“Honey,” Jayde’s mother whispered, grabbing onto her husband’s arm. He jerked out of her grasp when he took a heavy step forward.
Shit.
The man’s face was turning an ugly shade of purple. “What the fuck did you do?”
“Daddy...” Jayde started, but her father swatted a hand in her direction.
“What did you fucking do?” Mitch roared, taking another step closer to Linc.
Linc tipped his head from his left shoulder to his right and loosened his body, as he fisted his hands, getting prepared for a fight he didn’t want to have.
Especially with the grandfather of his unborn kid, who happened to be a fucking cop.
Mitch’s head snapped toward Jayde. “He rape you?”
A collective female gasp rose up and Jayde rushed forward to step between Linc and Mitch, her palms up. “Dad, no! He didn’t rape me. Holy shit.”
His dark blue eyes dropped to his daughter. “You wanted to have sex with... with... him?”
Linc doubted the color in Jayde’s cheeks was from anger now.
“I—I...” she stuttered.
Mitch glared at Linc. “You were the one I caught her with that night... that night when the bar got shot up. You’ve been preying on her all this time?”
“No!” Jayde shouted.
Zak grabbed Jayde’s arm and pulled her back behind Linc.
“Brother, get the fuck outta here,” Z told him through gritted teeth. “Take ‘er an’ go.”
Mitch pointed at Zak. “This is all your fucking fault, Zackary! You’re nothing but a bad seed. It’s your fault that she was anywhere near this... this... guy.” He spun toward Axel. “And you! Your sister thinks this shit’s acceptable because of you being with her.” He jabbed a finger toward Bella. “I fought hard to keep my children out of that life. To protect you, like a good father should. But you all... you all... just shit all over everything I’ve fought for.”
“Mitch,” Jayde’s mother whispered again, clamping a hand on his forearm. Her words were shaky when she begged, “Don’t do this.”
His gaze dropped to his wife. “Did you know about this?”
“No, I had no idea.”
Z murmured to Linc. “Take ‘er an’ get gone, Linc. Now. Takin’ Soph an’ Zeke home. Gettin’ the fuck outta here. But ain’t leavin’ until you two do.”
“No!” Mitch shouted. “You’re not taking her anywhere.” He took another step toward Linc and Jayde. Axel stepped between them, and Z’s body went tight next to Linc. “She’s not going anywhere. We’ll deal with whatever mess she’s in.”
By “we’ll” Linc was pretty fucking sure the man didn’t mean all of them. And the cop was not going to make any decisions for his future kid.
“Listen to your prez an’ get the fuck outta here. Now,” Z muttered under his breath. “Gonna end up with a fuckin’ bullet where you don’t want one if you don’t.”
“Get inside,” Mitch ordered Jayde, swinging his arm toward the house behind him.
Fuck that. Z was right. It was time to shut this thing down. “Get on my sled, Jayde.”
Jayde’s head swung between Linc and her father. “But—”
Linc snagged her arm and pushed her gently toward his bike. He continued to face her angry father. The fuck if he was turning his back on the man. “Get on my fuckin’ sled, Jayde.”
“If you get on his bike, Jayde... If you leave with him, don’t ever come the hell home. Do you hear me?”
“Mitch!” Jayde’s mother cried out.
Mitch pointed at Linc. “You leave with him, Jayde. You don’t come back.”
“Please, baby, get on my sled,” Linc said softly as he spotted the tears running down her cheeks, a confused look on her face. She was torn.
He didn’t blame her.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Fuck, none of this was supposed to happen at all.
Once again, he fucked up.
“April, get your daughter.” Mitch shook his head. “You don’t want me touching her right now.”
“Dad!” Axel yelled at his father, then turned toward Jayde. “You need to decide what you’re doing right now. You’re either going inside with Mom and Dad, or you’re leaving with Linc. Choose now and get going.”
“Better think long and hard on that, Jayde,” Mitch warned. “Already made one mistake. Don’t make another.”
