Forty-Seven
"What the hell makes you think you'll get anything out o' me other than a bullet in your goddamn head?"
Archie fought to hold his head up weakly, one side of his face a puckered mess of still raw burns from the explosion he'd found himself caught up in and the other just battered and bruised. "What h-happened … back at the cookhouse … I didn't know-"
"What? That your club, oh, just happened to take my old lady hostage?" Chibs snapped. "Held a gun to her head, terrorised her, beat the shit out o' her?"
"It wasn't m-me …"
"She's fucking PREGNANT, ya scummy bastard!" the furious Samcro president roared, a gloved hand shooting out to wrap around the other man's throat and tightening like a vise. "I swore to mesel' if we made it out, I'd wipe your fucking stain o' a club off the face o' the earth for what that lass went through. That was before I knew she was carrying my child!"
The bulging eyes may have been a result of his target struggling for air, but there was no doubting the shock and horror that had crossed that ruin of a face staring back at him.
"I … d-didn't … know!" Archie choked out, coughing and spluttering when the grip on his throat finally let up just enough to let him gulp down a few ragged breaths. "Is she … Is the baby …? I s-swear I didn't know, man!"
Chibs ignored the question, finally letting go his hold completely and taking a couple of steps back to try to rein in his temper. "Why her?" he demanded. "Hell o' a coincidence, don't you think?"
"I k-know how it looks," Archie managed, still coughing and trying to clear his throat. "But far as I know, it was just … just wrong place, wrong time. Mack needed a medic. Any medic. He knew he'd fucked up going behind the club's back. Getting help for Johnny was … I dunno, his idea of damage control."
Chibs shook his head incredulously at that. "Not exactly what you'd call successful, was it?" he said. "When you're in a hole, traditionally it's time to stop bloody digging!"
Archie hung his shaven head. "I know. I … I know. I should have kept a closer eye on Mack. I knew he was a risk. Getting into meth, trying to get into guns – Johnny wanted us to be taken more seriously and Mack egged him on, but it scared the shit outta some of our guys. We ain't the Sons, no matter what a few of them might like to think. Keeping it going when things got tight was all Mack. Even Johnny knew when it was time to shut down. But Mack … He always had to push things too far. Ain't surprised it got him killed in the end. I just … I guess I just hoped maybe he wouldn't take us all down with him."
"And yet here you are."
Defeated blue eyes lifted from the floor to meet the Samcro president's dark glare, resigned to whatever fate lay in store. "Here I am."
Gazing down at the scan picture in her hand as she curled up on the couch, Eden felt like the reality of her situation was only just starting to sink in and she traced a fingertip lightly over the image.
She was going to be a mom to an actual tiny human entirely dependent on her.
It wasn't something she'd really thought about, not with the kind of startling clarity now crashing in on her. Vague notions of children, sure – that whole sometime line. And then there'd been the unease that had crept in when Shane had asked her to marry him. She had to admit she'd been caught up in the fairytale he'd spun, but with hindsight, she realised the doubts had been there long before their relationship had imploded.
It was the assumption that it was all a given that had rankled for her. The unspoken acceptance of the status quo. The big wedding in front of family, friends and colleagues, the exotic honeymoon, and then life as the wife of a soon-to-be eminent surgeon. She wouldn't go back to work, of course. Why would she? It couldn't possibly be that she loved her job, her independence. No, no, it just made sense that the more successful of the two of them would be the breadwinner. Besides, Shane had always wanted a big family – making up for his own difficult upbringing. The little lady would be kept busy popping out kids and playing house …
Much as her world had spiralled out of control before crumbling in on itself and threatening to destroy her, Eden now knew that the fizzling out of her engagement had in fact been something of a relief. Oh, she'd been a mess, all things considered – feeling betrayed, abandoned, distraught at being left to face everything else she was going through alone. But even then, a tiny voice had been whispering in her ear that it was for the best.
That voice had only gotten louder since then.
She had loved Shane once. Or at least had been convinced that she loved him. But maybe it was just familiarity. Going along with what had become comfortable. Easy.
