Chapter Five
Omen
I NSTEAD OF GETTING in bed like I was planning on doing after my shower, I find myself getting dressed once again and heading down to the common room. Before I get to the last steps, I hear a commotion and people rushing into the room to surround a table not far from the hallway leading to the bathrooms, offices, and back door leading outside. When a few of the guys shift around, the sight greeting me has my vision turning red. Oaklynn is sitting at the table, blood covering her face as she sways slightly in the chair. My parents and Grudge surround her as I roar out to find out what the fuck is going on. When I hear Darian and Meisha did this to her, rage consumes me and I growl out that I want them gone. I might not know what the fuck I’m feeling when it comes to Oaklynn or what I want to do about it, but they hurt this innocent woman who is carrying my baby. Yes, I fully believe the baby is mine. Oaklynn isn’t the type of person to lie about something like that and be able to keep it up for as long as she has been. This is why Melissa has been treating me differently over the last several months.
Melissa hasn’t been outright mean or anything, but she’s regarded me with a coolness I haven’t ever seen or felt from her. Homicide would talk to her in hushed tones before she’d look at me again and lose the attitude. I’m sure she’s one of the only ones who knew about the pregnancy and that I’m the father of the baby. That knowledge would make her hate me just because I wasn’t doing anything to help her best friend. Oaklynn and Melissa are closer than sisters and love one another in ways I’ve never seen from anyone outside the clubhouse before. Their loyalty to one another is something we could all learn from. Especially with all the shit Melissa’s father and his club members put her through. Oaklynn could’ve easily turned her back on the bullshit and let Melissa suffer alone. Especially after she was hurt by the assholes but she didn’t. Oaklynn has stood by her friend's side and never once let her go through anything alone. Even living hours away with her aunt and uncle.
By the time we all left the clubhouse, I was pissed at Grudge. He was taking care of Oaklynn the way I should’ve been. Including holding the towel against her head to try and stop the bleeding. If I had been thinking about anything other than hurting those two skanks, I would’ve moved him away from her and taken care of her wounds and tried to reassure her that I wasn’t going anywhere. At least until I knew she was okay. No, I won’t hurt the girls physically, but I have no problem calling in someone to beat the absolute fuck out of them and make sure they know this shit isn’t gonna happen in the Dirty Slayers clubhouse. Darian and Meisha will get what’s coming to them and they’ll be banned from the clubhouse and all of our businesses in the future. No one will talk to them or go anywhere around the two girls. They’ll be iced out and have no choice but to leave Frostford because of what they’ve done to Oaklynn. I can’t wait to watch them die a social death from their choice to be jealous and try to claim me when they will never be anything to me.
I’m good watching as the doctors and nurses work on Oaklynn. Well, I’m not good because I want to beat the fuck out of someone after seeing this woman hurt and covered in blood. For the first time in my life, I was truly scared the second I saw her looking the way she did when I entered the common room. They quickly clean her wound to see how bad the damage is and it’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The cut on her head is less than an inch long and thin as hell. I know head wounds always bleed more than most any other wound, but the amount of blood she lost is terrifying. Her face and shirt are covered in it both on the front and back of her body. Every single time she moves, the shirt pulls at her skin from it sticking to her. I want to remove it from her and give her my shirt to wear and cover her body with. Right now, every part of her is essentially exposed with how her shirt is sticking to her body. I don’t want anyone seeing her like this.
The doctor quickly gets the wound stitched up and so much is going on in the room, I don’t think Oaklynn even realizes what’s going on with her. My eyes never leave the doctor as he works while I listen to every answer Oaklynn gives to the questions being thrown her way. Oaklynn never let’s go of my hand as my mom stands next to me and we remain quiet so we don’t get thrown out of her hospital room. When the obstetrician walks in and tells her she’ll be performing an ultrasound, I’m not sure if I want to remain at her side with my mom. I can feel the excitement rolling off of my mom in waves with the knowledge she’s about to see her grandbaby. Nervousness fills me as I realize I don’t have a choice in the matter because they need to ensure the baby is okay. So, I release Oaklynn’s hand and move to lean against the wall and stare at the one opposite me in the small room.
