by Brook Wilder
Damn, he loved to see that woman smile. Loved even more to make her laugh. It was like the whole world glowed a little brighter with her laughter in it.
“What’s going on, huh? That’s exactly what I was calling to ask you.”
“Oh yeah?” Christian’s brows furrowed in confusion when Melody mouthed a question at him. He didn’t know what the hell his old man was talking about. “Care to elaborate on that?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, son,” Hub growled back.
And then his voice grew softer and, to Christian’s surprise, a little unsure. His father was always sure of himself.
“Listen, Bianca got to talking, and she may have let slip that… well, is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“Damn it, Christian, you know what I’m talking about!” Hub paused and drew in a deep aggravated breath. “Is she pregnant?”
Christian was so surprised by Hub’s question that he couldn’t form the words. But his silence was answer enough.
“She is, isn’t she? Well, hell, Bianca was telling the truth after all.” Hub let out a gruff chuckle and Christian could easily picture his dad shaking his head. “I want you to come over. We need to talk about this.”
“I don’t think…”
“Now, don’t argue with me, son. Get your ass over here. This is going to change some things.”
“You can say that again,” Christian said, finally able to get a word in.
But it didn’t matter. His father had already hung up. The other end of the line was empty.
“Who was it?” Melody asked, looking up at him from the bed.
All he wanted in the world was to crawl back to her and spend the rest of his life there, wrapped up in her. But he knew he couldn’t do that. They had a few things they needed to take care of first.
“That was Hub. I guess Bianca told him about the pregnancy test.” Christian started getting dress, slipping his cell phone back in the pocket of his jeans. “He wants me to go over there and meet with him in person.”
“Alright, I’ll just get some clothes on,” Melody said, jumping out of bed.
He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her as she slipped a pair of tight jeans over her thighs and a tank top over her head. Damn, she was so beautiful that she took his breath away.
Christian had to shake himself back. He’d missed the question she’d asked him.
“What was that?”
“I asked if you were going like that? Might cause an accident, flashing everybody on the road.” Melody teased, a laughing light in her dark eyes.
Christian didn’t even mind. He had been standing there, his jeans unbuttoned and slung low over his hips, his shirt still clutched forgotten in his hand.
Hastily, Christian threw on the rest of his clothes, pulling her close for one last kiss before they left to face his father and whatever was about to come at them. With Melody’s arms wrapped around his waist on the back of his bike, though, he felt surprisingly optimistic.
He hadn’t been lying, what he’d told her earlier. They could take on anything, as long as they were together. As long as they had each other. The thought had him grinning like a lovesick young puppy the entire ride to Bianca’s farmhouse.
When they arrived, Christian was struck by how quiet the front of the house seemed, and it sent a lightning strike of nerves through his body as he parked his bike and helped Melody off of the back.
“They must all be inside,” he said, holding her hand in his as he made his way around to the back.
He opened the door that led into the kitchen and was caught by surprise as Bianca and Hub, as well as a few other members of the crew, turned to him with cheers of congratulations.
Christian shot a look back at Melody, but she looked just as shocked as he felt. Suddenly, Hub was pushing forward, a glass of bubbly in one hand.
“Here you go boy.” Hub shoved the glass at Christian who took it, still frozen in surprise. “I know I haven’t always been the best father, but I just wanted you to know how happy we all are for you.”
Bianca grinned at him, and he couldn’t help but feel like he’d suddenly walked into the twilight zone.
“Thanks dad, and everyone,” Christian said, toasting them all before taking a sip.
He could barely swallow it down. Because underneath the excitement and jubilee, something darker lurked beneath his father’s eyes. A few minutes later, he learned what it was.
Christian pulled Hub aside, leaving the glass of bubbly mostly untouched.
“I need to talk to you,” Christian started, and then stopped, not quite sure how to go on. “I want… I need something different for this kid, Hub. I want to go clean.”
The words came out all in a rush, and he winced, waiting for his father’s explosion.
But it never came. Instead, Hub leaned forward, a serious look on his lined, leathery face.
“Listen, son. I told you the truth. I know I wasn’t the best dad. Not like you’re going to be. After your mother passed…”
“I know, dad.”
“No. You don’t,” Hub growled. “After your mother passed, I just didn’t have any heart left in me. Not until I met Bianca.” He glanced over at the other woman who was guzzling from a pint of whiskey. “I let you down. I know that. But I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
“Thank you, dad.” Christian whispered, surprised and overwhelmed by his father’s change of heart.
But then his eye’s darkened again, and he knew there was more to come.
“I just need you to do one last thing for me.”
God damn, he hated being right sometimes.
