by A. M. Myers
“Oh, Lord, she’s really hammin’ it up today,” I say and Lucas reaches for my hand again as we step toward the door.
“Gee, wonder where she gets that from…”
I gasp. “Are you saying I’m a ham? I’m offended, sir.”
The door to the clubhouse opens and a large man with dark hair and gray piercing eyes steps outside. He looks relieved when he spots us and Lucas laughs.
“She driving you crazy already, man?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know who that woman is in there but it’s not my wife. I’ll be glad when this pregnancy is over.”
“True, but then you’ll have two of them in your house.”
His eyes widen. “Shit. Why didn’t I think of that until now?”
“No clue,” Lucas answers, laughing. “This is Quinn, by the way. Quinn, this is Storm.”
I smile. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too, Darlin’. Y’all better get in there. Ali is excited to meet you.”
“What are you gonna do? Stay out here?” Lucas asks, quirking a brow and Storm blows out a breath.
“I’m seriously considering taking up smoking.”
Lucas laughs as we turn back toward the door. “I’m gonna tell Ali that.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
He walks out to the parking lot as we reach the door and I suck in a breath, my belly doing a little flip, as Lucas opens the door and ushers me inside. The room is fairly open with a bar on one side and pool tables and couches on the other side with a few tables scattered throughout the space in between. One table near the entrance is piled high with gifts and I set ours down on top, thankful that I don’t knock the rest over in the process.
“Is this a big party?” I ask, eyeing the stack of presents and Lucas chuckles as he shakes his head.
“No, but it’s the first baby in the club in a long time and the guys went a little crazy.”
I bury my head in his shoulder to hide my smile. “That’s fucking adorable.”
“Just don’t tell anyone I told you,” he whispers and I peek up at him as I nod.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“Lucas,” someone yells and a little redhead bounces over to us with another large man following behind her. “And you must be Quinn. We’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Oh?” I ask. “All good things I hope.”
She grins and I peek over at Lucas as he rolls his eyes.
“Quinn, this is Tate and Kodiak.”
“And who is this little cutie?” Tate asks, stepping forward and tickling Brooklyn’s belly. Brooklyn giggles but it’s a little reserved.
“This is Brooklyn,” Lucas answers and she lays her head down on his shoulder, plopping her thumb in her mouth.
“Oh my god,” Tate gushes. “If that’s not the cutest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen…”
“Quinn!” another voice yells above the noise of the crowd and I scan the room with wide eyes. A bubbly blonde with a giant belly wiggles through the crowd. “You are Quinn, right?”
I laugh and nod. “I am.”
“Oh, thank god. I’m Ali, it’s so nice to meet you.” She pulls me in for a hug and I glance back at Lucas, who grins.
“It’s nice to meet you, too.”
She releases me and turns to Lucas. Brooklyn peeks up at her and she smiles. “Hello, cutie. What’s your name?”
“This is Brooklyn,” Lucas answers and Ali makes a face at her and just like that, Brooklyn’s shyness disappears as she copies the look. Everyone laughs and Ali taps her nose.
“Oh, I think you’re going to fit in around here just fine, little girl.” Ali turns to me again before looking around the room and frowning. “Hey, any of you seen my husband?”
“We passed him outside,” Lucas answers and her scowl deepens.
“Well, what the hell was he doing out there?”
Lucas and I share a glance. “Uh, he was just getting a little air.”
“Oh.” She looks upset for a second before a smile slowly stretches across her face like every cartoon villain revealing their master plan that I’ve ever seen. “You want to know a secret?”
“Absolutely.”
She giggles, shaking her head. “I’ve been doing everything I can to drive that man insane so he’ll finally let me stay home when he’s working late.”
“Oh, what the fuck?” Lucas whispers before laughing.
“Fucking diabolical,” Tate mutters with a grin on her face and Kodiak shakes his head.
My gaze bounces between all three of them before I turn back to Ali. “Wait, why won’t he let you go home?”
“Ever since I got pregnant, he doesn’t like me to be home alone so when he’s working late with the club, he makes me sleep here and as you are well aware, pregnancy makes you very uncomfortable and the double bed he’s got up in his room doesn’t help anything. Not to mention that it’s hard to get any work done with all these guys hanging around all the time.”
“I’m gonna tell him,” Lucas cuts in with a grin and she narrows her eyes into a glare as she points her finger at him.
“No, you’re fucking not. I just want my bed, Smith. My big, comfy, king-size bed. Is that really too much to ask for?”
“Babe,” I murmur, nudging him. “The correct answer here is no. Just for future reference.”
“I don’t know. He’s just trying to keep her safe,” Kodiak adds. Tate peeks over her shoulder with a look that could kill.
“She is literally growing a person,” she objects and I nod.
“And in… wait, how far are along are you?”
“Thirty-three weeks.”
I nod. “Right. And in six-ish weeks, she’s going to rip her body apart to give birth to that little person so if she wants her bed, she gets her bed.”
“Here, here,” Tate calls and Ali raises one in the air as the other cradles her belly.
“Preach, sisters.”
Kodiak shares a look with Lucas. “We’re getting outnumbered here, brother.”
