Chapter One
Bella
“You look even more beautiful pregnant,” I tell my cousin Julianna, placing my hand on her small bump. I know some women don’t like this, but Julianna told me I’m always welcome. She is so happy and in love with her husband, Romeo, and the two of them are the ultimate power couple, uniting the Angels and Devils motorcycle clubs and somehow running them both together. I don’t know how they do it, but they make it work.
Sure, it hasn’t been perfect. The Angels still stay in their clubhouse, and the Devils in theirs, but slowly the clubs are integrating. Julianna frequents both, making her new title as the first female president known in the MC world, with Romeo at her back.
They are perfect for each other.
I’m not one to compare relationships, but seeing where they are compared with where River and I are is a little depressing. River and I are still casually dating—exclusively, as far as I’m aware—but we are no way near as committed to each other as Julianna and Romeo.
To be fair, their courtship was fast. They went from meeting to married faster than a hockey season.
But River and me? Not anything more than just sleeping together, really.
In fact, I haven’t even spoken to River in two days.
Two entire fucking days.
Now, I don’t think of myself as a clingy person, but surely that is not normal.
He goes off and does his thing, and comes back to me when he’s able to, or when he feels like it. At the start, it was good, because there was no pressure there, and after just turning down a proposal from my ex-boyfriend, Mark, I wasn’t looking for anything serious. But then I met River, the sparks flew and I knew I didn’t want to be with anyone else.
But River, he’s a wild one.
He does what he wants, when he wants.
And it was so damn exciting at first.
But now it’s been over a year, and we are still in the same place. He’s still doing whatever he wants, but somehow that’s starting to not work for me. I didn’t want any pressure on the two of us, but after encouraging that we keep things casual, we haven’t made any progress in our relationship. I still don’t feel like I even really know him. He doesn’t really bring me around his family, he hasn’t met mine. We haven’t even discussed living together or getting a dog. Nor have we discussed marriage and kids somewhere down the line.
Our mouths seem to be doing other things whenever we see each other.
“Thank you.” Julianna beams over at me. She smooths down her floral dress and looks over her back garden. “I’m going to be honest, I feel so unprepared for this baby, like I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m just winging it.”
“You’ll be fine—you have me, and all of the MC to support you,” I say.
She nods. “That’s true. I don’t know what I’d do without you all. How’s everything with you? How’s Sally working out in the office?”
Since Julianna stepped up as president of the Angels, she gave me the Callisto real estate empire to manage. Between her sisters, Rosalind and Veronica, who she isn’t close with after the drama over the last few months, she couldn’t trust anyone else not to sink the business. So we hired new staff and Sally is my new right-hand woman.
“She’s good. Fast learner. Sweet,” I answer honestly, while looking at the ten emails she’s sent me since this morning. The girl is good, but she asks me a million questions, all in individual emails or texts.
“But...” Julianna fishes.
I sigh. “But she’s not you.”
Julianna smiles. “No one is me, but you need the help. I’ll try to come in at least once a week until the baby arrives. I hear there are a few more properties coming in to purchase, including the infamous Lansdale property. I can’t believe we finally got that one! I have been eyeing it for the last three years!”
“I know. I kept schmoozing with the seller’s real estate agent—a little flirting never hurt—and out of the blue I got a call that they were ready to close. But it needs to happen within the week, or they will be going another direction.”
“Good. That will put us way past our goals for the year. Have you vetted the sellers? The financials?”
“Yup, the Julianna Callisto system is in full effect.” I give her a captain’s salute.
She laughs. “Good. How’s everything else?”
I take a sip of the soda she gave me, wondering how to answer this one. “Things in general are pretty good. Things with River, I don’t know. I haven’t even seen or heard from him in two days. Have you?”
She lifts her eyebrows. “Yeah, I saw him at the Devils clubhouse yesterday. He was running some errands for Romeo, I think. River is unpredictable, Bella. I did tell you this.”
“I know,” I agree on a sigh. I believe that she used the word dangerous when she was warning me. And he might be that, but never with me. “I think me and him need to have a conversation.”
“Sounds like it.” She nods, picking up and opening a jar of pickles and drinking the juice out of it, making me laugh. “I’ve been literally eating nothing but pickles for days now. I can’t get enough of them, don’t judge me.”
“No judgment here,” I reply, hiding my smirk. “I’m surprised you aren’t eating them with the candy and sauce, like the viral challenge.”
She pauses. “I haven’t seen that. Whatever it is, I need it.”
