Page 40

Jesse

Three Weeks Later

The only way I can explain my attraction to Reagan is that it’s a gravitational pull. Something stronger than all other forces inside me when she stands in a room. I have to be near her. She’s my center.

Reagan laughs, talking to Tempe and Luna, and I find myself orbiting. Drowning in the sight of her while my brothers drown themselves in shots of whiskey and tequila.

Now that the kids are about to leave with Pearl and Margaret for the night, the party is going to escalate, and all I care about is having Reagan in my arms.

I stop behind her, wrapping an arm around her. Like my own magnetic force speaks to hers, she leans into me .

“Time for your sleepover, Honey Bea.” I look down at my daughter, who is hanging at Reagan’s side.

I tug her ponytail, and she glares at me. “Daddy, you’re messing up my hair.”

“Sorry.” I squat down to hug Bea, and the second I release her, she moves to plant both her hands on Reagan’s belly.

“Night night, Daisy.” She kisses Reagan’s stomach.

We thought about waiting to tell Bea about the baby until Reagan was further along. She’s not even showing yet. But with Reagan’s morning sickness taking front and center these past few weeks, we decided she deserved to know so she wouldn’t worry. Plus, we want to make her a part of this as much as possible.

Ever since Bea found out, she’s been bursting with excitement. She’s been planning what games she’ll play with the baby when they arrive, and I don’t have the heart to tell her that they won’t be playing games for a little while. Even if I did, Bea likely wouldn’t listen. Just like she refuses to accept that we don’t know yet if she’s getting the sister she keeps asking for.

She’s already named her Daisy, and every time she says that name, part of me hopes we do get a little Daisy someday.

Reagan bends down to hug Bea goodnight. It’s quick because the second Bea gets eyes on Austin standing beside Margaret and Pearl, she runs to them, barely yelling goodbye.

With the kids gone, there’s only the club to continue the wedding celebration .

“Soul wanted me to pass along a message.” Chaos walks over, holding his phone up, with his texts open. “Tell those crazy ass motherfuckers congratulations.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I chuckle, wrapping my arms around Reagan.

Soul has been texting me all day, giving me shit. Saying that if I’m going to marry a girl I’ve known for only a few months, then I’m no longer allowed to judge anything he does from here on out.

Maybe it is a little sudden. But when I decided I wanted to build a life with this woman, I didn’t see the point in waiting for any of it.

I tighten my grip around Reagan, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

She leans back to look up at me. “Hi, husband.”

“Hi, wife.” I kiss her forehead next. “How long until we can leave?”

“It’s our party.” She giggles as I pull her tighter to my body. “And the kids just left. We haven’t even started celebrating.”

“I’d rather celebrate alone. Preferably by stripping off your clothes and worshipping you in our bed.”

“Don’t you dare try to steal our girl from us yet, Legacy.” Luna knocks me on the shoulder, handing me two shots. “She can’t drink, so you’re taking hers.”

“I’m going to be carrying him home if those are the rules.” Reagan laughs.

“Don’t worry, Ghost will drag him to your room when he can’t stand up straight. ”

Since our first kiss in my room at the clubhouse, it’s been completely redone to make it ours. Reagan gave it a makeover with pictures, decorations, and a hundred pillows. She and Luna have been having too much fun with wallpaper. So long as it makes Reagan happy and helps make it feel like it’s ours, she can do what she wants.

This way, when we actually get a night to ourselves, we have our own little escape.

“Here you go.” Luna hands a shot to Tempe next, then Steel.

“Actually.” Tempe scrunches her nose, looking at the shot.

“I’ll take that.” Steel grabs it.

“Oh my god! Really?” Reagan jumps up and down as she and Luna close in on Tempe.

Tears are already streaming down Reagan’s cheeks before I’ve even processed what’s happening. And that’s when Steel downs the first shot with a chuckle.

“Really.” Tempe smiles. “I’m almost twelve weeks.”

