Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Dagger
“What can I do for you, Dagger?” Cy asks before I have both feet in his office. He is planted behind his screen, eyes to it.
“Need you to find Katrina for me,” I tell him, saying her name for the first time in two months. I started to track her down months ago after she ran out on me before I woke up. Now I needed him to get her address for me so I could go after her for other reasons.
“This the woman who just left?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I grunt, wishing I hadn’t let her leave.
Fuck.
I had questions, and before I could find my voice without letting anger swarm around me, she was gone. She shocked the shit out of me with her words.
Telling me she didn’t expect anything from me when it came to her being pregnant. I had a lot of questions regarding all she said. I’m good at spotting a liar.
I grew up in a house full of them. I’d taken the chance to get out of Dodge when I was eighteen and joined the Navy, becoming a corpsman after training and learning everything I needed to know to do my job.
The Navy gave me a sense of purpose. Working as a corpsman more so.
Getting out and finding my brothers here at the club helped even more when it came to transitioning to civilian life.
I didn’t have family since I refused to speak to mine.
I wasn’t like them, and I was okay with it.
There was no love loss between us. For all I know, they all got themselves killed by now.
“You want a full workup of this woman or just the address?” Cy asks, turning toward me. “Alanna took Charlotte out for the day shopping with Willow and Gemini. Think Rebel tagged along as well, so I’ve got time.”
“Full workup would be good.” I nod. Knowing exactly what I’m walking into would be a good idea. I’m not one for being blindsided.
Katrina had been lucky I hadn’t snapped at her for her news. I sat there, trying to contain it when each word she spoke took me more off guard.
“You got a last name?” Cy asks, head cocked slightly.
I hand him the card she’d given me. The other slip of paper burned in my pocket. I hadn’t fully looked at it yet.
“Appreciate this.”
“I’ll have something for you in about an hour, two tops,” he states, spinning back to his computers. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”
I nod and leave the room, needing some fresh air and space to think.
Heading outside, my mind wanders to Katrina.
She’d taken up more space in my head over the past two months.
I spent time with her laughing and joking, shooting shots of tequila.
Afterward, I got to have a taste of her that still lingers on my tongue.
I planned on having more of her after we both rested, but I’d woken to her being gone.
Now, she shows back up here, pregnant, not expecting anything from me.
Just wanted me to know. Didn’t want me to think she’d done it to trap me.
Was she serious? In one night, I could tell she wasn’t a one-off.
Hell, it didn’t take more than ten minutes in the woman’s presence to know this about her.
She wasn’t a deceitful person. The way she carried herself showed it plainly.
Moving to one of the picnic tables, I climb up and plant my ass on top, letting out a breath. I dig in my pocket to pull out my phone and the slip of paper, finally taking the time to look at it as I hadn’t earlier.
The sonogram Katrina gave me. It’s dated two weeks ago. The corner of the picture shows the date it was done and how far along she was, which now puts her at ten weeks, almost out of the first trimester.
Fuck.
Taking in the grainy black-and-white image, the proof that I helped create life, it hits me.
This tiny blob is proof my kid is growing inside a woman I don’t even know anything about.
My throat tightens as I stare at it. I’ve never given much thought to being a father.
Never thought I’d have the chance, and honestly wasn’t sure I wanted it.
With how much my own childhood was a clusterfuck, I hadn’t planned on having any kids.
Didn’t think I had it in me to raise a kid.
But looking at this grainy picture, something shifts inside me. A protective instinct I didn’t know I had in me surfaces. Katrina wasn’t gonna be doing this without me. My kid was going know me as more than just a part-time parent who shows up half the time.
I stare at the sonogram for a few more minutes, tracing the outline of what will be my kid with my finger. The paper already has creases from being folded in Katrina’s purse. My chest tightens as I think about her carrying this around, looking at it when I wasn’t even aware I’d helped create life.
Makes me wonder what she felt when she found out. Was she scared? Freaked?
“Shit,” I mutter, shoving the sonogram back in my pocket and reaching for my cigarettes.
The flame from my lighter dances in the breeze as I cup my hand around it, drawing in that first hit of nicotine. It’s not the best habit I have, but it’s something that helps calm my nerves when I need it most.
Grabbing my phone next to me, I dial Gunner’s name. Usually, he’d be here at the clubhouse by now, but I knew his daughter, Delilah, was sick with the flu.
“What’s up, brother?” he asks on the first ring.
“Got some news today,” I grunt, sucking on the cigarette.
“News about those pieces of shit? They dead?” Gunner asks. He, Hammer, and Malice were the only ones who knew the truth about my folks and siblings back home.
