Page 34

Sinclair

“T hanks for coming over,” I told Sarah.

“I want to make a life here and I don’t really have any friends.

” I didn’t tell her that I’d called her because I didn’t want to bother Dagger’s club brothers’ old ladies on the weekend.

Besides, I did like Sarah, so it was good that we had this chance to connect.

“Wine is a good place to start.” She held up her glass and looked around, probably for my own glass. “Am I drinking alone? I mean that’s okay if I am, but I’m curious.”

“I have lemonade in the kitchen. Let’s go.”

After I called and invited her over, I put together a fancy board with cheese, olives, cured meats, and fruit, and I found a bottle of sparkling white wine in Dagger’s refrigerator.

He didn’t seem like the wine type, and I wondered when he’d gotten it—then I remembered him asking me what I liked to drink a while ago.

Not that I’d be drinking anytime soon. At least not for the next eight or so months.

If my bout of morning sickness hadn’t reminded me, now my pregnancy was front and center in my mind. I had to figure out how to tell Dagger.

“Wow, this is great, Sinclair.” Sarah took a seat at the kitchen table. “I wasn’t sure if you were shy or stuck up.”

I laughed. “I guess I always had a lot of responsibilities growing up. I was never good at the whole making friends thing.” It was still embarrassing to admit, but not as much as it used to be.

Sarah was quiet for a long time before she took a thoughtful sip of wine. “It’s cool, I get it. I think we’ll be good friends.”

My entire body relaxed at those words. “Yeah, me too.”

“Good. Want to tell me why you’re not drinking?” she asked with a grin.

I reached for my lemonade and took a long, careful sip. I could really do with some friendly advice. “I’m pregnant,” I blurted out before I realized what my mouth was doing.

“Whoa, okay. Sexy biker?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but it’s a mess. Totally unplanned.

” And then, in between sips of lemonade, I told her everything from the very beginning, that first meeting and every amazing orgasmic second to where I was now.

Scared to tell him in case it messed everything up.

“So, yeah, pregnant. Wishing you had something better to do today?”

“Not at all.” She grinned. “I mean, this is a lot for you, but this is the kind of real life drama my own life is sadly lacking.”

“I’m happy to switch, if you’re really into it.”

“I got a glimpse of the sexy biker, so I might take you up on it,” she joked, and refilled her glass. “But you look sad, are you worried he won’t take the news well?”

I sighed. “That’s part of it, but there’s something else.”

“Don’t tell me, he might not be the father?”

“God no!” I exclaimed. “Dagger is the father, there’s been no one else. But…” I paused. Not sure whether to burden my new friend with even more drama.

However, before I had a chance to open my mouth there was the sound of frenzied knocking on the front door, making us both jump in surprise.

“Maybe your sexy biker is missing you already,” Sarah said with a smile.

“He wouldn’t be knocking at his own door.”

I smoothed down my t-shirt as I made my way to the front door, opening it without thinking. The moment I did I instantly regretted it.

“Nicholas,” I stammered out as fear gripped every inch of my body until I trembled.

The man, my brother, stood towering over me. His eyes held a level of hate I’d never witnessed before, and it was all focused on me. “So, you finally figured it out. Good.” He stepped forward, forcing me back to avoid being run over.

“I had no idea.” The words stammered out of me. My hands went cold first, and then the rest of me. “Why are you here? Why now?”

“Because, dear sister, it is time for you to pay for all the things you did wrong.”

“What did I do wrong? I literally just found out about you yesterday. My father never told me.”

“Of course he wouldn’t.” He tossed his head back and threw out a bitter laugh. “He never would’ve tainted his sweet little princess with stories of his bastard son.”

“Okay, Sinclair, I know you have a lot going on and all but…” Sarah’s words trailed off as she took in the scene, the tall angry man towering over me. Intimidating me. “What’s going on?”

Nicholas took a step back and watched Sarah and then me, and then Sarah again. “Get back into the kitchen, bitch. Now!” He was suddenly vibrating with anger as he followed Sarah. “Rope,” he mumbled to himself. “I need rope.”

I glanced at the closed door beside me, wondering how far I’d get if I made a run for it.

You can’t leave Sarah.

No, I couldn’t, but I could find something to defend us, something that might scare him off. My gaze swept across Dagger’s living room. All I found were lamps and throw pillows and one of Dani’s stuffed animals, but nothing that would take down the mountain man I shared a father with.

“Don’t even fucking think about it,” he snarled as he walked to the front door, leaned out, and returned with a black leather bag.

My heart stopped at the sight of it. He was prepared, which meant bad things for me. “Look, Nicholas, why don’t we sit down and talk about this.”

“Shut the fuck up!” He rushed back to the kitchen, and this time I followed, watching in horror as he pulled out plastic zip-ties and wrapped them around Sarah’s wrists.

