Page 54

Rachel

I left the hospital, feeling as though my legs were made of concrete. The doctor had scheduled an appointment for me to return in a week, and if I decided to go ahead with the pregnancy – which I already had – then he wanted to get me booked in for an ultrasound.

He reassured me that spotting was normal, but that he wanted to err on the side of caution. I saw the flicker of worry in his eyes and knew he was doing it to appease Dante.

There was no doubting that Dante’s reputation alone was enough to ensure I was treated as a VIP patient, never mind the fear that his actual presence instilled in people.

And it was that same feared man that I now had to go home to and inform that he was about to be a daddy.

Again.

After only having known each other for approximately seven weeks.

Splendid.

I read through his texts, and they had gone from threatening to teasing, to concern, and back to threatening again – although for a completely different reason than the first lot of threats.

He wanted to know why I wasn’t answering him, why I was taking so long, and then threatened to turn up at the hospital himself and burn the place to the ground if they were upsetting me.

The man was fucking obsessed with fire.

The thought had barely had a chance to register before my phone rang, making me jump in the air.

Dante.

“I know you’ve left the hospital,” he said as soon as I pressed answer. “Why haven’t you answered me back? Where are you going? ”

“I was in the middle of texting you when… Hang on… How the fuck do you know I’ve left the hospital?”

“I’m watching your tracker,” he said, his tone implying it was no big deal.

“You’re tracking me?” I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it in horror. I twisted it around, as though I was going to find a big red sticker that said “Rachel’s tracking device” in bold letters. “You put a tracker in my phone?”

“Of course I put a tracker in your phone,” he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “There’s no place on this earth that you could go where I wouldn’t find you. This just makes my job easier. Now answer the question: where are you going?”

“I’m not happy about this.”

“Be grateful I didn’t stick the tracker in your neck. Don’t make me ask a third time, Rachel.”

“Jesus Christ,” I huffed, rolling my eyes and resisting the urge to stamp my feet.

Very mature and motherly.

“Well?”

“I’m on my way back to the club!”

“You’re not in an Uber.”

“I realise you didn’t phrase that as a question, but I’m going to answer it, anyway. No, I am not in an Uber. I’m walking. Is that a crime?”

“It is when you’re on your own, yes.”

“I don’t need a guardian!”

“I never said you did,” he chuckled. The man actually had the fucking audacity to find this funny. “Think of it more as a bodyguard.”

“I don’t need one of those, either.”

“Debatable.” I could almost hear the shrug he just did. I didn’t need to be able to see him.

“I could throw this phone away right now.”

“Okay.”

“‘Okay?’ What do you mean, ‘okay’? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“Yep. Because I know you’re not going to do that.”

“If it means I can get rid of this damned tracker, prepare to be surprised.”

“Who said that’s the only one? ”

He chuckled again.

He. Chuckled. Again.

I took a deep breath to stop myself from screaming in frustration. “Where is the other tracker, Dante?” I asked, forcing a pleasant tone into my voice.

“None of your business, Rachel,” he said, his tone equally pleasant.

“What type of tracker is it?”

“Excuse me?”

“What type of tracker is it?” I repeated. “Can you hear my conversations?” A feeling of dread was settling into my stomach.

“No,” he scoffed, and had the nerve to sound offended. “I’m keeping you safe. I’m not spying on you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

I was going to tell him about the pregnancy, but I wanted to be the one to do it.

And I was beginning to think it might be best to wait until next week when I had the ultrasound and confirmed everything was okay.

There was no point in getting his hopes up if the bleeding turned out to be something more serious.

Dante would be annoyed that I kept it from him, but he’d soon get over it once he realised there was going to be another baby.

He had made no secret of the fact that he wanted more children – it was one of the main reasons for kidnapping me in the first place.

Dante wouldn’t stay mad at the future mother of his child to be.

“And all you can do is see my little dot on a map telling you where I am?” I asked, going back to our conversation.

“Yes, Rachel, that’s all I can see.”

“Right. Well. As trackers go, I suppose that isn’t that bad.”

And there it was. Justifying his weird behaviour again.

“That was easy. I’m glad you’re being reasonable about all of this. And since you were so reasonable, I won’t bite your head off for making me ask a fourth time. What happened at the hospital?”

“Nothing much,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

I was not a superstitious person, but I would need all the luck I could get if I was going to hide this from him for an entire week.

“They said my iron levels were low and that I would need to come back in a week to pick up some tablets and discuss a diet plan.”

“They couldn’t give you iron tablets there and then?” He asked, sounding suspicious. “This seems a lot of back and forth and delays for something that was supposed to be routine blood work.”

Fuck.

Dante was a sharp man. It wouldn’t take him long to put things together.

Luckily, the mini-pill I used as contraceptive had stopped my period – as well as stopped working altogether.

But it meant that he wouldn’t be suspicious about me not having had a period in the nearly two months I had been with him.

“You scared the shit out of him, Dante,” I said with a fake laugh that sounded hollow to my own ears. “I’m getting the VIP treatment. He’s shitting himself that he’ll send me home, and it’ll turn out to be something more than low iron levels. He’s making sure he does nothing to incur your wrath.”

He was silent.

Don’t be fucking silent. Don’t be trying to piece this together.

“Hurry home. Bee is waiting for you.”

The breath that left my body reeked of relief.

