Chapter Twenty-Two
Larissa couldn’t believe she actually slept.
The truth was, this pregnancy wasn’t easy.
Carrying two babies was exhausting. When the doctor had told her she needed to rest more and could no longer work, she’d been devastated.
Big Dick was doing everything he could to make her feel fine, but there was no denying this pregnancy was not coming without a cost.
She didn’t want to sleep. She felt so bad that Erick had been taken.
Getting to her feet, she left Big Dick’s room and made her way into the clubhouse’s main room, and that was when she saw everyone was present.
Harlow, Hunter, and their little baby. Ugly Beast, his wife and kids.
She saw Big Dick’s family, including his brothers, and the moment Nancy, his mother, saw her, she came toward her.
“Thank God, I am so glad to see you and know you’re okay.” Nancy pulled her into a hug.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know. George has gone to get some answers, but no one is telling me what is happening to Erick.” Nancy put her hands to her cheeks. “And I feel so awful.” Nancy leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“What? Why?” Panic consumed Larissa as she worried that maybe Nancy had something to do with Erick being taken.
“All these years I have judged this club and all these men. I have cut George out of my life. I’ve screamed at him, told him he was nothing to me.
I’ve said a lot of things in the heat of the moment, yet when I needed him most, he was there.
They’re all here, and they have offered food and shelter.
” Nancy had tears in her eyes. “And I am a horrible person.”
Larissa didn’t know what to do or say. She put a hand on Nancy’s arm.
“It’s going to be okay.”
She, herself, had never judged the club.
Hell’s Bastards MC had been nothing but kind to her.
“Have you heard from B- George?” she asked, nearly calling him Big Dick.
She loved his name, George, but she also knew he preferred to be called Big Dick.
It was a title he earned for the club. It was part of him.
“No, I’ve not heard anything.”
Larissa looked toward Harlow. If anyone knew anything, it would be his sister. Out of all of his siblings, Harlow and Big Dick were the closest, the youngest and the eldest.
“I’m just going to check on Harlow,” she said, offering Nancy a smile.
No one stopped her as she made her way toward the other woman. She held Rosa in her arms.
“Hey, are you okay?” Harlow asked, wrapping one arm around her shoulders.
“I don’t know. Have you heard from your brother?”
“No, not a word.” Harlow let out a breath. “You know, this sucks, because for the longest time I hated Erick, and now I only hope he is okay. I mean, what the fuck is going on?”
Larissa stroked her arm. “I know. It’s ... crazy.”
“It’s more than crazy. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all.
Twisted Bastards MC have been the enemies of this club for a long time.
They have never gone after family.” Harlow shook her head.
“Well, they have, recently, but not like this. Not with members that are not even close to the club. They did with me, but then I had a secret relationship with Hunter, and then with Ava, it made some kind of sense as we were connected to the club.”
Harlow was talking a lot and Larissa knew it was because she was trying not to panic. Baby Rosa started to cry.
“I need to go and feed her.”
Larissa nodded.
Everything was a mess. She didn’t know where Big Dick was. What did he know?
She ran her hands down her thighs, and she felt sick.
Just as she was about to get to her feet, Carlos made his way toward her. He was still on crutches after the attack, and this was really the first time she had seen him since.
“Hello, Carlos,” she said, moving toward him.
“Larissa, I was hoping I would get the chance to bump into you.”
“You were?”
“Yes. Do you mind if we sit for a moment?”
It was then she realized he actually looked quite tired, and she quickly became concerned for him.
“Yes, yes, of course.”
She also realized that he might be using it as an excuse to make her sit down.
Larissa knew she probably looked a sight.
Carrying two babies was taking its toll on her, and it wasn’t a good thing.
Big Dick kept worrying about her. She missed being able to work, but she didn’t want to do anything that would harm her babies.
Once she was off her feet, she did feel a whole lot better.
“Is everything okay?” Larissa asked.
“I never got the chance to apologize to you,” he said.
She sighed. “You don’t need to—”
“I do. And this is not because my wife has told me I have to. This is because I want to. When Big Dick and I made that bet, I had no intention of following it through. I just, I’d been watching the way he’d been watching you, and it had been happening for months.
Even before you came to work for Smokey, I’d see the way he looked at you.
