Page 4 of Lore (Serpents of Chaos MC #3)

LORE

I’m the last person anyone would expect to show up at the clubhouse with a woman and two small children in tow, and I don’t miss the looks on the faces of everyone we pass.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Bones sliding Skull a wad of cash.

I wonder what they bet on because it couldn’t have been this.

I have a son.

Rider is my son , and Atiana never fucking told me.

She doesn’t even have to tell me that he’s mine. I know. One look at him, and anyone would know. He looks just like me when I was a child.

Just like me.

I’m angry, I’m hurt, and I’m fucking terrified.

Atiana walked away from me, never once looking back until now.

And I set my butterfly free.

I knew I had messed up, letting her go. Losing her. But I was young and dumb back then and didn’t know a good thing when I had it.

I’ve thought about her over the years. I still have a damn photograph of her in my room. I’d never admit it to anyone, but I still look at it now and again, just to remind myself how much of a dumb fuck I am, and that I’m not a man who can ever settle down.

Because I fucked it up with the only woman for me.

But this?

A child?

I never once saw this coming.

And I never once would think that Atiana was capable of keeping something like this from me.

The Atiana I knew? She was kind, honest, and a good girl through and through.

I no longer know this woman in front of me.

We have a son together.

What am I meant to do with a baby mama and a child?

Oh, and another child that she had with a different man.

I squeeze the bridge of my nose and then turn to Atiana.

She has her little girl, who is the spitting image of her mother, in her arms, and Rider is at her side.

They are taking in every detail of the clubhouse like they’re on a group tour.

My eyes scan each room we enter, relaxing when no one is around. The last thing I need them to see is the public fucking that can happen around any corner here.

I lead them to the bar and have them sit on one of the worn leather couches.

Atiana takes a seat in between them, and my gaze lands on her legs in those tight jeans.

She always had the best legs. In fact, she doesn’t look much different than the last time I saw her, aside from the fact her tits are bigger and her hips are a little wider.

So she’s even fucking hotter than when I let her walk away from me.

I clear my throat and am about to start talking when Ora walks into the room, her hands on her round stomach, taking in the scene.

Her eyes widen in surprise when they land on Atiana, her gaze tracing my woman’s features.

Her lips tighten when they see the marks on her face.

“Hey, Lore,” she smiles warmly at Atiana, and then at both kids.

“Okay, I think these are the cutest kids I’ve ever seen. ”

Atiana smiles at that, then introduces the kids. “This is Rider, and this is Dove.”

Ora melts, her hands going to her chest. “I love those names.” Her blue eyes widen when she looks closely at Rider. “Oh wow, Lore.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, standing up. “Can you watch the kids for a minute, darlin’? I need to speak to Atiana.”

“Of course.” She nods, looking to my ex, who is watching us both very closely. “If that’s okay with you?”

When Atiana hesitates, I quickly reassure her. “You can trust her.”

She bites her bottom lip in thought, nods, and then stands to join me. Ora sits down between the kids before I lead Atiana into the kitchen. I pull out a chair for her, and once she’s comfortable, I take the one next to her.

“I don’t even know where to start,” I admit, swallowing hard. I’m hurt, I’m angry, but most of all, I’m fucking shocked. “Rider is mine?”

I already know the answer, but I ask it anyway. I want to hear the admission from those betraying heart-shaped lips.

“Yes,” she quickly acknowledges, looking down at her hands.

“Were you ever going to tell me about him?” I ask, keeping my tone even.

But I already know the answer.

She wasn’t going to.

She’d prefer the man who gave her those bruises raising my son over me.

Does she think so badly of me?

“Would you have wanted me to?” she fires back, frowning as she lifts those honey-brown eyes to meet mine.

I don’t know the answer to that question, and she knows it.

I decide to change the subject, my gaze landing on her lip. “Who hurt you, Atiana?”

When I find them, I’m going to fucking kill them with my bare hands.

“My husband,” she says, and my hands curl to fists. The thought of her being married to someone else somehow feels wrong. I don’t like the idea of any man having her in that way, but the thought of a man hurting her makes my stomach twist.

I was the only man she had been with, and if I didn’t fuck it up, that might have still been the case.

And yeah, that fucking burns.

“It was good until it wasn’t. This is the first time Trent has physically hit me, but he has become more and more controlling.

I just need to be away from him. He won’t allow it.

I’m scared, Hunter.” Her bottom lip trembles, and I know that her husband is going to pay for that. “They saw. Rider saw…”

Fuck.

My son saw this bastard lay hands on his mother.

“No one will ever hurt you again,” I promise her, leaning forward and taking her hand. The pad of my thumb absently runs over her knuckles. “You’re safe here. I trust all my brothers, and Ora and Lu, the old ladies here, will be good to you.”

“Old ladies?”

My lip twitches. “Ora is with War, my vice president, and Lu is with Haze, our treasurer. We call them old ladies. They’re claimed.”

