The tenseness starts to dissipate when I see the way Jaxon is looking at me. His eyes are full of desire. His gaze is full of need.
“Running away are we?”
I shake my head as I look down at his boots. “I just needed some air.”
“Feeling sick?” he asks as he steps up to me and places a hand on my stomach. “Don’t worry. That’s normal.”
I look up at him, confused. What’s normal?
He gives me a deep passionate kiss on the mouth and then heads back inside, dragging his palm across my stomach as he goes.
That’s when it hits me…
He thinks I’m pregnant.
And that’s when it really hits me.
Am I?
Did he use a condom?
And why is that thought not scary?
Why is it so intriguing?
And why am I desperately hoping that he’s right?
Chapter Nine
Jaxon
A week flies by and I spend every second I can of it with Stella. She is the girl for me.
I’m fucking sure about that.
No one makes me feel the way she does. It feels right.
Nixie loves the town too and has already made a friend. A boy her age named Zhu who she met at the library. Beckham and me don’t like the idea of her hanging out with a boy, but the kid seems innocent enough and she hasn’t had a friend before so we’ve let it slide.
Beckham likes it here as well, but you would never know it from his face. The guy never smiles, but I’m his brother and I know when he’s happy.
I’ve been too busy falling in love with my girl to even think about revenge. Although, when I do think about the way that Gunner punk put his hands on my girl, it sends me spiraling into a rage that only Stella can bring me down from.
“Jaxon!” Bulldog calls out from the door of the bar. “You have a delivery.”
I catch Stella’s eye from where she’s working behind the bar as I head to the door. It’s the middle of the afternoon and quiet here, but I have something for her to make it a little louder.
“Yes,” I whisper when I see the truck backing into the parking lot.
She walks out beside me and slides her arm around my waist as she leans into my ribs. “What did you order?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“For who?”
“For you.”
She looks up at me with a shocked look and I can’t help but kiss her on the lips. She tastes like candy.
“That?!” she says with a gasp when the deliveryman starts carting down a huge wooden box. “What the hell is it?”
I walk down the stairs and grab a crowbar from the guy’s truck and get to work. “You were so sad that the jukebox got busted up, so I got you a new one.”
The planks of wood tumble to the ground and Stella lets out a squeal of delight when she sees the new jukebox I bought for the bar. “It’s yours, so we’re only going to fill it with songs that you love.”
“I love you!” she says as she runs and jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs around me.
She kisses me on the lips and then jerks her head back, looking nervous. “I mean… I didn’t mean to say… it just came out…”
“I love you too, Stella,” I tell her and it’s true. “I love you more than any man has ever loved a woman. My heart beats for you. Only for you.”
Tears start streaming down her cheeks as she looks at me with all the love I’m feeling for her. “I did mean it,” she admits. “I love you too, Jaxon. I don’t want you to go. This has been the best week of my life.”
I’m about to bring her back to her place and show her some more loving when Gage and Saint pull up on their bikes.
Gage looks right at me. “It’s time, Jaxon. Get your brother.”
“No,” Stella gasps. “Don’t go.”
But I have too. Not just because these men are my brothers and I’d die for them, but because that fucker Gunner laid hands on my girl and I have to make him pay. I need to make him pay.
It takes a few minutes to peel her off me and calm her down. “This is what I do,” I tell her. “This is what I’m good at.”
“You’re good at loving me,” she says as she clings onto my hand. “Why can’t that be enough?”
“It is enough,” I say as I let her go and head to my bike. “It’s always enough. But I have to do this.”
She heads inside crying and it kills me to see her go, but I know I’ll be all right. Beckham has got my back and he won’t let anything happen to me, just like I won’t let anything happen to him.
Beckham comes out a few seconds later along with the rest of the crew—Killian, Buzz, Ranger, and the rest of the guys. They’re all ready and sitting on their bikes.
“Your friends from Cali delivered the guns,” Troy says. “We’re going to swing by the warehouse, arm up, and then wait until it gets dark to storm their clubhouse. We’re not going to hit them when they’re hammered off their asses like they did to us. We’re not pussies. We’re going to go in hot.”
“The President is mine,” I hiss through clenched teeth. I look around at all of the faces to make sure they know I’m serious. “If anyone touches Gunner before I get to him, they’re going to have to face me next. Got that?”
They all nod as my blood starts boiling.
I’ve been waiting all week to get my hands on this guy.
And the wait is over.
Chapter Ten
Jaxon
The guns are for protection only. Troy doesn’t want a bloodbath hanging over the club’s head. Especially after all the work they’ve done to stay clean.
This is going to be an old fashioned bar brawl and I can’t wait.
“Ready?” I ask Beckham as he makes sure his brass knuckles
