Page 117 of Protected by the Biker (Grim Reaper MC)
When I left Tony, he was just getting started with Dragon Knights and even though we didn’t keep in touch anymore, I had a pretty good idea that he was heavily involved with them now. That was exactly the kind of lifestyle that I wanted to keep my son away from. I thought I had learned my lesson, but clearly, I hadn’t. Something was wrong with me! Which made me keep falling for men like Hunter and Tony.
Then I was thinking about him again and the night we had shared together.
Until I saw that patch on his jacket, I was happy. I thought it had been the perfect evening. For the first time since Carter was born, I had done something completely for myself and I didn’t feel guilty about it. And now I regretted every second of it. Especially since I knew that over the course of the night, I had started to fall for this mystery man. The man who I knew nothing about. But who had turned out to be exactly like my ex.
“Mommy! Look!” Carter called out to me and I clapped my hands at his cute little sand castle. He was excited, running around the castle with his small precious feet and I felt a tug in my heart.
I had come so close to putting him in danger. I was glad that I hadn’t brought Hunter back to my place. That I hadn’t told him any more about our lives. But those blue eyes! That chiseled strong jaw! His tongue between my legs! That laugh and that voice…why had I felt safe around him? How could I have been that foolish?
I wanted to cry out, tug at my hair…I was mad at myself, disappointed and at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking about how Hunter had made me feel. I tried reminding myself of how Tony had made me feel in those initial months of our relationship too. Hadn’t I felt the same back then? Didn’t I think I found the perfect man in Tony too?
I cursed slightly under my breath when I realized that I hadn’t. Tony had never made me feel as special or as safe as Hunter had. Tony had just made me feel used. He had psychologically manipulated me into making me think that I needed him. He had made me feel like I was nothing without him. While Hunter…I felt like I was getting addicted to him.
My phone buzzing in the pocket of my jeans snapped me out of my thoughts and for a moment, even before I had pulled it out, I thought it was Hunter calling. My heart leapt, my hands shook as I slipped my phone out. What was I going to say to him? I shouldn’t even be answering his call. I had snuck out of his apartment to get away from him. I needed to avoid him at all costs.
It wasn’t Hunter calling. It was Tony.
I stared and blinked at my phone screen, watching Tony’s name flashing. When he hadn’t followed us out of the parking lot that day at the daycare, I had assumed he would leave us alone. At least for a little while. But it was six in the morning and he was calling my phone.
I ignored the call, slipping my phone back in my pocket and I stood up from the sand and walked towards Carter. I wanted to feel him in my arms again.
“Come here to mommy,” I said to him when I got close and Carter ran into my arms. I wondered if he could sense that there was something not quite right, because he was hugging me even tighter than usual.
Then he turned his dark sparkling eyes up at me and smiled a toothy grin.
“Thank you mommy! This is best!” he said and I lifted him up in my arms and kissed his cheeks.
“Did you have fun baby?” I asked, trying to hold back my tears. I was emotional because I was mad at myself. Carter nodded his head enthusiastically.
“But now mommy has to go to work and you need to go spend the day with Mrs. Meyers okay?” I said, walking back towards our parked car. Carter pouted and then threw his arms around my neck and I stroked his hair.
There was nothing more I wanted than to spend the rest of the day with my son, but I couldn’t miss work. I was responsible for his livelihood.
CHAPTER 12
Hunter
The Fallen Idols up in Northern California had been our allies for several years now and Axel trusted them to ship the weapons over to us without trouble. The first shipment had arrived safely and this one seemed to be going according to plan as well.
Gunner, Tank, Glock and I arrived at our warehouse in Long Beach a few hours ago, waiting for the shipment to come in. It was nearly six in the morning now and we could finally see it coming in.
“Once it arrives, Glock and Hunter stand watch while Gunner and I go through the stuff and make sure everything is in order,” Tank told us in a hushed whisper. It was still dark, the morning hadn’t quite broken yet and there was nobody around. However, we could never be too sure. It was important that we kept our cover and avoided getting caught by authorities.
