“Morning sickness sucks ass,” she agrees ever so eloquently. “So did you and Vinnie decide where you’ll be living when the baby comes? I know he said he wants to stay in the clubhouse, but I think you’ll both find it’s nice to have your own private retreat when things get hectic.”
“One thing at a time,” I tell her, making her laugh. “He’s just getting used to the baby, so I think I’ll wait and let him bring up the living situation. I don’t want him to think I’m trying to push him, you know? I’m fine with not getting married, to be honest, but yeah I think I’d like a house. Talon gave me the house that I stayed in the other night, he said it’s mine to do with as I please, but I don’t think Vinnie will want to live there.”
“I wish I had a cousin who gave me houses,” Faye says, sighing longingly.
“I know that Vinnie has his own house and land, so I’m not sure why he bought it if he never intends to move into it,” I say, stomach rumbling as I look at the people next to us, who are currently getting served their food.
“All the men have investments,” Faye explains to me. “And stocks, and land. They’re all well set-up. Another reason why so many women want them. Good-looking, badass, and they’re well off.”
“I can see the appeal,” I admit. “I never thought I’d end up with a biker though. Vinnie literally came to my doorstep and just changed everything for me.”
“Yeah, I remember when Sin told me he was bringing his marker home,” she says, laughing. “You should have seen my face. I’ve never seen Vinnie really pay attention to a woman, except once, but he was young and she’s dead, so it doesn’t count.”
My eyes widen at that.
Faye cringes. “Long story, don’t ask. But yeah, I was surprised, and very intrigued. It’s funny, watching the men fall in love, one by one, and seeing what kind of women they end up with. I have to say, they’ve all chosen well. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t like one of their women.”
“Not teach her how to throw knives?”
“Definitely not.”
We share a smile.
Our food arrives, and we stuff our faces like the two hungry, pregnant women we are.
* * *
When I see Vinnie lying in bed, reading a pregnancy book, my heart melts. He’s trying, and that’s all I ask. I think he’ll be a great father, I really do, he just needs to feel more confident about himself and his future parenting skills.
“Interesting book?” I ask, smiling and crawling under the sheets with him.
“Did you know your cervix will stretch to ten centimeters?” he asks, eyes going double their size. “I hope you decide to have some kind of drugs, maybe an epidural?”
I peer over his shoulder at the page he’s reading. “Jesus.”
“I know.”
“I think I should read this book after you. Everyone’s just telling me how amazing everything is going to be, no one mentioned ten centimeters. Although it does explain how the baby gets out. I always thought it sounded like pushing a watermelon out of a tap.”
Vinnie winces and mutters “Ouch” under his breath.
“Tell me about it. I’m going to let future me worry about the pain of the delivery though. I have a lot more time to go before that.”
“True. We have a doctor’s appointment in an hour, so we can ask him any questions we want to know. How was lunch?”
“Food was amazing, company was even better,” I say, snuggling up to him. “We ate more than any one person should, and then Faye wanted to go look at new throwing knives.”
“Typical day with Faye, then,” he says, turning the page over, which shows a woman with her legs apart, the baby’s head crowning. I slam the book shut. Vinnie laughs. I don’t.
“I’ll just ask Faye how her labor with Clover went,” I say, not wanting to see that book ever again. “I’m sure she’ll have plenty of advice.”
Vinnie starts laughing so hard, and I have no idea why, so I jump on him and demand that he explains.
“Do not ask Faye about her labor story,” he says, then starts laughing again.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve heard what she has to say, and it’s something no pregnant woman should ever hear,” he explains.
Well that decides it.
Now I can’t not ask her.
* * *
“Just imagine getting stabbed in the stomach, repeatedly,” she says, rather cheerfully, considering. “Just as the pain from one knife ebbs, another fresh one pierces you right in the gut, and then it starts to happen more regularly and more painfully. That’s what contractions feel like.”
I open my mouth, then slam it shut.
“All while your man, who got you pregnant in the first place, stands by, just watching, pain-free. You wish some of the knives will point in his direction, but no, they’re aimed only at you. He just gets to stand there and pretend he knows what you’re going through, probably thinking, ‘Oh, it can’t hurt that much, it’s part of nature’ or some other stupid shit men say. Then, when you think nothing could be more painful, you have to start pushing the baby out of your vagina, because it doesn’t come out by itself, no, you have to do all the work. Your vag is stretching, you’re being yelled at to push, it kind of feels like you need to go to the toilet. It’s all very traumatic.”
Vinnie walks into the kitchen and sees my expression. He looks between Faye and me, then says, “You asked her, didn’t you?”
I give him a look that clearly says to shut up, but instead he starts laughing. Sin comes in and asks what the fuck is so funny.
“Faye is telling Shay Clover’s birth story. I told her not to ask.” He smirks, throwing me a smug look.
Sin chuckles, kissing the top of Faye’s head. “Looking forward to doing all of that again, are you?”
Faye’s eyes narrow. “Ready to take my abuse again?”
“Yep,” Sin replies instantly, taking the seat next to her. “It’s the least I can do, right? You take the pain, I take your abuse.”
