White Lies

by Autumn Jones Lake

  “So much better than hospital bed sex.”

  “No arguments there.”

  We take our time rinsing each other and drying off with brand new, fluffy towels Heidi bought just for the new house. “How many towels do we need?” I ask, spying inside one of the closets.

  She shrugs. “I never had a house to buy them for before.”

  While we’re in there, she starts unpacking boxes and putting stuff away.

  “You don’t have to do that now.”

  “I have to do it sometime.”

  After securing a towel around my hips, I start helping her unpack.

  The first box knocks the wind out of me.

  “Uh, Heidi?”

  She turns and I hold up her little pack of birth control pills. “You haven’t taken these in a while…?”

  Her eyes go saucer-wide. “Oh, fuck.”

  “Yeah, we just did that.”

  She laughs and swipes them out of my hand. “With everything going on. At the hospital…I totally forgot.” Her eyes meet mine. “What should we do?”

  “Wait and see?” I give her a filthy grin. “And fuck a whole lot more.”

  Forty-Nine

  Murphy

  “How you feeling?” Z asks the next morning at church.

  “Much better. Feels good to be home.” I look around the table at my brothers. “Thank you for moving our stuff into the house.”

  “We got you, brother. So fucking happy you’re back,” Ravage says. Everyone else echoes the sentiment.

  “Happy to be back.”

  “All right.” Rock calls our attention to the head of the table. “We have some pressing matters to discuss.” He nods to Teller.

  “The S.O.S. guy’s done,” Teller says. “Remy’s got Bryce on hold for you to deal with.”

  “The S.O.S. guy is the one who hit me.” I’d been planning to return the favor.

  “You were in a coma.” Teller shrugs. “I made a judgment call.”

  I glance at Rock, and he shrugs in an eerily similar way. “We needed to send a message. They were warned what would happen if they tried worming their way into our territory again.”

  That’s true. We’d shown mercy to their club before.

  Not this time.

  “Remy’s been holding on to Bryce this whole time?”

  Wrath sits forward and catches my eye. “They’re pretty fucking loyal to you, brother.”

  “I don’t know if it was loyalty to Murphy or that they’re petrified of Wrath,” Rooster says. “He went out there and terrorized the shit out them.”

  “You say terrorize, I say we had a friendly chat.” Wrath gives us a lazy shrug. “We came to an understanding.”

  “What are we doing with Bryce?” Rock asks. “Going after Heidi the way he did can’t go unpunished.”

  “It’s not just Heidi,” I say. Once my brain started functioning again, I gave this a lot of thought. “He threatened her friend Dawn too.”

  “You fucking serious?” Jigsaw slaps the table.

  “She’s a friend of Heidi’s?” Z asks.

  “Yeah. Single mom. Her kid’s Alexa’s age. If Heidi hadn’t stopped him that night, I think he was planning to go after her next.”

  “Not cool,” Jigsaw fumes. “What kind of man goes after little college girls like that? What the fuck’s wrong with this dude?”

  “Something you need to share, brother?” Rooster grins at Jigsaw. “You seem awfully invested in this.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “You answered your own question, he’s not any kind of man at all,” Z says.

  Rock taps is knuckles against the table. “Let’s save the cultural debate for another time and figure out what we’re doing with this kid.”

  “He needs to go to ground,” Dex says. “Not even sure why we need to talk about it. He may have been planning to hurt this girl, but he definitely tried to run Murphy and Heidi over. That’s a fact. Not to mention blackmailing Heidi, taking photos of us.” He gestures toward Rooster and me. “He’s a liability.”

  “I recovered the photos,” Rooster says. “He never actually sent them to anyone from what I can tell, but he did have them stored in a few places online.”

  Someone, Rooster, I guess, printed them out. He stands and tosses them in the middle of the table. The one of Heidi bent over my bike lands on top.

  “Jesus Christ.” Teller shoves the pics away and glares at me. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “What?” I give him an innocent shrug. “She started it.”

  “I knew it!” Ravage smacks his hands together and half-jumps out of his chair.

