by Nicola Jane
Misleading Lake
Kings Reapers MC Book 6
Nicola Jane
Contents
Spelling Note
Warning
Acknowledgments
Social Media
Playlist
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Available Now
Coming Soon
Misleading Lake
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any similarities are entirely coincidental.
Misleading Lake Copyright © 2021 by Nicola Jane. All rights are reserved. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author,
except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information, contact Nicola Jane.
Cover Designer: Charli Childs, Cosmic Letterz Design
Editor: Rebecca Vazquez, Knox Publishing
Proofreader: Jackie Ziegler, Knox Publishing
Publisher: Knox Publishing
Misleading Lake can be read as a standalone, but it follows on from the fifth book in the series, Taming Blade.
Created with Vellum
Spelling Note
Please note, this author resides in the United Kingdom and is using British English. Therefore, some words may be viewed as incorrect or spelled incorrectly, however, they are not.
Trigger Warning
The material in this book may be viewed as offensive to some readers, including graphic language, sexual situations, murder, and violence.
Acknowledgments
A quick thank you to everyone who has read and loved the Kings Reapers so far. Thanks to each and every one of you who left a review or rating or spread the word and recommended the series to your friends and family. I’ve been overwhelmed with how much people have loved Riggs, Cree, Chains, Blu, and Blade, so I hope you like Lake just as much.
I love to hear from my readers and if you’d like to get in touch, you can find me here . . .
My Facebook Page
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I’m also on Tiktok
Check out Nicola Jane’s playlist for
Misleading Lake
Breaking the Rules - Jack Savoretti
Demons - Jacob Lee
You Don’t Know - Katelyn Tarver
Hold On - Chord Overstreet
Lost - Jonathan Roy
Bad Intentions - Niykee Heaton ft. Migos
Let’s Go Home Together - Ella Enderson ft. Tom Grennan
Flames - Mod Sun ft. Avril Lavigne
Stay Away - Mod Sun ft. Machine Gun Kelly
S&M - Rihanna
i wasn’t enough for you - Hollyn
One More Night - Maroon 5
Million Reasons - Lady Gaga
Helium - Sia
No More Drama - Mary J. Blige
Chapter One
Sara
I stare in the full-length mirror at my reflection and run my hand back and forth over my four-month pregnant stomach, then glance at my friends helplessly. “I guess you can see it,” says Tillie, and Jacob nods in agreement. I wail and throw myself back into the changing room, removing the dinner dress and slipping back into my comfy joggers. “Come on, Sara, it’s not that bad. Or just cancel, say you’re sick.”
“I can’t do that. I called off on the last dinner. If I do it again, my dad will send the SAS looking for me.” It’s a slight exaggeration, but she gets my point.
In no way are my parents overbearing. Generally, they don’t check in with me unless they want me for something. Like tonight, for example. There’s a huge charity dinner, and I’m expected to attend. We’ll sit at the same table all evening and we’ll hardly speak two words to each other, but it’ll look good on them if their beautiful daughter is there to keep up the image they have created of their perfect family. My only issue, I haven’t told anyone about this baby except for my two closest friends, Tillie and Jacob.
“Wear the black dress with the scarf and drape it around your hips. Hold a bag to cover your bump,” she suggests.
I glare at the small bump and wail again. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I cry.
The curtain to my dressing room is pulled back, and Jacob pushes his athletic frame in. He grips my shoulders and pushes his face to mine. “Stop!” he orders, and I clamp my mouth closed. “Tonight will be fine. Take a breath. Pay for the dress and let’s get to your hair appointment.”
I nod and begin gathering my things. Jacob steps back out, and I hear Tillie giggle. “How do you do that?” she whispers. “Just shut her up like that?” I can picture the smirk on Jacob’s lips.
We step out of the boutique, and Tillie checks her mobile. “Fuck, I gotta go,” she mutters. “Blade’s on his way to pick me up.” I roll my eyes. She catches me and gives a disapproving glare. “We’re having lunch. Don’t be a cow,” she teases.
The rumble of his bike distracts her. Blade pushes the visor up on his helmet and looks me up and down. “I was speaking to Lake earlier. He still doesn’t know,” he points out.
“You gave me until the end of the month. Last time I checked, I still had a day left.”
Lake, Blade’s MC brother and the father to this baby, is unaware of the bean he planted in my belly, and honestly, I’m crapping myself. He doesn’t want kids, none of us planned this, but I was stupid and careless and now there’s no turning back. I don’t expect anything from him, and I wouldn’t blame him if he deleted my number and skipped to another country. I was ready to do the same and came close to me signing this kid’s life away before I realised what a selfish bitch I was being. I forgot to take the pill . . . numerous times . . . so now I have to face the consequences.
