by Brook Wilder
It wasn’t safety I was worried about.
I climbed out of the truck and followed him to the front door, which Jaxon opened immediately and stepped inside.
It was the same house he had brought me that day to meet Brendan, but instead of his brother standing in the living room there was a heavily pregnant brunette.
“Laura,” Jaxon said. “This is Faye.”
She raked her eyes over me, but I saw no animosity in her gaze. She really didn’t know who I was.
“Faye, welcome to my home. I’m sorry it’s a mess. I-I haven’t had much time to do anything.”
I looked around the pristine living room.
“Thanks for having me. Maybe I can help you.”
“I’m going to leave now,” Jaxon said as he walked toward the door.
Our eyes met and for a moment I thought he was going to say something to me, something that would make me feel not so bad about what was going on.
He clenched his jaw and gave me a nod, walking out, and further breaking my heart. I hated this. I hated what was going on, who I was, and who he was.
Why couldn’t anything be easy in my life?
“So,” Laura started, easing herself down on the couch. “Does he know?”
Startled, I looked at her.
“What?”
“That you love him,” she shrugged, leaning back and rubbing her protruding belly. “I mean it’s written all over your face.”
Relief flowed through me as I joined her on the couch. She didn’t know my other secret. Thank God.
“I don’t love him.”
Laura laughed.
“Keep telling yourself that Faye and you might believe it one day. Face it, darling, you are in love, and I can’t say that I envy you.”
Love? I wasn’t in love with Jaxon. We barely knew each other outside of the bedroom and should be mortal enemies given the clubs. He didn’t even know I was around most of the time, barely saying two words to me on any given day. No, there was no love there.
“And I am still trying to figure out what you have that is so important to him that he feels the need to protect you,” Laura continued. “The Morrison brothers usually protect either their family or those they care about. Jax must really care about you.”
I shook my head.
“He… it’s difficult.”
“It always is,” Laura laughed, rubbing a hand over her belly. “But I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world.”
I nodded toward her belly.
“When are you due?”
“About three months away,” she sighed, giving me a tired smile. “Jax is so worried I will go into labor early taking care of Brendan, but I actually don’t feel horrible. I just… I want my husband to get better so that he can be in that delivery room and not his brother.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out, hearing the pain in her voice. “For what happened to Brendan.”
Laura regarded me for a moment, her eyes haunted.
“I knew what I was getting into, you know? This is a dangerous life, but never had I imagined that it would nearly take away my husband from me. If he died, I couldn’t go on living.”
I swallowed, feeling the sudden rush of tears prick my eyes. My father had caused this pain. He needed to be stopped, but I didn’t want anyone else to be killed because of it. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit me, and I tamped it down.
“Where is your bathroom?”
“Through there,” Laura said slowly, watching as I ran to it and threw up in the toilet, unable to close the door in time.
Before long, she was standing in the doorway, handing me a wet rag as I sat on her floor.
“Now this I did not anticipate.”
I took the rag and pressed it to my face, tears clouding my vision.
“Please, don’t say anything. H-he doesn’t know.”
“I imagine not,” she murmured, leaning against the doorway. “There’s a test in the top drawer if you want to be certain.”
I leaned my head against the wall, tears coursing down my cheeks.
“I’m not… I mean, I’m Blackwood’s daughter.”
There, it was out in the open. She was being too nice to me, and I just could not hold back that secret any longer.
“Well,” Laura said a moment later. “I don’t know how that applies to you taking a pregnancy test, but… okay.”
I looked at the other woman, surprised not to see anger written on her face.
“Did you not hear me?”
“I heard you,” Laura stated firmly. “But just because you are Blackwood’s daughter doesn’t mean you had a hand in my husband’s near murder. Your father has been evil long before you came around here, Faye, and I am not going to hold that against you.” Her expression softened. “Especially since you are carrying my niece or nephew. Welcome to the family, sweetie.”
Family. That was all I had ever wanted. Tears were flowing in earnest now as I reached into the top drawer, pulling out the pregnancy test.
“I guess I better make this official then.”
Laura nodded, giving me a small smile.
“I’ll be right out here if you need me.”
I waited until she had shut the door before I ripped open the test, pulling myself off of the floor so I could follow the instructions. It was only a matter of minutes before the two faint lines appeared, and I knew that what I had thought was now confirmed. I was pregnant with Jaxon Morrison’s child. Blowing out a breath, I set the test back on the counter, surprised my hands weren’t shaking. What an emotional roller-coaster ride. Maybe I should tell Jaxon, see what he said. With Laura’s backing, he might let me stay, and I could join this family despite my last name.
