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I was stuck in my head as the vehicle rolled up toward us. I didn’t know who it was or if it was the same vehicle as before. The one who ran us off the road and took our daughter.
My baby.
The pain etching through me was nothing I had ever felt before. It was like these bastards had taken a piece of my soul. No. They took my whole entire being. If we didn’t get her back, there was no point. I couldn’t move on or get over it. Jaron and I were talking, we didn’t fight as much anymore, we loved each other, and now this. This would destroy the progress we’d made.
“Who are they?” I heard myself ask.
“I don’t know.” Jaron kept his hand in mine.
The SUV came to a stop a few feet away. Three men filed out of the vehicle. Two were large and reminded me of the bikers I had spent some time hanging around while Jaron was gone. The third man was smaller. Much smaller in fact. He was still tall but had more of a swimmer’s build. He reminded me of Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. His hair was longer, the ends hitting just above his ears.
“Who are you?” Jaron asked when the Spencer Reid lookalike came toward us followed by one of the bigger guys.
The third man stood back. He moved his leather jacket, revealing two guns in a holster sitting on his hips.
“Who we are doesn’t matter,” one said. His friend who was still standing by the SUV, was big but this one was large. With tattoos lining both sides of his thick neck, his piercing blue eyes locked on us. Bits of silver sprouted from his black hair. He had dark scruff on his strong jaw that held a hint of gray. While he looked to be in his late forties, a gold nose ring made him almost appear young. It was a contradiction, the metallic ring sparkling in the sunlight. “We saw the vehicle pull out of the parking lot and start following you.”
“You couldn’t have done something before they ran us off the road?” Jaron bit out, tightening his hold on my hand.
“This isn’t a movie, kid.” The man looked at his friend before back at us. “You two need to go to the hospital.”
“No. We need to find our daughter,” Jaron told him.
“Your daughter’s missing?” the man with the nose ring, asked.
“Yes,” Jaron answered, his voice cracking. “She was taken before we woke up. We don’t even know if she’s...”
A dark shadow passed over the other man’s face. He appeared to be younger and even though he was much smaller than his two friends, there was an air about him that I didn’t like. His clothing didn’t seem to mirror his personality either. He was definitely no Spencer Reid, even though he could have been his twin. With dark blue jeans, a button-up plaid shirt with all sorts of pastel colors, and a light gray vest, he seemed almost geeky. When he caught me staring, the corner of his mouth pulled up into a smirk.
My stomach twisted. Inching closer to Jaron, I grabbed his hand.
He looked down at me, probably wondering what the hell had made me suddenly so nervous but I couldn’t explain it.
This guy...he terrified me.
“Someone took your daughter?” the larger man asked.
“Yes, they did,” Jaron said, his voice rough.
The smaller man who had been silent this whole time, turned around and headed back to the SUV to join his other friend.
“Jaron.” I grabbed onto his hoodie, leaning my head against his strong back. Everything inside of me hurt. From my bones to my muscles. My body ached but I needed Brynn. I needed her in my arms. I would never again take it for granted that I had her with us, always.
“We’ll get her,” he said, reaching around for me. He pulled me into his side, hugging me tightly and keeping me close.
“We’ll drive you to the hospital,” the man who had stayed behind said.
“No. We’ll go somewhere else. The hospital isn’t safe.” Jaron grabbed my hand, slipping his fingers between mine. “We’ll go see Shadow.”
Shadow, or Nero Wolf, was Bee’s grandfather and a retired biker. He had his own little hospital at his clubhouse which was safer than going to an actual hospital. No one asked questions there.
“We’ll take you.” The man spun on his heel, pulling a phone from his pocket.
“Wait.” Jaron stepped forward. “Did you see who took our daughter?”
The man’s face softened. “No. I’m sorry, we didn’t. We were driving home, saw the other SUV start following you. They were sitting in the parking lot and pulled out as soon as you left the grocery store. So we started following them. We were cut off by another car and then got stuck behind a tractor. We finally made our way to you and saw the explosion but we thought it might have been too late.” He put the phone to his ear. “Yeah, I’d like to report an accident.” He gave the location and hung up before the dispatcher asked for anything else. “Call whoever you need,” he said, handing Jaron the phone.