When a large machine gets wheeled in the room, there truly is no room and no matter where I stand or look, I’ll have to see the screen where our baby will show up. I might not know much about this shit during pregnancy, but I know enough to realize what will happen during this part of Oaklynn’s exam. Unless I close my eyes, I’ll see everything on the screen. Part of me longs to make sure our baby is okay while the other part doesn’t want anything to do with this. I’m torn in two and almost run from the room to send my dad or Grudge back in while I pace the waiting room. Instead, I remain where I am and watch as the technician gets everything set up. Just before she squeezes the gel on Oaklynn’s stomach, the obstetrician walks back in to watch what’s going on and see first-hand the baby on the screen and give direction to the technician.
A loud whooshing sound fills the room causing my mom to gasp as tears fill Oaklynn’s eyes. The sound is steady and strong as I realize we’re listening to my son’s or daughter’s heartbeat. Relief fills me because if we’re hearing their heart beating like this, he or she must be okay. My gaze moves to Oaklynn as she turns her face toward me. A soft smile makes her face light up despite the slightly glazed look in her eyes and the pain filling every inch of her.
“The heartbeat sounds really good. Steady and strong without any indication anything is wrong,” the doctor speaks up before the sound suddenly disappears and we’re thrown back into silence while the technician presses several keys and the screen fills with a grainy image.
My eyes move fully to the screen as our baby appears. From what I can see, he or she is sucking their thumb as they float and move around in Oaklynn’s body. Awe fills me as her stomach moves while the baby moves around. Seeing the baby on the screen makes this situation even more real than it was before and I know I have to make some decisions about what I’ll be doing with my life and Oaklynn moving forward. Decisions that won’t affect just me. No matter what I do, it’s going to determine Oaklynn’s life moving forward and the life of our unborn child. I need time to figure out what the hell I’m going to do and maybe a long talk with my dad. No matter what he thinks or feels, he’ll give me solid advice and help guide me through this situation. My mom will lead me with emotion, but my dad has always been solid and can remove himself from the situation to give me unbiased advice. I just hope he can be the same this time considering I know he realizes the baby will be his grandchild.
“Would you like to know the gender of the baby if you don’t already know?” the technician asks, looking between Oaklynn and myself.
I turn to look at Oaklynn once more. Since I haven’t been around for the pregnancy, I don’t want to make a decision that’s not okay with her. Not after she’s been hurt the way she has today. Again, I’m torn in two for this situation. Part of me really wants to know if we’re going to have a son or daughter while the rest of me doesn’t want to know. Especially if I’m having a girl. Since I’ve never wanted to have a kid of my own, I’ve never really thought about how I’d feel when we found out if we were having a son or daughter. No matter who was having my child. Now, the thought of being a dad to a girl fucking terrifies me. If she looks anything like Oaklynn, I’ll have to beat the boys away with my fists and threaten them with death. My daughter will hate me because she won’t have any freedom or be allowed to date until I’m cold and buried in the ground and can’t see assholes trying to get in her pants.
“I don’t want to know,” Oaklynn says, her voice small and shaky in ways I’ve never heard from her before. I don’t fucking like it. “Is that okay with you, Omen?”
“Whatever you want, Oaklynn. If you don’t want to know, we won’t find out today. Or maybe we can have it put in an envelope for one of those gender reveal things. I’ve seen the videos of them when Melissa has watched them,” I answer her as my mom starts laughing her ass off at my admission.
“Thank you. I’d like to do that. Marie, would you be up for taking the envelope and preparing how the gender reveal is done?” Oaklynn asks my mom who immediately stops laughing and whips her head toward Oaklynn with tears shining in her eyes.
“It would be my honor, Oaklynn. I will make the day special for you and we’ll combine it with a baby shower for you. I can’t wait!” my mom says as her excitement fills the room.
“Okay. I’ll put it in an envelope for you to take home with you,” the technician says as she talks to the doctor and they look at a few different things.
For several minutes, we watch the screen as various parts of our baby is shown before moving on to the next one. Oaklynn and my mom don’t take their eyes off the screen in front of us until the technician finally lets us know she’ll print off pictures for us and wipes off the gel stuff with a towel the obstetrician hands her.
