It was obvious he always had been.
So, instead of lying, I simply nodded my head ‘yes’.
Chapter 9
Rock
The nod of her head settled a fucking brick in my gut. I knew that kid was mine. He was the fucking spitting image of me! And with how uncomfortable Piper had just gotten had only solidified what had been running through my damn brain. The only thing she had going for her right now was the fact that she hadn’t tried to lie. Hadn’t tried to tell me he wasn’t my child when it was so painfully obvious that Gavin was mine.
Fucking hell, I had a son.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked.
“Excuse me?” Piper asked.
“How the hell could you keep something from me like this?”
“If I recall correctly, you were in jail when I found out I was pregnant.”
“I was only in jail for a few months, Piper! You ever heard of a fucking letter?”
“Calm that language down before I toss your ass out onto the street.”
“What happened to being my doctor.”
“You refused my service the second you told me you weren’t talking to your doctor,” she said.
“He’s my son, Piper. You didn’t think I had a right to know that!?”
“For a few weeks, I didn’t even know if I was going to have him, Rock!”
My brows stitched together as I watched tears pool in her eyes.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to keep him. But when I made that decision, I knew then and there that Gavin wouldn’t grow up with the kind of father that popped in and out of fucking prison, Rock. He wouldn’t grow up traveling to see his father behind a plexiglass plate.”
“Then what the hell did you tell that kid when he started asking about me?”
“For your information, he hasn’t. It’s been me and him all this time and he knows no better. But when there came a time where he got curious, I was simply going to tell him you left.”
Anger unlike anything I’d ever experienced bubbled in my veins.
“You were going to tell my son I abandoned him?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“You were going to tell my son I left him!?”
“Yes!”
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Piper? I never would’ve abandoned my son!” I exclaimed.
“You said it yourself, Rock. If we weren’t talking about my father’s death or fucking in an alleyway somewhere, you were on a constant tirade about how you couldn't understand why people wanted children. Why people would want to attach themselves to one person for the rest of their life. You told me time and time again that you didn’t lead a life where a family could thrive. And now you’re pissed I took that information to heart!?”
“You had no right to make that decision for me,” I said.
“And you had no right to assume I’d pop back out of the blue and tell you I was pregnant after being arrested, Rock.”
“It was only seven months!”
“Which was practically the duration of my damn pregnancy, do you hear yourself?” she asked.
“I do. And what I still don’t seem to hear is an answer for why you think I wouldn’t have figured it out,” I said.
“Did you try looking for me?” she asked.
“What?”
“Had I not dropped back into Redding because of a job I took, would we have ever crossed paths again? Did you even attempt to come looking for me? You knew I was in New York City. You knew what college I was attending. Did it ever once cross your mind to come fucking looking for me, Rock?”
I gritted my teeth as she stood there with her fists clenched at her sides.
Fuck, even when she was angry, she was a vision.
“Answer me,” Piper said.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t come looking for you.”
“So how the hell would you have eventually ‘figured it out’ if you never once bothered to come after me?” she asked.
“Is that what you wanted? Some asshole to hop on his motorcycle and chase after you? Like some lovesick fuckboy?”
“I’m poking holes in your damn logic,” I said. “You say you would’ve figured it out, but that meant you would’ve actually had to put some effort into it.”
“Are you saying I don’t put effort into shit?”
“I’m saying you only put effort into yourself and those asshole boys you ride with during the day. For all you know, one of those jerks ran you off the damn road last night.”
“You don’t know a fucking thing about my brothers,” I said as I stuck my finger out at her. “So, keep their existence out of your mouth.”
“Then keep my son’s out of yours.”
“My son. Our son, Piper.”
“He’s not your son!”
Her chest was panting with her anger as she took a step towards me.
“He’s not your son, Rock. He might’ve come from your balls after a summer of fucking around with you, but that doesn’t make you a father. DNA doesn’t give you a right to my damn son. I’m raising him. I’m providing for him. I’m the one that went back to college and made the decision to stay a doctor so I could provide for him when he came along. I’m the one that made the sacrifices. I’m the one that stayed up late at night feeding him from my own breast. I’m the one that did my residency while digging myself into debt to pay for babysitters and quality nannies to look after him.”
“And you think I wouldn’t have helped with any of it?” I asked. “You think that little of me, Piper?”
“You went to jail for assault, Rock. Besides your dick in my body, that was the only other impression I had of you.”
I stood toe to toe with her as I gazed down into her eyes. And that strong, defiant woman I’d come to cherish over the summer quickly reared her head. The truth was finally set free. Piper saw me as a danger. As a threat. As a monster with an anger problem. And maybe she was right. Maybe that was exactly who I was. And yes, she was right on everything else. I didn’t lead a life that allowed for a fucking child. That allowed for anything other than a little fucktoy to keep my cock busy. But that didn’t mean I didn’t step up to the plate when it was required. That didn’t mean I abandoned the only principles I lived by simply because it wasn’t convenient for me. I told myself that if a woman I fucked ever got pregnant, I’d make damn sure her and that kid were taken care of.
