by Carol Dawn
“Are you a serial killer, Blake Hunter?” she asks, with a slight grin.
The question catches me off guard and I bark out a laugh.
“No, sweetheart. I’m not a serial killer,” I answer.
“Are you dangerous?” This time she doesn’t ask with a grin. She’s very serious.
“Am I dangerous?” I repeat.
After a few seconds, I answer, “Yes, I am dangerous. But not to you, not to Sophia. Never to either of you.”
She stares me right in the eyes for a long while before she finally sees something that makes her feel safe. Slowly, she hands over the baby. After checking to make sure Sophia was, indeed, doing fine, I buckle her tiny body safely into her car seat. Tucking her small pink blanket snugly around her.
Arabella doesn’t know it yet, but she and little Sophia Grace just got themselves an overprotective male. Along with a club full of overprotective beasts.
So, whatever or whoever it is that caused her to drive away in this dangerous weather with a three-day-old baby had best stay away. Because I’m Chains, Vice President of the Infernal Sons MC and I will do anything to protect what’s mine.
And they are.
Arabella and Sophia Grace just became mine.
God help the soul who tries to take them away.
Turning my truck around, I head back home. Hawk will just have to wait for that damn file.
Chapter Three
Bella
I’m so cold that my body has gone past the point of shivering. So, therefore, my brain must be frozen and not capable of functioning properly. That is the only reason I can think of as to why I would trust a complete stranger.
It’s not like I really have any other choice. My car ran out of gas long before the battery died. Luckily, I had just finished nursing Sophia right before the car gave its last warning stutter, and my portable heater completely stopped working.
I remember wrapping the infant carrier around me and placing Sophia inside before zipping up my jacket. I must have drifted off shortly after that because the next thing I remember is this giant hulking man demanding to know where my baby was. The strange thing about it, I wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t fear for me or Sophia.
I did have the brains to hesitate a bit before I handed the man my daughter, though. I tried my best to look fierce and intimidating. Not really sure it came through. However, I knew she was okay, I could feel her breathing against my chest. I could feel her warmth resonating against my cold skin. But it was warmer in his truck than it was in my coat, so I gave in.
He is so good with her. His eyes are so warm, even though they are the deepest of blues. His smile is comforting. His voice is…Oh, snap out of it, Bella. It’s just the hormones talking. Like you need another man. Look at what the last one did to you.
He says everyone calls him, Chains. I really love the sound of his name better. Blake. Blake Hunter. He looks like a Blake Hunter.
Man, I’m tired. So very tired. I can’t seem to keep hold of a single thought. Everything keeps drifting away. I just… I need a little sleep. We stop at a single-story brick home with a picket fence right before I close my eyes.
Cute home. Sexy man. Baby safe and warm. Sleeee.
***
I’m surrounded by warmth. Warmth and softness. The bone-deep coldness is finally gone but now I’m hit with pain. I need to find my bag. I think he said he grabbed it.
I throw the blanket back and place my feet on the floor. My naked feet. My naked legs. Where are my clothes? I’m wearing a plain white shirt that I wasn’t wearing before. Did he undress me? A quick look under the shirt has me relaxing with the knowledge that my bra and panties are still on.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
I yelp in surprise and throw a pillow in the direction of his voice. Yep. A pillow. I’m a total badass.
“I am so sorry,” I say to Blake. “You scared me.”
“So, you thought to protect yourself with fluff?” he asks, amusement pouring from his voice.
“It was instinct. Where is my daughter?”
“I pulled out an old bassinet I had put away for my sisters' next spawn,” he says, walking towards me. “Sophia is fast asleep in the living room.”
“Your sister who has three children?” I ask. “She’s pregnant?”
“Not yet but give it time.”
There’s a somewhat awkward silence between us for a few minutes as he stands beside the bed and I sit there like an idiot.
“Do you have my bag?” I ask.
He nods his head and leaves the room. It feels like he wants to say something but is holding back. I can’t get him involved in my problems. I need to get my car fixed and get out of here before Jack finds me. I just need some gas and a jump.
Seeing my pants on the edge of his bed, I grab them and slide them on before sitting back down.
“Here you are,” he says as he gently plops the bag beside me. “I brought you some water.”
“Thank you.” I dig through my bag until I find my prescription bottle. I open that baby up and shove two pills into my mouth before greedily swallowing them down without water.
“Thought you said you weren’t hurt?” Blake says, with a tight voice.
“I’m not.”
“I saw the bandage on your lower stomach, sweetheart.”
Yeah, I figured.
“That’s where I had my c-section. No big deal. The bandage they put on it is watertight and can last for at least a week before I have to change it,” I tell him.
“Okay, and from what I remember, a mother who has just had a c-section is required to rest with no strenuous activity for at least three weeks. I can tell you’re in more pain than you need to be.”
“Why do you care?” I demand. “We’ll be out of your hair in a couple of hours. You don’t have to stress yourself out about us.”
