Hawk's Baby: Kings of Chaos MC

by Naomi West

  “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 Jennife
r 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.

  Felice looked up at him, her too-big green eyes glittering. A smile formed on her perfect lips as she wrapped her arms around Pierce’s neck. “It’s okay. Not as good as knowing you’ll be around.”

  Pierce wavered a little under those big eyes, an icy touch of uncertainty cutting through his happiness. “But what if I do ruin your career?”

  “I have enough money to retire for both of us and — ” She touched her belly gently. “And Lenny. Yes, after my grandfather.”

  Pierce’s smile grew. “I like it.”

  Bowing his head, Pierce kissed Felice with all of his might, much to the delight of onlookers. The whole crowd cheered, even the camera crew, making for a most dramatic and wonderful end to the Domiano’s TV season.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Felice

  It took several hours for the police to clean up after Clay; Felice and Pierce needed to fill out paperwork and Jennifer and a few of the boys filled out witness statements. The case was pretty cut and dry. It was hard to deny that Clay had been breaking the law by being outside of the area allowed by his bail. Felice was glad it was his turn to be hauled off in cuffs instead of Pierce. It felt a little like justice was being done, though Felice had a hard time not feeling sorry for Clay. As much of a brat as he was, she knew why he was like that. “Dolores might not have been the perfect mom, but at least she didn’t spoil me so rotten that no normal person wouldn’t want me around.”

  Clay hadn’t gotten the same treatment from his parents; he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had never known the word “no.”

  “A shame. But we won’t let you become a brat like that, will we?” Felice thought down at her belly, running her gloved hands over her baby bump. “Even if I tried, I don’t think Pierce would have any of it.”

  Chuckling, Felice turned to find Pierce walking toward her. “We’re done with all of the police reports and things. The officers said we could go home.”

  Jennifer had already left to head back to her hotel room and Pierce’s boys had all also headed home, leaving Felice and Pierce alone. “Can we go back to your place?” Felice asked, shivering in the night air. “I want to get out of this cold and find a shower hot enough that I forget that this kind of cold is even possible.”

  Pierce laughed and led her inside the shop. They ended up calling a cab to take them; Felice couldn’t stand the idea of riding Pierce’s bike through the cold to his place. She was pretty sure it would kill her. As soon as their Uber driver showed up, Pierce took Felice home with the promise of warmth.

  Felice was content as she stepped into the tiny apartment. Glancing around, she studied the tiny space, running her eyes over the complete lack of decor as Pierce turned up the heat. The heater cut on with a purr, spilling hot air into the apartment, sending pleasant shivers up and down Felice’s spine. It was a one-bedroom apartment, the living room nearly empty of furniture. There was a single chair in here, a bed and side table in the bedroom, and nothing else but a few mismatched lamps. Felice thought the space looked sad, the off-white paint giving the impression of it being tenant-less. Not a single inch of the apartment looked lived in, which made her wonder if Pierce had been living at work.

  “The bathroom’s in here; I’ll get the hot water started for you,” Pierce said quietly, slipped past her to a small door behind her.

  She nodded, pulling off her gloves and scarf and laying the over the room’s only chair. The bright white of her coat so close to the walls just made them look dirty and she nearly cried at the sight.

  Once she’d removed her outer layers, Felice stepped over to the bathroom, her eyes running over Pierce’s body as he tested the water temperature for her. It was unbelievable that he was so close once again and her heart fluttered in response to seeing him.

  And, lucky for her, they were finally alone. No cameras, no crazy exs. No one was here but them.

  Slipping out of the rest of her clothing, Felice stepped forward, her eyes taking in the bathroom. It was just as sad as the rest of the apartment, void of anything but the necessities. Even the hand towels were of a deep gray color; Felice began to wonder if Pierce even noticed those finer things missing.

  Much to her surprise, however, the combination shower and tub was huge, sporting what looked like handicapped railings and a tile bench.

&
nbsp; His gaze ran over the bathroom where hers had been, his lips twisting in embarrassment. “I know it’s not much compared to what you are used to, but I don’t spend much time here, so it seemed silly to waste any money on fixing it up.” Pierce rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes studying the tiles on the floor. But when his eyes came up to meet hers he smiled wickedly, his gaze caressing every inch of her naked body. “Fuck, I missed you, Felice,” he whispered, his voice soft and incredibly vulnerable. “I didn’t realize how empty my life had become ever since you left until I saw you. Promise you won’t leave me again.”

  Felice opened her mouth to assure him she had no such plans, but he was kissing her already, his lips hungry and his hands pulling her closer. Finding him so close again was like stepping into a bonfire; the heat started low in her belly and spread out to every corner of her body, setting wildfires as it spread.

  The brush of fingers across her belly was hesitant and gentle. Pierce stepped back, admiring the bump that hadn’t been there last time they were together. It was small, but steadily growing. Pierce’s chocolate eyes grew large and beautiful as he got to his knees, leaning forward to press his lips to her stomach. A smile spread across her mouth, tears touching the edges of her eyes as she laid her hands over his head.