“Reaper,” My brother growled. “Let. Her. Go!”
“I will as soon as Healer fucking swabs Hailey’s cheek!”
“NOW!” my brother roared as he took a step towards me, only to be stopped by Viper and Smoke.
Then I felt it.
The cold metal at my temple.
Everyone stopped.
The mother fucker was holding a gun to my head. I was screwed. I knew when Reaper lost his temper, no one could stop him. He was death incarnate. He killed quickly with no remorse. Looking at my daughter, who was openly crying in Massacre’s arms, I wanted so much to protect her. I tried to save her from what was about to happen, but I couldn’t. There was no stopping Reaper when he got like this. I then thought of Dylan and what this would do to him. “Tell me now, Kitty, or I will pull this fucking trigger and have Healer do it over your dead corpse. No more lies!”
“It’s Dylan and Layla!” I screamed, and instantly Reaper let go of me, making me sit in the chair I just left. Leaning over me, he got in my face and seethed. “Why is my Pops with them?”
“Because he is their father!” I shouted, pissed and angry as tears fell down my cheeks. “He’s their father.”
The next thing I knew, Massacre placed Hailey in my arms. Holding her tightly, I cried with her. It was out in the open now, and there was nothing I could do about it. I prayed that Dylan forgave me, and we both survived the fallout. It wasn’t going to be pretty as the men around me looked shocked.
Well, all except one…Reaper.
He sat down before me and sighed. “How long have you known?”
Sniffing, I cuddled my daughter closer, trying to soothe her, then asked, “Can one of you grab her a bottle out of the fridge. She’s hungry.”
Viper did as I requested and quickly handed me the bottle, which Hailey took greedily. I sighed and began. “I was maybe five or six when I found out. I didn’t think anything of it because brothers were always sleeping around and getting girls pregnant. So, I filed it away as another nugget of information. I didn’t put two and two together until much later when I met Layla. She wasn’t from here, and I was happy about that because I wanted a life away from the club. But things got weird when her mother was murdered. That’s when the late-night calls started. Then there was the package that was delivered at midnight. It was a cut. I grew up around biker clubs my whole life. I knew what a cut was. Yet, it made no sense. She was from Tennessee. Then I remembered your dad, Reaper. How he would talk to Hellhound about his trips to the mountains. I thought he meant the Rocky’s, but then it clicked when I met Dylan.”
“What clicked.”
“Dylan. When I met him for the first time. I knew he and Layla weren’t just friends. They looked too much alike, but there was something else about him. Something that nagged me to no end. He has your eyes. Eyes I’d seen my whole life. I didn’t say anything because I figured both Dylan and Layla wanted it that way when I figured it out. That they were like me, just trying to have a life outside of the club.”
“What brought you both back?”
“The night I was raped,” I whispered, looking at my brother as he tensed. I knew he hated when I talked about this, but there was no going back now. “Layla and I were relaxing. It was Friday, and Dylan had four days of leave. We were waiting for him to arrive. I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard a knock at the door. I thought it was Dylan. When I answered, I was ambushed by two bikers I’d never seen before. I fought them as hard as I could and yelled for Layla. She came out running and attacked one of them. She knew what she was doing too. That girl could kick ass, but she wasn’t strong enough. The biker knocked her out with one punch to the face. When he grabbed her and left, I couldn’t stop it. I was too busy fighting my own attacker. Well, you know what happened next. When he was done, he started hitting me. That’s when Dylan showed up. He killed him. Snapped his neck like a fucking twig.”
“What club, Kitty?” My brother Savage asked, and I lightly shook my head. I knew telling Savage would start a chain reaction, and I didn’t want to bring more trouble, though trouble had already found us. Yet when Reaper growled, I knew I wasn’t leaving this house unless I told them. “It was the Black Vultures.”
“Fuck,” Reaper sighed, running his hand down his face. I knew he wasn’t going to like it any more than I did. The Golden Skulls and the Black Vultures never got along. They were enemies, and both clubs made no bones about it. It was shoot to kill on site. After Reaper's father died, Reaper reached out to their Prez and formed some sort of truce. They stay on their side, and we stay on ours. It worked, and the bloodshed ceased until that night. “How the fuck did they get involved?”
“Dylan and Layla’s mother, Donna. She is the sister of Moonshine, the President of the Tennessee chapter. According to Dylan, the Black Vultures V.P. Jekyll has a hard-on for Layla. He wants her. The Tennessee chapter has been protecting Layla for years. That’s why Moonshine and your Pops worked a deal that Donna, Layla, and Dylan would live away from the club. Your dad set them up, and Moonshine made sure she was protected. Though I don’t think Dylan or Layla knew.”
“You didn’t tell him?”
I grinned. “You know me. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Reaper grinned, reaching out to take Hailey from me. I didn’t fight him this time as I watched him hold my daughter. She was still so small, and I wondered how she would ever survive this life. I didn’t want this for her. I only wanted her to be safe and loved. Yet, watching Reaper with her as he gently rocked her to sleep, I began to wonder.
“What happened to the body?”
“Dylan took the body to a meatpacking plant he used to work at part-time, cut that fucker into pieces, rented a boat, and fed it to the sharks.”
Viper whistled, then said, “That’s why we’ve never been able to find the bastard.”
“And Hailey?” Savage asked, making me gasp. It was the first time I’d ever heard him say her name. He always referred to her as the kid. He never showed her any attention, always ignoring her.
“She’s Dylan’s. I was pregnant before the rape.”
And that’s when my giant hulking douche of a brother grinned. Wide-eyed, I watched as he walked over to Reaper and snatched Hailey from his arms. Shaking my head, I smirked as Savage said, “Hello, my little princess. You and I need to get to know one another. I’m Uncle Savage. Come on. Let’s get you away from these ingrates. They don’t deserve your beauty.”