“I’ll be home soon. I’m just going to head into town and get some bits that I need. Feel free to follow me and send one of your bodyguards.”

“I’ve already texted Shawn, and he’s on the way. I’m not a fucking amateur.”

“Of course you have,” I said, laughing for real this time. “I’ll see you soon. Oh hey,” I said quickly before I hung up. “Has anyone heard from Zach?”

“He sent a message to Crash about ten minutes ago. Damien was late, as per fucking usual, but they’re in the meeting now.”

“And everything seems to be going, okay?”

“As far as we know.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “So, things are going to be alright?”

“I told you they would, didn’t I? Go do your shopping. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.”

“Soon” turned out to be two hours.

I paid for one of the storage lockers, and deposited my phone in there, laughing to myself as I pictured the look on Dante’s face when he tried to track me and realised I wasn’t moving.

Two can play these games, buddy!

I then went for a leisurely stroll, grabbing myself a hot chocolate before letting my feet lead the way.

I went into a shop, telling myself I was looking for some clothes for Bee, since she had lost so much in the fire.

But that was a weak excuse, and I knew it.

We had already ordered her everything she could need online, and just as I knew they would, my feet moved with a mind of their own and took me to the baby section.

I spent ages looking at tiny baby grows, bibs, little socks that seemed impossibly small.

It was hard not to imagine Dante with a son. Holding him in his arms, teaching him to walk, putting him on his first bike… My ovaries almost burst at the thought. It was enough to make me reconsider not telling him.

But then I thought of what we had been through recently, and the loss he had already suffered. If this bleeding was serious, I didn’t want to bring further unhappiness to his life.

You’re getting soft in your old age, Rachel!

What about your own happiness?

I couldn’t think like that. If this went wrong, and the baby wasn’t meant to be, I would hide my grief. Dante had enough on his plate, and I could shoulder this one thing.

For the first time in a long time, I really thought things were going to be okay.

Things had been quiet lately. The Riders hadn’t shown any sign of retaliating for us murdering Callum and Macbeth; they were calling peace meetings, wanting to calm things down as much as we did.

There seemed a calmness in the air, and a sense of peace.

Perhaps Dante had been right when he said that it was a minor blip, and no one really wanted to go to war .

My steps were lighter as I walked around the shops, grabbing small presents for Bee, and even a cup for Mama. Fair enough, it was a cup with the letters “unt”, and the handle shaped like a “C”, but it was the thought that counted. I’d have laughed if someone got me a cup like that.

I was just at the counter paying for makeup, when a sound came over the speaker system that had my heart climbing up my throat.

“Rachel Brooks, can you please make your way to customer service? That’s Rachel Brooks. Please make your way to customer service. You have a call waiting.”

No. He wouldn’t…

I knew he fucking would.

I hurried over to the small desk at the front of the shop where the customer service department was, apologising as I pushed past people waiting in line for their returned items to be processed.

“Hi,” I said as I approached the woman. “I’m Rachel Brooks. You said there was a phone call for me?”

She grabbed the phone and thrust it at me with all the force and hate that she would throw a bomb with.

“I don’t know who the fuck that is. He didn’t deem me important enough to give his name, but he’s an asshole. And you can tell him that.”

“Oh, I don’t think you want me to do that,” I laughed. “He’s recently been released from a mental facility. He’s very sensitive about being called names at the minute. His name is Dante King. You might just want to go ahead and ban him from your store.”

She looked at me with suspicion. “What was he detained for?”

“Chronic masturbation,” I replied, my face completely deadpan.

“The last shop he was in, they had to replace the entire line of summer dresses. Jizz everywhere. He doesn’t care.

He’ll pull his trousers down and start leaving spunk deposits everywhere he goes.

And if you’re not careful, he’ll lick it up afterwards. ”

“Ew,” she said, her nose wrinkling.

“I know. You can look him up online. Dante King. And it’s such a shame, because he has such a handsome face.

And yet he’s plagued with this… illness.

I’m his sponsor, that’s why he ’s ringing.

He calls me when he’s struggling. I bet he’s been rubbing against his mother’s knickers again, poor thing.

I best take this…” I said, gesturing to the phone.

“Of course. Dante King, you said?”

I laughed as she pulled her mobile out, not waiting for my answer, and brought the store phone to my ear.

“Masturbation Anonymous, Rachel speaking. How can I help?”

“Did you think that was fucking funny?”

“Mate, I think I deserve a fucking Oscar for keeping a straight face. That shit was the funniest thing I’ve ever done in my life. How did you even know where I was, anyway?”

“I got Hacksaw to hack into the security cameras and followed you.”

“What the fuck, Dante. That’s not okay.”

“Too late now.” I could practically hear him shrug.

“How long has he been watching me?”

“Just since this store. Why? Where have you been?”

“None of your business.”

“I can easily find out, you know. It’s not as if the cameras don’t store the footage.”

“What do you want, Dante?”

“Why did you leave your phone behind?”

“Why are you answering my questions with your own?”

“Because I enjoy irritating you. Why are you answering a question with a question?”

“Because you’re succeeding at irritating me,” I huffed back.

“Brilliant. At last, we’re on the same page. Shawn is coming to get you. Meet him in the car park in five minutes. Oh, and Rachel?”

“What?”

“Don’t think you’re not going to be punished for this.”