“We’ll be pregnant together.” Reagan smiles, pulling Tempe in for a hug.

When they pull apart, they both look at Luna, who immediately downs her shot.

“Don’t even put that on me right now. Ghost and I are perfectly happy enjoying each other first.”

“I’m sure you are.” Tempe nudges Luna. “If that party last week is any indication…”

Color creeps Luna’s cheeks, but she just shrugs. Ghost and Luna don’t mind getting it on in public places every once in a while. Which is usually when I leave because no way in hell do I need to see my brother and his old lady like that.

“When did I end up in the happy couple section of this party?” Chaos looks around.

“Maybe it’ll rub off on you,” I say.

He holds up his beer, pointing a finger at me. “Fuck you for even suggesting it.”

Everyone laughs as he walks away, finding a group of patch bunnies mulling around at the edge of the room.

Ghost comes up beside Luna, wrapping his arm around her.

“They’re trying to get you to knock me up,” Luna says to him.

“Give me the word, little owl.”

She elbows him, shooting him a playful glare. “You’re incorrigible.”

He shrugs, holding up his shot glass. “To the happy couple. And the growing family.”

Looking around, I realize he’s right. The club is growing in so many ways. We’re changing. Growing up. Creating another generation and, hopefully, going to do this better than our parents.

When everyone takes their drinks, I down my shot, feeling the burn warm my throat.

“Will you be at the gym in the morning?” Tempe asks Reagan. “I’m trying to keep moving, especially now with the baby. I’ll go stir crazy if I don’t.”

Tempe, Luna, and now Reagan have started their own little self-defense club in the gym on the compound. They spend a couple of hours a week in there, and Tempe teaches them how to defend themselves. It’s helped Reagan regain her confidence after what happened when she was taken by the Iron Sinners, and I’m thankful Tempe has been able to help her with that when I feel like there’s only so much I can do for her.

“I’ll be there,” Reagan says. “I just wish Aimee would join us. Maybe I’ll ask her again.”

Aimee and Reagan have grown closer by the week. Every day Reagan takes Bea to school, she spends some time at the safe house, bringing items to the girls or just spending time with them. I sense they share the kind of friendship that can only be born in the trauma they experienced, but it’s deeper with Aimee.

Still, Aimee refuses to come anywhere near the clubhouse after seeing Havoc. He won’t say a word about how they know each other, and when anyone pushes it, he walks away.

If I had to guess, that’s why Havoc volunteered to take the trip with Soul to Los Angeles to meet with Blaze, Sage, and the LA chapter. It’s easier to avoid what he’s not telling us about Aimee if he’s not here.

Except he’s coming back soon, and Steel has already said he needs us back to our usual posts when he returns, which puts Havoc in charge of the safe house and directly around the girl, who wants nothing to do with him.

“I’m sure she’ll come around.” Tempe reaches out her hand to Reagan.

“I hope so.”

“On that note… I’d like a moment with my wife.” The last thing I want is Reagan frowning on our wedding day .

These issues will still be here tomorrow, but this isn’t the time for them.

Reagan rolls her eyes as I start to drag her away. “Where do you think you’re taking me, Jesse King?”

“To our room.” I make the turn down the hallway that leads to the members’ bedrooms.

“The party just started.”

“Don’t care.”

And I know Reagan doesn’t care either when she follows me happily, not actually trying to get away. It might be the pregnancy, or it might be the fact that we’ve never been good about keeping our hands off each other, but she’s just as desperate as I am.

“The party will still be raging in an hour, so I doubt we’ll miss anything. I promise we’ll be back in time for them to cut the cake.”

“And until then?” She pauses as I unlock the door and swing it open.

Reaching down, I sweep her up into my arms, carrying her over the threshold.

“Until then, I’m going to strip you out of this lacy dress and worship you from head to toe. Got a problem with that?”

Her cheeks flush with color. “Absolutely not.”

I kick the door shut behind us and make good on that vow.