“No, you’re not,” Haney said. “I set this up. All of this. I lured you right where I wanted you.”
“Okay,” Reese said. “I’m lured. I’m here. I sent my guys away. Now what happens?”
“Why does she matter to you?” Haney asked, nodding at Steph.
“Old friend.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No. My best friend’s stepsister. Like a sister to me.”
Haney curled his lip. “And she’s pregnant. How much is her life worth?”
“Everything,” Reese said. “Name your price.”
“Ten million?”
“I’ll get it.”
Haney laughed. “It’s not about money anymore. I’ve got that. This is about the power. That’s what I’m getting now.”
“You’ve got it,” Reese said. He stepped forward. “I told you, we’ll help you. You can man the runners.”
“Fuck you,” Haney growled. He pointed the gun at Reese. “I want this town. I want the cops. I want the MC.”
“Keep that gun on me,” Reese said. “Take it out on me. I fucked your deal, Haney.” Reese made a motion with his hands and Steph slowly inched forward. She wasn’t going to be able to crawl because her hands and feet were tied. But every inch counted. “I cornered Starla. Me. I took the drugs. I fucked it all up. I sold the drugs too. I undercut your supplier, Haney.”
“No,” Haney said. His eyes went wide. His eyes were bloodshot. He was tired. He was high. He was scared. “You do that and you’re already dead…”
“Then shoot me,” Reese said. He stepped forward. Close enough that he could touch Steph. But he side-stepped and wanted her to get to safety.
“Don’t you move!” Haney bellowed.
He pointed the gun beyond Reese.
Reese turned his head and saw Levi moving forward, gun drawn.
“Prez, don’t,” Reese said.
“That’s enough of this shit,” Haney said. “Everyone is going down. Her first.”
Haney moved the gun and Reese made his move. He threw himself forward as the gun went off, hitting Haney with his shoulder, driving him back.
“Reese!” Josie’s voice cried out.
Reese drove Haney back against the wall with a hard thud. Haney swung the gun and smashed Reese in the jaw. For a second, Reese saw dancing stars and stumbled to his right. He jumped at Haney again, hitting his arm as the gun went off yet again. Reese looked quickly and saw that Steph hadn’t moved. Josie was on the ground with her. Levi was doing everything he could to cut the rope off Steph’s hands and feet all the while dodging bullets.
“You’re done,” Haney said.
“No, man, you are,” Reese said. He slammed Haney’s arm to the wall and the gun hit the floor. He put a hand to Haney’s throat. “It’s over.”
“You have no idea where this is going,” Haney said.
A second later, the ceiling to the storage unit opened and down fell Zac, holding a gun in each hand.
“You’re fucking late,” Reese said.
“Shit,” Zac said. “You had me on the wrong one, brother.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Reese said.
Zac charged forward and put a gun to Haney’s forehead.
“Ready?” Zac asked.
“Reese!” Josie cried out.
“Hey, VP!” Levi said right behind her.
Reese turned. “What?”
Steph was free from the ropes. Her hand clutched to a crying Josie. But that wasn’t what everyone was looking at.
It was the ground.
On Steph’s legs…
“Oh, shit,” Reese whispered.
There was blood all over the ground… which meant… the baby…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Josie paced the hallway of the hospital. Levi, Zac, Ellis, and Luca waited in chairs. Reese stood tall, arms at his sides, being there as the punching bag when Josie needed it.
She couldn’t stop seeing and hearing it all go down.
The metal thuds. The gunshots. The words. Watching the way Reese walked forward at a man with a gun because he wanted to save Steph. The screams of the guys. The fighting. And then the silence when they saw the blood on the ground. Steph cried to her over and over about not feeling good. Josie thought it was just her panicking or being in shock. But the blood…
Josie touched the corners of her eyes.
Reese gave the orders for Brett, Jason, and Hawk to stay put in the storage unit with the guy with the gun.
The words were etched into her mind.
Reese grabbing the guy’s shirt.
If that baby is hurt, I’m going to keep you alive and torture you for years… you have no idea of the pain that is coming your way…
The words made Josie shiver.
She’d never seen Reese like that before.
Now he just stood there, watching her every move.
After making his threat to the guy, Reese scooped Steph up off the ground and started to run. Someone called an ambulance and it met them at the front of the storage unit. Josie rode with Steph. While she was in and out of consciousness, the EMTs talked to each other in what sounded like a different language. The only thing Josie could do was hold Steph’s hand and tell her how much she loved her.
Josie walked to the end of the hall and turned on her heels. She met eyes with Reese from down the hallway. He was hurt too. She knew what she’d said him. The way she blurted it out that she blamed herself for letting him into her life.
She started to move toward Reese, needing him. She hated herself that she needed him. She needed him to hug her. To love her. He was the one who saved Steph. He put himself right in the middle of the mess that wasn’t exactly his business. Josie was the one who found the drugs on Starla. She was the one who gave him her bag to hold so she wouldn’t get into trouble. And look where that led everyone…
Trying to find the right words - or maybe just the truth - Josie licked her lips.
