doubt of their love or support for each other. It didn’t escape me that my dad and I shared the same. The only difference Flyboy raised Dom while my dad had to parent at a distance.

  I called my dad to let him know I would be out of town. If he was shocked about me going, it didn’t show. He just gave his support as usual, told me he was there if I needed him, and to tell Dom the same. I’d forgotten about filing the restraining order until he mentioned it. And I promised it would be the first thing I took care of when I returned. I also left a message with the principal of the school, saying I had to go out of town for an emergency but would be back in plenty of time before school started.

  When we reached the airport and checked in, our wait to board wasn’t long. Flyboy had gotten us on a straight flight that left no time for any delay in getting to the airport. Which worked, but only first-class seats were left on the flight. I sat with Dom, and his dad sat in the seat across the aisle.

  The flight was long, but the time passed as we discussed the plan for once we were on the ground. Flyboy had reserved a rental car when he made the flight arrangements. I used on flight internet to secure two rooms in a hotel down the street from the hospital. Depending on what was going on with Poppy when we got there, we would need a place for our bags and to catch some sleep.

  Throughout the flight, Dom was subdued. Other than participating in the plan of action, he stayed in his own thoughts. I couldn’t blame him in his situation, it was a lot to take in, and he would need to be prepared for what laid ahead.

  I was mentally exhausted, and I knew Dom had to be, too.

  Once we landed, we walked past baggage claim and headed straight for airport transit and jumped on the bus that would drop us off at the rental car place. Flyboy took care of the paperwork, and with directions to where the rental was located, we headed out of the building.

  As we drove to the hotel, no one spoke, the trip taking its toll on the three of us. And it was only the start.

  Checked into the hotel, we rode the elevated to our floor. Finding the room numbers, which lucky for us were beside each other, I stepped in front of the door to my room. As I swiped my key card and pushed the door the open, Dom and his dad did the same to the door next to mine.

  In my room, I set my bag on the end of one of the beds, then grabbed what I needed out of it to freshen up. A shower would have to wait, there was no time because Dom needed to get to the hospital.

  I started toward the bathroom, and a knock on my door stopped me. When I reached the door and opened it, Dom stepped forward, and I made room for him to enter. That’s when I noticed he held his bag.

  “Dom, why do you have your bag?” I asked. My face had to hold the look of confusion, I’d seen him go in the other room.

  “I want to stay here. With you,” he said and set his bag on the spare bed beside mine. Then he sat on the edge of the other bed and rested his arms across his lap.

  “Dom, your dad. He—”

  “Is capable of sleeping by himself,” he said, finishing my sentence.

  “You got a lot on your mind, Dom. Not sure us sharing a room is the answer,” I said, as I stood by the bathroom door. With the look on his face and the slump of his shoulders, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around him and tell him it would work out.

  “Yeah, and the next little bit is going to add to it. So, I need to be with you to balance it out. River, I know you’re confused on why I wanted you here. I’m confused, too. Do you think I don’t know it is moving fast between us? Christ, a couple run-ins, and a couple days together doesn’t mean we know each other. So the fact that I feel I need to have you near makes no sense. As a lawyer, I follow a set of rules. As the VP of the club, I follow a set of rules. As a man, I follow my set of rules. But with each, you also have to follow your instincts. And my instincts lead to you.”

  “I bet when you walk into a courtroom, the opposing attorney cringes.” My words received a half smile. “We probably won’t spend a lot of time here anyway. So, okay.”

  “It doesn’t matter. When we are here, I want to be with you.”

  The way he said it was simple, but my mind said it was anything but. When less than six months ago, my worl
d started to crumble, two months ago I literally ran into the man, and in three days—with him in front of me—I felt content. How can anyone trust that?

  “I want to get to the hospital as soon as we freshen up,” he stood and moved to his bag and unzipped it.

  “I won’t be long,” I said, then walked into the bathroom, tired, confused, and no closer to an answer to my feelings for Dom.

  Jag

  The hospital doors opened with a swish, and I walked through. On our way to the hospital, Mr. Blankenship called to let me know he had approved my visitation, and a badge would be ready at the waiting desk for the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). It drove home that I had a daughter with no legal claim to her.

