“Good to see you, too, Tater tot,” Wave said with a laugh.
I waved my hand dismissively. “Oh, shush it. You know I’m happy to see you. I was just surprised.”
“Your man called and asked if we could pick you up at the airport. He sounded a little worried and we didn’t have anything going on, so here we are. You ready to go?” Wave asked.
“Yep. I’m just staying the night, so I’ve got everything I need in my backpack,” I answered.
On the drive to the hotel, I learned that Phoenix had not only asked Wave and Token to pick me up from the airport, he asked them to stay at the same hotel and return me to the airport the next day. Basically, he arranged 24-hour personal security for me. I wasn’t sure if I should be angry or flattered.
I also decided that Wave and Token needed to know what I was going to tell Nathan so they could be there for him if he didn’t take the news well. They were strong male figures in his life and he may need to talk to someone after this had time to sink in.
I kept the story short and to the point. I didn’t go into details about my feelings and all the other crap that went along with the worst period of my life. I just told them the facts of the past.
“You flew out here to tell him what you just told us?” Token asked. I nodded my head. “I’m going to make a suggestion. Maybe a little less robot and a little more human when you tell him that sordid tale you just shared.”
I felt my cheeks heat. “Sorry, I was trying to keep my emotions out of it.”
“I get that, but he’s going to need to see the emotions to understand.”
We arrived at the hotel and checked into our rooms. I wasn’t the least bit surprised to learn my room, as well as theirs, had already been paid for and were located side by side. I shook my head. That man needed to learn some boundaries, but I couldn’t blame him. Honestly, I didn’t like being away from him either. If having Wave and Token nearby eased his worries, I had no problem with it.
After getting settled, I picked up my phone to send a text to Nathan when it started ringing in my hand. Phoenix’s name flashed on my screen. Crap. I forgot to call him.
“Hey, Nix. Sorry, I forgot to call when I landed. Everything is fine. I was just shocked to see Wave and Token waiting for me,” I rushed out.
“I was worried, doll face,” he rumbled.
“I know and I’m really sorry. If you had told me you were having them meet me there, it wouldn’t have thrown me for a loop, and I wouldn’t have forgotten to call you,” I retorted.
He barked a laugh. “Doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to redden your ass when you get home for this.”
“All right, hornball, I just got here and I need to talk to Nathan. I love you, but I really don’t have time for this right now.”
“It’ll be fine, Annabelle. He loves you and he’ll understand. Just be honest with him.”
We said our goodbyes and I sent a text to Nathan to let him know I had arrived and what room I was staying in. He knocked on the door a few minutes later.
“Mom!” he exclaimed while picking me up and swinging me around.
“Holy crap, Nathan! You’ve gotten so much bigger in just a few short weeks. How is that even possible?”
He chuckled. “It’s very possible when you spend all day five days a week working out and training. Now, you want to tell me what you’re really doing here? It’s not like you to schedule a trip at the last minute.”
“You’re right. I do have a reason for coming out without much notice. Um, are you free all afternoon? This is probably going to take a while.”
“I’m free all day today and tomorrow,” he replied.
The room I was staying in had a little sitting area when you first entered. I led him over to the sofa and gestured for him to sit while I remained standing. I knew I would need to pace as I got farther along in the story. I didn’t waste any time beating around the bush. I launched right into the story, starting with Phoenix.
I told him everything. It took several hours to get through the entire story. There was yelling, crying, long periods of silence, and ultimately, forgiveness and acceptance.
“I understand why you did it, I really do. Mom, please don’t be so upset,” Nathan pleaded with me.
“I’m not crying because I’m upset, sweetheart. You have no idea what a relief it is to finally have it all out in the open. I hated lying to you. I thought about it every day, but I didn’t have a choice. I had to protect you from that evil bastard,” I explained.
