by Vera Quinn
“Enough!” My father yells at Nic. “She is not yours until the marriage license is signed as it says in the agreement, but you have been given reason to withdraw your interest to marry my daughter since she will no longer be coming to you untouched. You may need to confer with your father.”
“I confer with no one on my business, and I am still willing to take Faith. I look forward to cleansing the filth from her and taming that crude mouth. I want this wedding done this week, not next month. That is the only amendment to our agreement.” My pop looks at me and then to Charity. I get it now, Nic is trying to get my pop’s approval by talking like him. It’s a cruel joke. Nic is no gentleman, but then neither is my pop.
“So be it. I have never been so disappointed in two people in my life, but that is normal in our family, at least Hope has brought some sunshine to us. The paperwork will show the amendment and be ready to be signed as soon as I can get them drawn up when we arrive in Hopes Landing.” I will not marry Nic! “As for Charity as soon as she gives birth she will be dealt with. The baby will bring a good sum of money on the black market, if it’s a female, but if it’s a male then I will raise it as my own child. I will finally have the son I have wanted, at least Charity still has some use for us. If this is a lucrative enough of a deal, this may be a new means of income. We can mule out the girls that will not make acceptable wives for our members by either selling the offspring on the black market or if there are men among our members that do not have sons they can pay a compensation to us for male offspring. Nic do you think you would be interested in this business proposition, for a startup fee of course?” Nic looks at me and then to Pop.
“I think we should write up a proposal first with the details of where to keep the women, medical personnel that we will need, and the price of each child, but it sounds profitable with only a small risk.” I cannot believe my pop, the man who I have looked up to my whole life is standing there talking about selling babies and holding women against their will. I look at Nic and he has an evil grin on his face. I once thought of Nic as my best friend except for Charity. I have been so naïve. I feel betrayed by these two men and repulsion is the feeling that comes to mind.
“I think since Faith has soiled her body, that I should be able to sample what she has to offer me. I will need to pick my second wife with much more scrutiny. I feel as if I was stolen from, but I still wish for her to be my first wife. Can you accommodate me with that? We still have time before we are escorted back to Hopes Landing.” Nic sounds pathetic.
“I need to tend to Charity,” I look at my pop. “Please.”
“That is much better Faith. Nic, your request isn’t one I will even consider, after the wedding as agreed.” Nic flops down in a chair and pouts like the child he is. Pop gets up and walks down the hall.
“You will do good to mind your manners around me Faith. The nicer you are to me, the easier I will be on you. Piss me off and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me from taking care of my property, in any way I see fit. I may wed a second wife quickly then have you servicing her in every way or share you with men in the community.” Nic will not intimidate me. I am not the innocent girl I once was. “Couldn’t you have done something with that face of yours. You will learn to listen to me and follow my orders.” I look right at Nic and my anger takes over.
“Nic, you will never even be half the man that Brain was to me. I may be carrying his child now and just to let you know, Brain spoiled me with his huge cock, so you will never satisfy me with that pencil dick you have.” Nic jumps out of his chair and he is in front of me and choking me. I don’t know what I was thinking by goading Nic on. My mouth overloaded my ass. I should be ashamed of myself for speaking the way I did, but I know that no one can ever hurt Brain again, and it fills me with sadness. I refuse to make a sound and when Nic goes flying across the room I was close to losing consciousness. I gasp for air and cough and then gasp some more while tears roll down my face. When my eyes clear I see that a man has come into the room and I think he looks like my guardian angel. When he sees that I am alright, he looks at Nic and before I know it he shoots him. I see that another man is sitting with Charity on the sofa. I can talk just above a whisper, so I pull the man’s t-shirt and bring him to me, so he can hear me. I tell him about the other two men in the house. He motions to the man looking around the room to go the direction my pop went, and he kicks in the door where the biker went. I hear one shot and then another. I am filled with fear my biker angel in leather has been hurt. My fear is soon relieved when he walks back into the room. I can’t take my eyes of this man. I think he is everything I never knew I wanted. He is tall and lanky, a runner’s body, but he still has a broad chest that his white t-shirt shows off under his cut. He has muscular tattooed arms; I think they call it a sleeve. His hair is a light warm brown color and he has dark green eyes. He walks over to Nic and checks for a pulse and I see that fine backside. I think I am sweating. I have never had these thoughts or reactions to any man. I am barely aware when he comes over and stoops in front of me.
