Reclaimed (3 page)

Uncle Chaz lifted his hands, placing them flat on the table as he glared at me. “Flick’s a good girl, boy. You make this right. Or we bring the enforcer in on this.”

I reached for the bottle of whiskey and took a long swallow as I contemplated what the old fucker had just said. Not even as the Club’s president was I exempt from the enforcer. It kept the president from getting too big of a head. Since Bash had left, a new one had been appointed. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that they wouldn’t bring Spider into this, but that didn’t mean I was going to jump up and go ask Flick to marry me right then and there. It might seem a little extreme to bring an enforcer in on this, but I knew they cared about Flick and wanted what was best for her. She didn’t have a father figure to look out for her like I looked out for Raven.

“I will,” I assured the three Originals. “Just give me some time.”

Uncle Jack nodded. “Sure, boy. Take your time. But you best have your ring on the girl’s finger before she has that kid, or you’re gonna meet your kid for the first time in a body cast.”

Felicity

Three weeks. I hadn’t seen Jet in three weeks. I figured I wouldn’t see him for longer than that. It was okay, though. I was okay. I didn’t need him to help with the baby. We’d be just fine without him.

Didn’t mean I wasn’t hurting over his lack of interest in his own kid. Didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed at his not even showing up for the scan I’d had two weeks before. I hadn’t gone looking for him though, and I wasn’t going to. He wasn’t worth my time anymore. I’d done my duty, told him about the baby. That was all he got from me.

My morning sickness was thankfully starting to fade. I’d spent the majority of the last three weeks with my head in a toilet, either at home or at school. Those were the only places I went these days, the only places I knew I wouldn’t chance running into Jet. Now that the morning sickness had eased up, I was able to concentrate on what needed getting done. I’d fallen behind in some of my classes because of it, and needed to spend several extra hours after each of my classes catching up, or risk failing the semester.

I was late getting out of my English class tonight because I’d had two papers that needed some extra research before I could turn them in. My mother didn’t have internet at our house, and since I was only living off of my scholarship I couldn’t afford it for myself.  Whenever I needed to do anything on a computer I always had to do it at school.

It was dark as I left the building and headed for my Jeep. The parking lot was nearly empty except for my Jeep and two other cars… And the hog parked right in front of my Jeep.

Seeing Jet leaning against his bike with his arms crossed over his wide chest, looking bored and slightly amused, had my heart jumping in my chest. He was obviously waiting on me and I had to wonder how long he’d been waiting. Jet knew my schedule and would have known I was supposed to get out of my last class at five. It was now after nine. Telling myself I didn’t care that he was there, or even why he was there, I pulled my keys from my backpack and walked around the bike. Ignoring him completely.

A deep chuckle from the direction of the powerful motorcycle sent a shiver of delicious anticipation down my spine, but I clenched my thighs together and opened the driver’s side door. Tossing my backpack into the passenger’s seat I finally turned to face the man I still stupidly loved.

“What do you want, Jet?”

“How are you?” he asked instead of answering my question. His eyes were narrowed on me and I wondered if he was seeing that I’d lost weight over the last three weeks…and if he liked the changes.

“I’m fine. How are you?” I asked with polite stiffness.

“You don’t look fine,” he assured me as his eyes raked over me from head to toe and then back up. Everywhere his green gaze touched I felt like he’d physically skimmed his hands over me. My nipples tightened and my panties became instantly damp. Crossing my arms over my chest to hide the fact that I was turned on from something as simple as him raking his eyes over me, I lifted a brow at him. “Don’t you eat anymore, Flick? You look like you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

The tone of his voice told me he didn’t like the weight loss. I didn’t know if I should take it as a compliment or an insult. Jet’s usual type was stick-thin. Lord only knew I’d never be that small. I had curves in all the right places, but I also had a good twenty pounds of extra weight on me, too. Well, five extra pounds now. I’d lost the rest over the last three weeks because I hadn’t been able to keep anything down. Had Jet liked me with the extra weight?

I wasn’t even going to try to figure him out right then. It would only give me a headache. “Morning sickness isn’t fun, Jet. It’s just now starting to get to where I can eat without throwing it back up.”