“Don’t do this, Dad! Don’t make me choose.”
Jesus. The agony in Jayde’s voice twisted Linc’s gut.
Mitch threw his hands up, spun on his heels and tossed over his shoulder, “You already chose when you allowed him between your legs. Never thought my only daughter would end up being trash.”
A muscle popped in Linc’s jaw as he surged forward only to be snagged by the arm by Z, and Axel rushed to plant two hands on his chest, holding him back.
Axel shook his head. “Ain’t smart. Right now, shit’s fixable. You fucking get into it with him, you do some damage, it might not be. His fucking pride is hurt right now. He’ll eventually see reason.”
Linc looked over Axel’s shoulder when the front door slammed shut.
“I know what you’re seeing in him right now, and I recognize that it’s ugly. Real fucking ugly. I’m not liking what I’m seeing, either. He’s not only my father, but I have to work with him. He’s my fucking supervisor.” Axel sucked in a breath. “No matter what an asshole he’s being right now, know that he loves Jayde.” Axel looked at Z, who still had a tight hold on Linc. “He loves you, too, whether you realize it or not. Hate to say this about my father because he’s a proud man, but he’s scared. Deep down he’s fucking terrified that he’s going to lose his family to the shit the club deals with. Just like Granddad. Just like Rocky. He doesn’t want to let his guard down because if he does... and then something happens to any one of you...” Axel shook his head. “I don’t think he’ll recover.”
“Got a dick way of showin’ us he loves us, Axel. Totally fuckin’ dick,” Z grumbled, finally releasing Linc’s arm.
Axel dropped his hands from Linc’s chest and stepped back. “Can’t argue with that.” He turned toward Jayde, who had Bella’s arms wrapped tightly around her. “Looks like Dad made your choice for you, sis. You can come stay with us if you want until things get settled.”
“No,” Linc said, shaking his head. “No. She ain’t going anywhere but with me, got me?”
“My car. My clothes. Everything...” Jayde whispered, still staring at the house.
“Doubt your gonna see that shit for a long time, if ever,” Z muttered. “Likes to hold a fuckin’ grudge.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Axel said.
“Just make sure he doesn’t get rid of anything. Please.”
Axel nodded. “I’ll do my best. We’re getting out of here. I’m taking Bella home. We’ve had enough fun this evening, I don’t think I can take any more.” He faced Zak. “You good here?”
“We’re bailin’, too.”
Bella and Jayde gave each other a look of surprise when the two brothers clasped hands and bumped shoulders before moving apart. Axel escorted Bella to his sled, while Z stood eyeballing Linc.
“Get gone, Linc. Take ‘er either to the Motor Inn or church for the night. We’ll figure this shit out first thing in the mornin’ at church. Time’s run out. I’ll text you.”
Linc swallowed hard and nodded. His gaze slid to Jayde, who was still staring at the house, her eyes red, her expression wrecked.
Fuck. He did that. He put that look on her face. He fucked up her life all because he couldn’t keep up the good fight and resist her anymore.
Couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
“Got enough scratch?”
His president’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “Yeah.”
“Not leavin’ ‘til you’re clear from here. So get gone.”
Linc watched Z move toward Sophie’s car where his family was waiting.
“Brother!” Linc yelle
d out.
Z stopped but didn’t turn around.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Z tossed over his shoulder.
Chapter Eight
Linc’s arms encircled Jayde as they lay still dressed on top of the sheets. Jayde’s shoes were somewhere across the room where she whipped them in frustration as soon as they had entered the room at Shadow Valley Motor Inn.
He couldn’t get the image out of his mind of her dropping hard to her knees in the middle of the room before curling into herself, sobbing so hard her body was wracked with them.
He had picked her up, put her on the bed, and, after shucking his boots and cut, had joined her, keeping a tight hold of her as she soaked his T-shirt with hot tears. Neither of them said a word. He figured he’d keep his mouth shut and let her work out whatever was in her head first, without her needing his most likely unwanted opinion.
