THE BABY OATH

by Sophia Gray

  “No, Rafe, I don’t get you. I have to go to work, I can’t play these games. There’s no reason for anyone to be coming after me and Maddie.”

  “I know, because you’ll be staying home where it’s safe.” He dumped his coffee in the sink and shoved his phone into his back pocket.

  “Why wouldn’t I be safe at work? There’s security there.”

  He laughed. “Yeah. Okay. You stay home. Got it?” I wanted to scream at him. “Don’t go getting Maddie all worried because you want to have a hissy fit. Just do what I’m telling you to do. I’ll be back later and we’ll figure something else out, okay?”

  He slid his hand up my neck, behind me until he was gripping my hair at the base of my head, pulling me to him. His lips pressed down on mine as he ground his pelvis into me. His entire body pressed against me, making me soften under his touch.

  Once he broke the kiss and stared down into my eyes, I couldn’t help but watch his lips as he ran his tongue over them. “Damn, woman, you taste even better pissed off.”

  Regaining my senses, I pushed back from him and tried to give him a good glower. There was no way I could stay home. I didn’t call in sick even when I was sick for two reasons: I needed to save what sick days I had for when Maddie needed me home because she was sick, and because any unused time was paid out at the end of the year.

  “I’m going to work today. You got it?” I snarled at him with my hands on my hips. His lips curled into a slow smile, and he nodded.

  “Oh, I get it all right.” He stepped closer to me, pinning me against the counter by placing his hands on the countertop on either side of me. Leaning in as close as he could, he whispered in my ear, “I get that you don’t remember that little spanking I gave you yesterday and are looking for a reminder. Which I’m happy to give you, except Maddie is over there playing. So we’ll have to go to your bedroom for it, and, baby, that little spanking I gave you was nothing. There are lots of ways to remind you who’s in charge around here.”

  I would have been completely pissed off at his threat if my panties didn’t fucking dampen just by his description. There was no mistaking that he would actually do what he promised, and I was pretty sure the reality would not be as sexy as the fantasy. The hand spanking had turned my insides hot, but I had a feeling his belt would only be lighting a fire on my ass and nowhere else. And if I was wrong, I wasn’t ready to know that either.

  “I don’t want to lose my job.” I decided to whisper my fear and keep my attitude in check. The little tick was back in his jaw and I knew him well enough by then to know it meant trouble if I pushed.

  “You won’t. And if that prick of a doctor gives you fucking trouble, I’ll deal with it.” He reached his hand into my back scrub pocket and pulled out my phone. “Call in sick. Now.” He pushed off the counter and handed me my phone.

  While I made the call, he watched me with raised eyebrows and his arms folded across his chest, showing off the muscles there. As though I needed any reminder as to his build. I felt every inch of his body pressed against me as we slept.

  “Mommy’s not going to work?” Maddie bounced into the kitchen, her pony tail bobbing behind her as she made her way over to us.

  I finished leaving my message on the employee call-in line and squatted down to her level. “Yep, you and me are going to spend the day together. Right here at home.”

  “But I was gonna finger paint today!” she whined. Maddie spent more time at daycare than she did home with me, did it really surprise me that she’d miss her friends if she didn’t go?

  “You can finger paint here with your mama,” Rafe announced from behind me.

  Maddie looked up at him and gave him a pout. “It’s not the same.”

  “It will be fun,” he said with a pointed look down at her. “You’ll stay inside with your mama coloring and playing. And you won’t give her any trouble. Got me, little girl?” His voice hadn’t hardened during his dictate but she must have seen how serious he was being.

  “I don’t want to stay home today.” My little girl was braver than I would have given her credit for as she gave his attitude right back at him. Her eyes narrowed on him, as though daring him to argue more with her. He obviously had never taken on a five-year-old before.

  “You can see your friends tomorrow, baby girl. I promise.” I scooped her up in my arms and planted a big kiss on her cheek. Of course she wiped it off, she was mad at me.

  “Put me down, Mama.” She shoved away from me and I put her back on her feet. “I don’t wanna finger paint.” She turned and walked away from us, leaving her dolls on the floor as she went to her room and slammed the door.

  “Thanks,” I muttered to Rafe, and tossed my phone back on the counter.

  “She can’t always get what she wants.” Rafe shrugged.

  I looked at him with my mouth open. “Why not? You seem to think you can,” I shot at him. The tight lipped smile that curled over his lips didn’t give me a warm feeling.

  “She’s a little girl.”

  “What about me then? I’m an adult.” I thrust my chin out at him. Screw him and his demanding things; he wasn’t my owner. He wasn’t anything to me. Why the hell did I call in sick, I shouldn’t have listened to him.

  “You may not be a little girl, but you are my girl. And if my girl doesn’t knock off some of her attitude, she’ll find herself bent over again.”

  I wanted to lash out at him, to scream for him to get the hell out of my house, but damned if he didn’t step up to me and wrap his arms around me.

