Torn (21 page)

We stared at my daughter doing somersaults in
my stomach before she settled down on a nerve, thank you very
much.

“Enough about me, what’s up with you? I
haven’t seen Bobby lately.”

“Not a whole lot, just workin’. Bobby’s up in
Columbia at the academy. He got asked to help teach a tactical
class for new recruits.”

“Oh, I bet he is loving that. So, while I was
in the hospital, Bobby happened to mention you went out on a
date.”

“Yeah, so? I go on dates all the time. It
wasn’t anything to write home about. She was nice, but a little too
ditzy for my taste. I want to be able to have a conversation that
doesn’t have to do with Kim Kardashian or shoes.” He reached over
and put his hand on my stomach as the baby began to practice her
soccer kicks.

“What if I set you—”

Drew cut me off. “Not a chance.”

“Okay, next subject. Are you hungry? I’m
hungry.” I stood and walked to the kitchen and rummaged through the
fridge then the cabinets. “Ugh, I don’t know what I want to eat.
What could they possibly be talking about this long?” I looked out
back and saw Brody on the phone flailing his arms.
That can’t be good.

Jaxon walked back inside. “Hey, Drew, what’s
up, man?” He shook hands with my brother then turned to me. “What
do you wanna do for dinner, Lei?”

“Uhh, you want to tell me what’s going on
with you and Brody?”

“Later. Why don’t we order Chinese?” Jaxon
pulled me into a hug and gave me a quick little peck before he let
me go and whistled for Ruger. “You find the menu and I will take
him out real fast.”

Turning to Drew who was now seated at the
island, I asked, “You wanna stay and have dinner with us?”

“Sure, I’m down for some Kung Pao
chicken.”

Thinking about asking if Brody would be
joining us, I looked out back. Only I didn’t see Brody anymore. It
was just Jaxon and Ruger playing with his tennis ball.

Later that night, after Jaxon and Drew
finished off an eighteen-pack of Bud Light, I put Drew to bed in
the guest room and dragged—as best I could—Jaxon up to the bedroom.
Now that he was chattier, I decided to ask him about the
conversation with Brody.

“So what were you and Brody all secretive
about earlier?” Sitting on the bed, I swallowed my prenatal vitamin
with a sip of water. I tried to play it off like I really didn’t
care if he told me or not.

“Just more shit about Drill. Even dead that
motherfucker is still wreaking havoc.” Jax fell into the bed in
only his black boxer briefs. I traced the outline of the tribal
tattoo on his shoulder. “Now Mark’s havin’ to deal with these
fuckin’ people Drill owed money to. He’s like the gift that won’t
stop givin’.”

“What do you mean Mark has to deal with
them?”

“Drill’s debts are supposed to be squared up
by his club,” he mumbled into the down pillow. “Babe, can we just
go to sleep and not talk about this shit? I’ve gotta long day
tomorrow and right now I just want to fall asleep holdin’ you.”

Leaning over, I kissed him, intending on
going to sleep in his arms like he wanted. But that simple
goodnight kiss turned into twenty minutes of foreplay followed by a
triad of orgasms and forty minutes of amazing sex. I couldn’t help
but think, some guys couldn’t perform after they’d had too much to
drink? Not my Jax.

I fell asleep cocooned in his strong embrace
and slept through the night—no nightmares.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Jaxon

Last night I watched her sleep peacefully
for the first time in weeks. I wish I could have gotten a few more
hours than I had but I couldn’t shake the feeling that today was
not going to be a good day.

Leila was out of the house with Barb and
Ruger walking along the Battery. As she left, she told me she was
walking until the baby fell out of her. Tomorrow marked week
thirty-nine and she was miserable. Thankfully, the weather was
beautiful today. A nice breeze off the bay made it a perfect day
for playing with Ruger at the park.

Picking up my burner cell, I made a call to
Tommy. “Hey, man, everything in place for tonight?”

“We got a green light. Gorden will have eyes
on all the locations and we’ll have a bird in the sky. We won’t
move in until you give the go-ahead unless something happens. I’m
not chancing you getting’ shot again.” He coughed deeply.

