“Sweetheart, I called Mom. She, your brother and parents are all good. We need this time, just the two of us.”
“Even with Luca hurt?” I ask.
“Cara, even though we’re both coming into this relationship with kids, at the end of the day, it’s just going to be you and me. We have to make sure we have a solid foundation, and that means we have to have time with one another with no kids and no distractions.”
I think about what he’s saying and realize that he’s right. We do need ‘us’ time, uninterrupted from the kids. And with all that we did today, we’ve got a lot to talk about. “Yeah, I agree.”
Braxton
Laying in my bed at the clubhouse with Cara curled up in my arms, I think about what’s coming up. I can’t believe that I’ll be a husband within the next few days, and have an old lady. Not to mention, the baby that’s on the way. I guess some dreams are meant to come true, I know mine have.
Three days later, I find myself standing in front of the Justice of the Peace with Cara at my side. She wanted this small and intimate, so the only guests with us today are Mom, Lily, and Luca—wheelchair and all, and of course Ralynn since her mom is still out of town packing up their house. Cara looks breathtaking in her white colored, simple spaghetti strap summer dress, the only reason I know that much is because I heard Mom and Cara talking about what kind of dress she was wearing. And something about ballet slippers, I was a little concerned at first, because when you think about those shoes you think of those bitches up on their toes. And there was no way in hell I was letting her leave the house in those contraptions. She’d break her fucking neck, not to mention look ridiculous.
“Do you, Braxton Callahan, take Caraleigh Jensen’s hand in marriage? Do you promise to love, honor and protect her against all those who wish to do her harm?” The Judge looks over at me funny, yeah I wrote that shit. His only job is to read it not to judge me.
“I do.”
“Caraleigh Jensen, do you take Braxton Callahan’s hand in marriage? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish your marriage and family?” Once again he lifts his head from his notes to look at me in astonishment. What? She said no obey in our vows, I’m only honoring her wishes.
“I do,” she says with a chuckle as she looks over and smiles at me.
“Braxton, repeat these vows after me,” the Judge says to me.
“Before these witnesses here with us today, I vow to love you and care for you as long as we both shall live.” I repeat what he says.
“I take you, with all your faults and strengths, as I offer myself to you with all my faults and strengths.” Once again I repeat after him.
“I will help you when you need help, and turn to you when I need help. I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my life.” After I say these vows to Cara, I slip her ring on her finger.
Next Cara repeats the same vows and places my ring on my finger. I breathe a sigh of relief at having my ring on her finger and her having my last name...finally. We are waiting for Hatch and DJ to get back to have the cut ceremony, we both want all of our closest friends and family at our sides. I turn to Luca in his wheelchair and let him in on the other surprise we have awaiting today.
“Luca, today I not only take your mother as my wife, but you as my son. These papers here are legal adoption papers that the Judge will sign if you accept me as your dad...legally.”
“Yeth!” he screams out causing us all to laugh, I look up at my girl and she has tears falling from her eyes. I’d worry except I know they’re happy tears.
Cara leans down to Lily and tells her she has the same papers, but for her to be Lily’s Mom. My baby girls breaks down and falls into Cara’s arms. Mom has a handkerchief in hand and it's a good thing too because it’s getting a lot of use.
The Judge signs both sets of adoption papers and announces out loud, “I’d like to introduce you to the Callahan family!” Mom cheers out loud causing the kids to break out into laughter.
Best day of my life, other than the day Lily was born...so far.
Epilogue
DJ
I’m so excited for Cara. And if I’m being honest, for myself as well. I never expected to meet someone like Hatch. We’ve been having a lot of fun and he’s been good for me and Ralynn. Getting this house packed up is another story though. My book is with my beta readers and I’m dying to see what their feedback is so I can make changes and get it off to my editor.
The only wrinkle in everything is that bitch Starla. From what Cara has said, she flirts unmercilessly with Braxton because she’s trying to get Hatch’s attention. There’s no way some bleach slut Barbie wannabe is gonna get my man!
Another thing weighing on my mind is, who in the hell contacted her in-laws from hell and informed them that Luca was in the hospital? It’s a mystery that I intend to solve, and when I do that person better hope and pray that I am not the one to get hands on them first! Whoever they are, they have no idea about the wrath that is headed their way. No one messes with my family and is able to talk about it the next day. I have a mission, and I’m not taking it lightly.
Until that day comes, I intend to stand by my friends and enjoy this journey life has handed me on a silver platter...Hatchet.
The end…. for now!
Want to be present for Cara’s cut ceremony?
Want to find out who told Mr. and Mrs. Jensen that Luca was in the hospital?
Want to find out what happens with the school and the kids being hurt?
These questions and more will be answered in Hatchet’s book. Book 2 of the Rebel Guardians MC coming soon...
