HANDS OFF MY BRIDE

by Claire St. Rose

  Angeline’s mind worked hard to find a solution. Lillian. If anyone could help them, it was her boss.

  “I… I can get you a meeting with Dr. Palmer,” she started. “She’s the best. I’m sure that she—”

  “We don’t want anything from you!” Ellen yelled. Her legs went wobbly, and Jeremy caught her before she fell to the ground. Holding her close, his nostrils flared as Kane rubbed Angeline’s bruised arm.

  “You alright?” Kane asked.

  “I—”

  “Oh, she’s just fine!” Ellen screamed through her tears. Jeremy struggled to keep her in his embrace, but his wife fought and brought her nails perilously close to Angeline’s pale face. Backing away from the threat of her swipe, Angeline fell into Kane’s waiting arms, but even the strength of his hold was nothing in the wake of Ellen’s tirade.

  “She can deal and cheat and fuck like a slut. And nothing ever sticks to her. Except you, Kane.”

  Pushing Angeline aside, Ellen seized Kane’s face with shaking hands. “You don’t have to do this,” Ellen pleaded. “Not for her. Kane, she’s not—”

  Kane started to object when Jeremy stepped into the fray, sniffing in Angeline’s direction before he spoke. “Far from it,” Jeremy said. “Let her clean up her own mess.”

  Angeline started to wilt under their attack, and she feared that it would never work. If they couldn’t get his true family on their side, what hope was there when the club put two and two together? The idea that Noel would view the baby as his sent a chill up her spine. She suddenly had visions of him making her his old lady while Kane was forced to watch. That would hurt him far more than any time in a cell, and she couldn’t do that to him. Or her child.

  But even as she tried to leave, Kane’s arm enclosed her waist, and her trembling subsided when he took charge of the room. “No mess here,” Kane said. “This is my girl, and this is our kid. And if you can’t get that, fuck the both of you.”

  Jeremy looked as if he was ready to pounce, but before he could make the move, Kane dragged Angeline from the friendly dinner that never was and led her back to his bike. Lifting her off the ground, she flung her arms around him and buried her face in his broad neck.

  “Angel, don’t be sad,” he said.

  Finding his eyes again, Angeline was struck by the sense that he would abandon his brother, his true blood, at the thought the smallest insult. However, Ellen hadn’t lied, and if their roles were reversed, Angeline knew that she would feel the same way. Ellen was longing for a baby and here was the nurse, the reason for Kane’s incarceration, about to have the baby. Of course it killed her, and maybe she was right.

  “Kane…”

  She saw the sacrifice in his stare. Kane had crawled through his belly on hot coals and hoped, just hoped that he would come out the other side. Now that he had made it, she was about to plunge him into a new kind of hell.

  And in the end, Jeremy was right. It was her mess.

  “Kane, you don’t have to—”

  Kane took her hand in his and revved up of the motor, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “No, I don’t,” he said.

  Despite the show for Jeremy and Ellen, Kane had to have second thoughts. Not because he doubted what Noel had done; there was no erasing it from their minds. However, the rest of it, what was left over. It was more trouble than it was worth—than she was worth. And Angeline could handle it alone. All she had to do was take her father, leave town, and then…

  “But I want to,” he said.

  Without another word, Kane kissed her hair before speeding off into the unknown.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The motel room was quickly becoming her home away from home. After the last few nights in Kane’s arms, she headed back to the familiar house, showered fast, and made her father promise to play nice with his physical therapist. Angeline’s words were having an effect—along with the renewed use of his legs. When she saw that, Angeline felt no guilt at heading off to work and holding the hands of the women who were ready to bring their children into perfect pre-planned lives. Some of them spoke of future weddings without knowing if they would happily give away a bride or watch a groom waiting at the end of a flower strewn aisle. In those moments, Angeline would unconsciously touch her belly and just pray that her child would stay safe. Kane swore as much and then some.

  But now, she wasn’t so sure.

  “We can’t do this,” she said.

  Kane took her face in his hands and shook his head. “We can do anything,” Kane said. “Don’t let Jem and Ellen get to you.”

  But they had, for too many reasons to count. Angeline started to lay out all the ways in which this was destined to fail when he stilled her with the force of his kiss. Melting into him, she mumbled under his lips and let him lay her on the bed. The smell of strangers’ sweat was gone; only the aroma of their lovemaking filled the air. Kane was always up for more, and Angeline was happy to take him. She was with him, and they were making up for lost time. When his cock grazed her cunt, she was on his page, not wanting to lose another second.

  “But, Kane—”

  “Don’t talk,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

  Peeling her skirt from her thighs, Angeline moaned when he touched her mound. Kane stroked her tight flesh and kissed her bare legs. As Kane started to stake his own claim, she remembered lying limp under the weight of Noel. His thrusts had been fierce, in search on his own pleasure and nothing more. But now, Kane’s family hated her for her forced transgression, and she pushed him back, his chest heaving, as she hugged herself on the edge of the bed.