When we reached the SUV, Jaron paused in his steps. He looked down at the cell in his hand before meeting my gaze. “I don’t know who to call.”
“Everyone, Jaron. Call every single fucking person we know.” My eyes welled. “I need my baby back.”
He nodded, putting the phone up to his ear and walking away. “Dad, I need your help,” he said, his voice trailing off as he stepped out of earshot.
“Here.”
I looked over my shoulder.
The man who had stayed behind was now sitting in the passenger seat, holding a bottle of water out the window.
I hesitated but ended up taking it and downing half the bottle. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
“I’m Piper and he’s Jaron,” I said, breaking the unnerving silence.
He nodded again, rolling up the window.
The back door opened then, revealing the guy who made me nervous for some unknown reason. The two men in the front of the SUV were tattooed up to the nines. With dark clothes and black leather jackets, they looked like bikers. But their jackets had no patches, so I wasn’t sure who they were.
“Who are you?” I asked even though I knew they weren’t going to tell me.
“We’re here to bring you to wherever you need to go, sweetheart,” the younger guy in the back of the SUV said. “That’s all you need to concern yourself with.”
“I need my baby,” I said on a sob.
“Piper.” Jaron came up behind me, pulling me into his arms as I cried against him. “We’ll go to Shadow’s and go from there. But most of the police are paid off in this area. We can’t trust them. I have other people looking into this shit.” He cupped my face, leaning down so he was at eye level with me. “We will get her back. I promise you. But you need to get checked out.” Because I could be pregnant going unsaid.
I stifled another sob and nodded.
Jaron kissed my forehead before brushing his nose against mine. “I’ll kill him for hurting you.”
My throat burned, the tears rolling my down cheeks again.
He helped me into the back of the SUV, holding me against him as he shut the door behind. He gave the driver the address. Jaron tried making conversation with them and I knew then that he was scared. He wasn’t a talker, but he was trying to distract us. There was a possibility that we would never see our daughter again and that thought alone was enough to drive us both mad.
“What do you guys do?” Jaron asked, tightening his hold on me.
The younger man shifted beside me. “We help people.”
The driver’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.
“Thank you,” Jaron muttered.
The closer we got to Shadow’s clubhouse, the less I knew what was going to happen.
I didn’t know if Brynn was safe. I didn’t even know if she was alive. I shouldn’t have yelled at Price. It was my fault. All of my fault. Why couldn’t they take me instead? Or Jaron? If it was the mayor who had a hand in this like we assumed, why did he take her? Maybe it was to get back at Jaron. I didn’t know. But I could sense the fear in him that I would blame him. I didn’t. I just wanted our baby back. I wanted to know if there was a new baby growing in me. I wanted to know that we were fine. That all of us were in fact fine.
While the strangers drove us to our destination, Jaron held me and whispered sweet words in my ears. They were words of encouragement. Words telling me how much he loved me. Words telling me to be strong and that although the mayor was an evil bastard, he wouldn’t hurt her. Words telling me that we would get her back, but they were only words. I didn’t believe him. I wanted to. I tried to. But until I had my daughter back in my arms, I couldn’t believe a single thing Jaron told me.
Piper
The guys had driven us to the Mayhem’s Revenge clubhouse, but I couldn’t even remember how we had gotten here. The drive could have been minutes or hours and I never noticed.
“How can I pay you back?” Jaron asked, helping me out of the SUV.
“You don’t need to, kid,” the guy in the passenger seat said.
Jaron grunted. “Everything comes with a price. I don’t want to owe you if I don’t have to.”
The back window rolled down, revealing the smaller guy. “You don’t owe us and there’s no catch either. We help people. It’s what we do.”
“Tike,” the driver barked.
“Now you know my name, so I guess we’re even,” he said, glaring at his friend.
Instead of waiting for us to answer, the window rolled back up.
Before we could find out anything about them, they drove off, the tires screeching out of the parking lot. I found I had more questions about the silent strangers but couldn’t dwell on that too much when we were surrounded by several members of Hell’s Harlem.
To say that I was surprised to see his parents, was an understatement.
“Dad, I...” A shuddered breath left Jaron, his hand tightening around mine as he kept me close.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Jaron’s mom, Eve, shook her head, wiping under her eyes.
