Not Anticipated (Red Eyes MC Romance Series - Book #4)

by Blair Grey

  “That’s the end of it,” Jack confirmed, nodding. “They’ve acquitted you on all the charges, on the basis of self-defense. And given the deal that we made with them with your offer to pay for his medical bills for the first two weeks that he was in intensive care, they’re not allowed to reopen any part of this trial. Not that you could be tried again, but it also means he can’t appeal. Or go to the media and demand justice or anything like that. It’s a closed case. It’s done.”

  I shook Jack’s hand. “Thank you so much again,” I said, shaking my head. “I could never have done this without you.”

  Jack winked at me. “It was all for Mia. On both of our parts,” he said. “You’d better take care of her.”

  I grinned at him. “And you’d better keep in touch,” I told him. “You’re not off the hook with our dinners just because we don’t have a case to work on any longer.”

  Grant was waiting off to the side to drive me home. “Well, you’re smiling, so that’s a good sign,” he joked.

  “All the charges dropped. I’ll pay a little bit to him for medical fees. A lot, actually. Jesus, hospitalization is more expensive than I ever realized.” But I shrugged. “Small price to pay, though. I’m a free man.”

  “That’s awesome, man. Congrats,” Grant said, giving me a pat on the back that almost bowled me over.

  In the past couple of months, Grant had really stepped up his game with Red Eyes. He’d started building up a serious amount of muscle, until at this point, he could give me a run for my money. Granted, he was younger than me and in the prime of his youth. That was how I explained it anyway.

  He was also way more outgoing and way more involved in club business. He was really starting to chisel out a place there. It was good to watch him grow.

  “Well, come on,” he said, ushering me along. “We’d better get a drink to celebrate.”

  To be honest, I didn’t really want to go to the bar. I’d much rather find Mia and drag her back home with me to celebrate in private. But Grant and Ray and everyone else had really been instrumental in getting me off, giving character references and explaining what they knew about Darren’s behavior. It turned out that he hadn’t been the one to break Mia’s window, but he had done plenty of other weird and creepy things, including paying a hairdresser to give him a bag of her hair after one of her haircuts.

  That was just gross. I didn’t like that he was still going to be out there, but Mia had a restraining order against him now, so he couldn’t do anything to her in the future without going straight to jail without passing “go.” And anyway, it would be hard for him to sneak up on her now that he was wheelchair-bound.

  I was pretty sure he had realized it was game over anyway. He barely even looked at her the couple times that she’d needed to come into the courtroom to testify on my behalf.

  So even though I’d rather just go home, I let Grant steer me toward Sunshine, figuring I could have a quick drink with him and then duck out of there. When I got to the bar, though, I realized it was going to be harder to duck out than I’d thought. But there was Mia, standing off to the side. She, along with all the members of Red Eyes, past and present, were gathered under a banner that spelled out “Congrats” in big, sparkly letters.

  I laughed. “What is this?” I asked Grant.

  “It’s your celebration party of course,” Jack told me, and I realized he had made it there before me. And probably set the whole thing up to begin with.

  I shook my head. I didn’t even know what to say.

  Mia came up to me and pressed her lips against mine, leaning into me. She ignored a couple of catcalls from the guys, breaking away with a smile on her face. “I’m so happy for you,” she said quietly.

  I kissed her on the tip of her nose. “I’m just glad this whole thing is over. For you,” I told her honestly.

  “All right, all right, enough of the sappy bullshit!” Marcus called. “Let’s get the drinks going.”

  There was laughter all around. “Did you come into town just for this?” I asked Marcus, shaking my head. “You didn’t need to do that.”

  “Well, come on. If Landon was going to come back and forth across the country three times in the past two months to help out with your case, I could at least come down from the Northwest one time to celebrate with you,” Marcus said, rolling his eyes. “Plus, I was itching to ride that bike that you guys all chipped in to buy me after we finished up that shit with the Unknowns.”

  “Fair enough,” I said, laughing.

  “It’s good to get the whole team together again,” Ray said, looking around at the crowd with a smile on his face. Everyone was there, Marcus and Will and Cameron and Grant. Landon, of course, was right there on one side of me, and he’d even brought Anne out this time for everyone else to meet. Right now, she and Candice were chatting over by the bar, as Mia snuggled up underneath my arm.

  “Yeah, where the hell have you been, Will?” I called out. “You still live in Las Cruces, don’t you? I’ve seen more of Belle this month than I’ve seen of you this whole year so far!”

  Will shrugged. “Been busy as shit, man,” he said.

  “Still in school?” Marcus asked.

  “Yeah, almost got enough credits to graduate now, though,” Will said proudly.

  “Attaboy,” Marcus said, nodding his head approvingly.

  Everyone chatted for a while about what people were up to. I watched Grant for a bit. Even with Marcus and Will, he was different. Confident and assured. He joked around with them in a way that he had never been comfortable doing before.

  “Looks like your mini-me is all grown up,” Landon said at one point, laughing.

  I snorted. “Yeah, took a while, but he’s coming along pretty nicely.”

  “Ray told me you’re still fucking around in Red Eyes business.” There was concern in his eyes.

