Second Chance Rose of Rage

Prologue

Devil

19 Years Ago

It has been three weeks since Trevor was born and it has been a whirlwind.

I never thought I would be thirty three years old and raising a newborn without an ol’ lady.

I am glad I never went there with Hannah.

She was definitely not ol’ lady material and she sure as hell wasn’t mother material.

What kind of mother leaves their baby after they have just been born?

I mean fuck, she didn’t even have the decency to tell anyone she was leaving.

She just took off from the hospital. I guess I am better off without that bitch anyway.

She better hope she never shows up here again.

I’ve got the club lawyer working on filing to terminate her parental rights, but they have told me that I can’t do that until she has abandoned him for ninety days.

Which I think is so fucking stupid. How is it that a mother can leave her unborn baby at the hospital and just stick her ratty little finger in the air telling all of us to fuck off.

Thankfully I was there and on the birth certificate when he was born, so the nurses at the hospital knew to call me when Hannah bolted.

I dated Hannah on and off for a few years, yeah she was a good fuck, but there was really nothing else to her.

I couldn’t stand the sound of her voice most of the time and she tried her hardest to try and get my patch.

I always refused even after she told me she was knocked up.

I think she thought that was her way to the golden gates or some shit.

It wouldn’t have surprised me if she planned that shit on purpose.

I have never been more thankful for Missy, Bulldog’s ol’ lady and all the other ol’ ladies than I am now.

They have really helped me get through these past few weeks.

They have also been providing food and I never thought I would be happier than I am living in my new house with a bunch of delicious fucking food that I didn’t have to fucking make.

What has been really amazing and surprisingly not weird at all, Bulldog’s mama has been staying with me some nights.

I’m sure Tank misses his ol’ lady, but she is my angel.

“Hey Devil, your little man is awake. I’m going to let you get him up and ready to go so I can head home and see my old man. I’m thinking next week you will be fine on your own. You are already up more than I am throughout the night.

I’ve also made you a whole lot of food and froze a bunch of it for you. Annie and Anna have been pumping extra breast milk for you, so I stocked that in the freezer in the garage for you. So you can warm that up.”

Mary says as she walks over to me and pats me on the cheek.

“You’re a good boy Tyler. You’re going to do very well. You’re a good daddy already and I am proud of you.”

She turns around and heads out of my house. So I walk over to Trevor’s room and begin to get him ready for the day as my phone rings. I look down at it and it is the prospect at the gate.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, um Devil, there is a woman here saying she needs to speak with you. She says she’s with social services. Should I send her to the club house?”

“Nah, send her to my house. I’m sure she’s just here to talk about Trevor’s bitch of a mother.”

“Alright, sounds good.”

I hang up the phone and go back to my business until I hear tires come up the drive. So I walk toward the door with Trevor on my chest and open the door just as the woman is heading up the steps. She is an older lady, probably around Tank and Mary’s age.

“Hello there.”

She looks up and smiles, “Hello are you Mr. Matthews?”

She gets up the stairs and meets me at the door.

“Yes, I am and who might you be? I was told you are from social services. Why don’t you come inside? We can talk in the living room.”

“I am Mrs. Johnson and that sounds wonderful.”

After we get situated in the living room, her on the couch and myself on the love seat with Trevor on my chest, I clear my throat.

“I assume you are here because of Trevor’s mom skipping out on him. The hospital said that I might hear from social services, but they weren’t sure.”

“Oh no, this is not about that cute little guy you have here. I did look into you before I can and it would appear that you won’t be bothered by social services for his mother leaving. I hope that you have spoken to a lawyer about getting her rights taken care of.”

“Yes, I have. I have to wait ninety days. If this isn’t about Hannah and Trevor then what exactly is this about?”

She takes a deep breath before she digs through the bag that she brought with her.

“Do you know Rachel Dawson?”

“I don’t think so. Do you have a photo?”

She pulls out a photo from her folder and hands it to me. I look at the picture and try to place the woman in the photo and I can’t seem to.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I do.” I say as I hand her back the picture.

“Well, I was wondering if you maybe had an interaction with her nine years ago because you are listed as the father on her eight year old boy’s birth certificate.”

My heart suddenly drops into my stomach. I get up from where I am sitting and place Trevor down in the bassinet that I have sitting next to the couch. Then turn and look back at the woman sitting there watching me carefully.

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“There is an eight year old boy currently in a group home that has you listed as his birth father. I have come to talk to you about establishing paternity and possibly getting him home to you.”

“I’m sorry, this is a lot to take in. You’re saying that this woman that you just showed me a picture of, had a child, my child and did not inform me. But she knew my name to have me listed on the birth certificate?”

“Yes, it would appear that Rachel is from this area. From what I could find out she moved away shortly after she found out she was pregnant. I do not know what her intention to not tell you she was pregnant was. I do not know if it is because of the club or what.

But from everything I know of this club, there is no reason for her to have been afraid of him being brought up here.”

“Do you have a picture of him? What’s his name? You said he was eight?”

“Yes he is eight years old, his name is Caleb. Let me find the photo of him.”