“Enrique wants one final meeting with the Devil’s to repay his debt and square things away. I want you there.”
Chapter 3
Melody stared at Hub in shock for a long moment, sure that she must have misheard him. That must be it. He couldn’t have said…
“Enrique? You want Christian to meet with Enrique?”
The question had popped out of her mouth before she could stop it, but she didn’t care when everyone turned to stare at her. She only had eyes for Christian’s father.
“No,” Hub growled with a mean scowl. “But Enrique insisted. It was one of his terms for the meeting.” The vice president of the Devil’s Martyrs crew turned back to his son. “You know how important this meeting is for us, Christian.”
Melody opened her mouth to protest once more but she didn’t get the chance. Hub was talking to his son again. Hub gazed at Christian, who still hadn’t uttered a word since his father had dropped his bombshell.
“Look, Christian, you do this, and I swear to you I will do everything I can to get you and your baby out of this town, and out of this life.”
Hub just looked at Christian expectantly, while Melody held her breath. She saw the answer in her husband’s bright blue eyes before he even moved to open his mouth.
“Alright. I’ll do it,” Christian said after an eternity. Melody had known exactly what he was going to say, but it still made her gasp in dismay. “But I have to take Melody home first. I have to make sure that she’s safe.”
But Melody was already shaking her head as she dragged Christian off to the side of the room where she could talk to him in semi-privacy.
“I don’t like this, Christian,” she told him in a hushed whisper. Worry and fear made a lump in her throat, making it hard to force the words out.
“I don’t really like it all that much either, sweetheart,” Christian sighed and then it was his time to shake his head. “But this is our best option. We will deal with Enrique and get our ticket out of here all at the same time. Two birds. One stone.”
He forced a look of optimism on his face, but Melody could see right through it. He was just as worried as she was, and she was plenty worried for the both of them.
“Please Mel,” he pleaded, and it broke her heart. “Let me take you home. This is too dangerous for you and the baby.”
>
“No. It’s too dangerous for you!” Melody said fiercely as she stepped closer to him, his hands clasped hard in hers. “You don’t know Enrique like I do. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“I know that he hurt you.” Christian’s expression drew harder than she’d ever seen it before and that rarely glimpsed heat of anger that he kept locked down tight blazed like a furnace behind his sapphire gaze. “That’s all I need to know.”
“He’s ruthless, Christian. He’s a liar. He’ll say anything he has to until you drop your guard down, and then the second you do he’ll slit your throat without a second thought.”
Melody gasped the words, drawing her hand to her own throat as the words came out in a rush. Panic fluttered inside her like a startled bird and she wanted to grab him and shake him until he saw reason, and then grab him again and never, ever let go.
Melody wanted to keep arguing with him, trying to talk him out of it, but Bianca stepped close.
“Hi Christian. Congratulations, hun. I need to borrow your woman for a sec.”
Bianca railroaded Melody’s attempts to stop her or even slow her down. But nothing seemed to affect the older woman as she grabbed her firmly by the arm and pulled her away to the other side of the room.
“Bianca! What are you doing! I need to…”
“Hush it, hun.” Bianca said fiercely, and for a moment Melody was certain that the other woman was about to unleash on her.
Instead, she was surprised as the older woman leaned toward her and drew her into a tight hug that smelled like clove and cigarette smoke.
“I’m so happy for you and Christian,” Bianca said, still grasping Melody so hard that Melody couldn’t move.
Finally, after a long moment, Bianca drew back, surreptitiously swiping at her eyes.
“Oh, babies always make me cry.”
Bianca wiped her eyes again, pretending that she had an eyelash caught in one, and Melody just shook her head, surprised by her uncharacteristic actions.
“Bianca, you can’t honestly support this, can you?” Melody pleaded suddenly, hoping to get her on her side. Maybe that would help sway Hub.
But before she even got the words all the way out, Bianca was giving her a firm, disappointed look that cut to the bone.
“Listen, hun,” she said with a snort, waggling her finger at Melody as she spoke, “Christian needs to do this. Can’t you see it in his eyes? I’ve known that boy for a long time, and he’s been drifting for almost as long. Rudderless. No direction. But you, Melody, you’re his compass now. You’ve given him a reason to fight for what he loves. You can’t take that away from him.” Bianca finally trailed off, still shaking her head. “It would destroy him.”
Fear filled Melody. Fear that she had grown all too familiar with over the last year, since she’d become Enrique’s prisoner, and even before that in the halfway house, being homeless, even when she’d lived with her father.
It was the fear that her life was completely out of her control. That there was nothing she could do to change her own fate. And she saw it laid out starkly in front of her.