The three girls laugh as Storm walks back into the clubhouse. He scans the room and as soon as he spots his wife, he makes a beeline for her.
“Where you been, babe?” Ali asks as he pulls her into his side and he shakes his head.
“Just outside for a minute.”
“Mm-hmm,” she hums, meeting my gaze as I try to bite back my smile.
“Kitten…” Storm growls and she laughs, holding her hands up in the air.
“What? I didn’t say anything.”
“Ali, do you want to get the food started?” someone asks, approaching the group and Ali nods.
“Yeah, we can do that. Oh, by the way, Carly, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my best friend, Carly.”
I hold my hand up and wave. “Hi.”
“Hey,” she answers, smiling at me before she turns to look at Lucas. “Wow, Smith. The dad thing works for you.”
He glances down at Brooklyn with the sweetest smile on his face. “Thanks.”
“I’m gonna go throw stuff on the grill. You need to sit down,” Storm grumbles and Ali rolls her eyes.
“Yes, boss man. Right away, boss man.”
“Kitten, I will spank your ass if you don’t listen and rest your feet.”
“I’m heading out, too,” Kodiak says, kissing Tate on the head before he heads out with Storm. Lucas passes Brooklyn to me and presses a quick kiss against my lips as the rest of the guys file outside to cook.
“Would you look at them?” Ali grumbles. “Bunch of cavemen.”
“He is right, though. You should sit down,” Carly tells her and she nods.
“God, I know. My feet are fucking killing me.”
Carly laughs and grabs her hand to guide her over to the couches and Tate and I follow behind them. Brooklyn starts to fuss as soon as I sit down and I pull the baggie of cereal out of my purse before handing it to her.
“Okay,” Ali breathes after she gets settled and her feet pro
pped up. “Give it to me straight. How bad is labor?”
I laugh. “Um, bad… but the thing is, you forget how bad it was as soon as it’s over and you’re holding your baby in your arms. And when she takes her first step or says her first word, you’ll be desperate to have another one.”
“Well, that’s comforting, I guess.”
“Look at it this way… I would rather have another baby than get hit by a truck again.”
She laughs. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“That’s how you met Smith, right?” Carly asks and I nod.
“Yeah, I had just gotten off work and I was driving home when this truck came out of nowhere. And then Lucas was there, keeping me calm until the ambulance arrived.”
“That’s Smith, for ya,” Tate says and the other girls nod.
“So, you can totally tell me it’s none of my business if you want but is her dad in the picture?” Ali asks, pointing to Brooklyn and I shake my head.
“No, he’s not.”
“That must be so hard for you. I know as much shit as I give him, I’d be lost in the pregnancy without Logan.”
I shrug, smiling as I think about Grams. “I wasn’t all by myself. My Grams was a huge support for me until she died and I’ve got my little sister Alice.”
“It takes a village,” Ali muses before flashing me a smile. “And now you’ve got all of us. It’s easy to see that Lucas is head over heels for you, which means that you’ve just been added to this crazy family and we’d all do anything for each other.”
“That’s going to take some getting used to.”
Carly lets out a laugh as she nods. “Yes, it will but one day, you’ll look up and realize that it’s the biggest blessing.”
“That’s true,” Tate adds. “No family is perfect but what Blaze and the guys have built here comes pretty damn close.”
“I kind of got that feeling from Lucas.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, Lucas strolls back into the room with Storm. Storm flashes a victorious grin at Ali when he finds her sitting down with her feet propped up and she rolls her eyes.
“God, he’s going to be impossible now.”
“Hey, Darlin’,” Lucas says, sinking into the seat next to me and I smile at him.
“Hey.”
Tate rolls her eyes and flashes Lucas a disgusted look. “God, the two of you are sickeningly cute.”
“You’re just jealous that you got stuck with that asshole outside,” Lucas teases her and she flips him off.
“Don’t think that just because it’s a baby shower, I didn’t bring my taser.”
I peek over at Lucas with wide eyes and he shakes his head.
“Behave. We have company.”
She rolls her eyes again before standing up and heading outside. The guys slowly start filtering in and out as they cook the food but Lucas stays by my side, talking to me and playing with Brooklyn.
“So, I have a question,” I prompt and he nods.
“Shoot.”
“The names - Kodiak, Storm, Moose… that’s not their real names, correct?”
He laughs and nods. “Right. Those are road names.”
“And why don’t you have a road name?”
“Uh,” he murmurs. “Smith is my road name, babe. My real last name is Julette but when I joined the club, I wanted to be anonymous, you know? I didn’t want my father’s sins following me around so Blaze called me Smith. But if anyone else asks, they think Smith is my real last name.”
“Why not tell them?”
He shrugs. “Because I guess in a way, I’ve become Smith. That’s the man I want to be and I’ve even looked into changing my name legally a few times.”
“But you haven’t?”
“I didn’t want Clay to feel like I was abandoning him.”
I offer him a soft smile as I cup his face in my hand. “Don’t ever think that you’re anything other than a damn good man, Lucas Smith.”
He leans in and presses his lips to mine as he runs his fingers through my hair. When he pulls away, he licks his lips and hums.