  “I’m not your girl,” I mumbled into his chest, the patches on his kutte pressing into my cheek.

  His chest rumbled when he laughed. “You keep saying that, but you have no idea how wrong you are. You became mine at that bar. I know it’s hard to start taking orders when you’ve been on your own for so long, but I’m protecting you. You can’t go outside today.” His voice no longer held the threat in it. “I’ll be back after lunch and we’ll figure all this out. But I need you to listen to me. I’m not fucking around. You and Maddie need to stay inside.”

  “Are you looking for the guy who killed your friend?” I pulled back to look in his face. His features hardened at the mention of his dead president. “You are.” I sighed. “You say you want me to hide away to keep me safe while you charge into danger like some lunatic?”

  “I’ll take care of my business and you take care of yours.” His hands dropped from around me and he took my hand, dragging me to the front window. Pulling the curtain aside he pointed to the guy sitting on a motorcycle across the street. “That’s JC. He’ll be around, he may just be sitting there or he’ll drive around, but you are not to leave this house. If he tells me you stepped one toe out of that door, I promise you, you won’t be sitting anytime soon.”

  I yanked my hand away from him and marched to the door, unbolting it and flinging it open. A flood of morning sunlight poured into the living room. “Stop threatening to beat me.”

  He shook his head and walked over to the door. “I don’t beat my women. But I will be disappointed if you don’t stay inside where I said.” The muscles in his jaw relaxed and he gave me an almost pleading look. “Promise me you’ll do what I say and stay safe.”

  The concern settling in his dark eyes, and creased brow broke through my irritation. “Okay.” I relented. “We’ll stay inside. But when you get back, we need to figure something else out. I can’t keep taking days off.”

  His lips covered mine in a slow, warm kiss that spread more heat throughout my body until my arms wrapped around him and I held him close. My lips parted for him as though they were completely under his command. His hand brushed across my breast, teasing my nipple to a hardened peak before he pulled away.

  “Good girls get rewards, just remember that.” He gave me one quick peck and pushed the screen door open, stepping out into the sunlight. I watched him from the window as he hopped onto his bike. Someone must have dropped it off for him last night, but I hadn’t he
ard anything. Then again he had worn me out pretty good before I finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  RAFE

  If the information Tristan passed along to me was right, then the Hell’s Spawn had everything to do with Jason’s murder, just like I thought. His text confirmed he saw one of their prospects at the club house earlier in the afternoon Jason was gunned down. When I tried brining the information to Gray, he shot me down.

  “You leave them the fuck alone, Rafe. Unless you have real proof, I’m not starting a fucking war over your gut feeling.”

  My fists begged to push his nose a bit to the left, but I managed to keep my cool. I couldn’t get to the bottom of the shit pile if I didn’t have the club’s backing. “Fine.” I growled at him. “Tell me what you’re doing to look into it.” I placed my hands flat on the table and leaned over, giving him my undivided attention.

  He ran his fat tongue over his yellow tinted teeth and shook his head. “We need to shift our focus here, Rafe. We need to get this club united, pull together like the brothers we are and start working our way out of the shit storm. Now, I want us to get out of the gun running and all that other mulling we do, but first we need the funds. First we need to get our bankroll large enough to finance the strip club. This town needs a good titty bar, and once it’s in place we’ll be rolling in the cash. Between the liquor sales and the cut of the dancer’s tips, we’ll never need to run guns again.”

  He almost looked convinced of his own fucking lie, but I knew Gray, and he loved the gun running business. He probably did want to start up a titty bar, but only so he wouldn’t have to ride clear across town to get to the other one. I’d been on a few runs with him over the years, and he got a high off the thrill. If the cops showed, all the better for him. I wasn’t buying his load of bullshit.

  “What does any of that have to do with Jason being gunned down?” I shoved away from the table and walked around the meeting room, trying to get my temper back under control. Why did it seem like I was the only member who gave a shit that Jason was killed? Our new president didn’t seem all that intent on finding his killer.

  “I’m saying we’ll keep looking, but you don’t even have a description of the guy. Only that he was on a bike.”

  “I had my back to him, and when I turned around he shot me,” I snapped at him. “But Jason knew who it was, he saw him clear.”

  “And he didn’t tell you who it was.” Gray nodded along with me.

  “So what, we just let it go because there was no fucking eye witnesses? Who the fuck else knew he was out there at that warehouse?” I started pacing the room while he just watched me with an almost bored expression.

  “Rafe, you’re grasping at straws, man. Look. Let’s get the club in order, then we’ll play detective.” He stood up from his chair and ran his hands through his hair.

  Knowing when I was getting the run around, I nodded. I didn’t need his help anyway. “Fine.” I headed out of the room, ignoring his outstretched hand. The clubhouse usually had a dozen or so members at any given time, having a beer or trying to talk up one of the girls. I noticed that only three guys were in the house, and prospects at that. Sweeping up the floors, changing light bulbs and shit.

