Page 22 of Blackbeard (Blackjacks MC #2)

“You’re already married to me, pendejo. And we have two teenage boys together. Do you really think you can handle another wife when you’re already scared of the one you have?”

“I’m not scared of you,” he protested.

“Says the man who was so green at the altar that you nearly puked,” his wife replied.

“I was nervous!”

“That’s the excuse you gave on our wedding night, too,” she countered.

I choked with laughter as Manuel withered on the spot.

“There is no mercy in this family,” he mumbled.

Then I met Blackbeard’s mother, a petite woman with a graceful poise about her presence that I envied. She cupped my face in her hands with a faint hum.

“I can see why my son loves you,” she said.

That nearly took me out at the knees. My breath caught in my throat and something in my chest ached with a hollowness I couldn’t name.

Before I had a chance to recover, Blackbeard’s father kissed both of my cheeks and held me at arm’s length, looking me up and down.

“No wonder he waited so long to find a wife. He was looking for a diamond in the rough, and he found her. Don’t ever let him forget to cherish you every day of his life, mija.”

My smile slipped, just a little. A greasy, oily feeling slithered through my belly. I mumbled an excuse and fled to the privacy of the bathroom.

It’s supposed to happen like this, I told myself, staring at my reflection. I had to win Blackbeard’s heart if I intended to drive a wedge between him and his club.

But swindling his entire family—his parents, his siblings, his nieces and nephews—was harder than I thought it would be. They were such kind, generous, and warm people.

This should have been a prime opportunity for gathering information to use against Blackbeard later.

Instead, I was suddenly growing a damn conscience at the worst possible time.

A burst of laughter echoed through the house, followed by a cheer. I couldn’t stay in here forever. It was only a matter of time before someone came looking for me, wondering where I’d disappeared to.

I allotted five minutes to refresh my makeup and gather my wits, rebuilding that barrier between the real Leigh and the part I had to play. Then I squared my shoulders, donned a bright smile, and returned to the party.

As I moved down the hallway to the living room, I found row after row of pictures on the walls, spanning several decades of Blackbeard’s family.

His parents at their wedding as a young couple.

Blackbeard as a boy—maybe twelve or thirteen years old—with his arms slung around the shoulders of Juan and Manuel. Even then, he was protective, but the world hadn’t toughened him up yet, hadn’t sharpened his edges. His brown skin was smooth and untouched by tattoos.

I continued wandering down the corridor, following year after year of memories.

Blackbeard at his high school graduation, clad in cap and gown, beaming at the camera, with Sofia, Ana, and Esperanza hugging him.

Esperanza at prom, with Blackbeard dressed in a tux, looking stiff and uncomfortable. Enduring for the sake of his sister anyway, who grinned from ear to ear in a sky blue gown.

Blackbeard with a baby Claudia, fast asleep on his chest.

“He won’t admit it, but he’s the backbone of this family.”

I turned toward the voice to see Abuela, smiling at me. She gestured to the pictures.

“We would be lost without him.”

A lump lodged in my throat. I didn’t—couldn’t—say anything, so I kept scanning the pictures.

I stopped at a picture of Blackbeard in his twenties, seated next to a stunning woman who rested her cheek on his shoulder. The way he gazed down at her…

A pit formed in my gut.

That was love. Real, genuine, raw. The adoration was so plain, so clear, so bright on his face that it felt like staring into the sun.

“Courtney,” Abuela said. “Diego’s girlfriend when he was attending medical school.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the picture. I knew with gut-wrenching certainty that no one looked at me the way Diego looked at Courtney. I had sex, I flirted, but…no, I’d never been loved. Not like that.

“What happened?” I asked and my voice came out dry with a hoarse croak. I knew already. Sort of. Digging up Blackbeard's past revealed his relationship history, but I wanted details. “They seem…very happy in the picture but they’re not together anymore. Obviously.”

Abuela sighed and shook her head.

“Diego wanted to become a doctor to help people who didn’t have access to proper medical care.

Like the people in his Mexican hometown.

Or his Native American cousins who were turned away by the rich, white doctors.

Courtney didn’t care about any of that. She wanted to marry a doctor for his money. ”

My heart sank. Poor Blackbeard.

Abuela continued.

“Some of his professors in medical school didn’t like having a Hispanic boy in their classes.

When they found out he had Apache blood in his veins, too, well…

it made his life even harder. They realized he was a smart boy, a hard worker, and he wouldn’t flunk out on his own.

So they gave him failing grades anyway, even though he passed his other classes with straight A’s. ”

My jaw clenched as anger boiled in my gut for his sake.

“So he dropped out,” Abuela went on. “He tried to start a clinic of his own, but funding fell through. The money dried up. Courtney dumped him. In six months, she married one of his classmates who became a well-known plastic surgeon.”

I blew out a breath at the injustice of it all. Blackbeard didn’t deserve that kind of treatment—from the medical school, or from a woman he had clearly loved.

Abuela sighed.

