by K E Osborn
“Leave it to me. I’ll Google the best names ever… how about Bethzy!”
Trax and I both look at each other. “Bethzy? Is that even a name?” I ask.
“Yeah, or hey what about Genesis… oh, Lizeth,” she calls out as Trax and I laugh walking off from her while shaking our heads.
“She is not naming our kids,” I whisper to Trax as he bobs his head in agreement.
“I don’t think she should name her own when she has them either.” He chuckles.
I laugh as a shudder runs down my spine. Placing the items on the store counter, I turn to see someone wearing a baseball cap. He’s facing us, looking right at us, but I can’t see him as his cap is too low. Tension rolls over me as he suddenly turns, ducking out of the store from behind us, but I couldn’t make out who it was—but the stature was definitely of a man. Trax is distracted with Neala as she continues to rattle off baby names, but I can’t help feeling a little rattled by cap guy’s sudden departure. I didn’t see him in the store, but the creepiness that spread up my spine has me on edge.
I haven’t had any sort of episode for a while, but I have been a little out of it with my morning sickness, so my brain may not be functioning properly right now. My paranoia is probably misfiring. That’s all this is, right? I don’t want to ruin the fun we’ve been having with one of my paranoid delusions, so I’m just going to let this go. I don’t want to make Trax think I’m going crazy by me being worried about some guy who did what? Run out of the store when I spotted him. I’m completely overanalyzing this situation anyway. That’s what my brain does. And right now I need to take a moment, calm down and get back into the happy place with Trax and his sister. Because we’re having a great time.
Trax makes the purchases buying up half the store, and we head back to the truck. We jump in, and Trax starts the engine and takes off as Lala carries on in the back seat. Trax reaches out taking my hand looking at me seeming to asses me. “You okay, baby? You’ve gone all quiet.”
I shake it off. “I’m good, just tired.”
“Okay, should we stop for some lunch?”
“Yes! I’m down. Let’s get some food. You know I love to eat,” Neala calls out making Trax chuckle.
“It’s not about you, Lala. Are you up for it, Sparx? Or you wanna go back to the clubhouse to eat? Don’t want to throw too much at you all at once.”
I wince. “Would you mind if we went back to the clubhouse?”
Trax looks at me sideways. “Of course.”
I smile at him. I’m glad I got out, though I’m feeling somewhat weird about my chance encounter with a random stranger. I’m just wondering what to do about it. I’m going to need to think about whether I need to bring it up or not. The last thing I want is to look stupid in front of these guys, but if it is something, I don’t want to be caught out. I need to think. I can’t do that in public. That’s why I want to go back to the clubhouse. I need to be in my own surroundings with the people I trust around me.
I need to be home.
I need to be safe.
I just need to be calm.
And right now, I can feel myself getting worked up.
So I need to stay focused and not let the storm roll in.
Not when I’ve been doing so well.
TRAX
We pull up at the clubhouse, and I jump out starting to unload all the baby shit we bought as Lala and Sparx walk inside. I noticed Sparx has been quiet since we left the baby emporium. I’m wondering what the hell happened in the last few moments of our shopping trip to make her like this. I’m concerned. She was having a great time, then something seemed to spook her. I don’t like it. I want to talk to her about it, but Lala is too busy walking off with her before I can get a word in. So, I grab as much shit as I can and walk inside dumping it by the bar then head straight over to Ace.
“Hey, how’s shit?” he asks as I approach.
“Need a favor,” I blurt out.
He chuckles. “I’m doing great, thanks for asking.”
“Shut up! Come with me into the chapel. Now,” I tell him. He raises his brow but doesn’t hesitate as he stands up walking with me to his den. I shut the door behind us as I walk us over to his computers, and he takes a seat without me even having to tell him.
“What do you need?”
I exhale. “Okay, I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I need you to hack into the security footage from the baby emporium on Michigan Avenue from about half an hour ago and show me what happened. Can you do that?”
