Reckless Temptations (Tempted #4)(77)
“What’re you doing?” She asked softly.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, go back to sleep, Kitten,” I said huskily.
“Okay, then come with me,” she replied, holding out her hand as she cocked her head to the side and stared at me.
My hand moved up to my chest again, rubbing away that ache as I stood up and walked over to her. She pressed her lips to mine quickly before turning around and taking me to bed.
It was painfully obvious that I couldn’t say no to Kitten and more importantly I didn’t want to, so I yielded Jack’s advice and made it count.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We met Sun Wu at Pop’s shooting range the following day to give him back the money for the drugs we stole. I underestimated Jack, maybe because that shit Wu spewed when he took me was stuck on repeat in my head. I assumed he would try to forge a new truce between the clubs. Jack didn’t do anything like that, he gave that motherfucker his money and assured him he’d be waiting for him. He didn’t back down from the inevitable threat but welcomed it instead. He was a sick fuck.
Three months had come and gone without one word from Wu. Three months, living life, looking over our shoulder waiting for the bloody war to begin. But it never did, the Red Dragons didn’t strike and so we kept on breathing, waiting for the moment when the air would be robbed from our lungs.
The club was in a bad place financially and worse; we were weak when it came to our man power, making us vulnerable. Blackie had been released from the hospital and joined a state funded methadone program, which only substituted one high for another. He needed to get himself checked into a rehab but refused, mainly because of the impending war with the Chinese but also because he had a death wish. Every day out of rehab, was another day he suffered, and that man loved living life waiting for it to end. He promised Jack he’d go to rehab when this shit died down. Nobody knew when that would be and we all feared he’d succumb to his demons before that.
Jack busied himself with tying up any loose ends with Jimmy Gold, that crazy fuck was getting his ass carted to Otisville once the hospital cleared him for discharge. Over the last few months he and Bianci made a couple of trips up to see Victor Pastore. Aside from sealing Jimmy’s fate, Jack was trying to get in with another family. Victor’s organization was dead on the streets and he turned most of his interests over to another local mob boss, Rocco Spinelli and his crew. With our Chinese deal off the table, Jack was looking for a new buyer and Rocco was the top of list.
Pipe was expanding the garage, he hired a few new guys who specialized in custom bikes, hoping to generate more business for the club. Wolf went off the grid for days at a time, going on runs, hoping to sway nomads that didn’t belong to a charter to come sit at our table. So far the poor bastard hadn’t recruited one. Can’t blame them though, it’s like signing up for the military after our countries had been attacked but there’s no fucking purple heart to be won here.
Bones hasn’t had much going on other than his mission in life to annoy the fuck out of me. After the whole thing came to light, and I explained to Jack and the rest of the club it was my fault this shit went south, I tried to put distance between me and Kitten. I wasn’t doing it because I was freaking out about being tied down or even because we were having a kid; I was doing it because for the first time in my life I didn’t feel like being selfish. For the first time I had people in my life that were worth a damn and deserved better than I could give them. But every time I thought I could do it, thought I could turn my back on them and sacrifice my promise to Kitten so she and Pea could have a life without fear…Bones was there reminding me I was more than capable of taking care of what was mine. Own it became two words I contemplated tattooing to my body.
It’s not a hard thing to do, owning my responsibilities, it’s something I’m happy to do. You would be too if you had Lauren every night waiting in your bed, ice cold feet and all, she was my favorite person.
At nineteen weeks pregnant, she was the prettiest, sexiest creature I had ever laid eyes on. About six weeks ago, Pea decided he or she didn’t want to go unnoticed anymore and Lauren’s belly started to round. Each week since, it seemed to get bigger and bigger, all signs that our kid was growing and gearing up to make his big debut. Kitten was almost at the half-way mark and everything was smooth sailing. I hadn’t missed another doctor’s appointment since that first one when I fucked up. Our refrigerator now proudly displayed grainy black and white pictures of Pea, a souvenir from every visit.
Jack walked up beside me, handing me a beer and tipped his head toward Lauren.
“When are you two going to do one of these things?” He asked, studying a pink and blue napkin in his hands before shaking his head. It was quite comical that the Bulldog was at a gender reveal party. Fuck, if we’re being honest it’s pretty crazy that either of us were here. If someone would’ve told me six months ago I would be sitting in Bianci’s house, with his mother ten feet away, waiting for his kid to pull the tape off a box and let us all know if they were having a boy or a girl…well, I’d tell them they were fucking bat shit crazy.
Yet, here I was.
And Jack was standing next to me guzzling a beer.
Join an M.C. they said… Ha.
“Lauren wants to be surprised,” I answer Jack finally, taking a greedy sip of the beer he offered me.