Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
JOHNNY “HAWK” MANN
The sun still isn’t up yet when we arrive back at the clubhouse, but going back to bed isn’t an option—not after that clusterfuck of a meeting. I check on Jo, then make my way back to the common area. Maverick is behind the bar, and Shady is across the room. They haven’t said a word to one another since we left the barn. One brother is happy about the prospect of an illegitimate sister, the other not so much.
I take a seat at the bar, and scrub a hand over my face. With everything going on, I haven’t shared the news of Jo’s pregnancy, and it’s eating away at me.
“Trouble?” Maverick questions from behind the bar. He plucks a bottle of Sambucca from the shelf, inspecting the label for a second. Once he seems satisfied with whatever it is he’s searching for, he blindly pours a shot into his coffee.
“This coming from the guy who is spiking his coffee.”
“I have a sister I didn’t know existed, and Shady’s already planning a family fucking reunion. Not to mention, everything else that’s stacked on my shoulders with Bishop’s kid missing and this newfound alliance you’ve drummed up between us and the Grizzlies.” He finishes pouring his shot and lowers the bottle onto the bar. Reaching for his coffee mug, he lifts it to his lips, and holds it there for a moment, his eyes meeting mine from over the rim. “Thanks for that, by the way. They teach you how to be a peacemaker while you were at war?”
He doesn’t wait for me to reply as he takes a sip of his coffee, cringing slightly at alcohol laced coffee works its way down his throat. Lowering the mug, he shakes his head like he’s trying to shake away the taste. “God, that’s awful.”
“I think you’re supposed to put a lemon peel in there too.” At least that’s what I saw Wolf do when they arrived at the clubhouse. He sent Bash on a wild goose chase for lemons in the middle of the night. When the guy finally returned, Wolf parked his ass at the bar and fixed himself an espresso. Like Maverick, he added a shot of Sambucca, but then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocketknife, expertly using the blade to peel the lemon. He dropped the rind into the mug and knocked it back like it was a glass of water. Maybe that’s the trick.
Maverick glares at me as he lifts the mug.
“Didn’t know you were an expert.”
I shake my head and pocket my phone.
“No expert. Just observant.”
He lets it go, and forces down another sip.
“What made you go to the campsite again?”
I shrug my shoulders and make my way to the other end of the bar where Holly swapped out the Keurig for one of those old school urns. With the guys in from New York, the single-serve machine just wasn’t cutting it.
“Went back the night before too. Took one of the dogs out there to see if he could track a sent. I guess I just couldn’t let it go,” I say, plucking a Styrofoam cup from the stack next to the urn. Mav might be too good for coffee in a disposable cup, but I ain’t. Not to mention Holly’s enforced a strict dishwashing rule with all the extra bodies floating around this place the last few days.
You use it, you clean it.
I fill the Styrofoam cup to the rim with coffee.
“Jo’s pregnant,” I share. No one said a word to me about Jo after Andrew’s funeral. I’m sure they had their ideas about what had happened in the days between Andrew’s death and his funeral—Holly had all but declared her family—but for whatever reason, no one asked any questions. Not when I decided to spend half my time at her apartment instead of the clubhouse, and now when she emerged from my room on the weekends. Leftie set an extra plate for breakfast, and everyone carried on as if it was no big deal.
They knew I was a private guy.
Hell, until Jo—I had never brought a girl back to the clubhouse. Sure, they’ve seen me have my fair share of pussy. For fuck’s sake this place used to be crawling with porn stars when Mav and Holly were apart, and Lord knows I wasn’t above having my dick sucked by a trade professional. But Jo fell into a different category. She wasn’t a whore passed around from brother to brother. She was just mine.
And it was only a matter of time before I claimed her to my club.
I guess the time has come.
I take a sip of my coffee and turn to face him. “It wasn’t planned, and I’ve been struggling since she told me,” I confess. “Never thought I’d have kids.”
“You’re preaching to the converted, brother. Until Holly told me she was pregnant with Tara, kids weren’t on my radar. Then before I knew it, she was here. The doctor put that pink bundle in my arms and all I could wonder is how I ever lived a single day without her.” He shakes his head at the memory. “I would’ve had a dozen kids, just to keep feeling that.”
“How come you didn’t?”
Maverick pushes his mug away, and sighs.
“Well, for one, kids are fucking expensive. Holly and I were a lot younger than you when she got pregnant with Tara. By the time Shepard came along, we were in a better place financially, but I had just taken the gavel.”
He stares at me quietly for a beat.
“You still struggling with the news?”
I lift the cup to my lips, taking another sip. When I lower it back to the bar, I meet his gaze.
“I have my moments. This situation we’re currently in is fucking with me,” I admit. “I just keep picturing myself in Bishop’s shoes. I’d lose my fucking shit if someone ever fucked with my kid, Maverick, and in our business, there are no guarantees.”
“Brother, there are no guarantees in life. Period. End of story. From the minute I held Tara in my arms, I worried my sins would come to bite me in the ass. That my daughter—one of my greatest treasures—would be ripped from my arms. I slept with one eye open, always waiting for it to happen. Preparing myself every chance I got. Then she got cancer…” His voice breaks off, and he forces a swallow.
“She’s in remission, Mav.”
He nods, bracing both hands on the edge of the bar as he drags in a ragged breath.
“Yeah, she’s in remission, and I pray every day she stays in remission. That she gets to live a full and beautiful life, but they’re just prayers man. No man can predict the future, and if he tries to, he’s a fool.” He levels me with a look. “You’re a fucking soldier, man. You’re not the guy who lives in fear. Your girl is pregnant. You got yourself treasure. A man finds treasure in his lifetime, he protects it with everything he has and everything he’ll be. He doesn’t sit around, and give someone, anyone, an opportunity to take his treasure.”