The weapons were arriving in a cargo container, under the disguise of museum boxes filled with priceless art. The four of us stood watch on the dock as we watched the ship silently sailing towards us. The Fallen Idols, just like last time, had made sure that the owners of the containers were paid off to not investigate what was being carried, beyond the crates and boxes.
We were silent as we watched the ship docking, and then with the same silence, Gunner and Tank went forward to help the men unload. Glock and I walked over to the back to keep watch.
“You carrying?” Glock asked me in a whisper as we took up our positions.
“Of course, I am!” I snapped at him, my mind still troubled by thoughts of Kylie. As much as I had been trying to distract myself with work for the past few hours, I was unsuccessful.
“What’s wrong with you man? Didn’t get laid or something? You know Jessica was looking for you last night,” Glock said, with an obnoxious grin spreading over his face. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him, my fingers subconsciously searched out the gun that I had stuffed into my belt.
At this point, I couldn’t even remember what Jessica looked like. I couldn’t recall a single woman’s face. All I could think about was Kylie and how gorgeous she was, and how much I liked to watch her smiling. Was that how Gunner had felt when he first met Brooklyn? I couldn’t stop myself from wondering about that. We had been slagging Gunner for so long, for being faithful and loyal to one woman, for falling head over heels for a chick…that now I felt desperate to hide my feelings for Kylie from the boys. Besides, I didn’t even know what was going on between us. She had left without a word and I had a feeling that she didn’t want to see me again.
“Is it about pussy?” I heard Glock ask, as I scanned the area around us. We could hear the sound of cargo being unloaded behind us, but I was making sure that my gaze was always fixed on what was in front. I didn’t want to miss a sign that we were being watched or someone coming.
“You can stop shitting yourself, Glock. It’s about nothing. I’m fine,” I said in a low grumble as I paced around. Glock was keeping a watch too, but he was a little distracted. He was constantly looking over at me to figure out what was going on. Was it that obvious that I was troubled? How had he figured out it was about a girl?
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Glock said, just when we heard the crunch of a boot. Glock and I had our guns cocked and pointed in front of us. We looked at each other and nodded.
I took the first step in forward direction and walked with my gun pointed, prepared for a split-second reaction for someone making an appearance. Glock was fast on my heels, pointing his gun left and right. We walked a little ahead, peered around the empty containers and we didn’t see anything.
We stood there for a few more minutes, waiting for someone to appear but nothing happened. Other than the sound of Gunner and Tank unloading behind us, there was pin drop silence.
Glock stuffed his gun back down his belt and I lowered mine.
“Wha
t the fuck was that?” he said and I looked around me with narrowed eyes.
“I thought someone was there,” Glock added and I clenched my jaw.
“Must have been the wind or something,” I told him and we walked back to our position and waited again.
I wished I was the one sifting through the cargo instead of Gunner or Tank. At least it would have given me something concrete to do. Now that I stood there, waiting for someone to show up, my mind kept wandering to Kylie, and what had made her just up and leave like that.
If it was about the babysitter or her son, wouldn’t she have waited for me to get out of the shower? Giving her a ride on my bike would have been way quicker for her than walking or waiting for a cab. No, it had to be about me. She was trying to get away from me.
I thought I heard a cough. It could have been the wind again, but I had my gun cocked and pointed out again. Glock had heard it too.
We followed the same pattern, walking forward with our guns pointed out in silence. This time we walked further out, looking around the empty containers, pointing our guns in all directions. But there was nobody. The place was empty. Either the tension was getting to us or someone else was here in the warehouse.
After a few minutes, Glock spoke again.
“What the fuck is going on?” he grunted, gripping his gun forcefully.
“I thought I heard a cough,” I said and he nodded his head. We both had our brows crossed and our eyes alert.
“The wind?” Glock asked and I looked around us. I wasn’t convinced it was the wind this time.
“I think we’re being watched,” I said and walked around some more, my gun tracing my movements. It had to be the Dragon Knights. It had to be them watching us. They had heard about our weapon shipment and they were keeping an eye on us.
