by Lane Hart
Finally, he stops pacing and looks at me, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Yes. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that, though! He didn’t want you to know.”
“Why not?” I ask. “Did he know…he knew that night that you showed up at my house? He tracked me down, knew I was not only a nurse but his biological sister?”
“Yes.”
“That-that asshole!” I exclaim. Why would he do that? God, I feel so stupid for not realizing it sooner.
I need to leave, to get some air. I start for the door, and then remember the reason I was there in the first place — Ace.
Going over to where he fell asleep during our argument, I scoop him up to leave.
“Could you please get the door?”
“You’re leaving?” Phillip asks from behind me.
“Please open the door. My hands are full, as you can see.”
“Joanna, don’t leave when you’re pissed.”
“You should’ve told me!” I yell at him.
“Nash told me not to, and he had a good reason.”
“Oh yeah? What reason?” I blink back the tears in my eyes, angry and hurt that they knew this from the very first day and didn’t tell me. I guess Nash never wanted a sister; he just wanted someone who could patch up his friends.
“He never meant to drag you into the MC’s business. You pulled the bullets out of me. You saw how dangerous shit can be for us.”
“He used me. You used me like your own little private hospital!” I yell at him, which is when he finally opens the door and lets me escape.
Chapter Fourteen
Joanna
I drive around aimlessly in the dark, rainy night for hours until Ace whines from the passenger seat. Of course, he probably needs to go to the bathroom. It’s going to take some time before I get used to having someone else’s needs to constantly consider. But that’s not actually a bad thing. I have been lonely on my own since the divorce. It’ll be nice to have someone to come home to, even if he runs on four legs.
Maybe I was unknowingly circling the area or maybe it was fate that we were on the street right outside of the Dirty Aces pool hall. I take it as a sign that I should go in after Ace handles his business.
He takes forever in the pouring rain, searching for the perfect spot to finally squat awkwardly since he can’t exactly lift his back leg. Then I’m hurrying him under the awning as fast as his three legs can take him. On the dry part of the sidewalk, Ace shakes his short fur to dry it and then lays down in protest. I guess I’ll be carrying a wet dog inside with me.
There are a few men sitting at the bar, but none of them wearing the leather vests of the MC. I do recognize the man playing pool with a blonde woman in a very short dress. At least, they’re holding pool sticks, but I don’t think the way he’s bending over her, kissing her neck is part of the game.
“Wirth!” I say, and he jumps up and turns around to face me with the stick in his hand.
“Who is she?” the woman with him asks.
“Maeve, doll, this is Joanna. She’s…a nurse who helped heal the guys after the shooting,” he says, although it sounded like he started to say something else. “Joanna, this is my girlfriend, Maeve.”
“Aren’t you forgetting another word you should use to describe me to your girlfriend?” I ask.
“Ah, no, no I’m not,” he says with a shake of his head before he turns to Maeve. “I swear, it’s not what you think. I haven’t ever touched her!”
After his plea, I realize my words sounded like a jealous woman and not what I intended.
“I meant sister, as in Nash’s sister,” I clarify.
“Oh shit,” Wirth says softly and then calls out, “Nash! You’ve got a visitor.”
“That’s right, Nash. Your sister is here to see you!” I add when the tall, dark and handsome man comes out of one of the rooms cautiously.
“Hi, Joanna,” he says quietly, and then he shoves his hands into the front of his jean pockets, trying to look sweet and innocent. “How did you find out?”
“Phillip just told me! Why didn’t you?” I yell at him even though I’m guessing it’s a little hard to look indignant with my arms full of a wet dog and the rain dripping down my hair to my face.
Nash’s brow wrinkles in confusion and then his eyes narrow. “What the fuck were you doing with Fiasco?”
“That doesn’t matter! And his name is Phillip!” I say, growing even angrier at him for being upset with the other man. I was a few hours ago, but only because he kept this from me. I can almost bet that Phillip didn’t tell me because Nash ordered him not to. While I’m not entirely sure of the MC’s whole ranking system, I’m certain Nash has more authority in the MC than Phillip. “You should have told me we were related from the beginning!”
“What’s all this shouting about?” another man asks when he comes out of the room Nash just left wearing the same leather vest and jeans. It doesn’t take long for me to recognize his shoulder length brown hair and tattoos up and down his arms. Malcolm, the MC’s president. “Joanna?” he says in surprise. “Why the fuck did you bring a dog into our bar?”
“Long story,” I say with a sigh. “But since Nash here has been stalking me, maybe he can fill you in!”
“I wasn’t stalking you,” Nash says. “Lucy, my girlfriend, found you and the records about you being a nurse. I wasn’t planning to ever bother you; but on the night of the shooting, you were our only option. Malcolm and Hunt would’ve survived but not Fiasco. Would you have rather we let him die?”
I wince at the thought of what would’ve happened to Phillip, if they hadn’t gotten him to me in time. I would have never had a chance to help him or talk to him or kiss him…
“I don’t care that you brought them to my place. What I care about is that you lied about how you knew who I was and that I was a nurse! You should’ve told me everything from the beginning.”