She digs through the folder she brought and pulls out another photo and hands it to me.

I look down at the picture and I am staring at a little version of myself.

There is no doubt in my mind that this little guy is mine.

I just don’t know where to place Rachel.

I would’ve been twenty five years old when Caleb was born and if she was from around her there is a chance that this Rachel woman knew me from before I patched.

That would be the only explanation for her being able to know my name to put it on his birth certificate.

“When can we do the test? Can I go to the lab now? When can I meet him? You said he was in a group home? Why? Where is his mother?”

She sighs and then gives me a sad smile, “I am afraid young Caleb has not had an easy life. I am really surprised you did not know about him before now. I don’t know if Rachel begged the social services people to not call you before,

but he has been removed from her care a few times where he spent some time in foster homes. This time, however, we were contacted because unfortunately Ms. Dawon has passed away. It was a drug overdose.”

I sit down before my knees give out and bury my hands in my hair. How is this my reality right now?

Suddenly I hear the door open and the sound of multiple boots walking into my house.

“Yo, brother, what are you doing? Pops wants us to head to the clubhouse. Mama said Trevor was up so what’s taking you so long?”

Bulldog says as he walks into the living room.

Stopping abruptly as he sees the woman in front of me.

Behind him are Rocky and Riggs. “Oh hello. I’m sorry we didn’t know someone was here.”

I clear my throat and look at my brothers, “It’s alright. You can have a seat, we are going to be here awhile. Can you get in touch with Tank and let him know that there is some shit going on? A family emergency?”

Bulldog nods his head, “Yeah I can do that, but a family emergency? What the hell is going on?”

“Can you just make the call, you can stay while I talk to her, but everybody needs to shut the hell up so I can get more information.”

The brothers nod and take a seat around the living room while Bulldog calls his father and lets him know what is going on. Once he hangs up I look back at Mrs. Johnson to get more information.

“I want you to tell me everything, please. Like why was he removed before? What happened to him? I need to know everything.”

“I can give you as much information as you would like Mr. Matthews. Then after we talk, we can head to the lab and get the test done. Caleb has already done his part, the lab is just waiting on you. We could also just go to the lab first and do the test then talk after.”

I shake my head, “No I need to know everything now. Then we can go. So please tell me what the hell has gone on.”

“Alright, well from everything I have read and been told by his caseworker in North Carolina, Caleb was born premature at 32 weeks. He was also born with drugs in his system, so not only did he spend some time in the NICU when he was born,

he also was placed with a foster family after he was released. Rachel went through the program and all the steps she needed to to get clean and to get Caleb back in her care. From what I have understood that was a pattern for her.

She didn’t have any family and honestly until Caleb started school she remained pretty much under the radar. No one made any complaints about what was going on at their home again until Caleb was about six.

He was removed from her care again due to some signs of abuse and obviously it was discovered that she was again using drugs. Caleb was being neglected and abused by her boyfriend at the time. Again she went through the steps, removed herself from that boyfriend and got Caleb back. Like I said,

I do not know why they did not contact you when he was removed either time because you are listed as his father on the birth certificate.”

At that all three of my brothers snap their heads towards me.

I do not know what they thought we were talking about before this, but I feel like I am going to throw up.

This little boy went through so much and his bitch of a mother couldn’t even stop using drugs long enough for him to be born healthy.

“Anyway after child services closed their case it appeared that things were alright. There were no more complaints made, but I am assuming things were going on at home that were being hidden. Rachel appears to have been living a very dangerous lifestyle and poor Caleb has been witness to it.

Rachel was a prostitute. She sold herself for drugs and food. Her pimp from my understanding made sure that Caleb was being fed and clothed so that no more government employees would come snooping around her home again causing problems for his business.

He also seemed to make sure that Caleb was never around any of the men Rachel brought home for work, for the same reason. Apparently he had some sort of soul or maybe it was just when Rachel had him taken away the two times there were too many government officials poking around for his liking.

Whatever his reason was, I do not know. Well, two weeks ago, Caleb came home from school and found the front door to their home open. The house was a mess and when he walked into Rachel’s room there was a naked man laying in bed with Rachel. I was told that Rachel was pale and had blue lips.

Caleb ran over to the bed to try and wake her up sensing something was wrong and she would not wake up. He did, however, wake up the man that was with Rachel. He freaked out and ran leaving Caleb alone with his mother. Caleb called the police and social services came.

Eventually they got him here and now we are notifying you. I do want to let you know, he is a very angry little boy. He has been through a lot and I believe some therapy will be helpful and he has started some,

but he does have a lot of anger and that is why he is in a group home and not a foster home right now.”

My jaw is starting to hurt from the clenching that I am doing.

My son, my little boy that I have not met at all, has been through hell and I had no idea he was even around.

I had no fucking idea that this little person that I helped create has been suffering.

I want to kill everyone who kept this from me and if I could go back and bring his mother back from the dead I would kill her for all the harm he has been through.

“Alright, let’s go get this test done so we can prove this boy is mine and I can bring him home.”