“Amelia, I’ve spent over six goddamn years trying to find Lilly!” Drake roared. “That little girl was one of the best fucking things that happened to me, and because her mother didn’t want to fucking be with me anymore, she took the fuck off, taking Lilly with her! Do you know what it’s like to never fucking truly know your child?!” he roared down at me.
“No, I don’t!” I yelled back at him. “It sucks what she did to you, but dammit, Drake, Lilly needs her mother more than she needs anyone!”
Cole stepped out of the clubhouse. “That’s fucking enough,” he growled, stepping up and placing his hand on my lower back. He looked at Drake. “She’s under enough fucking stress as it is. I won’t allow you to fucking stress her out to the point that she miscarries, understood?”
Drake’s eyes snapped to mine, shock registering in their depths. “You’re fucking—”
“Pregnant?” I snapped, interrupting him. “Yes, I’m fucking pregnant, and yes, it’s Cole’s kid. Back to the fucking conversation at hand—”
“You’re not changing my mind on this, Amelia,” he snapped down at me, interrupting me like I had him. I scowled. “If it were you in my position, you would have already put at least three bullet holes in her chest by now. So, don’t try to be a caring person when I know just as well as the next person that caring just isn’t your thing,” he sneered.
“Drake, you’re going to kill that little girl’s mother,” I told him softly, desperately trying to get him to understand where I was coming from.
“Amelia’s got a point,” Cole said, butting into the conversation. “I’ve heard enough of the conversation to know that Lilly’s your daughter. If you kill Holly, one day, Lillywillfind out, and shewillhate you. Do you really want that? Have you even tried talking to Holly about why she took off?” Cole asked, trying to get Drake to see where I was coming from.
“Yes, I have—” Drake began, but I cut him off. I knew how Drake was, and he could intimidate the scariest of fucking people. Hell, he had intimidated me the first time I had met him when I was in jail.
“Without pointing a gun at her head?” I asked him. He just looked at me with a deadpan look on his face. Yeah, I figured it had gone something like that. “That may work on judges and cops, Drake, but it’s not going to work on a mother whose goal is to protect her child.”
“Would you take your kid and run off from Cole?” Drake asked me.
“I don’t even have to think about it,” I told him. “My situation is different than Holly’s. I was born into this life. I know how to handle it, and I know I can protect my kids. Holly doesn’t look like the kind of girl that was born into this life. She looks fucking terrified just at the word bikers.” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “Drake, she did what any mother would do that thought their child needed better protection. She ran, and she got the fuck away from it all. I can’t say I blame her. This life is scary as shit to outsiders. Fuck, sometimes, it scares the shit out of me.”
Drake ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. I’ll fucking talk to her, and I promise I won’t fucking kill her or beat the fuck out of her or anything else of the fucking sort. If she runs again though, I can’t say that I’ll hold back,” he warned me.
I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. It was the most that I could ask of him. I turned to the side, and Drake grabbed my arm, stopping me from stepping forward. “What the fuck happened?” he asked me, his jaw clenched in anger as he looked down at my thigh.
“Someone in your crew happened,” I told him. “I was able to get Holly and Lilly out of the way just in time, but my thigh wasn’t so lucky.”
“Amelia—” he started, an apologetic look on his face, but I just shook my head at him.
“Shit happens,” I told him. I jerked my head in Cole’s direction, who was scowling at me for blowing the injury off. “Cole’s probably the one you should apologize to. I think he almost had a heart attack.”
I limped inside and left Cole and Drake standing where they were. Holly was curled into a corner, sobbing her heart out. “Holly, Drake gave me his word that he won’t hurt you or Lilly. You need to go with him and talk to him. He deserves an explanation. You ran off with his daughter,” I told her gently.
“I—I can’t,” she sobbed.
I sighed, squatting in front of her despite the pain flaring in my thigh. “Holly, this life is crazy. Trust me, I understand that better than anyone. I’ve been beaten and raped too many times to count, and I’ve been shot just as much. I almost died numerous times while I was in jail just for being a member of the Bloody Black Skulls. So much shit has happened to me because of this life that it’s fucking crazy.” She looked up at me through teary eyes. I sighed. “I don’t have kids yet, so you can’t take my word for it. But you can take Katie’s. She’ll be the first one to tell you that she protected her kids while they grew up. Nothing ever happened to them. Anything that happened to her three children happened because they were older and making their own decisions, and they decided not to listen to her or Travis. You can protect Lilly, but you need to give Drake a chance to prove to you that he can protect you both, as well.”
She nodded, sniffling. I helped her up. She grabbed Lilly’s hand and walked outside with me. Cole and Drake were leaning against Cole’s truck when I came outside. Drake looked up, and when his eyes landed on Holly, I could practically feel her urge to run away from the entire situation and not look back. I turned to look at her, a warning in my eyes. If she ran, Drake wouldn’t be this forgiving again. “Holly, I’m being serious. If this were any other biker that you had run from, they would have already shot you. Drake is giving you a chance. You should do the same for him.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded. I walked over to Cole, leaving her standing frozen in her spot as Drake walked toward her and Lilly. Cole pulled me against him and kissed me deeply. Shivers ran down my spine and headed straight for my core. “I can’t wait to get you alone,” he groaned softly into my ear.
I moaned quietly, smirking up at him. “That came out of nowhere.”
“I’ve been wanting to fuck you since you started yelling at me earlier. It’s the most infuriating yet sexiest thing when you yell at me and defy me.”
“Hey, sweetheart, my name is Drake.” I turned around at the sound of Drake introducing himself to Lilly. “I’m your dad.”
Her eyes widened. Drake’s face was the gentlest I had ever seen him, and I swear, I had never seen something so tender and loving in my life. It was obvious that Drake loved his little girl. It really made me wonder what it would be like to see Cole hold our child for the first time. A small smile crept onto my face as I thought about it.
* * *
Cole
I heldAmelia to me as she slept. Drake and his crew had stayed for the night, so of course there was a huge party at the clubhouse. At midnight, Amelia had begun to throw up, so I had brought her to bed to sleep.
A knock sounded on the door. I sighed in aggravation and slid out of bed, yanking on a pair of sweats. I opened the door enough to slip through and then quickly shut it quietly behind me. “What?” I snapped at Drake a little harshly, aggravated that he had taken me away from my woman and my much-needed sleep.