Born Into Destiny: A Forsaken Sinners MC Series Novella (4 page)

Chapter 6

30 Weeks Pregnant

Zane

I’m on my way to meet up with Mack. We need to figure out what we’re going to do about Dani’s father. When we met with him that morning, he told us he needed to talk to Dani, but still seemed hesitant to tell us what it was about.

Mack was pissed because he has had nothing to do with her and now he wants to show up like it’s his right to talk to her. He even told him that, said that
he
was her father, not him. Daniel was lucky we were even giving him this chance to tell us what was so important instead of throwing his ass to the curb or putting him to ground for leaving Dani after her mother died. I still don’t understand how he could do that. I don’t care how devastated you are about losing your wife; you should never abandon your child.

Daniel finally told us why he needed to speak with her. He said that her mother had cancer—they’d found out when she was pregnant with Dani. That part I already knew from when we were kids and Dani told me a little about what happened. But her dad went further. He was worried because the doctor who treated her mother said it could be genetic. He wanted to make sure Dani was okay and wanted her to get tested.

At first, I worried that he was right, that we needed to get her in ASAP, with or without her knowledge of why. But Mack told me that the doctors would have noticed it already if she had cancer like her mother. We still want her to be tested, but we don’t think it’s something that needs to happen right now, and we most certainly don’t want to worry or stress her out while she’s pregnant—though I may mention it the next time we see her doctor, maybe while Dani is setting up her next appointment.

Now we have to figure out what we’re going to do about Daniel. We told him that we would discuss it. He knows she’s pregnant, though I have no idea how, and that makes him think it’s imperative to get it done right this fucking second. He said he’s not leaving until either she gets tested so he knows she’ll be all right or until he talks to her.

Pulling up to the club, I park my bike next to Mack’s before heading inside.

No one is in the bar area, but I didn’t expect them to be since it’s still early. We may be bikers who like to drink and have a good time, but even we have standards.

Heading right to Mack’s office, I don’t bother to knock before entering. When the door opens, I see KitKat trying to right her shirt and skirt. Looks like someone was gettin’ lucky this mornin’. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve had good morning sex. Probably before that shit with The Street Kings. Now I probably won’t get that back until after the baby’s born. Or maybe I won’t. Fuck, I hope it’s not all true what they say about your sex life going downhill after having a kid.

Mack interrupts my worries by clearing his throat. “Out,” he says, looking at me, but I know he’s talking to Kit. I wonder what’s going on with them. I’ve seen them together a few times, and I know for a fact that no one besides Mack fucks her, but he doesn’t seem to be attached to her because he fucks other chicks when the opportunity presents itself. I’ll have to ask him about it when shit quiets down more. I really want to see him happy and settle down. He’s not old, but he’s old enough that you’d think he’d want to find a woman and keep her.

When Kit closes the door behind her, I smirk at Mack. “Shut the fuck up and sit down. I want this shit dealt with and now,” Mack growls. Obviously his morning fuck didn’t help his mood any. He can be a grizzly bear in the morning. Maybe I should start calling him Grizzly. That thought makes me laugh, but thankfully Mack doesn’t comment.

Sitting down in front of his desk I ask, “So what do you want to do with him? I don’t think he took any of our threats to heart, so maybe we need to kick it up a notch to scare him outta town.” I don’t want to have to kill him, even though I’m sure Dani wouldn’t care. I just worry that later on she would. Maybe when our child is grown or maybe she would decide to contact him and find out that I was a part of his demise. Would she hate me?

Mack looks deep in thought, probably thinking the same thing that just went through my mind. “Set up another meet with him. We’ll lay it out for him one last time. Tell him we’ll make sure she’s taken care of, but on our terms, not his. We’ll give him twenty-four hours to vacate or else,” Mack says, not looking happy about the
or else
part, but I know he’ll do anything to make sure that Dani is protected, even from her birth father. We both would.

***

We’re meeting Daniel at the clubhouse this time, hoping that by having our brothers surround us, he’ll finally get the message to leave and never come back. The brothers may not know the specifics about what’s going on, but they’ll stand behind us no matter what and will follow our lead. They don’t have to know who Daniel is or what he wants, though I’m betting they’ll make the connection pretty quick. Dani does look a lot like her father.

Daniel walks into the bar at exactly one o’clock, looking around with what looks like confidence, but I can see the fear and uncertainty on his face. Good, maybe this won’t be hard to do after all.

Mack walks up to him and tells him to follow him into his office. Daniel follows Mack and I follow Daniel. I glance around the club and see all our brothers looking on with hard looks, but I can tell they’ve figured it out already. They know who this man is.

I close the door a little harder than I needed to when we all get into the office, but I get a smug satisfaction out of seeing Daniel jump from fear, but he tries to cover it up by coughing. Fucking idiot, he really has no idea how transparent he is. Glancing at Mack, I see a small smirk on his face so I know that he saw it as well.

