Four sets of eyes flicker to mine as I step toward the group. Falcon looks pissed and Jason looks ready to kill. Brantley’s face mirror’s Trance’s and I have no idea what to say. “Listen, my mess is just getting bigger. Y’all don’t have to be worrying about my parents on top of this. Wouldn’t it be easier if I just…” I was interrupted with, “If I were you, I would not finish that sentence.” This surprisingly was Falcon. I swing my eyes to him and give him a questioning look.
He raises an eyebrow and says, “If you were going to say leave then you know exactly what I mean.” Oh. “But..” Then I get four faces that tell me I better just keep my mouth shut. I snap my lips together and Brantley gives me a look that tells me I did the right thing. Lovely. “What kind of problems are we lookin at if they come here?” I start to shake my head as Trance says, “They don’t breathe her air. Ever.” I look to him and let out a sigh of relief.
My parents are not a topic that I ever like to relive, but seeing them was out of the question. I got out. They were never supposed to find me. “I have to change my phone number.” Trance immediately nods and Falcon says, “I’ll get it taken care of right now.” Falcon walks off and Brantley says, “Falcon, hold up.” He swings back around, “Anywhere in public, she’s with you.” He nods and walks away. “I don’t like that idea.” I look to Trance again who doesn’t look happy. “Listen, she needs someone at her back. Right now, that can’t be you, and if it isn’t me or J then it’s him. He’s got more space to be that guy right now, and we’re gonna use him.”
Trance doesn’t like it, but he does nod. “It’s not like I have a million places to be right now, Trance. It’ll be rare, and you know he’ll take care of me.” He just stares at me and I snap my mouth shut again. Geeze, we just got to a point where we were the happy zone couple, and now I can’t even speak to him. “Do you need a full update on the people that made me, or will this be enough?” Brantley looks to me and gives me a quizzical look.
I sigh as I say, “Do you think the bitch in me came naturally? I had to become that to get out of that situation, and they were never supposed to find me. Ever.” Trance steps in and says, “Babe, don’t get worked up. We’ve got this, why don’t you go back and finish up your work. I’ll be back in a bit.” I roll my eyes and say, “I’m hungry. I’m gonna get something to eat and then go back.” He nods and as I’m walking away he pulls me back into him for a hug. I melt into him and head toward the break room.
After a while, Trance finally made his way back to the bedroom. I had no idea what this conversation was going to entail, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I didn’t want to think about the fact that my mother somehow got my number and she probably knows where I am. The beatings she used to give me in order to please my father, were never fun. Her words were even less fun. I wasn’t some small little girl though. I also had people at my back. I just never wanted them to see the filth that I came from.
Trance gave me a look that told me everything I needed to know about the conversation we were about to have. This is why I really would have preferred running away. That seemed like a viable option to me. “Babe, I hate that look on your face.” I scrunch up my nose at him, “I can’t help it.” He nods, “Come here.” I stand up and go right to his arms. At least he was being nice.
“I’m really sorry.” He sighs over my head and tips my head up with his fingers to my chin. “Baby, none of this is your fault. What you need to know is we’re gonna fix it.” I squint my eyes up at him and take in his face. “Do I get to know what that means?” He half nods, “In part.” I fight not to roll my eyes at him. Mostly because I don’t want to mess with his good mood. I give him a look that says, “Please continue” and he nods. “We are keeping you on light lockdown. I need you to only leave when absolutely necessary. My top priority is to be sure your parents don’t see you. On top of that, we need to look into these threats, and see why they went to your parents in the first place.”
Well, that wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t like I needed to be out prancing around town anyways. This is why I nod and say, “I can get on board with that.” He gives me a look like he can’t believe it was that easy and I remind him, “Hey, no one wants them never to see me more than me.” He nods again and pulls me back into his arms for a nice reassuring hug. Every time he does this, all I can think is I lost this for so long. I needed this. I needed it more than he would ever know, and now I was never going to let it go again.
He pulls me to arms-length and leans down to give me a gentle kiss. There are many kisses of Trance, and gentle isn’t usually one that is on the top of my list. Right now? It was perfect. He pulls away and then kisses my forehead before letting me go and walking over to the other side of the room.
