Chapter 11 #3
As he took a back road out of town, he thought it was probably a good thing he ended it with Sadie.
Even if the baby wasn’t a stranger's it would still be awkward. Darren was his brother, and things would be complicated. How could he be with Sadie while she was having his brother’s baby?
That led him to wonder how things were going to go with Kylie when Darren gave her the news that Sadie was pregnant.
She would probably lose her mind. The poor woman would be devastated.
She’d been through so much already with Tuck and Darren; would this be the one thing that sent her running from both of them?
If Kylie kicked Darren to the curb, would he try and get together with Sadie for the baby’s sake? Jed didn’t like that idea. And he didn’t like that he didn’t like the idea even more.
As he drove, his imagination went wild. He could picture Darren and Sadie together.
He’d be a good father to both his baby and Oliver.
He’d be good to Sadie, too, even if his heart was with someone else.
Fuck. If they got together, Jed would have to leave town.
There was no way he could be around the two of them together.
Why did the thought of that hurt so bad?
* * *
Race
Sometimes being the president of a biker club was not so bad, and other times, like today, it was hell.
It was hard watching the younger brothers teetering on the verge of making a mistake that might come back to haunt them, and not say anything about it.
He couldn’t tell them how to live their lives any more than they could tell him how to live his.
All he could do was sit back, let them make their mistakes, and hope they learned from them.
It was a lot like being a dad, he supposed.
Race was one of the very few who knew Jed’s history.
As far as he knew, he was the only one in the club he’d ever told.
It was tragic what happened to him when he was still too young to process things, but he’d hoped Jed would one day find the right woman and she could help him heal those old hurts.
Losing a child? Race couldn’t fathom how painful that had to have been.
The thought of losing any one of his children or the one Bellamy carried would gut him.
As president, all he ever wanted for his brothers was for them to live free and be happy. But being president also meant he worried a lot.
He worried that Jed was so blinded by his past that he might wait too long to see what was right in front of him.
He worried that Sadie’s pregnancy would be the last straw for Kylie. After almost losing Darren to his own dark path, would this be what broke them apart? How would this news affect Tuck and Darren’s friendship and the club dynamics?
He worried Darren’s need to provide for his child and its mother could strain things not only with Kylie and Tuck, but with Jed as well.
Whether Jed wanted to admit it or not, he was falling for Sadie, if he hadn’t already fallen.
Could he find a way past the fact that Darren was the father of Sadie’s baby or that he would always be in her life?
He worried for Sadie. She was already doing the single mom thing, and having a baby would put more stress on her. He was aware that, financially, she wasn’t prepared for another mouth to feed. No longer working at Bottoms Up, she didn’t have insurance, but Race already had a plan for that.
She had a little nest egg, but it wouldn’t last forever.
She had her house to sell in Taos that could add to that cushion and help her move into someplace bigger, but he hadn't had the heart to tell her how badly the Phantoms had destroyed it.
He was taking care of having the repairs made, but he couldn't tell her about that either.
The stubborn, prideful woman would want to pay him back.
Sadie wasn’t any more prepared for this baby than Darren.
He at least had Kylie and Tuck for support; she had no one.
Bellamy had tried pulling her into the old ladies' fold, but so far she’d been unsuccessful.
Sadie was already gun-shy of biker clubs because of her history with the Phantoms, so Jed dumping her after finding out she was pregnant was going to have her pulling back even further.
The last thing she would want was to cause problems for Darren with Kylie or cause strain with the brothers.
As for Jed, she was definitely going to want to avoid him.
It was a good thing he’d had Jackson install camera monitors downstairs in Ink Envy to monitor her security.
They could keep an eye on her without having to be in the apartment with her.
She was a strong, independent woman who valued her privacy.
He got it. But he also needed to make sure Tinker didn’t get his hands on her.
The fact that she rebuffed his advances and it appeared she was with Jed, at least for a while, only made her more desirable to Tinker. She was a tool for his revenge.
Part of being the club president was knowing when to step back and let his brothers stumble.
Sometimes it was what was needed so that the reward was that much sweeter.
There were many times he wanted to shake the shit out of one brother or the other and tell them to wake the hell up and get their head out of their ass before it was too late.
He loved his brothers, but they were also a pain in his ass.
He parked his Tahoe in front of Bling and hurried inside.
After everything that went down earlier, he felt the need to see his wife.
The bell above the door jingled as he entered.
His eyes immediately went to the counter, hoping to see Bellamy.
Cathy smiled and pointed toward her office.
He nodded his head in thanks and meandered between the tables and racks of clothing and whatever some of this stuff was.
Outside his wife’s office door, he stopped to watch her work.
She had her back to him and was busy filing something away.
He got such a kick out of watching her in her element.
The view from behind had his dick waking up to attention.
He made a quick adjustment and continued to appreciate the view.
She was convinced she was getting fat but, honest to God, he found the baby weight only added to her already intoxicating curves.
She reached for something to the side, giving him a good view of her baby belly, and it was all he could do not to pound his chest and declare to the world he’d done that, he’d put that baby in there.
Yeah, yeah. It made him sound like a complete caveman, but he didn’t give a fuck.
“Race? What are you doing here?” Her smile was warm and lit up any room she was in.
The last several weeks had been rough for her because she could never find a comfortable position to sleep in.
As she slipped into his arms and tipped her head back, he was able to see how tired she was.
He vowed to himself that he would make her take it easy when they got home tonight.
He could start by swinging by her favorite restaurant and picking up dinner on his way home.
He’d love to convince her to take off early today, but knew how that would turn out.
So far, any effort to get her to cut back on her hours had been met with “not yet.”
“Had some shit going down at the club today, and it made me want to come see my woman.” He brushed her hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek.
Her belly bumped up against his, keeping them from getting as close as he’d like.
A swift kick that he felt against his stomach let him know his little one didn’t like to be crowded. “You know how much I love you, right?”
“Yes.” She turned so that she fit sideways against his front so she could be closer. She wrapped her hands around his middle and dropped her head to his shoulder.
“And you know that you’re the best thing in my life, right?” He settled his cheek on top of her head, holding her close.
“Yes. Where’s this coming from, Race? Did something bad happen?” She tipped her head back to see his face.
“No. Sometimes it takes seeing someone else fuck up a good thing to make you appreciate when you’ve got it good at home.”
“Who’s fucking up?”
He shook his head. “You’ll find out soon enough. For now, I just want to hold you and tell you how much I love you. Can we do that?”
Bellamy’s smile was breathtaking. “Yes, honey. We can do that.”
Perfect. For this moment, with his woman in his arms, his world was perfect.