“That night was hectic,” Nash says. “I didn’t want to distract you from sewing Fiasco up with the bombshell that we had the same mother and maybe the same father. I couldn’t take your attention away from the patients for their sake.”
“So, you might be my brother, not just half-brother but…” I’m unsure what to say to that, so I sort of rock the wet dog in my arms like a baby, more to calm myself than him since he seems content to just be held.
“Yes,” he answers. “There was no father listed on your birth certificate, but there was on mine. Lucy found records showing that both of them lived at the same address all those years…”
“They were living together, like a couple, and they just decided to give up not one baby but two? Why?”
“I wish I knew,” Nash replies with a heavy sigh.
“Were they young?”
“In their twenties.”
“So not teenagers.”
“No, not teenagers,” he says with a shake of his head.
“They just didn’t want us?”
He shrugs. “Maybe they thought they were doing us a favor, letting another family adopt us and give us a better life.”
“The family that adopted me was nice enough, but we were poor as fuck,” I admit.
“At least you got adopted. I bounced around foster homes, nothing ever permanent.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. “I’m sorry,” I tell him and then laugh. “I came here pissed at you, and somehow I’m the one apologizing.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you after the crisis was averted. I should have, but I didn’t know if you would want to know me. Not to mention that we had already dragged you into the MC’s business more than we should have. Keeping you apart from all this is for your safety.”
“I’m tougher than I look, Nash. And of course, I would want to know my brother, as long as you’re not a serial killer or anything,” I joke.
He cringes and keeps his gaze on the floor. “In that case, you should probably leave and stay away from me.”
“What?” I ask in confusion as I look at the ot
her two men’s faces and they quickly go about their business, Wirth back to teaching pool and Malcolm to the bar to grab a drink, both pretending like I’m not there. “You’re joking, right? You seem like such a nice guy…”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Nash says softly before he disappears back into the other room, leaving me standing there making a puddle of rainwater on the floor, trying to figure out what he meant by that statement.
What did he mean? Was he being serious about killing people? God, men are so infuriating, even ones I’m apparently related to.
There’s no trying to blink back the tears this time, I let them fall as I turn to leave.
Chapter Fifteen
Fiasco
Despite how exhausted my body feels after a shower, aching from work and desperately needing sleep, I know I won’t be able to get any until I make sure Joanna is okay.
Since Nash, Wirth, and Malcolm have been blowing up my phone even though I’m obviously avoiding their calls, I’m guessing she went to the bar and confronted her brother.
I hate having her mad at me. It’s a common occurrence with women; but for some reason, it bothers me that someone as good and kind as Joanna is angry at me and hurting because of my big mouth.
Even though it’s eleven o’clock at night and the rain is pouring outside, I hurry down to the parking lot, get in my Thing, and drive over to Joanna’s place.
Her car is in the driveway; but as I knock on her door for the third time, I start to think she may not answer it. I’m about to leave when the main door opens and she’s standing on the other side of the glass in a fuzzy, white robe with little purple hearts on it.
The annoyed look on her beautiful face warns me that the first words out of her mouth will probably be to tell me to leave.
“What are you doing here, Phillip?” she asks, her voice slightly muted by the glass.
I try to find a response that will most likely win her over. “You told me I could come visit Ace anytime I wanted.”
She scowls at me for several silent seconds until I brush the front of my wet, dripping hair back. Then, finally, for some reason, her face softens, and she opens the glass door and holds it open for me to come inside.
Joanna goes into the living room while I’m still trying to dry my boots on the welcome mat and comes back with Ace in her arms and the leash connected to his collar. “Fine, Ace probably needs to go to the bathroom.”
I glance toward the hallway and ask, “You want him to take a shit on the toilet?”
Finally, she smiles and says, “I don’t know if you’re joking or not, but no, Phillip, can you please take him outside?”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” I reply as I lift the dog from her arms and carry him out the front and put him down in the yard. He looks up at me like, “What the hell, man. It’s wet as shit out here.”
“You’re not the only one getting drenched,” I tell him. “Go do your business, boy!”
He waddles off, tugging on the leash as he goes to the bushes and squats down next to one. It’s too dark to tell what he’s doing; but when he comes hobbling back to me, I pick him up and carry him back inside.
Joanna is waiting at the door with an arm full of towels. She uses the first one on Ace. “That’s as dry as he’ll get,” she says when she’s done. “I made him a bed in front of the sofa if you want to put him down there.”
I take him over to where she said and find a round doggy bed next to a bowl of water and food. She just brought him home from the vet today and she’s already taking care of him.
“There you go, buddy,” I tell him, rubbing his head. He circles around once before flopping down, laying his chin on his paws and closing his eyes like it’s lights out for him.
“You’re dripping wet,” Joanna says as I stand up, and then she reaches up with another towel to dry my face and then my hair. I could take the towel from her to dry myself off, but I prefer to let her take care of it for me.
