by Zoey Parker
Chapter Twenty-One
Caroline
I knew before I left the hospital what I wanted. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of thing that most girls my age in my particular situation wanted. Maybe it wasn’t even the smartest decision. Who turned down an inheritance like the kind my father inevitably would leave me? No one, I thought, but it didn’t change how I felt. Yes, the money would make my life easier in so many ways, but it wasn’t worth it to me in the end. What I had to give up to get that money was my unborn child—and the man I now knew I loved.
Except he doesn’t love me back, I thought as I stared into his dark eyes.
There was no question in my mind that this baby was very important to him. In fact, I thought it just might have meant the world to him. But that affection and adoration didn’t necessarily extend to me. I knew he would stick around and help me raise this child— despite whatever he felt for me—because he’d told me how his father had abandoned them after his mother got pregnant. But that was out of duty and a lingering need to not be like his biological father.
That still didn’t mean he cared for me. Not really. Oh, I was sure there was some affection there. He enjoyed my body, sliding his hands over it and putting his cock inside of it, and I did, too. But physical lust wasn’t the same as love; I understood that now.
Because I was in love.
I wanted him physically. I loved his strong muscles and his carved abs and the way his cock stood at attention every time I was near or bent over or doing something I shouldn’t be. But that was only part of it for me. I loved the way he was a strong leader to his men. I loved the way that he was determined to do the right thing by this baby and me, even though he could have walked away from it a month ago. Even though I had all but asked him to do just that. I loved the way he laughed and teased, the way he was around his men. There was a connection there I couldn’t deny, something that brought out a sweetness in him that I didn’t think other people realized.
So maybe he didn’t love me, so what? He cared enough for me—and the baby—to come rescue us from my father before he could force me into something terrible. That was enough for me, I told myself. That was enough to live off of. And maybe it would be enough to grow into love.
I could hope.
The sirens sounded around us and by now I could hear my father shouting. I couldn’t make out his words, but I wasn’t trying very hard either. I no longer cared what he had to say because there wasn’t anything he could say that would convince me to stay. He was going to force me to lose this baby, and he was going to force me to give up Asher, the two things I just couldn’t do.
I stepped closer to Asher, putting my hands on his chest. He had looked up towards the sounds of sirens and my father, so I reached up my hand, caressing his jaw with my fingertips and pulled him back to look at me. His eyes were deep and dark, troubled and intense. I offered a smile, then pushed up and kissed him. It was chaste and soft, and a second later I pulled away.
“I know what I want,” I told him seriously. “I want to have this baby, and I want to be with you. We can make this work. It won’t be easy, but that’s how I know it’s worth doing. Everything that I’ve ever done that was easy wasn’t worth the time I put into it. But this… This is worth every second.”
He cracked a smile at me then and lifted me up, pulling me tightly against his chest as he kissed me deeply. This one wasn’t chaste. He devoured my mouth and my hands tangled in his thick hair. I breathed him in and let his tongue slide inside me, exploring my mouth as he held me against his body.
We might have gone on like that forever under different circumstances, but we definitely didn’t have time for things like that today. To confirm that thought, I heard Winston clear his throat behind me. Even with that and the sirens and my father’s yells, it took a moment longer before Asher broke the kiss. When he did, we were panting, and I felt flushed. All I wanted to do was have more time with him.
I shook my head to try to clear it of the thoughts. At the same time, Asher lowered me back to my feet and nodded at me. “Time to go.” And before I could say anything, Winston hefted me up off my feet and started climbing the fence himself. I let out a squeal as I realized he was carrying my body weight and his both over the fence without much difficulty.
Definitely a giant with giant strength.
As we made it to the top of the fence, but before we dropped down the other side, I finally could start to make out what my father was saying.
“Caroline! Come back!” he cried as he ran towards our general direction, and for once he truly sounded distressed. I took satisfaction from knowing this, though it probably wasn’t fair. After all, he for once actually looked like a panicked, uncertain, at a dead end father. Except I knew part of that was only show for the police. The other half was less about me and more about his reputation, his money, and the knowledge that if I left, I would never come back. “Please, honey, please come back! Don’t let that criminal do this to you!”
I wanted to yell back at him that Asher wasn’t a criminal—which, okay, he was technically, but he was a good guy, too. I also wanted to tell my father that he wasn’t doing anything to me. I was making my own decisions, the right ones for myself and my baby. But I didn’t bother, and it wasn’t just because Winston was already beginning to crawl back over the top of the fence towards the ground. The sounds from inside were growing fainter, while police sirens were growing louder. I realized that more were coming and they were on what was now our side of the fence.
