Chapter Four #3
“No!” I winced at how harsh the word sounded. I tightened my hold on her hand. “Sweetheart, that’s not anywhere near the same thing. Had I planned on starting a family? Not at my age. Then you told me you were pregnant, and suddenly I wanted a different future. One with you and our baby.”
“I don’t want to be a burden. You have no idea how expensive it’s going to be to raise a child. I’ll need to change my doctor to one who’s local. Specter has me on his insurance.” Her eyes widened. “Crap! He’s going to see the bills and know I’m pregnant.”
Well, I knew I needed to call him. Hadn’t planned on it being right now. Looked like my plans had changed. Fuck.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts. Every club considered an ally of the Dixie Reapers now had Casper VanHorne and Specter in their contacts. Or at least all the presidents did. I hit the call button, put it on speaker, and set the phone in the center of the table.
“Did your club find her?” Specter demanded the second the call connected. “I’m assuming Wire reached out.”
“Dakota is safe, for now, but there are men looking for her. What do you know about them?” I held her gaze and saw the panic there. Reaching over, I laced our fingers together.
“I’ll tell you when I arrive. I can be there by nightfall.”
“Hold up, Specter. No offense, but right now, no one knows she’s here. Not even my club. I want to keep it that way. We ditched her car in case they were tracking it somehow.”
The line was silent, and I knew what he was about to ask.
“Why the fuck is my sister with you? If your club doesn’t know about her, how did you find her?”
I winked at her and knew things could get ugly fast. First, I needed him to know she was listening. I didn’t want to say anything he couldn’t take back. He was her family, even if she had run from him.
“Your sister is listening to this conversation, so choose your words wisely. You might be her brother but make her cry, and I’ll kick your fucking ass.
” I heard him suck in a breath and kept going before he had time to say anything.
“As to why she’s here, she called me and said she needed help.
We met almost two months ago in the town where she’d been living.
Gave her my number so she could keep in touch. ”
“You fucked my sister, didn’t you? Motherfucker… those appointments she set with her female doctor. You knocked her up!” I heard a crash and had a feeling a coffee mug had met his wall. “Charming, I swear to Christ if you hurt her…”
“I’m fine,” Dakota said, her voice low, but he heard her.
“Dakota, why didn’t you come to me?” he asked.
“I didn’t want you to marry me off to an associate.
I’ve already picked the guy I want to spend my life with.
” She looked from me to the phone. “I belong to Charming, and before you hurl insults at him, you should know that you’re right.
I’m pregnant. You’re going to be an uncle, and Charming is the father. ”
“Motherfucker,” Specter muttered. “When I see you, Charming, we’re going to have some words. You knocked up my baby sister, asshole.”
I had a feeling those words would be made with his fists.
Could be worse. He hadn’t threatened to kill me.
Since Dakota said he’d wanted to marry her off to someone, maybe he realized this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I’d do anything to keep her safe, and I’d have my club standing at my back -- once they knew about her.
“Seems that way. And I’m fucking glad I did. Ever since I left to come home, all I’ve thought about is Dakota. I knew she was meant to be mine, and I wanted her here with me. Haven’t told my club about her, or introduced her, because the fewer people who know her location, the better.”
“Agreed,” he said. “Destroy her phone. I’d send her another, but I don’t want to chance them tracking it.”
“I’ll handle it. Until then, I think we need to keep this call short. I’ll get a burner from across the state line, so it will have a different area code. You have a secured line, right?”
“Yeah. Call or text every day. I want to know she’s all right.”
“I need to know what we’re up against. Send me everything you have on the men who are hunting her. I want this settled as quickly as possible.”
Specter sighed. “Been working on this for a while now. Took them longer than I’d thought to track her the first time.
Not sure they’ll be quick to find her again.
Either way, keep her on lockdown until I’ve dealt with these men.
They’re like a fucking hydra. You cut off one and another grows back, except in this instance, they have a shit ton of disposable men and will keep sending them until they have Dakota. They want leverage over me.”
“Handle your shit, Specter. I won’t have my woman and kid in danger because of who you are to them.”
He grunted. “Guess this makes us family. I’ll be seeing you soon.”
The line went dead, and I held Dakota’s gaze. She blew out a breath and seemed to relax a little. “Well, he doesn’t want to kill you, so that’s a positive. But it seems like I’m not leaving the house anytime soon. How are you going to hide me from your club long term?”
“It won’t be easy, but we’ll figure it out.” I ran a hand over my hair. The guys were used to dropping in anytime. I couldn’t let that happen with Dakota in the house.
“You’re going to have to tell someone other than your prospects that I’m here.”
“Nope.” I stood and carried my plate to the sink. “I’m not putting you in jeopardy. You or the baby.”
Dakota placed her hands against my back.
I hadn’t heard her move and jolted a little.
Turning, I pulled her against my chest and held her tight.
She didn’t realize that I’d give up everything for the two of them.
My club. My life. I never thought a time would come that something was more important than the Devil’s Boneyard.
I now knew why Cinder had stepped down. It hadn’t only been because of his age.
Although, that had been one excuse he’d given.
He’d wanted more time with Meg and his kid.
Couldn’t blame him. Now that I had a little one on the way, I wondered how many times I’d get called away from my family to deal with shit for the club.
“Time for some changes around here,” I said.
“Like what?” she asked.
“The Dixie Reapers evolved as more of them settled down. For the most part, we have too. Just not nearly as much. I want to open more legit businesses and step back more from the illegal shit. It might pay well, but it’s not worth it if it puts you and our baby in danger.”
“Something tells me your club won’t like that,” she said. “Might want to ease them into things.”
“We need to make a list. I don’t want you to be bored, and I have no idea how long Specter will take to straighten his shit out. Books, movies, games… whatever you want. And you need more clothes. Need groceries too.”
“You don’t have to spend a bunch of money on me, Halden.
I don’t need a lot of material things. I only need you and our baby.
Nothing else matters. Well, maybe my brother.
Jury is still out on that one. It might take me a bit to forgive him this time.
He didn’t just endanger me.” She covered her belly with her hand.
I placed mine over hers. “I’ll make a list of baby things too.
We won’t be able to paint the nursery because of the fumes. ”
“We can get those giant wall stickers,” I said.
“Sounds good.” She kissed me. “Get me a pad and pen. I do better handwriting things. Otherwise, I forget stuff.”
“On it. Head to the living room and get comfortable.”
I watched her go, admiring the view. I made sure the front door was locked, as well as the back one, before getting the things she needed.
Sitting beside her on the couch, I helped her create the lists.
I hoped Carlos knew what he’d gotten himself into by agreeing to get whatever we needed.
I had a feeling this would take multiple trips.