  I rolled my own eyes. “Yeah, but not so much ‘fucking around’ anymore,” I told him. “I listen to Ray. I follow the plan.” I shrugged and laughed a little. “He’s actually not letting me do much at the moment. I’m taking a backseat to Grant now that he’s got his wings. Just there as backup, you know? Enforcer stuff.”

  “Huh,” Landon said. “And you’re okay running second to him?”

  “I’m pretty used to running second,” I pointed out. “It’s actually nice. I don’t like being the one to come up with the plans anyway.”

  Landon laughed. “Fair enough,” he said. “Well, if you ever need a change of scenery, we can probably find you a place in Sarasota.”

  I laughed. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I told him, looking over at Mia, who was off chatting with Belle now. “Mia and I haven’t really had much time to chat lately, but I can tell that she’s pretty happy with her new job. I don’t think we’re going to be moving anytime soon.”

  I finally managed to get Mia alone a little while later, and I nuzzled a kiss against her neck before pulling back, looking seriously down at her. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to devote a lot of attention to you lately,” I told her.

  Mia laughed. “I thought that was me more than you,” she said. “I’ve just been so busy at work, and then by the time I get home, I’m usually so sleepy that we don’t have a chance to talk. But I feel like I’m getting to know the ropes at this point, so I think it’s only a matter of time before things settle down. If you can bear with me.”

  “I’ll bear with you until you’re dead, woman,” I told her, only partly joking. “You’re still liking the new job?”

  “Yeah, I love it,” Mia said. She looked around Sunshine. “Don’t get me wrong; there’s definitely things I miss about being here. It was a lot more relaxed, and I miss working with Candice and the other people here. They were so great to me. One big bar family. But like I said, I’m starting to get into a rhythm with the new job, and I’m hoping that means I’ll start to make friends there too.”

  “That’s great,” I said, smiling at her. “I’m glad you’re happy.”
<
br />   Mia laughed. “Me too,” she said jokingly. She lowered her voice. “And I’m happy that I have tomorrow off so I can show you just how proud of you I am tonight.”

  I groaned, my dick twitching in my jeans. “I already haven’t been able to keep my eyes off you since I came in,” I told her. “Honestly, my plan was just to have one beer with Grant and then head back home to have my way with you. I didn’t plan on a whole party.”

  “Yeah, things got a little out of hand,” she said, smiling. “It was Jack’s idea that we celebrate somehow because he’s known for weeks now that the verdict was going to come out in your favor. Somehow.” She shook her head. I knew just what she meant. Jack’s weird sixth sense for everything that was going to happen in the trial had never ceased to amaze me. It made me feel confident that he was going to get me off on the charges long before we had any real reason to believe that he would be able to.

  “I talked to Candice about using Sunshine for this, and she of course agreed immediately. But I thought it was just going to be a small thing. Until I talked with Ray and he wanted to use it as an excuse to get everyone together. Thought you’d like it, though.”

  “I’m so glad you did this,” I said. “But trust me, I will be so glad when we have time to spend with each other again.”

  Mia laughed. “Oh yeah, I know what you mean,” she said. She leaned up on her toes and kissed me lightly. “I love you.” She said it so simply, so matter-of-factly. We might not have had tons of time together lately, between the trial and her new job, but we had definitely found ourselves more than comfortable in the way our relationship was going at the moment.

  Mia was even letting me refer to her as my girlfriend by now, and I counted that as a major win.

  “I love you too,” I told her, putting an arm around her waist.

  I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for us.

  Epilogue

  Mia

  One year later

  If you had told me a year and a half ago that this is what my life would look like now, I wouldn’t have believed you. So much seemed to have changed in such a short amount of time. But I guess that was the way of things. It wasn’t the first time my whole life had changed in a matter of nights.

  But this time, it was undeniably a change for the good. This time, it meant I got to wake up, every morning, with this amazing, strong, handsome man in bed with me, knowing that I was safe and loved. And happy.

  Of course, most mornings, by the time I woke up, he was already awake. It was a rare morning that I was up before him, even on days when I had to go to work. He’d been out late the night before though, getting drinks with some of the guys, and he hadn’t crawled into bed until the early hours of the morning. I could tell he wasn’t drunk when he got home, so I doubted he would feel too rough when he woke up. But he probably needed to sleep for a little while longer.

  I was torn between the desire to stay there in bed with him, cuddling close into his warmth, or getting up and cooking him breakfast. But in the end, I decided to get up and make breakfast. I was hungry, and anyway, it was probably my turn to have breakfast ready for him. He took over that duty often enough, making sure I always had a bite to eat before I had to run off for work.

  He was way too good for me, in short. And I loved him.

  Today, I didn’t have to work, and I was excited to spend the whole day with him. We had talked about going for a ride, and I was excited. I had just finally gotten my motorcycle license about a month ago, after riding around on his bike for nearly a year, and I couldn’t wait to ride alongside him rather than behind him.

  “God, something smells good,” Braxton said as he walked into the kitchen, pushing his hair back and yawning.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” I said cheerfully. “I made some breakfast burritos.”