“Stop! What the hell are you doing?” I grabbed his arm and tugged as hard as I could.

He shrugged me off, but I was determined to save Sarah, even if I couldn’t save myself. “Don’t be brave, Sinclair.” He shoved me back so hard my head slammed against the wall and my legs shook.

Everything around me went fuzzy, but I was still conscious, and I knew I had to stay that way to save myself and my friend.

“Look, dude, I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, but this is crazy,” Sarah said.

“I’m not here for you, but I will kill you if I have to. Got it?”

She nodded.

He was stomping around the kitchen pulling open cupboards and doors.

“Good. Now get inside.” He shoved her into the small pantry that held shopping bags, a broom, and a mop and bucket. He then shoved a chair under the knob and sighed before slowly turning to me. “Finally.”

I realized I’d waited too long.

He wasn’t going to hurt Sarah, and now my chance to flee was gone. But I got to my feet and tried to run anyway.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he said in an almost amused voice. “You don’t want quality time with your big brother?” He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to my feet. “We’ve got so much to catch up on.”

“Doesn’t seem like you want to catch up,” I said as he shoved me onto the sofa.

“This is all your fucking fault!” Every syllable screamed out of every inch of his body.

He radiated pure anger, so much that he couldn’t stand still and started pacing the length of my living room, with only the coffee table between us.

“Mom, my mom, died in poverty. She didn’t have one fucking thing to her name when she died. Because of you!”

Okay, so he was crazy. Obviously, he was crazy since he’d been stalking me for who knew how long. “I’m sorry for your loss.” No need to poke the bear, especially when I knew how terrible that loss was.

“No, don’t act like you fucking know my life! She was my whole damn world and now she’s gone. For thirty-three years it was just me and her, and now she’s gone.”

Another sliver of fear shot through me. His loss was recent. I felt bad for him, I really did, but my life and my baby’s life also mattered. “You got more than thirty years with your mother. I didn’t even get a decade.”

He stopped pacing and glared at me. “You got him! You got everything. The house. Our dad. A perfect little life, and what did I get? Not a fucking thing!”

I laughed. At first it was just a nervous tick, laughing because I wanted to scream, to cry, to run, to do anything to save myself.

And then that laughter turned from nervous to angry.

“Oh, I got everything? Let me tell you what you missed out on, Nick. Can I call you Nick?” I didn’t wait for him to answer.

“My mom died when I was a little girl, and my father might as well have gone into the casket with her because he was gone in all the ways that mattered. He fell apart and couldn’t survive without her.

Drinking and gambling and owing money to every bad guy in town.

He was there, sure, but I was the one who paid the bills, cooked the food, and kept social services from taking me away. ”

“Liar,” he spat, and shook his head, as if that could ward off my words.

“I wish it was a lie. I wish I had the perfect fucking life you imagined in your twisted mind, with my dad and me going to baseball games and watching sitcoms on TV. But that wasn’t my life, and now some psychopath is here to seek revenge because he’s jealous of my shitty childhood!

” I was breathing hard, my pulse pounded, and fear caused a hot, sizzling sensation just beneath the surface of my skin.

“You’re lying!”

He started pacing again and then stopped. He started again and stopped. Again. “This is all your fault. He never came back. Because of you.”

Maybe that was true, I had no idea, but I knew my dad. “If he had come back, it would’ve been because you had something valuable that he could use. Be grateful.”

“Lies!” In that moment he looked like a little boy throwing a tantrum because he couldn’t stand to hear the truth, and that was when real fear snaked through me. He refused to hear reason, and he was so much bigger and stronger than me.

I couldn’t talk him off the ledge.

I couldn’t beat him in a fight.

I was screwed.

“He would have come back for me, for us, if it wasn’t for you. You took the life I should have had and I’m here to take it back.” His eyes were wide, crazed.

Oh shit.

I was truly worried now. He wasn’t here to tell me how I ruined his life, he was here to take my life because he thought I got the better end of the deal. “You’re not thinking clearly, Nicholas.”

“Don’t fucking say my name! Just…don’t.” He tugged at his hair.

If I could make my way back to the door, I’d be halfway to free. Maybe one of Dagger’s neighbors would see me and call the police. Maybe I’d make it to a busy intersection before he got me, and hopefully, some upstanding citizen would help.

I needed help, but there was no one who could help me.

Dagger was at the clubhouse with Dani and not due back for hours.

I had to save myself. “Fuck it.” I got to my feet and ran to the door as fast as I could.

My hand gripped the doorknob and twisted just as a large hand grasped a chunk of my hair and slammed my face into the door.

Pain radiated through my head and down my neck and back, so bad it made my legs weak. And then everything went black.