by Naomi West
Memories of making love to Pierce on the campground, riding his motorcycle through the fall leaves, and meeting his people. These moments that she’d kept close to her heart this whole time. Sighing, Felice glanced out of the window again, noticing those pretty, fire-colored leaves had all tumbled to the ground, leaving the trees naked and empty. They looked like they were reaching for the sun with their empty branches, begging for the spring to come back again.
She wondered if Pierce still wanted her. It had been months since he’d even bothered to reply to any of her texts. Even if he still loved her, she did leave him for Clay.
Taking a deep breath, Felice ran her hands over her swelling belly, feeling the warmth of her son deep inside of her body. He was too small to feel just yet. But she knew he would soon be big enough to feel kicking around in there. And Felice wanted Pierce to be around when he did. “Even if — Even if he doesn’t want me, he should at least be part of his son’s life.”
Jenny sat next to Felice in the rental, driving like Felice was an antique glass sculpture that would shatter at a touch rather than simply a lady carrying a baby. Her concern was touching, if a little excessive; Felice was just happy that Jennifer was around to show her where the garage was. She needed the moral support now more than anything.
“It’s going to be fine; he still loves you, I promise.” Jennifer patted Felice’s leg gently, her wrists jangling with a massive assortment of bangles. The sun was beginning to set over the road and the sky turned a deep, rich orange sherbet and wine color, but Jennifer was still wearing her sunglasses.
Felice’s mouth dried up as Jennifer slowed to a halt outside of a big, warehouse looking building. There was a sign on the outside that looked like handmade graffiti that read “the Millennium Mayhem Bike and Car Repairs.” The parking lot was all gravel, which Felice nearly groaned at. Her shoes were not going to like this trek.
“Too bad for the shoes I care more about Pierce.”
Heart racing, pounding against her ribs, Felice stared at the building. Her eyes were too wide, her fingers shaking as she stared at the metal gray siding of the warehouse. “Pierce is inside of this building, right now.”
Feeling a little dizzy, Felice opened the car door and stood up, feeling the icy-cold Boston air steal away all of her heat. It didn’t seem to matter how sensibly she dressed for the weather here, it was never warm enough.
Footsteps on the gravel made crunching noises that woke Felice out of her trance. The camera crew spilled out of the van that had followed them all the way up there, quickly double-checking their equipment before giving Felice the sign to go ahead.
But she wasn’t ready to go ahead.
The thought of rushing into the garage and shouting Pierce’s name for the TV cameras made Felice a little ill, but this was her contract. They needed a pretty ending to the season. Since there weren’t going to be wedding bells between her and Clay, she felt she owed them something to close off the final episode with. She’d given them a pretty, tear-filled love confession they would most likely cut into this one. It felt a little bit violating, always having the cameras there for her most vulnerable moments. But it was too late to regret that now.
Right now, she had to focus on Pierce and herself and the child that would be theirs.
Holding her hands protectively over her stomach, Felice stared up at the imposing building, and took a long, deep breath.
# # #
Pierce
Piece stopped breathing when he looked outside to see what all of the commotion was about. All of his boys stood around him, pressing closer to the glass, their fingerprints turning to rainbows as the lights from outside shown through them. Every detail of that moment, from the icy cold glass under his fingers to the warm feeling spreading through his chest seemed important. Every little thing about this second was some of the most important of his life.
Because somehow, Felice Domiano, wrapped up in a massive pile of winter coats and scarves, was standing in front of his store. Lights glittered off of the silver embroidery on her solid white jacket. Her heels sunk into the gravel as she wobbled across the parking lot from the car, her face wary but determined.
She posed herself in front of the well-lit storefront, and it took a moment for Pierce to realize why. The cameras. They surrounded her like sharks smelling blood in the water. The lighting must have been particularly good where she stood.
Pierce’s heart turned to ice, the blood draining from his face. “Of course she would bring cameras. This is some kind of publicity thing for her. I guess it’s best to just go out there and find out what the hell she wants so I can go back to my life. I’m so fucking tired of these cameras. I don’t know how her family stands them.”
Taking a deep breath, Pierce braced himself. Then he pushed the door open.
A flood of light passed over him as he pushed past the threshold, the cold air instantly pulling all of the heat from his body as he stepped out into the cold. Felice was there, her beautiful body posed in the gravel, her liquid green eyes watching him like a hawk would her prey. Pierce could feel a lump form in his throat that he wasn’t quite sure he could speak around. But he needed to try.
“What are you doing here, Felice?” Pierce gestured to the cameras which seemed to all be rolling, pointing at him expectantly. “Did you bring the crew along to make me look like the bad guy again? Because I’m tired of playing the lawless loser for you.”
