Page 19 of Slayin Villain (Royal Bastards MC: Nashville, TN #11)

Rachel

I didn’t go back to the hospital to see Villain the next morning.

I told myself it was because I needed rest after everything that went down that night, screaming, gunfire, blood on the gravel.

Kingpin called me after he killed his enemies, saving Villain’s life.

But Villain had already saved his. Guess he needed to know if he had to visit the hospital, or if he could keep the fight under wraps.

I did all I could, but Villain was bleeding out.

It took all I had to keep my cool and try to keep him stable as he about died. And then once he opens his eyes, Ember shows up.

And now, I just couldn’t stand the thought of walking into that sterile white room and seeing her.

Ember.

The woman who’d been on her knees for Rome one minute and in Villain’s bed the next.

The woman who was supposed to be just a distraction.

But distractions don’t hold your man’s hand at his bedside. They don’t look at him like he’s more than a body to scratch an itch with.

Distractions don’t get pregnant.

I found out when I overheard two of the club girls talking on the porch, sipping coffee like they hadn’t just watched our club go to war. Like nothing could phase them.

“Did you hear? Ember’s late,” one whispered.

“Not just late,” the other said with a smirk. “She took a test. I saw her with it. Talk is... it’s Villain’s.”

I didn’t say a word. Just set down the mug I hadn’t touched and walked away.

I didn’t cry. Not right then.

Instead, I drove straight to the hospital.

The adrenaline from the attack might have worn off, but the rage was still burning, low and lethal under my skin. Like I’d swallowed a damn bonfire.

I didn’t knock when I pushed open Villain’s hospital room door.

He was awake, half-sitting up, shirtless beneath the paper-thin blanket, stitches crawling across his chest like angry little snakes. His blond hair was a mess. He looked pale but alert.

And Ember?

She was perched on the edge of the bed like she belonged there. Like she hadn’t stolen something from me and dared to flaunt it.

Their heads snapped up in sync when I walked in.

I shut the door behind me slowly.

“So,” I said, arms folded. “How long were you planning to keep this from me?”

Ember stood like a guilty kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Rachel…”

“Don’t.” My voice cracked like a whip.

Villain cleared his throat. “What’s going on?”

“You mean you don’t know?” I turned on him, hot tears finally building in my eyes. “She’s pregnant.”

The silence that fell was the loudest thing I’d ever heard.

Ember’s mouth twitched, her throat working. “It’s not confirmed…”

“Don’t lie.” I stepped toward her. “You’ve been dressing up every damn night like you’re chasing something. And now that you’ve got it? You can’t even have the decency to pretend it’s not mine and you’re stealing from under me.”

“She didn’t steal shit,” Villain growled, dragging a hand down his face. “And she told me.”

“Oh, really?”

“But I already knew. I’ve known for a while, Ember. I found a test in your dresser drawer weeks ago.”

Ember gasped. “You knew I was pregnant this whole time.”

I looked between them. Then at him. “You’ve been in her bed every time I turn around. You show up at my place begging and run back to her like a dog off his leash.”

Ember’s eyes shimmered. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Too late for that.” My voice cracked.

Villain swore under his breath, trying to sit up straighter despite the IV in his arm. “You think this is easy for me? You think I’m not torn the fuck up over all of this? And then finding out you’re pregnant, too.”

“You didn’t look torn,” I spat.

Ember interrupted us. “You’re pregnant, too?”

“Yep. But there’s a difference. I know my baby is Villain’s. He’s been the only one.”

He slammed his hand on the metal railing, and I jumped.

“This ain’t about sides anymore,” he shouted. “It’s about choices. And none of us have made good ones lately.”

“Speak for yourself,” I hollered, eyeing them both.

I was halfway out the door when he rasped, “Rachel, don’t go.”

I froze.

He sounded small. Raw. And for one stupid second, I remembered the night he told me he wanted to give me a property patch. The night I thought maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t just another lay to a biker who never let anyone close.

I turned to him, trying like hell not to fall apart. “You don’t get to have both of us.”

“I never…”

“Bullshit.” I stepped back inside. “You’re juggling two women and now two pregnancies. You wanna act like the big bad bastard, fine. But you don’t get to keep us both hanging.”

Ember stayed quiet, watching me with wide eyes.

“You want me to stay?” I asked, looking him dead in the eye. “You’ve got until the end of the week to make a choice. Me, or her. You don’t get to ride the fence anymore, Villain. This war ends now.”

I didn’t wait for his response. I turned and left, slamming the door so hard it echoed down the whitewashed hallway.

I didn’t cry until I got into the car.

And when I did, it wasn’t soft. It wasn’t pretty.

It was the kind of ugly sobbing that came from a place deeper than hurt. It came from betrayal. From loss.

But in the middle of it, a thought surfaced. Cold and clean.

If he chose her... I’d go to Kingpin.

I’d tell him everything.

About my baby.

About Ember’s.

And about how Villain had torn the club apart with one pretty smile and a dirty secret.

Because even princes bleed when the crown slips.

I wasn’t going to let Villain get away with this.

He would pay. And I would take the money and run.