Chapter 56
“ L emon! Lemon, I need to speak to you!”
“Oh for God’s sake,” Margo muttered as Indie turned to see a well-dressed man running toward them. He didn’t have to go far to catch them, it wasn’t like they were moving at a fast speed.
In her sixth month of pregnancy, Indie didn’t move fast anymore. The guys seemed determined to feed her up and she was actually starting to put on weight. She’d started to wear the maternity clothes that Spencer had bought her.
“Who is that?” she asked Margo.
Lemon was pale and cuddling into Margo.
“A dick, that’s who it is. Let me handle him,” Margo told her.
They’d just gotten out of the car and were walking to the pub where they planned to eat lunch. They’d already been shopping and she was pretty happy with what she’d bought.
Slade had insisted she take his credit card, but she’d bought their gifts with her savings.
She glanced over at their car, but it was out of sight. Dave, the driver, wouldn’t be able to see them .
The guy reached them, huffing and puffing. He had a receding hairline and squinty eyes.
“Jeez, Roger,” Margo said. “You might want to look into a gym membership.”
Harsh. But kind of fair. He was very red and sweaty and he hadn’t run that far. Suddenly, she wasn’t too concerned with him threatening them. She was fairly certain that they could easily out run him.
Even her.
Although, she’d been really tired lately. And it wasn’t like she was doing much. Well, except for growing a baby, she guessed. That did seem to suck her energy.
“Lemon, I need to talk to you.” He reached for the smaller woman’s arm and she shied back.
“Hey!” Margo yelled. She attempted to step forward, obviously trying to protect the smaller woman, but Lemon tugged her back and she stumbled.
“I need to talk to you! You have to tell them that it wasn’t my fault! That you wanted me to whip you,” the guy whined.
Holy heck.
Had he really just said that?
“I’ve been blackballed. I’ve got nowhere to play. Lemon! You will tell them!” He reached out for her again and Lemon let out a cry.
Indie! Stop standing there like a fool and do something!
She’d never really stood up for herself with Billy and she hated confrontation. But she was growing stronger. And she wasn’t going to let some guy bully Lemon.
Lemon, who was super kind and sweet, had a hurt that Indie could see ran deep.
“Just listen to me!” he cried. “You need to do what I want!”
“Or what?” Indie asked, stepping between him and the two other women. “What will you do to her if she doesn’t do what you want? ”
“What?” He gave her a startled look as though he hadn’t even noticed that she was there. “Who are you?”
“I’m Indie. I’m Lemon’s friend and you’re scaring her. So you’re going to back off before I call the cops and have them arrest you for harassment.”
Go her!
Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit her.
Now was not the time! This wasn’t the first time she’d gotten dizzy lately and it was starting to scare her.
You should probably tell the guys.
They’d overreact though and she didn’t need to be put to bed for the rest of her life.
All right, maybe she was exaggerating. It would probably just be until she was forty.
“Obviously you have no idea who you are talking to,” the guy said with a sniff. “But then why would you? You’re no one.”
“Way to dig your own grave, you idiot,” Margo said from behind her.
Indie glanced back to find that Margo was hugging Lemon against her. The smaller woman was staring up at Roger, her face filled with fear.
What right did this dick have to scare Lemon?
“I don’t care if you’re the fucking prime minister of Australia,” Indie told him. “You’ve no right to accost us like this and start screaming at Lemon. I’m sure there are cameras around here that the police would be very interested in looking at.”
Roger stepped back, glancing around. Then he sneered. “Good try. Nobody would bother putting cameras up in this neighborhood. What is there to even steal?”
“You’re such a wanker,” Margo told him tiredly.
“Lemon, I demand that you tell Slade the truth. That asshole has blackballed me everywhere. It’s not right when it was all your fault. You don’t want to make an enemy out of me.”
“Jesus, you’re like a bad bond villain,” Margo told him. “And if you wanted to convince Slade to let you back into the club then acting like a dick to his woman isn’t the way to go about it.”
“What are you talking about? You’re dating Slade? Aren’t you like his sister?” Roger asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Cousin,” Margo said dryly. “It’s not illegal, you know.”
“It’s not?” Indie asked.
“I mean, it’s weird and that would just be . . . gross.” Margo shuddered. “But it’s not illegal.”
“So you are with Slade?” Roger asked, looking ill as he gaped at Margo.
“No, you nitwit,” Margo told him. “Indie is.”
Roger turned back to her and she couldn’t help but give him a small finger wave as a feeling of smugness ran through her.
That was until he reached out and grabbed her arms and started to shake her.
Fear froze her.
Suddenly, it wasn’t Roger standing there but Billy. He was screaming at her. He would hurt her.
Then before her brain could break out of its freeze, Billy was ripped away from her.
There was more yelling but she couldn’t break free of the terror holding her in place.
“Indie!” Margo cried. “Honey, are you all right? You’re safe. You’re safe.”
Two arms enveloped her in a hug and she shuddered.
Safe?
Was she really ever safe?
She blinked and the world started to come into focus. She could see Margo standing in front of her, appearing concerned. Lemon had her arms wrapped around her.
And behind Margo, Rock had Roger pinned to the building. He brought his arm back as though he was going to . . . oh shit.
“Rock, no!” she cried out.
“Oh, leave him,” Margo said as she held her back. “Roger deserves a beatdown. ”
But Rock didn’t deserve to go to jail and Roger seemed the type of guy to be vindictive like that.
Rock punched him in the face and she winced. She wriggled, managing to get away from Lemon.
“Shit! She moves quick for a pregnant woman,” Margo said as Indie rushed to Rock.
“Rock, stop, please!” she cried.
