Lucifer’s Fury (A Motorcycle Club Romance) (16 page)

I scheduled my next appointment and paid for the day’s visit. And I was surprised that all the insanity coursing through my mind withered away by the time I reached the waiting room and saw my friends. I didn’t know why I was so worried. The baby was fine. I was fine, too.

We straddled our bikes and headed for a small pizza place for lunch. I was starving… and eating for two now. We parked our rides and sauntered into the little restaurant, quickly finding our way to a large corner booth. We perused the menu and decide on a couple of pepperoni pizzas with extra cheese.

“I know you don’t know the sex of the baby yet but have you thought about names?” Trixie asked.

“I haven’t thought about it. I think I’m still a bit shocked, to be honest.”

Cherry Pie nodded in understanding, quickly shifting to a topic that was probably on a lot of minds. A pregnancy was news but that didn’t stop the need for other gossip. “So what’s up with you and Iceman, Trixie? He seems sweet on you.”

Everyone went quiet, proving they were just as curious about the pair as me and Cherry Pie were. Trixie looked down at her glass of water, spinning it in slow circles. Either she was avoiding answering the question or she just had no clue how to answer it.

“I don’t know. We’re friends. We talk... a lot. He’s helping me understand my feelings, the grief of losing Juju and how to move past it all. I’m not ready for more than that… but he is a very sweet man. Smart, too.”

“Oh,” Cherry Pie said, smiling at Trixie. “I’m glad he’s helping you, sweetie. We’re here too if you ever want to talk about anything.”

“I know that. And I will talk about it when I’m ready. I’m just not ready now, that’s all.”

I could tell she was dying inside, badly wanting to talk about anything but Juju. Fortunately, there was one more piece of juicy gossip to reveal.

“So… I have some news to share.” I raised my hand and wiggled my fingers, the beautiful oval-shaped sapphire and diamonds sparkling.

Siren squealed with delight and grabbed at my hand, turning it this way and that. “Congrats, Lola. It’s beautiful. So how did he do it?”

Before I could answer all the girls took a look at the ring, admiring it and offering up their congratulations on the baby and the engagement.

“He took me to the lake late last night. To the same place he asked me before. It was perfect, guys. Fireflies danced everywhere, and the moon was big and so bright. It was just as perfect as the first time. Then we made love, and God, it was just... perfect in every possible way.”

The pizzas arrived and we all dug in like animals. I couldn’t remember the last time I had so much fun just hanging out with the girls. The baby name conversation was brought back to life and the girls offered up a variety of names, some cute, some strong and powerful, others just made me shake my head no. But my favorite boy name was Leif. And my favorite name for a girl was Sia.

By the time we headed out of the pizza place, hours had passed us by. With the Twisted Bastards meeting set for sunset, we decided to skip shopping and just head back to the clubhouse. I needed to have that promised talk with Jasper anyway, before things went to shit again.

Chapter 18: Blaze

Judge and Justice Vasiliev blew into the clubhouse like a hurricane. The brothers were Bratva connected and had been visiting family in Russia. Their father was the head of the family and pushing for each of them to take their place with the family business.

The problem was that neither were interested. Thankfully, their older brother was happy to step up, and even though they refused the life, that connection was good for the club when times got especially hairy.

So it was nice to see the two of them back with smiles on their faces.

As we all stood at the bar, tossing back shot after shot of vodka, the girls rode in. I stood by the bar, watching my Lola roll to a stop and back her bike up, her shirt riding up, revealing her gorgeous flat belly. Clad in leather and combat boots, the girls strutted inside, each one patting Lola on the shoulder as they too hit the bar.

“Hey there,” Lola purred as she stopped in front of me. “You ready for that talk?”

“Yep. Oh. You need to meet my enforcers. They just pulled in a bit ago. Back from a trip to Russia.”

“Russia?” she asked, a brow arching high.

“They’re connected…but prefer this life over that one.”

“Gotcha.”

I gave a quick shout to the boys and they strode over. Judge and Justice were big, mean-looking guys, decent-looking guys that attracted the ladies without a bit of trouble. It was
keeping
the ladies that seemed to be their problem since they preferred to share. Everything. Whatever floated their boats.

