He pushes me out of the door. I trip on my heels and land on my hands and knees on the gravel, and it's so fucking embarrassing!
There's so much yelling going on behind me that it hurts my ear, and I can't seem to pull myself up off the ground. I close my eyes and breathe deeply while hanging my head, my hair flying around my face.
“Are you okay?” I nod my head without looking up. Nova strokes my back gently. I feel dizzy and my knees hurt on the gravel below me. “Did he hurt you?”
“I don't think so.” I clutch my stomach. It doesn't hurt as such, but it's scary to think it could all be over in a heartbeat through something like this.
“Are you pregnant?” My eyes shoot to hers. She knows without me even answering her, and she'd know, she has a little girl, and a little boy just a week younger than Noah. However, I nod my head regardless. “It's my brothers, isn't it? That's why you came here to speak to him?” Again, I nod as I drag myself to my feet.
“I swear to God, you fuckin' idiot!” Watching these grown men, huge, muscle-clad men, fighting, is too much for me. Draven would never do this in front of me. Never. I'm not naive to the fact men fight, I've seen it many times. However, this isn't just two random men. This is my brother and the father of my baby.
“You shouldn't have come here,” I turn my head to Avery. She's not the same girl I grew up with, she's harder, more to the point. She and I aren't as close as we once were, and that hurts me too. “Look at the trouble you've caused.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Look at the state Hammer is in. You know he doesn't want you here, so why can't you accept that?”
What is it about me that my brother doesn't like? He's okay with Avery. Talks to her, laughs with her at dinner, because she and Ghost are usually there with us. I sit there looking in on them all, Hammer, Willow, Avery, Ghost, and Draven, all laughing and having fun, and I'm always left with a pain in my heart and wondering why I don't matter anymore.
It's not that I'm a selfish child or anything, I just don't understand what's wrong with me. Why my brother hates me, and why my cousin, the girl who was always more like my sister than my cousin has distanced herself from me.
Is there something about me that drives people away?
Have I done something to make people, not like me?
Regardless, I won't let her speak to me that way, nor will I let her blame me for this.
“So, it's okay for you to fight for your man, but I can't so much as come here where my own brother and cousin are? Don't I mean anything to anyone?”
Avery was happy to see me at first, but because Hammer is angry, she's mad at me. I can't do right for doing wrong.
It just isn't fair. I don't understand why he hates me the way he does. He helped Draven understand why Avery should be with Ghost. He even spends time with her and her little boy. He spends time with Draven. They're quite close after Draven saved Willow from some jerkoff who wanted to hurt her to get at Hammer and his club.
But me? He avoids me like the plague.
I just want to stand in the middle of an open field, shove my fingers into my hair, and scream my lungs out!
“Of course you do! God, you're such a damn drama queen. Not everything is about you, Maria. Don't you think its time to grow up?” Wow. Just wow.
“Avery!” Nova snaps. “Don't be such a bitch to your own cousin.”
Sadly, the truth is, I'm used to Avery speaking to me this way of late. She's older than me, so, therefore, thinks she has the right to tell me what to do. She doesn't. Maybe I let her get away with it too much. But that's just me; I don't like confrontation.
“It's okay,” I all but whisper while keeping my eyes on Jett and Hammer, who are both being held back by quite a few other bikers. I didn't even notice half of them before now.
This was a bad idea. I should have just slept with Tony and passed the baby off as his, then none of this would have happened. My brother would have been okay with it, maybe. He would have forced me to marry Tony, but it wouldn't have been all that bad. Sure, he's older than me, same age as Draven, but he's always been good to me. However, I can't even do that now because I stupidly told Nova the truth, and there is no way she won't say anything to Jett. Then he'll come looking for me, and... Oh, god, what a mess I've created!
I can't watch this childish behavior anymore. Why the hell men have to square up to each other, beat the shit out of each other, is beyond me.
I'm leaving.
“I have to go.” I don't give anyone the chance to stop me. I rush toward my car and climb in before Nova can catch me.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
Chapter Three
Jett
There's a reason they call him Hammer, sonofabitch hits like a sledgehammer. The fact I'm the VP of this MC and the cunt hit me is not cool!