I don’t understand why he’s so aggravated. Maybe he’s just the type of man who actually cares when someone is hurt or in trouble. Do those still exist? But, looking at his face I can see that it’s something else. Something deeper. Something I don’t want to let myself see.
“I promise,” I say. “I promise I’m okay. Sitting in one spot and driving for all those hours kind of took its toll on me. I just need a little rest.”
Sophia starts crying in the other room.
“No wonder my boobs are hurting,” I mumble to myself.
At Blakes grin, I realize it must not have been as ‘to myself’ as I would have liked.
“Here,” he reaches behind my shoulders and helps me stand. “Let me help.”
Together we walk to where my daughter is making her displeasure known.
We walk down the hall and into a beautiful living room I did not expect. His home looks nice. It feels lived in. I mean, of course, it feels lived in, he lives here. What I mean is, it feels like a family home.
Shit.
“Are you married?” I ask.
“Married?” he repeats. “No, not yet.”
“Not yet? So, engaged?”
“No,” he says. “Not yet.”
“Ah,” I say. “I understand. A girlfriend.”
“Nope,” he shakes his head. “Not yet.”
“Huh? What do you mean, ‘not yet’?” I ask.
The infuriating man just looks me in the eyes and gives me a panty-melting smirk. So, I do the only logical, mature thing. I stick my tongue out at him and turn to pick up our daughter.
My daughter. I turn to pick up my daughter.
Lord, help me.
Chapter Four
Chains
Watching her nurse Sophia is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I had a moment of lust-filled thoughts when Arabella flopped her perfect breast out of her shirt before it was hidden behind the beautiful dark curls of Sophia’s head. Using far more strength than should be necessary, I turn and head toward the kitchen.
***
I’m not sure how long it takes to nurse a baby, but I almos
t have breakfast finished by the time Arabella walks into the kitchen.
“I hope you’re hungry,” I tell her as I sit a plate of pancakes on the table.
Her stomach chooses that moment to growl. Laughing she says, “I guess I am.”
“Thank you for helping us,” she says, filling her plate. My girl is not a shy eater, I see.
My girl?
“It was no bother at all, sweetheart. Babygirl asleep?” I ask.
“Out like a light. Once she gets her fill, she takes no time at all falling into that milk coma,” she says, with a small smile.
“That’s how my sisters’ kids were at this age. Don’t worry, once she gets older, we’re going to wish she would take a nap,” I say with a chuckle.
“We are?”
Shit.
“May I ask about her father?” I shift gears and drive this conversation in another direction.
We’ll address the ‘my’s’ and ‘we’s a little further down the road.
Going by her look, she knows exactly what I just did but follows along, nonetheless.
“You may,” she says. “But there isn’t really much to say.
“Oh, I highly doubt that, pretty girl.”
“Okay,” she admits. “There are many things I could say about Jack. But none that I really want to voice.”
“Jack sounds like an ass.”
She throws her head back and laughs. Watching her nurse Sophia was a beautiful thing to see. But this? Her long dark chocolate brown hair falling back in waves, her tiny nose scrunched up, her bright green eyes fighting to stay open against the onslaught of her perfectly kissable cheeks. Her mouth spread wide revealing a beautiful bright smile.
This was perfection. Absolute perfection. Everything seems to slow down as I’m watching her laugh in a beautiful chorus of slow motion. I’m frozen in this moment. Taking in every single image, frame by frame. Committing it to memory.
I don’t know this woman. But I do know one thing for sure. She’s mine. If a soulmate were a true thing, then the beautiful, perfect, wonderful Arabella is mine. Which makes Sophia mine.
One of the things I notice is the lack of laugh lines on the corners of her smile. I can tell that she doesn’t laugh or smile enough.
Which brings me back to my whole reasoning, Jack must be an ass.
Arabella is waving her hands in front of my face and the time bubble suddenly pops.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I ask, because I must have missed something.
With a giggle she says, “I said, I didn’t say anything about him so how did you come to that conclusion?”
“Two reasons really,” I say as I stand and grab her empty plate. How long was I daydreaming? “One, you don’t have any laugh lines and two, you just gave birth to his daughter. He shouldn’t be anywhere that isn’t by both of your sides.”
She’s silent while I clean up our dishes.
“Him not being by my side was my chance to get us out of there,” she whispers so low I almost didn’t catch it.
Something sour settles in my gut.
“What do you mean by that, baby?” I ask her.
“I was set to be released yesterday morning, but there was a delay with the doctor,” she tells me while fiddling with the edge of my shirt that she was still wearing. “Something about wanting to keep me a little longer to see if the blood transfusion was working.”
“Blood transfusion?” I ask.
“I guess I lost a little too much blood during the cesarean section and I needed a transfusion to build my count back up. The doctor said it was a common thing to happen.”
I walk over and kneel in front of her. Grabbing her hands, I say, “Go on.”
She takes a deep breath before continuing.
“Jack didn’t like that news. He wanted us to leave with him that morning.” She pauses. “I guess he had a meeting with an important client, and he had no choice but to leave us there and pick us back up later. Not even a minute after he left, my best friend Noah walked into my hospital room.” She takes a drink of water before continuing.
