Chapter SixteenReese
Since Jinx would rather have killed Louisiana than sleep next to him and I’d put myself on Ainsley’s shit list too, those two slept in the lone bed, locked in the sole bedroom. Louisiana stretched out on the sofa and I got my sleeping bag from my saddlebags and found a spot on the cold, tiled floor.
Louisiana had kept me outside, picking my brain and going through every scenario possible to convince Jinx not to leave. He was crashing out. Yet, I couldn’t help him. He’d betrayed her and knowing Jinx, she’d never forgive him. Finally, he settled on begging on his knees. He’d even said he’d crawl if she gave him another chance. I told him it wouldn’t work but he refused to listen. The shit went exactly as I expected.
Her refusal left him restless, which made it hard for me to sleep. Or, maybe, it was knowing Ainsley slept right in the next room, but she might as well have been back on opposite sides of the city. I fell asleep with that thought.
The creak of a door awakened me and my eyes popped open. The first rays of sunlight slanted through the window and bounced on the wall near me. The door that led to outside remained closed, so it must’ve been the bedroom door.
Jinx crept into the kitchen and flipped on the light. She was already dressed, so I knew she hadn’t changed her mind. Sighing, I sat up and shoved the cover aside.
She glanced over her shoulder, then turned away and braced her hands on the edge of the sink.
“He loves you, Jinx…Denali,” I said.
“I don’t care,” she said around sniffles. I wondered if she’d gotten any sleep. She straightened and started moving, opening cabinets to pull out what she needed to brew coffee. “I told Ainsley you’d given me that nickname.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Thanks,” I bit out.
She filled the glass pot with water. “It didn’t faze her. Whether she figured out we had been an item, she asked no questions. I like her a lot.”
“High praise from you,” I said with a small smile, my anger evaporating. Jinx always gave the women I dated some sort of test. I don’t remember any of them ever passing. “You fucking hated Trinity.”
“Are you actually comparing Ainsley to Trinity?” She dumped the water into the coffee maker and flipped the switch. Hopefully, she’d put coffee in the basket. “You’re an asshole.”
“Never said I wasn’t, Jinx.”
She flinched. “Don’t call me that. If you can’t call me Denali, then I want the nickname you actually gave me.”
“Not doing that, babe. Jinx is close enough anyway. Just a few less letters.”
Not answering, she turned away again. “Daddy’s on the way.”
“What I’m about to ask you will be so fucking unfair—”
“Then don’t do this to me, Reese. Please? I know what you’re about to ask me and—”
“I’m a motherfucker, but Louisiana loves you. He said he talked to Razor. He’s willing to take a few days off. Bring you to Baton Rouge. Let him do that and if he can’t change your mind, then divorce him. If there’s anything left, even a little spark, then start over. He can sleep on the sofa for however long it takes to regain your trust.”
“You fucking assholes stick together,” she cried.
I didn’t say anything. Jinx and I couldn’t make a romantic relationship work, but we were good friends. When her temper got the best of her, Louisiana asked me to talk sense into her. When he acted like a fuckhead, Jinx begged me to straighten him out. He’d never hurt her so deeply, but I didn’t think he’d allow his affair to last so long.
I’d had to choose between Jinx and my best friend who was also my club brother. Unfortunately, she’d been the casualty.
“I swear to you I’m out of it after this,” I said. “But give him this one chance. A real chance.”
“Fine, you asshole.” She swiped at her tears and glared at me. “By the way, I told Candy to fuck off. You’re interfering in my fucking life? Here’s my interference. Give Ainsley a chance. She’s carrying your baby.”
“It sounds as if you already interfered if you talked to Candy prior to this conversation.”
“After Ainsley went to sleep,” Jinx confirmed. “Candy said she hadn’t heard from you since you fucked her, so she figured as much without me telling her. Apparently, you got your rocks off and didn’t even cuddle with her. You gave her a sorry excuse and left.”
“I was going to call her. Probably this weekend. Before Ainsley came back,” I mumbled. The tips of my ears burned with embarrassment. Dealing with my overwhelming lust for Ainsley on my own was humiliating enough. “She’s, uh, pregnant. I don’t want to stress her out.”
Any more than I already had. God, I needed to get my head on straight.
Cocking her head to the side, Jinx studied me. She smirked, though tears still lurked in her eyes. “You’re so fucking freaked out.”
“I never expected any woman to turn up pregnant by me. Especially Ainsley.”
“I wasn’t talking about that.” She pulled two mugs from a cabinet shelf. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look at a woman the way you look at her.”
Fuck, was I walking the fuck around like a googly-eyed motherfucker? “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I call bullshit, Reese.” She poured our coffees, added cream to mine, then handed me the mug. “It’s okay. It’s the first time you’ve made a connection to anyone since Trinity’s death.”
Tasting my coffee, I nodded.
“So it makes sense if you think about her all the time or if you missed her.”
Not only that, but she’d trusted me to take her virginity. I’d made the decision to save Roman Mac on her behalf and then saw her devastation firsthand. I had that fucking picture of her. Louisiana made sure to keep me informed of her goings-on, even when I repeatedly told him to shut the fuck up. And, now, she carried my child.
I drank more of my coffee. “I don’t really know her.”
“Then take this time and find out about her, Reese.”
“I always said I didn’t want a wife or kids.”
“That’s why I left you.” She smiled sadly. “Not that it mattered. I have a defective womb.”
“Don’t say that,” I told her quietly. “He might have defective cum.”
“It’s probably good we didn’t have kids.”
“You promised a fair chance, Jinx,” I scolded.
She sniffed. “Fair warning. Ainsley intends to go to work tomorrow, so you have to work fast.”