Eventually her body relaxed, she nuzzled her cheek tighter against his chest, and her breathing leveled out. He couldn’t see her face because her hair was covering it, but he had to assume she had finally fallen asleep.
He laid there for hours, staring up at the ceiling, trying to make a plan for their future.
He hadn’t wanted an ol’ lady. Not yet, anyway. Fuck, he certainly hadn’t wanted a kid. But sometimes life didn’t go as planned.
Problem was, he kept finding that out the hard way.
While growing up, he’d learned things were never as easy as they seemed. Like Jayde, he hadn’t wanted for anything growing up. His parents spoiled the fuck out of him. They were proud of him. His grades, his after-school activities. His football and wrestling throughout junior and senior high school. Hell, he was so good when it came to wrestling, he’d made it to Regionals, then the State Championships, even on to Nationals a couple times. He was good. So good, college recruiters scouted him as a junior. Colleges kept in communication with his father. They were making plans...
His future was set.
Or so he thought...
When Jayde shifted in his arms, he swept her long, dark hair out of her face and peered down into her blue eyes. She was awake.
Snuggling closer, her arm tightened around his waist and she blinked up at him.
“Sorry ‘bout all this shit, baby. Told you I was gonna fuck up.” Hell, that was a given.
“I just didn’t expect it to be this soon.”
“Yeah,” he breathed. “Shoulda believed me.”
She turned her face into his chest and laughed.
He grinned down at her, combing his fingers through her hair. “Tell me what you want, Jayde.”
She tipped her blue eyes to his. He was glad to see that they were clear and focused, unlike earlier. “Though I’m scared that we’re not ready... this baby.”
“Yeah, I’m scared, too. No matter what, we’re having this kid. What else?”
Her chin dug into his chest as she stared up at him. “What do you mean?”
“Gotta meet with Z in the morning. We’re decidin’ what the fuck’s gonna go on from here. No one else is decidin’ but me and you. So, need to get shit straight. What do you want, Jayde? From me. For us.”
Her gaze slid to the side before coming back to meet his. “I want us to be happy.”
What felt like a thick band tightened around his chest, almost as if the breath was being squeezed out of him. “Can’t promise you that.”
“Why not?”
“Because shit happens, Jayde. Can think you got shit under control, heading in the direction things need to be, and then...”
“Then?”
“Shit happens,” he repeated.
“Like this baby.”
“Right. But the baby’s a given. So, where do you wanna go from here? Got our jobs, but no place to live.”
“I don’t have anything but that job right now. I don’t have a car, clothes, nothing.”
“Right. Gonna hafta take care of that.”
“I don’t make that much money working for Kiki. I do okay, but not enough to get a place, buy a new wardrobe. Buy a car.”
It killed him that her voice got shaky at the end. “Gonna get a loaner from Crash. That’ll solve that.”
“He has clunkers!”
“Yeah, and long as it gets you from here to there, that’s all you fuckin’ need. Don’t need no fancy-ass yellow Camaro. Need something safe. We’ll get something better later. Right now, you just need wheels.”
“Shit,” she grumbled. “Apparently, I need a place, too.”
“We need a place,” he corrected her.
She lifted her head. “Are you sure you’re ready to live together? We had sex twice. We only had one actual ‘date,’ Linc, and that was after the ultrasound to buy a crib for a baby. I’m not sure that either of us is ready for that.”
The doubt in her words ate at him. When she had first walked into The Iron Horse and told him she was pregnant, none of that had been in her voice. None. So he ignored it, since he didn’t want to feed into it. He needed her to be sure that he wanted to be with her. Wanted this kid. “Diesel’s talking ‘bout moving out to the farm. Maybe Ace will let us move above the pawn shop for now. Just a place to settle ‘til we can find something better.”
“Linc...”
He grabbed her chin and tilted her face toward him. “Don’t wanna live with me?”
“That place has one bedroom.”
“Yeah.”
“One bathroom.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s close quarters for two people who were not together to suddenly live in the same place.”