“He rushed up to me and said that we had to leave right then. I didn’t question him. I grabbed Sophia, everything we had in the room and left with Noah. He took us to the roof parking garage and right up to a car I had never seen. He told me everything I needed was inside. A bag of clothes, some money, my prescription meds, all of my legal papers and Sophia’s birth certificate. He said that one of my nurses is his cousin and she helped him plan the whole thing. The fake extended stay, getting my medication filled and even volunteered her car. Noah buckled Sophia in the back, practically shoved me in the driver’s seat, gave me a quick hug and said to ‘get the hell out of here.’ I wasn’t sure where to go, but my smart best friend did. In the passenger seat was a map with a red circle on it and an address written below it.
I’m so close, Blake. I almost made it there, but my stupid addled brain forgot to stop and get gas. I’m so lucky that Noah’s cousin had that portable car heater. My baby could have died because of me.”
With her last words in the air, her head falls forward onto my chest and she cries. I wrap my arms around her and gently slide her from the chair onto my lap. With the wall at my back, I hold Arabella until her body stops shaking and her last tear dries.
“Your car has a full tank of gas, fully charged battery and is sitting in my driveway,” I reluctantly tell her a few minutes after she stops crying.
Arabella’s head shoots up with a shocked look on her face.
“What?” she asks.
“While you were sleeping, or passed out, I’m really not sure which one it was you were doing,” I say with a smirk. I know she was sleeping. I checked on her every thirty-five seconds only to hear a cute little snore.
“I had a friend come and fix it up for you. I didn’t want you to feel trapped.”
“Oh, God. You’re making me cry again.”
“The only tears I want to see coming from your eyes are ones of happiness.”
“Well,” she says, standing, “Thank you so much for doing that for me.”
I hate saying what comes out of my mouth next.
“So, I guess you’ll be leaving, then?”
She doesn’t say anything but nods her head once.
I want nothing more than to lock her in my home and never let her leave.
“This is going to sound really weird,” she says. “But, would you mind if I showed you where we’re heading? You know, on the map that Noah gave me? It’s just that…I know it’s not far but…and I have this thing that…Plus you are so very…”
“Baby,” I interrupt her rambling. “I’ll go outside and get the map and then you show me. It’ll make me feel better knowing where you two are going.”
She wasn’t wrong. I know about where she is heading. It’s not even an hour away.
Helping her and Sophia back into her car is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Every muscle in my body is fighting with me to pull them both into my arms and never let go.
I watch my girl buckle her seatbelt before I lean in and kiss her forehead.
“Drive safe, baby.”
Before she has a chance to utter a word, I take a step back and close her door.
I was wrong.
Watching her drive away is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
***Bella***
My heart told me not to leave.
My head told me not to leave.
My gut screamed at me not to leave.
Blake’s eyes begged me to stay.
I didn’t listen.
And now, I’m dead.
Chapter Five
Chains
It’s been a week. A fucking week. Seven long days filled with nothing but anger and worry.
I’m in the gym at the clubhouse where I’ve spent most of my time this past week.
“Chains, if you don’t take a break soon, you’re going to collapse.”
“I’m fine, Rose,” I
huff out between punches.
“Can’t you call her?” Rose asks.
I wish I could. For some fucked up reason, I didn’t think to ask about a number to call. Or to give her mine. I was so focused on the fact that my girls were leaving when I just got them that the rational side of my brain went out the window.
“Baby, leave the man alone and let him work out,” Prez says to his ol’ lady.
Bear and Rose returned home from their honeymoon two days ago. Which is perfectly fine with me. My head isn’t on straight enough to play acting president right now.
We finally have the new clubhouse finished. Our old one was burned to the ground by Roman Hernandez. The same man who kidnapped and tortured Rose. The same man who is essentially responsible for the death of Princess.
All the things I should be focused on but am not.
“You said you think she was running from someone?” Rose asks.
“My beautiful Rose, we’ve had this conversation. You can’t just keep shoving your perfect little nose in everyone’s private business,” Bear says with a small grin.
“Honey,” Rose says as she plants her hands on her hips. “Chains isn’t just ‘everyone’, he’s your brother. He’s my friend and he’s hurting. I don’t care what you say, we are helping him.” Girls got sass.
“Listen, Chains,” she says, throwing that sass in my direction. “I have a really bad feeling about this. I know what it’s like to be on the run, hiding and scared. But, my god, she must have it ten times worse. Running scared right after having major surgery. And with a newborn baby. You have to go to her.”
I want to so badly.
“Just go check on her, Chains,” Bear says. “Rose isn’t going to stop until you do, and you won’t feel better until you do. Take her some food.”
Food, that would be a good excuse. I just want to make sure they’re okay and that they have everything they need. I’ll stop and get some baby stuff, too. Then I’ll leave her alone.
“And Trigger,” Rose adds.
“Why are you always trying to get me involved in things I don’t want to be involved in, woman?” Trigger asks from some dark corner of the room.