Except that comfort had already been slipping away. She didn't want to give up her job. She didn't care if Shane ended up making millions, she didn't want to be entirely dependent on him or anyone else for that matter. And she definitely didn't want to be left with a houseful of children while he kept chasing his dream career, trotting her out when he wanted to play the family man in front of anyone it paid to cosy up to.
And for some reason, nothing Shane said or did could ease her fears. Not that she voiced them quite so plainly. But, for all she'd tried to convince herself he was everything a woman could possibly want … The pieces of the puzzle just didn't quite fit.
It was like Shane only wanted what he thought others expected him to have.
She hadn't been able to put her finger on it that clearly back then, but that was it in a nutshell. She had never actually felt like the love of his life – just another box to tick off. Devoted wife? Check. Three or four well-behaved, seen-and-not-heard children? I'll get right on it.
Now, knowing how he had let her down when she needed him the most, the thought of the mistake she had been prepared to make almost made Eden's blood run cold. That ring she had once worn, with its huge glittering diamond, might as well have been a ball and chain.
But once she'd taken it off … She'd never really been able to picture herself letting anyone get too close again. Finding out you had completely misplaced your trust could do that to a girl.
How things had changed all over again though.
Here she was in a still relatively new relationship – with a married biker whose criminal record was probably older than her – with no ring, no prospect of a wedding, and a pregnancy neither of them had banked on.
And yet, leaving aside the added trauma of everything that had gone down with Mack and the waves of fear and guilt that kept sweeping over her without warning, she was somehow happier than she'd ever been.
Or at least she would be if her brother would pull his head out of his ass.
"Your Uncle Seth's gonna love you so much," she said softly, her hand grazing her stomach. "He just needs to give your daddy a chance."
Conscious of the little smile tugging at her lips as she gazed in wonder at the scan she still clutched, she couldn't help picturing the look on Chibs' face as he'd stared at the monitor back in that hospital exam room. Stunned as she knew he had been when she'd broken the news about the baby, she didn't have to doubt how he felt now – not when it was written so clearly across every inch of his scarred face.
The big bad Samcro president was already utterly devoted to his unborn son or daughter.
And seeing that was all the proof Eden needed that she could trust him completely. With her heart, with her life, with being the father of her child.
She just wished Seth could see it too.
Her brother had always been there for her. Always. When she was tiny and he was the one trusted to look after her, reading to her, letting her watch him spar, teaching her to ride a bike. When their father died so suddenly and she'd cried herself to sleep in his arms every night for a week. She loved her mom, loved her sister, but Seth had always been the one she idolised. That was just the way it was.
And he had been there at the darkest time in her life, with his unfailing, unconditional, unlimited support. Even when it seemed like it would cost him everything he had.
How could he turn his back on her now?
Taking a deep breath, and before she could talk herself out of it, Eden grabbed her phone again and snapped a quick picture of the scan.
Can we talk?
She attached the picture to the text message and fired it off, adding another message as an afterthought.
Please, Uncle Seth? x
Then, while she was on a roll, she brought up another number in her contact and hit the call button – surprised when it only rang a few times before being picked up.
"Hey, mom," she said softly. "I half expected you to be busy … I know I usually call later, but I just … I just wanted to talk to you ..."
Leaning against the cabin wall, Chibs tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he blew out a slow stream of smoke from his cigarette.
"You believe this shite?" he asked his vice president, without opening his eyes. "Him getting picked up by some dead meth-head's white trash family and conveniently dumped in our laps?"
"Does actually check out," Tig shrugged. "Bug ran the plate from the van, traced it to a James Earl Cleary. That, my friend, would be the guy who had the misfortune to spawn little Jimmy-Ray Cleary. Found dead as a doornail in that shithole of a cookhouse, bullet in his back. I'm guessing someone's out for blood as payback."
"So some cracker bastards blame the War Boys for killing one of theirs – why deliver him to us?"
"Peace offering?" Tig suggested. "Word's bound to be out we're looking into the meth connection to April's death. Maybe this is their way of trying to get us to lay all the blame at another MC's door and leave them the fuck alone."
"Hmm, maybe …" Chibs mused, eyeing his brother as he took to pacing back and forth while he tried to think things through and come up with a next move. "What d'ya make o' Vane's claim he's done wi' the War Boys?"
