CHAPTER 15
I feel like my road name right now—coiled and ready to strike. My anger and the way I can strike out quickly while being unassuming most of the time is why it was chosen for me. Bedlam got his name because of the confusion his affable personality can cause, but he’s not to be underestimated. Scope’s name is obvious once you’ve seen the man shoot.
We’re going to need all our skills right now while keeping each other in check. The rage inside of me started to build with every word Heather gave us about her past. I could be mad at her, but I understand why she didn’t want to bring her past into our future. We all have demons, and we might have shared with her about our families and how we grew up, mine being the most wholesome of the bunch, but that doesn’t mean she owed us a damn thing.
No one owes you their scars for you to love them.
Once Heather is settled in the middle of Poe’s bed, her arms wrapped around her belly and the tear tracks on her face drying, we take a moment and soak up the sight. Then we’re moving as one, a unit with clear and intense focus.
When we knock on Lucifer’s door and get the okay to come in, I’m relieved to find Prodigal, Scythe, and Hacker already waiting for us along with our Prez. I scrub a hand down my face and am more than willing to let Bedlam lay out what Heather just told us.
The pure fucking fury in the room rises as he relays what happened outside of the doctor’s office. I feel guilty as fuck because we weren’t there. We should have been there. Not just for her, but for our baby.
When I meet Bedlam’s and Scope’s eyes, I know they’re thinking the same thing I am. From now on, we’ll make sure at least one of us is at all her appointments. Because we love her and our baby. Because we can’t leave her unprotected.
Hacker is working on his computer before Bedlam has laid out the entire story and I’m grateful as fuck to him. I know he’ll find out the information we need. We’re going to take care of the cretin who thought he could crawl out of the hole he’s been in for years.
He threatened our woman, and it won’t go unpunished.
“She would never betray the club,” Bedlam says, his eyes fixed on Lucifer.
Our Prez smirks and leans back in his chair. “Heather is a good woman. If I didn’t think it, I would have voiced my concern at the table.” His eyes move from Bedlam to me and then Scope. “I’d be more worried about her running again than her betraying the club. Your woman is loyal, but she’s also brave and will do what she thinks is right to protect you and the club. That’s why this needs to be dealt with swiftly and decisively.”
I nod because I know he’s right. Fear has been churning in my gut from the moment Heather started telling us about her past for that reason. She could run. But she also made a promise.
“If she runs, we’ll catch her,” Scope insists. “But she won’t run because we’re going to take care of dear old stepdaddy,” he sneers.
Lucifer’s laugh is booming with a dark edge to it. I respect the hell out of the man and am grateful the club he’s been running for a long time has given me a home. Still, I wouldn’t want to come up against the man in a dark alley.
“Got him,” Hacker exclaims. My phone chimes in my pocket a moment later and I don’t have to look now to know it’s the location where we can find Richard. “I’ve sent you the information on the hotel where he’s staying.” Hacker mumbles, “Idiot didn’t even try to cover his tracks.”
I give Hacker a chin lift, my mind already shifting to what we need to do to make sure Heather is safe and remains that way. Lucifer gives us a nod and Scythe stands as we head toward the office door. I pause and look at him, wondering what he’s up to.
Scythe’s voice is innocent, “What? You didn’t think you three were going to have all the fun, did you?” He cracks his neck and grins ferally. “Hell no. I want in on this.”
I give his shoulder a squeeze and then follow Bedlam and Scope out of Lucifer’s office and through the common room, not looking to see who else is witnessing our little parade. I know Lucifer and Prodigal will stick around to make sure Heather is safe. I have a feeling she’s going to be sleeping still when we get back.
She was drained and we didn’t even get the chance to ask her how the appointment went or if the baby is doing well beyond her assuring us that they’re both healthy. I regret not asking more questions, but my focus shifted to the immediate problem while trying to come up with ways of eliminating the threat to our woman and our club.
Getting on my bike calms me a little, but there is still a fuck ton of rage simmering under the surface. The sheer fucking balls this guy must have to track Heather down all the way to New Orleans is almost astounding. Then again, considering how Heather talked about her past, he sounds like the kind of guy who has always thought he was above the consequences of his actions.
My heart aches for our woman. I completely understand why she ran from him and her family years ago. Her mom never protected her, and she was forced to share a life with a predator. That’s when she learned that running was the answer.
I hope now with us in her life she can see that she can stay and fight it out, even if it’s hard, and how running hurts her and everyone else. We don’t want to take more than she wants to give. Her love is enough for us, but she gives us so much more and she doesn’t even realize it.
When we roll into the parking lot of a shit motel, I cringe. I’m not surprised this is where that asshole is staying. I guess it’s better than him staying somewhere nice and expecting it to be on Heather’s dime.
