Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons Motorcycle Club) (7 page)

He nods his head, like he knows he’s gotten his point across, then looks to my daughter. “Nice to meet you, Cara.”

“You too, Adam.”

He pushes back his chair, stands, and returns to his table. The four of them leave moments later.

I try not to look at the beautiful woman by Adam’s side.

Every time I’ve seen him, he’s been with a different woman. Are they so replaceable to him? Just like I was. It hits me just how much he’s changed, how much I don’t know about him anymore.

He really isn’t Adam anymore.

He’s Rake.

When Cara and I finish eating, I go to pay the bill, only to find out it’s already been settled.

Is that his way of saying sorry?

I don’t know.

I don’t want to think about him at all.

A
NYONE
who says men don’t gossip is lying.

After getting phone calls from both Anna and Lana, demanding to know why they had to find out from Rake that I have a daughter, I told them I’d meet them tonight to catch up. Not over alcohol, but dinner instead. I told them I’d cook, so they could come over to my house.

I decided to make sushi, because I remembered Anna loved it, and some homemade spring rolls and a few other bites. Cara and I often cook together, trying new recipes. She loves to help bake cakes and other sweets, so we both made a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing for dessert. After finishing up in the kitchen, I take a quick shower and get dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that’s tight around my boobs and a little loose around my stomach. I give Cara a bath and put her in her favorite pink pajamas.

“Your hair is getting so long,” I tell her as I gently brush it.

“I know,” she beams. “I like it. It’s like yours, almost.”

I smile at that. “It is. Maybe it will get even longer than mine.”

A knock at the door has me standing up and putting the brush down. “That will be them. Perfect timing.”

I walk to the front door with Cara next to me. Unlocking the door, I open it to see the beautiful faces of Anna and Lana, one of them carrying a bottle of wine, the other a wrapped gift.

“Hello,” I say, smiling and opening the door wider. They step inside, each giving me a warm hug and a hello before turning their attention to Cara.

“Aren’t you beautiful? I’m Anna, and this is for you,” Anna says, giving Cara the gift. Cara, with wide eyes, thanks them, then turns to me for approval.

“You can open it if you like,” I tell her, trying to hide a smile. “You guys didn’t have to do that.”

“We wanted to,” Lana says, holding up the bottle of wine. “We bought red wine too.”

“I can see that.” I laugh. “Come on, let’s go sit down. Do you want something to eat now? Or do you want to wait until later?”

“What did you make?” Anna asks curiously, checking out the inside of my house.

“I made your favorite,” I tell her, smiling and nodding my head toward the kitchen.

Her perfectly arched eyebrows lift. “No way. You made sushi?”

I grin but don’t say anything, so she runs into the kitchen to find out for herself. I hear her cheering, which makes me laugh and Lana shake her head in amusement.

“Look, Mom! A new doll! She’s so pretty!” Cara calls out from the floor, surrounded by a pile of ripped wrapping paper. “Thank you, I love her!”

“You’re welcome, Cara,” Lana says, sitting down on the couch. “She’s gorgeous, Bailey, looks just like you. Rake said as much.”

“He did?” I ask, getting caught off guard at her bringing him up so soon.

“Yeah,” Anna says, walking into the living room with a plateful of sushi. “He couldn’t stop raving about her. And holy shit, this sushi is amazing.” She pauses and cringes. “I mean, holy crap.”

“Make yourself at home Anna,” Lana says, sarcasm lacing her tone.

I laugh. “My home is your home, as always.”

Anna sits down and picks up a piece from her plate. “This place is great, Bailey.”

I look around at my white walls and cream furniture. “Thank you. How have you guys been? Adam said you were giving him a hard time.”

Anna smirks, a devilish look taking over her expression. “He can’t choose who we’re friends with. You’re not just some random chick; you’re an old friend, and he’s just going to have to get used to the fact that you’re going to be a permanent fixture in our lives now.”

“You guys . . .” I say softly, a rush of emotions hitting me.