“Oh,” he muttered and thrust his hands into his pockets, making his cut tighten over his shoulders. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

Unable to stop myself, I rolled my eyes. “Thanks.” I turned back to the open Jeep door, ready to go home and get some sleep. I’d been at school all day and I just wanted a few hours of sleep. That wasn’t asking too much, was it?

“Wait,” he snapped when he saw that I was leaving. “We should talk.”

I paused with my hand on the door and turned my head to look at him. “Yeah? I figured we’d already said all we needed to. Since I haven’t seen you since I told you about the baby, I was pretty sure you’d made up your mind where your kid stood in your life.”

His jaw tightened and he dragged his hands over his face before stepping closer to me. “I’ve been dealing with some Club shit, Flick. I’m sorry I haven’t been around, but that needed my attention.”

“What kind of Club shit?” I hadn’t heard anything about something going on within the Club and I would have been one of the first to know. My mother told me everything she heard at the clubhouse. If there was something going on and she didn’t know, then it was some heavy shit.

If it was so secret, I knew that Jet probably wouldn’t tell me. Club business stayed Club business. No one shared anything with anyone outside of the Club. It was safer that way for everyone, especially when government agencies like the DEA and ATF came knocking at their doors. So I was surprised when he finally spoke. “Westcliffe has been causing some trouble. I don’t know what his problem is. Ever since I started seeing you, he’s had a stick up his ass, but it’s more than just that. I’ve been so distracted with you that I hadn’t really noticed until now…” He broke off and I figured that was all he would tell me about what Westcliffe had been up to. Jet shrugged again. “None of the other Club brothers have even seen him in the last two weeks, or so they say. There are a few I’m willing to beat information out of to find his ass. Spider is pissed because Westcliffe has been bothering the girls at Paradise City. He’s on everyone’s shit-list right now, babe.”

I wasn’t going to say I was surprised to find out Westcliffe was acting shady. He’d always given me the creeps, but I’d had to put up with him over the years. As VP, he was into everyone’s business who was associated with the Club. There were even a few times I’d found him looking at me with the oddest expressions on his not-so-handsome face. It was a mixture of cold hatred and lust. I had no idea why he would feel that way with me. I’d never encouraged him, but I’d always tried to be nice. I was nice to everyone. 

Shaking the thought away, I turned back to Jet. “What does that have to do with you being here now?”

His hands went back to his pockets and I got the feeling that he was almost vulnerable right then. Which was funny, because Jet Hannigan didn’t do vulnerable. “I think it’s time we settled this thing between us. About the baby and all.”

“Okay.” So he was going to man up and take responsibility for the baby. That was good. Even though I was prepared to take care of this kid on my own, I hadn’t wanted it to grow up without knowing its father. My heart actually lifted a little as I looked up at him. “I think if you get the baby on Sunday and Mondays, that will be a great idea. That will give you time to bond with him.” Those were his off days from the bar, so I knew he would have the time to watch his child…if he really wanted to.

“Him?” Jet’s voice came out rough.

I shrugged. “That’s what I’m hoping for, but I’ll be happy with either as long as the baby is healthy. Still, I like to think it’s a boy.” I’d daydreamed about the baby that was growing safely under my heart. How he would look so much like his father, have his blond hair and green eyes. His stubbornness. Maybe Raven’s temper. But mostly, I hoped he had my heart.

“So you don’t know yet?” I shook my head and he shrugged. “I don’t care what the baby is, as long as it’s healthy.”

“So far so good,” I assured him. The scan had shown that the baby was growing as expected, had a strong heartbeat, and was nestled safely in a good position.

“But this Sunday and Monday bullshit isn’t going to work. I think we should get married, Flick.”

I was so surprised by what had just left his mouth, all I could do was stand there and blink up at him for the longest time. After several minutes, a laugh escaped me as I watched his eyes. “You can’t be serious.” There was no way. No. Way.

“I am. It’s the right thing to do, babe. I want to be a part of our kid’s life…and yours, too.”