And she was standing in front of me. With that boy on the second floor of her home.
Standing in between him and I. Like I was the threat in her home.
“I’m a lot of things, Piper. But a deadbeat isn’t one of them,” I said.
“I never accused you of being one,” she said.
“You were willing to tell my son that’s what I was.”
“Because the alternative was worse.”
“You didn’t seem to have a fucking issue with it that summer.”
“When it was just me grieving over the loss of my father? Hell no, I didn’t. You were a risk. A jolt of adrenaline. Something fun, and certainly a man who knew what he was doing. But if my goal had been to create a family with someone, you would’ve been the last man I would’ve chosen.”
Her words stung so much more than they fucking needed to, but I held my ground. She was a fierce momma bear standing in the middle of a fight to protect her cub, and I had to admire her for that. If I felt my child was under siege by something I didn’t approve of, I’d fucking go toe to toe and do whatever the hell was necessary to protect them.
What I hated was that Piper felt she had to protect my son from me.
His fucking father.
“I live by a code,” I said.
“I’ve heard that many times,” she said.
“And that code means something to me. One of my rules is that if I ever slipped up and created a family, I’d never leave their side.”
“You mean if you made a mistake,” she said.
I stayed silent as she took another
step towards me. She was so close I could feel her angered body heat battering against my body.
“Then make no mistake about this,” Piper said. “Gavin will never be a mistake.”
Her eyes were filled with a fire that left even me without breath. My eyes danced between hers and a part of me wanted to bend down and kiss her. Capture her lips within mine and barrel her into the wall to show her who really had the upper hand in all this. I wanted to fist the curves that had grown my child and lap at the pussy that had given birth to my son.
To the little boy upstairs who looked just like me.
“Yes, I made many comments that summer about not wanting a family. Because I don’t live a life that’s suited for a family. But that didn’t fucking mean I’d abandon my family if I ever created one. I’m nothing, if not a family man. I stick by my brothers and bail them out whenever I need to. That’s what happened that summer.”
I watched her brow tick in confusion as I took another step towards her.
“I didn’t assault anyone, Piper. The guys got into it with another club at a bar and I stepped in to stop the fucking encounter. One guy swung at Brewer and I took him to the ground. Got him in a headlock and told the guys to get the fuck out of there before the damn police showed up. We were both arrested for assault, but my lawyer was able to prove a sort of self-defense argument. It wasn’t self-defense for myself, but for a friend of mine. So, my sentence got reduced drastically. That’s what I went to jail for. Protecting my fucking family.”
Finally, I saw a crack in her facade. That stern face slowly morphed as my words dawned on her mind. I wanted to lift my hand to cup her cheek. I wanted to feel any part of her against me again. Those painted-on jeans and that crop top of hers that showed just a sliver of the soft, pliable skin underneath it. Her cherry red lips that grew thicker the angrier she got and that winged eyeliner of hers that made her emerald eyes seem catlike.
“Piper,” I said.
“You didn’t--?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t ever start a fucking fight. But I sure as hell finished it. Especially when my family’s involved.”
“Brewer?” she asked.
A small grin trickled across my cheeks. I knew she’d remember him. Especially after all the times Brewer came charging in on us in my fucking apartment while I was balls deep in her body against the wall.
“He’d be happy to see you again,” I said.
“Mom!?”
Piper gasped and took three very broad steps away from me as my eyes whipped up to the staircase. That mound of blonde hair came bouncing down the steps before the small boy rounded the staircase. Well, he was small to me. Against Piper, he wasn’t small at all.
He’d be a big boy. Just like his father.
Just like me.
“What is it, sweet boy?” Piper asked.
My eyes slowly panned back over to Piper’s face as that nickname came crashing back. Sweet girl. I always called her my ‘sweet girl’.
I’d never called any other woman that name, as a matter of fact.
“I’m hungry,” Gavin said.
“You had a pretty big breakfast,” Piper said. “Let’s get you a snack to hold you over until lunch.”
“But I’m really hungry. I only had four pancakes this morning.”
“Only four?” I asked.
Piper fluttered her eyes over to me before bending down to rub Gavin’s arms.
“You had four pancakes and milk and two scrambled eggs and some bacon,” she said.
“And I slept through all this?” I asked.
“You did,” Piper said.
“You snored,” Gavin said with a giggle.
“You did that, too,” Piper said with a grin.
That mischievous little grin I’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
“When’s lunch?” Gavin asked.
“In another hour,” Piper said.
“Awww, but I’m hungry now.”
“He’s a growing boy, Momma.”
I watched her shoulders stiffen before her eyes whipped over to mine. But instead of anger being there--or even frustration--there was a wanton look in her eye. A desperate look that reminded me of that exact moment before my body connected with hers.
Looks like I had a new nickname for her.