“What you said in there about leaving.” I swing around to look at him and he looks deadly, “Don’t make me expose myself and come after you. I won’t hesitate to do it, so just stay where we can keep you safe.” I pull in a deep breath and try to explain myself further. “Trance, I need you to understand that if this gets to a point where I am endangering you, which is in turn endangering our child, I will leave. Once I do that, you need to stay put and keep yourself alive. I would rather run away knowing that you are alive and safe, then stay here and lose you again.”
“Kristina, you will not leave. We are going to go to any length to keep you safe, and I need you to stay where we can do that. If you leave, I lose man power sending people after you and that leaves us vulnerable here. Is that what you want?” He was never going to understand. This is why I conceded and shake my head. I figured if I just left it at that, then I wasn’t lying. Apparently, I’m translucent because he saw right through me as he says, “Promise with the words, Kris.” This time my eye roll is automatic as I say, “Fine. I promise.”
He shakes his head as he pulls me into his lap. Giving me another kiss, I forget all about leaving. I sit in his lap trying to turn, but he holds me in place. He pulls away as he says, “I have a meet with the guys from Louisiana. Falcon called in some markers. They’re already on their way. We’ll have dinner tonight, okay?” I can’t help the disappointed look I know crosses my face. I know he’s doing all of this for me, but I can’t help but want to spend any extra time I have with him.
“I like that you’re disappointed. I am too. I promise we’ll spend a lot of extra time together. The meet won’t take long and then you’ll be introduced to them tomorrow. All of the women will. It’s a newer chapter, but Falcon has chosen the best from there. He wouldn’t put any of you in any kind of danger.” I nod again and say, “I could use a nap anyways. Just wake me when you’re done.” He kisses my forehead as he stands us both up. Giving my belly a small rub he walks out of the room. It doesn’t take long for me to promptly fall asleep.
I open my eyes and I feel a presence in the room with me. I get myself rolled over and I see Trance just standing there looking at me. I give him a shy smile, because I’m not sure how his meeting went. His lip gives a small tug and I can tell the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. Not good. He comes over and sits next to me on the bed. “I want to ask what happened, but the look on your face, I really don’t want to know.” He gives a sigh and brushes a hair out of my face.
“Baby, one day soon, I won’t have to explain all these bad things. We can just be us, and be happy. I hate the look on your face and I hate that you’re going through any of this.” I pull my hand up so it settles on his cheek and smile up at him. “Trance, relationships are through the good and the bad, right? We’re moving forward together, so that means come what may, we’re here. Together. I…I” I stop stuttering as I try to gather my thoughts, “I love you. I always have. There was never a time where I thought we wouldn’t be together. So, if this is how I have you, then this is how I’ll take you.”
This time he smiles and it reaches his eyes. “I love you too. You and this little peanut. I planned a night for us. Obviously, we have to stay in, but I have a nice night planned if you’
re up for it.” I smile bigger and nod my agreeance. He stands off the bed and helps me to my feet. I look down as I ask, “Do I need to change?” He smirks, “No, you’re perfect.” I roll my eyes at him as he gives me a peck on the lips. Turning he pulls me from the room.
He pulls me into one of the rooms off the hallway. When we walk in I stop dead because there are candles lining the room. Sitting in the middle is a table for two. He has plates filled with food, and I smile at some of the things the girls must have told him I’ve been able to eat. Mostly, bland, but I have been able to do a meat and a potato. With that to start I look to see he has coke, which is the little bit of caffeine I’ve allowed myself to drink. It seems to take the edge off of my sickness.
“The girls filled me in so I would have stuff you could eat. I hope this is okay.” I smile up at him and nod, “It’s perfect, thank you.” He pulls out my chair and we sit down. “Kris, I need to get some serious stuff out of the way, and then we can talk about anything but everything that’s going on.” That sounded good with me. I nod and he started to talk, “The plan that’s about to be in play is a little more escalated than what we were going to do before. I want it all done, and I want it done fast. We have guys going to your parents so that we’re sure we have eyes on them. They won’t come here without us knowing.”
