Chapter 8
Otto
My entire body jerked forward, and I barely kept myself from stumbling. I hadn’t anticipated the hard slap to the back of my head, but I should’ve. I braced for the second one.
“The fuck were you thinkin’?” my gramps snapped the moment Esther disappeared into the back hallway.
“Forget the fact that you defiled that sweet girl,” Uncle Casper added quietly. “God knows how you fuckin’ managed that. You also didn’t think it was pertinent to disclose your connection to the Brothers of fuckin’ Calgary?”
“She was gone,” I replied defensively, knowing in my gut it was no excuse. “I tried lookin’ for her but they’d already stashed her in that cabin.”
“You think you’re talkin’ your way out,” Dragon said, her voice completely devoid of any emotion. “It’s fascinatin’ to watch you dig the hole deeper.”
“I fucked up,” I blurted, looking between the men who were staring at me with varying degrees of disgust.
“Understatement,” someone murmured under their breath.
“I’ll fix it,” I promised, swallowing hard.
“You’ll marry her,” Uncle Casper replied firmly. “As soon as fuckin’ possible.”
“What?”
My stomach lurched as I stared at him in horror. I’d barely even spent any time with Esther, for fuck’s sake. I didn’t know her, and she definitely didn’t know shit about me.
“That girl is—” Uncle Casper started.
“Na?ve,” Cam finished.
“Scared,” Dragon added through his teeth.
“And goddamn pregnant,” Gramps barked.
“That doesn’t mean I should marry her,” I replied dubiously. “She can live with me, obviously.”
“Oh, obviously,” Leo muttered dryly.
“We don’t have to be fuckin’ married,” I blurted, my heart pounding. “It’s not the 1950s.”
“You a member of this club?” Dragon asked softly. His voice may have been low, but there was a thread of steel in it that made me stiffen.
“Yes.” I fisted my hands at my side.
“You give your word to this club?”
I ground my teeth. “Yes.”
“You agreed to give your life to this club?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ll do what you’re fuckin’ told.” His voice rose with every word until I was staring at him in shock. I didn’t think I’d ever heard him raise his voice in my entire life.
“Of course I will,” I replied automatically, everything inside me clenching. I looked around the table.
“She’s loyal,” Casper said after a moment of silence, glancing over his shoulder toward where the women had gone. “To the point of stupidity, maybe.”
I beat back the urge to fly across the table. Esther wasn’t stupid.
Uncle Casper must’ve interpreted the look on my face, because his lips twitched with understanding. “You’re protective of her? That’s good.”
“Decent marriages have started from less,” Mack said quietly, the first comment he’d made in a while.
I gaped at them. All of them had seemed to come to some kind of consensus without saying a word to me. I couldn’t figure it out.
Gramps huffed and shook his head. “She’s loyal, Otto,” he said, speaking slowly like I wouldn’t be able to understand him. “She was raised in a highly religious family—”
Leo scoffed.
“—with the father as the head,” Gramps continued. “He’s the be-all and end-all, yeah? But who d’you think her loyalty will lie with once she’s married?”
“Her husband,” I rasped, finally realizing what they’d all been thinking.
“That’s right,” Gramps replied. “Her husband.”
“Fuck,” I breathed.
“He was gonna kill her,” Mack said, his eyes on me. “For the sake of a few crates of rifles.” He paused. “And nothin’ we say is gonna convince her of that truth.”
“And once we’re married, I can protect her,” I murmured, taking a deep breath.
“Not only that,” Uncle Casper replied. “You’ll be protectin’ the club, too. She goes back to them, they know exactly what happened today.”
“No question,” Dragon confirmed.
“Won’t they already—” I stopped speaking the moment Uncle Casper started grinning.
“You blew up the fuckin’ cabin.” My eyes widened in realization.
“It’s not checkers, son,” Gramps said. “It’s chess.”
“They’ll think she’s dead.”
“Long enough for you to get a ring on her finger at least,” Uncle Casper confirmed.
“And long enough for us to figure out where the rest of that fuckin’ shipment is,” Leo added. “And what the fuck they plan on doin’ with ’em before they even realize we know they have ’em.”
“She’s not gonna marry me,” I said flatly, looking around the table. “She doesn’t even know me.”
Leo laughed humorlessly. “She grew up in Calgary Church,” he muttered. “She’ll marry the father of her child.”
“So we’re just bankin’ on the fact that she’s been brainwashed so she’ll marry me without argument?” I asked, glaring. “Because I don’t know about you but that kind of makes me want to hit somethin’.”
“You gonna beat her?” Uncle Casper asked. “Control her? Treat her like shit?”