  That would be rectified soon enough.

  I informed Simone’s dad there would be two others that needed to be added to Poppy’s visitation. After I gave him my dad’s and River’s names and received his word he would take care of it, I disconnected the call.

  We made our way to the floor where the PICU was located. Once we had our badges, a nurse led us to where Poppy was. When we walked in, Mr. Blankenship sat in a chair by the crib-shaped bed that held a small form.

  “There was no change through the night. No worse, no better. They say that is good, means the meds in her IV are working.”

  I heard my dad’s voice as he talked with Mr. Blankenship, but I didn’t care what was being said. My attention was on my daughter, Poppy. Her head had a small bandage wrapped around it, leaving the top uncovered. Short, dark brown curls could be seen. Her skin was golden like mine. With her eyelids shut, I had no idea what the color of her eyes was.

  In her facial features, I saw parts of Simone and me combined. God, I wanted to lift her and hold her tight and take away every hurt she had.

  “She is beautiful, Dom,” River said as she moved beside me, placing a hand on my arm.

  I couldn’t speak, so I nodded. I touched the one arm that wasn’t bandaged, careful not to hit the tube taped to her skin.

  “Dom?” At my dad saying my name I looked up at him, but his eyes were on Poppy. I felt my emotions, but my dad’s showed on his face, telling me he felt as I did.

  “I know,” I whispered, then gathered my thoughts, and turned to Mr. Blankenship.

  “I’m sorry, Dom. This isn’t the way a man should meet his daughter for the first time. I know you are angry, and I will answer any questions you have.”

  “Damn straight you will,” I snapped, and River squeezed my arm.

  “Don’t let Poppy’s first time hearing your voice be because you are angry.”

  “Yeah.” I leaned and kissed the top of River’s head, and I caught the question in Simone’s dad’s eyes. “River is my ol’ lady,” I answered his silent question.

  I could feel River’s eyes on me, and when I looked, her brows were furrowed.

  “Don’t panic, it was the easiest explanation,” I said in a low voice by her ear.

  “River,” Mr. Blankenship said and nodded his head to acknowledge her.

  “Mr. Blankenship.”

  “Please, call me Norman. We’re going to be spending a good amount of time with each other for the next little bit.”

  A nurse stepped in and informed us we would have to step out for the upcoming shift change. We could return in an hour and a half.

  “We could go to the cafeteria,” River brought up, and I nodded along with my dad.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll join you. I could use some coffee. Plus, it will give us a chance to talk,” Norman said.

  “Yes, we do need to talk,” I said, reached for River’s hand and linked our fingers. Once the badges were turned in, the four of us headed to the cafeteria. As we walked, Norman told us about Poppy’s birth, to include the date, the time, and her weight. My suspicion was right, at barely eleven months for Poppy’s age, Simone was three months pregnant when I left. She’d known before I left the area.

  The four of us sat at a table as off the grid as possible to have some privacy.

  “I’ve had plenty of time to think before arriving here, Norman. I didn’t head home until two months after Simone and I ended our relationship. She knew she carried my child while I was still here.”

  “Yes.”

  “I am sorry for your loss, Norman. I know you are burying your daughter, but goddamn, my daughter could have died, and I wouldn’t never have known about her. Simone had her flaws, but I wouldn’t ever have believed her capable of this. And you, why didn’t you inform me? I not only had a fucking right to know, I had a right to make the decision on how I would be in Poppy’s life. Both were fucking taking from me. And I wasn’t the only one shorted. My dad missed...what, a year, with his granddaughter? I didn’t even know her age or the date she was born until now. I know nothing that deals with her because others made that fucking choice!”

  “Dom,” River said.

  “What!” I turned to her and snapped. River’s eyes went wide, and I felt like shit. “I’m sorry, River.”

  “I know it’s because you are angry but, Dom, you’re here now with Poppy. I’m not dismissing that the whole thing is shitty. You can’t make up the time no matter how mad you get. People do crappy things to other people. And though Norman was involved, and you want to lash out at him for that, it’s nothing compared to the punishment of having to bury his daughter,” River paused and looked at Norman, “because no parent should have to bury their child. And yes, Poppy could have died, but she didn’t. You can’t dwell on what could have.”