He turned to her and Roger took that moment of inattention to punch Rock in the stomach. She stilled, flinching.
But Rock didn’t even show a reaction.
Instead, he grabbed Roger’s wrists, pinning them to the wall and nodded at her.
No, not at her. At Margo, silently telling the other woman to grab her. Margo slid an arm around her back. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you don’t get between two fighting men and you don’t try to stop your man from defending you.”
“Help!” Roger screamed. “This man is trying to kill me.”
“Oh, shut up, Roger, you pencil dick,” Margo yelled.
Lemon nodded, although she was pale and shaking as she clung to Indie’s hand.
Shoot.
She needed to help Lemon, but she was worried about Rock. And she was starting to get weird flashes across her eyes as her headache increased.
A migraine?
She didn’t get those very often, but that’s what it felt like. Her vision was actually kind of blurry. She blinked, taking slow, deep breaths as she heard sirens in the distance.
“Rock! They could be on their way here,” Margo said. “Let the weasel go.”
It didn’t seem like Rock was going to listen as he placed his hand over Roger’s throat.
Oh, this wasn’t going well.
“Please, Rock. I . . . I don’t feel well. I want to go home. ”
Suddenly, Rock let the other man go, stepping back. Relief filled her as he immediately turned and strode toward her.
“You’re going to get into trouble for this!” Roger said. “I’ll have your ass in jail for this, you mute, dumb fucker.”
Oh, hell no!
That bastard wasn’t going to insult her Rock. The guy that had spent countless hours making her playroom just the way she wanted it. Who had poured over baby and pregnancy books to make sure that he was prepared for Button’s birth.
The man who was nothing but kind and caring to her.
Indie stomped over to where Roger was still sitting on the pavement.
“You’re a . . . you’re a complete wanker!
A cockwomble! And you don’t deserve to breathe the same air as Rock.
He’s a hundred times the man you are! He’s smart, successful and sexy.
He’s got friends who would die for him and a woman who thinks he’s wonderful. Oh, and he is amazing at sex.”
Well, they hadn’t actually had penetrative sex, but he was amazing at everything else so she was sure he would be at that too.
“I’m sure you have no idea what that’s like. I hope you have the miserable life that you deserve, asshole.”
Then she turned around to find Rock standing behind her. She thought for a moment that he was going to tell her off, but then a huge smile crossed his face.
Instead, he reached for her, picking her up carefully in his arms. Then, with Roger still yelling behind them, he carried her to his car.
“Wait, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“Yes, I’d like to know that as well,” Margo said as she and Lemon walked next to her. “This can’t be a coincidence.”
He grunted.
“It’s not.” She stared up at him. He set her down next to his car. Where was Dave? “Were you following us? Me?”
He grunted again. Then he sighed and nodded.
“Why?” she asked.
“Protection,” he said quietly in her ear .
“I still don’t understand why. Did you think that that guy would come after us?” she asked.
Rock shook his head.
All right, she was still confused. “Then why follow me? Who were you protecting me from?”
“Everyone.”
“Oh, Rock,” she sighed, leaning her throbbing head against his chest.
God. Her headache was really ramping up. Definitely heading into migraine territory.
“You can’t protect me from the world.”
He cradled the back of her head with his big hand, massaging the tight part of her neck until she slumped against him.
That felt really good.
“I can try,” he whispered.
She wished she could wrap her arms around him, but her belly was too big and he was so broad. So she settled for putting her hands on his chest and leaning back to smile up at him.
“I know. But you’re going to run yourself ragged trying. I’m fine.”
Rock raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I mean, it’s not every day that some crazy guy comes running up to us, demanding to be let back into the club.
That was . . . odd. But you cannot spend your life guarding me.
You’re my man, not my bodyguard. I want you to walk beside me, not behind me.
Because I love you. You are everything to me.
And you are not less than me or the others, understand? ”
“Always less than you.” He looked stubborn and she knew that she couldn’t convince him otherwise.
“All right. Me first. But then you guys are all even. You’re not the bodyguard. You’re not on the fringes. You’re our family. Understand?”
He frowned slightly, but then he nodded and she thought she might finally be getting through to him. “Understand.”
“Damn, you two are sickening,” Margo said .
Shoot. She’d forgotten that they had an audience. She glanced over at Margo and Lemon, feeling her cheeks redden. “Sorry.”
Lemon waved her hand through the air, smiling at them both as she bounced on her feet.
“Yeah, don’t mind us,” Margo said. “We’ll just wait.” She sounded put-out but there was a softness to her face. And almost a . . . longing in her voice?
Made Indie wonder about her relationship with Pete.
“I guess we better get home,” Indie said as Rock opened the car door for her, lifting her in. Then he crouched and pulled the seatbelt over her, checking that it was secured properly.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m all good.”
“Let’s go, though,” Margo said from the backseat where she and Lemon had gotten in. “I’ve had enough excitement. I need a cup of tea.”
Rock scowled at them. Uh-oh. They’d just trampled over his gentlemanly manners.
“What?” Margo said.
“He’s frowning because you got into the car yourselves,” she explained. “Rock’s a gentleman. He likes to open doors.”
“Oh.” Margo eyed him. “I haven’t spent a lot of time with you, Rock. But I’m starting to really like you. My cousin needs to work harder to stay number one on my list.”
Indie couldn’t help but giggle. But then her head thumped again. Shoot.
Rock gave her a concerned look and rubbed her temple.
“Just a headache,” she told him. “I didn’t get to eat lunch.”
His scowl grew fiercer.
“I’m fine. I’ll get something at home. Do you think Roger will create problems?”
Margo snorted from the backseat. “One thing in the world is a constant, and that’s Roger St. Clare will always create problems.”
Awesome.