He stopped, and I nodded for him to continue, “I can’t go into all the details on the Brandinger situation. That will be handled quickly and properly. The thing that we cannot do is, we can’t go through with this plan without law enforcement getting involved. We have a couple guys that we are bringing in on the situation, and they’ll keep it on the down low until we need Brandinger officially taken care of.”
This all sounded good, so I said, “Is it extremely dangerous?” He sighs, “Parts of it? Yes. Other parts? No. Do they all need done though? Definitely. Our guys are the best at what they do. We recruit for the MC babe, so everyone has a place, and we know where everyone fits. You have to trust us to handle this, and handle it quickly.”
I smile at him, “I always trust you. I always trust your brothers. There was a lapse in that I must say when you didn’t come back to me, but knowing what they’ve done for you up to this point, there isn’t anyone else I would want to take care of this stuff for us.”
With that, we start to eat, and change the subject to our little peanut and the life we plan to have together.
Chapter Eleven
“Trance are we allowed to go out here?” He smiles down at me taking my hand. “It’s dark, and no one will be able to see us. No worries, yeah?” I nod even though I’m not sure about leaving the club. “I just want to show you something, okay?” I nod again and he leads me out the back door to a path in the woods. Once we get to a little clearing in the woods I start to wonder how anyone ever found this place.
He points over to the corner, and I see a blanket sitting out on the ground. When Trance won me back the first time it was more of him demanding me to forgive him and be with him. This time, he was apparently going to go for the romantic aspect. I stop dead where I am looking up to him. He gives me a questioning look as I say, “Since when did you get a romantic bone in your body?”
He shakes his head at me, “She’s gonna bust my balls for tryin to do something nice.” I look down to the ground to try and hide my smile. He tugs at my hand and pulls me to the blanket. Sitting us down he says, “Just look up. The clearing gives a perfect shot of the sky. It was a nice night, so I figured we could see some stars.” I sigh as I turn my body into his. He lays us down and I snuggle in to keep warm as I look up at the stars. He was right. It was a nice night and I definitely could see some stars.
He wraps his arms around me as we lay there silently. I didn’t need him to say anything. What he was doing was clear. He was trying to win my heart back. A heart, that he already owned. It was always his, and even when I thought he was lost to me forever, he had my heart. Nothing else mattered. He would take care of whatever he needed to take care of with Brandinger, and I would have him. We would have him. It was in this moment, I considered myself the luckiest woman in the world.
I feel like I’m floating. When I open my eyes, I realize it’s because Trance is carrying me back into the clubhouse. He smiles down at me, but we were back to the smiles that don’t reach his eyes. He had a lot on his mind, and there was nothing I could do to fix any of it. If only there were a way for me to get rid of all of his pain. We could go back to our normal life, and the one we plan on having after all of this is done. It won’t be perfect, but it will be perfect for us.
We cross through the door and I hear, “Trance, I need you a minute.” I look up to him and let him know he can set me down. Once he does, I nod to Brantley and head toward our room. I head to the bathroom and wipe what’s left of my makeup off. I get myself ready for bed, and I come back out to the bedroom. Crawling in, I hope that Trance won’t be long.
When I hear the door open I know it has only been about twenty minutes. I roll over to see a fierce look on Trance’s face. “What’s wrong?” He sighs, “I have to go back into hiding. Brantley decided that it would be best for us to keep it to just the small group of people that know I’m alive. Even though they’re brothers, he doesn’t trust all of the guys from the Louisiana chapter.” I close my eyes. I was going to have to go back to the moping and grieving girlfriend a lot sooner than expected. I was also going to have to keep it up at the clubhouse. “That doesn’t sound fun. I hope I don’t ruin it.” He pulls me to him, “They’ll be here early, so I can’t stay with you tonight. You’ll do just fine, and we’ll get through this just like we have everything else.”
Not that I really had a choice, but I did nod as he kissed me good night. Turning out of the room I fall back down onto the bed. This was going to be a long few weeks. I just hope it doesn’t take longer than that to fix all of this.
