Chapter 26 – Magnum
Chapter Twenty-Six
Magnum
Ilet her fall asleep in my arms without telling me that she loves me and wake up before she does, holding Damara’s warm body against my slow-breathing chest.
Damara won’t say that she loves me, but her ass still throbs from her freshly inked tattoo and until that tattoo heals, I will allow this pink-haired temptress a grace period before pressuring her about the state of our relationship.
I know she does, even if the words don’t slip out so easily because Damara’s life has been filled with hurt and pain before she knew me.
I know it’s hard for her to believe everything will be different with the baby, but I will do everything in my power to make our lives different.
She can pursue the career of her dreams and I know that will only make us stronger.
I don’t fear this pink-haired creature’s strength…
as badly as I sometimes want to tame it.
She falls asleep with her butt against my thigh and her pregnant tummy sticking out like a little baby-filled hump.
The closer we get to her due date, the more scared I should get.
This will be completely unfamiliar territory for me.
Damara awakens slowly as I stroke her hair and twirl a few pink strands around my fingers.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand why she chooses to have bright hair that attracts attention like a beacon, but it makes her stand out even more than she already does with her figure and her vibrant mahogany-toned skin.
“You’re… my… butt cheek…” Damara mutters in her sleep, wriggling her ass against my thigh as she unconsciously nestles against me. I kiss her cheek as I slide out of bed. Mornings like this one, I wonder if I want to know the truth.
Whoever initiated Damara’s drugging and led her to my lair might not have had the best intentions.
They didn’t expect us to fall into bed together or to embrace this new child.
Or did they? Aside from tricking Damara into my bed, there’s been nothing else to suggest some nefarious or larger overarching plot.
Even if the culprit were lying in wait for something to happen…
How would me and Damara having a baby help or hurt anyone in the club?
This all just feels like… a distraction. It feels like extreme lengths to create a diversion, so I don’t like that explanation either.
Do I have to solve every mystery? I heap an extra scoop of coffee into my coffeemaker before turning on the electric kettle to make Damara some of that specialty tea she ordered. There’s something un-American and gross about tea but… I have snuck a few sips of the mint flavor and it’s not terrible.
My phone rings. Far too early in the morning.
“What is it?”
It’s Deacon Hollingsworth. I can’t think of a good reason off the top of my head why he would contact me this early in the morning. I can’t think of why he would need to talk to me in the first place.
“I have someone in my custody who you might want to meet with.”
Deacon sounds serious, but there’s not much information in that statement and he can’t be serious about expecting me to leave Santa Fe to drive all the way out to his place. “Out in Texas?”
He pauses, like he can’t believe I’m questioning him. Typical Deacon. “Yes.”
“I can’t drive all the way out to Texas. I’m in Santa Fe with Damara.”
Impatient, he continues, “Yes. I know you’re with Tamiya’s sister and I know she’s pregnant. Wyatt has everybody working overtime to solve this, so the least you could do is drive out to Texas.”
He can’t really expect me to leave Damara out here, can he? I can’t stand the thought of leaving her pregnant and vulnerable.
“If I take my car, I’ll be a little longer but I can bring Damara.”
“Fine. Bring her. I don’t care. Just get here as soon as possible. I have information about who might have drugged the two of you but… I don’t want that shit getting out before I figure out what to do.”
I want this asshole to talk now – none of the bullshit. But Zebulon isn’t right in the head and he has plenty of capacity to end a life if you get on his bad side. Like most of the Blackwood men, he isn’t exactly right in the head.
“Who is it?”
I know he won’t tell me. He has all the power here and if he wants me to go off to Texas instead of somewhere else, the smartest play he can make is keeping the information to himself. That motherfucker is too smart for his own good.
“I’ll see you in a while.”
Deacon hangs up on me and I pack a bag for myself and Damara while she sleeps. Once I’m done, I wake her up with that cup of tea (which I had to remake) and give her the bad news – we’re going to Texas.
“I don’t want to go to Texas.”
“Are you crazy?”
“No,” Damara says, flipping her pink wavy ringlets out of her face. “I’m not crazy at all. I’m pregnant and comfortable here.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
I can tell this pink-haired demon woman is about to put her foot down and I don’t like it. I don’t want to be the bad guy here, but if I have to toss her ass in the back seat of my GMC Sierra and tie her down to get her to Texas, I’m willing to be the bad guy.
“I’m not in the position to handle more bad news, Magnum,” Damara says.
“You’re full of shit.”
“How long is it going to take us to get to Texas? Will we have to stay overnight somewhere?”
“What the hell are you so worried about?”
“Nothing.”
“You sound worried.”
“I’m not.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a case in Texas. Or an ex-boyfriend.”
Damara gets irrationally upset with me. “If I had an ex-boyfriend in Texas, how the hell would he find me in like… one of the biggest states. Use your brain, Magnum.”
“So it’s the cops, then.”
Damara’s voice gets higher. “When the hell did I say that? Please tell me when I said that.”
I can tell that she thinks getting loud with me will stop me from pushing her to be honest with me for once without me having to tie her ass up, but it won’t work.
I’m not afraid of her loud mouth or even her hands coming at my face.
She can try to beat my ass up all she wants.
That won’t stop me from loving this pink-haired she-devil.
“Maybe you would accept that I loved you if you would tell me the fucking truth about something and give me a chance to prove to you that I’m not going to hurt you or abandon you.”
“You got me pregnant!” She yells.
“And that wasn’t my choice. But I’m doing everything in my power to look after you and take care of this fucking situation, so please Damara… be patient.”
“You could have slipped me an abortion pill instead of a pregnancy test,” she says, reaching out her hand to slap me, which I should have seen coming. I grab her hand and press it to my lips, which only pisses Damara off more.
“Stop it!”
“Stop what? Treating you like a human being, even if we both got thrown into this situation?”
“I don’t want to go to Texas.”
“If you have a warrant, you’d better tell me now because like it or not, sweet cheeks… we’re going to Texas.”
She glares even harder, if that were even possible. “If you call me sweet cheeks again, I’m going to bite on you like a rabid raccoon.”
“I’d like that,” I reply, grinning from ear to ear. “I’d get rock hard if you sank your teeth into me.”
“I hate you.” I want to act like it doesn’t hurt like a punch to the gut when she tells me that she hates me, especially since it rolls off her tongue.
But it hurts. I want so much for Damara to feel something for me other than hatred, especially since she’s getting more and more pregnant with our child.
“I already packed you a bag. Let’s find out who bound us together for life,” I respond to her sassy comment without rising to the obvious verbal challenge.
“This won’t change things between us,” she says. “A road trip to Texas won’t make me wake up and suddenly love you.”
I want to take that as a challenge. Maybe I should force the trip to take two to three days and ignore Deacon’s calls. Three days with just me and my tongue might make Damara crazy enough to agree to something even crazier than our first contract…
I maintain my outward stoicism.
“Great. Do you have anything else you need to tell me?” I ask her calmly. Damara spooks easily. I have to keep her nice and calm if I want her to be even a little bit compliant.
“Yes,” Damara says with a sigh. “I have warrants in Texas. Three. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”