I hear his message loud and clear. It’s thrumming in my ears. Jo and this baby are my treasure, and I can either enjoy the time God gives me, or I can piss it away, worrying someone might one day take it from me.
I clear my throat, and take another sip of my coffee. That’s too much heavy for one day. Time to shift gears.
“I know what you’re doing,” I say as I lower the cup from my mouth. “You’re trying to distract yourself with my bullshit, so you don’t have to think about the shitstorm that dropped into your own lap.” I tsk, cocking my head to the side. “You’re not winning any awards for new brother of the year.”
“Not trying to.” He crosses his arms against his chest and glances toward the couches across the room where Shady is sitting with his woman, Bianca, and Holly. My guess is he’s probably filling them in about Bridget. Holly’s eyes dart to Maverick, and as soon as they lock with his, she starts to make her way toward us.
“Why is having a sister such a bad thing?” I ask, genuinely curious. “I mean I get that it comes as shock, and she’s essentially related to the enemy, but I don’t know that there’s such a thing as having too much family.”
Take it from me, the guy who had no one but his club, until his best friend died.
“When your mother leaves your father, abandoning you and your brother so she can shack up with the president of another club and gets herself knocked up, it’s pretty hard to look your new sister in the eye and not blame her for your mother leaving.”
“She didn’t ask to be born, and you don’t know what happened between your mom and Preacher,” Holly chimes in as she comes to stand next to Maverick. Her arms wind around his waist as she tilts her head to meet his gaze. “There are three sides to every story. In this case, there is Preachers, which you’ve probably heard a thousand times before he passed. Nadine’s—one you never got at all, and the truth.”
Maverick’s arm drapes around Holly’s shoulders as he bends his head to press his mouth to hers. “I love you, but no. We’re not going there.”
I almost laugh. The poor guy thinks he has control of the situation, but one look at Holly, and it’s clear she’s the one steering the ship. If she wants Maverick to extend an olive branch to Bridget, it’s only a matter of time before he gives in. The man won’t ever deny that woman a thing.
I chuck my empty coffee cup in the trash and leave Mav and Holly alone.
I’ve got my own woman in my bed, and I’ve denied her my arms.
~*~
I must’ve fallen asleep shortly after I headed back to my room, because the only thing I remember after my conversation with Maverick, is Jo waking me up with her lips wrapped around my cock.
It went from being a shit morning to a fucking glorious one.
I would’ve stayed in bed all day with her if I could, and to my surprise she shared the sentiment. The girl who always had one foot out the door, turned to me after she recovered from her last orgasm—one I delivered with my fingers, and told me she wasn’t going to work.
“No clients today?” I asked, rolling onto my back. I needed a second to catch my breath. The girl was insatiable, and I was running on fumes.
“Nothing Katie can’t handle,” she said, turning on her side. She bent her elbow and propped her head up with her hand. “I might lose the salon.”
That got my attention. “What happened?”
“The landlord sold the building and the new owners plan on evicting all the current tenants. I have to either find a new location, or close shop completely.”
“Why am I just hearing about this?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I knew the building was for sale, the landlord revealed as much right around the time Andrew passed, but I only just found out the sale went through, and we’ve both been busy dealing with other things.”
Subconsciously my gaze lowered to her flat stomach. I could picture it round with our baby so easily.
“Anyway, it’s not like business is booming. I’ve been in over my head for a while now.”
My eyes snap up to meet hers.
“You hurting, you come to me.”
She smiled at me. “I thought I only came to you when my greedy pussy needed to be taken care of,” she teased.
“Yeah you come to me for that, but you come to me for everything. I’m your person now, Jo. I don’t know when that’s going to sink in for you.”
“I think it’s starting to,” she murmured softly. “It’s not easy, you know? Going from having no one to having someone you can constantly rely on.”
I understood that all to well. I got my first taste when her letters started arriving. I went from being a man who never got mail, to the guy who got a package once a week. Then I got another taste for it when I joined my club.
“I think this is a blessing in disguise,” I said, forcing her eyes back to me. “Logistically the salon is a pain in the ass. It’s far from Aunt Barbara, and it’s out of the way from the clubhouse. If you found something closer, you could give up your apartment. We could find a place of own. Something not too far from here, but close enough to visit Aunt Barbara whenever the urge strikes. My brothers and I are good with our hands. We find a nice storefront in a good location, and that dream of Jo’s Beauty Bar won’t have to only exist in a drawing you frame and hang on the wall.”
“Back up. You want to get a place together? But I thought you loved it here. I specifically remember the first night you brought me here, you called this place home and told me you don’t need more than that.”
I did say that. I believed it wholeheartedly too.
“That was before you.” I reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I ain’t looking to raise a kid in the clubhouse. She’s going to need her own room.”
“She?”
I shrugged a shoulder. Until my conversation, I didn’t really give the gender of our kid much thought. I was too focused on losing a kid I didn’t have yet to have a preference. I wanted the baby to be healthy, but I wouldn’t mind having a daughter. Hell, if I closed my eyes I bet I could even picture her face. Chubby cheeks, and brown hair. A pert nose, and heart shaped lips just like her mama. A beauty. She’d have me wrapped around her finger.
“I can see us having a girl.”
“And that doesn’t terrify you?”
“Everything about this situation terrifies me, but it thrills me too.”
A fact that was becoming more true with every passing moment. I leaned up and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I’ll ask Holly for her realtor’s number. Once I get in touch with her, I’ll tell her we’re looking for a house and storefront.”
“Whoa…Johnny I’m not in any position to buy a house. I just told you—”
I silenced her by pressing another kiss to her lips.
One day she’d get it.
I just hoped I lived to see the day.