  I put it out of my head and hopped on my bike, deciding to head over to Tristan’s. One the ride over, I started thinking about the woman I left behind that morning. No matter how I turned my thoughts, she ended up front and center. And not just her fucking body either. That little smile playing on her lips when she caught me playing with Madison’s dolls with her. Well, I held up the doll and Madison made it talk. The way she was patient when the five-year-old had a tantrum over her breakfast reminded me of my mom, long ago before the double shifts and late rent took their toll on her.

  I never considered myself as a one-woman man. I loved fucking women, and never did I double dip, but I could see getting comfortable with Beth and that little girl of hers. JC had checked in twice to let me know that she was staying put and there was no activity around the house. I wasn’t sure the assholes from the mall were really gunning for her, or just trying to scare her off, but she definitely had something to do with their presence.

  After I left and called JC and Tristan to head over to the mall and check out the activity, they found only tread marks near where she was parked. Even the cops weren’t all that concerned as no one had been shot. All injuries had to do with flying glass from stray bullets, and all the bullets came from the same direction. There was no war, or brawl, just a bunch of guys shooting off into the air. Something didn’t sound right.

  If something had happened to her in that parking lot, it would be on my head. If it weren’t for me, she’d have no connection to the club. She would just be going along with her hospital shifts and taking care of Maddie. How could I even think of pulling her into my life? What if Maddie grew up and turned into a club whore? No fucking way. I wouldn’t allow it. That girl would get her ass to college and make something of herself like her mom.

  Why? So some fucker like me could show up one night, drag her to the back office of a bar and fuck her brains out? I revved my engine and tore down the highway, heading over to Tristan’s, forgetting about the speed limit. I needed to forget about long-term shit with Beth. It wasn’t going to happen. Even if I could settle down with just one woman, she deserved a hell of a lot better than a biker. She deserved a man like my brother. Educated. Stable.

  Tristan’s garage door was up when I pulled into his driveway. His bike laid on its side, the engine cut off. Pulling off my sunglasses I looked around the empty garage. “Tristan?” I pushed the door to the house open. “Tristan! It’s me, Rafe.” I put on hand on my gun, ready to pull it at the slightest movement. “You here man?” I took one step into the kitchen.

  Two steps in and I saw him. On the ground, keeled over to the right was his lifeless body. I felt the familiar twist in my gut and carefully stepped around him to get a better look. A gunshot to the back of his head. Blood splatter covered the dining table and walls. Executed in his own fucking kitchen.

  Tristan had been the only one to say anything funny happening around the clubhouse the day of Jason’s murder. He’d seen a prospect hanging around the clubhouse, and now he was fucking dead. Hell’s Spawn.

  Clenching my fists, I left Tristan and jumped on my bike, tearing out of his driveway and heading to the other side of town.

  ***

  Halfway to the Hell’s Spawn clubhouse I spotted a few of their members hanging outside Dunkin’s Dive. I pulled in, parking beside their line of bikes. Damien, their president, appeared to be among them.

  The bar reeked of cigar smoke when I stepped inside. The place was half empty; since our clubhouse reopened none of our guys hung out at the townie bars. I spotted Damien right away, sitting in the middle of several half naked club whores. They had their own clubhouse, why head out into town and bring the same girls he could have been fucking at home?

  I could feel the eyes on me as I made my way across the room in his direction. No one would touch me, not without Damien’s say so, unless they wanted to feel Anarchy’s Reign heating up their asses. One of his girls saw me coming first and angled her body toward me, shoving her tits at me. The skimpy thing she called a dress barely covered her body and I could see some of her nipple poking out of the dress.

  “Rafe.” Damien nodded to me when I stepped to his table. Two of his guys stood up from the table next to his, but took their seats again when Damien waved them down. “It’s fine,” he told them. “Girls, go get something to drink.”

  “But we have our beer right here.” The short redhead picked up her beer. She must have been new to his little circle and didn’t understand a dismissal when she heard one.

  “Janey, let’s go.” The blonde rolled her eyes at her. She pulled her by the arm over to the bar, carrying their drinks in their hands.

  “I heard about Jason. My condolences.” He pointed to the chair across the table from h
im and I sank into it, keeping my eyes fixated on him. Some men spent their entire lives lying and hiding the truth, it was harder to make out when they were sincere or not. He gave the appearance of not bullshitting me.

  “Thanks.” I waved off the waitress that ventured to our table. “He didn’t deserve to go down like that. Being shot in a drive by like some little gang rivalry.”

  “Rivalry? You don’t think we have anything to do with that shit, do you?” His eyes narrowed, but other than that his expression remained stoic.

  “I’m not saying that. I’m saying Jason deserved better than to be gunned down like some street thug.”

  “I’ll agree with you on that.” He nodded. “Hell’s Spawn had nothing to do with it.” He grabbed his beer and took a long pull. “I’m going on record with that shit. We didn’t touch Jason. No reason to.”