Chapter 13
Doc
We all watch as Brittany, my tinkerbell, goes back to the counter to serve some customers who have just walked in, and my whole body tenses.
She didn’t recognize me.
There was some recollection, but not the complete hate I was expecting, no shouting, no screaming, no demanding I leave or pouring coffee over my head like I deserve, fucking nothing.
Fuck me, did she really lose her memory?
I watch Brit smile and speak with ease as Thunder sneers, “She shouldn’t be working here, she should be looking after animals, that was her passion. Has been since she was five years old, and she held a bird with a broken wing and demanded we take care of the fucking thing!”
“I know, I told her that I thought she used to work with animals,” Axel says, “And even though she’s had a flashback of a voice saying she graduated from college and is a vet nurse, confirming my thoughts, she can’t remember any of it.
She’s not safe to practice. Dr. Pumes, who worked on her, said this is all normal, her body is slowly letting itself remember but because she hasn’t had any flashbacks in two weeks, she’s doubting him. ”
“Fuck, she really can’t remember anything, can she? She hasn’t just run away and pretended…” Shadow chokes.
It’s what we all thought, especially me. I broke her, I didn’t choose her, so I thought she ran, I thought she could have been threatened but I was fucking wrong.
Brit didn’t even recognize the family she grew up with.
Axel sighs, “Brother, she was in a coma for two months,” and I look at him in shock as my stomach sinks. He winces and admits, “She had a severe blow to the head and was found by a pedestrian who called 911.”
He sits forward as my eyes go back to Brit filling up a cake box. The urge to go throw her over my shoulder and leave hitting me so fucking hard I have to fist my hands to stop myself from actually doing it.
I’ve got to go slow.
Axel continues, “The EMT called out the for her to be airlifted, which brought her here from Louisiana, knowing Parkerville had the best neurologist in the area. When she woke up, she had no memory whatsoever, not even her name. I wasn’t joking with you boys, she really does not remember.
And the ladies in my club, my crazy ass woman who just tried to give me the fucking squirts, have all taken her under their wing, helping her, but no physical memories have come back. ”
I swallow hard as I lock eyes with Brit, who frowns, confusion all over her face as our eyes stay locked.
Axel admits, “She admitted to feeling a connection with you guys, like she was safe and there was a familiarity with you. She’s believing it’s because of our club and how safe we’ve made her feel. ”
Brittany breaks eye contact first, confusion etching off her as my dad questions, “Has she been living at the clubhouse?”
“No,” Axel says immediately, “I didn’t want her around the clubwhores, you know how they get,” I nod because yeah, understandable.
He admits, “Dr. Pumes was going to try and get a room at the women’s shelter for her for when she was discharged.
But Meg and Mel, with the help of my old lady and some brothers, got an apartment sorted for her in a block we own rent-free until she could remember. ”
“Send me the bill,” Shadow demands with a croak.
Axel denies instantly, “Nah, brother, it’s fine,” then grins, “She’s saved my ass, literally more times than I can count lately.”
My dad and Shadow snort while Tank, Thunder, and I watch Brit.
Tank, he’s barely at the club, barely speaks to anyone, but as soon as I called, he came running, showing what an awesome fucking brother he is when I need him most.
I sit forward, leaning my elbows on the table as I link my fingers and press my mouth against them.
Axel sighs, “If I knew she was a part of the Rebels, I would have called.”
“She’s not, not really anyhow. Her mama doesn’t want her a part of club life after Brit's biological father was gunned down on a callout. She was petrified of losing her daughter like she lost her childhood sweetheart, and now, she’s a shell of herself,” Tank murmurs, and I swallow hard.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” Shadow snaps lowly, “We can’t just go over there and say, ‘Hi sweetheart, I know you lost your memory, but I’m your dad who adopted you, come home,’ can we?
! And I can’t say fuck all to my wife because she’ll come here and demand Brit come home without her memories. Fuck, she thinks we’re on a club run!”
I nod because, he has a point. Kathleen will tear this town apart until she forces Brit home and if she doesn’t remember her mama, it’ll cause shit.
I watch as a guy approaches my girl, looking her up and down and tense knowing we need to get shit on the road. Knowing I need to take control before Dad concocts another stupid idea.
“Shadow, dad, go back to Axel's clubhouse,” I demand coldly, not looking at them, instead watching some fucking soon-to-be-dead man flirt with my girl whose cheeks heat with what I am fucking hoping is embarrassment.
