by Simone Elise
He was meant to leave months ago but with what happened between Abby and Blake, well, it had delayed things.
And clearly Reaper wouldn’t give up on her that easy and had delayed the move till he got her back. I don’t know why he was so sure she was coming back from what she had become. Hell, I never expected to see my sister laughing and smiling again. Or just plain happy.
But she was. And now they were leaving together to start a new life as a family.
How was Dad coping with the fact that his daughter was leaving, pregnant, with his VP?
“Who the fuck didn’t close the garage last night?” Dad slammed the clubhouse door.
Well, he was redefining the word angry.
My eyes bounced up and of course, it being my luck, they locked with Trigger’s.
We still didn’t really speak, and it still hurt.
“How are we meant to know, Daddy?” Abby swung her legs and got off Reaper. “You really shouldn’t get worked up about it.”
“The place is becoming a fucking madhouse, and no one seems to give a shit.” He walked straight to the bar.
The man was drinking more than a fish.
“Have you finished packing?” Dad forced the words out and reached behind the bar.
“Yep. Brad is driving the van, and we are riding up.”
“Should you be back on the bike in your condition?”
“Pregnant, Dad. Come on, you can say it now.”
“Like fuck I can, that makes me want to kill that boyfriend of yours.”
“You really need to stop saying that.”
Dad glared over Abby’s shoulder at Reaper. Dad was still coming around to the fact that the two were having a kid together. Did he like the idea of admitting Reaper had been in his daughter? No. So whenever the subject came up, it took everything in him to not send a closed fist in Reaper’s direction.
Reaper strangely didn’t seem to care what Dad thought.
The fact that he was always smirking when the subject came up didn’t really help things either.
Reaper hadn’t dropped down on the knee yet, which kind of surprised me. But I guess he did have her name tattooed on his neck. The boy had already made a commitment, stronger than a wedding ring too; at least those could come off. And Abby had gone and gotten his name, both of them declaring that the love they had was that strong, it was a forever type of love. Whether they were together or not.
“Pregnant and riding. How the fuck are you letting that happen?” Dad was looking directly at Reaper.
“Oh, I can answer that one.” I twisted in my seat. “Abby has him wrapped around her finger.”
“I do not.” She crossed her arms.
“You do fucking too.”
“Why don’t you just do everyone a favor, Kim, and go get laid.”
“Why does it always come back to sex with you? It doesn’t solve everything.”
“No, but it would solve your attitude problem.”
Attitude problem?
I did not have an attitude problem.
I pushed the chair back and stood up. Fuck this. I wasn’t sitting here being told I had a problem when I didn’t.
“Get the fuck out of my way!” I screamed at a blonde who chose the same moment to stand up and leave the table.
Stupid club sluts.
Reaper
Back on, you couldn’t tell Abby and Kim apart, that was until Abby turned around and that swollen tiny stomach of hers stood out. The fact my son was growing in there always had me wanting to touch that stomach of hers.
“I’m worried about Kim.” Abby sat up in bed. “She still hasn’t worked out her shit with Trigger, and me leaving wouldn’t be helping.”
“Kim can take care of herself; you’re over thinking it.” I ran a hand down her back. “If you don’t wanna go, babe, we don’t have to. I’m happy to just be a member. I don’t need the patch.”
“No, I want you to have it.” She twisted her head, her eyes locking with mine. “You were always meant to be President anyway, it’s my fault you gave it up.”
“Gave it up once for you, babe, and I’d do it again.”
“Yeah, but this time I’m not going to let you.”
She was as stubborn as ever. But her health came first, and I would put off taking the President Patch if she was worried about her sister.
Abby
It is written that love is defined by caring for someone more than you care for your own life. I thought that I understood what love was until the shooting. Until I spent months in a coma. Until a baby grew inside me.
I spent months away from him. Being forced to turn my back on my love for him.
Love. It was one word, but it was more powerful than hurricane, tornado, or earthquake. It was life-shattering and life-defining.
Because without him, I was nothing. Just a hollow mess that could walk through life feeling nothing but the bitterness of the burn of the love I once had.
I looked over my shoulder.
Reaper was leaning against the headboard, arm behind his head and the light escaping from the curtains was dancing across his tattooed chest. He was staring at his phone, looking deep in thought.
He hadn’t noticed me staring so openly at him.
How had I managed to get the man, the life, and the baby?
I felt as if it was all made of glass and I was just waiting for someone to come along and shatter all of it.
“Wanna talk about it?” His eyes flashed from the phone and on to me. “Or are you just admiring my good looks again.” His lips cracked into a grin, and he threw a pillow across the room at me.
I caught it. “Just wondering how I got so lucky.”
His grin fell. “Babe, you have two holes in your lungs and you struggle to breathe. How the hell is that lucky?”
“I meant how lucky I was to have you.” I threw the pillow back at him. “You sure know how to turn something positive into something negative.”
“Cursed is more like it.”