“I’m going to go over the results in more depth before figuring out what the best course of action is. At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any damage to the placenta or baby from what’s happened to you. Moving forward we may have to think about putting you on bed rest, but I’d like to go over the ultrasound more before making that decision. Have you been taking your prenatal vitamins?” the obstetrician informs us before asking Oaklynn about medicine I didn’t know she was supposed to be taking.
“Every day. I eat healthy and try to limit the junk food I intake. My two weaknesses are chocolate milkshakes and French fries though. I could eat them all day long every single day of the week,” Oaklynn answers as my mom starts laughing softly next to me.
“Good. I’m also gonna check your labs to make sure there’s nothing going on we wouldn’t see in the ultrasound. Do you have a doctor here in town?”
“No. I just moved here and haven’t had a chance to get one yet. Are you accepting new patients?” Oaklynn asks the doctor before us with tension filling her body.
“I am. I would be honored to take you into my practice. When you get discharged, I’ll make sure you have an appointment for next week so we can follow up. You’ll also have my information in case something changes before your appointment,” the doctor answers as I try to remember her name from when she first walked in the room to no avail.
Without another word, the doctor leaves and the technician hands over a strip of photos and the envelope. My mom takes the envelope while Oaklynn looks at each picture in the strip before folding them carefully and handing them over to me. I want to examine them in detail, but now isn’t the time. Instead, I slide them carefully in my cut for safekeeping until we can leave the hospital.
“I’m going to go out and let Rooster know what’s going on,” my mom says as Oaklynn’s eyes start to flutter closed. “You get some sleep while you can. No one said you can’t sleep and I imagine you’re exhausted after everything that’s happened over the last few days.”
“I’m not leavin’ your side, Oaklynn. If you wanna sleep, I’ll make sure no one comes in the room to bother you,” I assure her, my voice as reassuring as I can make it while my mom steps past me to leave the room.
Oaklynn pulls the blanket up and I step forward to help her when it gets tangled in the tubing for the IV. Once her body is covered as much as it can be with the small hospital blanket, I step back and lean against the wall once more. I hate being in hospitals more than anywhere else. However, I know this is where Oaklynn needs to be to ensure she’ll be okay and there’s nothing wrong with the baby. Doc can do everything they’re doing here, but it’s not just Oaklynn’s life on the line here. We have to think of the baby and that’s what everyone else did while I was raging and pissed at the two skanks who did this to my girl.
What the fuck?
Since when is Oaklynn my girl? My heart starts thudding rapidly in my chest as I look at the girl who has been consuming me completely for the last seven and a half months. I need to separate myself from the situation until I figure out what the fuck is going on with me and these errant thoughts about Oaklynn being my girl. Fuck!
***
O aklynn has a concussion and has to take it easy. She can only take certain medicine to help with the pain from the headache she’ll have over the next few days. If it gets worse or she starts throwing up, we have to get her back to the hospital immediately. The obstetrician isn’t putting her on bed rest at this point. Again, she has to monitor things and if there’s any change, she’s to call for an appointment. Because of the situation, the doctor has assured us she’ll get her in even if she has to stay late at her office to see her. For now, Oaklynn is to take it easy and not be left alone for any reason. My mom assured both doctors it wouldn’t happen and that she’d be moving into their house or the clubhouse for the next few days so someone is always with her. Oaklynn didn’t like that idea at all. She held her tongue and didn’t say anything, but I know she’s pissed about the change of plans. I am undecided on how to feel about the situation because I’ll see her every damn day when I’m trying to get slightly away from her so I can think of the situation rationally.
Walking in the clubhouse, I watch my mom fawn all over Oaklynn as she leads her to one of the couches while Kimber rushes off to the kitchen. I have no doubt they’ll be feeding Oaklynn and making sure she’s as comfortable as possible until she goes to bed. Right now, she wants to stay awake for a while since she slept in the hospital while the bag of fluids finished and we waited for the doctors to return to discharge her.
