“I’m sorry you lost your baby,” she smiled sweetly at me. “I know she’s not yours in a way, but maybe having her will bring you some comfort and peace. It will bring me peace to know that you’ll treat her well because you know what it’s like to…” she choked on those last words.
“We can all work together. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” I told her again.
“You don’t understand. My whole family will disown me.”
“Then come to Georgia. My club can put you up there, and we can get you settled until you get on your feet.”
“You would really do that? For a woman who just had your husband’s baby?”
“I’d do it for his baby, yes.”
Again the smile appeared on her face. “That’s what I’m talking about, right there.” She pointed at me. “You will make sure her happiness comes first. Thank you,” she whispered.
“Will you at least think about it?”
“I already did. The papers have already been signed. They’re just waiting on Sweet to do his part now.”
I sighed. “You will always be welcome to visit her. I want you to know that. No matter how long it takes for you to realize you can’t live without knowing her - the door will be open.”
“I appreciate that.”
I turned to leave, because there really wasn’t anything else I could say to her at this point. She had made up her mind and decided that her daughter was better off with someone who wasn’t her.
“Jamie?” She called before I could get all the way out the door.
“Yeah?”
“Make them both ridiculously happy,” she called out, once more showing that she absolutely did care even if she was making a choice I couldn’t fathom making for myself.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I will, I promise.”
When I closed her door behind me I turned to see Sweet standing there. “Everything okay?”
“She signed the papers,” I told him.
“I know. I have them right here,” he held up a stack of papers and I just leaned into him for a hug.
“She told me to make sure you both are ridiculously happy.”
“I heard that, sugar.”
“Did you hear all of it?”
“Probably not, but I was here for a good portion. That was a beautiful thing you did telling her you had a place for her so she would stay in my daughter’s life.”
“That wasn’t beautiful, it was the right thing to do for the baby.”
“Still,” he said as he kissed the top of my head. “Not many women would offer that for their man’s ex. You did that for my baby girl.” He squeezed me to him. “I love you with everything I have in me.”
“I love you too, babe.”
“I know,” he said simply before pulling me along down the hall. “Let’s go. I’m pretty sure the nurse said they’re about to discharge Becca. She could probably do without watching us start on this ridiculously happy chapter of our lives.”
I smiled at him, because his being thoughtful like that was a beautiful thing too.
Chapter 25
Two days later, we ended up taking the baby home with us in Ghost’s truck with the bikes hitched up in a trailer on the back. Ghost and Leanne followed behind in her car, because neither of them was ready to say goodbye to their new grandbaby just yet. Didn’t seem to matter to Leanne that her and Ghost weren’t hitched. She still considered the baby her grandchild, which warmed my heart considerably. Despite Angel Girl trying to talk her out of it, Becca actually went through with signing her rights away to our daughter. That part didn’t feel so great, because I felt that I was the reason my daughter wouldn’t get to know her birth mom, but Angel Girl assured me that wasn’t the case. Becca had been given every opportunity to change her mind, and Angel even told her that if she ever did she would still be able to see her daughter so long as Angel was in the picture. Like that was going to change. It would never change if I had anything to say about it.
“Where in the heck are we going to put a baby?” Angel Girl asked as we drove toward Sierra High. Shit. She had a damn good point. Neither of us had a house, or even an apartment, set up. We each had our own spaces at the clubhouses still.
“I guess we need to buy a place, huh?” I asked, grinning over at her.
“Obviously, but until then?”
“Until then, we either take Leanne up on her offer to stay at her house or we set up your room at the clubhouse since you have your own little kitchenette and everything already there. Mine only has the basic bedroom and bathroom.”
“Yeah, I think that sounds wise. Leanne is trying to sell her house. She doesn’t need us crowded into it with a baby when prospective buyers come through.”
“That’s settled then. We’ll start looking right away and work on getting into a place as soon as possible. Hopefully, it won’t take too long.”
Angel didn’t say anything, she just sat there in the backseat staring into the car seat where my newborn daughter was bundled and sleeping peacefully. “She’s just so beautiful,” she whispered. “I can’t stop staring at her.” My heart kicked itself against my ribs so hard that I wasn’t sure if I should keep driving or pull over.
“Sugar,” I choked causing her to finally glance up at me in the rearview mirror. She just smiled brightly and then turned her face back down to stare at my daughter some more - our daughter. It was obvious Jamie was already the mom that little girl deserved whether she came from her DNA or not.
When we pulled up to the S.H.E. Clubhouse the women were all there outside waiting along with Quickshot. “Let’s see the precious little one,” Keys squealed as soon as Angel Girl opened the back door to get out.
“Back off and let us get her inside first. It’s hotter than hell-o out here,” she corrected her curse word at the last minute and I just chuckled.
“It’s not like she’s going to know,” I told her as I turned back to see Angel unbuckling the car seat from the truck.
“I know, and I need the practice,” she sighed.
“Let me get that for you,” I told her and grabbed the baby carrier from her hands. She kept glancing longingly at it as we walked inside. “You’ll get her back,” I teased.
