Chapter Twenty
Aksana
In the days that followed, Vladmir avoided me. The only time I saw him was when he came to collect Katiya. He never said where he was taking her, and I didn’t ask. As for his brothers, they were all hesitant and closed off, not really saying much to me. They were polite and courteous, but the camaraderie we had before was gone.
Standing over the stove next to Sugar, the wife of Enigma, I said nothing. I concentrated on the roux I was making when she said, “If you need to talk, I’m a good listener.”
Looking at the pretty woman, I gave her a small smile. “Thank you, but I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“The beginning is generally the best.”
“Oh, fuck that!” Bailey, King’s wife, scoffed. “I say let the bastard stew. He isn’t completely innocent here. I mean, aren’t any of you curious about how his sperm got into Aksana in the first place? Something is fishy there and it ain’t that crap you’re making, Shug.”
From the moment I met Bailey, she was something else. The woman spoke her mind, didn’t give two shits about anything but her man, daughter, and the club. She had an opinion about everything, and she was hands down one of the strongest women I’d ever met. God help anyone who dared say a word about her bestie, Scribe.
“For your information, I don’t cook crap!” Sugar rounded on the woman and huffed. “I’m making a tuna casserole for parent and teacher meet and greet night at Ben’s school!”
“Bake cookies. They will like that more.”
I watched as Sugar’s face went puce as she yanked open the stove, removed the tuna casserole, then threw it in the trash.
“Bails has a point, Shug.” Phoebe, the wife of Priest, chuckled. “I consulted the cards, and something is seriously not right with this whole situation. The cards indicated the possibility of another woman.”
“See!” Bailey grinned happily, leaning on the table looking at Phoebe. “Now we’re talking. What else did those cards say?”
“They are not a magic eight ball, Bails. They don’t work that way.”
“Then call Athena,” Bailey ordered. “Bet that girl knows what happened.”
Phoebe muttered, “Don’t have to call her. She will be here tonight.”
Bailey groaned, banging her head on the table. “Why is she coming here? Scribe is going to lose his shit when he sees her. She freaks everyone out.”
“All she said was that there was someone here that would need her soon.”
“Sounds ominous.” I chuckled.
Bailey groaned. “You have no idea. When Athena Malpas shows up, shit really hits the fan around here. That girl’s got the gift of sight, if you believe in that shit. But I want to get back to your predicament.”
“Didn’t know I had one.” I grinned, placing a lid on the pot before turning to face the outspoken woman. “Neither of us knows how it happened. All we know for sure is that he is Katiya’s father.”
“Maybe his dick got drunk and wandered into a cup.” Bailey snickered as Remi and Illyria both walked into the kitchen.
Staring point blank at the outrageous woman, Remi asked, “Are you insinuating my dad did something nefarious?”
“He’s got a dick, right?” Bailey flippantly said as the rest of the Sons of Hell wives chuckled, nodding their heads. “If it gets hard like a dick and spews cum like a dick. It’s a dick.”
“And Aksana would know best about Vladmir’s dick,” Illyria said suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.
“EW!” Remi pushed Illyria away from her. “That’s my dad, bitch!”
“Whose dick are we talking about?” Claudia James, the wife of Frank, walked in with Henley, Scribe’s wife, behind her. “Cause if we’re comparing dicks, no one can beat my Frank’s thick schlong.”
“Bailey started it.” Sarah, Gunner’s wife, blushed. “Then Illyria made a lewd comment about Vladmir’s dick.”
Remi groaned. “Can we stop talking about my dad’s dick?”
“Then explain how your dad’s semen got into Aksana,” Bailey countered.
Sighing, Remi plopped down into a chair and groaned. “I don’t know.”
“You know, if you think about this from a clinical standpoint, it could have happened many ways, but I’m leaning toward someone he was with pilfered his used condom and extracted the semen. It happens more often than you think. Just last month, I read an article in the New York Times, that a woman had a one-night stand with some famous actor and after he left, she found his used condom in the trash. He tied it off, sealing his sperm inside. She untied it and used a turkey baster to suck all the semen out of the condom before inserting it into her vagina. It made national news because the woman is now suing the actor for child support.”
Everyone gaped at the beautiful woman, who shrugged. “Like I said. It could happen.”
Shaking that horrible image from my mind, I said, “It doesn’t matter how Vladmir’s sperm got into me. All I care about is that Katiya is a happy, healthy little girl.”
“But aren’t you curious?” Illyria asked.
“I know I’d want to know,” Remi added, looking at me.
“I would too,” his gruff voice said from the doorway, holding our daughter in his arms. Saying nothing more, he walked over to me, handing over Katiya before he turned and left the kitchen.
Sighing, I looked at my beautiful little girl and tried not to cry.
I was unsuccessful.
Getting up Remi walked over to me. “Give him time, Aksana. He’s got a lot on his mind right now.”
“But what about me, Remi? I’ve got questions too and no one to talk to. He won’t even look at me.”
“That’s because you’ve been moping around here with your tail between your legs,” Bailey said, getting to her feet. “Look, Aksana, I was only joking around earlier, but, girl, you need to grow some balls. What happened isn’t all your fault. You are the victim here just as much as he is.”
“Bailey is right, Aksana,” Illyria piped up. “And if I was a betting woman, I bet Vladmir is angrier with himself than you. You were in the hospital recovering from a beating when whatever happened occurred. You were helpless and someone took advantage of your vulnerability. I know Vladmir, and that is something he doesn’t tolerate. All I can say is, God help the person who did this, because Vladmir will not think twice before killing them.”
I knew she was right. From what I knew of Vladmir, he didn’t strike me as a person to let something like this go.