“I’m sure I’ll come up with some excellent insults to throw at you this time around. My vocabulary has grown since Clover was born.”
“I’m sure you will,” Sin says in a dry tone, then throws Vinnie a look that clearly says, Good luck. Pregnant women are fuckin’ crazy.
“Don’t let her take her throwing knives with her,” I suggest, wincing. “She might decide to make you share the pain.”
Faye grins, kissing Sin on his jawline. “Now why didn’t I think of that?”
* * *
“We need to talk about something,” Vinnie says, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re pregnant, and I don’t want to stress you out, but you need to know that the Kings know you’re alive.”
“How?” I ask, standing up from our bed. “How do they know?”
“Talon has a mole,” he says, looking pissed off. “Whoever he told in his MC is involved with the Kings and told them shit. Now we have to deal with this shit again, because the Wild Men don’t know fuck about loyalty.”
Harsh words, but I can’t even defend them. Who would betray Talon? I think about what we could do now, and only one thing comes to mind. However, it’s going to involve me having a little explaining to do.
“I could go to the feds,” I blurt out, looking Vinnie in the eye.
“The fuckin’ feds? How would that help?” he asks, narrowing his brown eyes.
I remain silent, not knowing how to start this conversation.
“Shay?”
I cringe and sit back down. “The feds were in contact with me. Well, they tried to be in contact with me, but I’d been avoiding them. When they called, I’d send it to voice mail. Remember that day in the jewelry store when I went to buy Faye’s present? The woman I was speaking to was a federal agent. She cornered me, wanting me to go with her to talk, but I said no. I didn’t want to work with them or have anything to do with them. I didn’t think they could help in the situation, but maybe they can now?”
Vinnie searches my eyes, then says, “How can they help, Shay?”
I swallow hard. “I think I might know where the ledger is. I mean, I know of a place where my father kept some of his important documents. I’ve been thinking, racking my brain, and if it is anywhere, it has to be the place where he left it. It’s worth the shot, don’t you think?”
His expression hardens. “And you didn’t think this is something that I should know?”
I stand up and walk to him, resting my hand on his chest. “I didn’t lie or betray you in any way, Vinnie, and I would never. I just didn’t want to be involved in all of this, I didn’t want the feds contacting me, or coming here. I don’t physically have anything. I didn’t touch it or look at it, I just know where it is.”
“We need to get it, now,” Vinnie says, pacing up and down his room. “Tell me, Shay.”
So I tell him exactly where the ledger is. My father hid it in one of the investment properties he owned, in the attic, in a locked chest. He told me about it before he went to prison, just in case. The only issue is, the property is rented out, so tenants are living there. We’ll need to wait until they’re not home, then break in to retrieve it.
I just hope this is the right move.
* * *
“Where did you even get that outfit from?” Vinnie asks Faye, grimacing. Sin brought Faye with him for the retrieval, apparently she’s good at improvising in difficult situations. What we didn’t expect though, is her showing up dressed like a nun.
Yes, a nun.
“I like to dress up now and again,” she says, turning to Sin and winking. “And come on, everyone likes nuns. They can’t not let me in their house.”
“Hopefully no one’s home,” I mutter, rubbing my forehead with my palm. We park around the corner, and Faye gets out, holding a Bible in her hand.
“I’ll go suss out the situation, then I’ll message you,” she says to Sin, kissing him on the lips. “Let’s do this, team!”
She walks off, leaving us all looking after her.
“What the fuck is the plan again?” Vinnie asks, turning to Sin with a quizzical expression on his face.
“Faye is gonna see if anyone is home, and if they are, she’s going to distract them while you break in,” Sin says calmly, like he does this shit every day.
“What am I doing?” I ask, looking between the two men, realizing that Sin just said while you break in, not while we break in.
“You’re going to come with me,” Vinnie says. “You know what this fuckin’ ledger looks like, right?”
“I’m going to sit here and wait for you guys to jump in and speed the fuck away,” Sin says, gripping the wheel. His phone beeps. He reads the message, then turns to Vinnie. “There’s a woman home. Faye is having tea with her in the kitchen, she said she left the front door unlocked, so run in, turn left then go up the stairs.”
I swallow hard. Fuck, I’m about to rob a house while an innocent woman sits there talking to Faye, the nun.
We get out of the car and Vinnie grabs my hand. “Don’t panic, okay? We’re just going to go in and out.”
“And if she sees us?”
“We’ll worry about it then.”
Great.
Vinnie opens the door, and we both tiptoe inside. The first thing I hear is Faye’s louder-than-usual laugh. We turn left, and head up the stairs, looking around frantically for the attic entrance. We find it to the right, an opening with a handle on the ceiling. Vinnie pulls the handle, and stairs appear, reaching the floor. It makes a bit of a noise, and I’m scared the lady heard, but then I hear Faye singing some sort of church song, probably trying to cover any sounds. We climb the stairs into the attic, and I look around for the chest. When I find it, I tap Vinnie on the shoulder. He opens the chest, grabs the box inside, and we get the hell out of there.