“I know. It’s just that…” she didn’t even finish what she was saying choosing to poke her bottom lip out in protest instead. “I love you,” I leaned in to whisper into her hair before placing a kiss there. Her eyes sparkled with something I hadn’t seen in them since the day after our wedding and again, my heart kicked up a notch. My sugar was starting to forgive me for being a dumbass. Thank fuck.
“We all just want to get a quick peek at the little cutie, and then we’ll escort you up to your room.”
I wasn’t sure why we needed an escort to Angel’s room, but I just went with it. Twenty minutes went by with all the women fawning all over my daughter before someone asked the dreaded question. “Wait, what’s her name?”
“She doesn’t have one yet,” I replied.
“Sweet didn’t have a lot of time to come to terms with the fact that he was going to be a dad, and when he sort of did, he assumed the mom would be picking out a name,” Angel Girl explained. “Now, he wants to just get to know her for a couple of days before he decides.”
“That’s understandable,” JoJo told us and I didn’t fail to notice that she had a sparkling rock on her hand. I was about to ask what was up with that when Tash jumped up and clapped her hands excitedly, startling the baby.
“Crap,” she whispered. “Sorry!” Angel Girl took the baby out of the car seat and held her up to her chest, rocking her gently.
“Better get this little one upstairs. She’s going to need a change and to be fed soon.” We followed Tash, Keys, and JoJo up the stairs and then when they came to Angel’s bedroom, they opened the door and each stepped back out of the way. Angel got to the door ahead of me and then just paused there, nearly causing me to run into her.
“What’s up?” I asked t
he question about one second before I glanced up and around the room. The women had transformed the room into a master suite/nursery complete with a crib on one side of the room with frilly pink bedding and a mobile hanging above it that cast little moons and stars on the wall and ceiling.
“Oh my God!” Angel finally squeaked out before moving forward.
I turned back to the girls before moving. “Thank you all.”
“We figured you wouldn’t have had a chance to get anything yet, so this is our welcome home slash baby shower surprise for you guys.” I turned back to the room to see Angel wiping her eyes as she laid our daughter down in the crib and then spun to her friends. She took off running and I got out of the way just in time for her to nearly tackle Tash to the ground.
“You guys are the best!”
Ghost and Leanne had made it upstairs by then. “What’s all this about?” He asked.
I pointed to the room. “Take a look,” I offered as I moved out of the way once more so he and Leanne could pass.
“Aww,” Leanne moaned out. “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” She cooed as she leaned over the crib. “Look at that little Princess Peanut squirming all around.” Her baby talk caught Angel Girl’s attention and she quickly jumped up to head back into the room.
“I really do need to change her. She’s probably squirming because she’s uncomfortable.”
“Does she even cry?” JoJo asked as she peeked inside.
“Not much,” Angel answered and Leanne huffed out a laugh before tacking on, “yet.”
Angel girl just sighed. “Don’t jinx it,” she told Leanne before grabbing the diaper bag I had slung over my shoulder. “She’s such a sweetheart. I don’t think she’s ever going to scream her little head off, is she?” She cooed to the baby.
My attention moved to Ghost as he appeared mesmerized watching his daughter take care of mine. He noticed me watching and came to stand beside me. “She looks so much like her mom did when we had her,” he admitted as he rubbed a spot over his chest. Leanne hadn’t missed the interaction and she smiled up at me then, letting me know she was supportive of his memories. Not that I doubted she would be, but it was nice to know that Ghost was finally with a woman that his daughter could not only approve of and get along with, but that would never force either of them to not include memories of the woman they’d both loved.
We moved out of the room and into the hallway where everyone else was congregated. Angel changed the baby and spoke softly to Leanne as they fed her and got ready to put her down. It was about fifteen minutes later when they quietly came out of the room and met us all in the loft area lounge.
“Is LeLi sleeping?”
“What did you just say?” Angel asked.
“I thought we could call her LeLi. For Leanne Celia Marks.”
“Leanne Celia?” Her lip wobbled a bit when she spoke. The broken name coming from her lips caught everyone’s attention.
“I can’t think of a better name since those two women made you who you are today. It’s a strong name for a baby girl.” Angel Girl ducked her head into my shoulder and sobbed. Having someone remember her mom that way was probably gutting her, though not in a bad way. Even still I hadn’t been ready for that reaction, nor was I ready to see Leanne doing the same in Ghost’s arms. He just glanced at me with tear-glazed eyes and mouthed, “thank you,” to me. I didn’t want this to be a heavy moment so I nudged Angel.
“You didn’t answer, sugar. She sleepin’?”
“For now,” she managed to get out as she wiped her eyes on my shirt before moving to look up at me.
“I’ll make sure she’s as strong as her name,” she told me.
“I know you will, sugar.” It occurred to me then that my daughter was all alone in that room. I wasn’t sure that I was okay with that. “Maybe I should just go and sit in there in case she wakes.”
Angel grinned at me then and held up what looked like a child’s walkie-talkie. “I have the monitor with me. She’ll be fine for a few minutes. I just wanted to come thank everyone again.
“No need to thank us,” Tash tossed out with the wave of her hand. “That’s what family does.”