“Man, you gotta quit smokin’, that shit’s
gonna kill you.” I walked from the kitchen to the front door,
keeping an eye out for the girls. “So the plan is still to grab the
buyers and all of the brothers who show up with them. The others
will think they got stood up and I’ll call them and have them all
meet at the clubhouse. From there Mark and I will fill them
in.”

“Jax, I think you’re gettin’ way too close to
this Mark guy,” Tommy warned.

“I know what I’m doin’. Just make sure y’all
are in place by nineteen hundred. The plan is still to take the
buyers down and for me to get out of the club. With Lei having the
baby soon it’s the perfect cover. Once I’m out then y’all can take
them out. But, and this is a big but, if the Mexicans are still in
play, you’re gonna have problems. They have more people on the
payroll than Gotti did.”

“You let me worry about that. Have you told
her yet?”

“No, I just have to get through tonight, then
I will tell her.” Climbing the stairs to the second floor, I stood
in the doorway to the nursery.

“You know what you’re gonna do after you walk
away from all this fun?” He laughed.

“Honestly, T, I’m thinkin’ about taking some
time off and just stayin’ home with the baby.” I sat down in the
rocking chair.

He burst out laughing. “You? Mister Mom? I
gotta see that, man.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yuk it up,” I said,
rolling my eyes.

“All right, I gotta run.” His laughter slowly
subsided. “See you tonight. Watch your ass, man.”

“Isn’t that your job?”

“See ya, smart-ass.”

Hanging up the phone, I looked around the
room. I could do this. I could stay home and take care of the baby.
How hard could it be? Picking up one of the little shirt thingies,
I held it up. How much trouble could something that small be?

I made the decision, right then and there, I
was going to be a stay-at-home dad. I had enough money saved up to
take a year or so off. And if I knew Lei as well as I think I did,
she’d be back to work after a few months off.

The girls came through the front door about
four o’clock with one very worn-out Shepherd. Poor guy’s tongue was
damn near dragging the ground. He made it to about the couch before
he dropped to the cool hardwood with a loud groan and thud.

“Looks like someone might be a little tired.”
Walking down the hall from the kitchen, I stopped in front of Lei
and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in for a quick kiss.
“Did you have a nice time?”

“We did.” She smiled, then leaned in and
whispered, “I’m gonna go take a shower, if you wanna join me.”

Fuck me running, did I want to join her? Is
the Pope Catholic?

“Barb, thanks for walkin’ with my girl. See
ya later,” I called out as I followed Leila up the staircase.

“Jesus, you two are like rabbits,” she yelled
up the stairs after us. “I’ll just lock up behind myself. Bye.”

As I caught up to Lei she hollered back down
the steps, “Bye Felicia.”

“Oh, I
know
you
didn’t just
Bye Felicia
me.”

“Sure did,” she said, still climbing the
stairs.

“You wait ’til you’re not pregnant. I got
your
Bye Felicia
right here,” Barb yelled
back, trying not to laugh.

“You two aren’t right,” I sighed, shaking my
head. I took the stairs two at a time to get to Leila. Before I
caught up her black t-shirt hit me in the face.

Oh hell yeah, it’s
on.

“You’re not makin’ that shower, princess.” I
grabbed her waist from behind and pulled her ass to me. Rolling my
hips, I ground my now-hard cock into her perfect, juicy ass.

“Oh, I’m not? You got a better idea?” Her
voice dripped with honey.

I walked her over to the foot of the bed and
bent her over. “Oh babe, I’m full of ideas. All involve my cock
buried in this sweet pussy.” Kissing her neck as I pulled her
shorts down her toned legs, I stopped at what I saw. “God damn,
babe, no panties? You planned this, didn’t you?”

“Might have.” She looked back over her right
shoulder, smirking.

Sliding my basketball shorts down my legs, I
grabbed my dick and ran it through her sweet pussy, coating myself
in her juices. When I got to her clit, I smacked the head of my
cock over the swollen nub garnering a soft moan from her.

Teasing her was almost my undoing. Fucking
her pussy lips, my tip slipped back and forth over her clit. I
fought back my own release with every buck of her hips and every
moan from her mouth. Just as I felt her muscles tighten, I slammed
into her tight wetness, propelling her headlong into an orgasm that
gripped me like no other before. She was so tight, I could barely
move.

