Reckless Temptations (The Tempted Series Book 4) (36 page)

“Blackie…” I started.

“You got something good with Bianci’s sister, stop trying to prove yourself, man, you paid your dues. Now, take a step back and don’t let that girl doubt she has you because when
you
don’t have her anymore you’re going to feel it,” he vowed.

“It’s too late for that,” I said, looking away from him.

I meant to get drunk tonight, to forget that I had handed Lauren and Pea over to Anthony, making her brother be the one responsible for her safety and their well-being. But, sitting here with Blackie, listening to his story only affirmed that I had made the right choice by ending things now. I didn’t want to be sitting here one day, the way Blackie sat here, and think of all the ways I failed her. I didn’t want to look at my hands and see her blood.

I made my choice.

I had to own it.

Twenty-eight calls, twenty-eight voice mails, not to mention the thirteen text messages and I didn’t even care I looked like a desperate stalker.

Something was wrong.

I felt it deep down with every fiber of my being. It wasn’t like Riggs to ignore my calls. The last few month’s things had been great. We weren’t officially anything more than who we were, just Kitten and Tiger, Pea’s parents, and dare I say…two people who were making it work. Making it work sounds like it was an obligation but it wasn’t, we were making it work because we wanted to and not because we needed to.

Something was wrong
.

I placed my hands over my belly and relished in the flutters Pea was making inside of me when there was a knock on my door. I smiled instantly as I rushed to the door.

Daddy’s home, Pea.

I pulled open the door as my brother turned around to face me. The smile fell as quickly as it was born as I stared at the torn expression on Anthony’s face.

No.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked, hoarsely

“Can I come in?” He said, as he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels, looking anywhere but at me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and robotically stepped aside to let him in. I slowly closed the door, gripping the doorknob, hanging onto it as if it was my salvation and touched my forehead to the door.

How does someone prepare themselves for the words I was about to hear? A million thoughts ran through my mind as I feared the worst.

Please don’t let him be hurt.

Slowly, I turned around and lifted my eyes to Anthony’s.

“Is he okay?” I whispered.

“He’s fine,” he confirmed.

I let out a sigh of relief as I closed my eyes briefly.

“Thank God,” I said.

“Lauren—”

I held up my hand to stop him from saying whatever it was he was about to say.

“No, don’t,” I ordered. “I don’t want to know,” I explained. “Something happened, he left with Jack but he said he’d come home. He told me he’d come back home.”

“Something did happen, and that’s why I’m here. Pack a bag, you will be staying with me until whatever this shit is…until it dies down,” he grunted.

“What? No!” I shook my head. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you don’t have a goddamn choice,” he growled, swiping his hand across his face. “Lauren don’t make this harder than it has to be. They have something going down with the club. I don’t know the details but after what happened with Reina and Blackie I’m not taking any fucking chances with you. You’re coming home with me,” he demanded.

I don’t know who he thought he was talking to. I might be his little sister but I wasn’t a child. Sure, I’ve run to him in the past, asking for his help with whatever mess I got myself into but I wasn’t that girl anymore. I was a woman finding her place. I was a mother. I wasn’t a little girl who needed protecting. I was the one doing the protecting, taking care of myself and my child.

“I’m not going anywhere, Anthony. This is where I live, this is where I belong,” I declared. “If there was some kind of threat then Riggs would be the one who took care of me.”

“Riggs can’t take care of you, Lauren, he can barely take care of himself,” he seethed.

“Don’t do that. Don’t talk about him like he’s not in your category, like he’s some incompetent asshole,” I yelled.

“Pack a bag,” he ordered.

“I don’t take orders from you, Anthony!”

“I’m telling you something goddamn it! Grow the fuck up and listen. You want to put your life at risk? Your kid’s life at risk because you’re stubborn?”

“Get out,” I screeched. “Get out of my house!”

He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends as he took a step closer and pierced me with a cold stare.

That shit didn’t work with me. I wasn’t some street thug who he could scare with one look. I was his goddamn sister. I was his blood. I knew him better than most people did and that look, it meant nothing. I could stare right back at him, give him the same look because I learned from the best. I learned from him.

I learned a lot from my brother.

I learned not to ask questions.

I learned to stand by the people you care about even when the things they do are unethical.

I learned to defend myself because he went away for three years, leaving me to fight my own battles.

I learned how to fight for what I wanted because he never gave up on what he wanted.

I bet he’s sorry he taught me how to be a strong woman.

“He asked me to do this, Lauren,” he said hoarsely. “He asked me to take you away from here and to be the one who watches over you and the baby.”

I shook my head.

“You’re lying,” I whispered, the words settling in causing my eyes to fill with uncertain tears. I stared at him, waiting for something, some kind of sign he was just blowing smoke at me to get me to go with him but it never came.

“He’s not coming home, Lauren.”

“No, stop it.” I demanded, wiping away the tears that fell down my cheeks. Stupid hormones! I took a deep breath, trying to collect myself before I looked back at my brother. “Riggs wants me to move out? He wants to pawn me off on you? Because there is some bullshit problem with his club. That’s what you’re telling me?”

He didn’t answer me.

“Fine, then you’re going to take me to wherever he is, and he’s going to have to tell me with his own mouth.”