“I kinda wish we were at home right now.”
I nod, leaning in. “Me, too.”
Our lips meet again and he groans quietly as he grips the back of my neck.
“Smith!” someone yells and he jerks away from me, glancing over his shoulder as Kodiak waves him over. He sighs and kisses my forehead.
“Give me a second.”
I nod. “Sure.”
I watch him as he walks across the room and talks to Kodiak. Tate sinks into the seat across from me and I smile at her before turning back to look at him. A young man with dirty blond hair steps out of the back hallway and my stomach rolls as my entire body begins to shake. He glances in our direction and everything in me is screaming to run.
“Wh-Who is Lucas talking to?” I whisper, barely able to force the words out. Tate glances over at them before turning back to me with a scowl.
“His brother Clay. Why?”
My heart hammers relentlessly in my ears and I struggle to breathe as my mind goes blank.
No.
No.
No.
This can’t be happening.
“Hey, are you okay?” Tate asks, reaching out and touching my arm. I jump and tears well up in my eyes as I look at her.
“I need you to get me out of here,” I rasp and her scowl deepens.
“What’s go…”
I shake my head. “No questions, please. I just need you to get me out of here without Lucas seeing me.”
We both glance back to the hallway and both Lucas and his brother are gone and the air feels a little less heavy as I turn back to her. She studies my face for a moment before nodding.
“Okay, but I’ll have to tell him that I took you home after I get back.”
I nod. “That’s okay.”
When she agrees, I gather up my things and Brooklyn before following her outside. After I buckle Brooklyn into her car seat, she climbs behind the wheel of my car and I promise her that Alice will give her a ride back after giving her directions to my house.
“You have to tell me what’s going on here, Quinn,” she urges and I shake my head.
“I can’t. Not yet.” Hell, I can’t even process it myself yet so there’s no way I could coherently explain it to her. She sighs and nods, glancing over at me periodically as we drive to my house. I’m counting down the seconds until we get there as my insides feel like they’re exploding.
Just one more mile, I tell myself, barely holding the tears at bay.
Just one more block.
Just one more street.
Just one more house.
By the time we pull into my driveway, my hands are shaking and my jaw aches from clenching my teeth to keep the scream at bay.
“I’ll go get my sister,” I whisper to Tate before jumping out of the car and running up the front steps as my stomach rolls. Alice pokes her head out of the kitchen as I burst in the door.
“What are you doing back so soon?”
I meet her gaze as the tears start to fall. “Alice…”
“Oh my god, Quinn,” she gasps, dropping her plate on the island and rushing over to me. “What the hell happened?”
“Brooklyn is in the car and I need you to give Tate a ride back to the clubhouse.”
She scowls. “Who the hell is Tate?”
I point over my shoulder and she peeks through the window.
“Please, Alice. I’ll explain everything when you get back but I need you and Brooklyn to not be here right now and Tate needs a ride back to the clubhouse.”
She studies me for a second before grabbing her purse. Before she walks out the door, she lays her hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”
“No. Please go.”
She nods, her gaze lingering for a second before she steps outside and I watch her get in the car. As soon as they drive away, a deep aching sob tears through me and I sink to my knees, gasping for air. Tears
pour down my face and my hands shake as I press them against my racing heart and pain overwhelms me. It feels like a thousand dark hands, reaching up from the depths of hell. They grip my clothes, my arms, my legs, fighting desperately to drag me back into darkness and finish me off.
And this time, I might just let them.
Chapter Seventeen
Lucas
Sighing, I glance over at the bed in my room at the clubhouse and sigh as Clay rolls away from me, snoring loudly. When he showed up here last night during the baby shower, looking for money, I wanted to get him out of here as soon as possible but it became clear, pretty quickly, that he was in no state to go anywhere. Kodiak and I hauled him up to my room and got him into bed. I was so fucking preoccupied that I didn’t even notice Quinn was gone until Tate came upstairs to tell me that she hadn’t been feeling well so she took her home. I glance at my watch and sigh again. It’s only eight in the morning so I doubt he’ll be awake anytime soon and I need to try and call Quinn. Tate said she wasn’t feeling well at the party but I get the feeling that she might be mad at me for ditching her to take care of my brother. Time to do damage control.
I leave Clay in my room and step into the hallway before dialing her number. As it rings, I lean my shoulder against the wall and tuck my hand into the pocket of my jeans. Truthfully, she has a right to be a little mad. Clay showed up and it’s like I forgot all about her until Tate reminded me. He became my sole focus and it pisses me off that I let him.
“Hi, Lucas,” she answers but her voice sounds different.
“Hey, darlin’. You okay?”
There’s a pause and then she whispers, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry that I disappeared yesterday. My brother showed up at the clubhouse and I was taking care of him.”
“It’s okay,” she answers but something is still off. She’s normally so warm and affectionate but there’s none of that coming through this time.
“You sure you’re okay? You sound off.”
She coughs. “Yeah, I’m just really sick.”
“Shit, I’m sorry, babe. Let me deal with my brother and then I’ll come over and bring you some soup.”
“No.”