“Darlin’, you alright? You haven’t said anything but the whispers about the other men in the building. You need something to drink for your throat?” I have no words to answer the man and yes, he is all man.
“You are my prince charming in leather.” I can’t believe I said that.
“I’m no prince charming, babe, but I might pretend for a few hours for you and that tight body of yours.” The man winks at me. If that is his idea of flirting, then I am not sure I can keep up.
“Are you Faith? How long has Charity been out? She’s acting like she wants to wake up, but she just can’t.” I look at the man again and I know this is Brody. The way he is looking at Charity is like a man in love. How did Charity miss the signs from this man?
“I am Faith, and you must be Brody.” I give the man a small smile. “When we were close to Winfield we were attacked. The prospects were taken out fast, but Brain stayed close to the jeep. ZMan went down and I thought he was a goner. Brain was shot, and he went down on one knee. Charity climbed out of the jeep and was trying to get him some cover. They kept shooting into Brain’s body. My gun was knocked out of my hand in the crash and I had no way to help defend us. They shot Charity in the shoulder when she was trying to drag Brain, and then they shot Brain one more time, and he didn’t move anymore. Charity kept firing at the SUV, but they made the way around the back of us. When Pop made it to Charity he hit her with the butt of his rifle, where the stalk is. They may have given her a shot of something. I didn’t see it but look at her neck for a needle prick. That’s where they always try to get people. I tried to fight them hand-to-hand but once Pop had Charity he knew I would stop, so he wouldn’t hurt her. He’s been using us against each other for years.” Did Pop get away? Didn’t the other guy go after him? About that time the front door opens, and the other guy walks my pop in by gunpoint. I jump out of my chair and charge my pop. I am on him and I am not letting him go. I climb him like a monkey and start pounding his nose, eyes and any soft spots I can find. The man who was helping me started laughing but the man behind my pop is not amused. I go back down my pop’s body. I punch him in his sternum with a right and his solar plexus with a left. Pop bends over and I raise my knee right into his balls.
“Damn Brody, I think you got the tame sister.” The man behind Pop’s balled up body says.
“Is the man in there dead, Con?” The man asks my saving angel.
“I need to get Charity to the hospital. It’ll be faster for us to take her, than call an ambulance. We are only twenty miles away.” Brody sounds desperate.
“The man in there is dead. I don’t play.” Answers the man they call Con.
“ZMan is outside keeping guard but he needs a hospital too.” The other man responds. He looks at Brody and then to me. “Look Faith, Brody needs to get your sister and ZMan to the emergency room. I’m Rebel, and this is Con.” He points to the man that has had my attention. “You are perfect
ly safe here with Con and myself. I see your eye is swollen, can you see alright? Do we need to find a way for you to go to the emergency room right this minute? One of us will take you as soon as we have more backup. Can you wait?” Rebel is giving me a choice. I might like this man.
“Thank you, for giving me the choice. I’ll be fine, but Brody will you please keep us updated. My eye was done earlier today at the mall and it has gone down a little. I may need to go to the hospital for a breathing treatment. I have asthma and when I get overly tired or around smoke it irritates it.” I try not to sound ungrateful. I don’t want Charity leaving my side, but I need to think of her and the baby first. I don’t want to be a woman that needs to depend on someone all the time. The look in Brody’s eyes tell me that Charity is going to get her happily-ever-after very soon. I just hope Brody has what it takes to stand his ground with my sister. “I’ll be fine here. Brody take Charity to the hospital. Do you have a gun I can use, so I can help watch for trouble?” Con bends over and takes a pistol out of his ankle holder. I take it and eject the magazine, check the ammo and then reload. “This will do.”