He snorts. “Have you met me?”
I push his shoulder. “Hurry up.”
He taps into his computer as video footage comes up on the screen. I instantly see Neala, Sparx, and me in the shop. Ace slightly chuckles. “You been buying baby shit, brother? Naw!”
“Shut the fuck up! Can you get another angle? I think something in there spooked Sparx, I just don’t know what.”
He takes on a more serious tone as he clicks on something. A different angle comes up showing another camera, and I see a man standing in the corner of the shop. He’s wearing a blue baseball cap, so I can’t see his face. His back is to the camera, but he’s watching the three of us, intently. My muscles clench, and I point to the screen. “You see that?”
“Yep,” is all he says. He zooms in slightly as I see Sparx turn to the guy, then he runs, taking off as she notices him, like he was watching her then, and when he was busted, he bolted so that she couldn’t catch him.
My skin prickles in goosebumps as I glance to Ace watching as Sparx tenses. She looks around like she’s unsure if she’s seeing things or not. Damn.
I bet she isn’t sure on whether this is her mind playing with her. This is why she went quiet on me. “Fuck, is there any way we can figure out who the guy is?”
Ace huffs, typing a few more things into his keyboard making the screen flick to an outside camera. The man is running out the side of the shop, then he turns the corner and out of the view of the cameras.
“You see the cap he was wearing,” I ask.
Ace nods. “Yeah?”
“Can you zoom in on it as he ran out. It looked like it had something on it…”
Ace reverses the image and plays it back slowly, but the image is too grainy for us to make it out.
“Damn, thought it might have been a lead.”
“The emporium doesn’t seem to have a camera on the side of the shop where he ran. I’ll check to see if there are any street cameras, but you might need to give me some time to look into it. To suss it out more.”
I pat his shoulder. “Thanks man, do me a favor? If you find out anything, don’t say a word to Sparx. Come to me first, okay?”
He exhales. “You think this could be Everett?”
Gritting my teeth, I purse my lips. “I think if it were Everett, himself, Sparx would have reacted differently. It wasn’t him, but maybe he’s sent someone to look for her. If his goon’s found her, this shit’s bad.”
“I agree. I’ll put my feelers out, see if Everett’s moving. See if anything’s happening where he’s currently located. See what I can find out. If something is shifting, we want to know.”
“Fucking straight we want to know. My woman’s pregnant. I can’t have some fucking psycho lunatic coming after her.”
“Noted. Leave it with me. I’ll keep my eyes on everything, don’t worry.”
“Thanks, brother, appreciate it.” I slap Ace on the back and walk out of the room while he tries to dig up some info. Heading off to find Sparx, I want to let her know I saw the guy too. That she isn’t imagining things, but I need to do this carefully. I don’t want to scare her into thinking Everett’s coming after her, but I also don’t want her thinking she’s going crazy either. I have to play this just right.
TRAX
I walk into the bedroom. Neala and Sparx are sitting on the bed looking through the baby outfits and smiling, but Sparx’s smile isn’t as wide as it should be. As I walk in, they both look up as Lala
holds an outfit to Sparx’s tiny stomach.
“Just think, Trax, in a few months, they will be here wearing these. Won’t it be adorable?” Lala asks. It makes my chest squeeze at the thought. I’ve never really pictured myself as the doting father, but with Sparx by my side, I know we will be great at it together.
“Lala, I love you, but get out,” I gruff.
She snorts out a laugh shaking her head. “Bikers, you never change, always so damn bossy…” She turns to look at Sparx. “I had a great time today. If you need help with baby shopping again or help planning the baby shower, let me know. I’m your girl.”
“Thanks, Lala, for everything.”
Lala walks out of the room but not before punching me in my arm on the way out. I close the door behind her. Walking over to the bed and sitting down, I wrap my arm around Sparx’s shoulder, kissing her hair.
She lets out a long exhale, cuddling into my side. “What a day.”
