Archangels MC: A Reverse Harem Romance (Bad Influence Book 2)

by Ivy Fox

  “Yeah, I kind of saw that one coming when you told her to get off the boy toy,” I goad him.

  “What? It’s not like it’s a lie.” He shrugs, watching his aunt get smaller and smaller through the large corridor.

  “Yeah, but Aurora’s business is her business.”

  “Whatever. She can whoop my ass to China for all I care, as long as she fixes up my girl.”

  Both of us go and sit in the lounge area, while Gabriel goes and parks the SUV. Impressively enough, the keys were still in the ignition, and no one boosted the thing. When he gets back hoping we got news, his eyes fall when he sees we are still as clueless as before. Aurora’s ten minutes pass to thirty, and then to an hour. Two hours in and we got nothing. We’re past our limit and ready to storm this whole fucking place, when Aurora comes out, wearing scrubs and a surgical mask, which she’s pulled down to her neck.

  “What’s wrong? What’s happening with Hope?” I ask nervously, not liking her new get-up.

  “I need you boys to sit down.”

  We all go back to our seats, but none of us takes it. Aurora, seeing there is just no way to bring us to heel, sighs in defeat.

  “There have been some complications,” she starts, slicing our world in half. “Hope’s blood pressure wasn’t under control as she believed it to be, causing her to suffer a small seizure. What you boys thought was a simple fainting spell wasn’t. Now, the doctors are doing everything they can for her, but the baby was in too much distress, and Hope started to have contractions. The baby wants out, which is risky for Hope, as well as the baby right now. Delivering it naturally is out of the question since it could cause another seizure. But we can’t say for sure a c-section is any safer. We’ve been monitoring the baby for the past two hours, hoping the drugs we were giving would stop the labor, but the little devil isn’t seeing eye-to-eye with us. We have to get him out, for his sake at least, so I requested to participate in the c-section. Since this is a difficult procedure, and seeing as none of you are registered as Jennifer Russo’s next of kin,” she says bitterly, “I think at least one of her family members should be there.”

  “Thank you,” Michael replies hoarsely, grabbing his aunt’s hand.

  “Hmm,” she nods back to him.

  “But what does this mean for Hope?” I ask, nervous with her choice of words—seizures, risks, complications. All of them increasing my anxiety levels.

  “Well, like I said, we are doing everything in our power to lower her blood pressure, but with the need to do this unexpected surgery, it doesn’t lower her risks any. The possibility of her suffering another seizure is high.”

  “And what does that mean? If she has another seizure?” Gabriel asks, his own tone betraying how scared he is.

  “It means she can have a stroke, or even suffer heart failure due to the strain on her body,” Aurora replies, and her doctor persona breaks a bit with her last words, choking on them as if she wishes to take them back.

  “She can die giving birth?” Michael goes straight to the heart of it, gutting us in the process.

  “Yes. Yes, she can.”

  “And if you don’t do the surgery, the little guy might not make it, is that it?” he continues, his wild eyes filled with grief with the mere possibility of such a thing.

  “No, probably not.”

  “I see,” he says, and stumbles aside, hitting his back to the pale white wall next to us. Aurora chokes back her emotion at seeing us in so much pain, also knowing her friend is in grave danger and it may not be in her hands to save her this time. But she shakes it off and pulls on Michael’s chin so he can look her in the eye.

  “There really is no choice here. The baby is at risk as we speak, which means he’s patient number one,” she clearly states. “And to Hope, he is her main concern. You know that as well as I do,” she points out. His eyes grow soft, understanding what Aurora is trying to remind him, and gives her a nod to tell her he gets the message loud and clear.

  “As he is ours,” Gabriel says, and my back straightens up, too.

  “You save our boy, Aurora. His mom would kick our asses if you didn’t do everything to save him,” I tell her.

  “I will,” she says, so confidently I almost believe this woman is capable of performing miracles. “Now sit. This is going to be a long night.”

  And true to her word, it was the longest fucking night ever.

  “Cam, wake up.”

  “Huh?”