“Do you know anything?” Greyson asked his son.
Jaron only shook his head, his jaw clenching.
“How the hell did you get here?” Sammy demanded, rushing toward us followed by Cyrus. “We followed the route you took and only saw the burnt-up car. You weren’t there and then Cyrus gets a call from Greyson that there was an accident.”
“Follow us,” Jaron said. “And I’ll explain all I know but Piper needs to see Ricky.”
Ricky was the in-house doctor for Mayhem’s Revenge, Shadow’s old club. Now that he had retired, his own son, Kian, had taken over much like Jaron would eventually do for Hell’s Harlem. Even though his dad was still the president, we all knew he was wanting to retire. It was only a matter of time before Jaron took over the club. I also knew that his father had been itching to spend the rest of his days with his wife. Now that his son was grown up, he could focus on her and their grandchildren.
As much as I just wanted my baby girl and to go home, I didn’t argue with Jaron. There was no point trying to find our daughter if I wasn’t taking care of myself. I knew that Jaron would go look for her. He didn’t have to tell me. I needed to make sure he didn’t worry about me at the same time, so I did as I was told like a good little girl.
“Jaron.” Eve went up to her son. “Please tell me this is all some sick joke.”
A sob left me. I pushed my face into Jaron’s chest, crying against him over the fact that I may never see our daughter again.
“I wish it was,” he told her, his voice thick.
“Oh God,” she cried.
“We’ll find out what’s going on.” That was his dad.
There were so many voices, all angry and curt, I couldn’t place who was who, but I found that I no longer cared. I just wanted Jaron. I wanted Brynn. I wanted to move on as a family. When he first came home, I thought our biggest struggle would be how to reconnect, but this was so much worse.
“Let’s get you looked at, baby,” Jaron whispered in my ear. “I need to make sure you’re good.”
All I could do was nod while he led me to the back of the club. I was in a trance while Ricky, a smaller older man, looked at me. He was nice enough, but he could have also been a douche and I wouldn’t have overly cared.
“She could be pregnant,” Jaron muttered to Ricky.
He nodded. “I’ll be careful. I have pregnancy tests here but if you want me to take blood...”
“Do it,” Jaron said.
“You’ll owe me, boy,” Ricky said, trying to keep his voice firm but when he looked at me, the hard lines on his face, softened.
“I don’t give a shit, Ricky. I already owe Shadow and Kian for letting us be here.” Jaron nodded toward me. “We want to know.”
Ricky did as he was told and took some blood. After, he checked out my head and neck. When he was satisfied that I didn’t have a concussion, he checked Jaron out just the same. Much to his grumbling of course. He kept saying that he was fine but if he was going to go after Brynn like he said he would, he needed to be one-hundred-percent healthy. The crash had knocked us out, so Ricky mentioned something about taking it easy, but being the kind of guy that Jaron was, the instructions only went in one ear and out the other.
He kept looking my way, probably making sure I wouldn’t snap. No. I wouldn’t. That would be him. It was on the tip of my tongue to beg for him not to go after the guys who took Brynn. While I didn’t know exactly who they were or even where to start, his dad had people looking into it. I wasn’t stupid. They knew people. I was sure they owed some favors or were going to cash in on the favors that other people owed them. I didn’t care how they found my daughter. I just needed her back in my arms.
When Ricky checked Jaron out, he went to leave the large makeshift medical room, but stopped at the door, checked his phone, and came back toward us. Showing us the screen, he gave me a small smile. “Congratulations again, little mama.”
My breath hitched when I read the text saying that I was pregnant.
Jaron closed the distance between us and cupped my stomach. “Thank you. Let me know when you want to collect.”
“I will.” Ricky left the room, leaving Jaron and me alone.
Sammy and Cyrus, along with Greyson and a few other guys from the club, took that moment to join us in the room. Even though it was big, being stuck in there with them, made it seem almost smaller.
Jaron sat on the bed behind me, wrapping his arm around my middle.
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I will.”
Jaron was arguing with someone, but I didn’t care to look up to see who he was talking to. I didn’t care. About anything. It felt like a piece of me had been ripped away. Like an appendage was torn free from my body, leaving my sorrow to bleed out on the ground beneath me.