“It’s been a big one, you’ve done well…” I pause trying to choose my words wisely. “That guy in the store today was fucking weird, though, right?” I try to play it off.
She looks up to me like she’s shocked by my words. “You saw him?”
I shrug. “Yeah, he rushed out of there like he was in a real hurry. Maybe he was freaked out by all of Lala’s crazy baby names.”
It looks like she visibly relaxes. “You think that’s all it was?”
I bring my hand up to her face smoothing some hair back from her cheek. “Yeah, I mean she was freaking me out with those damn stupid names. Poor guy probably thought she was weird.”
Sparx finally lets out a small laugh. “Yeah, true. They were terrible… I… I wasn’t sure if I was being… you know… a bit paranoid.”
I raise my brow. “Paranoid?”
Her eyes blink rapidly. “No, you’re right. I don’t even know why I thought that.”
I grab her hand. “It’s okay to have doubts. I know that probably seemed fucking weird to you, especially with the threat of Everett, but babe, you never have to hide your thoughts from me. I never want you to feel like you’re carrying any issues alone. If you feel like something’s wrong, you talk to me, no matter how crazy it might sound. I will never judge you for it. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know, but for a minute I thought I wasn’t thinking straight. It happened so quick, I didn’t want to alarm anyone. I didn’t want to seem… overcautious.”
My brows knit together. “If you ever think there’s a reason you feel unsafe, you need to tell me. Don’t ever hide it from me. Don’t think it has anything to do with you. He just left quickly… that’s all.” I downplay it even though I don’t think this is the reason at all. I don’t want her frightened, she doesn’t need this right now. So I stretch the truth. It’s what’s best for her.
Seemingly satisfied with my twist, she exhales. “We bought baby stuff, Trax. It seems so real now.”
A genuine smile crosses my face. “Yeah, we’re actually going to be parents. Can you believe it?”
She snorts slapping my chest playfully. “You’re going to be such a good dad.”
I lean in kissing her as I push her back to the bed careful not to press on her tummy as I lay over her kissing her strongly.
The Next Day
It’s another beautiful morning. Sparx’s decided she’s going to try to take some time to catch up on the website work she’s fallen behind in. So I’m taking the opportunity to go and catch up with Ace to see if he has found out anything on the guy from yesterday. I make my way to the chapel to see he’s busy on his computer as I walk in.
“Mornin’,” I call out as I approach.
Ace bobs his head in a greeting but continues typing away. “So, I’ve tried to do some digging. I’ve been up most of the night looking into shit for you.”
“Fuck! Thanks, man.” I had no idea he was going to do that.
He looks to me. It’s only now I see the redness in his eyes and the deep purple bags under his eyelids. I can see he’s telling the truth.
He waves his hand through the air. “Nah, honestly, I want Sparx safe so I’m doing the best I can for her…” He pauses typing in something else then swivels his screen to face me more, so I take a look. What appears to be the guy from the baby emporium is lined up next to a picture of a guy who looks disheveled, and dare I say it, a few pennies short of a dollar. Scrunching my face up at Ace, I huff. “Who’s this guy?”
He exhales. “Okay, so this guy here…” he points to penniless, “… he’s this guy here.” Then he points to the guy in the baseball cap who was in the baby store yesterday. “I was able to find cameras which showed him leaving the store then getting into a vehicle off Michigan Avenue. From there I was able to zone in on the plates of his car. I tracked who the car’s registered to. It’s this guy… Jason Ledermann. I couldn’t really find any reason as to why he’d be in the baby store. He has no current marital or relationship status nor siblings who are expecting babies, so I started digging. It took some time to figure it all out, but it turns out he did a stint in a psych ward in Michigan at the same time as one, wait for it… Everett Scott.”
I let out a long exhale rubbing the tension knot in the back of my neck. “Fuck! So was it a coincidence he was there the same time as us, or did he know Sparx was going to be there and was he looking for her?”