  I looked at Norman and knew River was right. The man had dark circles under his eyes. He looked worn out and dealing with Simone’s death, Poppy in the hospital, it had taken its toll on him.

  “Want I’m trying to say, is that things happen that are out of our control. But once given the opportunity, we decide how it gets handled from that point,” River said, then picked up her coffee cup and took a drink.

  “River’s right, son. You can only go forward,” my dad said and patted River’s arm that laid on the table.

  “Yeah, she is. Glad she came with us. She might be the only one to keep us out of trouble.”

  “No, even I’m not that good,” she said behind the coffee cup she’d lifted to take a drink.

  I chuckled, my dad laughed, and Norman snorted. Even in serious situations sometimes you needed to take a moment to just be.

  “Since we have twenty minutes left before we can go upstairs, I’d like to get through everything, so our time can be spent seeing to Poppy. First, she will be going home with me. I won’t keep you from seeing her, but you will need to come to Shades Valley. Second, when the doctor makes his rounds, I’m going to have them take a swab from Poppy and me. Going to need the DNA to get my name added to her birth certificate since Simone is deceased. I still have some contacts around here, so I should be able to expedite anything I need to be done. I’d like to get any running I have to do done before they wake Poppy. Because I’m not going to want to leave her if I don’t have to. That’s where I stand on things, Norman,” I laid everything on the table. I needed to know if I was going to have to fight Norman.

  “I’m not going to fight you on taking Poppy. She needs to be with a parent. I’m her grandad and I love that little girl, but I know my limits. I still had some youth when Simone’s mother died, and I had to raise her by myself. I don’t have that energy now. I’m a workaholic, which would put Poppy being raised by a nanny more than by me. With her across the country, it might be good for me. It will force me to take a vacation every now and then, so I can visit her. If your contacts can’t help you get things done before Poppy is ready to travel, let me know. Got a few contacts that owe me favors,” Norman finished speaking and looked at his watch, then continued. “It’s about time to go back up, but I need to go by the funeral home to deal with Simone’s burial. I’ll try to get back before the doctor makes rounds. When I come back though, I’ll bring all the documents you’re going to need for Poppy. Also, I imagine you’ll be flyi
ng home, so later we can talk about when you want to get Poppy’s things boxed and sent to your house.” Norman stood, and I looked at the clock on the cafeteria’s wall and did the same.

  “Don’t rush to get back, Norman. I’ll let you know what the doctor says if you miss him.”

  Norman shook hands with me, then my dad, and left to take care of his business. Dad stood and stretched as I held the chair for River. The three of us rode the elevator up and then stopped by the desk for the badges we needed.

  The whole process would become a routine before Poppy was released no doubt.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jag

  “Has she started to wake?” River asked as she rushed in the room.

  “No. You’re flushed. What did you do, run here?” I asked from the chair beside Poppy’s bed.

  “Damn near. We picked up the badges and before I even got mine on, she was gone. I tried to catch up, but the girl is fast,” my dad said when he walked in, clipping the badge to his t-shirt.

  “Hey, not my fault you’re out of shape,” River said, and I laughed when my dad raised a brow and glared at her.

  Each day that passed while we’d been there, I watched River and my dad grow closer. At first, I admit, it made me a bit jealous that she seemed to be growing closer to him than me. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that she goaded him as a way to get him focused on something else when the stress seemed to be getting the best of him.

  That’s when I noticed she did the same with me, but instead of goading me, she touched me. It was anything from resting her hand on my arm to moving the hair off my forehead, or she’d place her hand on my back and rub over the muscles that would tense while I watched the medical team wheel Poppy away for tests. I learned a long time ago that it was the small things that, when added together, made the biggest impact.

  “I told you on the phone that it wouldn’t happen right away. They stopped the meds that were keeping her under along with all the other stuff that was hooked up to her. Except for the monitor. Besides, the doctor said it was better for her to come around on her own than for them to force it,” I said and smiled as I watched her run her fingers in the tiny curls on my daughter’s head. I wondered briefly if Poppy felt as soothed as I did when River touched me.