  “Knew what?” Teller sits forward, daring Ravage to say whatever’s on his filthy little mind.

  “It’s always those sweet, shy, innocent ones who are the bossy bitches in bed.”

  Teller pushes his chair back. “I will fucking murder you.”

  I’m laughing too hard to stop Teller.

  Rock shoves Teller back into his chair. “Simmer down, knucklehead. Jesus Christ, they’re married for fuck’s sake.”

  “What if Ravage said that about Hope?” Teller asks.

  “Nah,” Ravage shakes his head. “Hope’s not the boss in that bedroom.”

  Rock stares at the ceiling, and I’m pretty sure he’s counting to ten under his breath.

  Wrath takes mercy on all of us and slams his fists into the table. “Can we all stop worrying about what everyone’s doing in the bedroom.” He spears Ravage with a look. “With the amount of time you spend obsessing about everyone else’s sex life, I’m starting to wonder if you’re still a virgin.”

  That turns out to be the key to finally shutting Ravage’s mouth.

  “Besides the photos,” Rooster continues as if that whole conversational detour never happened. “He’s been dealing opiates on campus for a while. Owed S.O.S. for a shipment he lost as well as the races he lost.”

  “Fuck. Amazing they let him live.”

  “Pretty sure going after you was his last chance to save his ass.”

  “Your call,” Rock says to me.

  He tried to run me down, stalked my wife. For those two reasons alone, I’m within my rights to end him. Sounds like delivering him to S.O.S. might be as good as slitting his throat, though too. Let’s not forget he also partnered up with the dude who hit me in the back of the head with a bat and while I was rolling around on the ground, he went after Heidi.

  “I’ll handle it,” I finally answer.

  “Good. Moving on,” Rock says. “Figure out where you’re going on your honeymoon yet?”

  “I think we decided on the West coast. Heidi’s always wanted to do a long road trip. We thought we’d start in Seattle and see where we end up.”

  Rock nods slowly. “I hate asking, but I’m going to need you to check up on our brothers in Washington State. Even though Priest didn’t make it up here for the wedding,” Rock tilts his head back and stares at the ceiling for a second, probably thanking Buddha we avoided another visit from National this year, “He’s been bugging me about this for a while.”

  “Yeah, no problem. That’s where we were planning to go anyway. Got no issue stopping in to see how things are.”

  “And that brings us full-circle to our last item on the agenda,” Z says, standing and crossing the room to the locked cabinets.

  My stomach twists because I know what’s coming.

  And I know what my answer will be.

  No more questioning myself or my brothers. My club needs me.

  “Murphy ‘Hammer Dick’ O’Callaghan,” Z announces.

  The guys bust up laughing.

  “Seriously? Don’t I have enough fucking names by now?”

  “You’ve been elected Vice President of the Lost Kings MC Upstate charter.” Z sets a brand new blue and grey VP patch on the table in front of me and clutches my shoulder. “I’m proud to have you take my place here, brother.”

  I stand and hug him, slapping his back. “Thank you, brother.�
��

  “You’ve got this,” he says low enough that only I can hear him.

  “Woo!” Ravage punches his fist in the air. “Fuck yeah, Murphy!”

  “And,” Wrath stands. “That leaves us a Road Captain short.” He steps over to the cabinet, snags another patch, and drops it on the table in front of Dex. “You’ve been elected, Dex. Congratulations.”

  Dex stands and nods, accepting the patch. “You’ve set a good example, Murphy. I intend to honor it.”

  “I know you will, brother.” I reach across the table and shake his hand.

  “Party time!” Stash shouts.

  The rest of the brothers cheer.

  Rock slams his gavel down and dismisses everyone from the table.

  On my way out the door, he stops me. “You all right with this?”

  “I’m good, Rock.”

  “We’ll need to sit down soon.”

  “Figured.”

  “Enjoy the party tonight. Fuck knows you’ve earned it.”

  A few hours later, I’m deep in Johnsonville county standing outside some shack nestled into the woods on the Castle’s property.