I was pregnant. Again. With Jaron’s baby. Our second baby.
Pain consumed me.
Agony threatened to tear me apart.
Rage coursed through my veins, making every nerve ending inside my body tingle beneath my skin.
As Jaron crushed me back against him, these dark thoughts took hold. They destroyed and yet gave me some sort of solace at the same time.
“We’ll get her back,” I heard him say.
Words. That was all they were. Nothing more. Nothing less. They were empty promises because how could he know? How did Jaron know that we would get her back? He was smarter than that. Than this. Than us. He lived and breathed destruction. He tore through my life like a hurricane, unleashing every feeling, every emotion he felt, on me and me alone.
He took. He gave.
He loved. He hated.
And right now, when he turned me around and stared into my eyes, without saying it, I knew, because I felt it too.
He was scared. He knew his words were fake and that I didn’t believe them. Hell, neither did he, but he said them anyway. Why? Why would he make a promise when he wasn’t sure if he could keep it?
He fisted my hair, keeping a tight hold on my head and making me look into his eyes. “I will get her back,” he said, that deep raspy growl brushing over my skin like thousands of tiny kisses.
And there he was, the man I loved. The man I knew who would destroy everything in his path to get what he wanted most. That was the Jaron I wanted. Not the one promising me lies.
I wasn’t sure anymore what was going on. What was real? What was a dream?
Voices sounded around us. Some high. Some deep. Some soft and gentle. Others rough and demanding.
Jaron placed a soft peck on my forehead before pulling from my clutches. He left the bed and began pacing.
A soft cry escaped me, and I reached out for him.
His dad, along with other club members, his brothers, with their dark eyes and jaws as hard as granite, mumbled amongst themselves.
I was vaguely aware of someone enveloping me in a hug. Who? I had no idea. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jaron.
His mouth moved, talking to Cyrus and Sammy as well as the other guys standing with him. But his eyes never strayed away from mine.
Something switched between us in that moment. In the beginning, it was like we were treading water. We walked on eggshells around each other. The passion was thick, the love was intense, but the fear that something would come between us, was suffocating.
I didn’t know why. I probably never would. I trusted him. I trusted him with every fiber of my very being. It was the other women I didn’t trust. The quiet whispers whenever I had gone to the store. The looks and stares. The jealousy that seeped into the air every time I picked Sammy and Cyrus up from the club.
Jaron didn’t trust the guys I had been with either. Even though I wanted nothing to do with them romantically. Ashton had caused problems for our other friends, so I got it. I understood Jaron’s fear. Even though I had basically shoved them out of my life for no apparent reason but to wallow in my own self-pity.
Jaron said something, his words curt and to the point. He shoved the guys off of him and came back to me. He cupped my face, brushing his fingers over every crease, every line, every freckle. With each touch, he followed it with a kiss. A soft peck. A silent cry for me not to give up. Brynn wouldn’t want that.
Someone cried in the distance.
I realized then that his mom had joined us.
Deep voices cursed.
Jaron stared at me. Begging. Pleading. It had only been a couple of hours since our daughter was taken, and I was already willing to stop fighting. But that part of me, the strongest part, fought with the side of me that was terrified I would never see her chubby little face again. Or kiss her fingers and toes. To watch her grow up into the amazing woman I knew she would be. To see her grow up and be an amazing big sister. She may never know her sibling.
I cupped my stomach, the tears rolling freely down my cheeks.
Hands covered my own. They were women’s hands, so I knew they were Eve’s, but I couldn’t look up. I couldn’t look into her eyes and see the pain that both Jaron and I had put there. If only we stayed home and had someone else grab us groceries. Especially when the mayor had already threatened us.
It was our fault.
Please God. Wherever she is, watch over her. And please give her back to us.
Jaron
Piece by piece, Piper was breaking. Right in front of me and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Not until I brought Brynlee home and safely tucked her back into her mother’s arms.
I had pulled Ricky to the side and asked him if there was something he could give her that wouldn’t harm the baby but would help her sleep. I didn’t care how many favors I ended up owing him after all of this. I just needed my girls safe, healthy, and home.
He ended up giving her a light sedative that knocked her out rather quickly. I kissed her forehead, brushed my nose against hers, and whispered I loved her until I was satisfied that she would get some sort of sleep before everything continued to go down.
