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Was that all that mattered to me? No. I’d come here to check on her before I knew about the baby.

Hell, before I’d thought she’d been screwing me over, I’d wanted to take her with me when I left this place.

But I didn’t know if anyone here would listen or would care.

I needed to see Laken, to talk to her and make her understand.

If she really hadn’t set out to trap me…

yeah, I was feeling like an asshole right now.

Maybe the women I’d known had made me a little jaded, possibly a lot jaded.

A lot of my military buddies had been screwed over by girlfriends, or women wanting to be their girlfriends.

I’d seen too many trapped over the years.

Or maybe if I hadn’t fucked Laken before I got to really know her, then all of this could have been avoided.

Not that I’d planned on more than one night with her, not at first. That’s all I’d ever wanted from anyone… until now. Until her.

“I need to see her,” I said. “I won’t leave until that happens.”

Torch shrugged. “Suit yourself. I doubt they’ll let anyone but family see her until she’s awake. And father of her baby or not, you’re not family. If Flicker has anything to say about it, you never will be.”

I might not be family to Laken, but I was family to the baby in her belly.

That might not mean shit to the men glaring at me right now, and maybe it didn’t mean shit to Laken either, but I’d be damned if anyone was going to keep me from seeing her.

Flicker glared at me as I approached the nurse’s station, obviously not having any luck in getting back to see Laken, but I did my best to ignore him.

The nurse looked up at me, her eyes lighting up as I gave her the smile guaranteed to drop panties.

I leaned in a little closer and prepared to give her the sexy growl that made panties wet every damn time.

“May I help you?” she asked, a little breathless, and the pulse in her neck fluttering. Oh yeah, I had her.

“My pregnant girlfriend just came out of surgery. I was wondering when I might be able to see her,” I said, lying a teensy bit.

Pregnant, yes. Girlfriend? Eh, it was a gray area.

I hadn’t asked her to be mine, but now that I knew we were having a kid together, no way in hell I was walking away without her.

“Oh.” The nurse blinked up at me, some of her excitement fading. Maybe I shouldn’t have called Laken my girlfriend? “Name?”

“Her name’s Laken Beaumont,” I said. “The doctor was just out here, but I didn’t get a chance to ask when I could see her.”

The nurse tapped on her keyboard, then frowned. “She’s in a coma according to the doctor’s notes. I’m not sure when she’ll be awake.”

“But I can check on her? Maybe she can hear me, and I can at least let her know she isn’t alone,” I said.

I turned my smile up a notch and leaned in a little closer.

My muscles flexed, drawing her attention to my biceps.

When she licked her lips, I knew she’d give me whatever I wanted, even a little consoling in the nearest bathroom if that was my wish.

“I’m sure a short visit can be arranged. She’s in recovery right now, but they’ll be placing her in ICU once a bed is available. The elevators are around the corner and at the end of the hall. Go to the fourth floor and follow the signs to ICU. They’ll have visiting hours posted.”

“Thank you,” I said, giving her a little wink that had her sighing.

I pushed away from the counter and made my way to the elevator.

The stomp of boots behind me told me I wasn’t alone, and it was likely Flicker.

I had no doubt he’d want to keep an eye on me, but fuck if I was leaving this place until I’d seen Laken.

Even if she couldn’t talk to me, I needed to see that she was okay.

The elevator opened, and Flicker stepped inside with me.

The glare he was giving me would have made a weaker man cower, but I just lifted my eyebrows and stared back.

I was Trent Storme’s son. He didn’t really think I was going to crumble, did he?

Even if I hadn’t had Storme blood in my veins, I was a motherfucking Marine.

I’d faced insurgents, been tortured, had more bullet holes put in me than I’d like to admit…

one pissy biker wasn’t going to keep me away from Laken, even if he was her brother.

We got off on the fourth floor, and I followed the signs to ICU.

The hours were posted just like the nurse had said, and it looked like we had a while until they’d let us see her.

If she even made it into a room by then.

I knew hospitals could move really fucking slow unless someone was literally dying.

And even then I didn’t have the utmost faith in them.

Anyone who worked as many hours as medical staff, usually without much of a break or sleep, was bound to make a mistake here and there.

It was just part of being human. We needed rest, and doctors and nurses didn’t seem to get a lot of it.

I claimed a seat in the ICU waiting area and watched the TV mounted in the corner of the room.

Flicker sat beside me, his presence dark and menacing.

Or at least, it was to anyone else in the room.

My lips twitched in a smile as two people got up and moved quite a ways off from us.

The leather cuts would have been enough to do it, but Flicker’s current scowl was sure to make people run.

He looked rather ferocious, and I could almost picture him scaring off any men who had looked Laken’s way.

No wonder she’d still been a damn virgin.

I was grateful, though. It meant she was mine and mine alone.

Fuck. I ran a hand through my hair. Yeah, I was seriously thinking about keeping her.