“I am not leaving!” Shadow snaps a little too loudly, gaining Brit’s attention, her frown well in place, and I send him a warning glare making him flinch.
He knows Brit has no fucking memories.
Dad whispers, “Son, we can’t leave.”
“You can and you will,” I state as I look at my dad, “You need to go and do some damage control. Stone messaged, Jacob is going nuts, and you saw the picture!”
He winces. It was before we arrived at the church that I finally showed him the reason why I had said okay, that it wasn’t him pressuring me in the end.
He was pissed and knew we couldn’t call off the wedding. Especially when Dirty was still diving into the deep fucking web to try and find anything on the fucker.
“Fuck, fine, but Shadow,” I cut my dad off and state, “Is not in the right frame of mind to stay. Both of you, go back to the Untamed while Tank, Thunder, Axel, and I figure it out and that is an order!”
Shadow’s jaw locks as he looks at Brit before he stands and storms out, and Dad sighs before he follows, looking at Brit just once before leaving.
I swallow hard and look her way to see her frowning at the door.
“She can sense the familiarity,” Thunder murmurs, but I ignore him and say lowly to Axel, “What aren’t you telling us?”
He winces, “You picked up on that, huh?”
I nod. I could tell as he sat down that he was shiftier than normal, and I knew there was more to the story, why he had ensured she got an apartment.
“When she was brought into the hospital,” he says, “she was ten weeks pregnant.”
Everything inside me tilts as I still, the fucking room suddenly spinning.
“What?!” Thunder demands, but Axel doesn’t look at him. Instead, he keeps eye contact with me already putting two and two together and asks, “Did you get married?”
I slowly shake my head and deny, “No, as soon as Dirty said he found her, I walked out.”
Pregnant, she was fucking pregnant. My mind is spinning, I-I, fuck…
“And you were only going through with it because of threats? Because of your dad?” he confirms, and I nod numbly.
Pregnant.
He looks at Brittany then back at me, and I explain, “The fucker sent pictures with bullseye circles on Cole and Caleb's faces, demanding I marry his daughter or else, he was desperate.”
“What the fuck?!” Tank hisses, and I swallow hard knowing my enforcer is most likely pissed I didn’t get him involved.
He hasn’t been around much and I’m pretty sure he only patched into the club was because of me and our friendship. He doesn’t speak to his dad much or his mama.
“I did what I had to for the kids, for the club,” I murmur, looking back at Brittany, who is grabbing the coffee pot.
“But you regret it?” Axel confirms, and I admit, “Every fucking day.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Thunder demands lowly, but I don’t look at him; instead, I watch as Brit walks towards us, looking apprehensive.
She can feel the connection we have, she’s just confused.
“I’m with Thunder here. Did she lose the baby?” Tank asks, “And why is the senator not fucking dead yet? And more importantly, why am I not in the fucking loop?”
Brit and I lock eyes as Axel admits, “She gave birth to a little girl two weeks ago, Bailey Bell.”
“Fuck,” Thunder chokes, and I whisper, “Bell?”
Axel sighs as he checks to see where Brit is and notices she’s filling up two mugs on a table three down from ours before he admits, “She said both names meant something to her, that she had some strange pull towards them.”
“Bailey was her biological father's middle name,” Thunder admits, and Axel asks, “Okay, but why Bell? That’s the name she chose to go by as well.”
“I don’t know,” Thunder murmurs with confusion.
“Tinkerbell,” I say quietly, my heart pounding.
Even though she lost her memories, her subconscious still gravitated towards me.
“Where did Tinkerbell come from?” Thunder asks, and I admit, “It’s the nickname I gave her a year ago after she admitted a dog called Tinkerbell vomited on her.”
“Ah shit,” Tanks sighs, already putting two and two together while Thunder frowns.
“More coffee?” Brit asks quietly, and we lock eyes again.
I nod, and so do the others, and she clears her throat, breaking eye contact, and Axel murmurs in my ear, “Look at her left wrist.”
I do as I’m told, and the air I breathe sucks out of me as she moves her hand to pour the coffee and I see it.
Doc
“Nice tat,” I say without thinking, and Axel snorts but coughs to cover while Thunder freezes finally realizing what Tank has realized as he sees what is on his sister's wrist.