“Faith, you can’t let these men kill your pop.” I look at the man on the floor and I feel no pity or connection at all.
“Shut up or I will shoot you myself. All this is your fault. He came up with the big plan of either selling Charity’s child or raise it himself if it was a boy. Nope, Pop you are dead to me.” I turn and walk over to Charity and kiss her head. I look at Brody. “Take care of my sister and the baby. They are all I have left.”
“I will guard her with my life.” Brody tells me. Brody picks her up and walks out the door. I turn my attention to Rebel and Con.
“I’ll go and find us something to drink.” I make my way to the kitchen, looking at the rest of the building as I go. I find the kitchen and open the refrigerator. I find beer and water. I grab a few bottles of water in one hand and two bottles of beer with the other. I make my way back to the front room and hand a beer and a water to both Con and Rebel. My pop is passed out in a corner or knocked out. I ignore him. I go and sit in the chair I was in before. I hear motorcycles pull into the drive. I am on full alert. Rebel opens the front door. Con moves close to his back, so I stand and do the same, removing the gun from the back of my jeans. There is a single biker. His cut says Shield, but the cut looks nothing like Con’s or Rebel’s. He nods to Con and Rebel but says nothing else. Con and Rebel have moved to the corner and are talking in hushed voices and they both look at me. Alright biker boys, that is a dead giveaway, they are talking about me.
“Do you think you can ride on the back of my bike to the hospital? It’s not far. Have you been on a bike before?” Con asks me.
“Let’s ride. I want to see my sister.” I hand the gun back to Con and he bends down and puts it back in his ankle holster. When he stands up, I am waiting by the door. Con and Rebel are looking at each other like they are having a conversation without words. I open the door.
“Slow the train, babe. Let me go first.” I look at him like he is losing it, but he could be right, I don’t want to walk out the door and be shot. I give Pop one last look and I see he is awake.
“You know if you walk out that door, I am as good as dead. Do you want that on your conscious? Are you really going to choose someone who walked away from you over your own pop? You have a choice to make.” Pop tries to change my mind about going to Charity.
“That choice was made the second you traded my sister to a motorcycle club. Charity and her baby are the only family I have left and the only daughter you have is Hope.” I feel guilty as soon as the words leave my mouth. I have another sister and the guilt that floods my body when I deny her is bitter. My pop starts laughing.
“Hope is dead. Samson snapped her neck the night you snuck away with Charity. Sam didn’t want the tainted blood to lead his other women astray.” Pop mouths off.
“You said she was your ray of sunshine, how could you say that if she was dead? You’re just trying to torment me.” I am almost crying. I know better than to show a weakness in front of this man.
“Hope served her purpose. She was the only daughter of ours that did.” I can’t even respond to that. “Her body is beside the pond in the old place. Her favorite spot.” I don’t wait any longer. I walk out the door first and Con is close behind. I stop and wait for Con to show me which bike is his. He walks in front of me and I don’t even ogle his backside. I look up and Con has turned and the intense look he is giving me almost makes me melt.
“Faith, you need to get those innocent eyes off me. I am no good for you. I am a lick ‘em and stick ‘em kind of biker and I need a woman that knows not to bite the dick that fucks her and then I send them on their way.” I know Con is trying to warn me away, but it just burns my ass. I have had enough to last me a lifetime. I just want to get to the hospital and check on my sister and then sleep for a week.