“Church!” my dad bellows just as Meisha and Darian walk in the common room and he turns his glare on the two of them. “Knuckles, get those two skanks in one of the rooms that lock from the outside. Actually, I want them in separate rooms with nothing to eat, drink, or keep them comfortable. No one is to let them out until we’re done with church.”
Meisha and Darian look at my dad with fear filling their eyes. Both of them lose all the color in their faces as Knuckles makes his way over to them. They don’t fight his hold on their arms as he moves them down the hallway our church room is in and I hear one door slam shut before a second one follows. Still, there’s no sound from either woman as our Sgt. at Arms locks them in a room while we have church. The rest of us file toward our meeting room and hand over our weapons and phones to the Prospects who stand outside the room with baskets in hand. I take my seat the second I’m there and wait for the table to fill. Rage starts to fill me once again from one look at the two bitches that caused Oaklynn to be hurt and end up in the hospital.
“Church in session!” my dad bellows before slamming the gavel on the table in front of him and looking around the table. “I don’t know how much any of you around this table know, but I’m gonna fill you all in really quick before we hold a vote. Oaklynn is obviously pregnant. The father of her baby is Omen and we all just found out. I can imagine why my son didn’t know until today that he was about to be a dad. Anyway, Darian and Meisha took it upon themselves to confront Oaklynn in the bathroom here at the clubhouse to warn her away from Omen. She has a concussion, a cut on the back of her head that had to be stitched together, but the baby is okay. We have to keep an eye on her over the next few days so I expect every single one of you to step the fuck up and help her with anythin’ she needs.”
There’s outrage from several men around the table. Homicide is worse than anyone else as I feel his gaze drilling into the side of my head and I turn to face him.
“What the fuck is gonna be done to the two of them?” Homicide questions my dad as he continues staring at me with pure rage covering his face.
“That’s what we’re about to vote on. Omen has already stated that he wants them gone. I agree with him,” my dad states as he looks around the table.
“I say we let Kimber and Marie get their hands on the two of them. Both of our girls can fight and won’t take kindly to Oaklynn bein’ hurt. Both women are fond of her and I know Marie feels somethin’ even deeper knowin’ Oaklynn’s carryin’ your grandbaby,” Brick suggests, his voice full of anger as I hold back my laugh with the thought of my mom and Kimber getting their hands dirty. My mom is ready to go the fuck on those two and she’ll beat the shit out of them without any help from Kimber.
“That’s a great idea!” Homicide adds with a smirk on his face because he knows the two women will absolutely destroy Darian and Meisha and laugh while doing it. “I’d include Melissa but she isn’t feelin’ the best right now. Late pregnancy and all that shit.”
“Everyone say ‘aye’ if you want Marie and Kimber to beat the hell outta Darian and Meisha,” my dad states, going around the table to get a unanimous vote for our women getting their hands dirty. “Now after they get a beat down, I agree with my son that they need to be fuckin’ gone. Neither one of them belong in this clubhouse after what they did to Oaklynn. Yeah, I might be biased because she’s carryin’ my grandbaby, but I’d feel the same if they attacked any woman in this clubhouse. Or tried to claim a man who doesn’t want them for anythin’ other than sex. Vote to kick both of them out of the club and make them out bad.”
Again we go around the table and everyone agrees to kick them the fuck out. My dad has Knuckles go get my mom and Kimber to fill them in on what’s about to happen while leaving the Prospects with Oaklynn in the common room until we’re done in church. While I want to be one of the guys watching my mom and Kimber, I should probably get Oaklynn comfortable in a room here so she can get the rest the doctors are saying she needs to have over the next several days.
The vote goes to get rid of the two skanks and I can’t wait to see their reactions to the news. Instead of bringing them in church, we decide to let them know what’s about to happen to them when we let them out of the rooms they’re locked in. While I want to be there for the show, there are more important things going on that I need to focus on. Oaklynn isn’t happy and she needs to remain calm and as stress free as possible. Knowing these two skanks won’t be here will hopefully help with that. Whatever she needs, I’ll do my best to be there for her moving forward. As long as I can keep my head out of my ass and not push her away because this is the shit I never wanted in my life.