ZODIAC
Elle Reed was a gorgeous woman, but she was a shitty liar. Even when she tried to dismiss me and got all the words right, her needy gaze gave away her heart. I felt like a different man whenever she stared at me as if nothing else existed.
Rather than admit her feelings, Elle scurried off like a domesticated cat having faced off with a wild predator. She did little to hide her fear of me. I held power over her in the same way she did over me.
Before following her back to the family room, I had inspected the hallway lined with family photos. I was curious about Elle as a kid. But mostly, I wanted to see if her boy was a weird-looking baby.
The pictures on the walls had the usual family “lean together and smile” poses. I did find one with Elle holding a tiny Sutter. He looked like a doll in her arms. Her smile was infectious. I liked knowing she would be that excited one day while holding my boy.
If I were capable of committing to a woman, Elle would be the one. I hadn’t gotten hard for another chick in months. Voluntary celibacy felt like a sickness, but I didn’t want anyone except the crazy blonde hiding from me in the other room.
The women huddled together and gossiped. Clint made a show of avoiding me and speaking with Sutter.
Ford moseyed in my direction while holding a can of kombucha. I knew his son was big on the healthy drink. I wondered if that was something Elle enjoyed.
“I admit when I kicked your ass years ago,” Ford said and offered a sly grin, “I sensed you’d run your own club one day. However, I never imagined you’d knock up my only daughter. Life’s funny that way.”
“Are we going to fight now?”
“Think you can take me?”
“Depends on whether your wife and kids will start screaming and crying in fear for you. I imagine that’d throw me off.”
Rubbing at his silver beard, Ford smiled. “Pax claimed he got the better Black Rainbow member sniffing around his daughter, but he’s wrong. I don’t want to share Elle. She can stay in Little Memphis, and you can ride up here to visit the kid.”
“I’m keeping the boy full-time.”
Ford narrowed his gaze. “Is this a game you’re playing to fuck with Elle?”
“I don’t trust anyone with my kid.”
“Then, you should be more careful about who you jizz inside.”
“Elle can move to Baton Rouge and visit the kid.”
“Okay,” Ford said.
“Really?”
“No, but I have a policy of never arguing with the mentally ill.”
Feeling Elle’s gaze on me, I turned to find her staring in my direction. She noticed me noticing her and looked away. I smirked at her goofy antics.
Ford asked, “Will my grandkid have another set of grandparents?”
“No.”
“Any aunts or uncles?”
“None that are blood related. But my club guys are like brothers, so the kid will have plenty of uncles.”
“Do you have any interest in Elle beyond as an incubator?”
“I feel like any answer I give will inspire you to talk about your bat.”
Ford narrowed his eyes and smirked. “Do you think I can’t beat you without the bat?”
“No, I don’t think that. I know you can’t beat me without it. You know it, too. That’s why you pulled it out halfway through our fight.”
“Well, I don’t feel an ounce of shame over using a bat to win. You’re younger than I am, and I don’t like to lose.”
Grinning at his honesty, I shrugged. “I’m still not answering your incubator question.”
“Fair enough, but I think you two would make solid friends with benefits.”
“What?” I asked, wondering if I understood him right.
“Elle doesn’t need a husband, but it wouldn’t hurt her to get laid occasionally. Might keep her from agreeing to a drunken quickie with a strange man.”
“No one needs a husband.”
“Bullshit. I know plenty of women desperate for commitment. Elle isn’t one of them. She likes her life the way it is. Nothing needs to change.”
“She’s having my baby.”
“We’ll stick the kid in the basement with Elle and Sutter. It’ll be fine,” Ford said, glancing back at where Lula, Exile, Nova, and two tiny troublemakers entered the house. “But there’s no space for a man down there.”
Of course, I had no intention of marrying Elle and moving into the Ford Reed’s fucking basement. However, I was a little offended by how he wasn’t concerned about me staking a claim on his daughter.
Before I could poke at the silver-haired biker, Nova walked over to me with her girls, Skylar and Lyric.
“You’re having a son,” Nova said, wearing that fake happy expression she whipped out whenever talking to the club wives.
“You forgot to congratulate me and say the boy is lucky to have such a great dad.”
Nova’s face remained frozen on the happy expression. I held her gaze, waiting for her to break. Maybe sensing his sister could outlast me, Exile interrupted our staring contest.
“Here, man, have an Eddie Murphy face,” he said and shoved a little piece of paper in my shirt’s front pocket.
“Your uncle is having a baby,” Exile told his nieces.
Messy-haired Skylar instantly stared at my stomach. Lyric reached up for Exile to carry her. Once he obeyed like usual, the kid leaned closer to see my face.
“Where’s your baby?” she demanded.
“Inside Elle.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Yes, you do,” Nova said and pointed at Elle in the kitchen.
Hearing her name, Elle smiled and waved.
“Where’s your baby?” Lyric asked Elle.
“Right here,” Elle said and showed off the baby bump she seemed to think was big enough for everyone to notice. “I’m naming my baby boy Wilbur.”
“No,” I told Skylar who was still eyeing my stomach. “Are you going to play with my baby once he’s born?”
“No, I have to go to school.”
“You can play with him when you get home.”
“No, I have to take care of the dogs. I’m busy.”
“You ungrateful little hellion,” I growled. “When your uncle ditched you for a hot lawyer, who scared away the monster living in your closet?”
“You did it wrong!” Lyric yelled. “You didn’t do it right!”
“Bullshit, kid. I scared the thing away. You just like drama.”
“No, you failed,” Skylar insisted while Lyric nodded.
“Okay, let’s just agree to disagree,” Nova said and herded her troublemaking daughters away from me.
As they joined Elle in the kitchen, I frowned at Lyric who was still shaking her little head.
“Your natural ease with kids is impressive,” Ford said and grinned at Clint.
Though I nearly defended my skills, Exile shook his head as if to warn me that I was walking into a trap.
So, rather than poke at Ford, I admired Elle in the kitchen. She was trying to convince the girls that a baby was inside her body. But Lyric and Skyler gave her as much shit about her pregnancy as they did with me about their fucking boogeyman.