Rebellion MC: Tag & Lucy's Story
Page 18
“She must be out of her mind,” I growl, “You could have told her.”
“You know I can’t and you’d do exactly the same if you were in my shoes. I wasn’t sure if whoever did this was around at the hospital or had inside men. I needed it to be real and Lucy couldn’t have fake cried, she had to think you were dead.”
“She’s pregnant, what if the stress harms the baby,” I snap.
“Doc is keeping an eye on her. She’s staying with Ace so he can look after her. Queenie and Piper are making sure she’s okay.”
“Do they know?”
“Ace and Doc are the only people that know.”
“You have to tell her Ant, you can’t do this to her and I can’t be a ghost forever. She’s having my kid, I want to be a part of that.”
“I know, we’ll tell her. I didn’t want to give her false hope, you were pretty close to knocking on the Devils door man.”
“Well now I’m awake, you can bring her to me.”
“I can’t have her leave the club, she might be in danger too, especially if the news is out there that she’s pregnant with your kid. Once you’re on your feet you can go and see her.”
“No Anton, this won’t wait. Go and tell her the truth.”
Lucy
I take a seat on the worn couch in Ace’s office. Tyra and Bel each hold my hand and Anton paces before us. “Anton please just tell us, you’re worrying us,” sighs Bel. He looks directly at her and for the first time, I see something else in his eyes, maybe a fondness.
“I’m just gonna come right out and say this,” he begins, “I lied.”
“About?” asks Tyra.
“About Tag. He’s not dead.” The room begins to spin and I grip the girls hands tighter, “I had to lie to keep him safe.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” growls Tyra.
“I needed everyone to think Tag was dead, I don’t know who wants him dead.”
I feel nauseous and my stomach tightens. “What?” I croak.
“I’m sorry Lucy, I needed it to look real and you had to look devastated at the hospital in case anyone was watching.”
“Tag’s not dead?” I repeat. Anton shakes his head. He stops pacing and places his hands on his hips, his head hangs like he’s ashamed but I know he’s not, he’s too up himself to feel shame.
I dive from the chair, it crashes to the floor and as my hand rakes across his cheek I feel a mild satisfaction. “You bastard!” I scream.
Anton hisses but I don’t wait for him to react, instead I punch him hard on the nose. It doesn’t bleed like I’d hoped it would but it makes him growl and that’s good enough for me. Arms wrap around me and I’m gently pulled back against Hulk’s body. It’s the first time I’ve seen him since the night of the attack, after the hospital, he went on a run.
“Now, now, let’s not damage his ugly face too much,” he grins.
“How dare you put me through that,” I scream, “You make me sick!”
“I had to Lucy, you don’t understand,” he growls, keeping a hand over the now bleeding scratches on his cheek.
“I understand perfectly. It would have suited you perfectly wouldn’t it, you wanted me out of the way.”
“That’s not true,” sighs Anton.
“Where is he, take me to him now.”
“I can’t do that, not yet.”
“To hell you can’t, you take me to him now or I’ll call the police and tell them how you’ve covered up his attack.”
Anton laughs and shakes his head, “Tag was right to try and walk away from you, you don’t understand our life, you’d never cope with it.” He leaves the office and I turn in Hulk’s arms, sobbing and burying my face into his chest, taking him by surprise.
When Ace comes in, he still looks sheepish, “I know this is fucked up,” he begins and I realize he knew about it. “But Anton was protecting his family.”
“Tag is not his family, this is his family,” I snap, pointing to my stomach. “How could you watch me break like that and not tell me.”
“I couldn’t Lucy, I wanted to trust me. I was trying to do the right thing.”
“By lying to me? I thought we were getting on well,” I snap.
“We are.”
“No, you ruined it with your lies. Your priority should be me, not that piece of shit just because he’s in some stupid mafia!”