While she’s searching Chamoy pickle on her phone, my mind wanders back to River. There’s so much I still don’t know about him, and I guess his mysteriousness drew me in at first. He’s an enigma. I’ve never met a man like him before, and I think for the rest of the world that’s probably a good thing. He’s wild. Extremely intelligent. And charming.
What a dangerous mix.
Dangerous.
There’s that word again.
I’d be lying if I say it doesn’t excite me. I am in the Angels MC, after all.
But I’d also be lying if I say it doesn’t scare the shit out of me. While I may have Angel MC in my blood, I’m not used to dating men like River. I know he’s an enforcer, but I haven’t really explored what that means, exactly. Ignorance is bliss and all.
Speak of the devil, his name pops up on my phone. “He’s finally calling me.”
Julianna takes the phone from me. “Let me answer. Hello?” she says, in the manliest voice she can muster, which isn’t very convincing. Oh, shit. I cover my hand with my mouth. “Who am I? Who are you? Bella is busy.”
She ends the call and turns to me. “See, now you won’t have to wonder where he is anymore, because trust me, he’s going to come looking for you.”
I shake my head at her. “I can’t believe you did that. He’s going to be pissed.”
She shrugs, unbothered. “Sometimes men need to have a little fear in them, or they get too comfortable and take you for granted. He shouldn’t go missing for days on end without communicating with you.” She pauses. “Unless you’re into that. I could see the benefits.”
“Well, this is going to be interesting,” I murmur, smirking. “He’s not even calling back.”
She laughs. “Nah, he’ll be climbing on his bike right now, trust me. And since you’re not at home, then he’s going to get even angrier.”
Fifteen minutes pass before Julianna’s phone rings.
“Yes?” she says, sounding sweet as ever.
“Where’s Bella? She’s not at home,” I can hear River growl.
She looks over at me with wide eyes, and I shrug. This is her game—she can play it as she sees fit. I’m finding the whole thing amusing, because I doubt anyone plays with River like this.
No one would have the balls.
“What’s that? You’re cutting out,” she says, making some static noise with her mouth, and then presses End Call.
“Brutal,” I say, amused. “Being pregnant has brought out your villain era, and I’m here for it.”
She laughs, rubbing her belly. “I do feel a little untouchable right now. But also quite vulnerable. It’s weird. Like I’m strong but weak at the same time. I’m growing a person inside of me, but if someone chased me, I probably wouldn’t make it very far.”
“No one would get close enough to you even if they were trying to chase after you,” I muse, reaching for a carrot stick on the platter in front of me. “You’d have two MCs jumping in between. Trust me, you’re the safest woman on the earth.”
“So are you,” she replies, reaching out and taking my hand. “River would do anything to protect you. And his anything would have no limits.”
We share a smile, but it drops the second we hear a motorcycle ride into the driveway.
“That’s him.” I’d know the sound of his bike anywhere.
“Ever the protector.” Julianna glances around and wrinkles her nose. “Wait, you guys aren’t going to have sex out here, are you?” She stands up and smirks. “I can go hide in my room.”
I roll my eyes at her. “We are not having sex at your house!”
She laughs and moves to head inside. “Guess I better let the beast inside.”
“I’ll get it, he’s my beast,” I mutter in a dry tone. “You sit and relax.”
She leans back into her seat and picks up her drink. Which of course happens to be pickle juice. “Good luck.”
After closing the sliding door behind me, I go to the front door and open it, coming face-to-face with the man I’ve fallen in love with. He’s in all-black leather, his gloves still on, his hand still up in the air ready to knock again. Blue eyes the color of the ocean narrow, and the air around him is thick. He’s angry, but he’s controlling himself.
“What game are you playing, Bella?” he asks, teeth clenched. He pulls me against his cut and lifts my face up to him, cupping my cheek a little rougher than necessary.
“It wasn’t me, it was—”
He lifts me up and throws me over his shoulder. “Julianna, we’re going! Romeo is on his way home now!”
“Okay, bye,” she calls back, her amused voice getting closer as she locks the door behind us.
And then I’m placed on the back of his bike, a helmet slid on my head. I hold on to him as he starts the engine, and then takes off without a word.
His body is tense, but you know what?
The conversation we’re about to have has been a long time coming.
But I’m more than ready for it.
And even though he’s angry as fuck at me, he still reaches back to rest the heel of his palm on my thigh when we stop at the lights.
And that’s just one reason I’m fighting for us.