SOULLESS (Black Thorns, #2) (29 page)
Read SOULLESS (Black Thorns, #2) Online
Authors: Franca Storm
Grit lifts his chin at me as he stands talkin’ with some of the boys and Sin up at the makeshift bar we set up. As I reach the patio doors leading back into the house, I catch sight of Smiter and Halle looking like they’re going at it, in one hell of a fight. I look away. Ain’t my business what’s going on there.
Can’t see Runner anywhere now. After his speech he’s probably making sure he keeps outta my way for a bit. Fucking guy and his damn jokes.
I step through the doors with Rox, into the dining room, where some more of our guests are chilling and eating the buffet we got set up.
Dealer steps up to us and asks, “She okay?”
“I’m fine,” Rox snaps, before I can get a word out.
Dealer shoots me a knowing look, getting what’s up with her.
I’m ‘bout to keep going when she suddenly cries out.
Instantly, I put her down.
I see her grabbing her belly urgently.
“Babe? What?”
Dealer’s eyes dart ‘round her worriedly and then we both see it at the same time.
A puddle on the floor.
“My…my water broke…I…” she panics, looking all flustered and embarrassed.
I sweep her back up. “It’s time, Rox. Baby’s coming.”
“The baby’s coming?” Runner yells, rushing over to us outta nowhere.
“Let’s go,” Dealer says. “Wanna take your truck, or mine?” he asks me.
“Yours. I wanna take care of my wife, not worry ‘bout driving.”
He nods, getting it.
“Tell Grit and Sin to watch over shit here, yeah?” I say to Runner.
“Will do.”
***
“Jesus Christ! It’s been ages! What the fuck’s going on in there!” I growl, fisting my hands in my hair, as I pace up and down the damn hospital corridor.
Dealer eyes me from the chair he’s sitting in. “First kid takes longer in most cases.”
“They said complications were happening! That’s why they kicked me outta the room! Fuck!”
“It’s cuz you wouldn’t stay back,” Runner chimes in. He’s sitting beside Dealer and Smiter’s beside
him
, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair, looking as anxious as I feel.
Heavy footsteps coming down the hall catch my attention and I look to see basically the entire club making its way towards us with Grit leading the way.
“Anything?” he asks as they all reach us.
I just shake my head.
A bunch of the boys pat my back and squeeze my shoulders and shit, tryin’ to comfort me.
Dealer blows out a breath and gets to his feet. “She’s gonna be fine. Kid’s gonna be fine.” Even as he says it, I can tell he’s tryin’ to convince himself of it.
“‘Course she is,” Smiter says. “Girl’s tough as nails. This ain’t gonna be no different.”
I wanna believe it. I wanna believe Rox and our kid are gonna be fine. But, it’s just, we been close before to this and it all got ripped away. And with that haunting me, I can’t see the optimistic side of it here. All I feel is fear and dread. Cuz if something goes wrong this time, if I lose her or the kid, I know I won’t survive it. Not this time. Jesus fuck. Why can’t things just work out for us with no goddamn obstacles getting in the way?
“Hey!” a voice calls to me.
I peer through the boys crowding ‘round me to see Sin making his way over.
“Thought you were watching the house?”
“Locked up. Couldn’t wait there after you called me ‘bout there being issues with Rox and the kid. What’s happening? Any news?”
“Not yet,” Runner cuts in, saving me from answering.
Everyone falls silent then and it’s suffocating. I can barely breathe through it.
“Mr. Barron!” a chirpy female voice calls out suddenly.
I spin to see a doctor standing outside the door to Rox’s room. Middle-aged woman decked out in scrubs.
I push through the boys, almost falling over my own damn boots in my haste. “Yeah? Is she—?”
“She’s fine now. And so is the baby.”
“I…what?”
She gestures for me to follow her inside the room.
But I’m frozen, not sure if this is real or just a trick, or something.
She’s okay? Rox is okay? They’re both okay? For real?
“Come on,” Dealer says, his hands on my shoulders. He pushes me forward and my body wakes the fuck up and starts moving on its own.
He lets go of me and hangs back with the boys as I walk into the room.
