by Brook Wilder
“Hey,” I squeaked. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Hey. I was beginning to wonder where you were.”
“I had to clear my head.” Noah entered the lounge, tugging off his bandanna. “It took a while.”
He looked so lonely, so sad, that my heart cracked. I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. His arms came around me and crushed me to him, Noah burying his face in my hair as his body sagged in a huge sigh. It was like he had been away in prison again.
I had missed him, and it had only been a few hours.
“I’m so sorry, Noah,” I whispered. I looked up at him and cupped his face in my hands. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Noah kissed my forehead before taking my hands and kissing each of my palms. “It wasn’t your fault. I just had to get the images out of my mind. The photographs have been destroyed now. No trace of them anymore, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And no more secrets from now on, please?”
I smiled.
“I can do that. It makes the next bit easier.”
“How do you mean?” Noah blinked. “Liz?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Noah’s eyes widened, his mouth dropping open. I almost burst out laughing; it wasn’t often anyone caught him off-guard, least of all me. Noah looked momentarily like a puffer fish before he could respond.
“Really?” he squeaked. He coughed and tried again. “Again?”
“Again.” I giggled and took his hand, placing it on my still flat belly. “About a month along. Which would put it at the same night you and I… you know.” I winked. “Up against the wall in my place.”
Noah stared at me and then at where our hands were joined on my tummy. He looked like I had hit him over the head.
“Pregnant,” he murmured. I could see him start to sway. “Oh… my God.”
“And before you say anything, it’s your baby.” I went up on tiptoe and kissed him. “It wouldn’t be anyone else’s.”
“I didn’t doubt it.” Noah let out a sigh and then a smile spread across his face. His face lit up and his eyes began to twinkle. “Baby number two. I’m going to be a father again.”
“And this time, you won’t miss a thing.”
That was when Noah gave a whoop and picked me up, spinning me around the room. Then he stopped suddenly with a strangled cry and we tumbled onto the couch, me on top of him.
“Noah!” I sat up and saw him clutching at his foot. Then I burst out laughing. “You stood on one of Hunter’s toys, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I fucking did!” Noah nudged me aside and sat up, rubbing his foot. “I thought you normally cleared things away.”
“I was too nervous about this news I had to tell you.” I giggled. “Now you know how I feel.”
“I do, sadly.” Noah sank back into the couch and smiled at me, tugging me into his arms. “And I’m going to be there for this pregnancy. Wild horses wouldn’t keep me away.”
That’s what I wanted to hear. I grinned and kissed him hard.
“I love you.”
That was probably the first time I had said that to him since before he’d gone away. From the look on Noah’s face, he was thinking the same thing. Then he cupped my jaw and kissed me back, this time softly, making me melt.
“I love you more,” he whispered.
Did he really? Grinning, I shifted back and stood, tugging off my t-shirt. With him watching me with hungry eyes, I stripped off my bra, dropping it onto the floor. Then I cupped my breasts, rolling my nipples between my fingers.
“Show me,” I challenged.
Noah growled. Then he was on me, hands shoving down the back of my jeans as he sucked one breast into his mouth. I clutched onto his head and held on as he squeezed my cheeks, his mouth and tongue leaving goosebumps behind on my skin.
His mouth still on my breasts, his hands shoved my jeans down my legs. They got stuck and Noah pulled back with a grumble.
“Damn skinny jeans.”
I giggled and swatted his hands away.
“How about you get yourself naked and I’ll do me.”
“I’d rather do you.”
I giggled and managed to peel my jeans and panties down my legs as Noah jumped up, tugging his clothes off so fast I heard something tear. Then he was naked, pulling me against him with his cock rubbing against my belly. His kiss set me on fire and I was practically climbing him to get him inside me.
Noah gently tipped me backwards and then I was lying on the couch, Noah on top of me. He pulled back and lifted my legs up, giving me a wicked grin and he bent them almost onto my chest with my pussy open for him, his cock rubbing against my folds.
“Might as well make the most of the positions we won’t be able to do later on,” he smirked.
His eyes were like dark jewels as he stared down at me. I was mesmerized. I lifted my hips to his.
“Then make the most of it,” I dared. “Don’t make me wait. Just fuck me.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Noah thrust, his cock stretching me more as he pushed in to the hilt. This angle made it sharper for me and I could feel it rubbing against everything inside me, stretching me wide. The moan that escaped me was loud and Noah didn’t bother to silence me as he normally did.
“I want to hear you, baby,” he whispered as he pulled back and thrust into me again, his pelvis hitting my backside. “I want to hear you say my name.”
“Noah.” I tried to grab onto him, to grip his hips and make him go faster. “Please, Noah. Don’t tease me.”