No matter what Jennifer said about Felice being miserable with Clay, it couldn’t have been true. She didn’t look miserable, standing in the center of the circle of light in the parking lot. In fact, she looked perfect, poised. Just as she always had. Her green eyes were as hard as emeralds as she stared at him, her breath puffing in the cold December air. “Felice hadn’t even said a damned thing when I sent the bassinet to her. Not a single damned word.”
Heart as hard as ice, Pierce stared the woman who had come two thousand, seven hundred miles for some kind of publicity stunt.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Pierce waited for an answer.
Felice seemed to be frozen where she stood, her feet stuck to the ground. Her face was empty of any emotion as she stared at him, her mouth moving but no words coming out. Suddenly, tears spilled down her beautiful face. A sob spilled out of her throat and she took one, wobbly step forward.
She ran to him as quickly as a woman in heels could ever run on gravel, her words completely incoherent through her sobs.
His heart twisting, Pierce caught Felice as she nearly stumbled into him. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close, the scent of her filling up his senses. It was like heaven to have her arms around him again, and in that moment, the cameras, the shop, and his boys all disappeared in the warmth of her embrace.
“I love you, Pierce,” she whispered, her voice so quiet, he almost couldn’t hear her over the thundering in his blood. Taking a step back, Felice looked up at him, her green eyes so much brighter with tears in them. She seemed to be searching his face for something. “I never should have left you. Clay isn’t who my baby needs to raise him; he needs his father. His real father. I was so stupid to leave you.”
Felice glanced to the side, fresh tears spilling over her long, black lashes and down her beautiful face. “I made the biggest mistake of my life when I went back to him. I — I would — I want you to come back to me. No matter what that means.” She swallowed hard, her eyes coming to rest on his face again. “Please.”
Pierce, caught up in the beauty of Felice’s face, opened and closed his mouth several times. He seemed unable to answer. The blood rushed hot through his veins, his heart thundering back to life like someone had started up a bike’s engine. Emotion filled up his throat, blocking off anything he might have said.
Felice’s eyes searched his face for some hint of the emotions that had him all tangled up, but Pierce wasn’t even sure he knew how he was feeling. Every cell in his body seemed to be reaching out to Felice, wanting to wrap her
in his arms. But she’d left him.
And then owned up to her mistake.
So Pierce did the only thing he could do: wrap his arms tightly around her most precious body, and pray she understood the words he couldn’t seem to say.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Felice
Tears spilling down her face, Felice wrapped her arms tighter around Pierce. She never should have left this embrace. Everything about it felt perfect, like two puzzle pieces coming together to form a whole. Ever since Pierce and Felice had been separated, something had felt like it was missing from her life. No matter how hard she tried to ignore it. But now, with him so close, it was nearly impossible to deny her mistake at leaving him in the first place. No, this is where she belonged. This is where their child belonged.
Smiling, Felice snuggled a little closer, ignoring the audience to their private moment. She was used to having an audience. Every single camera in the world couldn’t ruin this moment. Nothing could.
But Felice was wrong. Something could ruin it. And Clay Patterson was going to try his hardest to do so.
The sound of a car driving too fast on gravel tore through the parking lot, followed by the unmistakable sound the skittering of tires. A car door opened and slammed closed, pulling Felice out of Pierce’s arms to investigate who could be pulling into the shop like a madman.
She instantly regretted looking.
“Felice!” Clay shouted, his voice thick with something crazy. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Leaving your ass behind like she should have done a long time ago,” Jennifer snapped. Felice’s heart dropped down into her toes, her whole body shivering in the freezing cold weather. “Hey, you!” she said, pointing to one of Pierce’s boys. “Go call the damned police. Please.” The kid looked shocked for a second, then disappeared back into the building.
Clay’s pale skin was red with rage, his red hair looking like his scalp was on fire from his rage. A blood vessel popped out on his forehead as he took another step towards Felice and Pierce. “You stupid bitch! How dare you break up with me? After I supported you through this embarrassing pregnancy because biker dude couldn’t step up? You have got to be kidding me.”
Felice could feel her own anger rising in her blood and her eyes narrowed more with every word. Spinning on her heel, she stood beside Pierce, who loomed over her like a protector. “You supported me? By what? Sleeping with the whole world? Making a fool of me by getting arrested on national television? How did you get out anyway?”
Several of Pierce’s boys had come out of the garage and stood behind them. They were all pretty threatening individually, and together, they should have sent Clay running back to his car with his tail between his legs. But he had lost it by then and seemed to see nothing but Felice.
He sneered at her. “I posted bail and walked out of the jail.”
Jennifer snorted. “You’re breaking the law by being out of the state aren’t you?”
Clay’s face got impossibly redder as Felice watched. Pierce’s muscles seemed to tense a little more with every crazy sentence out of Clay’s stupid mouth. “Who cares? I thought you liked bad boys, Felice? Come, don’t you find me hot now, just like your pet inmate?”
Felice’s eyes darkened with rage. “Shut up, Clay, and go back home before they miss you and throw you in jail forever. Not that wouldn’t make me happy; you have literally ruined the last year of my life.”