“Mom, I’m glad you lied to me. I don’t know how I would’ve handled it if I had known when I was younger. I could’ve grown up with an unfounded anger against you or I could’ve grown up scared and always looking over my shoulder. Instead, I grew up happy, always feeling safe and secure,” he said.
Despite who his biological father was, my son was a good man. I was so incredibly proud of him and the way he was handling this information. “So what made you decide to tell me now?”
I cleared my throat. “Your sister. That sounds weird, doesn’t it? Anyway, your sister is getting married in two weeks and she really wants you to be there. She waited to have the wedding until they found me. Now that she knows about you, she said she would postpone it again so you could be there.”
“In two weeks? I’ll still be at training camp,” he explained.
“I know. Do you think you could fly out Friday night or Saturday morning and fly back on Sunday? Like I did this weekend?” I asked, hoping his answer would be favorable.
“I don’t know. We have the weekends free, but the trainers didn’t say anything in regards to leaving the area. Most of us are too damn tired to get out of bed on the weekends. I’ll have to ask.”
“Not to be pushy, but can you do that now? Ember and Coal want us to video chat with them this evening. I was hoping we would be able to tell Ember one way or the other about your attendance during the call.”
Nathan nodded and placed a call to whoever was in charge and explained the situation. He was told that, normally, the team members had to stay in the city during the day and were to be back at the hotel at night on the weekends. Since this was a special circumstance, he granted Nathan permission to fly out Friday evening after practice. He had to be back by Sunday evening.
With that settled, we placed a video call to Ember. She was in her office at the farm, with Coal sitting right beside her. “Hey, Mom. Is he there?” she asked excitedly.
“Yes, he is. I’m going to set my phone on the table so you can see both of us. Just a sec.” I fiddled with my phone until Nathan and I were both visible on the screen. “Okay, can you see us?”
Ember was bouncing in her chair. “Yes! Hi! I’m your sister, Ember, and this is our brother, Coal. We’re so happy to meet you!”
Nathan laughed. “Hi, I’m Nathan. It’s nice to meet both of you, too.”
We were all silent for a moment, then Coal spoke, “So this is a weird way to meet your siblings, right?”
After that, the conversation flowed. At one point, Phoenix came in and joined the conversation. I wasn’t sure how Nathan would take his presence. I didn’t want him to feel like he was an outsider in our little family, much the way I did when I first met Ember and Coal. Leave it to me to worry about nothing.
“So, Phoenix is the man you modeled my pretend father after?” Nathan asked, while we were still talking to Ember, Coal, and Phoenix.
My cheeks were on fire. “Um, yeah, he is,” I muttered.
“What was that?” Phoenix asked.
Nathan didn’t hesitate to fill him in. “When I was younger and asked about my father, Mom told me he was a Marine and he was killed during a deployment. She said her heart belonged to him and only him, which was why she never dated. She told me a lot of stories about my ‘father’ and I just wondered if those stories were really about you.”
Tears were streaming down my face. I covered my mouth with my hand to hold in the sob that wanted to escape. “Doll face, wha
t’s with the tears?” Phoenix asked.
Nathan turned to me. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. The words were desperate to leave my mouth, but I didn’t want to say them. Nathan put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. “Mom?”
“I wanted it to be him. He should have been your father. I love you with all my heart, but it should have been him,” I sobbed into my son’s shirt.
Nathan rubbed my back gently, trying to soothe me. After a few minutes he asked, “So, what, you want me to call him Daddy?”
I looked at my son like he was crazy and then threw my head back and laughed. Laughter from the three on the phone filled the room. My sweet boy, he always knew how to put a smile on my face.
We wrapped up the phone call, with me promising to call Phoenix later. When I told Nathan that Wave and Token were next door, he didn’t hesitate to invite them over. After some hugs and chit-chat, we enjoyed a nice dinner out. I had missed Nathan a lot, as well as Wave and Token. I made a mental note to thank Phoenix for having them tag along.
