Page 19 of Shine: Sins of the Father (Evil Dead MC: Second Generation #8)

Reckless—

“You lose,” I tell Billy and grin when he throws his pool cue on the felt in a huff. “Pay up, brother.”

He digs into his pocket and slaps a twenty down.

I pass him his cold longneck and chuckle.

TJ steps up and racks a game, ready to play me next, when the clubhouse door flies open, and Wolf stalks in followed by Rafe, who looks worriedly toward his brother Kyle at the bar.

Kyle sees his brother’s expression and is off his stool immediately. They whisper to each other while Wolf stalks across to the end of the bar and talks to Cole.

Our president emits a sharp whistle, and the place gets quiet. Skeeter and Cody are behind the bar, and one of them cuts the music.

“Wolf has got something to say,” Cole barks.

I exchange a look with the guys around me, and we all wait. It’s so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

Wolf moves to the middle of the clubhouse and slowly turns, eyeing every one of us. “I want to know which one of you has been with my daughter. Raise your fucking hand. Now.”

Everyone looks around, but no one raises a hand.

“Dad…” Kyle begins, but Wolf cuts him off with a hand in his face.

“Fiona’s pregnant. She won’t name the father.

I find out it's one of you boys, and you don’t own up to it here and now, I’ll rip that fucking patch off your back myself.

” He pins every man with a look, then stops on Cody, who straightens.

Wolf points a finger at him. “You. Cody. You been with my daughter?”

“No, sir.”

“You been goin’ over there a hell of a lot, I hear.”

At that, Jake comes off his bar stool. “You callin’ my son a damn liar, Wolf? ‘Cause I’ll knock your fuckin’ teeth out.”

“You can try, brother.”

Cole stands. “Enough. Wolf, my office. Now.”

The two of them stalk across the clubhouse and disappear. A murmur fills the room, and Rafe and Kyle head over to us.

“What the fuck, man? Fiona’s pregnant?” TJ hisses.

“Yeah. I found out today.” Rafe spears a hand through his hair. “She’s been hidin’ it. Dad’s livid because she won’t name the father. Says she’s raising the baby herself.”

“How far along is she?” Kyle asks his brother.

“I don’t know. She’s just at that point she’s starting to show. How far is that?”

“I think Gigi started showing around four or five months,” TJ replies.

“Sounds about right,” Marcus adds. “I think that was about the time Brandy got a baby bump.”

In my head, I’m counting back the months and doing the math. That’s when I got that fucking text from Shine and that photo of Fiona. Jesus Christ. No wonder she won’t name the father.

It’s Shine.

Ain’t no way in hell I’m spilling those beans to Wolf or anyone here, so I keep my damn mouth shut. If this is true, I need to call Shine. But before I do that, I need to know from Fiona herself if it could be any other guy.

She’s gonna be surprised I know about the two of them. Goddamn, I’d hoped that shit had stayed in the past.

I wait until late, then make a beeline over to her shop. When I roll past, I see a light on in the upstairs apartment. Out of caution, I park a block down and walk back. Last thing I want is a suspicious Wolf catching my bike out front.

Climbing the exterior staircase to the second floor, I knock on her door. I figure since I don’t know her number to call her and give her a heads up it’s me out here, I better tell her. “Fiona, it's Reckless. Open up. I’ve got to talk to you.”

I hear movement on the other side of the door and figure she’s looking through the peephole. The door opens a few inches, and she peers out.

“What do you need, Reckless?” She scans behind me and down to the parking area.

“It’s just me. Can I come in? I need to talk to you.”

“About what?” It’s obvious she’s wary of letting me in.

“Shine.”

Her eyes widen.

“Yeah. I know.”

With that, she swings the door open, pulls me in, and closes it behind me. She’s wearing a loose-fitting sleeveless nightgown, but I can still see the bump.

“So, it’s true. You’re pregnant.”

She nods and goes to the couch, pulling a throw blanket over her and curling in the corner. “You know about Shine and me? How?”

“It is his, right? The baby.”

“Yes, but I haven’t told him. My father would blow a gasket if he knew Shine was the father. Just let it be, Reckless.”

I sit on the chair next to her. “You know Shine went up to Sonny’s looking for you, don’t you?”

“What?” She looks stunned. “He did?”

“Yeah. The real Desiree took one look at the photo he showed her and told him you were connected with the club. Shine thought you were some brother’s ol’ lady.

He thought he’d fucked up royally, and he was pretty pissed you lied to him.

That’s when he asked me who you were. He texted the photo to me. Shocked the shit out of me.”

“You told him who I was?”

“Damn right I did. He’s my brother, but your father is, too. So are Rafe and Kyle. And now I’m in a damn spot, Fiona. What the hell were you doing up at the cabin?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Shorten it,” I snap.

“Janey and I were going to throw a party up there.”

My brow lifts. “Your father give you permission for that?”

“No. Look, I know I wasn’t supposed to be up there.”

“Ya think?”