Brit and I were together, and by the sounds of things, she’s had my fucking child.
Fuck, my kid.
She clears her throat as she refills my cup and says, “Thanks, I think.”
“You don’t like it?” I ask, a knot forming in my stomach at the thought of her regretting me.
She twitches her nose, like she used to when she didn’t know how to answer a question, and I smile slightly.
I missed her so fucking much and I just wish I could grab hold of her.
She admits, “I think I do. It’s the only tattoo I have and I feel a connection with it, like it meant everything to me, but I don’t know why I have it.” She frowns, “I wasn’t supposed to say all that.”
That’s because you always speak openly with me, Tinkerbell, you love me, I think, but out loud, I state, “It’s okay to be confused over it and to speak of that confusion. Speaking out loud gives you the chance to make sense of everything.”
We lock eyes for a few seconds, and I smile at her, ensuring my dimple is present that she fucking loved at one point. Her cheeks redden with a blush. Tanks coughs to cover his snort as Thunder sighs loudly while Axel tries to hide his snicker.
The bell on the door rings again, gaining her attention, breaking her away from me which makes my jaw tick. She clears her throat before looking at me one more time with a furrowed brow, then goes back to the counter and everything fucking begins to make sense.
“She was targeted,” I say as she walks away, “Someone must have been watching her, watching me, she was fucking targeted.”
“You and my sister? My fucking sister who got your road name tattooed like a patch chaser does? Meaning you never gave her permission to use your legal name, my sister, my fucking sister.” Thunder growls, and I look at him as his eyes widen, like a light bulb just went off in his head and he chokes, “You chose Cynthia? Over my sister, who you got pregnant?!”
“I didn’t know she was pregnant, Thunder, something by the way I’m trying to breathe through the fact.
I didn’t really have a choice did I where the club was concerned?
Dad was threatening to throw a vote and have me removed,” his eyes widen and Tank and Axel cuss, “Jacob was sending cops to the clubhouse, our vans were targeted, our bikes, druggies were coming into work claiming I gave them drugs. I was receiving pictures of two boys who are our nephews with red fucking circles around their heads. I chose the club over my heart, over the person I wanted nothing more than to claim. I made a promise to your father that no brother would claim her, including myself, and now look where we are sitting. She was attacked, most likely because of me, because of the club, something your mama was terrified of happening. She has no memory, and she has no idea I’m the father of her baby.
My fucking baby that I haven’t even fucking met, don’t even know what she looks like.
I’m so close to breaking and smashing this place to bits, knowing I missed her whole pregnancy.
Watching her grow round with our child, that I missed the birth of my daughter.
So do me a favor and save the big fucking brother speech for when I’m not liable to shoot you, because I will. ”
“Fuck!” Axel and Tank state at the same time, while Thunder's eyes soften, seeing I am indeed ready to fucking blow, the patience I usually carry is slowly slipping away after months without knowing if Brit was dead or alive.
I’ve just had my whole world turned upside down and been told not only did my girl, whom I tried to protect, lose her memory, but she has also had my child, my daughter.
Bailey Bell…
I look back at Brit and Tank asks, “So what now?”
“Now,” I choke, “we stay for a few days before I tell her everything in the softest way possible so she doesn’t have a breakdown. Head traumas are tricky, but I’m hoping that if I speak to her alone, I can jog her memory.”
“And after that?” Thunder questions quietly.
“I try to convince her to come home with our daughter, my daughter. We find the fuckers who did this and put them in the grave before destroying Senator Smith and Cynthia,” I finish, not once taking my eyes off Brit.
She looks my way again, and I give her a small smile, my dimples popping up, causing her mouth to part in shock, and Tank mutters, “This will be fucking interesting. I wonder who will kill you first, Doc, her mama, Shadow, or Brit?”
“Brit,” I say at the same time as Axel and Thunder and Tank snorts, and I tilt my head at Brit, whose cheeks blush, and I can’t stop the grin that takes place.
“Fuck’s sake, she’s his one,” Thunder groans, and Tank and Axel chuckle while I hum in agreement.
I made a mistake all those months ago. I shouldn’t have walked away from her, shouldn’t have begged for her to be my mistress. I should have given her my patch and ring, like I always wanted. Come this time next year, I’m going to make sure she’s mine always.
I just have to tell her the truth first and hope she doesn’t get committed or worse, cut my balls from my body.
I happen to like my balls.