I met Nathan for an early breakfast the next morning. Then, he rode with Wave and Token to drop me off at the airport. After another tearful goodbye full of hugs and kisses, I was once again in the air.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Annabelle
The next morning, I realized I had some serious shopping to do. When I agreed to come home with Phoenix, I packed my bags with the essentials needed for two weeks. What I did not do was pack anything appropriate to wear to my daughter’s bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and wedding.
Phoenix wasn’t crazy about letting me out on my own, but he had too much work to catch up on with the club and the farm to come shopping with me. He did, however, assign two giant man-children to drive me to Cedar Valley and guard any shops I entered.
After scaring the pants off the little old lady working in the first boutique I entered, I considered giving up and telling the guys to take me home. Before I could find the words, Prospect Kellan reassured me, “We’re used to it, Annabelle. You go to whichever stores you want to and don’t worry about us.”
Well, okay then. The next store was much better. The staff was younger and seemed to be fascinated with the two bikers standing at the entrance. The clothes were much more my style, too. I grabbed a few dresses I liked and headed to the dressing room.
I liked the first dress I tried on, so I stepped out of the room to see how it looked in the 3-way mirror. I turned to get a look at the back of the dress and froze at the familiar voice. “Annabelle? Is it really you?”
I whirled back around and came face-to-face with Macy. “Hey, Macy,” I said shyly and gave her an awkward little wave.
“Annabelle!” she shrieked and pulled me into a fierce hug. “What in the hell happened to you? The whole town was looking for you for over a year! Hell, I think some never stopped.”
There was a loud commotion in the store and seconds later the dressing room was filled with two bikers ready to attack.
“Step away from Annabelle,” Edge commanded, looking far more lethal than I ever thought he could with his baby face.
Macy held her hands up in the air like she was being held at gunpoint and backed away from me. She looked terrified. “Guys, it’s okay. She’s a friend from high school,” I explained. When neither of them looked like they were going to relent, I continued, “She used to be Aaron’s, I mean Badger’s girlfriend.”
Edge kept his eyes on Macy while Kellan stepped out of the dressing room, pulling his phone from his cut. Moments later he returned holding his phone in his hand. “Phoenix said it was okay to leave her in here with Annabelle,” he said to Edge.
Edge nodded. “We’ll be outside if you need us.” With that, they went back to their original posts.
Macy was several feet away from me, still holding her hands in the air. “I’m sorry about that, Macy. Um, a lot of shit’s happened and Phoenix felt like I needed to have my own personal bodyguards while I was out shopping. They didn’t know who you were,” I tried to explain. When she continued to stare at me, I offered, “Would you like to go somewhere and talk?”
“Yeah,” she said hoarsely, “I would really like that.”
Forgetting about the dresses, Macy and I left the store and headed for the coffee shop on the corner. The guys sat a table far enough away to give us privacy while still being close enough to intervene if trouble came my way.
As soon as we had our drinks and were seated, Macy started. “So, what happened? I was supposed to pick you up from work one afternoon, but when I showed up at the shop, Phoenix’s grandmother said you didn’t show up that day and they couldn’t find you…”
“It’s a long story. Do you have time to hear it?” I asked.
“I’ve wanted to know what happened to you since the day you disappeared. Even if I didn’t have it, I would make the time to hear it.”
So, I told her everything. Every single heartbreaking detail from the day I was taken to the farm to the day Phoenix found me in California. By the end of it, we had both shed more than our fair share of tears and had gone through two extra-large cups of coffee.
“Enough about me. Tell me about your life. Do you still live in Cedar Valley?” I asked, trying to change the subject to something lighter.
“Uh, I recently moved back in with my parents,” she said, fidgeting with the napkin on the table. “I met a man when I was in college. He was from a wealthy family and had a good job, so I let him talk me into dropping out of college. I married him and we moved to Texas.” She paused and picked up another napkin to shred. “We just got divorced. So, here I am, 36 years old with no experience in the workforce and not a dime to my name, hence why I’m living with my parents,” she said with a sniffle.