“Yeah, baby... Listen... Been wanting you for a long time. Had this discussion already—”
“You were avoiding me.”
“No, was having a hard time resisting you. Knew if I did what I wanted to do, if I took what I wanted, it was gonna cause problems. And tonight proved I was right.”
When she opened her mouth, he lifted a hand to stop her.
“Gotta remember your oldest brother’s my prez, baby. He calls the shots. Your other brother’s a fuckin’ cop. Your father’s a cop. I ain’t stupid. Got men watching over you that I didn’t wanna fuck with. The only one scarier than those three combined is Diesel. I might be good with my fists, but taking on the men in your family is just plain stupid.”
“Zak took it well. Axel, too.” She brushed her fingers over the area where he had sported a bruise from Axel’s punch. At least that had finally faded into oblivion. “Eventually.”
“Thank fuck for Bella. ‘Cause if Bella hadn’t softened Axel the fuck up over Z and the club in general, have a feeling I’d be being buried ‘bout now.”
“They forget I’m twenty-eight. They still see me as sixteen.”
“Right. Still their baby sister. Still daddy’s lil girl.”
She sighed.
“Nothing wrong with that. Means they care ‘bout you, being protective.”
“I doubt my father’s seeing me as his little girl right about now.”
“Hoping Axel’s right and he gets over it. Kids need their grandparents.” He winced. Fuck. He stupidly just opened the door to a subject he didn’t want to discuss.
And just like he suspected she’d do, she headed in that direction. “Speaking of, what about—”
He twisted until she was beneath him and he was staring directly into those baby blues of hers. “Baby, thinking we need to sleep now. You need rest.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “But you said you wanted to figure things out before meeting with Z.”
That was true, he did say that. But now he didn’t want to open a can of worms. One he wouldn’t be able to put the lid back on. “Yeah, can do that in the morning. Now we need to sleep.”
“I already slept some, I’m no longer tired.”
“Gonna tire you out. Then you’ll sleep.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh? You think I want to have sex with you?”
“Don’t think it, know it.”
>
Her lips twitched.
“Tempted the fuck outta me. Hunted me down ‘til you got my dick. Now you got it, can’t get enough of it.”
Jayde snorted. “You think?”
“Yeah.” He slipped his hands down her arms until their fingers intertwined, then he lifted them up over her head and pressed them into the mattress. “Gotta get you naked. Wanna see that body of yours.”
She frowned. “The body that’s changing?”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“Uh huh, tell me that again when I’m as stretched and miserable as Jewel was with Violet.”
“No matter how big she got, that woman was still fuckin’ beautiful. She was growing D’s daughter inside her. Now, too much talking, not enough fuckin’.”
Jayde pinned her lips together and rolled her eyes before saying, “Waiting on you since you’re on top.”
“Yeah,” he breathed. She was waiting on him. He had no problem getting things started.
He wanted to apologize again right then and there for fucking up her life. For making things difficult for her. Especially with her parents. But apologizing wasn’t going to change their circumstances.
“Now I got you in my bed, not letting you out.”
She arched a brow. “Never?”
He dropped his head until his lips were right above hers. “Nope.”
“That might get a little inconvenient.”
“Yep.” He traced her plump bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. He nibbled along it, inhaling her warm breath as he did so. It hitched, and she shifted beneath him until his dick was lined up along her soft heat. That heat he wanted to sink deep into. Remind her who she now belonged to.
They needed to get naked, but he was in no rush. He didn’t have to worry about her going anywhere. She had nowhere to go. Without even meaning to, he had made her his.
Yeah, he’d been panicked at first at the news. But now... Now, seeing her in his bed, or more like the motel’s bed, made him realize how much he had actually wanted her. The relief at now having her. For a long time, he’d been worried some other man would come along and he’d have to watch her get claimed by someone else. While it was difficult keeping his distance, it would have been even more torturous watching her with another man for the rest of his fucking life.
Down & Dirty: Linc (Dirty Angels MC Book 9) Page 9
