Fight (13 page)

19.

(Tripp)

I couldn
’
t process it.

The picture was of Winter pregnant.
Her hand over her shirt, touching her round belly. Her face was bright,
radiant, a little pudgy in her cheeks. She looked beautiful. Even thinking
something like that jarred me a little.

I dropped the picture.

“
What
happened?
”
I whispered.

“
Endo.
”

“
No.
”

Winter nodded.
“
Yeah.
”

“
You
had a baby with Endo. That
’
s
what you
’
ve been hiding
from me?
”

“
Not
hiding,
”
Winter said.
“
I
’
m
telling you now. You have no idea how bad it hurts me.
”

“
Why?
”

Winter
’
s eyes filled with tears.
“
Does it look like I have a kid with me now?
”

I swallowed hard.
“
Endo
…”

“
No.
”

“
Oh,
shit,
”
I said.
“
You
…”

“
No,
”
Winter said again.
“
I gave her up.
”

“
You
gave her up?
”
I asked.

“
Yes.
Endo told me he couldn
’
t
have a baby like that. With someone like me. I wasn
’
t part of his family and I wasn
’
t the right blood.
”

“
Christ,
”
I said.
“
They have beliefs about marriage, family, keeping
their bloodline pure.
”

“
Yeah.
I
’
m not pure. I don
’
t even know where the hell my
ancestors came from. Never thought it would matter so much.
”

“
So
you let him tell you what to do?
”

“
What
fucking choice did I have?
”
Winter yelled.
“
Look at my
life. I couldn
’
t fucking
have a baby and take care of it. And Endo gave me no choice. Either I did it or
he had me killed.
”

“
No
way.
”

“
Yes.
And if he killed me, he would have taken the baby anyway.
”

I touched my forehead, ran a hand
through my hair. It was getting worse by the second. More confusing. It was too
much to take in at once. I thought I was coming here to keep some woman alive.
Yeah, maybe I
’
d get into a
fight or two. Maybe take a bullet or something.

But all this?

“
Tripp,
”
Winter said.
“
Please don
’
t leave me.
”

I moved at Winter. My hands touched
her waist. I felt her hips. Those beautiful and natural curves of her hips. My
thumbs pressed against her stomach, over her shirt. Whatever she had done after
having a baby had worked wonders. I had no idea that she had ever been
pregnant.

“
I
was terrified,
”
she said.
“
I didn
’
t know what to do. It was the hardest thing I
’
ve ever done. To give up my baby
like that. I was able to pick who got her and I even picked her name.
”

“
Your
daughter.
”

“
Autumn.
”

“
That
’
s what you named her?
”

“
Yes.
I had her on the first day of fall. I went into labor in the middle of the
night. But it wasn
’
t
anything pleasant. I didn
’
t
go to a hospital. I was taken in a car to a place. Like a building. It was all
set up by Endo. It all had to be secret. The doctor there was paid a lot of
money to keep it all silent.
”

“
Jesus
Christ,
”
I said.
“
You gave birth in a building?
”

“
Yeah.
I was fine. The baby was healthy. The woman who took her was there. She was a
cleaned up woman. She had a real job, a real life. Endo worked with her to set
it all up and make it legit. Whatever power he had, it was meant to work. I
held Autumn for a minute and then she was gone. Just
…
like
…
that
…”

Winter put her head to my chest and
started to cry.

Yeah, I had about million more
questions for her, but I couldn
’
t
pressure her right now. What a thing to carry in life. To have a child and have
it taken away. Especially by someone like Endo. Endo and Aldo were connected to
the Red Aces MC. Endo slept with Winter, got her pregnant, and then stole all
that from her. Because she wasn
’
t
the right bloodline. I had heard stories before of people having children
outside the bloodline and it wasn
’
t
pretty. People were killed. People disappeared.

It was a life I didn
’
t understand. It was about a
family
that I never knew and would never know. My family was of Irish descent anyway.
I couldn
’
t track them down
and didn
’
t really give a
shit to do so. For all I knew, my family were a bunch of drunk Irishmen
fighting anyone who wanted to throw a punch. That was fine by me.

I held Winter tight as she wept.
Her hands slid up to my neck, her nails digging hard into my skin.

“
I
never meant it,
”
she said.
“
I screwed up with my pills and
it happened. Endo hated me for it. Hated me. He thought I did everything on
purpose, to trick him into getting me pregnant. That
’
s what he said to me over and over. He drank a lot.
He got more violent. I think that
’
s
when and why Rocky stepped in. He became a friend to Endo.
”

“
And
now Rocky
’
s dead,
”
I said.
“
And Endo was supposed to die. He
’
s in a hospital bed in a coma.
”

Winter looked up at me. I hated to
think it but her eyes looked even prettier when she cried. The wetness of her
tears made the blue color brighter.

I was falling for her, and hard.

