Love Betrayal

Chapter Twelve

River

After a beautiful seafood dinner, we take a walk and then head back to the clubhouse. Things have been quiet here, a little too quiet, and we can’t help but continuously look over our shoulders. Cathy is still gone, and we don’t know if she’s planning something or is just living her elderly life somewhere.

I wonder if she knows the truth about Andrew.

She seems to have known everything.

I know I should speak to Romeo about finding out the truth of my father. I just don’t want things to change, and I know the second it all comes out, it will. I guess I’m just pushing it to the side until I’m ready to deal with it. I can’t lie that it’s not weighing heavily on me, and I just don’t know how to react to learning this information.

“Where is everyone?” Bella asks as we step inside a seemingly empty clubhouse.

“They went out for a ride,” I explain, taking her hand and leading her inside. “Do you want anything from the kitchen?”

She touches her stomach. “No, thank you.”

I pull her against me and pin her to the wall for a kiss before we hear the rumbling of the motorcycles, and it’s not long before the men are piling back inside. Romeo steps in first, surrounded by a whole lot of leather cuts and boots.

“Are we interrupting?” he asks with a smirk. He turns to Bella and winks. “I’m just going to go and pick Julianna up from her parents’ house. She’ll be happy that you’re here. She’s been wanting to get you to try some pickle thing you told her about. Apparently it’s her favorite thing ever.”

Bella laughs, and I could watch her do it all day. Her gray eyes light up and fill with so much fucking joy that I feel happy. “I thought she would like it,” she replies, turning to Jeremiah with a smile. “And how are you?”

“Good,” he replies, looking to me, then back to her. “Thank you for that bottle of scotch you got me for my birthday—it was delicious.”

“You drank it all already?” she asks, amusement in her tone.

“Nope, but it’s about halfway through. I had a little help,” he replies, looking over at Jag, who shrugs.

“It was good, can confirm,” the prospect adds. “Want to try some?”

Bella surprises me by replying with a “Sure” and then heading to the bar with the men without even checking to see if I’m even following.

They like her, and she likes them, and although a little bit of me wants to keep her to myself, it’s important that she feels comfortable here, and that the men care for her. Because if anything ever happened to me, I’d trust them to look out for her and take care of her.

Jeremiah pours her a glass on the rocks as she takes a seat. “For you, my lady.” He then pours me and Jag one. “And for the gentlemen.”

Bella lifts her glass up for a cheers before taking a sip. “To the Devils and Angels MC.”

We all clink.

“Yeah, okay this is pretty good,” she admits, licking her lips. “It’s strong.” She turns to me and adds, “Yeah, yum. I have good taste.”

I reach out and touch the back of her neck. If she keeps being so fucking cute, this socializing is going to end real fast, because I’m going to be dragging her back to my bed where I’m going to keep her for the rest of the night.

About an hour later Julianna appears, hugging Bella from behind. “Nice to see you, cousin.”

“You, too,” Bella replies, smiling widely. “River and I had the best dinner—you have to go there and try the food.”

Julianna turns to me. “Since when does River know all the good spots?”

“Since I have a woman who loves to eat,” I reply, gently squeezing Bella’s nape before letting go.

Hot, Julianna mouths to her.

Romeo spots her and comes over, holding a bag full of...pickles?

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Bella comments, putting her empty glass down and laughing. “I can’t believe you went and bought all of that.”

Julianna takes the bag from Romeo and gives us a play-by-play on how best to eat them, and Romeo and I look at each other in amusement.

And that’s the thing about love.

He’d let her talk about pickles all fucking day without making one penis joke.

While Bella, Jag and Jeremiah get dragged into trying Julianna’s creation, Romeo and I find ourselves in the kitchen alone.

“Still no word of Grandma Cathy,” he says, stretching his neck from side to side. “She’s probably right under our noses watching Grandpa Johnny with his new girlfriend, Libby, waiting to get her revenge.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” I admit, opening the fridge and getting out two bottles of water. I know Bella likes to sleep with one next to her in case she wakes up thirsty. “I don’t think we should underestimate her. I thought I saw someone following me after leaving Bella’s house tonight, but I lost them. Silver car. I don’t know if I was being paranoid or not, but I’m going to keep an eye out.”

“Yeah, we don’t know if there’s another hit out for us.” Romeo nods, taking a swig of his beer and closing his eyes for a few seconds. “And with Julianna being pregnant, my blood pressure is fucking high, I need to make sure she’s safe at all times.”

“She will be,” I promise him. “Any of us would do anything to keep her and the baby safe, you know that.”

“I do. And I don’t care how stressed I get as long as she doesn’t need to be. I just want her to have a happy and worry-free pregnancy.”

“She is,” I say, lip twitching. “She wouldn’t be going on about fucking pickles with candy and sauce on them if she wasn’t having an enjoyable pregnancy. She knows that you have it covered, no matter what.”

He smiles. “Good. I read that whatever she feels, the baby does. So I don’t want her to be sad or angry or worried. She just needs to be happy and in her bubble, and I’ll do the rest.”

“The baby will be the happiest baby ever,” I say, slapping him on the shoulder.

“This is some good shit,” I hear Jag proclaim loudly, followed by the women’s laughter. It’s been many years since we’ve taken in new prospects, since we usually keep it in the family, but Romeo thought it might be good to add in some fresh meat, and apparently Jag is someone we want on our side. Not only is he a hacker, he’s also ex Special Forces. Although looking at him, you’d never be able to tell. He’s always happy, and not someone I would peg as being extremely intelligent and skilled.

No offense to him.

“I like him,” Romeo announces with a grin. “He adds good value.” When I hesitate, he adds, “What? You don’t like him? Is it because he tried to hit on Bella at the party? Jeremiah told me he didn’t know she was yours...”

He pulls me back, laughing, as I move to storm out there and beat the shit out of him. Okay, that doesn’t sound right, but that fucker! Not that I can blame him.

My woman is perfection.

When I step back into the room, Jag is laughing at something that Julianna is saying and Bella all but jumps into my arms.

I almost forget why I was going to murder that bastard.

Almost.

“You didn’t tell me Jag tried to hit on you?” I say gently, lifting my eyes and pinning him with my stare.

He puts his hands in the air. “I didn’t know, River. And as soon as I did, trust me, I backed away. I just saw a pretty girl and tried to shoot my shot. You can’t blame me.”

“It’s true,” Bella says, pulling me away from Jag and down the hallway. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He should know better,” I growl.

She rolls her eyes and opens my bedroom door. “He does now.”

The second we are locked inside, I wrap her in my arms and kiss her. She sighs contentedly, “I love you, River.”

“I love you, too,” I say, looking her in the eyes, so she knows how much I mean it. “I love you so much.” I pick her up and lay her back on the black sheets. “Let me show you just how much.”

I don’t know how she got into my icy cold heart, but when I do love, it’s with an intensity that might scare some.

But not her.

She was made for me.