Sliding closer to me, Bailey grinned. “So, tell me, how big are we really talking here? Full-on double fisting or bigger?”
Remi groaned and I chuckled.
For the rest of the day, I laughed, cried, and just let everything go. There was nothing I could do until Vladmir talked to me. Until he was ready to do so, I took Bailey’s advice and decided to hold my head up higher because when nightfall came, nothing could have prepared me for what happened.
That night, the Sons of Hell hosted a barbeque. It wasn’t my first biker barbeque, so I was prepared for pretty much anything. Even when young Cameron snuck downstairs to join the party.
I liked the young man, who for the last several minutes had been ducking King’s reach as the president tried to nab the little varmint. However, when the young boy ran smack dab into Reaper. He wasn’t fast enough, and Reaper picked the boy up and literally threw him at King, who growled, “Boy, one of these days!”
“But not today, right?” The kid sweetly smiled at the man while Skylar, Pyro’s wife, rushed over to save the boy.
“Hog-tie him to his bed, if you have to.”
“He can never stay mad at Cameron,” Bailey said, sitting next to me in a lawn chair. “Kid gets away with murder and King lets him.”
“Is King his dad?”
Bailey shook her head. “No. Cameron is Skylar’s little brother. Their parents died in a car accident before they came to live here. It was rough at first, but when Pyro claimed Sky, everything settled down.”
“So, Cameron lives with his sister and Pyro?”
“No. He lives here with us. King claimed him. Don’t tell anyone, but King had Scribe draw up adoption papers. He’s going to give them to Cameron for Christmas. All the kid will need to do is sign his name and he will be a Montclair.”
“Does Cameron want that?”
“Oh yeah.” Bailey smiled warmly. “Kid made a big stink about it a few weeks ago. Damn near gave King a heart attack when he took off, but Cameron’s settled down a little since then. He still gets into trouble, but now he’s King’s problem, and though he won’t admit it, King loves that little brat something fierce.”
I was about to ask another question when we all heard a young girl cry, “GEORGIE!”
Instantly, the music died and everyone turned.
Running toward the group was a sobbing young girl, no older than fifteen, possibly sixteen. Rushing toward her, the brother, Georgie, growled, holding her in his arms. “Fiona, what happened?”
Before the young girl could say a word, Bailey growled, “Oh fuck yes. Tonight is going to be lit!” as all the Sons of Hell women got to their feet.
Looking at Remi, who was already moving, I followed.
I knew the drill. Fiona was a young girl. Innocent. A protected member of the club. No one touched, harmed, or in this case, made a princess of the club cry without some sort of retribution. While the Satan’s Angels didn’t believe in that policy, I’d been around enough biker clubs who did, and I knew what was about to happen next.
“Cupcake,” King groaned when his wife held up her hand, silencing him as she walked past.
“Fuck, you can’t be this stupid, Marlene,” Bailey sneered while she stood in front of Georgie and the young girl, glaring at the skank before her.
I had seen plenty of club girls in my day. They were about as prevalent as club brothers. Most of the club girls were just looking for love in all the wrong places, some had nowhere else to go, but the small few, like the one standing in front of Bailey, well, they were the reason club girls got a bad rap. From what I could see, Marlene was the stereotypical club whore, with her fake hair, fake boobs, plastic face, and clothes that left nothing to the imagination. Women like Marlene only wanted one thing, and that was to be the top bitch, and she would resort to any means necessary to achieve that goal.
However, when this particular bitch smiled and her eyes landed on me, I knew something was off. Whatever she was doing here had nothing to do with the teenage girl.
“That little bitch hit my car, then took off. She’s gonna pay for damages if I have to beat it out of her.”
“That right, Fiona?” Bailey asked. “You hit Marlene’s piece-of-shit car?”
“No, Bailey, I swear it wasn’t me.”
“Bitch is lying,” Marlene seethed. “Got it all on camera. She hit my car and fled the scene.”
“Call her a bitch one more time,” Remi clapped back. “And see what happens next.”
“You tell her, Sis.” Jessica, the wife of Savage, a brother in the Golden Skulls, smirked as she punched her palm with her other hand. As for the rest of us, well, we surrounded the three women getting ready to throw down, when this Marlene bitch smirked.
“Fuck you. You think I’m stupid to come here alone?” the cunt snarked as five more scantily dressed women walked up to stand behind Marlene. “I brought friends this time, whore.”
It didn’t take a genius to know that Marlene didn’t have friends. Women like her rarely did, which begged the question, where did these other women come from? Because when I looked at the newcomers, I immediately knew something was off about this whole situation, especially when two of the women looked somewhat familiar to me.
Sliding close to Remi, I whispered, “Stay back. Something isn’t right here.”
Reaper’s wife nodded, then slowly slid behind me.
I wasn’t worried too much about Bailey and her girls whooping ass, because from the stories I’d heard, they were more than capable of taking care of themselves. Illyria may look finely polished and runway ready, but the woman grew up with five older brothers, so she could throw down with the best of them. It was Remi I was worried about, because she was pregnant. I was right to be concerned, because from around the clubhouse wall, slinking in the dark, was a face that I was distinctly familiar with, Candi-Pop, Steele’s number one go-to bitch.
I don’t know what made me do it, but when I saw the bitch smile and blow me a kiss, I didn’t think. I tackled the bitch, slamming her into the ground like a five-pound sack of potatoes.
Yeah, after the last few days I had, I was tired of sitting around and doing nothing. I grabbed Candi-Pop by her bottle-bleached hair and kneed her in the gut before I yanked her head back and let my fist fly.