“But Enrique could kill him,” Melody finally whispered after a long, tense silence.
Bianca tsked at her. It was a sharp, irritated sound, but Melody saw that her heart wasn’t in it.
“Hub isn’t about to let anything happen to his only son. And besides, Christian won’t be alone, either.”
Bianca paused, just looking at Melody for a long moment, and this time she was sure the older woman was going to yell at her. But instead, she just wrapped her arms around Melody in another hug. Two in one day. It must be a record!
“I’m going to miss you both.” Bianca groused.
Melody’s breath hitched at the sound of tears in her voice.
“Don’t worry. We’ll come visit…”
“No, you won’t!” Bianca was back, full curmudgeon, frowning at Melody with her eyebrows furrowed so that a thick crease formed in the middle of her forehead. “I mean it, Melody. You take your baby, and you get the hell away from this life. The gang is no place for a child.” Bianca’s frown melted away into a beautiful smile. “You and Christian are going to be amazing parents.”
Melody bit her lip, trying to keep up with the gamut of emotion that whirled through her. “Maybe… maybe I can write you every now and then? Or call to let you know how things are going.”
“I would love that. Now, hun, you go. Listen to Christian. Just let him take care of you for once. And for Christ’s sake, don’t argue his ears off.”
Melody shook her head at the older woman’s taciturn tone, but she could easily see the warmth and love underneath. This time, she was the one to pull Bianca in for one last hug.
“Thank you for everything, Bianca. I don’t think I can ever repay you.”
“You just take care of that baby. And give ’em all the love in the world. That’s good enough for me.”
Melody smiled: “That I can definitely do.”
Christian waved Melody over towards him, a somber expression drawing his expression tight.
“Look, Mel, I know you don’t want me to…”
“It’s okay,” she said, quickly interrupting him before she had a chance to change her mind.
“It… is?”
“I get it, Christian. This is our chance to be free. This is our chance to be happy.”
He looked at her for a long moment, love shining bright in his eyes, before he kissed her, hard and fast.
“I love you, Mel.”
“I love you too, Christian.” Melody drew in a deep breath. “You better come back in one piece or else I’m going to kill you myself.”
Christian just shook his head, obviously biting back a laugh, as they walked back to his motorcycle. He’d already hashed out the plan with Hub and the others. He would drop her off back at home and then meet up with them at the designated location.
Melody tried to tell herself it was just motion sickness that was making her queasy as Christian drove her home, but as he parked the bike and she slid off, the nauseous feeling remained.
“Stay safe, Christian.”
“I will. Don’t worry,” he said, giving her one last, long heated look before starting the engine again and driving away from her. Melody watched him disappear around a corner, but she didn’t move from her spot in front of the house.
She swallowed hard, praying that he would come back to her. She had a bad feeling about all of it.
Finally, there was nothing left for her to do but turn and head inside. Alone. And terrified for Christian.
Chapter 4
Christian pulled away from the house, but even the loud roar of the motorcycle engine in his ears wasn’t quite enough to drown out the sight of Melody’s tearful face as he drove away.
The image haunted him all the way to the rendezvous spot that Hub had told him to meet the others at.
Christian hadn’t wanted to let Melody know, she was already so nervous about the meeting, but it was well outside of Devil’s Martyrs territory. And far too close to Enrique’s for his own peace of mind.
But it was too late now. There was nothing else he could do. He had already agreed to the meeting, and if he backed out, there was no telling what Enrique, or Hub, would do. His whole future was riding on this. Not only his, but Melody’s and their baby’s too.
Christian kept a wary eye out as he pulled his bike up towards the group that had already gathered, waiting for him. He nodded to his father first, and then the four other men that were arranged in a small semi-circle.
“Hey, man,” a familiar voice said behind a helmet, and Christian was surprised when he took it off.
“Craig?” Christian shot at him. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were neutral and all that shit.”
His friend just shrugged, sending him a shit-eating grin that had a smile of his own teasing Christian’s lips. The man really was incorrigible.
“I’m not about to let anyone mess
with a friend of mine,” Craig said, his grin widening, “Besides, someone needs to be there to watch out for your skinny ass.”
“Don’t worry, Christian, Craig isn’t the only one who will be looking out for you,” Hub said with a wry grin of his own. “You have a wife and baby who is counting on you to come home in one piece.”
Christian nodded his gratitude at both of them and then glanced around at the other three crew members.
“Alright. Are we ready to do this?” Christian waited for their nods in return. “Okay then. Let’s get this show on the road. Where exactly are we meeting with Enrique?”