“Oh, Macy. I’m so sorry. Have you had any luck finding a job?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, not yet. I was actually in that store trying to work up the nerve to ask if they were hiring. I’m not sure how many more rejections I can take.”
I pushed to my feet. “Come on. I know a place that’s hiring,” I said, smiling proudly.
“You do?” she asked.
“I do. Let’s go!” I ordered.
She followed me out to the SUV I was being carted around in and eyed the boys warily before climbing inside.
“Where to, Annabelle?” Edge asked from the driver’s seat.
“We’d like to go visit Ember.”
Macy and I continued to catch up during the 45-minute ride to the farm. Life had really done a number on her. She wasn’t the same vibrant, live-in-the-moment girl she once was. Then again, I guess the same could be said about me.
I had to practically drag her to Ember’s office. Knocking loudly, I waited a few seconds before pushing the door open and entering. I was still developing a relationship with Ember and I didn’t think walking in on her and her fiancé doing it on her desk would do either of us any good.
“Mom! What are you doing here? I thought Dad said you were out dress shopping,” Ember said while crossing the room to hug me.
“I was, but I ran into a friend from high school while I was out.” I pulled Macy, who was still in the hallway, into Ember’s office. “Ember, this is my friend, Macy. Macy, this is my daughter, Ember.”
“Hi, Macy. It’s nice to meet you. Please, come in and have a seat,” Ember said and gestured to the sofa in her office. “So, what brings you by, Mom?”
I smiled. “Well, I heard you mention you were looking for an office assistant and Macy mentioned she was having trouble finding a decent job and here we are.”
Macy shifted in her seat and began explaining. “I’m a recently divorced housewife. I moved back to Cedar Valley to live with my parents while I get back on my feet. I don’t have any job skills to speak of, but I did help organize a lot of charity functions and handled the donations received when I was married. I’m a quick learner and I’ll—”
“Relax,” Ember interrupted. “Whi
le the businesses and projects around the farm do operate at a profit, I started them because I wanted to help people. You sound like you need some help. If you want the job, it’s yours. Oh, since we’re located in the middle of nowhere, we provide our employees with a room on the property, sort of like a hotel suite.”
Macy’s jaw dropped and she stared at Ember. I nudged her with my elbow and stage-whispered, “Say something.”
Macy snapped her mouth closed and nodded. “Yes, I want the job.”
“And the room?” Ember asked with an arched brow.
“Yes, please! I was seriously considering living in a cardboard box down by the Red River Bridge just to get away from my mother.”
Ember chuckled and walked behind her desk. She pulled out a huge binder and started flipping through pages. “Ah, here we go.” She jotted something in the book and pulled a key from her desk drawer. She held it out to Macy. “This is the key to your room. Take the next few days to move in and get settled. Be here at 8am Monday morning. We’ll get your papers filled out and then you can get started. Does that sound okay?”
Macy got to her feet and hugged Ember. “It sounds wonderful. Thank you so much.”
Ember smiled. “You’re very welcome. Edge or Kellan can show you and Mom where your room is. I would, but I’ve got to get down to the barn to check on our newest employee and make Duke isn’t trying to scare her off like he’s done to the last three.”
“Thanks, again,” Macy said.
I hugged my daughter, so very proud of her. “Thanks, sweetie. Are you and Dash coming over for dinner?”
“Not tonight. He said he had something to do at the club, so Reese and I made plans to pig out and binge-watch Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix.”
“Okay, you girls have fun.”
Edge and Kellan drove us over to Macy’s new building. I still wasn’t completely comfortable being on the farm property, but it got a little easier each time. We took the elevator to the third floor and found her room at the end of the hall. Macy opened the door and gasped. “Annabelle, look at this place! This isn’t a room. It’s a freaking apartment!”
Phoenix (Blackwings MC Book 3) Page 15