“Now you listen to me,” growls Ace, squaring his shoulders and pasting a stern look on his face, “I went along with it to protect you all. I know Tag means a lot to you and because of that, I agreed to help keep him alive. Anton didn’t know who was trying to kill him and didn’t want someone trying to come and finish the job. I know you don’t get our world or the way we do shit but it’s just the way it is. If you love Tag, then you’d better get used to it!” He stomps out of the room grumbling to himself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Tag
I smirk as Anton rubs a hand over his scratches. It’s been two days since I woke up and this is the first day I’ve been able to get out of bed without wanting to vomit. Today I’m being transferred to the Rebellions clubhouse.
Anton is convinced that my father is behind the hit which is a real kick in the nuts after everything I did to keep him alive. Now, with Conner out of the way, Anton thinks he wants to come back and take his place. We have men hunting him down but the threat is still high and so I’m going to the Rebellions to stay until I’ve made a good recovery. Lucy hasn’t picked up any calls from me, she’s taken the news hard and Ace thinks she’s needs time. Well, unfortunately for her, the time is up. Too much has happened and I’ll be damned if I waste any more time. Lucy is mine, from today, she’ll know it.
I’m taken down to the private, underground parking lot under Anton’s home. I leave in a car with blacked out windows and under the armed care of some of our men. Anton is leaving nothing to chance. I’m taken around the back of the club house and taken inside in a wheel chair because I’m too slow on crutches.
Ace greets me with a handshake and a pat on the shoulder. “Good to see you alive brother,” he smiles. “Maybe you can cheer up my girl now because she’s ignoring me and pretty much refusing to leave her room.”
“Point me in that direction,” I say, “But please don’t let it be on the top floor.”
Luckily, Lucy’s room is on the first floor and I just about manage the stairs. I tap lightly on her door but she doesn’t answer. I go on in and find her laying with her back to the door. “Are you gonna lay in here being mad for much longer?” I growl. She spins to face me, a look of pure shock on her face. “Mind if I climb in there with yah, those stairs killed me,” I joke, using my crutches to make my way to the bed.
Lucy stands, throwing her arms around me and almost causing me to lose my balance. “Oh god, you don’t know how good it is to see you,” she sobs, burying her face into my neck, “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“You have no faith,” I grin, “Even death can’t keep me from you.”
“It’s too soon for jokes,” she mumbles into my neck, “I’m still very mad about that.”
I hold her against me and lower to sit on her bed, pulling her with me. She snuggles against my chest. “Baby, for us to work you have to understand that shit’s done differently. Anton did the right thing at the time. Granted, he should have told you sooner, but he was busy trying to find the culprit.”
“I don’t care, what he did was cruel.”
“He did what was necessary to keep me alive. He’s a good man and he’s also part of my life. The organization is a part of my life, you have to accept that for us to work.”
“I don’t like lies Tag.”
“Nobody does, I won’t lie to you, I promise. But sometimes, you might not get the full truth. I can’t promise that I can tell you everything, in fact, there will be times when I’ll be here but my mind will be elsewhere and I won’t be able to tell you any of it. You’ll see things in me that you’ll hate, like
when I came to you covered in blood. I can’t tell you any of that because it implicates you. But please believe that everything I do will be to keep you safe, you and this little one.”
Lucy places a gentle kiss on my cheek. “I don’t have a choice. I can’t be away from you, not now that I know what it feels like to be without you. I prayed to have you back and now I’ve got you. We’ll work through it.”
“And Anton?” I ask.
“I can’t promise to role over and obey him, we don’t like each other. But I’ll try.”
I pull her in for a deeper kiss, breathing in her vanilla scent. I never thought I’d feel her in my arms again, when I lay on the ground with my blood spilling out, I thought it was the end. I have another chance and I’m gonna make us work.
Lucy
I lay staring at Tag as he sleeps. He looks peaceful but I can still see the paleness in his skin tone and the dark circles under his eyes. He almost looked frail when he first walked into my room this evening. It broke my heart all over again.
“Stop staring at me,” he croaks sleepily.