“Anyway, Janey had dropped me off to clean up the place, but then had to leave. She was coming back the next day, but that night Shine showed up. I didn’t want my father to find out, so I played along with the story he thought was true.”

“He thought the boys in Vegas had set it all up, like you were some gift, Fiona.”

“Right.”

“And you went along with that? Why?”

She shrugs. “He was a good-looking guy, and we had all these sparks flying between us. I thought it’d just be a harmless fling with a guy I’d never see again.”

“And now you’re having his baby. You’re absolutely positive it’s his?”

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, it’s his. There’s been no one else. Hell, he’s the only guy I’ve been with in like the last year. I’m not some whore.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you were. I just need to be sure.”

“Why?” She searches my eyes and sees my determination, and her face goes white. “You can’t tell him, Reckless.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Please. You don’t understand. It’s not safe.”

“What do you mean?”

“That guy is trying to kill Shine. You can’t unload this on him.”

“Kill him? Who is?”

“The guy who got away at the lake. The one who followed us.”

“What guy?”

“The one who raped Shine’s sister and went to prison for it. He and his brother followed us from Lake Tahoe to the cabin. He shot at us. Shine didn’t tell you?”

“Shine told me he hunted Donnie Ray to Lake Tahoe but that he got away. He didn’t say anything about he and his brother following you to the cabin. Tell me everything.”

Her story goes on for a long time before she finally gets to the end.

“So, we buried Carl’s body and got the hell out of there.”

“Jesus, you killed a man and buried him at the club’s cabin, and the club doesn’t know about any of this?” I run a hand through my hair. “Fuck, this is a mess.”

“Yeah, well, welcome to my life. I assumed Shine would hunt the guy down. Hasn’t he found him?”

“Not that I know of. The Nevada chapter’s involved. They’ve been hunting him.”

“So, Donnie Ray is still out there. And if Shine’s distracted with all of this”—she points at her stomach—“he won’t see the guy coming.”

I surge to my feet and pace to the windows overlooking the street. “Fucking hell. I think I need to make a run to Vegas. Or at least make a call to Shine.”

“You can’t tell him.” Fiona jumps to her feet, wrapping the blanket around herself. “Please. Promise me. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to him because he was distracted by this baby news.”

“I can see your point. It would distract him, that’s for sure. All right, I won’t tell him. For now . But I need to find out about this fucking asshole.”

“Donnie Ray?”

“Yeah.” I take in the dark circles under her eyes. “How are you doing, Fiona?”

“I’m fine. Just tired.”

“How’s the baby? Everything okay?”

“I have my twenty-week ultrasound on Friday. I should find out if it’s a boy or girl.”

“Really? And which do you want?”

She shrugs. “I just want everything to be okay.”

“Goddamn, girl. Shine should be here. He should be going to all that stuff with you.”

“I don’t even know if he’d want this baby.”

“I do. And the answer is yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, he told me he was worried his time for all that was passing him by. He deserves to know, Fiona. It’s not right he misses all this.”

“And what do you think my father would do to him?”

“Wolf? Hell, he’d be pissed. That’s for sure.”

“He’d want to tear him limb-from-limb. And you know it.”

“Guess so. He came to the clubhouse tonight and demanded to know which one of us had been with you.”

“Oh my God.” She drops her head in her hands, a look of mortification on her face.

“He’s your father. He’s protective and pissed, naturally. But that doesn’t mean he can’t get beyond it.”

“Reckless, it’s not like Shine and I were in love. We spent a weekend together. The two of us? We can never be.”

“Babe, I get what you’re worried about. But all of that doesn’t mean a damn thing if he’s the one. If Shine’s got feelings for you…”

“You don’t know that he does.”

“You’re right. I don’t. Maybe I need to find out.”

“Maybe you need to mind your own business. I’m building a life for myself and my child alone.”

I nod, because I don’t want to upset her, and she’s getting agitated. “Okay. I hear you, Fiona. I do.” I glance around the place. “Mind if I swing by now and then and check on you? I feel like I at least owe that much to my brother.”

“I guess that would be okay.”

“Where’s your phone?”

“On the counter. Why?”

I snag it and punch in my number. My phone rings, and I hang up. “There. Now you’ve got my number. You need anything, anything at all, you call me, hear?”

She starts to tear up. “Thanks.”

I grab the back of her head and press a kiss to her forehead. “Mind if I tell Harley Jean?”

“About Shine?”

“Yeah. I think you could use a friend who's been there. I know she’s older than you, and you guys probably aren’t as close as you are with that friend of yours.”

“Janey.”

“Right, Janey.”

“All right. I guess that would be okay, but you have to make her promise not to tell the rest of the girls.”

“Deal. Make sure you lock up behind me.” With that, I walk down the stairs and back to my bike.

If Wolf rolled past now and saw me coming from Fiona’s, he’d think the worst. I need to get home to Harley and have a long talk.

Maybe she can help me make sense of why Fiona’s being so damn stubborn about this.

Then I’ve got a call to make to Shine.