About Liberty
Liberty has been an avid reader for most of her life. When she was younger she used to sit and fill spiral notebooks full of stories for her grandmother. As she got older, she took the jobs needed for raising her boys as a single mom until she met her amazing husband. She has stopped working in the last few years and started off by promoting authors, then she took up blogging and reviewing for authors. This has led her down the path of writing and creating characters and telling their stories. She loves getting creative and working behind the scenes with her characters and bringing her imagination to life.
Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlibertyparker/?ref=bookmarks
Other works by Liberty
*Rage Ryders MC*
Taken by Lies
Taken by Rage
Taken by Vegas
Taken by Sadistic
Taken by Chaos
Taken by Temptation
*Current Standalones*
What Should’ve Been
Charlee’s Choices
About Darlene
I am a transplanted Yankee, moving from upstate New York when I was a teenager. I live with the brat-cat pack and a small muffin dog, all rescues, as I plot and plan who will get to “talk” next!
Find me on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/darlenetallmanauthor
Other works by Darlene
*Mischief Kitties*
Co-written with Cherry Shephard and Alex J.:
The Mischief Kitties in Bampires & Ghosts & New Friends Oh My!
The Mischief Kitties in The Great Glitter Caper
*Standalones*
Want to read my books?
“Bountiful Harvest”
“His Firefly”
“His Christmas Pixie”
“Her Kinsman-Redeemer”
“Operation Valentine”
“His Forever”
“Forgiveness”
“Reese Black Tuxedoes MC
“Christmas With Dixie”
Copyright
Hatchet
Rebel Guardians MC Novel
Copyright © Liberty Parker
& Darlene Tallman 2018
Published by Liberty Parker
& Darlene Tallman
Cover by: Dark Water Covers
https://goo.gl/mhVY1Y
Edited by: Joanne Dearman, Kat Beecham,
Melanie Grey, Jenni Belanger, Darlene Tallman
Formatting by: Liberty Parker
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text please contact
[email protected]
[email protected]
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the authors’ imaginations. No part of this story is based on any true events or anyone’s life. If any MC names are used by any real or true person it is coincidental and in no way based on them or any real-life human being living or not.
Synopsis
Jayden “Hatchet” Hatcher is the Enforcer for the Rebel Guardians MC. He hides his past behind jokes, and will do anything for the brothers he has now. Life is good with easy women and plenty of fun. Until she walks into the barbeque that fateful summer weekend.
Donna Jo “DJ” Feldman is a single mom to Ralynn. On her own since she found out she was pregnant, she has a handful of people she trusts implicitly, including her best friend, Caraleigh Jenson. When she goes to visit Cara and meets the man they call Hatch, she realizes that life is too short not to reach for the brass ring.
What started out as a bit of fun soon turns into so much more for the two of them. But Hatch has unknown skeletons and when they come calling, will what DJ feels for him be enough? Can they survive with the love they have for one another and with their Rebel Guardians family at their back?
Chapter One
DJ
Present Day
Finally! The house is packed and I can get home to my little girl. As Hatchet pulls up with the moving van a wave of excitement fills me. I’m starting a new life away from this podunk town with the man I love and my daughter at my side. I haven’t told Hatchet that I love him yet, I’m nervous that he may not be riding the same ‘L’ train as me. His actions speak that of love, but as a woman I can tell someone has hurt him in the past, and he’s not quite ready to go down that road again. Don’t get me wrong, as I said before, he shows me every day that I mean the world to him, the way his body moves when we’re being intimate, the way he gets my coffee for me every morning to help me function—yes, he knows exactly how I take my cup of java. He’s even given me some very erotic massages here lately when my body feels like it’s full of knots and I can barely move. He calls my daughter every night with me to tell her goodnight, he even picks up small things for her when he sees them, always asking me if I think she’ll like it. She loves Hatch just as much as I do, and I can’t wait to see the excitement on her face when he gives her these small, thoughtful treasures.
Watching him back up, I can’t help but be grateful that we hired some men for extra muscle, I didn’t realize how much I had acquired while living in my home. It would take days for just Hatch and me to load the van, at least this way we can get it done in a day and be back on the road by nightfall. Hatch needs to get back to work, and I have a little girl that’s none to happy that her mother has been away for as long as I have been.
“Hey, lover, glad you’re back. I’ve got breakfast ready,” I tell him, standing on my tiptoes for a kiss. I’m not exactly short at five feet six inches, but he still towers over me and makes me feel as tiny as a porcelain doll. He’s built, with muscles that have muscles, and tattoos that span his arms and back, including the Rebel Guardians patch that’s inked on his front right pec.