  Griff shakes my hand. “Glad you’re all right brother.”

  “Getting there.”

  “He’s right inside.”

  Bryce is tied up on the floor. Wearing the same clothes as the night I ended up in the hospital. Heidi did a number on his face.

  “They forced me to do it.” Bryce lisps and attempts to thrust his chin in the air. “I keep telling them.”

  “Yeah, they force you to blackmail my wife, too?”

  “I didn’t…I just needed her to help me out.”

  What a fucking load. “S.O.S. is looking for you.”

  He eyes me warily. “I owe them money.”

  “What’s your excuse for trying to run us down that night?”

  “I’m not a bad guy.”

  I raise my Glock, pointing it at his temple. “No one ever thinks they’re the bad guy.”

  Including me.

  Fifty

  Heidi

  “Where you at, Heidi?” Blake calls when he walks in the house.

  I’m upstairs in the bathroom, staring at a positive pregnancy test for the second time in my life.

  “Heidi? I know you’re home.” His teasing voice tips the corners of my mouth up. He’ll be happy about this; I know he will.

  I step out of the bathroom. “Hey.”

  “What’s wrong, beautiful?” Blake’s gentle voice unchains the fear wrapped around my heart. This is nothing like the first time I got pregnant. For one thing, we’re older, and Blake can’t wait to have more children.

  My nervous eyes meet his curious ones, and my bottom lip trembles. I don’t have anything to be scared about. He’ll be excited. “Nothing.”

  “What’s behind your back?”

  Slowly, I pull my hand from behind my back and wave the little white test stick at him. “I’m pregnant.”

  Happiness breaks out over his expression. “Oh my God, this is awesome!”

  He yanks me into his arms and hugs me so tight, I gasp for air. “I’m sorry. I know we weren’t—you’re happy, right?”

  I twist my rings round and round, waiting for his answer. We just got married. Blake just got out of the hospital. He’s still recovering. He just took over as VP. Now might not be the best time for more responsibility in our lives.

  His fingers graze my chin, and he tips my head back. “Heidi, I’m thrilled.”

  “I still need to go to the doctor to be sure.”

  “Okay. Tell me when, so I can go with you.”

  Surprised, I’m not sure how to answer at first. “You’ll do that?”

  “Of course, I will. I can’t wait.”

  Hope had been the one to go with me to most of my appointments the last time. Axel went once or twice, but it always led to an argument afterward. “I love you, Blake.”

  He runs his hands up and down my back and squeezes me tight. “Love you, too.”

  Alexa toddles over, wrapping her little arms around his leg. “Up,” she demands.

  With one final kiss on my forehead, he lets me go. Leaning over, he picks up Alexa, lifting her high in the air until she squeals and giggles. “You ready to be a big sister, baby?”

  Her eyes light up, and she claps her hands.

  “She’s already a good big sister to Grace,” I say.

  Alexa twists toward the door. “Gracie?”

  “They’ll be over later.”

  “I hope it’s a boy,” Blake says.

  “Of course, you do.”

  “Poor Chance is already outnumbered as it is.”

  “Please. He’ll be thrilled when he’s older.”

  He groans.

  “Can we keep it a secret?” I ask. “Just until we know for sure?”

  “Absolutely. But make the appointment soon. I’m way too excited to keep my lips sealed for long.”

  “Baby,” Alexa says.

  “Uh-oh.” I laugh and place a finger over her lips. “Shh. Secret.”

  “Secret baby,” Alexa repeats in her sweet little voice. My heart swells with love for my little girl, my husband, and our new baby on the way.

  Fifty-One

  Not far down the road…

  Murphy

  I think I’m almost as nervous about today as I was on our wedding day.

  Scratch that. I’m more nervous.

  I never doubted Heidi would show up to say, “I do.”

  Today, there’s a chance—an extremely slim chance Charlotte has promised me—that the judge could say no to my petition to adopt Alexa as my own.

  Heidi steps into the bedroom and my heart squeezes. I didn’t think it was possible for her to be any more beautiful.