“I ruined your life?” Clay screamed, his voice cracking as he nearly started foaming at the mouth. “You think I ruined your life? Don’t you think you have biker boy to blame for ruining your fucking life when he knocked you up?”
Pressing her hands protectively to the precious life inside of her belly, Felice took a step back, staggering back from the barrage.
But Jennifer stepped forward. “You stupid cow, of course not. You’re the one who made her miserable. You’re the one cheated, who lied to me to get me to cheat with you. You’re the one who stole all of that money and made a fool of yourself. You’re the one that ruined your chances with Felice by being a selfish prick. Felice only stuck by you because she thought you would be a good father to her kid, no matter how you treated her. She thought you had integrity. Obviously she was wrong, because you’re just a piece of trash.”
Clay gaped at Jennifer, his mouth moving but no words coming out. Felice kind of felt like gaping at her, too. In all of the time they had been friends, Jennifer had never stood up for her so vehemently.
New tears slipped down Felice’s face. “Yes, I was wrong. I was wrong to ever pick Clay over a good man like you, Pierce. I’m sorry that it took all of these disasters for me to see clearly. I was just trying to do what was best for my baby. For our baby.”
Felice turned to Pierce, watching as the hardened mask over his features melted away, leaving behind a vulnerable, beautiful man. And her heart melted in return.
# # #
Pierce
For a long time after Felice finished speaking, there was silence in the parking lot. Even Clay was stunned into silence, unable to continue his tirade. He stood there sputtering, his voice lost under the hatred in both Jennifer and Felice’s words.
Pierce studied Felice, unable to believe how strong this beautiful woman could be. Standing in front of all of these cameras and all of these people, admitting to the whole world that she had been wrong. She was trying so hard to fix her mistake, and Pierce couldn’t let her suffer any longer.
“Felice,” he said, taking her tiny hands in his own. “I stayed away. I stayed away from you, thinking a guy like me would only complicate your life. I didn’t want to ruin your career or ruin the future of our son. I’d rather be miserable if it would give you the chance to be happy. But I can’t sit idly by if you are being so poorly treated.” Kissing the fuzzy fabric of her gloves, Pierce smiled down on Felice.
“How did I get so lucky?” he wondered, watching as Felice’s emerald eyes lit up like Christmas lights on a tree. Pierce was the luckiest man in the world, and he’d only get luckier as his son grew.
Sirens blazed, making Pierce wince out of habit. Clay’s face was still livid, his eyes bulging out of his skull as he took an angry step forward. It was the wrong move.
Kent stepped forward at the same time Razor did, their predatory eyes locked on Clay, the spoiled brat. “I believe those sirens are for you, friend. So you might not want to make it worse by stepping forward again,” Kent said as Razor slammed one of her meaty fists into her other palm.
Clay swallowed hard, then turned on his heel to go back to his car. But two more of Pierce’s boys were leaning against his car, big wicked grins on their faces. “Going somewhere?” Jackboot asked, flexing a little as Clay yelped.
He was surrounded, and there was nothing in the world he could do about it. But Clay wasn’t the kind who could go down without a fight, so he turned around, facing the only fight he might actually win.
He turned to Felice.
Pierce automatically stepped closer to her, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders protectively. Felice stood tall, her eyes blazing like she was just daring Clay to do his worst.
“You stupid whore. No wonder nobody of any worth wants you. You had to drag your date out of the trash and dress him up in pretty clothes. Good luck having a career after I’m gone; I am your career. Your stupid fans love me.”
The police cars pulled into the gravel parking lot. They stepped forward, looking around and trying to figure out exactly what was happening. Pierce pointed to Clay. “This man has been harassing us,” he said, a grimace on his face. The cops glanced around at the cameras with confusion in their faces.
“I think you’ll also find that he is breaking the terms of his bail in Nevada,” Jennifer smirked, an evil grin on her pretty face. “They told him not to leave the state and not to stalk his ex girlfriend, both of which he’s been doing. Any chance you could clean up this trash for us officers?” She batted her pretty black lashes at
them, making a few of Pierce’s boys chuckle.
Clay screamed like a madman as they cuffed him for the second time, dragging him bodily from the parking lot to the cheers of the bikers gathered around to watch. Pierce and Felice watched in silence, trying to drown out the sound of his voice as he tossed more horrible insults at the two of them. They both sighed in relief as the door shut behind him, silencing his yells.
“Well,” Felice said finally, her voice filled with false cheer. “At least we won’t have to worry about seeing him anytime soon. There’s no way he’ll be back out on bail, and his sentence will be at least several years. I think the minimum sentence for the money he’s taken is ten years, and not even rich daddy will be able to get him out of that.”
Pierce chuckled. “That’s great news.” He turned her around, grabbing her chin with his fingers.