“I didn’t just come over here to see Ace,” I tell her.
“You didn’t?” she asks, her chocolate eyes flicking to mine for a second before they lower to where she’s moving the towel down to dry my arms and then the front of my leather cut.
“No, angel. I wanted to see if you were okay.”
“I went to the pool hall,” she says.
“Did you talk to Nash?”
“I did.”
“And you’re still mad at him?”
“Yep,” she answers. “But I don’t want to talk about me.”
“Okay,” I agree.
Finally, she stops patting me dry to look up at my face. She’s so small and fragile-looking, like I could pick her up and carry her around everywhere like she does to Ace.
“Who were those children on your refrigerator?”
For a second, her question catches me off-guard, because I don’t think there have ever been any kids on top of my refrigerator. But then I realize she’s referring to the photos taped to it.
Fuck.
Well, if being a member of the MC, being dirt poor, injuring an innocent dog, and keeping the fact that she has a brother from her didn’t push her away, this will for sure.
“Are they your niece and nephew?” Joanna asks when I don’t say anything.
“No. They’re my son and daughter, Asher and Sierra.” I can’t help but smile as I say their names. I’m not ashamed of them even if they’ll probably grow up ashamed of me. I love them more than anything in the world, but I know having kids with two different women is probably a major deal breaker for a smart, beautiful woman like Joanna. Most men would’ve learned from their mistake the first time they knocked up a woman by not wearing a condom. Two is just utter stupidity on my part. I don’t have an excuse, just got too caught up in the moment to think about protection.
“You have a son and a daughter?” Joanna repeats as if she can’t believe it.
“Yep. Asher just turned four and Sierra’s three.”
“Do they live with their mother?”
“Asher lives with his mother, and Sierra lives with hers, yeah.”
Joanna’s eyes widen. “Two different women?”
“Uh-huh. I only get to see them for an hour or so every Sunday.”
“Every Sunday?”
“Yep.”
“You mean, those two women that you saw that day that I drove you were their mothers?” she asks, and it takes me a few seconds to remember what she’s talking about. I was still healing and pretty fucking high on pain killers, so I barely remember her driving me to see them both and grovel for them to forgive me for missing our weekly date.
“They were pissed that I didn’t meet them at the playground or call them because I give them money every Sunday too. But once I showed them the bullet wounds and gave them the cash I was paid that Friday before it all went down, they were less pissed.”
“So, you’re not in a relationship with either of them?” she asks.
“God, no. They were one-night stands, and now they barely tolerate me an hour a week.”
“Why only an hour a week?”
“They don’t trust me to be alone with the kids. I can’t blame them. Hell, I thought you wanted me to put the dog on the toilet when you asked me to take him to the bathroom, Joanna!”
She purses her lips like she’s fighting a smile because she knows I’m right.
“I love Sierra and Asher, but I could never be a real father to them, so I just give their mamas as much money as I can to help them get by.”
“You’re a good man to do that, Phillip,” Joanna says. “An hour a week and you pay child support; that’s more than some fathers ever do for their children.”
“It’s not like court required child support though,” I explain. “I give them both five hundred every Sunday.”
“A thousand every week?” Joanna exclaims.
I nod. “There’s good money in construction, mostly because it’s back-breaking work that most people never want to do,” I tell her. “So,
I give them as much as I can and still make rent, even if I have to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches until the next Friday when I get paid again.”
“Oh, Phillip,” Joanna says like she thinks I’m pathetic. But then she drops the towel in her hands to grab my face, pulling my lips down to hers.
The kiss catches me off guard. After all she knows about me, I can’t believe Joanna would want to touch me, much less want to kiss me.
I shouldn’t have come over here.
I should’ve stayed away like Dev told me to do.
But the reason I didn’t was because this is exactly what I wanted to happen. And before Joanna comes to her senses, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.
I wrap my arms around her waist to pull her closer as I part her lips with my tongue and plunge it into her mouth. God, she tastes like heaven. I could kiss her for hours, days even, and never get enough.
And while I want to rip her robe off and anything she’s wearing underneath, I’m also scared shitless of what happens next. That’s never happened to me before. Usually, it’s nothing more than get both of us naked, put the rubber on, and shove my cock inside as hard and fast as possible. The women I’ve been with seem to like when I fuck their brains out and beg for more, but I don’t think Joanna would. What if I’m too rough with her or she doesn’t enjoy herself? This could be the only chance I get to be with her, and I don’t want to screw it up.
Joanna pulls away laughing, and I think I’ve already fucked things up. Then she says, “You’re too tall to keep kissing like this.”
I smile because I don’t think she’s criticizing my height, just telling me it’s inconvenient for long, passionate kisses.
“Do you…would you want to go to the bedroom?” she looks up and asks me hesitantly.
“I shouldn’t want to,” I admit, and her eyes lower. “But I want you so fucking bad,” I tell her honestly.
“Good, because I want you too, Phillip,” she says with a smile as she takes my hand and leads me to the bedroom.