“Lauren, you don’t want that,” he said.

“No, what I don’t want is my brother coming here to collect me like I’m some piece of baggage,” I croaked, as my voice cracked and the tears fell again. “So, if Riggs wants me gone, then he will have to look me in the eye and tell me himself. He will have to be man enough to break my heart this time.”

I turned around, grabbed my purse from the counter and started for the door. Anthony remained where he was, just staring at me.

“Now!” I demanded.

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded one final time.

“I didn’t do shit,” I hissed as I opened the door.

He sighed heavily before walking toward the door, pausing in front of me and taking my hand in his. I glanced down at our joined hands before lifting my eyes back to his. He squeezed my hand as his eyes silently apologized for his words.

Something was wrong all right.

And my heart wouldn’t survive it.

Anthony brought me into his arms and held me as I cried against his chest. I prayed for it to be a lie, but in the back of my mind I feared that it was the truth.

Kitten and Tiger were the lie.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Anthony asked, as he turned off his truck and glanced at the Satan’s Knights clubhouse.

The only thing I was sure of was that I was a mess. My emotions were all over the place, one minute I was upset, the next I was angry wishing I had grabbed my baseball bat before leaving the house. I’ve cried more tears in the last twenty minutes than I have in the last twenty-one years.

“Lauren?”

I ignored my brother as I found the strength to open the door and climb out of the car. I stood in the parking lot, my eyes diverting to the side of the building where Riggs first took me, and I closed my eyes.

I’ve come full circle.

I balled my hands into fists as I drew in a deep breath and marched my ass across the pavement. Anthony slammed his door closed, and I heard him curse as he tried to catch up. Bones stepped in front of the door, blocking my path and stared at me for a moment with concerned eyes.

“Lauren, what’s the matter?” He asked, taking in the train wreck I could only assume I looked like.

“Out of my way, Bones,” I demanded. He lifted his eyes and glanced over my shoulder at Anthony.

“Let her go, man,” he said defeated.

Bones stepped aside, warily staring at my brother as I brushed past him and charged into the Dog Pound. My eyes scanned the common room as my heart lurched in my chest. I hadn’t prepared myself, hell bent on confronting Riggs I didn’t take into consideration I could walk into something I didn’t want to see. Blackie stumbled out from the room they congregated in as a club, clutching an empty bottle of tequila. His jeans were unbuttoned, and he was shirtless, displaying a chest covered in tattoos and two nipples that had barbells through them. He lifted his eyes, peering at me and the posse I had behind me before he groaned.

“Shit,” he hissed

“Where is he?” I shouted.

Two naked girls stepped out of the room and stared at me as if I wasn’t part of
their
plan.

Hell-fucking-no!
      
A glass fell to the floor, shattering into a million pieces, mimicking my heart. The sound forced me to turn around and met Riggs’ shocked expression. He was standing behind the bar and quickly glanced down at the glass he dropped before lifting his eyes back to mine.

I looked back at the two naked girls, one raising a cocky eyebrow at me while the other one gaped at my belly.

“Kitten,” Riggs called.

I snapped.

Really fucking snapped as I walked over to the pool table, taking one of the pool sticks that had been abandoned on the felt tabletop. I swung it over my head as I stalked toward the two fucking whores that stared at me wide-eyed. The one who smiled at me cockily, stared at me dumb-fucked and the other who looked at my stomach in disgust—what a bitch.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I shrieked. “GET OUT!”

Anthony ran up behind me, trying to pry my fingers from the stick.

“Riggs, get a handle on your woman,” Blackie ordered.

“Fuck you,” I hissed, turning around on my heel, pulling the stick away from my brother and glaring at Riggs. “I’m not his woman,” I seethed. “Isn’t that right?”

“Put the pool stick down, Lauren,” Riggs reasoned calmly, as he stepped out from behind the bar. His eyes turned to Anthony’s. “What the fuck is this, huh?”

“I’m right here!” I yelled, throwing the pool stick onto the floor as I stared at him. “Stop looking at Anthony and start fucking looking at me,” I demanded.

He averted his eyes back to mine, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Give us a minute,” he told the room.

“I’m not leaving her,” my brother said.

“I said give me a fucking minute, Bianci,” Riggs shouted over my shoulder. Our eyes remained locked as the room cleared out, leaving us alone with the truth lingering in the air.

“You sent my brother to our apartment to give me the kiss off?”

“It’s best if you stay with him. I’d tell you to stay at the apartment but someone needs to protect you and it would just be easier if you were with him,” he argued.

“You are supposed to protect me, not Anthony. YOU.”

“Look, it’s too much,” he shouted. “It’s just too much,” he insisted. “I never wanted any of this shit, Lauren! I went from being a guy whose biggest worry was his fucking bike or which broad he would screw for the night to having an old lady and a kid on the way. Like you had a fucking plan, so did I, and it didn’t include a family! I never wanted any of this and now I’m stuck with it. My life isn’t set up for you and a baby, Lauren.”

He pointed to the Satan’s Knights logo painted on the wall, the reaper that stood in the way of everything.

“That, that right there is my life,” he declared, tipping his head toward me. “Not this. I don’t know how to do this and I never really wanted to.”