“Oh God, don’t move,” she moaned as she
reached back and massaged her clit, stretching her release out. Her
muscles contracted and spasmed, making it damn near impossible not
to explode inside of her. The walls kneaded and worked my cock,
draining all my self-control.

“Fuck, babe, I gotta… You are so damn tight.
I can’t—” I tried explaining but finally gave up and started
driving into her. I might have set out to have sex, but with an
orgasm like that, it quickly changed. I was relentless as I pounded
into her tight cunt. Reaching forward, I grabbed her ponytail and
wrapped it in my hand for leverage.

“Oh God, Jax, don’t stop. Oh yeah, baby. Fuck
me,” she screamed. Releasing her hair, I pulled out, stood her up,
and moved her to the side of the bed. This time I laid her down on
her back, gripped her ankles, and threw them over my shoulders. I
lined my hard cock up with her pussy, sunk balls deep as she
screamed out my name and begged me to fuck her. And I did, hard and
fast. With a deep growl and curse I exploded inside her.

“I love you,” she said, looking up at me
while I was still buried in her. When I looked into her eyes, I
could see all of her emotions, she didn’t need to say it, but she
always did.

“I love you too, babe.” Feeling like an ass
for keeping her in the dark, I had to break the connection and get
away. If she looked at me like that much longer I would probably
crumble. “Hey I got some club shit to handle tonight, so I won’t be
home for dinner,” I told her as I walked to our bathroom.

“Okay,” was all she said.

I stood there looking at the floor. I could
still see that fucker’s blood even though it had been gone for
weeks. Walking over to my sink, I grabbed a washcloth from the
cabinet and wet it, cleaned myself up and then went back out to
Leila.

“I feel like there is something goin’ on that
you’re not tellin’ me about, Jax,” she squeaked out, still in the
same spot on the bed.

“Just club stuff, babe, no need to worry,” I
lied straight to her face and felt my soul blacken a little in
doing so. “Here, let me clean you up.”

After taking a shower, we went downstairs and
watched a movie until about six. Kissing her goodbye, I left her
sitting with her feet up and Ruger next to her on the couch. I
thought about yelling at him but I could tell she was worried
despite my reassurances. Opening the closet door, I retrieved my
gun and an extra magazine. She was used to seeing me leave with it
and no longer questioned it. “You need anything before I go,
babe?”

“I’m good. I’ll see you tonight. Love
you.”

“I love you too, Lei.”

Leaving through the back door, I climbed on
my bike and headed off to meet Mark at the clubhouse.

*****

Two hours later we had confirmed with all
six guys that they were in the designated locations for the
supposed ambush. If this went according to plan, Gorden, Tommy,
Drew, Jasper, and several teams of agents and police would have
each location under video and audio surveillance.

Mark and I had specifically picked the
alternative locations far away from the container yard by the old
navy base where Mark was supposed to meet the bastards at nine p.m.
This way, whoever got caught conspiring against the club couldn’t
talk their way out of it.

Nervous energy buzzed around me as I tried to
mentally prepare myself for who had betrayed the club. My money was
on Axel. He had always been a bit of a loner, even within the club.
I hoped my suspicions were right because if it were one of the
other five, I might very well beat them to death before Tommy’s
guys could arrest them.

At eight-fifteen, Mark and I pulled up to the
training tower near the navy yard. I gave him some story about
calling in a few favors to get us access to the ninety-foot
concrete building. When he pressed the point, I told him I had some
SEAL buddies stationed here as instructors.

We climbed to the top of the building, him
with binoculars and me with my Remington long rifle and scope. From
here, I could see all of the rendezvous points. The only thing left
to do was wait.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Leila

Jaxon had not been gone twenty minutes
before Luke Bryan’s “I See You” started playing from my phone.
“Hey, Brody.”

“Hey, Lei, you home?”

“I am, what’s up?”

“I was just leaving work and thought I’d stop
by for a few minutes so we could talk. If that’s okay.” Something
in his tone caused all of the hairs on my neck to stand up.

“Sure, but Jax isn’t home right now. Is it
about the baby?”

“I’ll be there in ten. See you.” He hung up
before I could get another word in.