Always & Forever (Battle Born MC Book 4)

by Scarlett Black

  “Sorry, darlin’,” he staggers a bit, then looks away, “Guess I had too much.” He tosses a ten on my table and walks out of the bar.

  Angrily, I rip handfuls of napkins out of the holder and start wiping away at the mess that’s soaked into my shirt. I didn’t see that man drinking in here when I walked in. Where the hell did he come from?

  That’s when clarity hits me at what, or rather who, is possibly messing with me. This whole afternoon has been a mess, and I think I know why. We’ll see about this shit. Payback is a bitch.

  A sinister idea comes to mind and I know who will help me with my problem.

  Chapter 14

  Solo

  “Later, Solo,” Tami smiles as she’s leaning over to give me a quick but hot kiss before going into The Black Rose for her shift. My hand runs up her exposed long and lean leg, up to her shorts. I give her ass a squeeze and a swat and she giggles, then walks away.

  Sparks fly at our connection and dirty memories come forward. Even though we’ve spent every waking moment that we could together, it will never be enough.

  I start my bike and take off. I am on a mission today to get to the clubhouse and find Pawn.

  Tami and I both needed each other after everything that went down with Pawn. It hurt like crazy that he’s been avoiding me, and even took off to California.

  I could tell that Tami wanted me to go check on him during this time, but, as gentle natured as she is, she kept it to herself.

  I wanted to tell her about the baby Pawn’s expecting. It just never felt like it was the right time or even my place to do it. A really fucked up part of me believes that Pawn should tell her. But do I want him to? I know it will hurt her, and I don’t know how to feel about that yet.

  Entering into the clubhouse, I hear the music blasting through the speakers, the crowd loud and in a good mood, the Friday night party in full swing.

  I walk through the bar area and grab two beers, finding my way through the haze to see Pawn blazing up a blunt old school while some of the other brothers take hits from a bong and dab. Such fuckers. Burning that weed wax is two times stronger than a joint and it hella fucks you up. Dabbing is a newer thing these guys can’t seem to get enough of.

  I step in front of Pawn and hand him one of the beers I was holding, then nod at him to follow me outside. Hesitantly, he gets up from the couch and follows me out back. I swing my leg over the old picnic bench and Pawn sits across from me on the opposite end. I let a sigh out before I start talking.

  “I miss you, brother, but I wanted to give you some space. I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you. I’m here even though shit with us is in a weird place.”

  Pawn hangs his head down for a brief moment. The sorrow etched on his face is killing me when he looks up at me. “I’m not going to lie, Solo, it hurts. I miss you and I most definitely miss her.”

  He pauses and squints off into the distance. “I wish I was in a good place for her, that I could give her the things she needed right now. I’m not there yet, I’m working on it.”

  “Are you going to tell her about the baby?”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to put me in any place alone with her, and that is no bullshit, Solo. I still see her as mine. I can’t let her go. The only reason I have stayed away was to get my shit together, because she deserves that.”

  We sit in silence, both of us unsure of the direction we should take next. If it came down to it, we would kill each other over her, and that doesn’t surprise me, not one bit. I would kill any man, even my best friend, over her.

  “She needs to know what’s going on before shit hits the fan. You’re right, though, I will tell her,” Pawn assures me.

  His phone rings in his pocket and he pulls it up to his ear, “Yeah.” His eyes narrow in annoyance, and he quickly stands, pocketing the phone and charging toward his bike.

  “What the hell is happening?” I yell at his back as I’m running behind him.

  “Feather got herself in a mess downtown, Kat just called,” he quickly yells back before jumping on his bike. I follow closely behind, and we tear up the road. Within fifteen minutes, we find the problem in a bar. Kat and Jenn are waiting for us out front.

  “We’ve followed her down here. She’s into some shady shit, thought you would want to know,” Kat responds to our questioning gazes.

  The girls move aside, and I watch through the window the scene that's unfolding inside the bar. The piece of shit who’s harassing Feather gets increasingly irritated with her. He grips her arm, pulling her up roughly from her chair.

  Pawn moves to plow in there, but I hold him back by the arm. “Hold back a minute, I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Pawn rips his arm away from me, angry that I suggested it.

  “I agree, Pawn, I would stand back,” Kat warns. Jenn stays quiet, with her eyes glued to Feather.

  The guy pulls Feather toward the back door and out into the back alley. Pawn and I sprint the length of the building. Pawn runs up behind the guy before he gets to slap Feather across the face, then shoves him away from her. Feather runs to stand behind Pawn, like a leach on his back.

  “Pawn,” I look around the dark alleyway, “grab her and let’s get the fuck outta here, man.”

  “Take the bitch, but she owes me a lot, asshole. Next time, I’ll beat your fucking kid out of her.”

  The man shoves his body off the wall just as Pawn’s fists fly to his face. The motherfucker falls backward and hits his head. Feather, though, you would think the bitch would cry or run, right? No, she stands there with an evil little smirk.

  I run forward to pull Pawn off the guy who’s unconscious at this point. “Fucking leave this asshole, I’m telling you, Pawn, we need to leave. Now!”

