It was set up similar to our clubhouse, except everything was cleaner, more expensive, and there was less debauchery.
Gunner held my elbow in his warm, calloused palm. His fingers wrapped tightly around my smooth skin, and he directed me around like he feared I would run as soon as he let go. I felt like I was a child being escorted to the dentist by her own parent. I so wanted to dig my heels in and refuse to budge, only I knew that by doing so, I would be picked up and tossed over his shoulder. My head would be left to dangle and my hair to drag across the ground.
Gunner kept steering me towards a table where a woman was sitting. Her back was straight, and her long blond hair was in a messy bun piled on top of her head. Her profile was facing towards me giving me the chance to examine her. Her eyes had a smoky eyeshadow, and her lips were covered with red lipstick.
My eyes scanned her body, and it widened as they landed on her slightly swollen stomach. Her shirt was tight enough to make her situation well known. She was obviously pregnant.
Reyes came storming across the room with a plate in his hands. His eyes were solely on the woman at the table. Concern lined his face as Reyes gently set a plate in front of her. He noticed that she was slowly running her fingers over her baby bump.
I felt something tingle in my chest as Reyes leaned over and placed a kiss on her upturned forehead. The woman’s lips turned up into a smile as he leans up further and presses her lips to his.
Gunner tugged on my arm, and I realized that I had been frozen in place and was staring at the pregnant woman like one would a foreign species.
“Cassie,” Gunner said quietly.
Turning I looked at him, and my feet were still rooted to the floor.
“You promise Gunner? Thirty days and I’m free?” I asked again without moving an inch.
“Thirty days,” Gunner tells me while nodding.
“No, promise me that after today I have twenty-nine days left,” I pleaded with him.
“Yes, Cassie, twenty-nine more days,” he sighed before pulling a little harder on my arm, but it didn’t really hurt. I then started to move, and within five steps we were at the table. An apple scent reached my nose as I passed the woman Reyes seemed so fond of.
As soon as my ass touched the seat, she looked at me with a small smile.
“Alanna,” she says while holding out her hand.
Something in me relaxed slightly as my back pressed into the back of the seat. Its cold surface cooled my back slightly and relaxed me a little.
“Cassie,” I tell her returning her smile and leaning forward to shake her hand.
Her name sunk in deep and the memories of my father’s crimes resurfaced. Then it happened again, the realization that he was gone. My father.
I felt tears well, and I blinked over and over hoping that they would relent and go away. Looking at Alanna’s plate, my stomach growled loudly.
Alanna laughed, and for a moment I did too. That was until a plate filled with eggs, bacon, and pancakes were set in front of me. I eyed the eggs as their stench reached my nose.
My stomach turned violently. I jumped to my feet my hand covering my mouth and nose as I darted in the direction that Alanna was pointing.
The door was so close, and just as I reached the cold, metal nob, the bile reached my mouth and burned the back of my throat.
Urgency racketed up another notch and a dire need to get in there occurred. I threw my weight into the door and pushed it open. There was no point in looking around, and there was no time as I darted inside.
My knees hit the floor in front of the toilet as it came rushing up and I couldn’t stop it. Hands dug into my hair, pulling it back as my stomach fought to empty itself, but there was nothing in there to empty.
“Cassie, you okay darlin’?” Gunner asked. His voice was gentle and sweet, and it was almost like he cared.
“God, no,” I tell him as I heaved again.
Wiping my mouth, I leaned back against his legs letting him hold my weight. I was worn out and completely drained.
My stomach decided to growl again, forcing a moan of fear from me. I didn’t want to visit the bathroom again, at least not in this manner.
“Come on, I’ll get you some pancakes,” Gunner tells me.
My stomach growled louder.
“The bread will help,” he whispered against my neck as he pulled me up and close to him.
Gunner helped me to the sink, and I rinsed my mouth out with the cold water. Then after swishing it around, I spat out the nasty acid flavor out into the sink.
“Come on darlin’,” he tells me gently.
Leaning into him, I let Gunner hold my weight. His soft, cotton shirt rubbed against my arm as his strong arms held my weight. As we made our way back to the table, I whispered, “I still hate you.”
“I know darlin’,” he tells me sadly.
“Stop fucking calling me that!” I snapped back at him in a whispered tone.
He looked at me and something like sadness filtered across his eyes so quickly that I thought I imagined it.
“No more pet names,” I tell him, even though they made me a little squishy inside.
Nodding he helped me into my seat.
I then watched as he walked away. His back quickly disappeared down another hallway, and I was sure it led to the kitchen.
Alanna reached over and patted my hand.
“That will pass, mostly,” she says with a laugh, “some things still make me want to hurl, but after the first three months it gets better.”
Huh? She patted her stomach gently, and my eyes widened. Oh god, no way. Nope, it was not happening. This has to be another nightmare, and I have to wake up. So, I reached over and pinched my arm.
“Ouch!” I cried and then did it again harder because, Mary mother of God, I wasn’t waking up.
“This isn’t happening,” I whispered to myself.
Another plate was set in front of me, but this one just contained pancakes. Nothing felt like it was going to be ripped out of my throat. So, I closed my eyes, and the tears that I had been fighting came back.