“Oh, don’t get all mushy on me,” Anna says, smiling. “Lana, I think we need some wine.”

I stand up. “I’ll get some glasses.”

I head into the kitchen and return with three wineglasses, a corkscrew, and a juice box for Cara. I turn the radio on for some background music, then return to my seat.

Lana pours the wine. “To not letting men win!”

We clink glasses, then each take a gulp.

*   *   *

After Cara falls asleep and I carry her to bed, the interrogation begins.

“Why didn’t you tell us you had a daughter?”

“Who is the father?”

“How long were you with him for?”

“Is there any chance she’s Rake’s?”

I hold my hands up. “Calm down, both of you. I didn’t tell you because I knew I’d have to answer a million questions about who her father is, and to be honest I wasn’t ready for Rake to find out.”

Lana looks a little contrite, but Anna simply says, “Tell us!”

I put my glass down on the table. “After Adam and I broke up, I moved away from home and did a little traveling. Worked in bars, or whatever I could find at the time.”

Really, I’d been fucked-up. I was in so much emotional pain. I would do anything to get rid of it, anything to distract myself. Usually, I found my distraction with other men.

“I ended up in a town called Channon. It’s a country town about ten hours from here. Anyway, I met this guy, Wade. We ended up sleeping together a couple of times, and I got pregnant with Cara. Things didn’t work out, so I moved back here. That’s it. There’s no big story, and she isn’t Adam’s child.”

Anna looks slightly disappointed, like she expected a better story.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Anna,” I tell her, laughing quietly.

“Where is Wade now?” Lana asks, studying me curiously.

“In Channon,” I explain. “He doesn’t have any contact with Cara. Just another deadbeat dad.”

Lana and Anna both nod in understanding. I know neither of them had their fathers in their lives when they were growing up either, just like Cara won’t. I had my dad with me all the time, up until I was thirteen, when he and my mom divorced. After that, he visited every weekend until he passed away from a heart attack when I was sixteen.

“I was kind of hoping she was Rake’s,” Anna admits, cheeks flushing guiltily. “I don’t know why, but I was.”

I roll my eyes at that. “She isn’t.”

This isn’t some romance where everything works out in the end, and the hero and the heroine end up together in a happily ever after only someone with a big imagination could formulate.

“She looks just like you,” Anna muses out loud. “She’s stunning.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, smiling. “She definitely is something. Do you two want something else to drink?” I ask, looking at the now-empty bottle of wine.

“What do you have?” Anna asks, standing up.

My lips kick up at the corners in a wolfish grin. “We could make some cocktails.”

“I like this idea,” Lana says, rubbing her hands together. We all head into the kitchen, and I pull out whatever alcohol I can find, while the girls look for other ingredients in the fridge.

“Remember when we used to do this before parties in high school?” Anna says, washing the fruit. “Everyone had to make a drink, and then we all had to taste it, to see who could come up with the best one.”

“Except Adam used to make them disgusting on purpose, just so we had to drink it,” I say, smiling fondly. “He’d put peanut butter and stuff like that in them. It was gross.”

Anna and Lana laugh. “Yeah, but he used to drink yours for you, Bailey, so it was only us who had to suffer!”

I open the half-filled bottle of vodka and smirk. “Girlfriend benefits.”

“I’m his sister!” Anna fires back, her shoulder shaking with laughter. “Where’s the loyalty?”

“Exactly,” Lana adds. “His job was to harass your life.”

“Well, he succeeded,” Anna grumbles, but the smile playing on her lips says otherwise. Adam is a great big brother, there’s no doubt about that. He always treated Anna like gold.

“Do you have any mint?” Lana asks, concentrating on slicing the lime thinly.

“I don’t think so,” I reply. “Do you feel like Anna has the upper hand here? She used to work at Knox’s Tavern and she’s a scientist.”

“And she drinks the most out of all of us,” Lana says, nudging Anna with her shoulder. “Yeah, she has us at an advantage.”

