Doc (The Kings of Mayhem MC Tennessee 2)

“The Kings can handle it.”

“They shouldn’t have to.”

“We don’t turn our back at the first sign of trouble.”

“In this case, you should. You know how insane Max is. You know what craziness he’s capable of. He’s just found his new game, and he’s going to have fun with it.”

“Then we’ll show him he’s bitten off more than he can chew.”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of, Doc. You don’t want him bringing trouble to your door. People will get hurt.”

“All the more reason for you to stay here.”

She throws her bag over her shoulder. “I think your president disagrees.”

“It’s his job to be suspicious.” I take a step forward. “But I’m not. I trust you. I know you didn’t come here to spy or for any other reason than to see—”

“I’m pregnant,” she says suddenly.

I stop and stare at her as the ‘P’ word reverberates around the room like a pinball.

I need a minute for my mouth and brain to reconnect before I can talk.

“Pregnant?” I finally say.

She swallows hard. “Yes.”

“How long?”

“About seventeen weeks.”

My brain races to do the math.

Seventeen weeks ago, we were captives in the UFO Hotel.

Seventeen weeks ago, I made love to her under a glass-domed roof and up against the wall in the kitchen.

“It’s my baby?”

When she turns her back to me and places her bag on the dresser, a tingle takes up at the base of my spine. Something tells me I’m about to have my world tipped upside down for the second time in two days. Turning to face me, her face is ashen.

“I think you’d better sit down,” she says. “There’s something I need to tell you, and you’re not going to like it.”

LILY

I didn’t want to tell him like this.

But he needs to know.

Even if it’s something he doesn’t want to hear.

Even if it’s something that means me walking out the door.

The truth of it is, I don’t want to leave. I know it’s crazy because I’ve only been around the Kings of Mayhem for a couple of days, but I already feel an insane sense of belonging with Jack and the other Kings. Even with Jack’s rampant distrust of me.

This club is one big family. They have each other’s backs, and the respect for their queens is obvious. They couldn’t be more different than the Inferno, where old ladies are chosen for their blind loyalty and an ability to produce heirs. Not to mention their tolerance for abuse. But in the Kings of Mayhem, their respect for women is always on display. They protect them, love them, and worship them.

But I’m not going to be responsible for causing a club war.

I think about the strong bond of the brotherhood. I think about the queens—some with babies on their hips, and the rampant love they have for their Kings reflecting in their eyes. The last thing I want is to do is bring harm to any of them.

I hate that the Inferno has found me. I thought I’d done everything right and had covered my tracks properly. I even stayed holed up in a motel for almost a week before making a move just to make sure no one had followed me.

But like an idiot, I underestimated Max.

Obviously, they had watched me without making a move and waited to see what I would do before they did anything.

I’m so angry at myself.

And now I have to face up to reality, and I know, without a doubt, it’s going to hurt Doc.

Feeling sick, I sit him down on the edge of the bed.

And slowly, I tell him the truth.

After Max discovered Doc was missing and that I’d helped him escape, the minutes flew by rapidly. Their evacuation plan was executed with military precision because Max had done this kind of thing a thousand times before.

Use. Torch. Destroy.

It was the very thing they were known for.

Wasting little time, Max shoved me out the front door and into the cold night air, the wind biting into my skin as he hustled me into the back of his pickup. He sat beside me as Otto climbed into the driver’s seat, and with a skid of tires, took off into the freezing night.

When we reached the end of the driveway, the little UFO Hotel erupted into flames behind us.

I turned to look over my shoulder and watched as violent flames engulfed the hotel until it was nothing but a raging orange fireball in the darkness.

Turning away from it, I looked out the window as the dark landscape rolled by and tried to swallow back my fear. I didn’t know where we were going or what my father was going to do to me. What I did know was that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. But at least Doc had managed to elude them because if my father had caught him escaping, he would be dead.