When I left the room, a new prospect who had just become part of Hell’s Harlem and who came highly recommended by Shadow himself, came toward me. He was taller than most of the prospects and had an air about him that set me on edge.
“Cheesy,” I greeted.
“Jaron.” He nodded once. “I got you a phone.”
“Do you have any news?” I asked, taking the phone from him.
“No but I was told to watch over your girl,” he said, leaning against the wall by the door leading to the room she was currently sleeping in.
“I appreciate that, but I don’t know you.” Not that I wanted to be rude but after everything Piper and I had been through, Sammy and Cyrus were lucky that I even trusted them enough to watch over her when I wasn’t around.
“I get it.” Cheesy shoved his hands into his pockets. “I wouldn’t trust me either, or anyone else for that matter, but Greyson and Shadow both told me to stand watch. So I’m just doing as I’m told.”
“You can stand watch like you were told but I’m not leaving.” I slid down the length of the wall until my ass hit the floor. Just then, the phone rang.
Cheesy and I glanced at each other before I looked at the small display and saw a number I didn’t recognize flashing across the screen.
“Where the fuck is my daughter, Price?” I demanded, shoving to my feet.
“Now, that’s not any way to talk to someone who could very well end your life.”
“Where are you?” I repeated, my voice raising.
“She’s safe.”
“Give her back to me. You can have me instead.”
He grunted, the sound grating on my nerves. “Unlikely, but I do have instructions for you. I want to see you.” He listed off an address and before I could comment, he hung up. I tried calling him back, but the number had suddenly been disconnected.
“Fuck.” I shoved the phone into my pocket.
“What’s going on?” Cheesy asked, taking a tentative step towards me.
I looked at him then.
He brought his knees up to his chest, leaning his head against the wall behind him. A faraway look splayed on his face. He was young but there was something deep within his eyes that showed more than he let on. I had only met him a handful of times. He had become a prospect for Hell’s Harlem when I was in jail. Sammy and Cyrus briefly mentioned him and a few other new members. He was a good kid.
“Jaron.”
My head whipped around, finding my dad coming down the hall toward us with Catch and Tray on either side of him.
“Price just called me and told me where he is but I don’t know if Brynlee is with him.” I shoved a hand through my hair. “I need to go. I need to get her back.”
“Lucas was looking into things.” Dad looked at Cheesy. “You taking a break?”
Cheesy cowered. “I—
“I told him I wasn’t leaving Piper.” I glanced back at the door. It took everything I was made of not to go back to her and pull her into my arms. But I needed to find out what was going on. I needed to go back and bring her information. I needed to meet up with Price and find our daughter.
“Fine.” Dad jutted his chin. “You can leave.”
Cheesy did as he was told and walked back down the hall, leaving us alone. My dad wasn’t normally a dick, but this wasn’t one of those times. Especially where his granddaughter was concerned.
“I need to give Piper an update,” I heard myself say.
“I know.” Dad’s jaw clenched.
A breath left me that I didn’t realize I had been holding. Placing my hands on my knees, I bent over, taking another breath and then another. “I need to give her information,” I repeated.
“I know.” Dad clapped my shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
But it was a promise he couldn’t make. “You don’t know that you will.” I shoved away from him and opened the door leading to Piper. All breath left my lungs when I saw her sitting up. Her cheek was creased by the pillow. How much time had passed? It didn’t feel like long, but it must have been. Time was lost on me as we stood around, waiting.
Waiting.
I hated fucking waiting.
Dad cupped my shoulder. “Go to her, Jaron, but don’t you dare deal with this on your own.”
I pushed away from him but never made any promises. Because I couldn’t. There would be no point. We both knew that I was going to go after the bastards who took Brynlee, who hurt my girlfriend. The mother of my daughter and the baby currently growing inside of her.
“Jaron,” she whispered.
I rushed to her, throwing myself against her small body.
She shook against me, trembling beneath my touch. “I thought it was a nightmare and then I realized it wasn’t.”
I fisted her hair, hugging her tight. Breathing in the faint scent of her sweet perfume, I let it soak beneath my skin, trying to give me all the strength I needed to do this. To hurt her again, because I knew that I would. I wasn’t sure how she would forgive me for the things I had to do.
