“Is Madisen here?”
“No. I thought she was with you at the clubhouse?”
“She was.” I sighed.
“Come on in. Tell me what’s going on.”
I reluctantly followed him inside to his office. After I sat down, he raised his brow. “She was asleep last night when I got back, so I waited until this morning to talk to her. She spouted off a bunch of shit about packing and staying with you and Jocelyn until the danger is past. She told me I didn’t need to have anything to do with our kid, she’d do it on her own. Jesus, Bull, how did it get so fucked up? She was packing and then we argued a bit more. I lost my mind for a minute then she got sick and was puking. I went to get her something to settle her stomach and when I got back, she was gone.”
“Back up. Tell me how you lost your mind? You didn’t—”
“Hell no, I didn’t hurt her. She wasn’t listening and so I might have tied her to the bed and gagged her. I know. Not my finest move, but I was desperate! She was leaving, and she wasn’t hearing a word I said. I don’t know what to do. I can’t lose her. I won’t give her or my baby up. She hasn’t left the compound because some of the guys were at the garage and said she didn’t leave. Her car is still here.”
Bull got up and paced around the room. I waited in agony to see what he had to say. He finally sat down. “Well, you sure know how to make shit worse. Tying her up and gagging her probably wasn’t the best move, though I can see how you could be driven to do it. Jocelyn and I got into something similar once. What you have to remember is, she’s pregnant. Those hormones are no fucking joke. Your woman might not even know what she’s saying half the time. All she is running on is the feelings these hormones are stirring up. And those may not be logical. This is all due to you not telling her shit, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she says I’m treating her like a child. I took your advice and was going to tell her more, but never got the chance. “
“It’s a fine line between keeping them safe and controlling their lives. Club business, they shouldn’t know. But when it involves them like this does, I believe it’s safer to let them know enough to be involved without increasing the danger. It’s more dangerous to let them go off half-cocked like she is right now. Why don’t we go see if we can find her? Is there any place she likes to go?”
I thought about what he said. I knew she loved the pond by the house. I told him that. He told me to go there, and he’d check over on the other side of the compound. If we needed to, we’d call in more of the guys, though with the roving guards, someone should have seen her. I thanked him and raced out.
As I hurried to the pond, I kept my eyes open. She wasn’t near the house. As I rounded it and the pond came into view, I frantically looked. At first, I didn’t see anything and my heart fell. Then I took another look and sitting back under the trees close to the pond, I saw a small figure. I headed toward her while sending a quick text to Bull. I made it almost up to her before she looked up and saw me. I sat down and looked at her.
Her eyes looked sad. They had dark circles underneath them. I hesitated before taking her hand. She didn’t pull away which was a good sign. “Baby, why did you run off? I’ve been looking for you all over. I thought we were going to talk.”
She gave me a surprised look. “I didn’t run off. I left you a note telling you I felt better and to meet me out here.”
“There wasn’t a note. I found the room empty.”
“There was one. I left it on the desk.”
I thought back. I hadn’t seen it, but I could have overlooked it when I found the room empty. “I must have missed it. Why did you want to talk out here? Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in bed?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m tired of the room. Besides, everyone can hear us. I think this discussion needs to be between the two of us and no one else.”
I stopped her before she could say something that would tear out my heart. “Let me say something first. I love you, Madisen. More than I can ever tell you. I want to build a life and family with you and our baby. I know I went about shit the wrong way. I get it. I never meant for it to be seen as me treating you like a child or as me controlling you. I just want you both safe. However, I can see how it could look to you.”
“Ronan, I’m trying to understand how you guys think. You’re all a bunch of alpha protectors. I get it. But you’re choosing to pick women who are strong in their own ways. We’ve been making our own decision for years. You can’t expect me or any of us to just hand everything over and sit back like mindless twits. It doesn’t work that way. And really, tying me to the bed and gagging me?”
I winced. “I know. Not my finest moment. I lost my mind for a minute. I’m sorry.”
“I mean, if you wanted to do that while we’re playing, that would be hot. But when we’re arguing, not so much.” Her words caught me off guard. I instantly flashed to the image of having her tied and gagged to the bed while I tortured her with a prolonged release. My cock grew hard. I shook that thought away. This wasn’t the time.
She laughed. “Your mind just went into the gutter, didn’t it?” I smirked. “Well, enough of that. Tell me what you were going to tell me earlier. But Ronan, I mean it. If we can’t find a way to be partners in this relationship, it won’t work.”
I scooted closer and pulled her into my side. “I know it won’t. I promise to do better. Just hang in there with me. This is all new to me too. Okay, where to begin?” I took her through the plan to use a decoy at her next doctor visit to trick the MC into going after her. I also told her about the Patriots and us having a plan to go after not only her stepdad, but the two MCs and Heraclio Diaz. I didn’t give her all the gory details, just the outline. I told her what information Jonah had shared. Finally, I let her know about the fire we set to draw out the guys outside the compound last night. When I was done, she looked at me in astonishment.
“You have all this in place? What about the six guys you caught? Have they told you anything? Where are they?”
“Babe, we have them secure and we’ll be asking them questions later today.”
“Are you going to torture them if they don’t talk? Kill them?” I just looked at her.
“Fine. I’ll take that as a yes to both. All I can say is you do what you have to, Ronan. They wouldn’t hesitate to hurt or kill any one of us. The one thing I do ask, is if you get the chance to capture my stepdad, I want to see him before you guys kill him. If it’s possible.”
I started to protest, but she cut me off.
“Only if it’s possible. Now, we have more important things to discuss.”