Even if there wasn’t a baby, I’d still want her.

There was just something about her, something different.

She was a wildcat in the bedroom, but there was an innocence to her, and a sweetness that I didn’t often experience.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Flicker asked.

“Waiting to see Laken.”

“What do you care? It’s your fault she’s here to begin with. The way you turned on her, accused her of using you? That was fucked-up.”

I winced. Yeah, it hadn’t been one of my finer moments.

“In my experience women fall into two categories. Easy, fun pussy. Or manipulative bitches. She wouldn’t have been the first woman to try to sleep her way into a high-ranking spot with my dad’s club.

Women have been trying it since I turned sixteen. ”

“How could you have spent any time with Laken and have thought she’d be like that?

She was sweet, innocent… until you got your filthy hands on her.

Laken is the kindest person I’ve ever known.

” Flicker narrowed his eyes at me. “You should be damn thankful she even gave you the time of day. Instead of bitching about how she tried to trap you, you should have been kissing the ground she fucking walks on.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Look, I know I didn’t handle things well, and I’m sorry.

But what would you think if you were in my position?

If some woman you’d hooked up with a few times, one who had insisted you not use a condom, had said she was pregnant, wouldn’t you wonder if she’d done it on purpose?

Not to mention she never, not once, mentioned that she was connected to the Dixie Reapers.

I’d have backed the fuck off if she’d said something.

” Well, maybe. She’d been so fucking hot, I might not have been able to resist even knowing her brother was an officer in the club I was checking out.

I could see some of the tension ease from Flicker and he sighed as he looked away. When his gaze swung back toward me, I could see that he understood exactly what I’d been thinking and feeling.

“Yeah, I guess I might have wondered,” Flicker said. “She really did that?”

“I shouldn’t have listened to her, but…” I shrugged.

I wasn’t going to tell him I couldn’t walk away from the temptation of his sister’s wet pussy.

That wouldn’t go over well. He’d heard enough from my first day at the clubhouse, and now that I knew I’d been running my mouth not only about his sister, but the mother of my baby…

I felt really damn small. Talking shit about women had never been a problem before, but this one wasn’t just some random fuck.

Not that I’d realized that at the time. I should have, though.

From the very beginning, Laken had been different from the others.

Well, maybe not the very beginning, but once I realized I was her first…

That had changed things. Maybe it had even changed me a little.

“Are you going to take my sister away?” Flicker asked.

Was I? I’d thought about taking her with me, but what if she didn’t want to go?

She had family here. Not just Flicker, but all of the Dixie Reapers.

Could I ask her to walk away from that? I didn’t owe my dad shit, so it wasn’t like I had to return to the Hades Abyss.

Yeah, I’d done him this favor, but only because he’d seldom asked for one.

I was patched in, but I hadn’t spent much time there over the last twenty years.

Going Nomad wouldn’t really be an issue, not for me anyway.

I didn’t think it would really matter if I ever returned.

It wasn’t like my dad didn’t have a VP who could take over if the unstoppable Trent Storme ever decided to step down.

Not fucking likely unless a bullet stopped him, but stranger things had happened.

Like me being a fucking dad. I was still wrapping my head around that one.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I’d thought about it, but I don’t know what she wants.”

Flicker smiled a little. “As long as you’re thinking about her and not you, then we aren’t going to have any problems. I have to admit, you taking her back to Hades Abyss sucks, though. She’s been part of my life for so long now. I don’t want her to go anywhere.”

“I kind of figured that part out when she told me that her big brother chased everyone off.”

Flicker chuckled. “Yeah, I’d have kept her a virgin until she was thirty if I had my way. Guess I wasn’t ready for her to grow up. And my baby sister is having a baby. Not sure how I feel about that yet.”

I snorted. “You’ll be Uncle Flicker. If we stay here, I hope you plan to babysit at least once a week.”

“You treat my sister right, and I’ll make sure you have time to romance her. She deserves all that shit, you know? Flowers, nice dinners, all that crap women seem to like in the movies.”

“I can do that.” At least, I thought I could. I’d honestly never tried to romance a woman before. But Flicker was right. Laken deserved all that shit, and more.

“I won’t stop you from seeing my sister,” Flicker said. “But when visiting hours are over, maybe you need to go figure out a few things. She’ll want answers you may not have. I don’t want her stressed out more than she needs to be.”

He wasn’t wrong. I did need to figure some shit out.

First, I’d check on Laken. Then I’d call my old man and see what he thought about all this.

I had a feeling he was going to be thrilled about being a grandpa.

The man turned into a teddy bear whenever a kid was nearby, and he’d probably figured I’d never claim a woman for more than a night.

I had no doubt I’d first get a safe sex lecture, because even at thirty-eight there were times my dad thought I was some smartass teen, and then he’d grill me about Laken.

That wasn’t a call I was looking forward to. At all.