Jet nodded, as if he knew exactly what I was talking about. “When? Where?” I told him the time and that I had to go to the hospital for the scan. He nodded again and stepped back. “Okay.”
That was all he said before he turned and walked back toward the bar. Okay. Not ‘I’ll see you there’ or even ‘go fuck yourself, Flick’. Just okay. Feeling defeated—because what had I really been expecting from him anyway? —I put the Jeep in gear and headed home.
Jet
Pregnant.
She was fucking pregnant.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or punch a hole through the wall. I’d spent the last week doing both. One minute I was laughing—the kind of laugh you expect a lunatic to have right before he tortured some helpless bastard to death. Then the laugh would turn into a genuine one, because in all honesty I was kind of happy about Flick being pregnant. It gave me that tie to her that I’d been fighting myself over for so many damn years it was ridiculous. I wasn’t proud of myself for having wanted my baby sister’s best friend since she’d turned sixteen. I’d nearly beaten a man to death when he’d told me he’d felt the same way about my sister. How did that make me any better?
Thinking of Bash Reid only pissed me off. I didn’t know if I was angrier with myself, or Bash, who had left town as soon as he could. Myself. Yeah, myself. Bash had his demons to face, I knew that. He wouldn’t have just left my sister without a good reason. The fucker had taken the beating like a man, making me respect the motherfucker for it. It had shown me just how much he loved Raven. No, he wouldn’t have left without a good reason.
I was pissed off at myself because I hadn’t had the balls to tell Flick that I loved her. Every time I thought of what a pussy I’d been, pushing her away to avoid my own feelings, I put my fist through a wall. It was keeping Uncle Chaz and his construction boys in business, constantly having to patch up the holes I was making at home, work, even the damn clubhouse. No one gave me shit about it though. I figured they knew better than to ask why I was putting my fist through a solid wall. No doubt they realized that I wouldn’t think twice about putting that same bruised and bloodied fist through the back of their heads.
Flick’s appointment had been the day before, and I hadn’t gone. No. That was a lie. I’d gone. Sat in the hospital parking lot and watched as Flick had walked inside for her scan. I’d stayed in my car as I waited for her to come out forty-seven minutes later and hadn’t moved until I’d seen her drive away. Even from where I’d been parked, well away from Flick so she wouldn’t see me practically stalking her, I’d seen the smile on her beautiful face as she’d stared down at a shiny piece of paper.
Was that a picture of our baby? Was that bittersweet smile for our kid? Did she love it already?
Muttering a curse as those same questions drifted through my head yet again, I picked up a bottle of Jameson from behind the bar and opened it as I took a seat on one of the stools in front of the bar top. The place was empty and would stay that way for a few more hours. My brothers and Raven wouldn’t even be in for another two hours to get the place ready for Church that night. I figured I’d be good and drunk by then and wouldn’t be tempted to put my fist through another wall before then.
I was a third of the way through the bottle when I heard the door behind me open. Turning, I found Uncle Jack, Razor, and Uncle Chaz entering the bar with my best friend and VP, Westcliffe. I didn’t want company—especially Westcliffe’s—right then. He was the one who had told me I should end it with Flick in the first place. He’d gotten into my head, made me think that I was no good for her.
It was probably the truth, but fucking hell, I didn’t want it to be.
With a good buzz going right then, I wanted to put my fist through his face. What the fuck had I been thinking, letting Flick go in the first place. I loved that female. Fucking loved her. Shit, I was a pussy. I needed to tell her that I loved her…
Uncle Jack grabbed my bottle of Jameson and headed back to the Originals’ booth in the back. The others followed him and after a few minutes of sitting there, mentally screaming at myself for not telling Flick I loved her, I finally stood and went back to see what the old fuckers wanted. Jack, Chaz, and Razor didn’t just show up without a reason. Not when there would be Church to attend in a few hours.
Gritting my teeth, I pulled a chair from a nearby table and took my place with them. Four pairs of eyes narrowed on me, but no one spoke a word, waiting for me to do the talking. I dragged a hand over my face, feeling the scruff of a week’s worth of beard on my jaw.
“I knocked Flick up,” I muttered, admitting my sin.
There was a long pause from the three old men, as if they were sizing me up for the first time since I’d stepped into my father’s shoes as the Angel’s Halo MC president. Westcliffe sat up a little straighter, his narrowed eyes turning colder. What the fuck was his deal anyway? I was getting sick and tired of his shit where Flick was concerned lately. He was the only one who had even known that I was sneaking around with Flick. I’d thought I could trust him with that, but he’d done nothing but bust my balls and give me shit over it from the second I’d told him.
Ignoring the VP, I turned my gaze to Uncle Jack. He’d been like a second father to me all my life. My father’s best friend and the Club’s VP up until Mad Max Hannigan had met the Angel of Death. He should have been the one to take the president’s spot, but he’d wanted a younger generation to take over the running of the Club.
Uncle Jack’s whiskey-brown eyes were a mixture of disapproval and amusement. A strange combination to see in anyone’s eyes, anyone but Uncle Jack’s. “So wife her.”
“Yeah, fuckhead. Wife that female.” Razor picked up the bottle of Jameson and chugged it long and deep before slamming the bottle back on the table. “Or I’m gonna fuck you up. Clear?”
I blinked, not sure if I was hearing him right with my buzz still going strong. Marry Flick? I hadn’t thought of that. Marriage had been the furthest thing from my mind. Sure, I loved that female, but did I really want to get married? I could make her my ol’ lady without making her my wife, damn it.
Uncle Chaz lifted his hands, placing them flat on the table as he glared at me. “Flick’s a good girl, boy. You make this right. Or we bring the enforcer in on this.”
I reached for the bottle of whiskey and took a long swallow as I contemplated what the old fucker had just said. Not even as the Club’s president was I exempt from the enforcer. It kept the president from getting too big of a head. Since Bash had left, a new one had been appointed. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that they wouldn’t bring Spider into this, but that didn’t mean I was going to jump up and go ask Flick to marry me right then and there. It might seem a little extreme to bring an enforcer in on this, but I knew they cared about Flick and wanted what was best for her. She didn’t have a father figure to look out for her like I looked out for Raven.
“I will,” I assured the three Originals. “Just give me some time.”
Uncle Jack nodded. “Sure, boy. Take your time. But you best have your ring on the girl’s finger before she has that kid, or you’re gonna meet your kid for the first time in a body cast.”
Felicity
Three weeks. I hadn’t seen Jet in three weeks. I figured I wouldn’t see him for longer than that. It was okay, though. I was okay. I didn’t need him to help with the baby. We’d be just fine without him.
Didn’t mean I wasn’t hurting over his lack of interest in his own kid. Didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed at his not even showing up for the scan I’d had two weeks before. I hadn’t gone looking for him though, and I wasn’t going to. He wasn’t worth my time anymore. I’d done my duty, told him about the baby. That was all he got from me.
My morning sickness was thankfully starting to fade. I’d spent the majority of the last three weeks with my head in a toilet, either at home or at school. Those were the only places I went these days, the only places I knew I wouldn’t chance running into Jet. Now that the morning si