After all, Jaxon and I had just tied them together with this baby.
Renewed with the fact that this might work out, I opened the bathroom door and stepped out.
“Laura? You were right.”
My words died in my throat as I saw my father standing in the living room, one of his goons holding Laura by the arm, a gun pressed to her temple.
“Baby girl,” he said, a wide smile on his face. “I’ve come to rescue you.”
Chapter 16
Jaxon
I stared at my brother, nearly counting every rise and fall of his chest to ensure that he was still breathing. The machine was gone, but because of the massive amounts of sedation in his body, Brendan was still in a sleeplike state. Every once and awhile he moved his finger or crinkled his nose as if he was in pain, and I desperately wished for him to wake up.
Mainly because I needed his advice.
Blowing out a breath, I sat back in the chair, watching the blip on the monitor that tracked his heartrate. My thoughts kept straying back to this morning, when I had left Faye there with Laura. Having her out of the cabin had nearly driven me crazy, knowing I was taking a chance on bringing her into Paradise and potentially alerting Hector to her whereabouts.
But the look she had given me this morning… it had nearly crushed my soul. I was crushing her with my words, giving her no reason to even remotely like me or my family. I should let her go, drive her to another state and ensure that she got on a bus across the country.
Anything to keep her away from her father. Faye didn’t belong in this world. I knew she was tough as balls, but the thought of her being raised in the hate that Hector carried around made me physically ill. She deserved a better life than the one he would have in store for her.
And a better life than she would have with me.
Rubbing a hand over my face, I thought about how I had used her for sex these past few weeks and nothing else. I was holding a grudge against the wrong person and making us both mad in the process. My family was far from perfect, and I was allowing my hate to keep myself from the one person that was making my life bearable at the moment.
Faye.
What the hell was I going to do? Could I turn this around
and see where it would lead me? Did she even want anything to do with me? I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t, nor would I blame her if she hightailed it out of Paradise the moment I told her she could.
But I would not watch her go back to her father.
“This is when you are supposed to tell me I’m a fucking idiot and I deserve everything I got,” I muttered to Brendan.
Hadn’t he told me to watch my back, to stay far away from her? What had I done? Stuck my dick in her and gotten somehow lost in her eyes over and over again. Whenever I was with her in that bedroom, I felt like I could be a different person, another person outside this club.
So, what would it be like all the time with Faye? My thoughts floated back to the night before Laura had called about Brendan, how we had joked in the kitchen about nonsense. Would that be my life? Could I walk away from all of this, the club, my brother, this rivalry, and move on with Faye?
That I didn’t know. Colby had done it without batting an eye, but if I left too, then Brendan would be here alone, without a brother watching his back.
Not that I had done a great job this go round.
My cell vibrated in my pocket, and I fished it out, holding it up to my ear.
“Yeah.”
“Well, well, I’m surprised you answered.”
My blood ran cold, and I stood, walking out of the room so that I wouldn’t disturb Brendan.
“What the hell do you want? Did you get my message finally?”
“I did,” Hector chuckled. “Though I have to say, Jaxon, I never pegged you to be an idiot.”
His tone made me pause, and I swallowed hard.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“It was you that took my daughter,” Hector continued. “So, I took her back. Oh, and I also took an insurance policy as well. I knew you wouldn’t come to me without some incentive, and I have to tell you Laura is a spitfire as always.”
“Don’t you fucking hurt her, you bastard,” I warned.
“Oh, I don’t plan to,” he replied, a cheery tone to his voice. “Unless you decide not to show. Then I might have to cut this Morrison bastard out of her stomach. It’s a shame that Brendan can’t help out. I’m sure he will blame you for this, once he finds out that his wife died because of you.”
I looked back into the room where my brother was laying, knowing that I couldn’t allow anything to happen to Laura while she was under my protection. Brendan would never forgive me, and I didn’t know if I would ever forgive myself.
“Tell me where you want me,” I forced out, clenching my fist. “Me and you.”
“Oh, I plan for it to be,” he said darkly. “Come to the old mill on Southside. Come alone or you can kiss your sister-in-law goodbye.”