“Jaron,” she murmured, pushing her face into my chest. “You’re shaking.”
“So are you,” I mumbled, kissing the soft spot beneath her ear.
She shivered. “Have you heard anything?”
“No.” I lifted her in my arms and sat on the bed.
Piper straddled me, holding onto me for dear life. As cliché as it sounded, I took it and welcomed her rough hold into my heart.
“What if we can’t get her back?” she asked, her voice soft and unsure.
My jaw clenched, a tremor of rage coursing through my body. It rippled beneath my skin, promising pain and torture to those who wronged my girl.
“We will. We have to.” I leaned back and brushed my hand through her hair, pushing it off her forehead. Her eyes shone, her cheeks red and tear-streaked. “I refuse to have it any other way, baby.”
“I want to go home. I want to be by her stuff. I just...” Her chin wobbled. “I want her.”
“Your parents are on their way to the clubhouse. We were waiting for you to wake up, but I’ll bring you there.” I realized then that it would only be the second time we would be at the clubhouse since I got home. “My dad told me that you put Brynn’s stuff in my room.”
Piper nodded. “I needed to be as close to you as I could. So I slept in your bed whenever I was there and there’s a crib for Brynn there too.” A shuddered breath left her. “I forgot to tell you.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I gently pushed her off my lap and stood. “There’s something I need you to promise me.”
Piper stared up at me with those dark eyes of hers. “What’s that?”
“I need you to promise that no matter what happens, you are in this for the long run. That you won’t leave me.”
She searched my face. “What are you talking about?”
“Promise me, Piper. Promise that you love me and are willing to stick this shit out.” I wasn’t making sense, I knew that, but there was no way that I could actually tell her that I was going to leave and go after the mayor myself. I knew that he had a hand in this shit. I just needed to prove it.
“Of course I’m willing to stick this out.” She paused. “You’re going to go after them, aren’t you?”
I went to walk away when her hand caught my arm.
“You can’t.”
I spun on her, forcing her back a step. “I can and I fucking will.”
“No.” Her eyes welled. “I can’t lose you too.”
“You won’t lose me, Piper.”
“You can’t make promises like that, Jaron,” she screamed, shoving me. “You can’t promise that nothing will happen because you don’t know. You are not God.”
“These bastards took our daughter,” I yelled. “Our baby girl. So yeah, Piper. I am God when it comes to this shit because I hold their lives in my hands.”
“Let the police do their job. Let your dad, the other guys, let them do this because I can’t be without you. I need you, Jaron. I need your strength.” She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t. You can’t. Please.”
I spun on my heel, heading to the door but not before I caught the look of pure and utter agony written all over her face. I could see her heart breaking before me and I hadn’t even left yet. But if hurting Piper meant I was able to get our daughter back, then I would do it and deal with her wrath later.
Piper
Jaron was going to leave. He was going to leave and take care of whatever and whoever took our daughter. Maybe I should have been grateful. I was sure some people would be, but not me. No. Because I knew that Jaron’s temper got away from him sometimes. It was why he ended up in jail in the first place.
I didn’t want him to go. I wanted others to do it for him. For us. But I knew that he wouldn’t have any of that.
I just wanted to go home and curl up in his warmth and hold our daughter. I missed her. I ached for her the longer time went on where she wasn’t in my arms. If I knew that she was safe and alive it wouldn’t hurt so much, but I didn’t. No one told me anything and it was driving me fucking crazy.
Jaron had insisted that I rest but he wasn’t around to make sure that I did, so I left the lumpy bed and trudged out into the hall. I was thankful for Ricky who made sure that I was okay and also for whatever favor Jaron owed him, so we could get the blood test results back quickly.
I didn’t know motorcycle clubs had setups like this. Although, I was sure that a lot didn’t. Shadow, or Nero, as I liked to call him since that was his actual name and all, had been around a while. I became fast friends with his granddaughter after Sammy and Cyrus forced me to take a drive to get out of the house when I was still pregnant with Brynn.
“Piper.”
I jumped, spinning around and found a young man coming down the hall toward me. I didn’t know him well, but I had seen him around at Jaron’s parents’ place from time to time. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember your name.”