“As soon as Courtney broke up with him, Diego joined the Chupacabras MC, down in Mexico. And I knew the whole thing had changed him. Broken his heart and turned him into a completely different man.”

She smiled and touched my cheek gently.

“But you don’t have to worry about any of that now. It’s ancient history. Diego is head over heels in love with you. Everyone can see it.”

God, was that true? Fuck, I felt like scum of the earth now. Knowing that I had to betray Blackbeard one day, after he’d already had his heart broken once before…was I prepared to destroy him for a second time?

"When did Diego end up here, to Montana?" I asked. "It seems like a long way from Mexico."

Abuela shrugged.

"Our family has always stretched across many miles.

Sofia got married, moved to Billings with her husband for a new job.

When she became pregnant, Diego paid her a visit to help out.

But he never left. Over the years, the rest of us started drifting up here too and settled with him.

He still has a few cousins in Mexico that he sees from time to time. "

What would it be like to have a family that would follow you to the ends of the earth? I wondered.

“Where’s my wife?” Blackbeard called.

“Looking at pictures,” Abuela called back. “Listening to an old woman yap about her grandson.”

A moment later, Blackbeard turned the corner and came into view. My throat tightened. I couldn’t afford to develop feelings for him. I couldn’t think of him as anything more than the target that I had tricked into signing on the dotted line.

Diego is head over heels in love with you. Everyone can see it.

Then he smiled.

And my stomach plummeted to my toes.

I didn’t want to do this anymore. I didn’t want to be the woman who would decimate Blackbeard after prying open the steel walls around his heart.

He came to stand behind me, sliding his arms around my waist. When he pulled me back against his chest, it was so easy to lean into him. To savor the warmth and strength of his chest against my back.

After everything Blackbeard had been through, he remained a pillar of strength that his family and his club could depend on.

They put their faith and trust in him without wavering, without doubt, because he would always be there for him.

Even when his heart was breaking. Even when the woman he loved had left him to marry someone else.

A knowing look gleamed in Abuela’s eyes.

“I’d better get back to the kitchen. Dinner is almost ready and my son-in-law has a habit of eating all the tamales I make before anyone else gets a taste, so I’d better keep an eye on him and beat him back with my spatula again.”

Abuela was barely out of sight when Blackbeard took my hand and led me down the hall, onto a secluded balcony. The late May air was pleasantly warm and the sunlight was fading, luminous and golden.

Blackbeard pinned me between the railing and his body, plucking at the bow on my shoulder until the strap fell away.

“What are you doing?” I hissed, glancing past him. “There are at least fifty people in this house. Privacy does not exist—”

I broke off with a gasp as Blackbeard slipped his hand under my dress, grazing his knuckles up my inner thigh. He thumbed at my clit over the fabric of my thong.

He hummed with triumph and, using his teeth, untied the bow on my other shoulder with a tug. Now, I was strapless, and if I didn’t clutch the front of my dress to my chest, it would have tumbled down to my waist, exposing my breasts.

That’s why I picked this dress in the first place.

But I needed more time to recover after my conversation with Abuela.

It was hard to think of Blackbeard as my enemy now that I’d seen the pictures and heard the stories about his childhood, his heartbreak, his shattered dreams, and the biker life that had claimed him instead of the doctor he had hoped to be.

I did my research beforehand. I knew what I was getting into.

Blackbeard grasped my wrists lightly and moved my hands away, letting the dress fall. He cupped my breasts in his callused palms, circling his thumbs over my nipples and giving them a pinch with a zing of sweet pain.

I bit my lip as a hot jolt of need bloomed between my thighs.

Not fair, not fair, not fair.

“Your timing is terrible,” I hissed, arching into his touch. “We’ve been sleeping together in the same bed for almost a week and you never touched me once. But now you’re in the mood.”

He chuckled, pressing his lips to the curve of my neck.

I’d been waiting for this. His defenses were down. Spending time around his family had encouraged him to set aside the armor of responsibility he wore around his club. Here on this balcony, he wasn’t the Vice President of the Blackjacks.

He was simply a husband in love with his wife.

Then Blackbeard dropped to his knees and I lost all hope of regaining the distance I needed.

He gazed up at me with his gloriously dark eyes and skimmed his hands up my thighs. Underneath the hem of my dress. Curled his fingers into my thong and tugged it down my legs.

Just as he flipped the skirt up and dragged his tongue along my pussy in a deliriously hot stripe, children’s voices echoed from the house.

“Tío Diego! Donde estas? Come play with us!”

I swore under my breath and grabbed my dress, fumbling at the straps to tie it in place again.

Blackbeard growled with frustration and rose to his feet, smoothing my skirt down. I didn’t miss the way he bundled my panties and tucked them into his pocket. Cupping my hips, he leaned in, pressing a long, deep kiss to my mouth.

“We’ll finish this conversation when we get home, princess,” he rasped.

Then he was gone, and I swayed into the empty space where he had been a moment ago. My body throbbed with arousal.

Damn it.

I was slipping.