Her eyes narrow slightly. “Your biker friends don’t mind us being here?”

“No,” I say, even though I haven’t spoken to Rome, our president, yet.

I know he’ll be fine with it, though. “And this is where you’ll stay until the threat is taken care of.

You won’t go anywhere alone. We have a stocked kitchen and a pool for the kids.

Make yourself at home.” I pause, and then feel the need to add, “We do have parties that can get a little wild, so I wouldn’t let the kids venture around alone. ”

But I’ll be warning the men, and they can keep their sexual escapades behind closed doors for now.

“And Rider?” she asks, looking down at our hands.

My fingers tighten. The truth is, I need a little time to process this. “I don’t know how you kept him from me, Butterfly.”

Her eyes flicker with pain. “I honestly didn’t think you’d care. You told me you never wanted kids, Hunter. Do you remember that conversation? It was right before I caught you cheating on me.”

I was waiting for it. “I never cheated on you?—”

She lets go of my hand and stands. “Yeah, she was just in your lap, without her fucking top on. I’d just found out I was pregnant, and that’s when I came to tell you. I was already nervous because I knew you didn’t want kids in the first place. Instead, I got the surprise of my life, didn’t I?”

Fuck.

She had come home early from work that day, and that’s when it all went to hell.

“You should have fucking told me,” I grit out, my voice catching. “I deserved to know that I had a son.”

“I’m sorry, Hunter. You’re right, I should have told you. I know that now,” she admits, her eyes pooling with unshed tears.

“But think of what you were like back then. You literally told everyone who listened that you didn’t want kids.

I’m surprised you didn’t get a vasectomy.

It’s basically your brand, or has that changed?

Between you never wanting the responsibility of children and being a cheating asshole, you weren’t screaming father material. ”

She’s not far off the mark. I booked myself in for a vasectomy, but for some reason, I couldn’t go through with it.

Atiana always wanted kids. Maybe subconsciously, I knew if she came back to me one day, that wouldn’t change.

“Was it that, or that I could no longer commit to you?” I snap, her shot hitting its mark and pushing my temper over the edge. “Just because I could no longer be with you doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have been there for my child. I didn’t have to want you to want him!”

She stands and looks down at me with such sadness, my breath hitches.

“Maybe I didn’t want you breaking my son’s heart like you did mine.

You weren’t ready to be a father. You know it as much as I did.

I don’t even know if you’re ready now. But he’s here.

You want to be a father to him? Now’s your chance.

Just stay the fuck away from me, Hunter. ” She turns on her heel and storms out.

Fucking hell.

I didn’t even mean any of that shit I said.

But what she said isn’t wrong.

And I think that’s what hurts the most.

I’ve never seen myself having children, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have taken responsibility. Seeing that boy in front of me, it kind of changes things, doesn’t it?

I had always said I didn’t want kids. I didn’t have the best childhood.

I didn’t know my father, and my mother was constantly bringing man after man into her life, like a revolving door.

She prioritized them over me at every opportunity.

I don’t know anything about raising children.

It’s a responsibility that terrifies me.

But things have changed.

I have a son. It’s not a hypothetical. He’s here.

It might not be the road I’d have chosen, but sometimes fate has other plans.

Sighing, I open the refrigerator and pull out some drinks and snacks for her and the kids. I’m still wrapping my head around it all. Atiana, my fucking butterfly and the only woman I have ever truly loved, is in the Serpents of Chaos clubhouse.

And she just told me to stay the fuck away from her.

My past, present, and future are colliding.

I can’t remember the last time I felt this out of control.

And I don’t fucking like it.

However, at the same time, having Atiana back in my life again has made me feel more alive than I have in a long time.

With my hands full of juice and child-sized snacks, I run into Rose. “Hey, there you are,” she coos, running her pink fingertip down my abs. “I was waiting for you to pick up where we left off.” Her hand slides lower, over my cock through my jeans.

Before I can grip her hand and tell her now is not the time, Atiana walks around the corner, pausing when she sees me standing there.

Her eyes drop to Rose’s hand. “I see some things never change,” she mutters, her jaw clenching.

“I wasn’t?—”

Rose’s eyes flash. “You weren’t what? Going to finish what you started?”

“Not now,” I tell Rose, stepping away so her hands drop. “Go and find one of the other men. They will take care of you.”

“I want you?—”

“ Rose ,” I warn in a low tone.

The women love me. I let them sleep in my bed, and when I’m in the mood, I might even cuddle.

But right now, I’m not playing around.

It’s been so long since I had something to fight for.

Not for my MC.

Not for my brothers.

My own fight.

And this time, I have my own family on the line.

“Please, don’t stop on my account,” Atiana snaps, her gaze dropping to the snacks in my hands. She steps forward to grab them from me. “I’ll just go parent while you fuck around. It’s just like I thought it would be.”

She then turns her back and walks away.

Motherfucker.