Of course, I hit him back. Come on I'm not a fucking idiot. However, the fact he pushed Maria down, literally pushed her to the ground set my blood boiling. What kind of man is he all of a sudden? And the prick wonders why I suddenly think he might turn on my sister?
I didn't even find out what Maria needed to talk to me about!
It took my dad, the president of the Snakes Henchmen, to pull me off of Hammer. He might be a big bastard, but I am no weak man. Fighting amongst brothers is never allowed without good reason and permission from Shepard. What happened here was a damn good reason! Hammer basically hit a woman! His own sister!
As Shepard stands in between Hammer and me, his face like thunder, I'm not sure he won't beat the shit out of both of us. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Nothing,” I mumble while staring Hammer down. I never expected him, of all people, to do what he did. He knows he's done wrong. He knows hitting a woman is never acceptable, not by this MC anyway.
If I were to tell Shepard what Hammer did, there would be uproar. My dad would have Hammer beat the shit out of. There are rules we are to abide by, and the man who enforces those rules just went and broke them in anger. I never thought I'd live to see the day.
However, I won't say anything to Shepard because my sister doesn't need that right now.
I've made my point.
“Don't tell me nothin'!” My father yells. However, my attention is pulled away from everything else around me as I watch Maria run to her car.
“Daddy, it was just a misunderstanding. They're fine now.” Nova smiles at him. He's not convinced. She turns to me. “Go after her. She really needs to speak with you. Don't let her leave.” I narrow my eyes. “Please, Jett.”
“He's not going anywhere until somebody explains what the hell just happened here! Don't bother telling me again that it's nothin'. If it were nothin', Willow wouldn't have come running to find me in fuckin' tears!”
“I'll explain everything,” I nod at Tank in thanks. “Let them sort the girls out.”
I don't wait for a reply, I should, but I don't. Maria is already getting in her car. If she drives away, I won't see her for I don't even know how long. There was something important she needed to tell me, that's the reasons he came here. It was important enough to risk hell from Hammer. I owe her the chance to explain herself.
I rush over to her car faster than I've ever run in my damn life before. I bang her window just as she turns the key in the ignition, she jumps and screams. She smiles slightly when she sees me, and she has such sad eyes. Why Hammer has to be such a cunt to her is beyond me.
I motion for her to get out of the car. She does slowly. She looks so fucking hot in that dress. I have to give my head a shake to ward off thoughts about fucking her stupid against her car.
That asshole Razor had the same idea, and I beat the fuckin' shit out of him for touching her! The second I rushed toward them, I saw him push her against the car and touch her, heard him say he was gonna fuck her where she stood. I saw red and floored the motherfucker. I won't have a fuckin' prospect disrespect any woman like that, and he will die for what he did, you mark my words.
>
This past couple of months, I haven't been able to get Maria out of my head. No matter which club whore I fucked, no matter how beautiful her pussy, they're not her. I should never have touched her, the mafia princess. I knew what would happen if Vidal found out I'd even looked at his sister like that. Come on, the man wanted Ghost dead for touching Avery. He even beat the shit out of him for it. It was only Hammer and the fact Vidal is his brother that saved Ghost.
I'm not sure he'd be so forgiving twice.
However, I couldn't stop myself. Maria was so fucking beautiful it made my eyes sting. Her hair was so soft and smelled of crushed berries, one sniff, and I was hooked. The way her full curves felt in my hands was like nothing I had ever felt before. Those huge brown eyes of her burned me to my very soul. I had to have her.
I'd be a damn liar if I said I didn't want her right now. I want her so bad I'm going insane! Having her this close, being able to smell her perfume, every sinew in my body is tingling.
“I'm sorry, Jett,” She shrugs her shoulders. “I didn't mean to come here and cause you to fight with two of your men.”
“Hey,” I take her beautiful face in my hands. “What happened here was not your fault, not with Razor and not with Hammer. Did Hammer hurt you?” I turn her hands over; they're grazed, so are her knees.
Fucking Hammer.
“My stomach hurts a little.” Her voice is so low it was hard for me to hear her. I watch her holding her stomach.
“Did you bang it?”