Tillie kisses me on the cheek. “Call me tomorrow and let me know how it went.”
I hook my arm through Jacob’s and let him lead the way to the hair salon.
Jacob, one of my oldest and closest male friends, always attends these shitty dinners with me. He fits the part, being a male model, and it keeps my mum off my back. I snap a picture of us as we enter the grand room with floor-to-ceiling mirrors and sparkly decorations. When we pose at these events, we look like the ideal couple.
As we enter the room, women stop to stare at him. I smirk because these rich women would love a night with this guy—he’d open their eyes to so many things, much like he did my own.
“About time,” snaps Mum as she rushes over, fluffing her hair and air kissing us both. “Are you following the Flexitarian diet I sent you?” she whispers, staring hard at my face. I pull the shawl tighter around my shoulders so the extra material flows down and covers my stomach. “Because you’re getting a double chin.”
“Really!” I hiss. “Is now the time?”
She huffs and steps back, smiling as a couple pass, nodding their acknowledgment to her. We’re rescued when my dad joi
ns us, shaking hands with Jacob and kissing me on the cheek. “You look stunning,” he says, more out of habit than anything else.
“Your father is expecting a piece in the Times newspaper tomorrow,” Mum states a little louder than needed. “They’ll want a family picture of course.”
“I need a drink,” I mutter to Jacob. He winks and stops a passing waitress precariously balancing a tray of champagne. He takes one for himself and orders water for me. I glare at him, and he gives me his stern face. “That doesn’t work on me anymore,” I mutter.
“Brat,” he whispers.
“I saw you in Vogue,” my mum says, and Jacob grins. “It was an amazing spread.”
“Yeah, I got to keep the clothes too,” he adds, and she lights up. They get lost in a conversation about fashion, so I head over to the bar to get my own drink. It’s going to be a long night, and I’ll need fruit juice so the sugar can carry me through.
Two things hit me when I wake the next morning. The first being Jacob is in my bed. I know this because I can smell his aftershave. “Don’t worry, I don’t fuck pregnant whores,” he says jokingly. I open one eye, and he’s sitting up staring at his mobile phone. “But imagine the scandal when I open up my news app to see your pregnancy announcement,” he adds. I scramble to sit up and snatch the mobile from him. Staring back at me is a picture of myself and my parents, beside it, a caption reading, ‘Is Sara Falcon pregnant?’
I drop the phone in Jacob’s lap, lean over the edge of the bed, and vomit into my waste bin. That was the second thing, I felt sick.
“Holy fucking shit!” screeches Tillie, staring at the newspaper. “You made front page.” It took her less than an hour to race to my place once she’d seen the headlines.
“This is worse than when they discovered you worked in a sweet shop,” says Jacob, grinning. My phone buzzes to life again and I cancel Mum’s call for the sixth time.
“You know this means you have to tell Lake today,” says Tillie.
“I’m not well,” I say, pressing a cold compress to my head.
“I can imagine your mother’s sour face,” says Jacob. “You ruined her family shoot.” He laughs, and I scowl. He seems unaware of the trauma I am currently faced with.
“I’m gonna call Lake to come over,” says Tillie, but I snatch her phone from her hand before she can.
“Are you crazy? We haven’t spoken for weeks. He’ll know something’s going on if you ask him to come here.”
“Something is going on, and he’ll know when he sees the newspaper,” says Jacob.
“You honestly think Lake reads newspapers?” I ask.
“Good point.”
“Jacob, I need you today,” I say, giving him my best sad face. “You have to shield me from my parents and Lake and anyone else who might call around to lynch me.”
“I don’t know why you don’t just tell them all. Own this,” says Jacob. “Be a proud mama bear.”
I shudder and turn towards the stairs. “I’ll own it tomorrow. Today, I need to sleep.”
I’m woken by loud voices. I sit up and look around my dark bedroom. The clock on the bedside table says six in the evening. I stretch out as my bedroom door opens. “You have a visitor. I tried to send her away, but she’s a stubborn cow,” whispers Jacob.
My mum is pacing the living room, red-faced. She stops when I enter. “Oh god, it’s true,” she cries, covering her mouth with both hands.
“Yes, it is,” I say, sighing at her dramatic reaction.
“Is Jacob—”
“No!” I practically screech.
“Then who?”
“It doesn't matter. I’m gonna do this on my own,” I say confidently, and she stares at me, her eyes like saucers.
“On your own? Without the father?”
I nod. “Lots of people do it alone these days.”
“This isn’t fashion,” she hisses. “People don’t choose a baby and decide to raise it alone. You can’t return it or stick it in the wardrobe when you’ve had enough.”
“I know that,” I snap.
“Has he left you like this?” She screws her face up.