“I don’t even know where the fuck she works.”
“At Magical Meadows Daycare.”
I shook my head. “It figures she told you. You both like to talk, although I think Ainsley has you beat.”
“I think so.”
A honking horn filled the quiet surroundings, and she heaved in a breath.
“Babe?” Louisiana said from behind me. He sounded wide awake. When he walked up to me and clapped me on the back, I knew he’d heard most of the conversation.
“Give me your phone,” she ordered. “Mine’s in the bedroom and I don’t want to wake Ainsley.”
Louisiana rushed to do her bidding, sagging when Jinx called her father and told him she was staying.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy.” Her voice wobbled. She really wanted to leave. “I’ll Cash App you money for gas.” She smiled through her tears. “I love you, too.”
She disconnected the call and handed Louisiana the phone. “If I would’ve went outside, I would have left.” Setting her coffee mug in the sink, she drew herself up. “I suggest we go back to the club and get your bike so we can hit the road before I change my mind.”
I would’ve preferred not to awaken Ainsley, but the hustle and bustle drew her from the bedroom, so she was at my side when Louisiana and Jinx left in the van.
I guided Ainsley back into the cabin. She sat her cell phone on the table before she dropped onto the sofa.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, suspecting why she kept glancing at her phone.
She grunted. “Nauseated.”
“I have to call Razor. Make sure there are no pressing matters. Afterwards, we can always take a nap.”
“Roman’s going to call any second,” she said, confirming my suspicions. “On Sundays, I straighten the house and choose my outfits for the work week after I talk to him.”
“But we’re staying at the cabin today, so we can take a nap.”
“If you want the bed, you can have it, Reese.”
One of us needed to concede. Since I was the jackass who mentioned another woman, I suppose it had to be me. “Sweetheart, can we spend the day getting to know each other? I shouldn’t have said what I did to you.”
“Is it true?”
“No, Ainsley. I’m not involved with anyone.” I scratched my chin, thinking of the mistrust between Jinx and Louisiana. Honesty was best. “I’ve slept with one woman since you and I were together.”
She nodded.
“I went on a run. When I wasn’t partying at the club and out on club business, I returned to my room alone. Or I watched football.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re part of the Kingdom, too?”
I assumed she meant Roman. “I am. Like your brother.”
“That would be me. My brother loves MMA and hockey. The bloodier the sport, the more he loves it.”
“Do you really like football?” I asked, afraid to believe that.
“I haven’t been keeping up recently, so I forgot a game was on yesterday.”
I smiled at her and she returned a shy one of her own. A moment of peace and awareness. That electrifying connection that had turned my world upside down since I met her crackled between us. She yawned.
“If I promise to stay on my side of the bed, will you nap with me?”
She nodded and I smiled at her.
Brother by NEEDTObrEATHE pealed from her phone. I shook my head. Roman had some sappy shit for her ringtone. Now this.
Ainsley jumped up. She still wore the clothes she’d had on yesterday and I wondered why.
As she grabbed the phone, various emotions flooded her face, relief chief amongst them.
“Put it on speakerphone,” I told her just before she answered.
Surprisingly, she cooperated. “Hey, Ro.”
“Ainsley.”
At the cold greeting, she lost her smile and I stiffened.
“Uh—”
“I’m only calling because I didn’t want you to worry. I’m fine. I doubt I’ll call again. I’ll be too busy.”
“What’s the matter? What’s going on?”
Her panic made my blood boil.
“I have to go, Ainsley.”
“No, Roman, talk to me,” she begged. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re pregnant.” His voice boomed through the line. “With my fucking enemy’s baby. Reese Sinclair wants me as dead as I want him.”
Horror washed over Ainsley’s features. She looked at me as the color dropped from her face, and placed a finger over her lips, then gazed at the phone and said, “I can explain.”
“You don’t need to fucking explain. You didn’t deny it, so it must be true.”
Her sob broke my heart. I couldn’t stand idly by while that motherfucker destroyed her.
“You’re aborting it.”
“I am not,” she said indignantly.
“And when you do, I never want to see you again.”
“I’m not aborting my baby,” she yelled, shaking her head when I opened my mouth. “I’m sorry. Just let me explain, Roman. Please,” she said, back to begging.
“You betrayed me, Ainsley. You betrayed the fucking club and you couldn’t tell me yourself.”
“Just listen to me.”
“I refuse to support the kid of a motherfucker who just used you to get back at me.”
“He didn’t know,” she said wildly, talking before I could say anything. “He didn’t know we were related until the morning after.”
I squinted at her. Did she realize what she’d just said? Although it deepened my anger and dislike, Roman’s curse filled tirade that mentioned my grisly death and unimaginable torture to poor Monster, didn’t surprise me.
“I was going to marry Dayton and I didn’t want to,” she sobbed. “I just wanted to give up my virginity to anyone other than Dayton Morgan. And-and Nova set me up with her boyfriend’s—ex boyfriend’s—best friend. I didn’t know he was Louisiana’s brother. Club brother.”
Roman choked. “Nova was fucking a Royal Bastard?”
Sniffling, Ainsley nodded, although her brother couldn’t see her. “They dated for two years. And…and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know how, but I love you.”
“Fuck you. You opened your legs to my enemy,” he reiterated, ignoring her tears. “So what are you going to do with a baby in your belly, no ring, no decent job, nothing to your name?”
“If you don’t want to help me, I’ll survive. I’m going to work tomorrow and I’ll clear my things out of the house afterwards.”
“Fine,” he said and disconnected.
Ainsley stood in stunned silence. When she raised her tearful gaze to me, I pulled her into my arms and allowed her to cry in misery.