by K. J. Dahlen
“That doesn’t leave us much time, old man,” Izzy argued.
“Nobody asked you,” Sam growled.
Izzy narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned to Melora. “Are you positive about this?”
Melora smiled and nodded. “Yup.”
“Good luck then.” Izzy grinned. “You, my friend, are going to need it.”
Sam huffed.
Melora let out a giggle.
~* * * *~
It was much later when Quinn stepped outside for a breath of air. She walked to the corner of the building and was looking out toward the woods when Sam came up behind her. She stiffened and tried not to step away. “What do you want?” she asked.
“To tell you the truth…I don’t really know,” he admitted. “I was hoping we could make some kind of peace between us. I’m just not sure how to start.”
Quinn turned to stare at him. “Why does it matter to you?”
“Because you’re my daughter.”
“Again I ask…does that matter to you?”
“Yeah, it does.” Sam nodded. “I’ve always watched over you, not just because you’re my kid but because I loved you. I never got the chance to tell you that before but I’ve always felt it. I couldn’t stay with you and your mother but that didn’t mean I didn’t care about both of you. Junie was the one woman who I might have loved if I’d never met Melora. I am sorry I didn’t met you before now.”
“I used to see you watching us. I asked Mom about you once and she told me who you were. I waited for you to come closer but you never did.”
“Your mother asked me to stay away. She didn’t want me to confuse you, if I wasn’t going to be in your life full time.”
“Did you know she loved you all these years?” Quinn asked with tears in her eyes. “She never stopped loving you even after you left us.”
Sam sighed deep. “Yeah, I knew she loved me but I wasn’t ready for that kind of love back then. I couldn’t stay and take everything she had to offer. It wouldn’t have been fair to her.”
Quinn nodded. “She said she never regretted her time with you. She always hoped we would have a relationship someday.”
“I’m sorry she died. I felt really upset when they told me.”
“Yeah, me too. Even during that time she told me she still loved you.”
Sam wiped his hand down his face. “I’m sorry.”
“So you watched over us all these years because you loved me?”
Sam looked at her perplexed. “Of course I love you, you’re my daughter. Look at you. Beautiful, smart.”
“Sam, there is no of course about it,” Quinn scolded. “Some men don’t love their kids and some men can’t be bothered with them.”
“I’m not most men,” Sam reminded her. “I love my children. I may not be with their mothers but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them. Melora tells me I need to say the words more often.”
“Is that the reason she finally agreed to marry you? You actually told her you loved her?”
“Yeah, that’s why.” Sam flushed. “I thought she knew all this time but she said she didn’t.”
“I’m glad you finally told her then.”
“Yeah me too, now all I have to do is get her down the aisle before the baby is born.”
~* * * *~
Two weeks later, Melora woke up with a backache. Today was the day she and Sam were supposed to get married. The ceremony was going to be at the clubhouse.
Cassie, Peaches Reva and Quinn along with Mountain and Izzy had all been working hard to make it happen.
Melora wasn’t complaining but no one had asked her opinion on the wedding at all. She tried not to care but this was her wedding. The only one she would ever have and she always knew what she wanted. She tried not to let it bother her but she couldn't quite manage that. She also knew the pregnancy didn’t help. She had a hard time controlling her emotions lately.
She got up and showered. Letting the hot water run down her back helped the ache but didn’t make it go away. She got dressed and joined her father out in the living room. Izzy had gone ahead to the clubhouse for last minute wedding duties. Mountain was supposed to drive Melora out there.
He gazed tenderly at her and smiled. “You look a lot like your mother.”
“Except for the fact my hair is almost white and she had dark hair.” Melora giggled.
“Well yeah, there is that.” Mountain chuckled. “I’m glad you got a little bit of me too.” He reached out and touched her silky mane.
“Shall we go?” she asked rubbing her huge belly. “I think this baby can’t wait any longer.”
Mountain frowned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just ache today that’s all. The baby was restless all night, so I didn’t get much sleep either.”
“All right, let’s go then.”
~* * * *~
Earlier that same day…
Raine sat with Sam at a table in the clubhouse. All around them people were bustling back and forth getting things ready for the wedding. Raine had been watching Reva for months now and Bones just called him on it.
“You have to stop watching her,” Sam told his friend. “Gator is getting mad about it and you’re upsetting Reva. She doesn’t really need this on top of everything else going on here right now.”
“I know but I’ve been trying to work up the courage to tell her something for a while now.”
“And what would that be?” Sam asked raising his glass to his lips. The whiskey inside the glass burned on the way down his throat.
“Bulldog is getting out of prison soon and I need to tell her.”
“Shit, I forgot about him.” Sam cursed as he dropped his glass to the table in surprise.
Raine nodded. “Most people have but I never could.”
“I understand that.” Sam sighed. Looking over at Gator, he noticed the other man’s eyes were on Reva as well.
“Gator is gonna kill him, you know that don’t you?” Sam asked.