“I get the message, Con. You think I’m too young, naïve, and you want me away from you, but what you are not getting is yes, I am attracted to you, but I am not chasing any man. I’m not forcing myself in your life or asking you to like me. I just want a life with my sister and her child and the only other thing on my agenda is a week of sleep.” Con looks confused about what I am saying. “Will you just get me to the hospital?” I wait for Con to say something. He hands me a helmet and without a word mounts his bike. I try to climb on the bike, but it’s not easy and Con laughs at me which makes me madder, I get on finally and he tells me the ins and out of how to ride bitch on his bike, his words not mine. I try to get comfortable and then put the helmet on. I try to put some distance between Con and myself on the bike, but before he takes off, he grabs my legs and pulls me closer to him. I inhale and all I smell is Con. His scent is overpowering, and I want him, but it is not in my future, so I build a wall inside myself that will never be brought down, determination. No man will ever hurt me again. The one thing in life I am accustomed to is disappointment and it comes from a man every time.
Chapter Twenty
Brody
We are still waiting to get test back on Charity’s blood to see if she was drugged. She doesn’t seem to be in any distress and the doctors don’t want to give her a drug to try to wake her up. The least number of drugs that is used on her, the better while she is still pregnant. After hearing all the details of what Charity has been through today I’m surprised she has not miscarried. I never knew how much I wanted this child until there was a threat to lose him or her. I want this child and I want Charity. She has haunted me since the night we made love in the cabin. Yes, that is what it was. I love this woman and I don’t even know how she got under my skin. There has been something about Charity since the first time I laid eyes on her. I am not going to torture myself any longer nor will I deny my feelings for her. I’m sure Rebel will get a big laugh of how he will see me acting the next few days, or weeks, or even months if it takes that long. I will grovel if that is what Charity wants me to do just so she can forgive me. I will do anything, so I can get my ring and my last name on Charity and then we can negotiate the rest of the way through our life together. I can’t hold it in any longer. “Charity, please, open those beautiful eyes so I know you’re alright. Come back to me so I can tell you what a stubborn man I have been and that I love you. I love you and our child, and I want us to have a life together. Don’t get me wrong, I can be a stubborn man on the best of days. I’m going to be over protective of both of you and your sister too. Faith is important to you and that makes her important to me. I will spend the rest of my life proving to you that I deserve you if you will only give me a chance.” I stand from the chair I am in and look closely at Charity. Her beautiful face is marred with bruises and cuts. I just want her to open those eyes. “While you were gone I lost one of my best friends and my cousin. Jilly was an important part of my life for so many years, but when it was time for her to leave this earth, she did it her way. I wanted nothing more than for you to be with me, so I c
ould talk it out with you. When you wake up I want to sit and tell you about my life before I met you. The day you told me that you didn’t belong in my world and I was too good for you, I wanted to put you over my knee and blister your pretty ass red. I have made so many mistakes in my life. It’s me who doesn’t deserve you. Charity, please open those eyes. Faith will be here soon. Rebel or Con will bring her. I had to get you and ZMan here as soon as possible and she didn’t appear to be hurt too bad, just from the fight earlier today out in front of the mall. I heard that you fought like a wildcat. I am so proud of you. You and Faith have gained a lot of friends from different clubs and these men are not easy to win over. They respect you and Faith for not playing the damsels-in-distress, and they want to help protect you now. That is something you and I are going to need to discuss. I may be a little selfish when it comes to my woman, but I will work on it.” Charity’s eyes blink, at first, I think I am imagining it and then she does it again. “I love you Charity and I want you and our child. I want you to come home with me and I want you to marry me.” Charity’s eyes open.
“What did you say?” Charity is blinking her eyes, open, and then closed again.
“I said I love you and our child. I said I want you to come home with me and live in our home. I said I want you to marry me, please, marry me. You have haunted my dreams and been in my thoughts since the day I walked out of the hunting camp. I’m miserable and I don’t know when or how, but I have fallen in love with you.” I get down on one knee and I can barely hold Charity’s hand, but I do the best I can. “Charity Connors, will you please do me the great honor of becoming my bride? I know this may seem sudden, but I have had the most horrible two months without you,” I notice the hospital room door has slid open and the doctor, Faith and Con are standing there listening.