The dial tone sounded in my ear, and I forced myself to put the phone in my pocket and not throw it against the wall. Shit. I had been stupid to bring Faye to Laura, and now I had put Laura in danger. I had put Brendan’s pride and joy, the love of his life, in harm’s way. The guards posted at the house were likely dead if Hector had got the women, and it was all on me.
Straightening my shoulders, I headed down the hall, where the other club members were lounging in an empty room.
“Get your ass back to my brother and guard him with your life,” I growled. “Call the others. Blackwood has Laura.”
“Shit,” one of them swore as he threw his coffee cup in the trash. “You’re going after her, aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“Tell them to keep their distance. He can’t know that anyone is coming except me.”
They nodded in understanding, and I stalked out of the room toward the parking lot. I was walking into a trap, that was for certain, but if I could trade myself for Laura, then it would be worth it.
And Faye. He had Faye as well. As much as I wanted to rescue her from her father, I wasn’t certain if she had gone willingly or not. I doubted that she had worked with him to capture Laura. That wasn’t the type of person that she was, even if I had treated her as such.
I made it outside and paused at the entrance of the hospital, threading my fingers through my hair. I couldn’t rescue them both. The thought was like a punch to my gut. Laura came first, but Faye… I couldn’t let her stay with her father. She didn’t deserve the violence she would likely see by staying with Blackwood.
No, she deserved better than that. She deserved to be with me.
Shit. What was I going to do?
Chapter 17
Faye
This was bad.
I sat on a soft leather couch as my father paced the room, Laura seated next to me. When I had seen my father in that living room, a thousand feelings had run through me. I was glad that he had come for me, but the elation that I thought I would feel was not there. After learning what kind of man he was, I had lost all grand illusions of him being the family I had been missing and was more like the monster that my mom had tried to protect me from.
Thankfully, they had taken caution in handling Laura, not that she had given them an easy task. For a woman who was seven months pregnant, she had put up quite the fight as they had loaded us in the dark sedan, calling my father every name in the book as he gave her a wink before shutting the door. It was clear that they had some sort of history I wasn’t aware of.
Now we sat in the clubhouse of the Blood Eagles, surrounded by many bikers that were watching my father’s every move, including Moose. He had done nothing but give me a nod when I laid eyes on him, and I hoped that he could still read my emotions, for they were running high at being here. I was worried about Laura more so than myself, scared that my father might take out his anger on the next Morrison.
I would die before I let that happen.
“Well,” he finally said, stopping to look at Laura. “So, we meet here again.”
She looked around, and I couldn’t help but admire the fact that she looked more bored than scared.
“Not exactly what I remember from our last visit, Hector.”
He chuckled, shaking his head.
“You are quite the spitfire, my dear. That brat in your belly… I hope they have your spunk.”
“Thank you,” she said, lifting her chin. “I guess I should be begging for my life right about now?”
Hector tapped his finger to his chin.
“I imagine if your husband had done the same, I might not had shot him. How is he, by the way? Still hanging in there?”
Laura’s face paled, and I felt my own hatred start to rise.
“You bastard. Don’t you dare talk about him!”
He waved a hand at her.
“Calm down, for God’s sake. I don’t need any brats born here.”
He then turned toward me, his eyes alight with curiosity.
“You are looking well Faye.”
I swallowed what I wanted to say, knowing that I couldn’t piss him off. Not if I wanted to get Laura out unharmed.
“I was treated just fine. What took you so long?”
“I didn’t realize I was on your schedule my dear,” he replied. “I didn’t ask you to come here, yet somehow you got captured by Morrison. Of course, I couldn’t leave you with him. You are a Blackwood.”
I inwardly cringed at the name, forcing my expression to remain neutral. I no longer wanted that name tagged to me. I wasn’t a Blackwood, not like him.
“If you hadn’t sent me away the first time, maybe things could have been different.”
He waved a hand at me as well, done with the conversation.
“Maybe you can be of some service later on, but right now I have more pressing things to do.”
Dismissed, just like that. If I hadn’t hated him so much, I would have withered up and died right then. Now, though, I was glad that he didn’t give two shits about me. It was going to make it easier for me to kill him, given the chance. The girl who had come to Paradise with hopes of living up to her father’s potential was l
ong gone. I had a child to think about, a surrogate family member that I had to get out of harm’s way.
If something happened to me… well, no one was going to give a shit about it.
A knock sounded on the door and the entire room waited for Hector to acknowledge it.
“What is it?” he yelled, seating himself behind the massive desk that dominated the room.