  “You don’t have to keep sticking around,” she said. “I can take care of the baby.” At her words, his face seemed to fall. She sighed as she caressed his stubbled cheeks. “Kane, I can handle this. You’re free now. Don’t get mixed up with—”

  “Too late, Angel.”

  His lips crushed into hers, and Angeline moaned when his hands came to rest against her back. Lifting her blouse, Angeline sighed at the feel of his fingers demanding more of her, and she started to dream.

  In the days, the years without him, Angeline had gone to sleep on the thought of having him back. Now that he was here, she pressed her pussy to his cock, and Kane easily slid inside her. His piece was familiar, safe, and sure. As it consumed her body, Angeline smiled into his eyes and ran her fingers through the waves of his dark hair.

  “Is it?” she asked.

  Bending towards him, Angeline held his face. With the feel of his need for more firmly planted inside her, ready to turn and expand if she gave him the smallest nod, Angeline told herself that this would be the last time. He would go when he realized that his family was right. At least she…

  Kane interrupted her thoughts with a sure push, and Angeline fell back to the bed as he consumed her. She clung to the feel of him, moving around her, inside her. When she stretched forward to hold him again, Kane wrestled her hands and held them over her damp, sweating locks.

  “It’s the perfect time,” he said.

  Undoing her buttons, Kane’s lips fell to her side, and he groaned into her skin as he held her wrists tight. Needing more of her under his touch, Kane released his hold on her wrists. With the use of her hands, Angeline was back to trying to push him away, but it was no use when he pulsed inside her, and Angeline’s hands drifted down his back.

  “I want to believe that,” she whispered. “I… I want to believe that this.”

  She brought his hand to her belly, and Kane’s palm settled on Noel’s child as it grew inside her. It was still a betrayal, and soon everyone would see that they were just trying to…

  “Believe in it, Angel.” Kane talked like he was not about to tolerate a second guess, and Angeline’s breath stilled when he kissed her pregnant skin. She felt him moaning into her flesh, and his fingers caressed her belly. Just as she was about to fall into his arms, Kane drew back, and Angeline gaped underneath him. “You need to believe in me,” he said. Kane fell back to her face, but
his kiss stopped short of her lips, his eyes wide as he played with her curls. “So, are we doing this or what?”

  Angeline had barely nodded when Kane brought her into his arms. Confident in his power, he collapsed to the bed and held her tight. His cock never left her cunt, and as she sighed, Angeline forgot Noel, forgot Ellen.

  Only him. She only wanted him.

  “We are,” she said. “I… we need this.”

  And then he took her. Angeline’s legs curled around his thighs, and her head fell back. His cock appealed to her cunt, and she was back to their first time. He surged inside her, and his hot rush made her want more. Even as she knew that this moment would end, that all moments might fade into lost hopes, she clutched him closer.

  “I need you,” he said.

  Kane’s cock moved deeper, and Angeline held his shoulders. He should go. It would be better. It…

  “Oh,” she sighed. “Kane.” She had no more words in that moment. Kane took total command of her body. His nails scraped her back, and his cock sought her pussy. As she looked up into his eyes, Angeline smiled at the feel of him around her. “I need you, too,” she said. “So, we’re in this?”

  Angeline stretched towards his cock and let him take her. His thrusts were smooth, and every time she begged for more, he held her hair, his eyes burrowing into hers. “All the way,” Kane promised. “I don’t… I don’t care.”

  His cock took over and flooded her mound. Angeline struggled to catch her breath as he expanded inside her, and as she still thought of the price they might pay, Kane let his lust loose. “I don’t either,” she murmured, silently thinking, “Just stay with me.”

  Kane’s expansion filled her with hope, and as his cock buzzed inside her, Angeline wanted nothing more than to remain forever in his arms.

  “Angel, it’s all good.”

  Kane’s words pushed her into sleep, and she drifted under his hold. Now, she could only dream of his arms. Everything would be alright. As long as he held her.

  Waking with him still inside her, Angeline touched her belly before stroking his face. Kane slept, seemingly content to keep his eyes closed, but Angeline had to do more.

  Moving to the bathroom, she flicked the switch and peered into the glass. When they first touched, Kane was strong and sure, and as she got to know him better, she knew that he would do anything for her. It was one thing to spend years behind bars, but now there was the chance that he would blow up if he thought too hard about how Noel had harmed her.

  She should run. Before he woke up. It would hurt him to find her gone, but—

  “Angel.” Kane was at her back, and he turned her towards him before he spoke. “No need run. I have you. And,” his stare turned to ice, and she kept his gaze close, as he said, “you’re safe now. Forever.” Kissing her slowly, Angeline nearly forgot her fear. They could do this. His plan might even work. “Always, Angel.”