“No!” I hiss. “I haven’t told him.”
“In case you have forgotten, your father is very important. Simply deciding to be a single mother is not an option. You need to take care of this and quickly. He’ll need to make a statement to the press, and I refuse to include the words single, alone, or abandoned.”
“He is not to make a statement of any kind about this. Just ignore the questions and speculation. It’ll go away.”
“And will your father’s society friends overlook it?” she hisses, and I roll my eyes. Everything comes back to that. She presses her fingers to her temples and takes some deep breaths. “Your father will find someone . . . suitable . . . to take responsibility.”
I raise my eyebrows. “You mean pay someone to lie and pretend the baby is his?” I laugh. “Go home, Mum. Please.”
My phone rings and I stare at Lake’s name on the screen. Fuck.
LAKE
She cancels my call . . . twice. I stare at the screen angrily, willing her to call back. To find out from my fucking brother, who read it in the damn newspaper, that she’s carrying my kid is bad enough, but for her to ignore me? I shake my head and crack my neck. I glance at the female knelt in the corner of the room and then crack my knuckles. I shouldn’t be here, not when I’m this pumped, but I need an outlet, something to rid me of the tension.
I stand behind her and stroke my hand down her long red hair. She sucks in a breath, and I close my eyes, listening to each small whimper of anticipation. I unclip my belt, and she jumps. I smile. Crouching down behind her, I check the rope around her wrists. I know it’s just right, but it’s about the slow, methodical movements. The anticipation for her not knowing what I will do next because her blindfold is already in place.
I run my finger over her shoulder and watch the bumps break out across her skin. “Are you ready for me, beautiful?”
“Yes,” she whispers, a smirk falling on her lips.
“You wanna start the night like that?” I ask, arching a brow at her boldness to not address me correctly.
“Yes,” she repeats.
I shake my head. She doesn’t know what she’s stirring up tonight.
I’m relaxed but hard as hell. My sub for the evening is satisfied and sleeping beside me, curled in a ball. Her ass is too sore for her to lay on her back. I admire the red marks across her peachy skin. Sara’s face enters my mind, and I glance at my phone. It’s three in the morning and there’s still nothing.
By four a.m., I’m taking the tool kit from my bike and heading up the steps to Sara’s house. I go to the door and try it—it’s locked. Next, I go to the window to try and push it up. It lifts, and I shake my head, smirking to myself. I could spend wasted minutes picking a lock only to find the door or windows open, so I always check before I begin my handiwork. I glance around, there’s no one about, so I climb in through the window. Looking at the alarm sensor, I am not surprised to see it isn’t flashing. “These rich bitches thinking they’re so untouchable,” I mutter to myself as I head for the stairs.
Sara’s bedroom door is open and a gentle breeze blows through. I stand in the doorway and clench my fists. She isn’t alone, and it instantly pisses me off. Lying on her back, I can see the outline of a small, neat bump. Fuck, how the hell did I miss that? Shit, we must have only hooked up a month ago and I never even felt a swelling.
I move over to the bed and lean closer until my mouth is at her ear. “Wakey wakey, beautiful,” I whisper, and her eyes shoot open. I clamp my hand over her mouth, and her eyes widen in alarm. “It’s just me,” I add. “Don’t wake up the boyfriend, I’m not in the mood for a fight.” I slowly remove my hand, and she glares up at me. Her body is stiff and her breathing fast. “Let’s go,” I whisper, heading for the door. She glances at the sleeping man beside her and carefully creeps out of bed, following me from the room.
>
She closes the kitchen door and spins to face me. “What the fuck are you doing here?” she hisses.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I growl. I can see she’s battling with herself internally because she wants to argue, but at the same time, she doesn’t wanna push my buttons. “I called. You didn’t pick up.”
“I haven’t been well,” she mutters.
“Anything to do with that?” I ask, pointing to her stomach. She folds her arms around herself. She can’t hide it when she’s only wearing a vest and shorts. “You wanna tell me why the fuck I found that shit out from my brother instead of you?” I ask, and Sara stares down at the floor. “Were you gonna tell me?” She shrugs. “You know how bad I wanna fucking punish you right now?” I snap, and she jumps at my words. “Maybe if I tie you up, you’ll fucking talk!”
“I was going to tell you,” she whispers.
“When?” I yell, and she flinches.
“Don’t wake Jacob,” she pleads.
I march towards the door angrily. “Fuck your boyfriend, does he know about this?” I yell, and she rushes to stand in front of me, grabbing my arms to stop me going upstairs and dragging the arse out of her bed. We stare at each other. The electricity from her touch rips through us both, as it always does when we touch, and I get a weird sensation that makes me wanna take her right here and now. She releases quickly, like I’ve burnt her, and steps away.