  “Does this look okay?” She runs her hands over her dark red dress.

  “You have no idea how fucking sexy you are.”

  She tips her head up and stares at me. “I don’t want to look sexy. I want to look like a mature, responsible adult.”

  “Why? You’re not the one who’s being judged today.”

  She flicks her gaze toward the ceiling. “I don’t know about that.”

  I rest one hand on her hip and the other on her belly, searching for any movement from our daughter. “The way this dress hugs your curves makes me want to fill you with more babies.”

  Finally, she laughs, even though I wasn’t even remotely joking. “Come on, let’s get this tie on. Marcel’s not here to help us figure it out.”

  I chuckle and don’t even bitch about the damn thing choking me.

  There’s nothing I won’t do for my girls.

  We stop at Rock and Hope’s to pick up Alexa.

  “Looking good, Murphy.” Hope fusses with the knot in my tie, making sure it’s perfect.

  Alexa squeals, “Daddy!” and runs to me.

  My heart kicks in that familiar way it does every time she calls me that.

  “Look!” She twirls around in her purple dress until she falls, landing on her butt.

  Grace chortles and points at Alexa from the safety of Rock’s arms.

  Alexa giggles as I pick her up and kiss her cheeks. “You look so pretty.”

  She reaches out and pets my beard that’s grown in better than before. “Daddy.”

  “Yup.”

  Our next stop is Teller and Charlotte’s house. We have to keep an eye on Alexa so she doesn’t run off to play with the chickens and ruin her dress.

  “Wow!” Charlotte opens the door and steps back. “You clean up nice, Murphy.”

  Under her scrutiny, I get jittery and start tugging my sleeves down.

  “Don’t worry, you still look like a badass,” she assures me.

  “Not what I’m worried about.”

  “It’s just a formality, Blake, I promise,” she says in a softer voice. “You’re already her dad. This is nothing more than a piece of paper.”

  “Thanks, Charlotte.”

  She leans up and
kisses my cheek, stopping to pat my beard. “This has grown back nicely. Wouldn’t even know you were missing it a few months ago.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  “Let’s go!” Marcel hollers.

  I bust a gut laughing. “Nice suit, bro.”

  “Eff off.”

  “Eff off?” I glance at Charlotte. “What happened to him?”

  She shrugs and nods at Alexa. “Little ears, I guess.”

  Rock’s heavy footsteps thud over the porch and he stops outside the front door. “You know we still need to find a parking spot downtown, right?”

  “Got everything?” Charlotte pats her pockets and searches for…something.

  I almost think she’s as nervous as I am.

  “We’ll follow you down,” she says.

  Downtown’s busy as usual but we find a spot near the courthouse. The wait outside the courtroom is what kills me.

  Charlotte arrives and runs straight for the bathroom.

  “She okay?” I ask Teller.

  He shrugs, even though he’s wearing a doofy-as-fuck grin. “Nerves, probably.”

  “I do not miss this,” Hope mutters, looking around the courthouse. “At all.”

  Rock takes her hand. “We’ll go in and get seats.” He clamps a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Settle down. Everything will be fine.”

  With all the bad experiences Rock’s had inside courthouses, you’d think he’d want to avoid them forever. But as he told us last night at dinner, there was no way he’d miss this.

  “I’ll go check on Charlotte,” Heidi says.

  Teller taps my chest. “You all right?”

  I shrug a few times, trying to adjust the suit jacket. “I want to get it done.”

  Inside the courtroom, Alexa climbs into my lap and plays with the rings on my fingers while the judge reviews the file in front of him.

  “Mr. O’Callaghan.”

  I snap my head up and turn to Charlotte. Do I stand up? Say something? She nods at me which isn’t all the helpful.

  “Yes, sir,” I finally answer.

  “I’ll assume your attorney has explained this to you, but I want it to be crystal clear. You understand you’re taking on all legal rights and responsibilities of parenthood? Even if you and the mother divorce in the future, you will still be obligated to pay child support. Your adopted daughter also gains the right to your estate. Under the law she will be no different from any of your biological children.”