Chapter Twenty-Three
Chasm
I stared at the names on the list in front of me. I’d been through every scrap of paper in this office and hadn’t found shit as to why Steele and Stone had files on these women.
I had my guess about Morgan. Steele must have known she was mine. Unless he’d discovered she was King’s sister. If he had, he never said a word about it. Not to the men who stayed at least.
It was possible he’d told one or more of the men who ran when he did. The men who chose to stay were the men loyal to the club, not the man wearing the president’s patch.
They were loyal to the office as long as that office was honest with them. Respected them. Until that office, and the man who held it, betrayed them.
I still didn’t believe I deserved the patch above my name, but I’d do everything I could to honor it. I leaned back in my chair and stared out the window.
I wondered what she was doing. Not a day went by when I didn’t think about her, long for her. But she wasn’t mine, not anymore.
She belonged to O’Malley.
She belonged to King.
If she hadn’t lost the baby, I’d still have a claim. I’d have a reason to be in her life. An avenue to wear her down and make her love me again.
I still didn’t know what happened. Justin offered to hack her medical records, but I told him no. It was early in the pregnancy, so it probably said some bullshit about it just not being viable with no fucking answer as to what happened.
King knew.
He’d been there for her when I couldn’t. Held her while she cried. Comforted her when it should have been me. I wanted to fucking hate him for it. But knowing who she was now... I was thankful that he was there. I owed him a debt I couldn’t repay.
I’d never tell him that though.
The asshole could have warned me about his father. Could have given me a heads-up that the head of the fucking Mob wanted my ass dead. He didn’t have to call my VP and tell him to stand down.
I leaned forward in my chair and stared at the list again. There had to be some connection between these women. Something that linked them together.
“Hey, Prez,” Cobra said, sticking his head into church. Once I’d cleaned up the office, I had the desk moved back into church. There was no need to hide away in a room on the other side of the building.
“What’s up?”
Cobra looked back out into the main room. “Um, there’s someone here.”
I laid my arms on the desk and narrowed my eyes at him. Had O’Malley come back to finish the job?
“Who?”
“Um, two women and an Irishman.”
“Fuck!” I cursed, slapping my hand on the desk. I stood up and checked my gun, making sure it was loaded.
Cobra’s eyes went wide and he stammered over his words, “Uh... Prez? I...um...don’t think you’ll be needing that.”
I looked at the brother as I returned the gun to the holster inside my cut. “And why’s that? King call back and tell you all to let the bastard kill me?”
“No, Prez.” Cobra shook his head quickly. He looked through the door again. “It’s just… she said...”
“She said what?” I asked, stomping toward the door and pushing Cobra out of the way. I froze when I stepped into the main room.
“She said she’s your wife,” Cobra whispered.
She was here.
Standing in my clubhouse, with her mother beside her and some cocksucker behind her. A dead cocksucker if he moved any closer to my woman.
“Hi,” she said quietly.
I took a step forward and when her breath hitched, I stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
“I need to tell you something. Can we talk somewhere private?” She looked around. My brothers stood by, their glares not aimed at her but the man standing behind her. The club whores watched her with blatant hostility on their faces.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “No. Anything you need to say can be said in front of my brothers.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jenna moving closer. The bitch really had a death wish. Morgan looked at her mother, who nodded, and then turned back to me.
Her back straightened and she cast a glance at Jenna before looking me in the eye. “I’m pregnant.”
My arms dropped to my sides. I was so caught off guard that I didn’t register the touch right away. It wasn’t until I saw the hurt in Morgan’s eyes that I finally noticed the hand on my chest.
“She’s lying, baby.”
I looked down at Jenna. My hand covered hers and I yanked it away from me. “What did I fucking tell you?” I growled out. “Venom,” I shouted. “Get this bitch out of my fucking sight.”
“Come on, Jen. You know the rules.”
“But, baby, she’s lying. You said you weren’t married, and now she’s suddenly pregnant. It’s probably not even yours if she is.”
“This was a mistake.” Her words were so soft I almost didn’t hear them with the way Jenna was spouting off. “Rian, let’s go.”
“Morgan, wait.”
I rushed to her side and grabbed her hand. I wanted to place it on my chest where Jenna’s had been. Soothe the ache that she’d caused when I found out she’d slept with someone else.
“Is it true?” I asked stupidly. Of course it was true. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t. She wouldn’t have come back to me if there weren’t a baby.
I looked down at her flat belly, quickly doing the math in my head.
“How far along?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“Eleven weeks.”
My eyes narrowed, and I dropped her hand. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Jude,” her mother warned.
I looked at Bernadette Delany. Her eyes begged me to listen. But I shook my head. It had only been eight weeks since I was with Morgan, maybe nine. Not eleven. Eleven was too long. Eleven meant she had been with someone else.