“Neil,” Rox calls to me.
Jesus Christ.
Wow.
I can’t believe it.
It’s like a damn mirage or something. It don’t feel real, the picture I’m seeing in front of me right now.
Never thought the day would come.
There ain’t no words to describe what I’m feeling at the sight of my wife sitting up in bed…with our baby in her arms.
Caught in some sort of daze, I make my way over to her.
My hands are shaking as I reach out and I can feel emotion I ain’t used to ‘bout to take me over. Shit, I can’t get a grip.
And I don’t care right now.
“Do you want to hold her?” she asks me, her tired eyes gazing at me, so fucking happy.
“Her?” I croak out.
She grins. “Yeah, baby. Just like you wanted.”
“Fuck,” is the next thing outta my mouth. Great. I’m already a crappy influence on my newborn daughter.
I take her from Rox carefully. I can’t believe how small she is. How delicate and fragile.
Big blue eyes just like Rox’s and mine open and close slowly as I gaze down at her.
I look back at Rox and see that she’s crying now.
“Babe?”
“Sorry,” she says, wiping her eyes quickly. “Just…seeing you like that…with our daughter…it’s…I’m so happy, Neil.”
I shift our daughter carefully into the crook of my right arm and sit down on the bed beside Rox. I wrap my free arm ‘round her and pull her into me, kissing her sweat-drenched hair. “I know, Rox. Me too.”
We stay like this for a while, ‘til Dealer walks into the room with the boys all crowding in behind him.
Dealer walks over to me and kisses our daughter. “Beautiful.” He eyes Rox, getting emotional too. “You did so well, princess.”
“Girl or boy?” Runner asks.
“Girl,” I tell him.
“Oh, we got trouble now,” Smiter jokes and all the boys start laughing like a bunch of hyenas.
“She got a name yet?” Dealer asks, once they calm down a bit.
Rox gives me a look. “You tell them.”
“Yeah? What we talked ‘bout?”
“If we’d had a boy it’d be a different story,” she tells me.
“How’s that?” Grit asks, curious.
Rox rolls her eyes. “He wanted to name him
Neil Junior
. I told him there was no way in hell
that
was happening.
”
“Jesus,” Dealer laughs.
“So?” Runner presses.
Rox raises her eyebrows at me expectantly.
I look down at my daughter, then out at the boys filling the room and scaring the shit outta the two nurses milling ‘round in the background. It must look fucking scary to civilians to see a gang of leather clad bikers standing ‘round.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way now.
All of ‘em.
Rox. My daughter. The club. Dealer. Sin.
They’re my family.
I smile at my wife.
Our
family.
Cradling our daughter closer, I clear my throat, just managing to bite back my emotion, as I announce, “Her name’s Ava. Ava Barron.”
STANDALONE NOVELS
Contemporary Romance
BLACK THORNS SERIES
Motorcycle Romance
THE REDEMPTION SERIES
Romance Thrillers/Romantic Erotica
Over The Line (Redemption, #1)
THE BLEEDING LOVE SERIES
Romance Thrillers
All Or Nothing (The Bleeding Love Series, Part One)
Battle Born (The Bleeding Love Series, Part Two)
Love’s Lies (The Bleeding Love Series, Part Three)
THE TWISTED DESTINY SAGA
Paranormal Romance
Fated Desire (The Twisted Destiny Saga, #1)
Fated Betrayal (The Twisted Destiny Saga, #2)
Fated Ties (The Twisted Destiny Saga, #3)
Fated Love (The Twisted Destiny Saga, #4)
Fated Blood (The Twisted Destiny Saga, #5)
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About the Author
Franca was born in Surrey, England and currently lives in Niagara Falls, Canada with her husband and their labrador, Rocky.
She is a long-time lover of erotica and romance novels, especially those with sexy-as-sin alpha males. She decided to try her hand at writing her own and writing romance is now her obsession and the perfect way to put her dirty mind to good use!
Her writing spans many different sub-genres of romance: contemporary, biker romance, paranormal romance, new adult, romantic erotica and romance suspense. She’s got a ton of stories to tell and many more works up her sleeve.
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