I stopped packing the suitcase and turned right around. “I’m not cursed because I met you. If I hadn’t met you, we wouldn’t be having this baby, and I would never have the experiences I do.”
“Yeah, because your life would be so much worse off if you didn’t get shot, you didn’t go into a coma, and you didn’t end up knocked up by a guy that doesn’t deserve you.”
“You really need to think more of yourself, Kade. You are a blessing, not a curse. My blessing.”
“Did you hit your head while you were in there packing or something?” He looked at me seriously.
“Whatever.”
“So you going to talk to Kim and see what her deal is before we leave?”
“Well, I’m weighing it because she might have the bright idea of joining another gang,” I teased. “No, of course I’ll go talk to her. Just wanted to finish packing before I did, but seeing as that is never going to happen…”
I got up.
How the hell had I managed to collect so many clothes? Basically, most of them didn’t fit me at the moment anyway. I was half tempted to just leave them here.
“Well, I’m heading to the bar then if you’re going to deal with your sister.” He jumped up and reached for a top, threading it through his arms.
He paused, standing over me, offering a hand down to me, which I took.
“Don’t get worked up; it isn’t good for your blood pressure.” He had a hand on my stomach. “So no yelling at Kim.”
“Who said I was going to yell at her?”
“Cause she isn’t the sharing type, and you get frustrated easily.”
He knew me too well. I rolled my eyes and wiped his hand off my stomach. “You have a bar to get to, and I have a sister to sort out.”
He grunted but held back his words.
Kim wasn’t going to break easily, but surely whatever it was that had her in this shitty mood would be something she would be glad to get off her chest. Or at least that was what I liked to be
lieve.
***
“I told you nothing is wrong.” Kim slammed the door in my face, which I then just opened and walked in.
“Right, so what is with the mood?”
“Just piss off to your man already, would you?” She threw herself back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
“Look, Kim, if this is about me leaving, you know you can always come with us.”
“It’s not about that.”
“Then there is something.” I smiled, satisfied. I knew there was something wrong.
She sat up on her elbows, her eyes piercing mine. “I’m just over the happy couples. I’m over Dad’s bad mood. I’m over Trigger treating me like I’m invisible. I’m over these same walls.”
“Then come with us.” She wouldn’t know how much of a favor she would be doing for me. It scared me not knowing anyone up there, only Brad, and he will be busy with Kade. “You would be doing me a favor. Kade and Brad are going to be joined at the hip, and I’ll be home alone with a baby.”
That was what really scared me. Being alone.
“I’ll visit.” Her face softened. “You’ll be fine. You have nothing to worry about.”
“No, only the fear of a new city, a new baby, and a club I don’t know.”
“You’ll be the President’s old lady. You won’t be left alone even if you want it.”
“So I can’t twist your arm and make you come?”
“No.”
“Well, what are going to do?” I was serious now. Clearly she was unhappy. She missed Trigger, and that man had a huge ego to ever go back. “You can’t just keep waiting for Trigger to change his mind.”
“I’m not,” she snapped. “I’m planning on getting a job or heading back to university. One of the two, and then get my own place off club land.”
She seemed set on the idea.
“I’ll miss you.” I tilted my head to the side, smiling at her. “Even though you drive me mental most of the time.”
A smug expression captured her face and she sat completely up. “Yeah, I’ll miss you too.”
And there it was. It wasn’t overemotional or over the top, but it was our good-bye. She would miss me, and I would miss her. But sometimes life separates us for a reason. Even if we can’t understand that reason or if it terrifies us. Sometimes you just have to walk into the unknown by yourself.
Chapter 24
Reaper
Sometimes the weight of the worries from this world can cause you to miss out on life. Life passes by while you deal with the heaviness of the life we are given. The mistakes we make frame us and lead us to make bad decisions or worse, freeze us in that moment.
I think that is the worse pain of all. Being stuck in the aftermath of a mistake. I was stuck. Every time I looked at Abby, I was drawn back to how I had nearly lost her. How I couldn’t save her. That the bullets she took were for me.
Her laughter, her smile, and those eyes, gone.
I loved her. The word love didn’t really cover what I felt for her. My heart ached without her. My world was empty, and my reason for living didn’t matter anymore.
She was everything.
Is everything.
“Babe, I think my belly has grown another five inches overnight, is that possible?” She staggered out of the bathroom, her eyes glued on her stomach.
“No, babe.”
“Well, do you think I look bigger?” She planted her hands on her hips and stared at me.
Now this was a loaded question. Answer yes and she will go all guns blazing on my ass, and answer no and she will think I don’t care.
“I think you and the baby look perfect. Now why are you out of bed?” Change the subject and save my balls from being kicked. It was only early, and I was off to a fine start.
“Because I still have all this to pack.” She waved her arms around the basically empty room. “Do you have any idea how long it will take me to box all this shit up?”
Two minutes?
“You’re doing a great job, babe.”