I kissed her forehead.
“
Thank you for telling me this.
”

“
It
’
s the darkest secret I
’
ve got. All I can hope for is
that Autumn is okay. Living a good life. A happy life somewhere.
”

“
You
don
’
t know where she is?
”

“
No
idea,
”
Winter said.
“
That was how it was meant to go.
After it all happened, Endo disappeared. He was done with me. Rocky kind of
picked up the pieces. He took me in and took me away from that life. He brought
me here and let me stay. I worked at the cafe when I wanted and slowly came
back to life. I don
’
t know,
Tripp. It was hard to do. I ran. I exercised. I did anything to try and erase
it all. It
’
s impossible to
do that. Because Rocky didn
’
t
wait long to show his true colors. The whole picture thing
…
it was his way of being
jealous. He was always angry that other men had seen my boobs. So he wanted
pictures like it would erase my past. I don
’
t
know.
”

“
Did
he ever hurt you?
”
I asked.

Why would you ask that, Tripp? What
good can come of the answer?

“
Of
course he did,
”
Winter
said.
“
But all I knew was
that when I came to the Red Aces MC, I felt protected. Safe. Up until the last
few months. Everyone seemed on edge. Rocky and Stoney argued a lot. They got
into a couple fist fights even. I think Rocky wanted to push at Skull X for
some reason. Stoney tried to stop him. And, well, look how it turned out.
”

I couldn't stop putting the pieces
together. I knew nothing of this shit. Trying to figure out murder, betrayal,
all that stuff. I was a fighter. When I wasn
’
t
fighting, I was fucking. When I wasn
’
t
fighting or fucking, I was having a few drinks and waiting to fall asleep.

But Aldo had sent me here for a
reason and it wasn
’
t
protection.

“
Is
there anything else?
”
I
asked.

“
That
’
s everything,
”
Winter said.
“
I had no idea who your boss was.
Or that it was all connected.
”

“
I
know, darling. I know. There
’
s
something going on. There
’
s
…”

And then it hit me. Oh, man, it
fucking hit me.

I stepped back, putting Winter at
arms length. Her blue eyes tore through the last few shreds of my heart. There
was no turning away. There was no turning back either.

“
Tripp,
what is it?
”

“
I
know what this is now,
”
I
said.
“
I know what
’
s happening.
”

“
What?
”
Winter asked.

“
This
has nothing to do with you,
”
I said.
“
I wasn
’
t sent here to protect you. It
’
s about her
…
shit, darling, they want
your kid.
”

~ ~ ~

It made sense now. Rocky was dead
because of what he knew or what he wouldn
’
t
share that he knew. Someone tried to take out Endo. They were the ones who were
directly involved with Winter. And if they wanted Winter dead, she
’
d be dead. I had nothing to do
with protecting her. This was all about what she had done. What she had been
forced to do.

Winter was shaking as we stared at
each other.

“
Tripp,
”
she whispered.
“
We
’
re
in danger, aren
’
t we?
”

“
Yeah,
”
I said.
“
We
’
re
in this deep, darling.
”

“
What
do we do?
”

There was a handful of things we
could have done right then. None of them should have been what I decided to do.

I pulled Winter close to me and
kissed her.

Our lips collided in a dark and
beautiful way. My hands pulled at her shirt, wanting to touch her bare skin
again. My right hand touched against her belly. My intrigue was through the
roof with her. The intense feelings racing through my body were almost foreign
to me.

When our tongues touched, she
moaned into my mouth. Her nails dug harder at my neck, scratching at me,
tearing at my skin.

I walked forward, pushing her to
the bed.

I lifted her shirt up and over her
head. My hands cupped her face, pulling her back to me for another kiss. Her
mouth was delicious, she was the best kiss I ever had in my life.

Reaching around, I unsnapped her
bra and she let it fall to the floor.

My hands cupped her breasts,
keeping a small distance between us. Our kiss broke, our foreheads touching,
and I looked down at my hands touching her. I cupped her hard, gritting my
teeth, my cock pulsing in my jeans. I slid my hands down and cupped under her
breasts, admiring their beautiful shape and size. I then inched down and kissed
her chest, slowly working down to her left breast first. My tongue demanded
another taste of her nipple, swirling around, flicking, my teething gently
grazing, just enough to make Winter shiver.

I moved to her other breast and did
the same.

I slipped my hands around to her
back, leaving her breasts dangling in my face. I looked up at her. Her head was
down, hair in her face, and a little smile crept across her face. My heart
pounded fucking hard. Harder than any fight I
’
d
ever been involved with. That meant Winter was more addicting than a fight,
which seemed impossible.

Her hands played with my hair.

I kissed below her breasts.

Then I moved down a little more and
did it again.

And again.

I kissed above her belly button and
quickly moved under it.

Her stomach fluttered with my
kisses.

She was beautiful, her skin soft
and sweet.

But I wanted something sweeter.

I opened her pants and tugged at
the sides. Her hips
tick-tocked
left to right as I took them off her.
She kicked her pants off.

Finally.

I ran my hands up her legs and
wasted no time gripping the top of her black panties and pulling at them. I
watched her bare mound appear before my eyes, her tender folds there, her pussy
for the taking.