  “Cam, wake up, you fell asleep.” I hear Michael say, as I rub my eyes.

  “I did?” I question, trying to get my bearings. Exhaustion and overthinking must have knocked me out. My body’s not used to either, I guess.

  “Yeah, and you snore like a grizzly,” Michael adds.

  “I do not.” I roll my eyes at the absurdity.

  “Yeah, you do.” He smirks.

  “No, I don’t,” I counter, yet again, like a child looking at Gabriel to back me up, but the big guy just nods positively instead.

  Assholes.

  “Any word?” I ask since none of them want to approach the real issue at hand.

  “Aurora hasn’t come out, but she did get a nurse to inform us that the c-section would happen this morning. They wanted to wait out the night, so Hope was as stable as possible.”

  “Yeah, I was still awake when they told us that,” I reply, sullenly, since they didn’t have new info to give me. I look sadly at those two doors that taunt us when I see Aurora opening them up like heaven’s own gates. We’re up on our feet immediately, rushing toward her as we take in her beaming expression, looking all proud and shit, which has to be a good sign.

  “Boys, you want to go and see your family now?” She singsongs, turning her back to us with her promise.

  “Yes! God, yes!” I yell and run behind her, the guys mimicking my anxious footsteps.

  We go through another three sets of doors and around too many corners to count. This place is a maze, but the moment Aurora takes another turn and walks into a single room, my heart starts to beat ten times faster.

  “Well, you guys sure took long enough. Feels like forever since I’ve set eyes on all of you,” Hope says, her cheeks puffy and red, rings still under her eyes, her hair sweaty as hell—and I still have never seen a more gorgeous sight.

  She’s cradling a little waddle of pure miracle, and he’s looking up at us with his momma’s big brown eyes, taunting us how he’s gonna own our asses just like she does.

  “Who’s this little devil?” I ask, growing emotional.

  “Not devil, Cam,” she says, smiling at me, shaking her head, and then looks at each of her men in the eye with an overwhelming aura of love surrounding her, and continues, “Angel,” she announces joyfully. “Angel, meet your daddies,” she proudly says, and at that, my heart really does stop.

  “Angel?”

  “Our Hope gave us an Angel? Fuck me sideways and tell me that isn’t the most beautiful thing you ever heard!” I bark, walking closer to the little waddle of joy. He grabs my thumb straight away, and my chest is so abundantly full, I don’t think it can ever recover.

  “You okay there?” I hear the love of my life whisper to me.

  “Huh?”

  “You’re kind of crying, Cam,” she says, making me aware of the salty water leaking from my eyes. I wipe them on my long sleeve and walk over to my love and kiss her right on the lips to shut her up.

  “Allergies,” I say.

  “Uh huh.”

  “You gave us quite the scare there, sweetheart,” Michael interjects.

  “Sorry, guys. I had no idea me feeling off was any indication of a major concern. I hope you guys didn’t worry too much.”

  “No, baby. Just enough,” Michael says, kissing her forehead and then mimicking the same kiss on little Angel’s head.

  “Yeah, didn’t worry a bit, did we, Michael?” I wink back, teasing him. He steps on my toes as he passes by, letting me know I should keep my mouth shut about our little tiff. No need
to get our girl upset about it.

  “Little bird.”

  “Hi, big man,” she coos, her eyes going soft.

  “How do you feel?” he asks, concerned.

  “Like I just gave birth,” she says, smiling.

  “That good, huh?” he teases and walks up to her side.

  “Yeah, that good,” she sighs.

  He gives her a kiss, mighty long one for a hospital visit and all, but hey, that’s just me. Once they’re finished making out, he then looks at our little guy, who still has my thumb in his strong grip.

  “Hello, my Angel. Thank you for taking care of your mama when we couldn’t, son. We owe you,” he says to the little guy, and Angel gives him the biggest smile ever.

  “Gas,” I say, jealous as fuck.

  “Hmm.” Gabe crosses his eyes at me.