  “My favorite.” Braxton sighed, sounding like he was in heaven. He grabbed my hips and pulled me back against him, kissing my neck. I could feel his morning wood pressing against me, but I laughed and danced away from him.

  “If you don’t quit that, we’re going to get caught up in other things, and they’re going to burn,” I reminded him. It unfortunately wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. Even though we’d been together for a year now, sometimes it was like we were still in that honeymoon stage, unable to keep our hands off each other.

  I plated out breakfast, and we sat down together at the table. “How were drinks with the boys last night?” I asked.

  “It was good,” Braxton said, nodding. “Landon and Anne are in town so that Ray could meet his grandson, so they made an appearance at the bar as well.”

  “Aww, if I’d known that, I would have come along,” I said. I sometimes went out for drinks with the guys anyway, and they treated me like I was just another dude. But I knew that sometimes Braxton liked to go and just hang out with them, and I liked having nights to myself to read or catch up with Candice anyway.

  “Yeah, the baby’s the sweetest little thing,” Braxton said, shaking his head. “I got to hold him for a little while too.”

  “Surprised Landon trusted you with him,” I teased.

  Braxton laughed, “I’ve come a long way.”

  “Yeah,” I mused. “You’ve grown up a lot this year. I guess I have too.”

  “Yeah, look at you. Started the year as a bartender and now you have a full-fledged career.”

  “Kelsey was talking about maybe giving me a promotion even,” I told him. “I’m not sure I want to take on more responsibility just yet, but it was nice to know that she thinks that highly of my work.”

  “Yeah, definitely,” Braxton said, nodding seriously. He chewed a bite of his burrito, looking down at his plate as he casually said, “Speaking of responsibility, have you ever thought about having kids?”

  I stared over at him, surprised by the question. Then, I frowned, thinking it over. Of course I had thought about having kids. I’d always had this worry in the back of my head, like, if I had kids, they would have to go through all the shit that I had gone through, though.

  But when I thought about having kids in the context of being with Braxton, when I thought about having Braxton’s kids, I realized I didn’t have that worry anymore. Braxton would make an incredible father, I just knew it. Of course, he’d get our kids involved in all sorts of things that would terrify me as a mother. Riding motorcycles and playing contact sports, I was sure. And who knew what else.

  But the idea of having kids with him wasn’t so bad. In fact, it made something stir inside of me. I smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess someday,” I told him.

  “But not now?” Braxton asked, his brow furrowing. “Because of your career?”

  “Nah, nothing to do with my career,” I said. “I mean, I love what I’m doing and where I am at the moment, but at the same time, I think they’d be fair about giving me the maternity leave that I needed. I’m not worried about that.”

  “Then what?” Braxton pressed.

  I blushed and took a sip of my orange juice. “Well, I guess I just always figured that if I was going to have kids, I’d be married first,” I blurted out, feeling embarrassed. “Not that I’m trying to put any pressure on you.”

  Braxton laughed. “No, that makes sense,” he said.

  “It doesn’t, not really,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not like I think you’re going to run out on me if I pop out a kid. I know you’re responsible, and I know you’d take care of me. Of us. That’s not what I’m afraid of.” I paused. “I’m not even afraid of anything, honestly. I mean, maybe that we’d have a kid and somehow manage to really screw it up, but mostly I’m just, I don’t know.”

  I was babbling, but I couldn’t seem to stop it.

  “I guess it’s probably one of those weird society things, you know? You grow up with the expectation that you fall in love, get married, and then have the kids. There’s such a stigma against people who do it the other way around. I guess it’s better now, but all t
he same, I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  Braxton looked like he was laughing, and I was tempted to join him. “God, I need more coffee before we have conversations like this. You know that,” I told him.

  I was about to start babbling again. At least, until Braxton said, “So you need to be married first. Why not? We could get married.”

  I stared at him, wondering if I had just heard him correctly. “Did you just say what I think you just said?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Braxton said evenly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red velvet box, nudging it across the table toward me and flipping open the lid. The ring was beautiful, the band simple but decorated with three beautiful diamonds in the center.

  “Braxton,” I breathed, wondering if this was real. Was it possible that I was dreaming this?

  “Put it on,” Braxton said, taking a sip of his coffee. “Because I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer, Mia Lamb. You’re going to be my wife. That’s just how it is.”

  I laughed giddily. It wasn’t the kind of proposal that I had ever expected. He wasn’t exactly asking me. But then again, I had no reason to protest. No reason to say no. Of course I was going to marry him. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else.

  I reached out with shaking fingers and slid the ring out of the box, slowly putting it on my left ring finger. It fit perfectly, as though it had been made for me.

  I grinned across the table at Braxton. “All right,” I said. “If you’re going to be so bossy about it, does that mean you’re going to plan the whole thing too?”

  “I don’t know, that sounds like a ton of work,” Braxton joked. “Maybe we can just elope instead.”

  “You’re really ready to have those children, aren’t you?” I asked.

  Braxton snorted. “Can’t let Landon hit all the milestones without me,” he said. “But that’s not what all this is about.” His eyes practically smoldered as he continued to stare at me. “I like the idea of calling you my wife. And I like the idea of your belly swelling with our child inside of you.”