It took a while for me to get out of bed the next morning. I tossed and turned all night having the worst night sleep I’ve had since finding out that Trance was really alive. I was dreading leaving this room. I didn’t want to see anyone who thought that Trance was dead. I also didn’t want to cry anymore. I just got my happiness back. Although, if this was what I needed to do to keep that happiness then I need to put my big girl britches on and head out of this room.
I head into the shower and get myself together. When I get out of the bathroom I hear a knock at the door. I look to the clock, and I’m sure people are wondering where I am. I open the door to Brantley. He gives me a half smile and says, “I hadn’t seen you so I wanted to make sure you were all good.” I give him a nod, “Just a long night.” He half nods, “You ready to meet some new people?” I roll my eyes, as if I had a choice. He chuckles at me and throws an arm over my shoulders. “Babe.” I look up to him thinking that there had to be more to his sentence, but he just raised his eyebrow.
“Um. Is there more than just, “babe”? Because I swear you men think that means a heck of a lot more than what it does.” He lightly chuckles as he says, “We’re all good, right?” I sigh. Are we all good? I mean, Trance walked in here and just expected me to be okay with all of this. To be fair, I did kind of sign on for that kind of stuff when I agreed to be his ol’ lady. “Brant, I know I’m not supposed to say this. I also know, that I am supposed to be the badass bitch of the group. So, I preface this with, if you repeat this to anyone I’ll deny it.” He nods encouraging me to continue. “It’s a little overwhelming. He’s dead. He’s alive. He’s in the open with me. He’s back in hiding. I have a baby to concentrate on, and an ol’ man that can’t come to my doctor’s appointments.”
He squeezes my shoulder, “It’ll be over soon. I just need you to be strong for a little while longer. I also want you to think about talkin to Trance. He needs to know this shit that’s goin on in your head.” I nod even though I don’t agree. I do need to be stronger for a little while longer. He was right about that. I definitely didn’t need to tell Trance anything that’s going
on in my mind. That may lead to other feelings. The other feelings may bring up the dead and alive thing, and I decided to move on from that. I couldn’t keep going back there. “I need a shot.” To this Brantley laughed. Loud. Then he did the eyebrow thing as he said, “Babe.” Whatever.
Chapter Twelve
“It’s a girl!” I half smile at the screen as I look over to the man next to me. Falcon. “Kris that’s great. A baby girl.” I feel the tear slide down my face as I think about who should be here. It shouldn’t be Falcon. Why is this still going on? I nod, “I’m having a baby girl.” I let the feeling fall over me. Hoping that when I tell Trance he’s happy. We’re supposed to be able to see each other when I get back to the club. Brantley had everyone clear out for “regular club business”. This meant that our helpers from Louisiana wouldn’t be there. Things have been tense with Trance and I. Not that I get to see him often. It’s been too long. This is taking forever.
We had a minor setback four weeks ago at my last appointment. Our baby girl was being shy. She wouldn’t show us the goods, so now I’m twenty-four weeks and I we’re just finding out the sex. Everything was going well with my pregnancy, even with the added stress of not having Trance. He has been so stand offish the times that we’ve been able to see each other, so those times only set us back further.
I’m quiet on our way back. Falcon gives me my space, but he does reach over and put his hand over mine. He’s been such a good friend through all of this. He’s not the one that’s supposed to be here. These are the moments that I have trouble seeing the bigger picture. I’m ready to go find this Brandinger guy myself, and finish it. Either that, or I’m going to blow this popsicle joint and find somewhere that I can start living my life. With or without Trance.
We pull up to the clubhouse, and it’s deserted. “You can go in. I’m headed out. He should be in there waiting.” I needed to break my silence. I push myself over the center console and give him a huge hug. “Thank you for being there. I know you were forced, but it means to me more than you know. Things have been rocky, but you’ve been steady. I appreciate it.” He smiles at me and gives my waist a squeeze. “Nowhere else I’d rather be, darlin.” I sigh as I exit the car.
Shifting Time (Skull Shifters MC Book 3) Page 7