“What would you like me to cook for lunch?” Piper asked. “It won’t be ready for about thirty minutes or so, though.”
“Could I have a snack while you cook?” Gavin asked.
I swallowed down my chuckle as I watched my son try to barter with his mother.
“No. If I’m going to make lunch now, then you have to wait,” Piper said.
“She’s right,” I said. “If you want a snack now, then wait until lunch time. But if you want lunch now, then you have to wait for Momma to make it.”
Piper eyed me cautiously as I ran my gaze between Gavin’s eyes and hers.
Eyes like mine and the eyes of the woman who still churned my gut in ways I couldn't explain.
“I thought you were on my side,” Gavin said. “Boys have to stick together.”
“Trust me, I know that rule all too well,” I said with a grin. “But you always have to respect your mother. A man treats the women in his life with respect and love. What Momma says, goes.”
“Awww,” Gavin said with a pout.
His lip jutted out like Piper’s used to do whenever she was trying to wrangle me into something.
“None of that,” Piper said as she toggled his lower lip. “What would you like to eat?”
“Stir fry?” Gavin asked.
“You like stir fry?” I asked.
“Mommy makes it with my favorite vegetables,” he said.
“A kid that likes vegetables. Way to go, Momma.”
I watched Piper’s cheeks flush as she stood up from her crouched position.
“Would you like some, Rock?” she asked.
“Your name’s Rock?” Gavin asked.
“It is,” I said. “And yours is Gavin.”
“Gavin Jackson,” he said with pride in his eyes.
“A good, strong name,” I said.
“Like Rock,” he said with a smile.
Then I turned my eyes to rest upon Piper’s face as she stared at me with an inquisitive look.
“I’d love some stir fry,” I said.
Chapter 10
Piper
“No! Rock! No tickling!”
“I’m gonna get you,” he said.
“Aahh!”
“The dinosaur’s gonna get you!”
My son barreled around the house with Rock quickly on his tail. I let Beau in just before I started cooking so he could join in on the fun. Every once in a while, I peeked over my shoulder and saw something that shocked me every time I looked at it. Rock would be flying Gavin in the air or tossing him up to the ceiling or chasing him around and trying to tickle him.
For a man who professed time and time again that he didn’t want kids, he was good with kids.
I chopped up the vegetables and threw them into my wok. A bit of sesame oil and some butter, then I started tossing them around. I watched as Rock rolled on the floor with Gavin and I giggled when my son started riding him like a horse. This massive man with dark eyes and a penchant for adrenaline roared around the house with my son on his back while being licked in the face by my pit-bull.
It was almost too much for me to process.
I chopped up the chicken and tossed it all in before adding the rest of the seasonings. Stir fry was my son’s favorite meal. He’d never been a picky eater as an infant, so I introduced him to all sorts of things. Avocados. Sweet carrots. Blended red peppers with watermelon. All of the weirdest combinations I could come up with in an attempt to broaden his palette and try to stave off that ‘picky eater’ syndrome many mothers I knew got stuck with.
And it worked.
“Come get me, Rock!”
“Where did Gavin go? I don’t see him?”
“I’m right here, Rock!”
“I don’t know. I hear him, but I’m not sure where he--... there you are!”
“Aaahh!”
And then my kid took off screaming again.
I giggled at the stove as I shook my head. Every once in a while, the walls of my house would shake and I would hear Rock say ‘are you all right’? And that question coming from his lips warmed my heart. Gavin could get so wrapped up in his play time sometimes that he would find himself running into walls and tumbling off couches. But feeling the rumbling of my childhood home meant Rock was doing everything in his power to make sure my son didn’t get hurt.
Guilt flooded the pit of my gut as I turned the stove off.
For years, I’d convinced myself he was no good. I had convinced myself he was nothing but an angry abuser who was fine for a good time but not fine when it came to raising a child. Having a family. Staying dedicated to a woman. So, when I found out that he had willingly gone to jail protecting the man I knew was the only sliver of family Rock had, reality dawned on me.
Rock was nowhere near the kind of man I had assumed him to be.
I pulled out plates and filled them up with food. I set them at my small kitchen table, then proceeded to get us some drinks. Milk for Gavin, water for myself, and a few different choices for Rock.
But I had a feeling he would dig around in the fridge for a beer.
“Come and get it!” I exclaimed.
Footsteps rumbled down the small hallway before Gavin rushed to his seat. Rock came around the corner with his eyes hooked on his son and a small grin on his face. Sweat permeated his brow as he turned to me, connecting those salacious gunmetal eyes with mine.
“Smells good,” he said.
“Go ahead and eat up,” I said.
“Mommy, guess what?”
“What’s that, sweet boy?”
I sat down next to my son at the kitchen table as Rock sat in front of me.
“Rock kept chasing me around, so I hid from him. And then he couldn’t find me, so I ran off and hid somewhere else. And he couldn’t find me again until I reached out and grabbed his ankle.”
Rock (Dead Souls MC Book 4) Page 5