She was within a foot of Reese when a set of doors opened.
Out came a doctor who called her name.
Reese quickly turned. “Go, sweetheart. Hurry.”
As Josie walked, Reese stayed right next to her.
The doctor looked at them both. He lifted his eyebrows when he saw Reese. Not a shock to see one of the MC guys at the hospital. They probably had an entire wing dedicated to them by that point.
“How is she?” Josie asked.
She touched Reese’s hand and he slipped his fingers between hers. He squeezed.
“She’s okay,” the doctor said.
“The baby?” Reese asked.
“The baby is okay.”
Josie turned and put her head to Reese’s chest, crying.
“She’s getting fluids and rest right now,” the doctor said. “We checked everything and she’s okay. She’s going to need to be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy though. She’s very stressed and tired.”
“We all are, Doc,” Reese said.
“Yeah, well, you’re not pregnant. If she was ten minutes later, we’d be having a different conversation.”
“Can we see her?” Josie asked.
“Of course,” the doctor said. “Immediate family only.”
“That’s us,” Josie said. “Both of us.”
The doctor nodded. “Right. I cannot stress enough that she needs rest. Lots of rest. I can give you all the medical terminology you want, but I’ll keep this simple… if she tries to make too much movement, she’s going to end up in trouble. And you know what I mean by trouble.”
“We get it, Doc,” Reese said. “Her ass is going to be in a bed until that baby comes. I’ll make sure of it.” He looked down at Josie. “I’ll make prospects watch her.”
Josie offered a weak smile.
They were led to a hospital room where the doctor opened the door and let them in and let them have privacy. Everything about the hospital and the room bothered Josie. She remembered what it was like with her father. Except when they came to g
et her then, the news wasn’t good. At all.
When she saw Steph in the bed, tears filled her eyes again. She was propped up a little, a bedsheet over her growing belly. Her eyes were shut but they slowly opened. She turned her head and smiled.
“Hey.”
“Steph,” Josie said. “Oh, Steph…”
“How do you feel?” Reese asked.
“Tired. Scared.”
Reese touched her hand. “No need to be scared, Steph. Everything is taken care of.”
“Is he…”
“The cops took care of everything. He’s gone. With what he did to you and all those drugs, he’s gone forever.”
“The doctor said you need to be on bed rest,” Josie said. “No more working or anything for you.”
“What about the baby? The nursery? I need to make money…”
“No, you don’t,” Reese said. “Focus on the baby.”
Steph swallowed hard. “I don’t get this. It’s so much…”
“I know,” Josie said. “But we do one thing at a time.”
“He showed up and just grabbed me,” Steph said. “I felt weird at my friend’s house. I felt sick. I felt watched. Everything was just…”
“That guy was a bad man,” Reese said. “He hurt someone else too. But he’s gone.”
Steph nodded. “Okay.”
“Why don’t you shut your eyes?” Josie asked. “Everything is okay now. I promise.”
“We’re all going to take care of you,” Reese said. “Family. No matter what. Family.”
“Thank you,” Steph whispered. She slowly shut her eyes and put her hands to her stomach.
Josie watched as Reese backed up and ran a hand through his messy hair. She stood up and faced him, looking up into her outlaw’s eyes. She put her hand out and nodded for Reese to take it. She made her way toward the door and they exited the hospital room as quietly as they could.
“She’s going to be okay,” Reese said. “The baby too.”
“Yeah. Just a scare.”
“I need to go and talk to the guys for a second and make a phone call.”
“About that guy in the storage unit?”
Reese didn’t answer. He just slipped away and walked through a set of doors. Josie then stood there alone, her back against the wall. She tried to envision what life would be like now. But, again, taking her own words, she could only do one thing at a time. And right now, the first thing was to stand there and wait for Reese to come back to her.
When the doors opened, and Reese appeared, there was a sense of relief that went through her body.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Reese said. “I told everyone to take off. Prospects are going to be at your place, waiting. Not sure if Steph is getting out of here today or not, but I’m staying until they make me leave.”
“Me too.”
“Good. We’re stuck together.”
She touched his hands and swallowed hard. “You lied to her.”
“What?”
“Steph. You lied to her.”
“About what?”
“That guy. You said the cops came and took him away.”
“He got his justice.”
“That was your phone call?”
“Do you really want to know this?” Reese asked.
“This time, I do. He could have killed Steph. And the baby…”
“Believe me, sweetheart, he’s gone for good. Brett, Jason, and Hawk took care of it.”
Josie felt a sinking in her chest, but that was how this life went.
“And, yeah, I lied to her. Because she needs to rest. She’s tied into this MC deeper than she realizes. Someday she’ll get it. For now, she needs to make sure that that baby is safe.”
“Thank you for all of that,” Josie said.
“I made a promise…”
“Reese, I didn’t mean what I said to you.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Reese…”
He gently touched her face. “You meant it. Because that’s life. That’s this life. You’re going to live with it for the rest of your life.”
“This wasn’t your fault. You saved us. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. It’s just everything we’ve been through coming together. What happened to my father and to Lasz… and now Steph getting pregnant…”
“I know, sweetheart,” Reese said. “You have to know how much you mean to me. I would die for you.”