When Daniel sits down in the only chair in front of Mack’s desk, I stand right behind him, hopefully scaring him further. “All right, let’s get down to business,” Mack says with an edge in his voice.

“Have you told Danielle yet?” Daniel asks in what I assume he thinks is a hard voice, but he’s not fooling anyone but himself.

“No, I haven’t, and I don’t plan to,” Mack says. Daniel tries to speak, but Mack holds his hand up, silencing him. “You don’t have a say in anything concerning Dani. She’s
my
daughter and she’s having Blaze’s baby. You…you are nothing to her but a man who left her when she needed you most. So here’s what you’re going to do.” Mack pauses for a short moment, looking at Daniel with threatening eyes. “When you walk out of my club, you’re going to pack your shit and you’re going to leave town. You won’t ever try to contact Dani and you won’t ever try to see her. You will leave California and never come back.” I wait for him to continue because I know there’s more. If not, I’ll be sure to add my say. “If I find out you’re even within one hundred miles of Dani, I’ll find you and I’ll bury you where no one will ever find your body. That’s if I decide to leave enough of your body to find. You feel me?” Mack finishes.

When Daniel doesn’t make a move to agree, I place my hand on his shoulder and squeeze tightly. “Do. You. Fucking. Understand?” I growl, squeezing tighter with each word.

“
Yes!
Yes, I understand,” Daniel says through the pain.

I squeeze once more to emphasize what we are telling him before releasing him. “Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. Now get the fuck outta my club and never show your face around here again,” Mack says, then I haul Dani’s piece of shit father out of the chair and push him out the door, knowing our brothers will make sure he finds his way to the door. We’ve already told Slayer to follow him to make sure he follows through and leaves. If he doesn’t, he has orders to bring him back here so we can get rid of him ourselves.

Chapter 7

32 Weeks Pregnant

Dani

When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t feeling well. I don’t know if I’m just uncomfortable or if it’s something else, but I just don’t feel right. My head is hurting, my back aches, and I’m dizzy.

Walking downstairs, I head into the kitchen, hoping that something to eat will at least cure one of my ailments.

I was expecting to see Zane somewhere down here since he wasn’t upstairs, but the house is empty. Looking outside, I see his bike is gone, so he must have left to either go to the club or he’s gone to work.

He’s decided he wants to start a security company, so he’s been working on setting it up the past couple of weeks. I know Mack and Slayer have been helping him and I think a couple brothers from surrounding charters have come to help as well. I think it’s a great idea and am so proud of him, though I wish he were home. I’m in my last trimester of pregnancy now and this will be all the alone time we’ll have before we bring our child home.

Sitting at the table, I try to eat a bowl of cereal, but it’s just not tasting good. Maybe I’ll just stop at the café on my way in to the shop and pick up a green tea and bagel.

Going back upstairs, I dress in a pair of cut-off yoga shorts, a white tank-top that is probably too tight to be decent on a pregnant woman, and zip up one of Zane’s black hoodies. Putting my hair into a ponytail, then pulling it through an old baseball cap, I’m ready to go. At least I’m wearing comfortable clothing. Maybe with this on, my body will finally relax and get the idea to follow suit. God, I can only fucking hope.

By the time I make it into the shop, Louie is already with his first appointment and Sara is on the phone, probably booking more business. That should make me happy, but I just can’t get out of this black mood today. Maybe I should just go home, sleep the day away. I bet I’d feel better if I did that.

Sara interrupts my musings of playing hookie. “Morning, babe! Don’t you look cute today,” Sara says, too fucking chipper, if you ask me.

“Cute? I look fucking fat and uncomfortable, Sara, so don’t try to sugarcoat this shit, it will only piss me off.” I would feel bad for my tone, but I just can’t find it in myself to care. I see her face fall at my words, which makes me want to cry. Fucking hormones! “I’m sorry, Sara, I didn’t mean that,” I say, blinking away tears.

She comes out from behind the desk and pulls me in for a hug. “Yes, you did, and that’s okay. I know how shitty you’ve been feeling lately. If you need a punching bag, hopefully only verbally though, I’m your girl.” She ends with a smile full of pity. I hate when people pity me, but I already feel bad about being a bitch to her, I don’t need to add to that. Then I’ll not only hear about it from Toby, but I’ll really start crying and will probably drown everything in the building.

“No, I’m fine, really. So what do I have today? Please tell me I’m not booked solid,” I say, walking into my station with Sara following.

“Actually, you only have one appointment today. The one you had scheduled for this afternoon called to reschedule, but we just got a call for a walk-in. He should be here any minute, actually.” Well, that’s something. Maybe I really will go home after this appointment. I’m sure Louie can handle any other walk-ins that may come in.

“All right, just call for me when he gets here. Do you know what he wants?” I ask, going through my supplies to make sure I’m stocked since I didn’t do it last night.

“The only thing he said was that it was a sleeve, but he’s willing to do it in sessions,” Sara answers before she walks back to the front of the shop.