We dismount our bikes and head to the stairs since he’s on the second floor. It doesn’t take us long to find his room and my fist is banging on it before I even realize it. Adrenaline is coursing through me; it meets and crackles with the energy of my brothers.
When the door opens, there’s no security chain preventing me from pushing my way inside. Richard, the fucking dick, looks stunned to have four men in leather cuts with pissed off expressions barging into his room. Did he think he was so untouchable that he didn’t have to check the damn peephole?
I snort and revel in the way he raises his hands in front of him, trying to look nonthreatening and tough when he squares his shoulders. “I think you boys got the wrong room.”
I sneer, “No the fuck we don’t. We’re here for you, Dick,” I spit out his name like it is poison. It might as well be.
He studies us and I know the moment he sees what club we’re from because his shoulders relax. It’s almost comical. “Why are you here? Is this about my whore daughter?” Before any of us can react to his words, he chuckles and sits back on the musty smelling bed. “Let me guess,” he waves his hand like he’s the King of fucking England, “you’re already tired of her and you want me to take her back home with me. I can do that,” there’s an evil glint in his eye I’m about ready to beat right out of him.
Scythe lets out a low whistle and when I glance over at him, he leans back against the door and shakes his head. “Wow, what a dumb fuck. You got this one, brothers, I’ll just hang out here if you need me.”
Bedlam gets right in Richard’s face and snarls, “You better watch what you say about our old lady.”
Richard pales slightly as his eyes move between the three of us who are now all looming over him. He was a fucking idiot to sit down. We have the advantage right now, in more ways than one.
“What are you talking about?” He starts to turn a little red as he spits, “She’s just one of your whores.”
“No,” Scope barks, “she’s our old lady and she’s carrying our baby.”
“That baby is nothing but a bastard,” he fumes.
My control snaps and I land a punch to his jaw. He flops back against the bed and then rolls off the side like he’s trying to imitate a fish on dry land. I’m about to jump on him and rain as much pain down as I can, but Bedlam holds me back. I glare at my brother, but he just gives a subtle shake of his head.
Scope crouches down, his voice cold, “You shouldn’t say anything else about our baby or our woman.”
“Whatever,” Richard spits some blood on the floor and tries to right himself, but Scope is too close, and he doesn’t have enough room. He scoots back, dragging his ass through the blood he just spit on the floor. “She was mine first but then that little bitch ran.”
Scope stands and lands a kick to Richard’s gut that has him crying out. It’s satisfying as fuck.
“Ouch,” Scythe pipes up from the peanut gallery, “those steel toes are no fucking joke. I’d shut the fuck up and listen if I were you, Dick.”
When I glance at our brother, his eyes are practically alight with glee. It’s a little deranged, but it’s funny as hell too.
“Here’s how it’s going to be,” Bedlam’s voice is calm and cool, even as his eyes are blazing with fury, “you are going to take your sorry ass back to where you came from. You are going to forget all about our old lady. You will never set foot back in New Orleans,” Richard’s mouth flies open like he’s going to interrupt, but Bedlam just holds up a hand, “for any reason.”
“Or,” I growl, “we can take you for a little ride and then beat you to death on our land before throwing you to the gators to clean up for us.”
Richard pales even more and sits up slowly, his hand bracing against where Scope kicked him. He must see the truth of the threat on our faces, because all his bluster disappears.
“Look, I didn’t know she was your old lady. I was told she was just a whore for all you guys. She ran and left me high and dry,” my fists clench with the need to hit him again the more he talks, “and I figured it was time to collect since I found her.”
“Jesus,” Scythe blows out a breath, “you really need to learn when to shut up.” He shakes his head like he’s disappointed in Richard. “My brothers are hanging on by a thread. If you agree to the terms laid out to you about getting the fuck out of here and forgetting all about Heather, all you need to do is nod.”
Richard starts nodding like he’s a fucking bobble head. As much as I want to beat him until he can’t leave this room, it’ll only make his stay in our city longer.
“Someone will be by in the morning to make sure you’ve left,” Scope warns him. “I suggest you be long gone before they come by.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Richard’s hands are shaking as he puts them in front of him.
As if that would stop us from teaching him a lesson.
I hate that this is the man who pretended to be a father figure to our Cherub for so long. I hate that her mom abandoned her.
As we turn and leave the filth to wallow in pain in his room while making his plans to leave and never look back, I think about how much my parents will love Heather. Mom will dote on her. Fuck, and that’s not even taking into consideration the little one.
Our baby has no idea how spoiled they’re about to be.
Prodigal and Wrenley have started trying for kids, but she’s not pregnant yet, as far as I know. That means our little one will be the first of the next generation of Devil’s Saints. I grin as I slide onto the back of my bike and share a chin lift with my brothers.
The whole way back to the clubhouse, I’m only thinking about our woman, our baby, and the life we’re going to lead.