And he didn’t. He didn’t build up the pace and every thrust had him deep inside me. Our bodies were slapping together, my legs straining against Noah’s shoulders as he bent over me. Cramp was building in one leg. But I didn’t care. I wanted it all.
The orgasm had been building slowly; so, when it hit, it took me completely by surprise. I shrieked, and Noah was growling above me, lifting my hips and pounding into me. Moments after I was coming down, he was climaxing, his cock twitching and throbbing as he exploded. He let out one last yell as he thrust once more into my pussy before he stopped, his arms propping him up above me, his body shaking.
I was bent in half and it was starting to get painful. But I didn’t care.
Chapter 32
Liz
The next three weeks went past quite quietly. I wasn’t expecting things to settle down as they had. We were still at the safe house, but I was getting used to it. Noah was still not any closer to finding out who had betrayed him, but it was turning into a home. Hunter and I were settling in nicely with a routine that now involved his father. Noah was more than happy with it and he was certainly looking more relaxed as the days went by.
I hadn’t told anyone else about my pregnancy. I didn’t want to tempt fate and tell people, only for me to have a miscarriage. Once the first trimester was over, others would begin to know. This was something private and special between myself and Noah. Although I could tell he was dying to tell people, he managed to keep quiet. If he hadn’t, I would have known about it by now.
The upside of the last three weeks was that I hadn’t had any calls from Amy or Gloria. I had blocked both their numbers and I didn’t pick up my cell phone for any number I didn’t recognize. Those I wanted to talk to were now aware that, if they texted me, I was more likely to answer. If my mother and sister tried to get through by other means, they wouldn’t get to me.
I hadn’t had any contact from Nate, either. Noah had mentioned about Mason and a few of the enforcers finding out where Nate lived and heading over to give him a warning. According to Noah’s story from Mason, Nate had tried to be a big man and it hadn’t worked, resulting in him having a busted nose. I hoped he paid attention and kept away from me; I wasn’t interested in dealing with either my family or the bastard while I was in the early stages of my pregnancy.
Noah and I talked a lot more. We had a plan that laid down almost everything regarding the baby. Noah wanted to be there for
everything, which I was happy with. He wasn’t happy about disclosing everything relating to the club in return, but we came to the agreement that anything stressful could be kept away from me. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to our baby. This was something we needed to treasure.
Although I was glad of the lessening tension, I had a feeling that there was still a lot under the surface. Noah was certainly keeping things from me. But if it was club business that could harm me or the baby, I didn’t want to know. Not just yet. A miscarriage was not what we needed right now.
But it didn’t come to a head until the week before my birthday. I could see Noah and Hunter sitting at the kitchen table, working at something they said was a secret and a surprise for me. Probably a birthday present. I was happy with that; I didn’t care what I got as long as I had Hunter and Noah there. A hug from both of them was all I needed.
After years of being put second-best after my sister and having second-hand things, I was used to not getting my hopes up.
If they wanted time alone to get this done, I could do that. No problem. The house needed cleaning and I had become a clean freak since finding out I was pregnant. I finished the dishes and wiped down all the counters in the kitchen. Then I swept the floor and dusted everywhere. All that was left was to sort the laundry and change the beds.
“Noah, could you keep an eye on Hunter for a bit? I’m going to change his bedding.”
“Easy.” Noah shot me a wink. “He won’t move from this for a while, trust me.”
I laughed as I left the room. Hunter had shown he had a very creative side and loved to do cutting and gluing with lots of scribbling. But I had had to put my foot down when Noah bought him some glitter and that got all over the table. It had ended up on their clothes and, for a few washes afterwards, everything that came out the machine was covered in random pieces of glitter. That was banned now—and when we got back to my home.
Our home. It had always been our home.
I stripped and changed Hunter’s bed, putting the bedding into the laundry basket. Then I went into our bedroom. Noah had moved from the couch to my bed shortly before I had found out I was pregnant. It wasn’t something we had discussed; it had just happened. And it felt good to sleep beside him again, even if he kept hogging the space and I was left hugging the edge of the bed.
I stripped everything down and went to the cupboard for the spare bedding. I brought out a fitted sheet and duvet sheet, only to hear something crackle against my hand. It wasn’t linen. It was paper. Had Hunter hidden a picture for me to find in the cupboard?
But Hunter couldn’t reach up this high.
I put the bedding on the bed and withdrew my hand. In my fingers was a folded piece of paper. It looked like it had been ripped from one of the big notebooks I had bought for myself. Confused, I opened it and I saw the handwriting. It was definitely Noah’s. And it was a list of names.
Names of people I knew. People I cared about. And there were either crosses or question marks next to each name with a few notes around several of the names.
It took a few moments to realize what I was looking at. Noah had a hit list. He was trying to find the traitor.