  We hear a knock at the door, and a nurse comes in, looking mighty uncomfortable. Something in her anxious demeanor picks at my nerves, and I don’t know why.

  “Excuse me. Ms. Russo?”

  “Yes?” Hope answers, not even realizing she just answered to her maiden name, since she’s still cooing at our tiny angel in her arms.

  “I’m sorry, miss, but you have a visitor that is insisting he come in and see you,” the nurse says, wiping her sweaty hands on her scrubs.

  “A visitor?” Hope asks, looking at everyone in the room and counting her family all here. “Oh, of course. It must be Mabel or George.”

  “I doubt it. I haven’t had time to tell anyone about baby Angel being born. Have you?” Aurora says, and we all shake our heads.

  “It’s your husband, miss. The baby’s father, I presume,” the nurse says, trying not to look at any of us in the eye, and now I know why I hated her ass the moment she stepped inside this hospital room.

  “Should I show him in?” the nurse asks, looking nauseous at the three of us.

  “Yes,” Hope answers her.

  “What?!” My head turns around so fast, it almost gives me whiplash.

  “Hope, do you think that’s wise?” Michael asks, at her side again, looking more contrite.

  “Honey, you’ve gone through a lot. Maybe this little visit could be done another day? Nurse, tell Mr. Zappa that Ms. Russo is unavailable today to see any further visitors,” Aurora orders.

  “Aurora, stop,” Hope calmly says, and I see Gabriel taking her hand in his.

  “You sure, little bird?”

  “I’ve been very careless with Angel’s life already. I will not let that happen again. His biological father should know of his existence and know that Angel will be growing up with his family here in Warren. I don’t want my boy to live in doubt, Gabriel. Do you understand?”

  “I do,” he smiles down at her, and I do not like where this is heading.

  “No, no, no. Love, listen, this is the hormones talking,” I start, and see Aurora roll her eyes at me. I know if she weren’t also behind me one hundred percent about how this visit is a big no-no, she would be slapping me upside the head for that comment alone.

  “Cam, it’s my decision to make and mine alone. Please respect it.” And I feel her heels dive into the ground, not budging, telling me I have to take a step back and let her handle this her way.

  “Please let Mr. Zappa in,” she says, and even his stupid name makes me cringe.

  A stranger comes in two minutes later, with light brown hair and green eyes. He looks meek and too agreeable. This is the guy who took down three fucking gangsters? I don’t see it.

  “Jen?” he says, walking into the room.

  “Yeah, yeah, buddy, that’s far enough,” I tell him, crossing my arms over my broad chest, making him take in my size and creating a wall between my family and this guy in one go.

  “Cam…” I hear Hope sigh frustrated. I’ll give her what she wants, but she also has to meet me halfway and see this from our perspective.

  “Uh-uh, love. You said you wanted to talk to him, and I respect that but he’s not coming within one more inch of you or the baby.” I turn my face to the side, far enough to see if she’s willing to budge like I did, and I see her chew her inner cheek, finally huffing out her consent.

  The room is eerily quiet. Like we’re all taking stock of one another, but my eyes don’t move from the man before me, and I wonder what could Hope ever have seen in this guy.

  “I had no idea you were pregnant,” he starts, ending the awkward silence. “I mean, when you disappeared, that is. Doctors told me you suffered some form of amnesia, that you don’t remember a thing and you don’t remember me.”

  Who told the doctors all that stuff, and where is the doctor-patient confidentiality, all of a sudden?

  “How did you find me?” she asks, and I give her five stars for that question.

  “You’re still in the missing persons’ database, so when your name came up along with your description, even your maiden name, mind you, the police department in Philly were alerted, and I came straight away.”

  “Why aren’t they here now?” Aurora asks, and I could kiss her, too, for that one.

  “I pulled a few strings. Asked if this could be kept private until we could figure out what was happening. If in fact it was you, or someone impersonating you just so the men that I incarcerated could get an appeal. I have to admit I didn’t believe it was you until I heard your voice in the corridor just now. It gave me chills all over, like hearing the voice of a ghost.”