“It’s not like the things jump into boxes themselves, you know.” She strolled across the room. “I’ve had to wrap, fold, and in your case, clean nearly everything. You sure the new place is going to be big enough for us?”
“It’s a house; I think what we can store in two bedrooms will fit into a house.”
“Don’t use that tone with me.” Her eyes sharpened.
Here we go.
“Sorry babe.”
She glared me off for a few more seconds before dumping an empty box on the bed.
“So you planning on helping me today or you got club business?”
I was doing everything possible to stay out of Abby’s way, because I loved her and I loved my balls where they were. Her hormones have been out of control this week, and I had a bruised eye to show for it. I was still getting shit from the other guys about it. And it was all over because I told her that the top she had on wasn’t covering her stomach. The next second, I’m cupping my eye and swearing.
The girl can punch.
“Um, club business, but I can get one of the prospects to help you?” Poor unlucky bastard.
“No, I don’t want them touching all of our things. I’ll just do it myself then. Like I have been all along.”
I pulled my jeans on and reached for a shirt. “At least you’re nearly finished.”
“Considering we leave tomorrow, it really is just in time.”
“I was thinking about tomorrow, and I think you should ride in the van with Brad.”
She dropped the pile of clothes she was holding.
Don’t be weak. “It’s just you’re carrying our little one in there, and you on the bike for seven hours isn’t safe. Anyway, your old man has put his foot down, he wants you in the van, or otherwise he is taking you there himself in a car.”
“Is that so.” Her lips twitched with rage. “DAD!” she roared and had her hand on the doorknob, swinging it open. “DAD!!”
So I guess I took the coward’s way out. But Mommy Bear wasn’t happy, and no way was I going to be the one facing that.
***
I could hear Abby giving her dad a sermon from the staircase, and I wasn’t surprised to walk into a half-crowded bar.
“You totally took the coward’s way out, didn’t you?” Kim smirked from a bar stool. “You know Dad will give in and you will be back to square one.”
“Hey, it’s not me saying she shouldn’t be riding for seven hours fully pregnant.”
“No, of course not.” She rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t matter anyway, cause Dad is going to give in.”
“Doubt that; the man threatened my life if I let her ride.”
“Yes, but he wanted you to be giving the bad news. Not him.”
“What, do I look stupid? Anyway, shouldn’t you be all crying cause we are leaving?”
She scoffed. “Please, give me some credit. I don’t cry. Anyway, it’s not like I won’t see you all. She’s about to pop any day, and then the whole charter will be visiting you.” She smirked evilly. “Wonder if you will have your charter under control by then. You know they call them the wild guns.”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Because they are just going to listen to a blow in.”
“Not a blow in, Kim, and you know that.”
She spun off the stool and smirked at me. “That’s right, you are the famous Reaper. I wonder how famous you are to them. Loathed, hated, or admired?”
“Guess I’ll find out tomorrow.”
She was trying to get under my skin. Wasn’t it bad enough I had her sister wanting to yell at me every five seconds? I didn’t need her stirring up shit.
“Guess so.” She strode off toward the stairs.
I knew three of the men from the charter personally, and I knew the charter needed a healing hand. A firm hand. I knew what I was in for. Didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous about it.
Chapter 25
Reaper
; I didn’t know how I was going to balance a family with the club. I had only ever had the club and the club worries. Now that I had Abby and the baby to consider, suddenly the dangers of what I did every day occurred to me.
The dangers I was putting Abby in.
I wasn’t going to be just a club member anymore. I was going back to being President. I was going back to dealing with a club full of men. I knew what it was like. You were more of a parent than anything else. You were the role model and the boys followed suit. They had a question; you had the answer. They had a problem, and you held the solution.
So far we were doing alright.
Abby had moved into the house, and I had moved into the clubhouse for the first couple of days to get shit in order. But as of tonight, I was heading home.
It was dangerous to leave Abby by herself now; she was due any day.
The light was off when I pulled up our driveway. That’s good, that meant Abby was asleep, and considering I was late, I was glad she didn’t stay up and wait for me.
Brad had gotten into a fistfight with Don just before I was about to leave. They both had their eyes on the same lady. It took four men to pull Brad off Don and it took me to stop Don from going back for seconds.
With a club full of unattached females, you would think they could just pick another one.
Wasn’t like they were much to look at compared to my Abby.
I unlocked the front door and peeled my leather vest off hanging it on the hook.
I slumped my way up the stairs. I was looking forward to a night’s sleep that involved me with my arms around Abby.
I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the hall mirror, and I paused.
Fuck me.
Even I admitted it. I looked more like a nightmare than a daydream. Why would Abby stay with me when I looked like the criminal I am?
I pushed open the bedroom door quietly, shaking my head, trying to get rid of the thoughts. Abby saw through all that shit and somehow still saw me for me.
I was about to take off my boots when the night light cast a shadow across the bed. An empty bed.