“Wait, did this turn into a competition? I thought we were just talking about old times, but if we’re going to relive them, game on!” Anna cheers.

“Who is going to be the judge?” I ask, finding the whole thing amusing.

“Arrow—”

“Hell no,” I cut her off. “That’s not fair.”

“Well someone has to come and pick us up,” Lana says, shrugging. “Whoever it is can be roped into being the judge. We won’t tell him whose drink is whose.”

“Deal!” Anna calls out, doing a little dance.

“We’re so mature,” I muse out loud, pulling out the blender and mentally selecting ingredients. If it’s Adam picking them
up, I know he loves citrus flavors, so I’ll definitely do something with orange or lemon.

“You’re a teacher,” Lana points out. “Educating the youth of today to become tomorrow’s leaders.”

“Yeah, well, I’m off duty,” I huff.

“And you’re about to get schooled,” Anna teases, then tilts her head to the side, her blond hair falling over her cheek. “I feel like we need a time limit or something. This competition is getting fierce.”

“Ten minutes!” I call out, slamming my hand down on the table. “And tell whoever is picking you up to get his ass over here for taste testing.”

“Wait,” Lana says, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. “What does the winner get?”

Anna looks contemplative. “One favor. The winner gets one favor from each of the losers.”

“Like a marker?” Lana asks, smirking. “You’ve been hanging around bikers too long.”

Anna rolls her eyes. “Look who’s talking. Come on, with the amount of shit we get into, these will be useful.”

“And will probably get you into trouble with your men,” I add casually.

At least it will if I win.

We all look at each other and nod.

Game on.

*   *   *

When Adam comes to the door to pick up the girls, I’m not surprised. While having him in my space makes me feel a tad uneasy, the fact that he’s the one who came definitely works to my advantage.

“You want me to do what?” he asks, eyeing us all individually, then staring skeptically at the three glasses in front of him. When he first hesitantly stepped into my house, he looked around, taking in the place. Now, however, he has an
Are you fucking kidding me?
look on his face, one I shouldn’t find sexy. But I do. In fact, his adorably confused expression makes me almost want to forget that I hate him and fall into his arms. Almost.

“Fuck. I feel like I’m back in high school. You’re all fuckin’ nuts,” he says, running his hand over his jawline. I see the way his lips twitch though, and I know he’s finding this amusing as hell. So we ignore his complaints and just stare at him expectantly.

“What did you guys bet?” he asks, gaze lingering on me before picking up the first glass.

“Don’t you worry about that,” Anna says in a saccharine sweet tone. “It’s between us women. Just take a sip of each, you don’t have to drink the whole thing.”

“Like I would,” he growls, then takes a sip of the pink liquid. I watch his throat work as he swallows, then he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He places the glass down, then picks up the second one, which is mine. The orange liquid swishes around the rim of the glass as he takes a small sip, then a bigger one. I try to hide my smile, knowing that there is no way I’m losing this stupid, childish, yet hilarious bet. The third glass is Lana’s. Adam sips it, then puts it down, making a face. He points to my glass. “This one is hands down the best.”

Anna and Lana yell “Come on!” and other shouts of complaint while Adam and I just watch each other. Amusement dances in his eyes, and he knows that I know exactly what he likes, and I used it to my advantage.

“Hope you won something good,” he rumbles, then looks toward the hallway. “Where’s Cara?”

Why did he want to know?

“Asleep,” I reply a little hesitantly. “She’s fast asleep.”

He nods once, then looks away, giving me an unguarded moment to stare at his handsome profile. His five o’clock shadow has me wanting to run my fingers over his cheeks and his jaw. He’s the same, but he isn’t. More angled. More ripped. He’s harder. And not just on the outside.

What has your life been like, Adam?

“Women, let’s go,” he says, looking around my living room once more. “I’m hungry. I say we stop for food.”

“Bailey made us the best dinner,” Anna tells him. “You would have loved it.”