For a second, I panicked. They would definitely see us as we climbed down. But they didn’t seem to. The squad cars just sped past us quickly as they headed for my father’s house. Thankfully, the Anarchy’s Horsemen had picked this place carefully. Vines, trees, and bushes covered the location almost entirely. It had been deliberate on my father’s part, I was sure, as a means of disguising the ugly gate that he’d insisted on having around the whole house. Now I had to assume that he would be more than a little pissed off to realize that deliberate plan to make everything pretty on the outside had once again backfired.
As we made it down to the ground and Winston finally planted me back on my feet—he didn’t even seem breathless, though I felt breathless enough for the both of us—I turned to him. I demanded to know, “What about Asher? What about the other Anarchy’s Horsemen?”
He waved me off. “Asher is already headed over the top,” he told me even as he grabbed my wrist and began tugging me along.
“And what about the others?” I demanded, not bothering to struggle against his grip. It was clear to me that if he didn’t want to let me go, he wouldn’t. And while I didn’t like not having a choice—there’d been far too much of that lately—this didn’t make me nearly as angry as my father. This man was only doing what he knew Asher wanted him to do: get me to safety.
Winston answered me over his shoulder. “The ones who can get over the fence will. The ones who can’t shouldn’t be in any trouble.”
My eyes widened at that. “How can you say that? You just broke in to rescue me!” For which I was eternally grateful, but my father would definitely spin it as kidnapping, not rescue, and the law would fall on his side, given that he was the mayor and I was his daughter.
Winston jerked me down to the ground behind a bush as another cop car flew past. We waited there for a moment, and he dropped his voice to answer me in a whisper. “Bane and Dean haven’t technically done anything. They went to the front door, they knocked, they asked about you. No one can do much of anything to them for that, no matter what kind of spin doctors your father gets a hold of. At the very most, they can try to get them for trespassing, but I doubt even that would stick. They’ll be questioned, and then they’ll be released. The others are already heading for exit points. No one’s getting left behind, honey.”
Something eased just slightly in my chest at the knowledge that they’d planned this so thoroughly, but I wouldn’t truly feel better until I saw Asher. I glanced behin
d us. “Where is he?”
I turned back to look at Winston just in time to see him quickly smooth out a frown that had come over his face. He was worried, too, it seemed, and that definitely didn’t make me feel better. “C’mon,” he told me, motioning towards where I could now see a row of motorcycles parked, hidden amidst the bushes. “We need to get moving.”
But I jerked back. “We have to wait. Asher isn’t here yet!”
Winston fixed me with a glare, his frown deep and his eyes worried. “Look, we did this all for you, and Asher isn’t going to be too fucking happy with me if this all goes sour because we wanted to wait and make sure he was fine. He’s a big boy; he can take care of himself.”
I opened my mouth to argue further with Winston about how leaving Asher behind simply was not an option for me, but before I got even the first word out, we heard sounds behind us. The rustling of trees, the “oomph” of someone dropping heavily into the dirt. We froze momentarily, sure it wasn’t Asher but the police coming over the fence after us at my father’s order. But then he broke through the foliage at a run, frowning as soon as he saw us.
“What the hell are you guys doing standing around? We need to get the hell out of here! The cops haven’t realized where we are, or how many of us there are, but it won’t take them long to start putting numbers together. We need to be gone before that happens.”
I was so relieved to see him that I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms around him. Relief washed over me as soon as we collided, though our embrace was short-lived.
He squeezed me once tightly, the quickly pulled away. “Jesus, you guys, we need to move!” He grabbed my arm, and I happily let him drag me towards the motorcycles.
I heard yelling and sirens behind us, but thankfully, I didn’t hear any gunshots. “The others?” I questioned as we arrived at the bikes.
Winston and Asher both got on and revved up the bikes. I slipped behind Asher, wrapping my arms around his middle to hold on. This feels right, it is right. This is definitely where I’m meant to be.
Above the roar of the motorcycles, as they peeled out of the underbrush and onto the road, going the opposite direction of my father’s house and the multitude of people currently causing problems there, I heard him call over his shoulder at me, “They’ll be out in no time! They’re already halfway to the bikes!”
They must have gone over the fence at different locations, and I only hoped they would make it out fine. But even as I thought it, I selfishly found myself grateful that at the very least the man I loved most got out.
***
We drove for several hours to get out of Mount Cherry and away from the police that would be following us. It wasn’t the easiest of drives, and by the time we finally stopped at a bed and breakfast, I was exhausted, and my legs were shaky. The place we’d picked to stay for the night was a little mom and pop place, not where you expected to find a fugitive biker and his pregnant girlfriend.
“Are you sure the others will be okay?” I asked as I sat heavily on the bed, falling back from exhaustion and the general stress of the day. I’d asked a bunch of times already, and it was probably annoying, but I was honestly worried and, more to the point, I didn’t want to sit in silence.
Asher nodded in my direction, taking off his boots and his shirt as he got himself comfortable. “Yeah, they’ll be all right. I got a text from Winston. He says the police are questioning Bane and Dean, but we expected that. They’ll walk away clean and clear. No one can prove they were involved with my escape or your so-called abduction.”