“Not that kind of news, not that I’d get that or care either way,” I tell him, speaking the truth, and he knows it.
“What news then?”
“Gonna have a kid.” The words are out before I can think of another way to put them.
“Come again?” Gunner demands, sounding disbelieving.
I quickly give him a rundown on what happened, and when I’m done, he lets out a long, low whistle.
“Fuck, brother,” Gunner says, finally after processing everything. “So this woman just drops this bomb on you and walks out again?”
“Pretty much.” I take another long drag, watching the smoke spiral up into the afternoon sky. “According to her, she just wanted to let me know, not ask for anything. Said she can talk to me through the pregnancy or call me after the child is born.”
“And you believe that?”
I consider his question, thinking about Katrina’s face when she told me. The way her eyes couldn’t quite meet mine, not from deception—from fear. I think about her words, the ones she spoke of how she wanted her child’s father to know about them, that she wasn’t going to be like her mother.
“Yeah, I do. That’s what’s fucking with me. She genuinely seemed like she was giving me information and expected to walk away. Like she thought I was gonna be good with that.”
“You’re not good with that,” Gunner points out the obvious.
“Fuck no, I’m not. I have questions.” More questions than I thought I would or could have. “She had this news for two weeks before telling me.” It could have been a hell of a lot longer, but that’s two weeks I went without knowing I had a kid coming into this world.
“I get what you’re saying, Dagger.” Out of anyone, he would get me the best.
“Dagger.”
I turn in the direction of Hammer’s voice calling me, my phone to my ear. “Hey, Prez needs to talk to me. I’ll catch you later.”
“All right, call me if you need me.” That’s another thing about being a part of this club, my brothers have my back, no matter what.
“Catch you later,” I grunt and hang up as I hop off the table and make my way to Hammer. “Everything good, Prez?”
“You tell me.” He grunts, jerking his chin toward the doors. “Cy just gave me a file on a woman named Katrina.”
Fuck. He worked faster than I thought he would. However, he was supposed to get me, not Hammer.
“Let’s go to my office, brother, we’ll discuss this there,” Hammer grunts, motioning for me to follow him.
The walk to Hammer’s office is short, and I find Cy sitting in one of the chairs, his eyes coming to me.
“Sorry, Dagger, I had to bring it to his attention when I started digging.”
“What did you find?” I ask, closing the door and taking the other seat at Hammer’s desk as he takes his behind it.
“First, I’m assuming as to why she showed here, so congrats on the kid.” Cy smirks and jerks his head toward the desk. “File’s put together. You definitely know how to pick them.”
Hammer whistles as his eyes scan over the first page in the file he’s opened. “Damn, this woman is Kat Ray. Avery is going to lose her shit when she finds this out.”
“Who?” I didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. “Her name’s Katrina Ray.”
“Yeah, but she’s also Kat Ray.” Cy laughs and shakes his head. “She is a music artist. Keeps herself hidden from the world while sharing music at the same time. She’s got a huge following, massive even.”
Well, shit. That’s why she said she didn’t need anything from me. She’s got enough cake to do it.
“Her studio is on the outskirts of town in the warehouse district that Scott’s Realty has been buying up,” Hammer says, filtering through pages.
I’ll get back to this part of the conversation in a minute. First I need to know why Cy brought this to Hammer’s attention before me. “What’s so important that you didn’t bring the information to me?”
“She’s from Colorado, and someone there has been looking into her as well. I looked further to see who it was. Come to find out, it’s Tic.”
“Tic as in our brother from the Colorado charter, that Tic?” I have to ask to make sure I hear him correctly.
“The one and the same.” Cy nods with a grimace. “Had to bring it to Hammer so he can find out what their interest is in her once I saw that.”
“Which we’re going to do right now,” Hammer states, his tone changing from relaxed to all business.
I sit quietly, thinking as he puts a call into Grinder, who answers on the third ring.
“What can I do for you, Hammer?” Grinder asks.
“Got a question about something that was just brought to my attention.” That’s Hammer getting right to the reason for the call he’s making.
“What question?”
“What’s your club’s reasoning for looking into Katrina Ray?”
Tension fills the room, and it’s not all mine as the question leaves my Prez’s mouth.
“Why do you ask?” Grinder demands.
“She’s the mother of my child,” I say, gritting my back molars, wanting answers and to know what’s going on.
“Come again?” The rage in Grinder’s voice doesn’t sit well with me.
“Katrina is Dagger’s ol’ lady,” Hammer says, speaking for me.
“My sister is Dagger’s?”
What the fuck?