Tig's nose wrinkly in distaste. "I dunno, man. Normally, anyone who turns their back on their club … Nah, that shit just ain't right. But in this case, we know these assholes ain't got a clue. Realising your Mickey Mouse outfit's led by a jackass out of his depth? Maybe this guy ain't as dumb as the rest of them."
Chibs acknowledged that with a little incline of his head, before pinching the bridge of his nose wearily. Fuck, he did not have the energy for this bullshit right now, resenting every second he had to spend worrying about some tinpot MC when he could be focusing on his old lady. His pregnant, most likely traumatised old lady.
"Whatever you wanna do, boss," Tig said, as if he'd read his mind. "Me and Hap can handle it, one way or the other. Get rid, or keep him here until you've had a chance to think. Keep him quiet. You can go check in with that girl of yours."
"Ah, Tiggy," Chibs said, clapping a fond hand on his shoulder. "I know you always saw yoursel' as the enforcer, the sergeant, never a leader, but how you've stepped up for me, my brother. I couldn't do any o' this without you, you know that, right?"
Tig's blue eyes shone bright at that, that little smile he got when he felt uncomfortable crossing his sharp features as he glanced away into the distance. "I got a lot to atone for," he said quietly.
Chibs considered that for a moment and then just planted a kiss on his cheek, patting his chest as he turned to walk away. Ghosts weighing heavily on the soul, that was something he understood.
Having used the ride home to try to clear his head, at least for a short time, Chibs finally pulled his bike into the driveway and let himself in, calling out to Eden to avoid startling her. Her reply that she was in the kitchen wasn't really necessary though, given that he could hear the radio playing from that part of the house, but he couldn't help smiling to see her looking at home in the place he had lived alone for so long, singing softly to herself as she stirred something on the stove that made his mouth water.
He crossed the room to wrap his arms around her from behind, kissing first her neck and then her lips when she half turned to smile at him over her shoulder.
"I promise this ain't always gonna be the way o' it, baby," he murmured, as he held her against him. "You stuck home, slaving over a hot stove while I'm out galivanting wi' the boys."
"I made chilli," Eden said wryly. "I don't think I've been consigned to a life of servitude just yet. But just a heads up, if you are hoping for some kind of domestic goddess, you picked the wrong girl, buddy."
Chibs smirked at that, letting a hand slip to give her ass a little squeeze as he stole another kiss before letting her go. "You're all the goddess I need," he grinned, before being shooed out of the way. "Can I do anything?"
"Nope, I'm nearly done. Grab a beer, pull up a seat."
Doing as he was told, Chibs shrugged off his cut and hung it over the back of a chair before sinking down at the table with a contented little sigh. "You reach out to Seth?" he asked casually, toying with the heavy gold rings on his fingers as Eden pottered around putting the finishing touches to dinner.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I did actually."
"And?"
"And he hasn't replied," Eden said lightly, keeping her attention focused on the task in hand, slicing up a loaf of fresh crusty bread.
"Babe …"
"It's okay. I just … have to wait for him to come around, right?" she said, clearly trying to keep the sadness out of her voice, but not quite pulling it off and changing the subject instead. "I did talk to my mom though."
"Yeah? How'd that go?"
"She's pretty pissed she still hasn't met you, considering you're making her a grandma again."
"Still? So she does at least know about me?"
"Oh yeah," she confirmed. "Not the whole story exactly, but I had told her there was someone I was seeing. Kinda glossed over the biker part, although I did tell her you were older."
"And she didn't come storming out here to rescue her wee girl from the big, bad man?"
"No, she said some stuff about experience that would only make me blush to repeat it and then had to hang up because she was late for cocktails with the girls."
Chibs snorted at that. "I reckon I'm gonna like your ma. So, no clutching her pearls over you suddenly being pregnant then?"
"Really not her style," Eden said, smiling when he interrupted her laying out cutlery to gently tug her down onto his lap. "I mean, she was kinda shocked, I guess. But hey, at least she took it better than Seth."
"Good," Chibs said, pressing a kiss to her temple as she laid her head on his shoulder. "As long as she don't pack the same punch …"
"I wouldn't challenge her, if I was you," his old lady shrugged teasingly. "Just in case."