“I’m sorry... I thought... doesn’t matter what I thought,” Alanna sighed, “a piece of advice, don’t run and don’t keep this a secret for too long.”
Chapter 20
Gunner
Day One, Twenty-Nine to Go.
I watched part in amusement and part in frustration as Cassie raised her hand to say fuck you with the universal sign.
Cassie was a spitfire, and I was going to have one hell of an old lady. That is after I got her to forgive me for my massive fuck up.
I didn’t kill her father, I didn’t use her to get to him, and I sure as fuck cared about her. Whether she likes that or not, it was true.
“Got your hands full,” Reyes said with an amused laugh.
“Asshole,” I replied.
“She ever going to let you back in pussyland?” Ryan asked.
The fucking prick, my teeth ground together in anger and frustration.
“You set her up man,” Reyes reminded me.
“I didn’t set her up!” I shouted.
The silence should have warned me, but I was on a roll. Anger had taken its toll, and the price was high.
“I fucking had to have her, I just couldn’t stop myself! And fuck you both!” I growled out.
“Gunner?” A soft voice behind me asked.
Turning around, I looked at a distraught Cassie.
“I’m sorry, Cassie,” I tell her feeling like shit. She just lost her father, and here I was shouting about all the shit that played out between us. Like a brick wall, her tears were the only thing holding her altogether.
Her small hand rested on my back as if to soothe me, but then she realized what she was doing and snatched it back.
Her heat had soaked in, and like a sponge I absorbed it. The feeling of her near me had my cock rock hard and ready to fuck.
My eyes met hers, and I wished I hadn’t. Cassie looked gutted, an
d it ripped into me like a chainsaw filleting me alive.
“You full?” I asked her, hoping to change the topic and take some of the pain away.
“I think I need to go lay down,” she whispered.
I reached out to take her hand, but she backed away putting space between us and held her arms close to her chest.
Without a word, she told me to go fuck myself. And I deserved every fucking moment of misery she gave me.
“Come on, I’ll help you get settled,” I tell her quietly.
“NO! I’m fine. I can do this myself,” she snapped at me with a fierce voice full of loathing.
“Cassie,” my voice held a warning.
We had a deal, and she was toeing the line as if to test me. At the same time, she didn’t seem to care about the results.
“I said I was fine,” she tells me coldly, her voice like ice.
But Cassie wasn’t. I could see it in her face how off she was. Her posture was also off, and she was slightly slumped in on herself. Her hair was stringy and flat, her eyes were cold and looked almost hollow.
I did this to Cassie, I destroyed her fire. I broke this beautiful woman and in her place was a shell. I wanted to take it all back and fix it. Try to do something to make it all better, but I couldn’t. Sal was dead and with good reason. I took her with me under the guise of a lover’s trip, and my punishment for being a liar was exactly what I was getting. I deserved every heart-breaking moment of it.
I watched as she dragged her feet. It was as if it were a chore to walk out of the room and head to the bedroom.
I needed to get us a nicer place to live. The clubhouse wasn’t a place to live if you had an old lady. She deserved more than this.
She lived like this all her life, remember? A little voice whispered.
I don’t a give a fuck. The least I could do was give Cassie what I’m sure every woman wants. The perfect house with a white picket fence.
I was going to give her everything, even if it killed me.
Chapter 21
Cassie
Day Two, Twenty-Eight to Go.
I felt heat surrounding me like I was cocooned in a heated blanket. Sighing, I tried to pull the covers off with my feet, but they didn’t budge.
I growled and grabbed the part under my arm so I could tug it down, but I came into contact with something smooth and warm.
My eyes opened wide, and I look down at the smooth, heated thing holding me in place to find Gunner’s arm draped over me. I tried grabbing his arm, but it weighed a ton. I attempted to lift it but couldn’t, so I wiggled and tried to scoot under it to no avail.
I smiled as a thought crossed my mind. Gunner’s arm was resting on my chest, so I lifted my head a little, opened my mouth, and sank my teeth into his forearm, deep and hard.
“The fuck!” Gunner shouted ripping his arm off me.
“Keep your shit to yourself!” I snarled as I pushed up from the bed and slid down until I reached the foot of it.
“Keep those teeth to yourself hellcat!” he shouts back.
I opened my mouth to respond when the world tilted, and I slumped back onto the bed with a slight bounce. My stomach started to churn, and bile started to rise up my throat.
I tried to get my feet under me, but it was difficult. The world kept tilting, and dizziness took hold.
“Cassie?” Gunner’s concerned tone filtered through the room.
“I need to get to the bathroom,” I gasped through my rolling stomach and spinning world.
“Fuck! Okay, darlin’ I’ve got you,” Gunner whispered while scooping me up in his arms. One hand went under my legs and the other behind my back. He continued to hold me close to his chest.
Closing my eyes, I tried to center myself and failed as the bathroom door slammed open. Gunner then gently set me down.
Although, I didn’t stay up for long as my knees hit the cold, hard ceramic tile. My face then leaned over the toilet and everything that was in my stomach quickly erupted up my throat. Gunner’s hand went into my long curly hair, pulling it back and away from my face
But nothing actually made it out, only saliva. There wasn’t anything in my stomach, and it didn’t get the memo, so it kept trying.