Ace types some more information into his computer bringing up some video footage from outside the baby emporium. It’s of us pulling up, then his car pulls up a little behind us. I scrunch up my face while shaking my head. “So if it isn’t a coincidence, how the hell did he know we were going to be there? Were we followed?”
Ace shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe it was just a coincidence? He didn’t approach her, he didn’t say anything, take any pictures, do anything. Maybe it was just by chance?”
“I doubt it, wishful thinking, but I can’t help but think maybe somehow Everett has spies in bigger places. He has people working on his side. If he knows Sparx isn’t in Grand Rapids anymore and is in Chicago with us, then it might not be long before he makes a move and tries to come after her himself.”
Ace grimaces. “At least he skipped out before you, so he didn’t see where you went. For now, Everett doesn’t know Sparx is here.”
“I was wearing my cut at the shop, might not be too hard to figure it out if they’re smart.”
“We need to tell Torque. Inform him we might have trouble coming our way,” Ace states.
“Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I have no idea what’s coming, if anything. We need to be prepared without getting Sparx involved.”
Ace stands up from his desk, gripping my shoulder. “Don’t worry, brother. We’re all here to protect you and your family. Nothing will harm her or those babies. We’ll all make sure of it.”
“Right, I’ll go find Torque. Maybe we should call church, let everyone in on what’s happening.”
Ace tilts his head. “I think that’s best.”
I turn to head for the door to go in search of my blood brother.
After finding Torque and telling him in layman’s terms what I’d found with Ace, he called church. As everyone files in, I can’t help but feel a little nervous. Defiance has been settled for ages other than our small dealing with getting Zia back for Enzo, but now I feel like we have something bigger coming our way. We’re made for this, though, and I know they will protect what’s mine.
Everyone takes their seats as I wrack my jaw from side to side, and Torque bangs his gavel. “Right, now all you fuckers are here, there’s some important business we need to discuss.”
I look around to my brothers. All of them ready and willing to lay down their lives for any one of us, but will they be willing to risk it all for Sparx?
“As you all know, Mylee was sent here because of a threat to her safety. The man threatening her is Everett Scott. It seems he has spies in Chicago scoping out her whereabouts.” My brothers all look to me as they all shift uncomfortably. “F
or now, we don’t know if Everett knows if she’s here or not, but we have to assume his spy, Jason, who saw Sparx with Trax when he had his cut on, will at least now know of her connection with the club, and… something will be coming. So we all need to keep our ears to the ground but not be obvious about it in front of Sparx. As far as she’s concerned, it’s business as normal.”
Everyone agrees as I lean forward. “I’m going to do everything to keep her in the compound. She’s not going anywhere. I know it’s going to be hard, without giving anything away, but I’m going to try, only letting her go to her appointments. Plus, I’ll be with her for all of those, so nothing will fucking happen while I’m around.”
“Should we be doing something about this Jason?” Chains asks, and my ears prick up. I hadn’t thought of that, but maybe that’s a good idea. I glance at Torque, and he tilts his head.
“Could be an option. Ace, do you think you can find him?”
Ace snorts rolling his eyes. “Already have. He’s staying in a motel not too far from here. We can have brothers there in fifteen minutes.”
“Torque, if we have the opportunity to get to this fucker, we need to take it!”
“Sensei, Chains, you take the lead on this,” Torque instructs.
I sit up higher in my chair. Normally, this is where I would kick up a stink about not being with Sensei for the retrieval, but training with Sensei over the past couple of months has taught me to cool my head. With his breathing techniques, meditation, and the information he’s given me about being responsible for my own actions, have somehow gotten through my fucking brain and instilled a way to control myself before I lash out. Let’s just hope I can put it into practice. I don’t have to be the front man in everything, I can sit this retrieval out, and I understand why Torque has called for Chains instead of me after what happened last time.
Torque rolls his shoulders. “We bring him in. Find out what Everett knows about Sparx and try to do it neatly. Trax, I need you to keep a level head in this.”
