The rest of the morning passed by in a blur. Her stomach felt queasy by lunchtime, and Rose spent some time throwing up during her break. Eating seemed impossible, so she settled for some soup and hard bread. Brick texted her, asking how she was. Rose lied and said she was fine, knowing her man had plenty of things on his mind today. She made a quick run to the pharmacy for some pills, and she took them before resuming work.
She vomited twice again in the afternoon, and this time, Nancy noticed. The other woman caught her just as she exited the ladies’ room. Nancy gave her a once-over and frowned. “Rose, take the rest of the day off,” she said in that no-nonsense voice Rose had gotten used to.
“I’m fine. Must be something I ate the day before,” she pointed out. That was odd, because the guys in charge of cooking at the MC always procured fresh ingredients. Another stray thought struck her as Nancy crossed her arms and considered her. She’d missed her period. Two weeks now.
“If you caught something, you won’t want to pass it to unsuspecting customers, would you?” Nancy finally asked her.
Rose grimaced. The other woman had a point. If she had the flu, then that would be so much better than the alternative. Rose couldn’t be pregnant with Brick’s baby. It was too soon. Besides, Brick only fucked her bareback that one time. In the heat of passion, she told him to dispense with the condom. After all, both of them were clean. Dang it. Could one time be enough?
Nancy grasped her shoulders. “Rose, you look pale. Just go home and rest.”
“But how will you manage?” she asked, concerned.
“I managed fine on my own before,” Nancy said with a nod. “Don’t worry. Your job will be waiting for you.”
“Okay,” she said a little reluctantly.
She only agreed because the possibility she was pregnant was an enormous game changer. Brick and she were an item, yes. She would go so far as to call him her boyfriend, but they never talked about the future. Certainly, they never discussed kids. God. What if he freaked out? Brick was already amazing when it came to Stefan, and Stefan wasn’t even her own child.
Rose quickly pulled her apron off and grabbed her purse. Her first stop? The pharmacy. She bought cold medicine here just hours ago, during her lunch break. Now she was back here again. Her mind spun. She wandered aisle to aisle, unable to find what she wanted.
Finally, she flagged a staff down to help her. “Where can I find a pregnancy kit?”
The staff member, a bored teenager, didn’t look up from her phone. “Aisle ten.”
Rose hurried over to that direction. She thought she could just pluck one box and go, but the numerous options stumped her. Rose grew dizzy and staggered backward a little, nearly knocking over an annoyed elderly lady pushing a cart.
“Sorry, ma’am,” she quickly said. The old woman rolled her eyes before moving on.
Rose could pull out her phone and figure out which was the best one to buy. Then again, weren’t they all practically the same? Rose stood there for a good long while, sweating. She kept imagining how Brick would react. Happy? Disappointed? Angry? All three? Would a baby ruin all his plans for them?
She hadn’t planned on becoming a mother either. Rose had her hands full with Stefan.
“Dammit. This is taking too long,” she whispered to herself.
Rose snatched the first box off the shelf and went to the cash register to pay for it. Her hands shook as she handed over the bills. Then she grabbed her brown paper bag and exited the shop, only to bump into someone she never expected to see in a million years. Her paper bag went flying. She groaned, irritated.
The man who had been waiting for her picked up the bag and peeked at it curiously. Then he stood up and handed it back to her. Rose froze, unable to believe her eyes. Donny flashed her a sheepish smile.
“Hey, sis. It’s been a while,” Donny said.
She plucked the bag from him and dumped it in her purse. This couldn’t be a sheer coincidence. Brick told some of his men to be on the lookout for Donny but found no trail of him. Like a rat, her brother had finally come out of hiding. For what reason?
“What the hell are you doing here?” Rose demanded.
“Aren’t you glad to see me? Can’t a concerned father see his own son?” Donny asked her. “By the way, where are you and Stefan living?”
She narrowed her eyes at him and asked him point-blank. “You knew I was living in this town. Who told you? The Black Dogs MC?”
“Hush,” Donny said, quickly grabbing her arm and pulling her inside a side alley. “Don’t mention that name out loud.”
She tensed. Rose had pepper spray in her purse, and she wasn’t afraid to use it. She studied the alleyway, almost expecting a couple of men to jump out and snatch her. A ridiculous thought. As if Rose was worth anything to anyone—unless they knew she was important to Brick.
Rose’s stomach churned at those words, and it wasn’t from morning sickness. When it came to Donny, nothing surprised her anymore.
“What do you want, Donny?” She pushed him away.
Donny released her and held out both his hands in mock defeat. “What’s with the aggressive tone, sis?”
“You asshole. When you learned the Black Dogs were after your sorry little ass, you ran and left Stefan and me to their mercy.” She practically spat out those words. Even Donny looked slightly taken aback.
“Hey, I didn’t know what would’ve happened. Who would have predicted they would go after my family?” he asked.
He had always perfected that look. That I’m-a-victim-too look. Time and time again, Rose had caved and felt sorry for her brother. Not this time. She had Brick, Stefan, and possibly the baby growing in her belly to think about.
“Don’t play games with me, Donny.” It struck Rose that she didn’t have to listen to his drivel any longer. She shoved her way past him, angry. Donny mentioned Stefan, but truth was, he never gave two shits about his son. All he cared about was saving his own skin.
“Wait, you’re right, Rose, but I was scared. I can’t imagine what they’d do to me, so I crashed at a friend’s place for a little while,” Donny said.
Rose kept walking. She didn’t care for his explanations.
“Rose, don’t walk away from me. You’re the only family I have left,” he said, switching to his wheedling voice. “Just spare me some money. $500. That’s all I ever ask from you again. I just need some cash to leave town.”
Rose halted. She should’ve kept going, but it occurred to her that this was the first time she truly heard Donny desperate. She looked at him. She only had one photo of her parents, back when they were teenagers. Donny looked so much like her dad.
“Answer my first question, Donny, and I might give you what you want. How did you find me?” she asked.
“Fair enough. A couple of months ago, I activated the tracking option on your phone that lets me know where you are.”
“So, you’re not here as the Black Dogs MC errand dog?” she asked.