“Still,” Angel started to say when Dane came up the stairs in a bit of a hurry. I was immediately on my feet, as were Angel Girl, Quickshot and Ghost. Tash and Keys had already been standing and JoJo had left a few minutes before.
“What’s going on?” I asked as Dane drew closer.
“I have news about Kat.”
“Oh God,” Angel hissed out.
“It’s not good.” Dane admitted as he handed over his cell and I took it first. There was a picture of a woman’s torso with words carved into her abdomen. I shook my head knowing exactly what that meant.
“We’re sure this is her?”
“Yeah, police are already all over it. Confirmed her identity from dental records and the tattoo she had on her shoulder blade.
“Let me see,” Angel Girl called out and I reluctantly handed over the phone. As soon as she saw the image her eyes shot back up to Dane. “Tell me you have someone on them,” she commanded.
He nodded. “Paul is there now. Aaron sent one of the guys back to help cover too.”
Angel nodded. “We need to get them here and keep them on lockdown for the time being,” she commanded once again.
“I’m not sure she’s going to go for that,” Dane informed her.
“I don’t care. Remind her of what happened last time she didn’t follow orders and explain there’s an innocent kid involved now.”
“That’s harsh,” Dane told her.
She held his cell phone up to his face. “This is harsh. He carved that message into her stomach. What do you think he’ll do to MiMi when he finds she’s the one with his son?”
“Fuck!” Dane breathed out and took his phone from Angel. “I’ll see that they’ve brought in.” With that he turned and left.
“What exactly was carved into Kat’s stomach?” It was Keys who asked and Quickshot was there with his arm around her middle so she could lean into him as she did.
“I’m coming for him.”
Bonus Chapters
Author’s Note:
The Bonus Chapters were written to show Sweet’s perspective during the original book Angel Girl (what is now part 1), so when you read these you’ll be seeing what took place prior to, and during, Part One of the book since that portion of the book was written entirely from Angel Girl’s (Jamie Murdock) perspective.
Bonus Chapter One
The gravelly voice beside me caught my attention. “You have a death wish, or something?”
“Hmm?” I barely heard what the old man, Mick, was saying next to me because everything just stopped and sort of floated away into the background when I saw her. Two girls had walked into the game room of the clubhouse where I was currently supposed to be cleaning up broken glass from the fight that had broken out a little while ago amongst brothers who had too much to drink and not enough damn sense. She walked right up behind some gangly kid they started calling Quickshot, and raised her high heel clad foot to his ass before she pushed and knocked him into the pool table making him scratch his shot.
“I said, you got a death wish?” Mick’s voice pulled me, reluctantly, away from the scene playing out before me. Quickshot had spun around and picked the girl up into a tight hug that had me seeing red for some odd reason. “That there’s Jamie Murdock, boy.” The man explained as if it meant anything to me. “Ghost’s daughter,” he added.
Okay, that helped put the warning I’d just received into perspective. Sure, the president of the Aces High MC wouldn’t take kindly to a prospect hitting on his daughter, but I would be patching in soon. Mick laughed as I continued staring at the girl anyway. Her long dark hair hung to the middle of her back in large, soft curls. Her body was stuffed into tight jeans and a form fitting tank top that did nothing to hide her natural curves. That wasn’t what stopped me in my tracks though. When she turn
ed to look at me, her eyes held me captive. They were like two aquamarines, my mother’s birthstone, staring back at me. “His SIXTEEN year old daughter, dumbass!” Mick loudly hissed in my ear. Now, he had my full, undivided attention. Sixteen? Did he really just say that?
“What?” I had to ask just in case I heard that wrong, or maybe he was fucking with me. Then again, I knew that kid she’d just kicked, Quickshot was under age still too. Even though he was a legacy in the MC, his old man was making him wait until he was 18 to prospect. He was a year away from prospecting, I think. Damn.
“You heard me. She’s sixteen, and still in high school, Scottie-boy. You better shut that shit down before you lose your chance at a patch. Hell, shut it down before you lose the chance to remain an intact man for the rest of your life. If her dad were to catch you drooling over Princess Jamie, you could kiss life goodbye, never mind, club life.” The old man grumbled. “Besides, I didn’t sponsor you into the club just to watch you fuck it up. I told your uncle I’d look out for you. Now, stop being a dumbass, and making my job hard.”
For the rest of the night I noticed Jamie noticing me, but damn if I could do anything about it. Hell, she was only sixteen. That meant she was still a baby. I felt kind of horrible for even noticing her like that. I was 21 years old for Christ’s sake. I needed to move my focus to actual women, not little girls. The problem was she didn’t look like a little girl. The really funny thing was, when I looked around the clubhouse, the supposed “real” women there didn’t interest me even a little bit. They were the epitome of club whores in an MC. Even the younger ones had that slightly used up quality about them. Too much makeup, always under the influence of something, and I really couldn’t get past the fact that they would drop and suck or fuck any of my MC brothers. I know some of these dirty bastards didn’t always wrap up tight. That shit made me cringe and look away as quickly as possible.
Angel Girl Page 31