Raine nodded. “Yeah, I know and he’d have every right to do it too.” Raine took a drink of his beer. “Bulldog was a mean sonofabitch seventeen years ago and he hasn’t changed at all over the years. In fact, he’s gotten worse and now he’s getting out of prison in a month and the first thing he’s gonna do is come after his wife.”
Sam scoffed. “He won’t get to her, not here.”
“He won’t have to,” Raine replied. “When she finds out he’s out, she’ll run. You and I both know it. He knows her very well and he’ll find her out there. She won’t put anyone else’s life on the line but her own. Bulldog has taken most of her away already. She won’t let him take anymore of her soul.”
“No woman deserves what Bulldog did to her.” Sam shook his head.
“True, Bulldog crossed a line that night and once he started, he couldn’t stop. I’d like to say it was the drugs he was high on that night but we both know it went deeper than that. He was just plain crazy and he didn’t care if he hurt her or not. Gator had every right to take that shot. He had the guts to do what no one else wanted to do. He put a bullet in Bulldog….” Raine paused. “But he should have put him down, instead of letting him live.”
“He didn’t want a war with your family.”
“Yeah, I know.” Raine nodded. “The Moore family was quite strong back in the day but Gator wasn’t the one who betrayed that. Bulldog was. Our father taught us lessons growing up and one of those lessons was to never hit a woman. What Bulldog did to Reva that night went beyond a beating.”
“True, but she won’t appreciate knowing he’ll be free anytime soon.”
“I know but as a human being, I owe her that much.” Raine sighed.
“And as Bulldog’s brother?”
“I owe her so much more.” Raine sighed. “I wasn’t there for her when she needed me to be, so I’ll try and be there for her now. Even if I get my ass kicked.”
Sam snorted. ”Yeah, life does that sometimes.”
“I’m not worried about life kicking me around, I’m more worried about Gator kicking my ass for being the bearer of bad news.”
“There is always that,” Sam agreed. “Just don’t do it today. Today is supposed to be a good day for Melora and she won’t like you disturbing the wedding with bad news.”
“I know but I have to tell her soon. Bulldog will get out in another month and that isn’t very long.”
Before Sam could respond, his phone rang. He answered noting the number was unrecognized by his contact list, “Hello?”
When the caller answered, Sam got to his feet and moved away. Raine watched him go out the back door and he frowned. The wedding was in an hour and he hoped whoever was on the phone wouldn’t disrupt it.
A few minutes later, Mountain and the bride showed up. The girls hurried Melora down the hall to one of the bedrooms and Mountain came over to the table and sat down.
Raine poured him a drink and Mountain gladly took it. “So are you ready for this?” Raine asked.
“Is any man ready for this?” Mountain countered. “I just found my daughter and now, I’m giving her away to another man.”
Raine laughed. “I doubt it, but weddings happen every day.”
“Not to me, they don’t,” Mountain grumbled.
“Get used to it,” Raine suggested. Lifting his beer to his lips he asked, “So have you asked Izzy to be your wife yet?”
Mountain glared at him. “That’s none of your damn business.” Looking around he asked, “Where is the groom?”
Raine looked around and frowned. “He was here a minute ago.”
“Well, if he values his fucking life, he’ll be here when he needs to be.”
Raine nodded. “He will be.”
~* * * *~
An hour later, everyone gathered in the main room. Pastor Ashton was standing near the same arbor that Deke and Cassie would have been married under when Sam disrupted their wedding. With the tigers, Cassie painted on the wall as if gazing over the ceremony.
Deke, Raine and Sabbath were all dressed up waiting for Sam to show up.
Cassie, Peaches, Quinn and Izzy were waiting in one of the bedrooms with Melora and Melora wasn’t the only one watching the minutes tick by.
Cassie left the bedroom at one point. She joined her husband to find out what the holdup was. When she saw the look on everyone’s face she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t find Sam,” Deke told her.
“What do you mean you can’t find Sam?” she asked. “Where the hell is he?”
“He was here earlier,” Raine spoke up. “Then he got a phone call and disappeared. No one has seen him since then.”
“Well, he’d better get here soon or his happy ever after ain’t EVER gonna happen,” Cassie predicted. She was looking over at Mountain sitting there with his four brothers and shivered. “I wouldn’t want to be the one who pissed that group off.”
“Yeah, me neither.” Deke shook his head. “Talk about getting a beat down.”
When the hour came and went and Sam didn’t show. Everyone began wondering what happened. They all new this wedding was his idea, so it didn’t make any sense.
~* * * *~
At first, Melora wasn’t really concerned but the more time that passed, the more she worried. She knew it would take a lot for Sam to miss the wedding he insisted on but she couldn’t imagine what that could be.
Finally, four hours later the main door opened and Sam came in. Behind him was a young girl, barley more than a teenager. When Sam grabbed her arm and hauled her in front of him, he looked at Melora. “I’m so sorry baby, but I had to go get Adriana.”
“Who the fuck is Adriana?” Mountain demanded to know as he stalked toward Sam.
“She’s my daughter.” Sam dropped his bomb.