And he thought it was someone close to me.
I knew I needed to not talk about this, but it would be bugging me for a long. Folding the paper and shoving it into my pocket, I headed downstairs and managed to go into the lounge without going straight up to Noah and smacking him. He sat beside his son as he scribbled away happily with his pens. There was pen on Hunter’s face, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Neither did Noah.
Right at that moment, I didn’t, either. I was too frustrated.
“Noah, can I have a word, please?”
Noah looked up. His smile faded when he saw me. Then he sat up.
“Liz? You okay?”
“Now, Noah.”
Hunter looked up as well. He looked between us.
“Is Mommy mad, Daddy?”
“I think she is.” Noah kissed Hunter’s head and stood. “You keep scribbling. I’ll talk with Mommy.”
I pointed at the kitchen, barging past Noah and going to stand by the sink. I was close to bursting. Noah couldn’t possibly think that anyone we were very close to was the traitor, could he? That scared me. A lot. But I had to know.
“What is it, Liz?” Noah whispered as he joined me. “What’s wrong?”
I dragged the paper out and brandished it.
“What’s this?”
Noah plucked the paper from my hand and opened it. His eyes widened and then narrowed as he looked at me.
“Where did you get this?”
“Don’t dodge me, Noah. What is it?”
Noah’s jaw tightened. He looked like he was shutting down. Then he folded the paper and shoved it into his pocket.
“It’s club business,” he said sternly. “Nothing to do with you.”
“You’re looking for the traitor, aren’t you? Noah, he’s not going to be obvious to us. And these people you’re looking at are our friends. They wouldn’t do that to you. To us.”
Noah stepped closer to me. The look in his eyes almost had me stepping back.
“Someone in the club betrayed me.” Noah’s voice was practically a growl. “Ruiz has someone feeding him things on me. I want to know who would stoop so low as to do that.”
“And for what?” Liz demanded. “To kill him?”
Noah didn’t answer that. But I saw the expression behind his eyes. He was planning on killing whoever betrayed him. It wasn’t something he was going to walk away from.
“It’s club business, Liz,” Noah said quietly. “Leave it be.”
“But I thought I was part of the club!”
“Not like that. This is my business. My responsibility. We discussed that, remember?” Noah turned away. “Leave it alone.”
“Noah…”
I touched his arm, trying to get him to stay. But Noah shrugged me off, hard. His hand caught a glass on the counter and knocked it off. I wasn’t able to react in time and Noah barely moved as the glass shattered on the floor, glass shards flying out across the tiles. Hunter gave a little shriek, jumping in his chair.
“Mommy? Daddy?”
“It’s okay, Hunter. It was an accident,” I said quickly. I was barefoot and could barely see the glass. “I’ll clean it up, but I need you to stay in the kitchen.”
Noah was still scowling at me. Then, in his thick boots, he stomped to the side door and plucked up my flip-flops, shaking them out before handing them to me.
“I said leave it alone, Liz,” he said in a low voice. “Let me do it my way. Got it?”
I got it, all right. I wasn’t about to go through this again. Noah was shutting himself off and I wouldn’t be able to get through right now.
I had to pick my battles. Noah may not have wanted to show me what was going on, but I would make sure he did.
Chapter 33
Noah
When the doorbell went, I was still seething from Liz’s confrontation earlier in the day. She had questioned me about my search for the traitor. She knew it was important to me to find the bastard who had made me lose two years of my life. Why was she so eager not to have me kill them?
Unless it was a guilty conscience. But I dismissed that as soon as I realized where my thoughts were going. Liz hadn’t betrayed me. I was still coming to terms with completely trusting her, but I trusted her enough to know she would never do that. Liz had no reason to do so.
Someone was trying to make me believe it was her, though. Everything seemed to come back to Liz, which was driving me mad. Liz had nothing to do with it. I knew it. I just wish my doubts wouldn’t keep creeping in when my guard was down.
The doorbell went for a second time just as I reached the door, gun in hand, and checked the spyhole. Diesel was on the porch, a leather jacket so taut over his torso that it looked like it was bursting at the seams. I unlocked the door and stepped out, closing the door behind me.
&nb
sp; “Hey.”
“Catch you at a bad time?”
“Not really.”
Liz was still keeping away from me and Hunter seemed a little nervous since I had knocked that glass off the counter. Seeing my son shy away from me was painful. I didn’t want him frightened of me. I shook that away and focused on my friend.
“Have you got anything for me?”
Diesel sighed heavily and shook his head, rubbing at his eyes. He looked exhausted.
“No. I’ve been through our hunches and there’s nothing there. Not so much as a crumb. I even asked Khloe for some advice, but she’s just as confused as everyone else.”