He never approached you. Big Dick has been in love with you for a long time, and I don’t know what kept holding him back.
The moment you walked into a room, it was like he was drawn to you. ”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because, the bet, for me, was made with the best of intentions. It was never meant to hurt you.”
“I was never meant to find out,” she said.
“True. I was expecting Big Dick to have his wake-up call, and it took him a little longer than I expected, but we’re all here now, and we’re figuring it out.” He smiled at her. “I just ... he loves you.”
“I know,” Larissa said.
“You know?”
She chuckled. “He told me.”
“Please forgive me.”
Larissa reached out and put a hand on his knee. “You’re forgiven, but don’t go making any other bets with my husband.”
Carlos laughed. “Wow, Big Dick as a husband, who would have thought it?”
It was still surreal to Larissa, but it was a good feeling. She couldn’t help but twirl the ring around her finger.
****
“Big Dick, what are you doing here? It has been a fucking lifetime, buddy,” Alan Lowe said, and went in with the intention of hugging him.
“Where is he?” Big Dick asked.
Alan frowned.
“Cut the crap, okay? Whenever Andrew was in any kind of trouble, he’d come to you to fix it.”
“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your family is in there, Alan. You want me to give them a reason to miss you? I’m here out of courtesy to you. Tell me where Andrew is, and I’ll make sure your family is protected.”
He watched as Alan went pale.
“The men, this gang your brother is suddenly hanging around with. Did he happen to mention they are the same ones that nearly killed two women in the shoot-out in town? Larissa was hurt, and he ran like a little coward.” Big Dick was fast losing his patience.
Alan stepped out of his home and pulled the door closed. “Andrew came to me a couple of nights ago. He said he was in some bad shit. I don’t know what exactly. You know the drill, Big Dick. We’ve been there. The less we know and all that shit. I had no idea it had anything to do with you.”
“I don’t give a shit. That little fucker told them where my family lives,” Big Dick said, suddenly grabbing Alan and throwing him up against the brick wall next to his door.
“Do you fucking understand me? Erick has been taken. I know he’s been beaten and they’re going to fucking kill him.
Men were sent to my brother’s, to my sister, and then to me.
Because your loudmouth brother can’t keep his mouth shut. Where is he?”
He was past being polite. He was past being nice.
It was time for him to get some answers, and the longer he waited, the higher the risk was to Erick.
He didn’t give a fuck that for most of his life, he had hated that little prick.
Erick was still his brother, and there was no way anyone was going to kill him. He was not going to allow it.
“You need to go to Mr. Wilcox.”
“What?”
“He’s ... funding them.”
Big Dick looked at Alan, waiting to see if he was lying.
“Did you know this?”
“No, I didn’t know until tonight,” Alan said. “He came and he was panicking. I don’t know what the fuck he was rambling about but the moment he said the Hell’s Bastards MC, I told him to stop.”
“Your brother has just signed his own death sentence,” Big Dick said.
“I know.”
Big Dick frowned as he looked at Alan. “What?”
“Please, I know my brother is bad news, and I know I have no right to ask this, but please protect my family, Big Dick. That is all I ask. The Hell’s Bastards MC, I know they have a reputation, and I know I was never good enough to get in, but Fort Clover is better with you guys.
I don’t want anyone else taking over. Please. I had nothing to do with this.”
Big Dick looked at Alan. This fucker was many things, but he was not a liar.
It was some kind of moral code of his that he always found particularly funny.
He was happy to do a lot of shit, get in trouble, cause fights, and everything in between, but he didn’t lie, and he never set out to hurt Fort Clover.
Big Dick backed away. “You better hope Erick is alive.” And with that, he turned on his heel.
“You think that is wise?” Brick asked.
“Call it in to Smokey. Let him know we’re going to one of Wilcox’s properties.”
“You think you know which one?”
“Oh, I know which one. It has got to be the only one that is a far enough drive away. The very same one that was grounded in its operation about an hour out of time, because he didn’t have the proper permits.
” Wilcox had always been attempting to bring a large mall closer to Fort Clover, or some kind of state with branded shops.
He wanted to close down the small town, or better yet, keep the residents at his mercy.
He was a wealthy man, and taking business out of town would not really affect him, not if he was the one responsible for bringing it to Fort Clover.