I snorted at that. “Abduction.” I scoffed. “I’m nineteen; I can make my own adult decisions.”
Asher nodded in agreement. “Yeah, which is why even if they accuse Dean and Bane of being involved with what happened, they’ll probably still walk. Any good lawyer will argue exactly what you just argued: you’re old enough to make your own choices. Doesn’t matter who your father is; he can’t change that.”
We fell silent. He was right, but it didn’t really ease my worries. I wouldn’t feel better until I knew the police was no longer holding them, though I supposed I would just have to wait it out. Besides, I still had other things lingering on my mind.
Like Asher and me.
I sat up on the bed, using my arms as support behind me. That was when I saw that Asher was actually staring at me. He’d stripped out of his shirt and boots, leaving me to marvel at his sculpted chest and the rose tattoo that wound around his arm.
“Thank you,” I said after a breathless moment of just staring at him. “For coming to get me.”
He smiled at me, a cocky smile that made me want to lie down and let him do dirty things to my body. “What else could I do? I couldn’t just leave you there.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but held back.
I returned his smile. “Yeah, of course. The baby.” I stroked my only slightly bulged stomach. “Thank you for that. I really didn’t know what I was going to do. My father’s a powerful man, and he was never going to let me keep it.”
He nodded. “Your father can’t control you anymore. I won’t let him.”
His look turned fierce and protective, sending a thrill through my body. I wanted to see that look every day for the rest of my life if he’d let me. It sent heat through my body, and I didn’t know if it was the heat of everything that had happened, the adrenaline of adventure, or if it was the hormones, but I wanted things from him. I wanted to be fucked senseless until I cried out his name and lay boneless beneath him.
Letting out a huff of breath, I brought my focus back to the conversation. “Thank you for everything. I—” I broke off and let the silence hang between us.
After a moment of that silence, he spoke again, sighing. “Don’t thank me yet.” He ran a nervous hand through his hair. “I’m not sure you really understand what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
I raised a single, defiant eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we may never be able to go back to Mount Cherry.” He hesitated, then continued, “There’s a possibility they could drop the charges, but the fact is I’m not exactly innocent of what they got me for. Maybe they’ll drop the assault charges since I only punched the mayor after being provoked, but the rest? The drug charges? Technically, they aren’t wrong. My only chance will be if their case falls apart. And if it does, I still have the charges that will come up since I broke out of prison.”
He stopped and just stared at me, letting his words sink in. And I admitted to myself they did take a moment before they fully hit me. Never come back to Mount Cherry? Before that thought never would have bothered me much, but then it was also not likely to ever happen. And even I did get the hell out of there, the option to come back would have always been available to me.
But not now.
Not so long as I stayed with Asher.
I thoughtfully caressed my stomach, then looked up at Asher. I had made my decision, and now that I had more time to think about it, I realized something. I would make it again. Offering him a smile, I stood up and went over to him. I put my hands on his bare chest, the skin warm and hard beneath my fingertips. I felt him tense, the muscles contracting at my touch, and I felt that familiar tendril of desire weave itself through me.
“I know,” I whispered to him. “I know things won’t always be easy. I know maybe I can never go home. And I know my life is changing with you, but my life needed to change. If I had the chance to make this decision all over again, I’d choose just the same. I’d choose to be with you.”
I felt his heart beneath my hands as it skipped a beat at my words. I reached up on my tiptoes and placed my lips against him in a sweet, comforting kiss. When I pulled away, I saw that his eyes had closed and it looked as though he were almost savoring that moment when our mouths touched.
When his eyes finally opened, he looked down at me and said, “I want this to work between us. I want all of this to work out, and I promise I will do my best to make sure it
does. If there’s a way to clear up this stuff in Mount Cherry, I’ll do it. And if there isn’t, I’ll make you a home wherever you want. I promise you.”
I smiled and nodded, grateful for his words even if they still lacked those three little ones that I wanted so very much.
When he bent forward to kiss me again, I didn’t resist. I let my own eyes close this time and fell against him, letting him turn the initially chaste kiss into something much, much more. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me tightly against him. Our tongues dueled and battled as we tasted and explored. His hands traveled up my shirt, flattening against the smooth expanse of my bare skin beneath the fabric. He felt all along my back, his hands ever rising until they reached the clasp of my bra.
He hesitated a moment, long enough to pull away and meet my eyes. “You sure?” he asked.
I nodded breathlessly, and he kissed me again. I felt him pop open my bra. Then he continued to push the fabric of my shirt up. He got it to my shoulders and then we had to break apart for a moment so he could get it the rest of the way off. When he tossed it to the floor of the hotel room, his hands quickly went back to my bra and tugged it down off my arms. When that was discarded, too, he pulled me back against him. Our bare chests pressed together, hot skin against hot skin.