  Feeling his lips on her bare body, Angeline longed to fall back to the bed and find joy. She was nearly there when her own image surfaced under the glass. She saw her eyes and wondered just what she was doing. In their early stages, it was fun to just ride on the back of his bike as they headed off into infinity. They should have left then, but now they were stuck, and Angeline…

  “I can hold you,” he said. “I can do that.”

  Nodding slowly, Angeline fell back to the bed, and Kane cradled her close to his chest.

  The feel of his beating heart, his lungs coming to rest, granted her the strength to speak. “It could still go wrong,” she said. “My—”

  “Ours.”

  Kane was obviously hanging onto the idea that Noel had never touched her; Angeline wanted that to be real, and she hid her head in her chest.

  “Ours,” she repeated.

  Still scared, Angeline curled closer to him. She knew that just being with him was danger. However, the greater risk was a life without him, and she finally fell asleep his arms.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “So….”

  Lillian was rarely at a loss for words, yet now she fell silent as she checked Angeline’s throbbing pulse. Meeting the doctor’s gaze, Angeline jutted her chin forward in a quiet question. Turning her head to her chart, Lillian clicked her pen to attention and made a few quick notes. Angeline tried to steal a glimpse as she shifted to the edge of the exam table.

  She felt fine now that she was back with Kane. A small part of her still worried when he took off to meet his crew. There had been a time when her natural curiosity prompted her to ask what those big, burly guys did to fill the space of their days. She was sure it involved murder and mayhem—you name it.

  Danger wafted off of him like an intoxicating perfume, and Angeline would peel his jeans from his body and moan when he wrapped his legs around her thighs. Her questions had slacked off in light of Noel’s supreme violation, and she loathed the idea that he remained in the man’s orbit. Kane said that the club was something he couldn’t shake. Try as she might, Angeline felt her lips curl into a frown in the light of that particular statement, but when he sighed and held her, when his whisper penetrated her ear, he promised that he couldn’t shake her either.

  It was good to hear. His hands on her body were even better, and when he caressed her belly and assured her that he’d always be there for them, it was more than a generous gesture. Angeline was starting to believe that his words were working a spell, making the baby his, theirs, causing her to think, “I’m safer… we’re safer with him. Happier, too.”

  “So? What’s the verdict?” Angeline finally asked, unable to stand the silence for another second.

  Setting the chart aside, Lillian pulled up a stool. As she sat, she took Angeline’s hands in hers.

  “Looks like everything is going according to plan,” Lillian said with a kind smile. “I trust that you’re eating right. Taking your vitamins.”

  “Yes, Mom,” Angeline said with a roll of her eyes. Right after it came out, she wondered how her mother would feel if she was alive to witness the miracle of life growing inside her. She imagined her happy.

  Until her father put his two cents into the till.

  “That’s good,” Lillian said. “Because you know… if you weren’t…”

  Angeline bit down on her tongue. She knew all too well what could happen, what did happen, if protocol was not followed. Sometimes nothing, but in the wake of the risk, babies could emerge with what Lillian liked to call complications. Or not at all. If she was being honest with herself, Angeline always felt a wave of pity when the hopes of an expectant mother were dashed by the cold light of reality. However, there was always a disconnect. She could pack up at the end of the day, crack open a bottle of wine, and leave it all behind.

  Her child, their child, had suddenly changed the rules.

  “Then, how would that look for me?” Lillian asked. Confused, Angeline started to twist her head, and when Lillian laughed, a rare feat in and of itself, Angeline was not sure what to make of it until she squeezed her hand tighter. “You’re still on the payroll, Angeline,” Lillian continued. “And I expect you to be a model patient.”

  Catching the gist of the joke, Angeline hung her head and joined in the laughter. “Yes, ma’am,” Angeline promised, as she held her palm in the air. “All orders understood and obeyed.”

  “They better be,” Lillian said.

  Patting her knee, Lillian left the room and gave Angeline the privacy to dress. Stripping the paper gown from her body, Angeline felt a sliver of cold air race up her spine, and she held herself close as she tried to back away from it. Kane’s arms would feel better, but she’d have them again soon enough. Pulling her arms through her sweater and cinching her jeans around her ever-expanding middle, Angeline stepped from the exam room.

  Kane had asked about the appointment before taking off into the morning, and even though he tried to play it off like it was no big deal, Angeline had felt his fingers lingering around her palm, and she knew that he wanted to hear only good ne
ws when they reunited.

  She was proud that she could give him that and more. She could give him her lips, her hands.

  All of her heart.

  Settling in the chair before Lillian’s desk, Angeline tapped her nails together as Lillian flipped through her planner and scheduled her next visit.

  “Is the father going to make an appearance any time soon?” Lillian asked.

  “I don’t know,” Angeline answered. “I mean, Kane’s totally on board. But the… mechanics might be too much for him.”

  She stifled a laugh. He had gone to hell and back for her, and even though he kept it under wraps, she knew that his day-to-day invited all kinds of danger. However, watching Lillian measure her abdomen, followed by urine and BP readings, might make him woozy. “My sweet bad boy biker,” she thought.