“We should have enough time to eat then. My old Army buddies will be here within the next two hours. May even be able to fit in a quickie,” he replies, smirking at me. As if I’d protest a quickie! He knows me better than that, all he has to do is give me a certain look and I’m ready to climb his body and rip off his clothes.
“You know it,” I tell him. He starts laughing at me, because according to him and the conversations we’ve had in the past...all I have to do is be in the same room with him and he’s ready to throw me down and have his way with me...regardless of if anyone is in the room with us or not. One time, Ralynn walked in on us making out, she’s never seen me with a man before and the shock on her face at seeing us will forever be ingrained in my brain.
“OOOHHH Momma that’s nasty, why are you letting him suck your face,” she said to me.
To which I replied, “Because I really like him.”
“I’m never gonna let a boy suck my face like that,” she told us.
“Better not,” Hatchet told her.
“Hey, whatcha thinking about over there gorgeous?” he asks me.
“I was thinking about the time Ralynn caught us kissing.”
“Yeah, that was hysterical.”
“No it wasn’t! She thought you were sucking my face Hatchet.”
“What I remember is her saying no boy was going to do that to her, made me a happy man to know I won’t be teaching any boys some lessons.”
Him saying that makes my insides all warm and fuzzy, that he’s planning to be around for the long-haul. Gotta say, I talk a good game, but honestly? It had been a long drought. Like, since I got pregnant with Ralynn. And it’s not like he was the first good-looking man I was introduced to, but he was the first one who set me on fire with his teasing, his glances and his innocent touches. Thank goodness, they’re not so innocent any longer, my vibrator was getting a workout! Plus, he doesn’t care that I write steamy romance novels. In fact, he said I could use him for inspiration any time I wanted and if we had to research any positions, he was the man for the job. See why I love him?
He supports me and my career, he hasn’t left my side for a long period of time since we made love the first time. He leaves, goes to work and comes back to Cara’s apartment to spend the night with us. He spends a lot of time with Ralynn and Luca and they love him dearly. I even caught him once playing babies and I swear if I’d had my phone on me it would be full of pictures from that day alone. I barely have enough time in the day to sit and play with her, but somehow he makes the time and he even calls her his little princess. When he calls her that, her little face lights up, I never knew she was missing male attention, she’s never asked about her father and I’ve never been forthcoming where he’s concerned.
He wasn’t a good man towards the end of our relationship, and as soon as he found out I was pregnant with Ralynn he hit the road without a backwards glance. I haven’t heard from or seen him since that day, he never even called to find out if he has a son or daughter...the bastard. It’s blank on her birth certificate where it asks the name of the father. He didn’t deserve the right to be listed as far as I was concerned. I’m finding out, though, being around Hatch’s brothers, that they take family seriously. I mean, look at Braxton. Not only does he have Lily, but he’s gonna marry my bestie and she has a little boy and they’re pregnant! Plus, Twisted and Paisley have a little boy, Tig. Ray is finally getting more kids to play with, something that was hard when Cara moved away. Not that she got to see Luca that much, especially during the last six months of Graham’s life.
Now there’s another douche nozzle! I hated what Cara had become being married to him. She’s always been somewhat sassy and feisty but Graham and his parents? They constantly put her down and made her feel like shit so she stopped offering her opinion and started apologizing for everything. Glad to see she’s back. Braxton’s been good for her.
I like the old Cara with some added new spark. She’s finally laughing and smiling again and not hiding behind the shell she’d formed in order to deal with that family. I call them the family from hell...because that’s exactly what they are. I’ve always wondered if they have hidden horns underneath their hair. Lord only knows I’ve seen the evil that lurks inside
of Mrs. Jenson a time or two. She never intimidated me though, I wasn’t married to her piece of shit son, so I was never as accommodating to their whims as Cara was. She tried a few times to put me down, that shit didn’t slide with me so I had to put her in her place. Needless to say, I was never again invited back to their house, no skin off my back, but I felt bad that Cara had to deal with them and all of their socialite friends without having her girl at her back. If I could’ve slayed those dragons for her I would’ve, but some type of divine intervention happened and now she shouldn’t have to deal with them since Graham is gone.
Alas, they showed up at Luca’s hospital room, it’s a good thing that I wasn’t there because I would’ve grabbed the she-devil by the hair and dragged her from the room kicking and screaming all the way to the parking lot.There is no love lost between that family and me, I’ve never been a kiss-ass and I definitely will never start with those two.
“Now where’d you go?” Hatch asks me breaking me out of my thoughts.
“I’m thinking about those assholes showing up at Luca’s room in the hospital.”
“Gorgeous, let’s concentrate on what we can do and not on something we can’t do anything about. I’ll make you a deal, let’s get this done...get home, get unloaded, get a good night's rest and then you can do your sleuth thing.”
Braxton: Rebel Guardians MC Page 18
