Hell, I didn’t even know why he was back. When I had first asked him, he’d been more interested in kissing me and getting me out of my clothes than offering any explanation. Then he had fallen into his coma.
Now a million scenarios were racing through my head.
Had she had the baby? If so, why wasn’t he still in New Orleans with his son?
Or was she still pregnant and he simply came home because of our fight?
Alarm tingled at my spine. Or had something happened and he came back to clear his conscience?
“Ruger..?”
He opened his eyes. “She had the baby.”
I was surprised. “She did? When?”
“About an hour before I rode out of New Orleans and headed for home.”
I frowned, confused. “What about your son—”
“Turns out he’s not my son.”
His words stunned me.
“What do you mean?”
He rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes with his palm. When he turned to look at me, I could see he was still tired.
“After she visited me that one night nine months ago, and I told her that it was over for good, she went out with girlfriends, got drunk and spent one night with a guy. Some guy she knew through friends. Turns out this kid is the father. Not me.”
I stared at him, my mouth agape.
“Did she know?”
“Yeah, she knew. Not for certain. As she said, she knew there was a small chance it could be mine, so she clung to it and hoped it was true.”
So many emotions snaked through me. Anger. Relief. Empathy, because I could only imagine how Ruger felt, thinking he was going to be a father only to find out he wasn’t.
I traced his beautiful mouth with my fingertips.
“Are you okay?”
He gave me a small, tired smile. “Yeah. I’m good.”
I didn’t want to push the subject. He probably hadn’t fully processed it. But when he was ready to talk about it, I would be there to listen.
Until then… we had weeks of catching up to do.
We made love again, then ate supper and shared a bath where he filled me in on what happened in New Orleans, and I brought him up to date with what had happened in his absence.
But I didn’t tell him about what happened with the fake deputy.
Because the moment I did, our reunion would be over and he would go after Martel with guns a-blazing.
RUGER
Things happened pretty fast when I got back. There was no time to explain to Bull about Astrid and the baby not being mine. When I walked into the clubhouse, he was preoccupied with the Martel situation and his focus told me there was no time for personal conversations. He didn’t even ask if Astrid and the baby were okay. Which was unusual for him. Family meant everything to Bull. It came first. But right now, his mind was focused on Martel and the unfolding situation.
So, I knew shit was serious.
Of course, when I learned what had happened in my absence, I understood why.
And my head almost burst with fury.
One of Martel’s men had assaulted Chastity.
“Wait, someone hurt Chastity?”
A rage as red hot as hell ripped through me. The thought of someone laying a hand on her made me want to break some balls.
Why had no one told me?
Why hadn’t Chastity told me?
“And no one thought to tell me?” I growled.
“You were out of town. You had your own shit to deal with,” Bull said.
I was blinded by my wrath. Mind blown by a need to protect my girl.
“I don’t give a fuck if I was out of town, you should’ve told me!”
Bull didn’t know my feelings for Chastity went any deeper than she was family. He didn’t know I was in love with her. That the idea of someone touching her made me white-hot with fury. It was another one of those moments where withholding that information made things harder.
“What happened?” I demanded.
Bull explained how one of Martel’s thugs pretended to be a deputy sheriff and pulled her over. When he attempted to intimidate her, my kickass girlfriend got his gun from his holster and shoved it into his chin, followed by a knee into his ball sac and a door slam to the hand.
If I weren’t so enraged by it, I would probably be turned on by my sexy ass queen.
“I’m going to find this fake deputy and I am going to put a bullet in him,” I raged. The thought of him touching my woman, assaulting her, poured heat into my veins. And it mingled with the guilt that I hadn’t been here to protect her. “He needs to be dead.”
“He’s been dealt with accordingly,” Bull said. He stood up. “No, this shit stops now and it stops with Martel.”
“Then we need to go pay that motherfucker a visit,” I seethed. I was going to let Martel know who he was fucking with.