“I believe that. Which bothers me. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t plan on having you lose me, Josie. But the time we have together, we have to be together. This situation was just fucked up.”
“What’s going to happen to Starla now?”
“You’re worried about Starla?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t think she ever meant harm.”
“That’s a club decision. I’m not worried about it now. All I care about is you and me, sweetheart. We’re here. Steph is safe. The baby is safe. The problem is over.”
“Now you’re lying to me, Reese. Because the problems for the club are never over.”
Reese grinned. “True. But right now, it’s quiet. That’s what we need to take advantage of, the quiet.”
“In a hospital…”
“Could be worse,” he said as he slipped his arms around her waist. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “Could be so much fucking worse.”
“You’re right. I could be in love with an outlaw.”
“I think that already happened, sweetheart.”
“Damn. I’m in big trouble.”
Reese moved his lips to hers and stole a kiss. “Damn… I think we’re both in big trouble…”
Chapter Twenty-Three
MONTHS LATER
“Have something else to eat.”
Reese laughed as he saw the look on Josie’s face as Aunt Athena put another scoop of potatoes on her plate.
“She’s watching her figure,” Levi said. “You know how picky Reese is.”
Aunt Athena gasped. “Is this true? Reese, I will slap you so hard with this wooden spoon you’ll have a splinter for the rest of your damn life. You never judge a woman by her figure. Women were meant to be curvy. You know why? Because they carry babies and men.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Reese said. “I never said a thing about a woman’s figure. Levi is messing around.”
Aunt Athena looked at Levi.
“I’m just messing with him,” Levi said.
“You’re all dumb men,” Aunt Athena said. She looked at Josie and smiled. “You keep eating.”
“This is amazing food,” Josie said. “Would you mind if I made a plate for Steph?”
“Of course not,” Aunt Athena said. “How’s the baby?”
“Good,” Reese said. “Should be getting out of the hospital soon.”
“She was born too early though,” Josie said.
“But she’s healthy.”
“She’s tiny,” Josie shot back.
“Maybe you should give her some of this food,” Levi said. He leaned back and tapped his stomach. “That’ll add meat to her bones.”
“Where are the rest of the guys?” Aunt Athena asked. “It’s too quiet here.”
“They’re handling some business,” Reese said as he stood up. “You know, club stuff.”
“Don’t give me that beat around the bush routine,” Aunt Athena said, pointing the potato spoon at Reese.
Reese showed his hands. “I would never beat around the bush with you, Aunt Athena. You’ve cracked my ass with a wooden spoon enough times in my life.”
“Never forget that,” she said.
“Wait,” Josie said. “Is that the spoon you smacked his butt with?”
Aunt Athena laughed. “No. I had to use the thicker one on Reese. His ass is as thick as his head.”
Josie burst into laughter.
Levi stood up, groaning and shaking his head.
Reese looked over his shoulder and
down. “What’s wrong with my ass? You like it, Josie.”
“Stop,” Josie said, her cheeks turning red.
“When are you two having a baby?” Aunt Athena asked, quickly changing the topic.
“Oh, that’s, uh… yeah,” Reese said. “Let’s stick with dinner today.”
“I don’t know,” Aunt Athena said. “A beautiful woman like Josie. She’s not going to wait around for you for the rest of her life. Time to become a man.”
“Trust me, she knows I’m all man,” Reese said.
“Reese!” Josie yelled.
Aunt Athena smacked Reese with the wooden spoon on his arm. It snapped into two pieces.
“Dammit!” Aunt Athena yelled. “See what I mean? He’s thick headed, hard assed, and boney shouldered.”
“Just muscle,” Reese said.
“We’d better get to the hospital and check on Steph and April.”
Reese wasn’t sure of the name April at first, but it wasn’t his kid. But the moment he saw the little peanut in the incubator, fighting hard for a chance at life, the name fit. Why? He had no idea. But little April had around the clock care. From the doctors. The nurses. And the MC. Everyone took turns spending time with the baby, reading to her, talking to her, making sure she kept fighting for survival.
Steph went into labor just shy of thirty weeks. It was almost like the situation from before, except this time, there was no stopping it. The baby was going to come and that was that. But Steph was doing good. Little April kept fighting. Time moved forward.
“Here’s your food to go,” Aunt Athena said as she handed Josie a container.
“How are you going to get that to the hospital on the back of a motorcycle?” Reese asked.
“You figure it out,” Josie said and gave the container to Reese.
“Thanks. And thank you, Aunt Athena.”
“I want to see that baby,” she said, waving a finger. “Club rules. All babies come to Aunt Athena for extra care and loving. Lord knows you all need it in this life you live.”
“I promise, Steph will come by with April,” Reese said.
They all hugged and said goodbye. Aunt Athena made sure to give Josie an extra ten kisses and did her best to convince her to turn Reese into an honest man. But Aunt Athena already knew how the rules went. It wasn’t about engagement rings and wedding rings and all that bullshit. It was about riding the wild curves of life.
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