  It takes me a few more pulls before I get Pawn up just as two cop cruisers pin us in on both sides of the alley. No warning sirens, just a quick flash of their lights. The bitch set us up.

  I stand with my hands up in the air and scowl at Feather. She has the nerve to look pleased.

  Behind the cop car, I see Kat moving in the shadows, and I smile back at Feather, thinking, “Bitch, your days on this earth are fucking numbered, count them down.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Pawn

  Shit can always get worse. Remember that.

  Solo and I are kneeling on the ground, with our hands behind our heads before the cop yells at us as he’s pointing a gun at our heads. “Face down on the ground and hands behind your head.”

  Like a couple of dogs, we lie on the pavement and do as we are told. Two other cops pat us down.

  The cop that’s working on me hits my pocket, and something hits my leg. Fuck! I close my eyes and wait for it. He pulls out a bag of pills. Feather planted this shit on me.

  “Looks like this could be enough for a selling charge. Cuff him,” he demands.

  They don’t find shit on Solo and he is released. I’m charged with some bullshit assault charge because the little prick is pressing charges on me, and also for the drugs.

  I’m thrown in the back of a cruiser, and I see Feather standing there with a blank look on her face. I would kill her if she wasn’t knocked up with my kid.

  We stare at one another as I pass her.

  Ironic, that’s what this whole mess is. I’m ready for life when it’s being taken away from me. Jenn was right. It’s time to battle. She could see me heading straight for this kind of trouble, and I was completely blind to it all.

  There is one thing I do know though, and that is that my brothers won’t let me down.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Solo

  Kat and Jenn pull up at the clubhouse in Kat’s sleek car at the same time I do. The three of us run inside and find Blade, Tank, Saint and the others waiting for us to have emergency church.

  Kat starts the meeting and tells them about her calling Pawn and that Feather was up to crazy shit. I take my turn and explain what happened out back behind the bar.

  Jen
n’s mask lifts slightly to explain, “I stayed behind and watched the bar after they followed them out back. Couple of tables down from where Feather was sitting was a man sitting alone. He placed a call and hung up, leaving his drink behind. He just got up and left. I sent his license plate number to Spider. I couldn’t follow Feather because she left in the front seat of another cruiser.”

  Blade’s face is pure fury at hearing the story. He lights his smoke and sits back in his chair, taking a long drag before releasing it. “What are we going to do with her?” he absently says.

  Tank’s eyes focus on the Black Widow. “I think she’s going to move back home, don’t you, Kit Kat?” She nods and looks over to Jenn.

  “We can help her pack for her trip home.”

  Chapter 15

  Tami

  “Wake up.”

  I’m startled from my sleep when I feel my underwear being torn off and away from my body. The fabric strings bite into my skin before snapping from the pressure.

  I look up to see Solo’s frame looming over me. I blink a few times before realizing that he’s pulling his pants down just far enough to get his dick out. He grabs the back of my right knee and pulls me open wide for him.

  He’s pushing forward with an urgency that I don’t understand. I feel burning pain from his weight and strength, but I would never tell him. I let him into my life, heart and bed. Something must be wrong, my man needs me.

  In this moment, he needs so much more than just my body. I can feel all that as he brutally pistons in and out, giving me all of his pain.

  I angle my hips a little higher for him. He takes advantage of the edge that gives him and pounds into me. My nails scratch down his chest and he roars his release.

  A part of him breaks and he collapses forward, burying his face into my neck. His chest heaves in and out, not only from the exertion, but also from something that has gone terribly wrong.

  My fingers glide up his back, and I wrap my legs around him, cocooning him into my body. Solo’s arms wrap underneath my body, holding onto me before tears of rage leave him. Silently, he cries with his face against my shoulder. He’s sharing a pain that’s so real, I start crying too, and I don’t think I even want to know what has happened.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  I feel like hell this morning. Last night was intense. Solo didn’t speak a word and I didn’t ask him anything either. Eventually, he undressed all the way and got under the covers where he just held on to me. I spent hours rubbing his back and head until he fell into a deep sleep around dawn. I couldn’t sleep in fear of what today would bring.

  The coffee I made is sitting in front of me in a mug on the counter. My arms hold me up while I hunch over and stare at the steam. Strong hands come around my waist and cross over the front of my body. Solo pulls me straight up and rests his head on top of mine.

  “I have to tell you a few things, Tami.” He pauses, and I can feel the tension coming off him in waves. I brace myself because whatever he has to tell me can’t be good.

  “Feather is pregnant with Pawn’s baby.” He hesitates and waits for my reaction.

  I feel trapped. Memories of the times Pawn and I spent together hit me from all directions, making me wonder if he did things with her while he was with me, which makes no sense given the circumstances.

  My breathing picks up, and Solo reads my reaction clearly. “She’s also a few months along”

  My head drops in shame because this does hurt Solo, and I can’t do that to him. I remember Kat’s words and find the strength in me to face the things I need to. “What else, Solo, because there is more, isn’t there?”

  Solo nods at my question. “She set him up to be arrested and planted drugs on him. He was arrested for assault charges as well. It all went down last night.”