“No,” I smile, “I’m never taking my eyes off you again.”
“You have no idea how real that promise is. Every step you take will be with me watching.”
“Stalker,” I smile, kissing him on the head.
We have yet to leave my room. We spent hours making love, getting to know each other all over again. I reach for Tag’s painkillers from the bedside table and pop a few into my hand. “Take your meds,” I say, reaching for the glass of water.
Tag swallows the tablets and then places a kiss on my bump. The baby kicks and he smiles up at me, “You feel that?” he grins, placing another kiss.
“It’s an active little thing,” I smile, rubbing my hand over the bump. I can finally look forward to our baby and vow to go and buy everything we need as soon as Tag is feeling up to getting out. The thought of hit men popping up when we’re shopping wipes the smile from my face. “Will we have to spend the rest of our life looking over our shoulder Tag?”
“I hope not baby. Now that Conner is dead, things will be different. Anton wants to take the organization on a different path. I’m not saying we’re suddenly gonna become advocates for the police force or anything but maybe we will be able to sleep better at night.”
“You two lovebirds finished in there?” A bang on the door accompanies the shout that sounds like Hulk. “We’re having a few drinks in the bar, come down.”
“Is that an order?” asks Tag.
“Damn straight,” replies Hulk.
Epilogue
Lucy
Cradling my baby son in my arms, I smile over at Tag. He’s looking so much better these days, his limp is almost gone and the only real sign that he was shot is the two small scars, one on his stomach and the other on his thigh.
He began training a couple of weeks ago, just gentle exercises to get him back in shape, I know he’s frustrated, wanting his recovery to be much quicker but I’ve enjoyed having him with me all the time instead of at the gym.
We’re still staying at the Rebellions club house and honestly, I love it here. I’m in no rush to go back to my apartment. Being here means there is always someone around to help with Abel and there’s always someone to talk to. Piper’s become a really good friend and seeing her every day, living with her, is amazing. My mother wasn’t too happy when I first told her where I was living these days but she’s learning to accept it. When I mentioned that Ace was still single her eyes sparkled, but she’s yet to meet him again.
“I can’t wait to drink Prosecco again,” I sigh dreamily, breast feeding means that Tag is against me having a drop of alcohol in case I pass it on to his pride and joy and Abel ends up drunk, I laugh at his over-protectiveness. Mae doesn’t respond, I follow her dreamy stare to where Ace is chatting with Hulk. “Please don’t tell me you’re crushing on Hulk too,” I groan. It’s bad enough that him and Piper dance in circles, pretending to hate each other.
“What?” she asks, snapping from her day dream, “Oh god, no, I wasn’t staring at him.”
I laugh, “Well I know you weren’t staring at Ace, he’s old enough to be your Dad.”
She laughs too, shaking her head, “Of course not.”
She avoids my quizzical stare, fiddling with Abel’s little toes as he sleeps soundly in my arms. I don’t have chance to quiz her further because Tag leans down, taking Abel from my arms and handing him to Mae. “Stand,” he orders me. I don’t question him, he’s always bossing me around. I stare in disbelief when Tag drops down on to one knee.
“What are you doing Tag?” I hiss.
“I’ve had to wait so long to do this, but now my leg is finally feeling stronger, I can get down on one knee.” I glance around, the whole room is quiet and everyone is staring at us. “Ten, will you marry me?”
Tears form in my eyes as he takes my hand and slips a diamond ring on my finger, “I haven’t said yes yet,” I smile.
“Oh, I only asked to be polite Ten, I already have my answer.”
I laugh as he stands and pulls me against his hard chest, “Well, the answer is yes, just in case you were confused,” I grin.
Clapping and cheers erupt around us as Tag picks me up and swings me around. “I love you Ten,” he smiles, kissing me hard on the lips.
“I love you too Matteo, but we really need to think about revising my low score.”
“Never, You’re a ten out of ten baby.”
THE END
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