  “I bet,” I hear Michael say, also unimpressed with the dull man before us.

  “Do you remember anything at all?”

  I don’t have to have eyes in the back of my head to know she shakes her head at his question.

  “Not the day we met, or our wedding day, or our honeymoon? Nothing at all?” he asks a little too eagerly, and this guy is really starting to piss me off along with his desire to walk down memory lane. But the masochist in me turns just a bit to the side, to see if his words touched anything but the cold air in the room—like my girl’s heart. She shakes her head again, and I see she’s embarrassed he would ask such questions in front of us. Something tells me that was exactly his intention.

  “We were married for five years, Jen. You really don’t remember any of the time we shared together?”

  “She said she doesn’t remember. Let it go,” I warn.

  “And you are?” he says, finally acknowledging me.

  “Her man,” I deadpan.

  I see a flicker of emotion in his eyes for realizing the woman he loves has found solace in another man’s arms, and I’m not sure if it is hurt or pain, but it goes by so quickly that I can’t put my finger on it. It must sting, though, and after the scare we just went through, I should be more sensitive of this man’s feelings. But I’m not. I’m a selfish asshole, and I own it. My woman, my kid—and this clean-cut copper is not gonna waltz back into her life with promises of white picket fences and steal her away from me.

  Not today.

  Not ever.

  “Can I see him?” he asks, ignoring my claim on his wife.

  “You can see him from there,” I say.

  “Cam…” she sighs, but none of my brothers are fighting against me, and there is little heat behind her warning, either, telling me they have no issue with this joker staying exactly where he is.

  “Is he mine?” the man asks, and this is the one time I wish Hope wasn’t the decent person I know her to be and could just lie.

  “He is,” she confesses, and I feel myself deflate a little with her truth.

  “When can I see him?”

  “Ben…” she starts, and his name on her lips irks me to no end. I fist my hands to my side just so I don’t smash his face with them. “I know how unfair this may seem to you right now. A year ago, you had a wife whom you shared your life with. You were unjustly robbed of her. I am truly sorry for your loss,” she says as if she had died or something. She continues, “But the woman you married isn’t me. I have no recollection of that life, and I don’t expect you to think I co
uld live a life I’ve never known. This is my life. This is my home. My son will grow up to know the mother I am today, not the one who no longer exists. Do you understand?”

  He nods, his eyes locked on her, and his face is still showing no emotion whatsoever. Maybe that’s how he got those scumbags that hurt our Hope. He’s a fucking blank slate. Not hot or cold, or anything, really. You can’t pick up a thing from him. And my poor Hope was married to this dull, boring man. Well, she’s definitely making up for lost time with us three, that’s for damn sure.

  “What about the boy? If he’s mine, I want to be part of his life, too,” his voice just as monotone as before.

  “And we can arrange that. Diplomatically. Please give me some time to get used to the role of being a mother myself, before imposing yours on him,” she says reassuringly.

  “Fair enough, Jen. I’ll leave my number with the nurse who brought me in. When you think it’s a convenient time for you, I’ll be more than willing to meet you any place you want.”

  “Thank you,” she replies, and he gives Gabriel, who’s been holding Hope’s hand the whole while, a once over, then moves to Michael, who is standing tall at her side, too, and then to me, who is in his way.

  “Good day, gentlemen.”

  “Yeah. Bye bye, now,” I say, waving at his face sarcastically, which doesn’t seem to get under his skin either, so I’m starting to think I might be losing my touch. Before he’s even out the door, Aurora slumps down onto the bed at Hope’s feet.

  “Damn, that was intense, but I’m proud of you. You did right by him. Told him your truth. Now let’s see if he understood it.”

  “You think he didn’t?” Hope asks, cradling Angel closer to her bosom.

  “Hard to say. Danny had a saying sometimes: ‘Be wary of the silent man.’ He always said that we should never worry too much on those men who rage and riot; it’s the silent ones we need to keep our eyes on at all times.”

  “You think he’d want to take Angel away from me?” The worry in her voice is palpable.