Usually right about now I’d be jumping for joy and praying that I get to design whatever it is they want, but today, all I’m hoping for is that he has a stencil all ready for me and it’s tribal or something easy.

Ten minutes later, I hear Sara call from the front that my appointment is here. Getting up from my stool takes a couple of tries, and once I’m standing, I have to grab onto the customer chair to steady myself. Yup, definitely going home after this.

I walk into the front and see a guy standing in front of the glass cases hanging on the wall that displays our flash tattoo designs. I can’t see his face, but he’s tall, tan, and muscular. He’s wearing a hat that’s backwards and a PT tank top.

When I clear my throat, he starts to turn toward me. “If you’re ready, we can head—” I begin, but when I get a look at his face, I’m speechless. His eyes and the set of his mouth are so familiar to me, but I almost don’t want to ask his name for fear that I’m wrong.

“Hello there, you must be the infamous Dani. I—” I cut him off.

“Jax?” I ask, both praying he’ll confirm it and hoping I’m wrong. Jax became my best friend after Zane left for college. He was always there for me when I needed him. God, I haven’t seen him since my grandmother’s funeral. Is it really him?

“Uh, yeah, how did you know?” Jax asks, really focusing his eyes on my face now, trying to see if he knows me.

I don’t give him time to try and figure it out though before I leap into his arms and cry. “Jax! I can’t believe it’s you,” I sob, holding him tightly, afraid he’ll disappear if I don’t hold onto him.

I’ve thought of him a lot over the years, but never tried to find him. I just wanted my past to be just that; the past. I wanted to move on and be done with all that shit, but seeing him now, I realize how much I’ve missed him. Before I left for college, I heard he was down in Florida, so I have no idea why he’s here.

Jax is stunned silent for a couple of seconds, either because he has no idea who the crazy pregnant woman is that’s clinging to him for dear life or because he figured out who I am and can’t believe it either.

Finally, he snaps out of it and pushes away from me, but not far, just enough so he can lean down and look into my eyes. “Danielle, is that you?” he says in disbelief. All I can do is nod my head, but that’s enough for him. He wraps his arms around me again and holds me so tight I lose my breath, but I don’t care. I can’t fucking believe he’s here in my shop!

The sound of someone clearing their throat breaks us out of our happy reunion. “Someone care to tell me what the fuck is going on out here?” Louie sounds pissed. Shit, I forgot he was here. I pull out of Jax’s arms, but not far enough away that I can’t put my arm around him. I don’t want to let him go, I’ve missed him so much.

Looking from Jax to Louie, then back to Jax, I say, “Louie, this is Jaxon. We went to high school together and were best friends,” I say in way of explanation, though it’s not his fucking business, but I’m in a sharing mood. Anything that will get him off my back and let me catch up with Jax.

Louie, of course, having to argue with me about everything, says, “I thought Blaze was your best friend.”

Cutting my eyes to him, I give him a hard look. “He was. Until he left to go to college, or the Marines, as it turned out. Jaxon and I started hanging out my junior year and stayed in touch when he left for college. Unlike some people,” I add that last part quietly, not really meaning for everyone else to hear, but Jax catches it. When I look up at him, he gives me a confused look, but I just shake my head and whisper, “I’ll tell you about it later.”

Not needing to explain myself further, I pull Jax behind me toward my station. I want to be alone and know what he’s been up to, how he’s been, and why he’s here in California. I hope he lives here and isn’t just visiting. It would devastate me to just get him back in my life, only to lose him again.

***

Jax ended up not getting his tattoo today, settling for just sitting in the back room with me talking. He told me about Florida and that he left there about six months ago to move here. He’s currently working a private security job that’s only for a year, but he’s hoping to find something so he can stay. He said even before he knew I was here he wanted to stay, he liked it here, but now having found me, he didn’t think he’d be able to leave California. That news made me happy.

I told him about Zane, leaving out the bad parts, and just said that after my grandmother died, I tried college but couldn’t stay there, so I came here. I told him about the MC and about all the amazing people I’ve met. How they’re like my family.

Jax knows about my mother dying and my father leaving. He obviously knows about my grandmother dying and now knew that Zane went into the military, so I was pretty much alone. But I assured him that as soon as I moved here, I met Mack and everyone else, and they became my family.

“Why didn’t you just call me? You know I would have come home or, shit, at least offered you a place to crash at my place in Florida,” Jax says when I’m done telling him everything.

“I just needed a fresh start, Jax. I’m sorry, I hope that doesn’t upset you. It wasn’t personal, and to be quiet blunt, I really wasn’t thinking about anyone or anything, except getting the hell outta Dodge.” I really hope he understands. It would kill me if he was mad or hurt that I didn’t confide in him.

He smiles and grabs my hand. “I get it. Sometimes, you just have to start over and do things for yourself,” he says, complete understanding in his eyes. I smile back and squeeze his hand. “I’ve missed you so much, Jax,” I say, tears threatening to fall again, but I push them back.

“I’ve missed you too, Danielle,” he replies, leaning forward and pulling me into another hug.