“Of course not.”
“Then I’m bettin’ you’re better than any alternative her parents woulda given her.”
“That’s not the point,” I ground out.
“Point is,” Dragon said, clearly done with the entire conversation. “You thought you could keep your connection a secret and you got found out.”
“That wasn’t—”
“Shut it.” He glowered at me. “Now you’re gonna do right by that girl. You help out the club, so much the better.”
“Do right by her,” I muttered under my breath. “Jesus.”
“You talk to her,” Gramps said, glancing at Dragon briefly. “She tells you no flat out, we’ll revisit. She agrees to marry you, you’ll lock that shit down.”
“Understood,” I replied through my teeth.
“She ain’t gonna say no,” Mack said, watching me closely.
“You’re her port in a seriously fucked up storm, man.
She’s been livin’ in the middle of nowhere, no electricity, no water, no contact with the outside world—all because she got pregnant.
The people who were supposed to protect her did that.
Even if she doesn’t believe that her pops was all set to blow her ass up, I’m guessin’ you askin’ will be a relief. ”
I sat there at the table, staring at my hands, while the rest of the men dispersed, going to make calls and strategize on next steps.
I’d made one decision, one mistake, and my entire life was going to change.
I didn’t know how to be a goddamn husband or a father.
I’d never even had a steady girlfriend let alone taken care of a baby.
I could feel the beginning of a migraine starting at the base of my skull and willed it to go away. There was no possible way that I could afford to be out of commission for the next twelve hours, and migraines always knocked me flat on my ass.
I had to ask Esther to marry me and I had absolutely zero idea how to even broach the subject with her.
Nearly groaning as my head started to ache, I got to my feet and followed my mom and Esther back into my pop’s room.
Jesus, I didn’t even have a room at the club.
If something happened and we went on lockdown, Esther would be sleeping out on a sleeping bag in the main room of the clubhouse.
I swallowed hard. If we were going to be married, she’d usually be sleeping in my bed.
With me. Every night. Every single fucking night.
When I reached the open door to my parents’ room, all thoughts of sleeping arrangements disappeared in an instant. Esther was crying and it wasn’t just some stray tears, it was full-out-body-shaking sobs.
“I’m not sure who, yet, but I’m going to kill someone,” my mom snapped when she saw me.
“Get in line,” I muttered, starting forward. “What the fuck happened?”
“Hormones,” my gram said, shooting me a small smile over Esther’s head. “And an overwhelming day.”
She patted Esther’s back and eased her into my arms.
“I’m going to make her a doctor’s appointment,” my mom said as Esther sniffled against my chest. “Or maybe a midwife would be better.”
“A woman,” Esther ordered softly, her voice thick. “I want a woman doctor.”
“Consider it done,” my mom replied instantly. “No dicks.”
Esther made a choked noise but didn’t reply.
“We’ll give you two a few minutes,” Gram said, squeezing my shoulder as she stood.
Be good, my mom mouthed as she walked out the door, using her index and middle finger to point at her eyes and then at me.
I barely held back from rolling my eyes. What was I going to do? Make her cry? She was already doing that. Get her pregnant on my parents’ bed? That ship had motherfucking sailed.
“I’m sorry,” Esther mumbled, straightening away from me. “Your mom’s just so nice.”
“My mom?” I joked incredulously. My mom was the kindest person I’d ever met, but if you asked anyone they would’ve said the opposite. She hid that part of herself very well.
“She’s awesome,” Esther argued in disbelief. Scowling at me. “She’s excited about the baby and she doesn’t even know me.”
“I was kidding.” I watched her face as she tried to get her emotions under control.
It was kind of startling to see her so upset because she’d been so calm all morning.
She’d barely batted an eye once she’d put the old pistol down, just gone along with us—with me—like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“What are the men, you know, your club or whatever, what are they going to do?” she asked, lacing her fingers tightly in her lap. “Did they call my dad?”
“Honey, why do you think they’d call your dad?” The conversation was getting a little repetitious by that point. She couldn’t still believe that he hadn’t had anything to do with the stolen shipment, right? I mean, a person would have to be pretty fucking delusional to still believe that.
“To come get me,” she replied, her lips barely moving. She wasn’t looking at me anymore.
“Esther.” I shook my head. How the fuck was I supposed to explain that if I had breath in my body she’d never go near that fucking sociopath again?
“They can’t just keep me here, right?” she said, looking around. “That’s—that’s like kidnapping.”
“You’re not safe with your parents, sugar,” I replied as gently as I could. I wasn’t going to touch the mention of kidnapping. The club had done far worse than hold someone to keep them safe.