He sounded so sure of it too. Not. He couldn’t even meet my gaze when he said the last part. This was ridiculous. “I’ve known you my entire life, Jet Hannigan. I’m pretty sure that marriage has never entered your mind once. I’m not going to lie to myself by thinking I have somehow become the exception to that.” Realization hit me in the head like a physical blow and my chin snapped up. “Ahhh, the uncles.”

There was no other way to explain it. Uncle Jack, Uncle Chaz, Uncle George, Uncle Ox, even Razor. They had always been my honorary uncles. They were old, yeah, but still scary as hell to the younger generation. I was one of the few outside of the Club who called them Uncle. They loved me just as much as they did Raven.

They must have found out I was pregnant and were forcing Jet to marry me. Those men wouldn’t be happy with Jet just making me his ol’ lady. They would want him to wife me. The look on Jet’s face right then told me all I needed to know. The laugh that bubbled up right then held very little humor and was full of all the hurt I wanted to hide from him—and myself.

“Figures,” I muttered to myself and shook my head at the man standing before me. “Let’s get this straight right now, Jet. Any chance that I wanted to marry you flew out the window about six weeks ago. Right now, I can’t even look at you. I don’t know how you’re still the MC’s president.” Pissed off to my very soul, I got into the Jeep and slammed the door. Starting the engine, I rolled down the window to glare at him. “I think you’ve left your balls in Bubbles’ mouth, babe. Might want to go find them.”

~*~

I was still mad when I pulled into my driveway. Mad didn’t begin to express what I was feeling right at that moment. I was so pissed off I was shaking, but I was hurt to my core too. Jet had finally cracked something deep inside of me and I knew if I didn’t stop it soon I’d end up in a broken pile after all.

Blinking back tears, I grabbed my backpack from the passenger seat and headed inside.

The first thing that should have alerted me that something was off was that Toby wasn’t barking. He wasn’t waiting for me at the door to jump up on me and give me slobbery kisses. The huge dog had been a gift from Jet the year before and it had been soon after that when our affair had started. But I was so distracted from the pain in my heart and the jumbled, angry mess that was my head that I didn’t notice.

Tossing my bag toward the couch in the living room, I brushed the rest of my tears away and turned for the kitchen. I wanted a shot of something strong that would numb me up really good, but I couldn’t because of the baby. I pulled a bottle of water from the fridge instead of the bottle of tequila that my mom kept in the freezer. Taking my water, I went down the hall to my room.

As soon as I opened the door, I realized that I should have been paying better attention. My heart stopped as I saw Toby lying on my bed, with duct tape keeping his mouth shut and his legs tied together. He let out a soft whimper that stabbed at my heart it sounded so pitiful. With his next breath, he released a vicious growl, alerting me to the fact that we weren’t alone in the room.

A cold laugh that sent chills down my spine came from the direction of my window and it felt like I was moving in slow motion as I turned my head and met the evil gaze of Westcliffe.

“Hello, sweet Felicity.”

Chapter One

Felicity

Two Years Later

I
GASPED AS
I
OPENED
my eyes and quickly glanced around at my surroundings. My hands, like they always tended to do when I first awoke each morning, went straight to my stomach. Feeling how flat it was only caused my heart to ache as well as pound against my ribs. Fighting back tears, I pushed my tangled hair out of my face and tossed my legs over the side of the bed.

Head in my hands, I took several deep breaths to calm my racing heart as I pushed back the dreams I’d had yet again. They were the same every night. The same beginning. The same tragic ending. Some nights I wasn’t even sure if it was a dream, or if I was just lying in bed with my eyes closed, remembering. The dream was so close to the reality of my past that I couldn’t be sure sometimes. As drained as I felt most of the time, maybe I hadn’t been sleeping after all.

“Felicity?”

I lifted my head and found Nik Armstrong standing in the narrow doorway of the sleeping area. After spotting him there, I turned my gaze to the two other beds across from my own. Mia wasn’t in her bed and I had an instant shot of fear before I heard her sweet little voice from the front of the bus along with her baby brother’s gurgles of laughter.