I looked at the man behind her, taking a step forward. Was it him? Was he the motherfucker who’d gotten my woman pregnant? Morgan’s hand on my chest stopped me. I turned my head just in time to see a tear slip down her cheek.
She didn’t have a fucking right to cry. She was the one who fucking cheated.
Again!
“Why are you here?”
“Because I thought you would want to know.”
I stepped back, letting her hand fall away from me. “Want to know? Why the fuck would I want to know?” I ground out, taking another step back. I grunted out a laugh as I shook my head. “I fucked you and left, so you come here to what? Get me back?”
I looked at the man behind her again. His eyes were hard. Hatred directed at me. “That’s right, asshole. I fucked her. She loved every goddamn minute of it.”
“Rian, don’t,” Morgan said, placing a hand on his chest when he stepped forward.
“Jude, don’t be an asshole,” her mother said. “She came here to tell you about your baby.”
“It’s not my fucking baby. I wasn’t with her eleven weeks ago.”
Every muscle in my body was tense—strung out with the effort it took not to fall apart. I rubbed my hand over my chest. The phantom pain from the scars never went away, but it was always more intense when I felt the cold betrayal of someone I once loved.
Someone I still loved made it worse.
Morgan’s mother sighed. “The first two weeks don’t count.”
“What?”
What the fuck was she talking about?
“You know, for someone so smart, you’re fucking dumb,” Morgan snapped.
My head twisted around to glare at her. “What?”
“Prez, maybe you should take this into church,” B suggested as he hovered at my shoulder.
“Why?”
“Because you aren’t looking too good right now.”
I spun around and faced my VP. “What the fuck are you talking about? She fucking cheated, not me,” I shouted, pointing at my wife.
“I’m done!” Morgan spat. “I tried, Mom.”
Morgan turned and marched toward the front door, Rian right behind her like a fucking lovesick puppy. But before she could stomp out of my life for good, Venom and Krypto stepped in front of the door.
Morgan crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Do you think you scare me? I assume you know who my father is?” She peered at me over her shoulder. “Who my brother is?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
She turned back to Krypto. “Then move.”
“Can’t do that, Ma’am,” Venom said, his eyes filled with apology.
What the actual fuck?!
“Let her go,” I ordered.
“Don’t either of you fucking move,” Smokey said from the bar.
“What the fuck, Smoke?!” I looked around the room.
“You all voted. You all practically begged on your fucking knees for me to be your president and you don’t listen for shit.
You didn’t have my fucking back when O’Malley clocked me, and now you want the woman who fucking cheated on me to stay? Fuck this!”
“WHAT?!” Morgan yelled from across the room. “My father was here?” She turned her anger on Rian. “Did you know?” The man had the sense to look ashamed when he nodded.
She closed her eyes, and I knew that look. The one that said she couldn’t take anymore.
“I can’t do this anymore.” She looked at her mother. “I can’t. It’s too fucking much.”
“I’ll call him,” Bernadette offered.
“No.” She looked at me. “You really want to do this here? In front of everyone?”
“Why the fuck not?” I asked, throwing my hands out.
“Fine.” She marched over and stood in front of me. “I didn’t fucking cheat on you.” She dug her finger into my chest as she said it. “You were dead. DEAD!” she shouted. “As in never coming back. You have no idea what I went through.”
She took a deep breath, and I was second-guessing my decision to air this out in front of my men. “Let’s talk in church,” I said as I reached for her.
“No. You wanted to do this here; we’ll do this here.
” She smiled at me, and I cringed inside.
I was a fucking dead man. “It was two years after you died. I was with one person a handful of times because I was trying to make myself feel something other than pain and grief. But it didn’t fucking work.
So I haven’t been with anyone else but you! This baby is yours.”
I knew what she was saying was true. I could see it in her eyes, but instead of asking the question of how, I doubled down and made it worse.
“Eleven weeks ago, I was in Nebraska, saving your brother’s fucking life. So explain to me how I fucking got you pregnant from hundreds of miles away.”
“Pregnancy starts on the day of my last period. Not the day of conception. Didn’t you pay attention in health class?” She leaned her head to the side and smiled. “Or did they not have health class when you were a kid?”
“Morgan,” I warned.
“I haven’t been with anyone since Gunner. Years, Jude. I wasn’t on birth control because I wasn’t fucking anyone. And you didn’t use a fucking condom.”
I stared at her. Her words didn’t make sense. But hearing her talk about Gunner, the Sons of Hell VP, had a cloud of rage hovering over my head, making it impossible to comprehend anything.
“What the fuck are you saying?”
She let out a tired sigh. “I’m saying the baby is only nine weeks old. They add the two weeks before you get pregnant to the pregnancy. Why, I have no idea.”
“Nine weeks?” I whispered, looking down at her.
“Almost out of the first trimester,” she said quietly. She dug into her purse and pulled out a picture. She stared at it for a moment, then thrust it at me. “Here.”