“What can I do?” Gunner asked. His voice sounded desperate, and I would have laughed at the absurdity of it. All of the big, fierce bikers were terrified of a little upset stomach.
“Crackers!” I cried.
His feet moved quickly, and the world kept spinning, but my stomach blissfully stopped trying to make an exit. I leaned back against the wall and the cool surface pressed against my heated cheeks. They were wet with my tears after having my insides continued to play peek-a-boo.
“Here baby,” Gunner said while he placed a sleeve of crackers in my hand and a damp cloth along the back of my neck. It helped to center me and at the same time cool me down.
“I still hate you,” I whispered.
“I know darlin’, I know,” Gunner tells me.
Chapter 22
Cassie
Day Three, Twenty-Seven to Go.
Alanna held the box and read the instructions as I peed on the little stick. Her back was to me, and her voice was soft and low.
“If two pink lines appear, then it’s positive, if only one then its negative,” she tells me.
I was holding it in front of me and waited for the little line to appear. When the first one appeared, I was elated, almost ecstatic. That was until the second line appeared.
“I fucking hate him!” I snarled.
I was still holding onto the little stick still with my thumb and forefinger.
“He’s out to destroy me,” I said quietly. I try to take deep calming breaths, but the air kept getting lodged in my throat.
“It’s okay, Cassie,” Alanna tells me gently. Her voice was calm and collected. Yeah, it was okay for her she had everything, a man who didn’t kill her father, a man who loved her, and a man who would do anything for her.
He didn’t kill your father, remember, a voice whispered.
Fuck you, voice! We hate him, remember! I snarl at it. Oh god, he was driving me insane.
“No, it’s not, it really isn’t. The man stole me from my home, took away everything that I knew, everyone that I loved, and now this?” I tell her, my voice was hollow even to my own ears.
“I hate him,” I tell her and the empty room.
Only twenty-seven more days, I remind myself. Then I will be free. Free from Gunner, from this club, from it all!
Chapter 23
Cassie
Day Four, Twenty-Six to Go.
Nothing says I hate you like pancake syrup all over your pillow. I wrote, I love you, Gunner, and slapped a Maxi pad in the center. A gift for the man I loved.
I laughed as I imagined the look that would sure to grace his face.
“If this doesn’t tell him that I hate him, then I’ll have to try harder!” I tell myself gleefully.
Chapter 24
Cassie
Day Five, Twenty-Five to Go.
Gunner took the syrup and feminine product in stride. He gave me a big smile, then he pulled them off the bed and proceeded to take my pillow.
“If you want a pillow, then that will be your pillow,” his eyes were full of mischief.
“I fucking hate you!’ I snarled because I did, and I didn’t.
The longer I was here trapped with this man, he continued to take my sanity, one moment at a time.
Chapter 25
Cassie
Day Six, Twenty-Four to Go.
I was pacing back and forth in the room. Gunner didn’t come home last night, and it didn’t bother me. Nope, not at all. Not even a little mother fucking bit. I cared, and it made me fucking hate him even more.
Chapter 26
Cassie
Day Seven, Twenty-Three to Go.
Why won’t Gunner let me go? Doesn’t he see how much it hurts being this close to him, yet so far away? My heart was beating err
atically at the idea of being away from him. Suddenly I hated myself almost as much as I hated him.
Mary Mother of God, I was still in love with the giant asshole.
Chapter 27
Cassie
Day Eight, Twenty-Two to Go.
I haven’t seen Gunner since the night he told me which pillow was mine and it was killing me. I loved him. Why was he doing this? What! No? I hated him, I hate you damn you!
Chapter 28
Cassie
Day Nine, Twenty-One to Go.
Nothing, I have done nothing. Gunner’s been MIA. Is he with someone else? What are they doing? Fuck him, I don’t need this shit. My stomach churned again violently at the thought of him with someone else.
Sweat broke out all over my body, and the tears I had been fighting broke out. They fell down my cheeks in large continuous drops.
Could I do this alone? I hate you, Gunner!
Chapter 29
Cassie
Day Ten, Twenty to Go.
Fuck it all to hell and back!
Chapter 30
Gunner
Day Eleven, Nineteen to Go.
I haven’t seen Cassie in days. The reminder had my heart clenching. I decided to spend all of my time house shopping and doing it without her was hard as fuck.
Would she like lots of windows? Fewer windows? Five bedrooms or one? Hardwood, tile, carpet… there were too many fucking choices. Also, the realtor touched my arm and made a grab for my cock. If she did it again, I was going to call Bianca and have her kick the bitch’s ass.
“Hands off,” I growled for the tenth time.
She batted her eyelashes and smiled at me like I was telling her she was the hottest thing on two legs.
I was done for today. I needed space and a beer, and none of it included this woman. I wanted to see Cassie, touch her long curly blond hair. I wanted to run my fingers down her back as I kissed her. I wanted to feel her chest against me as I held her close.
Hating Gunner (Grimm Brothers MC Book 2) Page 5