He gave me a small smile. “That’s okay,” he said, holding out his hand. “I go by Cheesy.”
“Cheesy?” I asked, returning the handshake.
He chuckled, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Yeah, it’s dumb. When I was a kid, my parents couldn’t afford a whole lot, so I brought cheese slice sandwiches for lunch quite often. I was teased about it, but truth was, they tasted good. My mom made sure to buy the best kind, even though it wasn’t much. Some kids are worse off. So yeah. I got called Cheesy and it stuck.”
“I like it.” I pulled my hand from his and crossed my arms under my chest. “Have you seen Jaron?”
“No. Last I heard, he was with Greyson.” He nodded to the room I had just come out of. “You should be resting. I was instructed to watch the door, but I’ll get my ass kicked if you’re not in there.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but truth was, I had no idea if what he was saying was true or not. Jaron hadn’t really been living the biker life since he came home. His dad was giving him time.
“I rested and then I got bored,” I mumbled. “I need to find my daughter.”
“Not happening, babe.”
Cheesy’s eyes snapped above my head as the deep voice boomed from behind me. “She left the room.”
“Yeah.” Jaron closed the distance between us. “I see that.”
“She needs to find her daughter,” I told Jaron, not caring in the least if Cheesy or any of the other guys heard our argument.
“She is not going anywhere.” Jaron grabbed my hand, attempting to pull me toward the room, but I was having none of that shit and roughly pulled my grip from his.
“No.” I went to storm past him when Jaron quickly grabbed me around the waist. He lifted me off my feet and carried me back into the room I had spent the last few hours in. “Stop. Put me down!”
Jaron ignored me and brought me to the bed.
“Jaron.” I struggled out of his grip, landing hard on the bed. “You’re an asshole.”
“Yup. I am.” He towered over me and grabbed my shoulders when I tried shoving him back. “But I’m an asshole who loves you and is looking out for you and your protection.”
“I don’t care about that. I need to find our daughter.” I tried shoving him again, but he was too damn strong for me.
“I will find our daughter,” he insisted, stepping closer and forcing me onto my back.
“Jaron, stop.” When I went to move out from under him, he grabbed my shoulders again and pinned me down.
“You will listen to me.” In a quick move, he gripped my jaw, forcing me to look up at him. “Are you going to listen?”
“Fine.” I glared up at him. “I’m listening.”
His jaw clenched but instead of arguing with me like I thought he would, he let out a hard sigh. “If you go after them, whoever they are, and look for Brynn, I won’t be able to concentrate and do my damn job.”
“What job is that?”
“To protect you, Piper.” He pulled away from me. “You can’t go after them because if something happened to you, it would kill me.”
“And you don’t think if something happened to you, that it wouldn’t kill me?” I slid off the bed and went up to him. “Jaron, I can’t lose you. Not when I finally found you. Not when I got you back. Not when your second baby is growing inside of me.” I grabbed his hand and placed it on my stomach.
His shoulders slumped. “I need to find her,” he murmured, pushing his nose against mine. It had been something he did quite often and each and every single time, it sent a wave of calm over me. “I have to, Piper. I know you don’t understand.”
“I do understand. I get it. But if it was the mayor like you think it was, he’s dangerous. I can’t have you going after him by yourself.” I cupped Jaron’s nape, pulling his mouth down to mine. “You’re smarter than that.”
He kissed me one last time before pulling away.
Just as I opened my mouth to yell, scream, demand for him to give me something and reassure me that he wasn’t going to leave, Sammy and Cyrus came into the room.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Cyrus said, sticking an unlit smoke behind his ear. “Your dad has news,” he told Jaron.
Sammy looked at his brother. “That’s it?”
Cyrus grunted. “What the fuck more do you want me to say?”
“How about the fact that Lucas got back to Greyson.” Sammy looked at Jaron. “He did. Your dad is on a damn rampage.”
My heart jumped to my throat. Was Brynn found?
Jaron looked back at me over his shoulder. He held out his hand, which I knew was a moment of truce. At least for a little bit.
I slipped my fingers in his and silently prayed that he would let the club take care of it but with the air that rolled off of him, I knew.
Jaron was on a warpath.
I almost felt sorry for the people who crossed him.
***