“Blaze,” they say in unison, their Russian accents thick and rough, like gravel.

“I’d like you to meet Lola Easton. She’s the daughter of the founder of Lucifer’s Fury, and she’s my fiancée.”

“Hi there,” Lola responded quickly, her hand darting out. The boys eyed me warily, waiting for an okay from me. I gave slight nod and they shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Lola.” Judge said.

Justice stepped forward, shaking her hand and smiling. “So you’re the one?”

Lola cants her head to the side. “The one what?”

“The one that stole his heart.” Justice chuckled. “Hell, I didn’t know Blaze had a heart.”

Lola laughed, shaking her head. “You can’t steal what’s freely given, boys… but if he didn’t give it to me, I would have just taken it anyway. It was nice to meet you guys but I need to have a chat with your prez for a bit.”

“Sure,” Justice replied.

“Don’t break him,” Judge chuckled.

Lola dragged me down the hall to our room, not saying a word until the door snapped closed. I was eager to hear what she had to say. So far today, she’d acted normal, as if whatever had been bothering her wasn’t any longer. But there was a part of me that was still concerned.

She plopped down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside her. I took her cue and got comfortable beside her, looking over at her as she sat quietly, chewing on her bottom lip, as if considering what to say or how to get the conversation started.

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, her hesitation causing concern. “If I did, I’ll do whatever I need to do to make it better. Christ, just don’t up and leave me.” I hung my head, fearing what I might see in her eyes.

I felt her soft touch. It was light and warm as her hand skimmed along my jaw. She gripped my chin, turning me to face her. What I saw beyond the tears in her eyes took my damn breath away. There was longing there, and so much love, and something else I couldn’t quite name.

“I’m not leaving, Jasper. Yesterday, I blurted out something about house-shopping, and I have a reason for that. It’s past time to put down roots, but I guess until now, I never had a reason to. So much has happened, and everything between us now has been a whirlwind. A really damn nice whirlwind that I wouldn’t change for the world. What had me freaked out was how we haven’t really talked about what we saw for ourselves in the future.”

She fingered the ring and smiled. “But I’m not worried now. I feel like everything is falling into place the way it was meant to.”

I let out a huge sigh, so damn relieved that all of the worst-case scenarios I had been running through were completely unnecessary. “Thank God. I wish you would have just came to me. We could have talked about this. You can talk to me about anything, sweetheart.”

“I know that, Jasper… and in the future, I will come to you with all of my worries. There’s just one more thing, though. We need to look at houses because I refuse to raise our child in this clubhouse.”

Child?

What?

Lola’s pregnant!

“Wait! Did you just say what I think you said?” I asked, stunned.

Lola nodded, a huge grin on her beautiful face. “I’m pregnant, Jasper. The doctor says I’m four weeks pregnant.”

Kneeling down before her, tears in my eyes, I couldn’t stop myself from touching her flat stomach. My baby was in there, growing. Christ, I was one lucky man. I looked up at Lola, who was crying, too.

“Are you okay with this?” she asked.

“Hell yeah! We’re going to have a baby. I’m going to be a father.”

“Yes, we are… and yes, you are.”

I felt like a king as we left the room together, both smiling and happy as could be. Lola squeezed my hand as we entered the main room of the clubhouse. We stopped in front of the bar and I grabbed a beer for me and bottle of water for her.

“Should we tell everyone now or wait?” I asked.

“You know you’re dying to tell them, so just do it already.”

I nodded and smiled. Then I gave her a kiss that started off sweet and turned into something so much more that we were both gasping for air when we broke apart.

I gave a quick whistle and the entire room went silent. It was quiet as a morgue as all eyes focused on Lola and me.

“We have an announcement to make. Well, a couple actually. First, I asked Lola to marry me, and thankfully, she was willing to put me out of my misery and said yes. And… she’s pregnant.”

If I thought I’d seen the clubhouse rowdy and crazy before, I was wrong. If it weren’t for the meeting with the Twisted Bastards there would be one hell of a party up in here. The congratulations and well wishes seemed to go on forever. After a long series of toasts, it was back to business as usual.