“What the fuck?” Mountain exploded.
“Sam,” Melora called out as she got to her feet. Her hands gripped her belly and she had a pained look on her face.
Sam frowned and rushed over to her. Cupping her face between his big hands, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I think the baby wants to be born tonight. My water just broke.” She looked down at the puddle of fluid pooling at her feet.
He swung her up into his arms and called out to Deke, “Keep an eye on your sister. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
“Oh no, you don’t old man!” Deke called out. “We’re going with you.”
“Let’s go then,” Sam called back as he carried Melora out to his truck.
NO REGRETS
#6
SIN’S BASTARDS MC
K.J. DAHLEN
DEDICATION:
I would like to dedicate this book to good friends, Lola and Paul and a great kid Jesse—Jesse has overcome so much in his very young life to become a champion. With the help of people who love him very much he has shown the whole world just how far he can go. We all just need someone to believe in us and this young man has become an icon in our community. Well done, Jesse!
PROLOGUE
The sound of the bike roared through the yard in the compound. The engine was loud but it didn’t cover the screams.
The brothers of Satan’s Bastards all came filing out of the clubhouse. What they saw didn’t even seem to be real.
The woman screaming was tied with a rope around her wrists and the rope stretched to the back of the motorcycle. The man riding it revved his engine and moved forward again.
The poor woman gasped and fell to her knees. By the look of her body with its cuts and abrasions, it wasn’t the first time she’d been tugged to the ground by the powerful bike.
All the MC members stood there stunned.
“What the hell Bulldog?” The club’s president shouted.
Bulldog, on the bike ignored him as he got off his ride and grabbed the woman up by her hair. “You’ll pay for trying to skip out on me, bitch!” He slapped her hard and she flew back.
Still stunned, most of the men stared. They didn’t seem to be able to fathom what they were seeing. One of their members was breaking a solemn law…beating on a woman and his Old Lady, no less.
One man ran forward and jumped on Bulldog’s back.
Bulldog threw him off and hit the woman again and again. His eyes nearly bulging out of his face as he beat her bloody.
“Dammit!” The older man of before jumped on his back again….And again, he was thrown back to the ground.
Bulldog was wild eyed and crazed looking. His fists were bloody and his face was reddened by rage.
The woman still lying prone in the dirt was weeping and blood covered her face as she tucked herself into a fetal position.
Bulldog then stepped closer to her and kicked her in the ribs then grabbed her up by her hair to continue with the beating. It was obvious to all except him that the bloody woman had passed out or was dead.
The older man grabbed a two by four and slammed it onto Bulldog’s back.
Bulldog just roared as he turned around and raised his fist.
A shot rang out.
Bulldog was hit in the shoulder and didn’t even pause as he glared at the man holding the gun. He advanced toward the shooter as if he didn’t feel a damn thing.
The shooter cocked his gun and shot him again.
Bulldog was knocked back, but he got up almost instantly. “I’ll get you for this Gator!” he shouted his eyes crazed and dilated. “What? You want my woman for yoursel—?” He never finished his sentence as another two by four hit him on top of the head. He went down into the dirt and lay there huffing and puffing as blood poured from his wounds. His eyes narrowed as across the way behind his bike on the ground lay the center of his wrath. “Reva…” he whispered with hatred as he finally blacked out.
CHAPTER ONE
Seventeen years later...
Raine shook his head and sighed. As
long as he lived, he would never forget it. Her lying there in a pool of blood and his brother also lying in his own blood, put down like a rabid dog.
“Never…ever forget it,” Raine whispered to himself as he sat in the main room of the clubhouse. He sighed heavily as he stared at Cassie’s tiger paintings on the clubhouse wall. Tigers…A white Siberian and a Bengal. Cassie and Melora had said they, or rather their spirits had protected them during the bad times. He tilted his head with a sudden thought. Reva hadn’t had them. He shook his head and a smile spread across his lips. Maybe the first smile he’d had in days. But she did have a Gator. He tilted his chair, so he could look into the kitchen.
The only one in there at the moment was Reva. She was busy making coffee. He watched as she moved around the room, her movements stable and steady, so unlike they were all that time ago. Back then, she didn’t bring attention to herself, but then they all found out later that she had a very good reason to hide from the world.
Raine looked around. It was a different day back then, a different time. Yet everything was coming around to it again.
The whole clubhouse was decorated for Sam’s wedding, a wedding that hadn’t happened because Sam had taken off to pick up his daughter from another town. Then he barely got back when Melora had gone into labor. Everyone else had gone to the hospital with Sam and Melora but Raine had something else to do. He knew labor took time and he needed to warn Reva and Gator.
He, Sam and five other men had been there a little over a year now and he and the others had been accepted and a new club formed. The six men from the MC Satan’s Bastards had come from Bangor, Maine when Sam wanted to meet the woman his son Deke was going to marry. Sam felt time was running out for him and he almost blew his only chance to get to know his son.
But fate and Cassie had come through for Sam and now, they were living here in Troy, New York.
