Page 69 of Fox (Road Rebels MC 4)
Gunner laughed. “No, I’m just organizing everything so we know what we have so we can decide what we need to keep and what we need to sell off. Axle is in the back.”
“I need to speak to him,” I said and started walking in the direction of the office. At the door, I turned to Gunner again, who was still watching me.
“You coming in?” I asked him, and he nodded his head and jumped off the stool to follow me in.
I knocked on the door once and heard Axel’s voice, commanding us to come in.
He was sitting behind his desk with his glasses on and going through some papers.
“Tank!” he declared, when he saw me, and he sat back in his chair and squared his shoulders.
Gunner and I filed into the office, taking up our usual positions across from Axel’s desk.
“You look well, son,” Axel commented, and I tipped my head once in acknowledgment.
“Your brothers made the right decision to take you to the hospital when they did. Everything went smoothly there?” Axel continued, and I nodded my head.
When I hadn’t said anything, Axel looked at me and then at Gunner expectantly.
“Is something on your mind, Tank?” he asked, and I clenched my jaw and drew in a deep breath.
“The Dragon Knights have been tailing me,” I said, and Axel knotted his brows and sat forward in his chair.
“Have they confronted you?” he asked, and my biceps flexed as I clenched and unclenched my fists. They had put Noelle’s life in danger.
“They followed me last night when I went out, and this morning they threw a brick through my window. This note was stuck to it,” I told Axel and taking the piece of paper out of my pocket, I placed it on his desk.
Axel read the message, twice or three times…and then looked up at Gunner and me.
“They’re after you,” he grumbled deeply.
“They want to finish what they started,” I supplied and beside me, I could sense Gunner’s rage building up.
“Mother fuckers,” he cursed under his breath. Axel stared at us again, and I glared back at him.
“I want to plan a retaliation. Get them before they get us,” I said, keeping my voice steady. Neither Axel nor Gunner needed to know what my motivation was, that I wanted them gone because they had tailed Noelle along with me. That I wanted to make sure that nobody ever touched her.
Axel sat back in his chair and drew in a deep breath. Then he nodded his head slowly.
“Yes, you’re right. We can’t sit back and wait for them to strike anymore. Especially now that you apparently have a target on your back. Tank, you plan a retaliation and Gunner, and your brothers will work with you on it,” Axel said. “If you need any backup, let me know.”
I nodded my head and turned and marched out of the room without another word. Gunner followed me.
“Tank!” he called after me as he saw me walking out of the bar. I was in no mood to talk. I had said what I came here to say and now I needed to be left alone. Otherwise, I was bound to punch someone.
“Tank!” he called again, by now I had walked to my bike, and he was standing at the doors of the Rusty Pelican.
“I’m fine,” I said to him as I got on my bike. It was a lie.
CHAPTER 14
Two Months Later
Noelle
I had barely dropped my purse to the floor, after a twelve-hour shift at the hospital, when my cell phone rang, and I saw that it was my mom calling.
“Noelle! You haven’t been answering our calls for days!” she barked into the phone, and rolling my eyes, I plonked myself down on the couch. I lifted my feet up and tried to make myself comfortable, aware that my body could only take so much. Very soon, I would have to just acknowledge what my body needed.
“I’ve been busy mom. I’ve been working twelve-hour shifts for the past two weeks,” I told her and mom didn’t sound too pleased with that information.
“Twelve-hour shifts! Why on God’s Earth would you do that to yourself, darling?” she asked, and I pressed my eyes closed and imagined what I could have said to her…if it was possible to tell her the truth.
The truth that three weeks ago, I’d woken up throwing up and a craving for chocolate peanut butter cups. The truth that, after I’d thrown up for the third time that afternoon I’d taken eleven pregnancy tests, all of which had returned as positive. The truth that I’d taken two days sick leave from work, to visit my gynecologist and also to lock myself in the apartment and come up with some sort of plan, and figure out what I really wanted to do. The truth that I was working twelve-hour shifts now…for as long as I could because, in a few months, I would have to go on maternity leave and would need money to sustain myself and my child.
There was no way I could tell her all of that. Not now. She would never understand why I wanted to keep the baby, or how I don’t speak to the father anymore. The news would have to be broken to my parents as gently as possible.
“I need the money, mom,” I told her instead, and I heard her huff.
“You can ask your father for money…you know that! There is no need to tire yourself out like this. We haven’t seen you in days!” she continued, and I tried not to snap at her. If she knew what was actually happening to me, there was a good chance that my father would refuse to ever lend me any money.
Their precious only child, for whom they had big hopes and dreams…now pregnant out of wedlock, carrying the baby of a man she hasn’t seen in two months and possibly will never see again! My parents would not only be devastated, but they would also be enraged.
“I don’t need dad’s money, mom. I have a job,” I replied, trying to sound as calm as possible. The last thing I wanted right now, was an argument with my mother over money.
“We can talk about it when we see you tonight, Noelle,” she said, and I sat up on the couch.
“See me tonight? What’s tonight?” I was quick to ask, but mom was in no hurry to illuminate me.
“Oh…you know, your father’s booked our usual table at the Club…we haven’t seen you in ages, darling, and we were hoping that we could all have dinner together,” she said, and I was already trying to come up excuses for why I couldn’t make it. I was pregnant, for one!
/> “And darling, wear something nice tonight will you? No jeans or sneakers or things like that,” mom continued, without giving me a chance to respond.
“Mom I…” I began to say, but she interrupted me again.
“We’ve invited the Robinsons to join us for dinner tonight, Damien will be coming, and you two should try spending some time alone together tonight and see how you get on,” mom sounded excited as she spoke, while my heart was ready to beat out of my chest.
Here, my parents were trying to set me up for marriage with a man they had handpicked, while I was pregnant and carrying the child of a biker. And not just any biker. A biker who belonged to a gang. I could feel panic start to form in my chest.
I stood up from the couch and ran a hand nervously through my hair.
“Maybe wear that beautiful fawn colored silk dress I bought you for your birthday? It looks lovely with your hair. And keep your hair down, darling…” mom continued, fear coursed through my veins and I knew I had to stop her. There was no way I could face my parents.
“I can’t tonight, mom,” I said, feeling the guilt rising quickly inside me.
“What do you mean you can’t? Of course, you can. We have it all planned out. You don’t have to wear that dress if you don’t want to,” she said, and I could hear the sharpness in her voice.
“It’s not about the dress mom, I just can’t make it tonight. I wish you’d told me earlier. I have plans…work plans…with colleagues. It’s important that I go…I can’t just cancel it right now,” I said, trying to sound as apologetic as I could.
“But what about the Robinsons? Damien stated that he was looking forward to meeting you. Noelle, this is most rude,” she barked, and I took in a deep breath, and my hand instinctively traveled to my belly. I had been pregnant for eight weeks now, very soon, I would start showing, and then I wouldn’t be able to hide it from my parents anymore. Would they be ashamed? Embarrassed? Angry? I needed to start standing up to my parents for once and for all. I mustered as much courage as I could into my voice.
