The President's Wife (Snakes Henchmen MC 0.5)

Lynette shakes her head and wraps herself up in my arms. “I’m so sorry I made you think I wanted to end us. You are my world. I don’t want to be without you... I’m pregnant, that’s why I’m out of it. I found out just before all that happened with the boys earlier.”

Pregnant?

My girl is pregnant with my baby?

Grabbing her face in my hands, I pull her away from me, our eyes locking. “You’re having my baby?” She nods, and tears fall from my eyes. A smile creeps across my face, and my hand touches her still flat stomach. “We’re having a baby!”

“You want this?” She’s asking me like she’s confused. Of course, I want this baby!

“The woman I love is having my baby, of course, I want this, sweetheart. God,” I lift her by the waist and swing her around.

“We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?” She whispers in my ear as I hold her in my arms.

“Better than, baby girl. Better than.”

Chapter Eight

Lynette

What’s going on?”

“Sit down, Jett.” He slowly, with narrow eyes, takes a seat on the couch. My husband is about to deliver some devastating news to our son. News I’m finding a little hard to get my head around. I actually feel empty.

I keep Willow’s hand clutched in mine. She shouldn’t have to hear this, but Vincent thinks we should tell the kids at the same time. Not that I'll be saying anything, I seem to have lost the power of speech.

As my husband explains to the kids how our best friends, Hillary and Titus, were killed last night. Shot dead in their car as they drove toward home after their dinner date, our son breaks down.

Who would do such a thing? I know the Snakes have enemies, they're outlaws for fuck's sake, but Hillary never hurt anybody in her life. She was my friend!

Her poor son’s, God, what will happen to them? Hammer has the club; he’ll be fine, they’ll take care of him... But Haiden – Tank – who’s going to take care of him? Neither Hillary or Titus had any other family. All that boy has now is his brother.

I’m going to take care of him. He’s fifteen; his brother can’t take care of him the way he needs to be taken care of. I can do that for my best friend; I can take care of her boy. I know Vincent will take care of Hammer, that boy might go over the edge without my husband’s help. Plus he has the brothers to help keep him on the straight and narrow.

“What about Tank? Dad, he doesn’t have anyone but Hammer.”

“I don’t want you to worry. Tank will be coming to stay with us. Both Hammer and Tank will be. They’re going to need us.”

I let go of Willow’s hand and scrub my hands over my face. I’m beyond tired, my stomach is cramping terribly, and I’m getting a migraine. I can’t afford to get sick right now; there’s too much to do.

I kiss my daughter’s head before getting out of my seat. I know she’s upset, but I have to get out of this room for a moment. I’m too hot, and I don’t know what to say right now. Hilary is gone, and I have no idea how I’m going to come to terms with never seeing her again.

These bikers have a closer bond than most blood brothers. They live, love, breathe and even die for each other. Their wives, girlfriends, old ladies, we’re as close as any sisters could be. No matter the age, we're always there for each other.

Hillary, like Taylor, was my very best friend, the three of us were sister’s in every sense but blood. I’m going to miss Hillary every day for the rest of my life. I’ll miss her smile, her crazy wild dark hair, her brown eyes, and her thick southern accent. I’ll miss the way she loved her children, the way she loved her husband, and the way he loved her. I’ll miss my best friend for the rest of my life. Not a day will go by where I don’t think about her.

I’m never going to be able to sit down with Hillary and Taylor, drinking coffee, and bitching about anything and everything again. She’s never going to meet my unborn child, the child she couldn’t wait to meet. Nothing is ever going to be the same without her. I know I’m not the only one grieving, the whole MC is, Tank and Hammer, my husband, my son, my daughter, my friends, but right now, I’m heavily pregnant and hormonal, and I can’t bear this pain inside of me. The tears come thick and fast, the sobs rip through me forcefully, and I fall to my knees on the kitchen floor clutching my chest.

Arms encircle me from behind, pulling me against his big chest, Shepard tells me, “It’s okay, baby. Everything will be okay.”

How can everything be okay? Our friends are dead, and none of us even know why. What if I’d been in the car with them like planned? What if my little girl had been? All these things keep swimming through my head.

All the what if’s, and I know its stupid to think like this, but how can I not? I was supposed to go with Hillary and Titus; they were going to give me a ride home. I declined because I wanted to stay at Taylor’s and finish helping figure out party plans for Dante’s birthday next week.

After a while, my kids wrap their arms around me, a child on each side of me, and my family crowds me. I feel their love and support. I’ll get through this with them by my side, but I have to be strong for them.

I hug my kids to me. I just want to know they are safe. How can I keep them safe from the monsters out there that will do anything to hurt the MC, even if that includes killing women and children?

I kiss each of their heads in turn.

“I have to keep you safe,” I mumble to myself. I feel like I’m in a world of my own. Nothing is making sense to me right now. All I want is to keep my babies safe. They have to be safe. They’re so excited to meet their new baby brother or sister. The three of them will be close, and I will keep them safe. “I have to keep you both safe. I can’t let anyone hurt you.” I would rather die than lose my children. I won’t let anyone hurt them. I won’t!

Chapter Nine

Shepard

Lynette mumbles over and over again about keeping the kids safe. She’s holding onto them too tightly, rocking them and herself. She’s reverting into herself, and I’m scared I’m losing her to a breakdown.

What happened to Hillary and Titus was tragic, we’ll all mourn them forever, and I will make the motherfuckers who did this pay. But right now, I need to pull my wife out of this. Willow is sobbing h

er heart out, and Jett is looking to me to make this right.

“I need you both to go to your rooms.” Jett nods and tries to pull away, but Lynette holds onto him tighter, shaking her head erratically.

“Mommy,” Willow is now sobbing so hard she can hardly breathe. “It’s okay, Mommy.”

“I have to keep you safe, baby. Mommy has to keep you safe. I have to. I have to.” My heart is breaking for her. It takes me a few minutes to prize her hands off the kids, but I do it. I tell Jett to take Willow upstairs and comfort her, I’ll check on them in a short while.

Lynette is hitting out at me, yelling at me that she doesn’t want this life, she wants to leave with the kids, to take them somewhere she can keep them safe. As much as I want to argue with her that I won’t let her leave me, I can't. She’s right; i’’s too dangerous for any of them to be here right now. I can’t risk losing my wife and kids to death. That's why I’ll do what I have to do to keep them safe. Even if that means me leaving.

Lynette pulls at my cut from her seat on the floor, pulling me against her shaking body. I can’t bear any of this. I touch her swollen stomach, maybe for the last time, because I don’t know when I’ll see her again, see the kids, my unborn child. I have to send them away for their own good.

“You’re gonna be safe, Lynette, I swear it.”

“I need you to be safe, Vincent. I don’t want to lose my family.”

I hold her close, shushing her, kissing her head, and promising her that everything will work out. She sobs herself to sleep in my arms, and I carry her to bed, lay her down, and strip her to her underwear. She doesn’t even stir. She’s exhausted herself. I stroke Lynette’s hair back from her head and kiss her gently. She didn’t deserve this life, she never asked for it, I forced it on her. I put her and our children in danger. I’ll never forgive myself, but I will fix everything. “I’ll make it right, baby,”

I check in on the kids after leaving Lynette to sleep. Willow is asleep, Jett’s sitting next to her, holding her hand. I tip my head for him to follow me downstairs. I need to speak with my boy, man to man.