As the officers of Lucifer’s Fury and Gypsy Riders casually made their way to the meeting room, the music kicked back on and the rest of the two clubs continued celebrating with more shots and games of pool.

Big Brass, Suicide, Judge, and Justice were already in their seats around the table when Lola and I walked in. We were taking our seats at the head of the table as Cherry Pie and Siren came in, laughing and smiling.

The Twisted Bastards would be arriving in about an hour, if not before. The new President of their MC was a young man named Dorian. His rider name was Tank, and that was about all we knew about the guy. If he wasn’t pulling our leg and really wanted a truce between the clubs, then this would be a very important meeting. And given the news of Lola’s pregnancy, I hoped like hell Dorian meant every word he had spoken on the phone. But I wasn’t putting all my eggs in one basket.

We’re just getting into the meeting when someone knocked on the door. Cherry Pie hopped up out of her seat and headed for the door. It was one of the prospects, a young kid that had shown a great deal of potential. Cherry Pie moved to the side, a deep frown on her face.

“It seems our guests have arrived early,” she grumbled in frustration. She returned to her seat but didn’t sit down.

I took a second to glance at Lola, who was gritting her teeth, her eyes narrowed, anger brewing in them.  “Well, I guess, truce or not, they aren’t much for respect.” She shook her head and pushed back her chair, standing up.

When Lola and I stepped out from the meeting room, the silence was deafening. Two men stood near the clubhouse door. It was a sign of respect to wait until you were invited into another MCs clubhouse.

Without hesitating another second, we made our way towards the new President and his Veep. Both men were young, but after a quick look at them, they didn’t appear to be anything like the former President. There wasn’t a lot of miles on their tires, that was for sure, given their young age.

Lola was breathing so damn hard I was worried she might have a damn panic attack. I placed my hand on her back and offered a gentle rub. It seemed to settle her... for now.

“Thanks for agreeing to this sit-down, Blaze. I’m Dorian.” With a flick of his wrist, he pointed to the man next to him. “This here is my new Veep, Grayson.”

“Sure. I’m sure you’ve already met, or at least know of, Pandora.”

Both men nodded.

 Lola still hadn’t uttered a word. Her throat was working double-time, as if she was forcing herself to stay respectful. Amiable.

But just being near these guys was hurting her. I was almost certain Juju’s death and Trixie’s beating were flashing before her eyes and she was fighting like hell to keep from lashing out at these two men. Our world wasn’t easy, and this was a test of control at its best. She was so damn strong.

“Let’s get this meeting started,” I told them. “The rest of our officers are already at the table. We weren’t expecting you for another thirty minutes or so.”

Lola headed down the hall ahead of me, not lingering to talk with Dorian and Grayson. It was probably for the best.

As I entered the room, I saw she had taken my seat, putting her as far from them as she could get. That was fine.

I waved my hand at the left side of the table. Dorian and Grayson offered a nod at the full right side of the table before taking their seats.

I quickly ran through introductions. The right side of the table started with the Veeps, Big Brass and Cherry Pie, then the Warlords Suicide and Siren, and finally my enforcers, Judge and Justice.

“It’s good to meet all of you,” Dorian said.

Grayson nodded.

“So you asked for this meeting.  Do you care to explain what exactly it is that you’re expecting to gain?” I asked.

“I’m taking the club in a different direction. The last two presidents were dirty filthy bastards. A large portion of the members didn’t approve of their actions. The small bit that did dropped their vests and walked.”

Lola perked up beside me. “So the human trafficking bullshit... that’s done?”

Dorian nodded. “It is, and thank fuck for that. If it wasn’t for you and your MC, my guys would still be fighting to be heard. So thank you.” He pointed a finger back and forth between him and his Veep. “We’re so damn sorry for what they did to your girls.”

Lola, Cherry Pie, and Siren’s heads jerked back at the same time, as if they’d been slapped. Lola swallowed thickly. “Thank you for that. You said some of your crew left? Do we need to worry about them?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. We haven’t seen them around in days and we don’t care to see them again. But there was a chick with long blonde hair that could be a problem.” Dorian glanced over at Grayson, who had been mute so far. “What the hell was her name?”