  He continues explaining what happened yesterday. By the time he finishes, I understand why Solo was enraged and desperate, because I feel the same.

  I wish he would have lied to me because the truth hurts so damn much.

  “Why would she do this?” I whisper, and then turn to look at him. His tired face is so hard to look at, usually he’s my rock and not the other way around.

  “We don’t have all the answers yet, but I will tell you when I can,” he offers me with a sympathetic nod.

  I knew that losing Pawn would be inevitable. I just thought I would have more time to try and make things right, or better.

  Sometimes, I realize with clarity now, there isn’t much we can control. All we can do is accept the reality and move on. “We will be okay, Solo, in the end, we will all be okay.”

  I need to crumble and scream at the world, but, instead, I choose to be the rock that Solo needs in order to help his friend through this. I’ll give him my love and devotion to see the hard things through even when I feel like I’m dying inside.

  Like right now.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Solo and I showered and got ready for the day. Periodically, we would touch the other, a constant reminder of our need of each other.

  Before we left our separate ways for the day, we took a long ride on his bike. The air outside has changed a bit and you can feel the crisp bite of fall creeping in.

  I smile up into the sun. In this moment, I have everything I need on this earth. Solo.

  He parks outside of The Black Rose, and I jump off. I whip my hair around and laugh. Solo smiles, “I love it when you do that.”

  “I know you do, I do it just for you,” I confess my little secret, then remind him of another time by repeating what he said to me before. “You belong to me, Michael, all of you was always meant to be mine forever.”

  I take one step back with a big smile after a quick kiss, and then another. I kiss my fingers and wave goodbye as he drives away.

  My brave face crumbles as soon and I walk into the bar and see Emilia and Kat waiting for me. I run to Emilia and sob into her chest, the only place resembling a mother’s hold that I’ve ever known. They knew what was ahead of me today, and that I would need them when I broke down and then put myself back together to be strong enough for my man.

  My twenty-first birthday is one that I will never forget. Not for the epic party or the gambling. None of that matters. What I will always remember is the day when my life exploded with chaos and despair as well as the days following that. I will always remember the hard road to finding strength to be what I needed to be.

  Some may say that this was a tragedy, but are we ever given anything that we can’t handle? No. I would say that this was a moment in time where I became stronger for what was ahead of me, and what was yet to come.

  Battle Born.

  Chapter 16

  Solo

  Blade slams the gavel down on the table and looks around the room to see who is present. All brothers are ready and hopeful that we have some good news about Pawn.

  Spider scoots in and shakes his head. “Pawn has a bond hearing in a few weeks to be released before he goes to trial on his assault and drug charges. He is looking at possibly five years, depending on how serious that guy’s injuries are.” He shakes his head again, “Fuck, Feather had the cops in her pocket. Kat went through her shit at her apartment. Remember that cop Axl ran off the road?”

  At the mention of the dead cop, Axl leans forward and intently stares at Spider, waiting for him to finish what he’s got to tell us.

  “Feather was his girlfriend. After his funeral, she went rogue and came looking for the man responsible. She was fucking her way through us, looking for answers. No way did she want a baby. She wanted to find the guy responsible for her man’s death.”

  He finishes talking and fans out some grainy pictures that he printed out in black and white. Axl stands and slams his fist against the wall, cracking the plaster. “Fuck, man, will that shit ever end?”

  “Axl, that cop was paid and dirty, this is on him too. Don’t put fucking holes into the wall unless you’re going to fix them,” Blade warns before he goes back to go over the infor
mation Spider brought in. Axl stays by the window while the rest of us look at the stack of information on one Emily Scott.

  I knew she was dirty, felt it in my gut, and I wish to hell Pawn had listened and backed off like we told him to. Something else slams into my brain right now.

  “What’s going to happen with the baby?”

  Spider and Tank look at each other and then the group. “She is having it,” they both say together without giving the group any further information.

  Does this mean that they are working on a plan that they can’t share? I wonder what the Black Widow is going to do.

  “Spider, make sure the lawyer is over there today, and get some information back to us on his bond hearing.” Blade slams the gavel once again, “Church is over.”

  His eyes then turn to me and pin me to my chair with a stare that tells me to stay put while we wait for the others to leave.

  After the last one of the brothers is out, he asks, “I’m not sure what to do with the baby after it is born. The kid is going to need a mom, or a nanny, to look after it-” He trails off and his intent is very clear.

  I take a large gulp as I’m thinking this over. If Pawn goes away, who will take care of the baby? We know that Feather can’t be trusted with it. Of course, the MC will jump in to help, but who is the closest to Pawn other than me and Tami? No one.

  “You know that I would do anything for him. If it comes to that, I will talk with Tami about it.” And I really would. Don’t get me wrong, the thought of it scares the shit out of me, but I wouldn’t think twice about it.

  Blade stands to move to the door, and I follow. “How are the twins and Vegas?” He turns and smiles, “The best fucking thing in my life.”

  He slaps my shoulder, “Time for work, yeah?” and heads over to his office.