* * *
When Vinnie hands me an envelope addressed to me, I run my finger over my name, written in my father’s handwriting. He found it inside the box with the ledger. My father left a letter for me, and I don’t know what to think about it. Alone, I sit down on our bed and rip it open.
Shayla,
If you’re reading this, it means that things got out of hand. I’m sorry, my beautiful girl, that you were dragged into this, and that you will have to pay for my mistakes. Just know that I love you, and you are without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to me.
Stay strong,
Love, Dad.
I place the letter on the bed and close my eyes. He knew this would happen to me; he knew they would come after me, but I guess there’s nothing he could have done about it—or maybe there was, I don’t know. Either way, he’s gone now, and I need to remember him for the good things he did for me, not the bad. It’s hard to stay angry at the dead. Vinnie comes into the room, wraps me in his arms, and I know that I’m safe.
I don’t have to hide anymore.
* * *
The agent walks into the interview room, looking over at Vinnie, Sin, Faye, and me.
“Agent Higgs,” I say, nodding my head in welcome.
“Here’s a group of people I never thought I’d see in here,” she says in a dry tone, then looks to me. “Thank you all for coming. I hear you have something for me, Shayla.”
Faye shows her the ledger but doesn’t hand it over. “There are some things we want discussed and signed by you before we hand this over.”
The ledger contains a lot of information that any criminal could use to his or her advantage. Names. Dates. Information on members of the Mafia. Basically if you wanted to blackmail someone, everything you need is in these documents, along with enough evidence to put a lot of people behind bars. It’s like a little black book of criminal activity.
“Faye Black, your reputation precedes you,” the agent says, her dark eyes revealing nothing. “This is going to be painful, isn’t it?”
“You have no idea,” Faye says, placing a piece of paper down on the table. “Let’s begin.”
FORTY-SIX
Vinnie
Three months later
I LOOK at the SOLD sign on the two-story house and feel a sense of pride. Shay is going to love this house, I know it. It’s only a five-minute drive from the clubhouse and has four big rooms and two bathrooms. She never asked to move out of the clubhouse, and I know if I wanted to stay there, she would have without complaint. Just another reason that I love her. She never guilts me into anything, or tries to get her way—she just lets me make my own decisions and lets me know that she will be here by my side no matter what. After thinking it over for the last few months, I realized that a baby can’t grow up in the clubhouse. The baby needs their own home, a quiet place with just his or her mother and father. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll still be at the clubhouse a lot, just like everyone else, but this way we also have our own private sanctuary, a place that is ours and only ours. I ride back to the clubhouse, finding Shay outside with Colt.
“I have a surprise for you,” I tell her, smiling. “You have to come with me.”
“What is it?” she asks, glancing around. “Where is it?”
I simply smile and take her hand, leading her out the front, where I tie a blindfold around her eyes, then put her in the car. She asks me a million questions on the drive to the house, but I tell her nothing except that she needs to be patient. I park in our new driveway, walk around to her door, and help her out, making sure she can’t peek. I walk her to the front of the house, then stand in front of her. Just before I take the blindfold off, I say, “I’ve thought about this for a few months now, and this is what I want too. Okay? So don’t question it. I love you, Shay.”
She opens her eyes and looks at the huge house in front of her, and then the SOLD sign.
“Oh my god,” she whispers, tears filling her eyes. Everything makes he
r cry nowadays with all the hormones. “But, Vinnie, I thought—”
“Things change,” I say, resting my hand on her stomach. My tattooed knuckles look out of place against her pink floral dress.
“You bought this for us?” she asks, looking shocked. “Vinnie, I don’t even know what to say.”
I take her hand, palm up, and place the key in it. “Should we go have a look at our new house?”
She nods and kisses me, a tear dripping down her cheek.
“Don’t cry, Shay,” I tell her, kissing away the tear. She’s crying because I bought her a house; I’m sure she’s happy, but it makes me a little sad, because she probably wasn’t sure this day would come, that we’d probably live in the clubhouse forever because that’s the place that I considered home. Home is wherever she is though, and it’s not like I’ll lose the clubhouse. I’ll just have two homes now, and I’m perfectly content with that. Making her happy makes me happy, because she does everything in her power to make me happy too. That’s what love is. We explore the house from bottom to top, and just watching the way her eyes are lit up lets me know I made the right choice. Sure, I’d stay in the clubhouse forever and be happy about it, but I know she wouldn’t be. I’m not going to be that selfish, and being so close to the clubhouse is having the best of both worlds.
“When do we move in?” she asks, hugging me from behind.
“Whenever you want to,” I tell her, turning and wrapping her in my arms. “We can go furniture shopping tomorrow if you want, so maybe think about what you need, what colors and stuff, and then we can go have a look.”
“That sounds perfect, Vinnie,” she says, looking up at me. “I know you did this for me and the baby, and thank you.”
A kiss, and then she’s gone to see what exactly we’ll need for the place. I watch her, remembering this moment. With members of the Kings arrested, Shay is safe once again.
And I just know that everything is going to be okay.
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