This Broken Beautiful Thing (9 page)

“
Yeah you’re right! They don’t deserve you babe. You are too good for them.” she says seriously and I smile.

“
Let’s go see what your dads up to?” She pulls me out the room and we stroll down the stairs toward the club. We head into the club and there’s a couple of people  inside, I notice a couple girls I’ve never seen before wearing really skimpy outfits  making me feel like a nun with my sun dress that hangs mid-thigh.

Anna puts her arm over my shoulders as she guides me towards the back of the bar area. We walk passed Jace who is surrounded my half naked woman , one goes to sit on his lap, she’s got
pitch black hair and her big boobs are held tightly up in a bikini with a small skirt on and strappy heels on. As soon as she sits down Jace tells her to get off and he makes eye contact with me, I laugh at his rudeness towards the woman and he smiles back at me then winks. A couple of the girls turn around to look at who’s caught his attention.

Anna pushes me towards a large door and knocks on it
. A big man opens it, I only see his chest, I look up to see Ryan smiling down at me looking ever so handsome just like his son.

“Look who came to visit me, Prez.” Ryan says as he puts his arm over my shoulder.

“I think she came to visit me
actually, Buck.” My dad chuckles waving me over.

“
Come here baby girl, meet the rest of the guys.”

I walk towards him through all the bulky men, the large room
has about thirty people in it. There are men sitting around one long table as well as men standing around the room. I eventually make my way to my father who is sitting at the head of the table in a big leather chair. He gestures for me to sit on his lap so I move to sit on one of his legs.

“
Boys, I want to officially introduce you to my baby girl, Harley.” Dad says excitedly from behind me and all the men cheer, whistle and hoot. Anna and my father start laughing and I blush.

The noise softens
. “She’s off hands to all of you!” he says in a stricter tone. I hear Ryan’s deep laugh on the opposite side of the large room.

“Beside
s Raven… of course...” my dad snickers and I raise my eyebrow looking back at him.

“She’s gorgeous
Grimm… but she doesn’t look like she belongs here." A guy standing to my right says and I can hear my father laugh from behind me.

“I think she will fit in just fine
.” someone says through the crowd, I look over to him and do a double take….Raven.

I smile at him as he winks and I mouth
, “
Thanks.
”

“B
oy’s already whipped!” another guy says and a couple of them snicker. Jace brushes them off not caring.

“Okay
, enough boys. Harley here will be working at the bar from tomorrow night, I expect you to keep an eye on her and not give her any shit.” my father says.

I look at him and raise my
eyebrows, “Really dad? I can look after myself you know, I don’t need
any
men to
“keep an eye on me”
” I say deepening my voice trying to mimic him but it doesn’t have the effect I would have liked. He looks at me and smiles.

“
Definitely Grimm’s girl.” An older man says as the crowd chuckles at my outburst.

“Harley, even if your father doesn’t tell us to keep an eye on you, we still would. You are
part of our family now and an innocent girl like you has obviously never been around this type of life for very long.” The same guy that said I was gorgeous speaks again.

He comes out from behind the crowd so I
’m able to get a good look at him. He is the same height as Jace and he’s also really well built. He has shaven blond hair with brown eyes and dark thick lashes and eyebrows. He looks about Jace’s age too. His face is striking with high cheek bones and slight stubble covering his jawline.

“Okay okay…” I say as I lift my hands up in defeat.
The men chat for a few more minutes before everyone starts to filter out the room leaving Anna, my father and I. I’m not sure where Jace has disappeared to. I need to tell my father and Anna about the baby but I don’t want to do it alone.

“Uh
guys…can I have a quick talk to you while we’re here?”  I ask them.

“Sure Harlz
.” My dad says as he sits in his seat again. Anna sits in the seat near him.

“I just need to get something quick, but wait here…
I’ll be right back.” I yell as I quickly run out the room in search for Jace.

I spot him chatting to the blond guy
who now has a baseball cap on. I quickly make my way to him and snake my hand around his arm, my head only just reaching his shoulder. He looks down at me tensing before he relaxes when he sees who it is. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his chest holding me close to him. The blond guy looks down at me and seems to be confused as to why Jace has his hands on me.

“Jace
, I need you to come with me quick.” I say looking up at him.

“Why,
what’s wrong?” he asks lifting the glass up to his lips. Before he can have a sip I take it from his hands and put it on the table near us.

“I need to talk to my dad soooo….
I need-you-to come-with me!” I repeat through gritted teeth nodding my head towards the back of the bar.

“Oh
right! I’ll be right back Hunter.” Jace says to his friend and quickly leads me back to the office.

“
Don’t leave my side okay! And don’t get angry if my dad says horrible things to me, just sit there and hold my hand okay?” I say into his chest before we head in as I quickly give him a hug.

He pulls my face up to look at him,
“I told you I’ll be here for you and I am but I won’t let anybody disrespect you…not even your father.” I nod and he opens the door and leads me inside.

My father and Anna were laughing about something when
enter, I walked over to them and sat on the other side of my father and pulled Jace close to my side. I needed contact with him, I needed the reassurance that he was there by my side because I knew I wasn’t strong or brave enough to tell my father my secret on my own. I pull his hand and put it on my lap and held onto it, he squeezed my hand giving me the assurance I needed.

“
What’s wrong babes, why’re you so nervous?” Anna says looking worried. My dad leans onto the table with his hands together looking at me also anxious. I leave Jace’s hand and hold onto my father’s rougher ones. Jace’s hand rests on the bare skin just above my knee, rubbing me softly as I continue to talk.

“D
addy I have to tell you something and…I just wanted you to know that I don’t ever want to disappoint you but I know after I tell you this you won’t look at me the way you have all my life. And if you don’t want me around after I tell you this, I’ll understand too…fully.” I say softly failing at sounding confident and brave because right now I’m scared shitless of what my father might do.

“J
ust talk to us Harley.” My dad says frowning.

“
I….I’m pregnant daddy.” I say looking down at my hands which are now back to holding Jace’s. I can’t bear to look at the disappointment that is most probably covering his face. I look up to Anna and her face is drained of any colour.

“W…what….How?
Who?” my father asks in shock.

“Dad…
I’m not going to explain the details, it just happened okay.” I tell him.

“
Who’s the father and when am I going to meet him?” He says sitting straighter running his hands through his hair looking older than his age.

“He
won’t be in the picture. He doesn’t want the baby …or me.” I tell him sadly trying to keep the tears that are building up from spilling, I’m done crying over Caleb. After tonight Caleb will no longer take up my thoughts.

“
What?” my dad asks in disbelief looking bath and forth between us. “I’m going to fucking kill him for doing this! Who is this kid? How long have you known him and why doesn’t he want to be part of your child’s life?” He yells making me flinch and Jace tense beside me as he squeezes my hand a little tighter.

“
You don’t know him, I’ve known him most of my life but we were dating for four years. He’s found someone else, he’s with her now and there isn’t space for us, that’s why he doesn’t want this baby.” I say wiping a few tears.

“Oh Harley, I’m so sorry.” Anna runs to my side and pulls me into a hug.

She pulls away and I
’m pulled into my father’s strong arms.

“
It’s okay baby girl, you don’t need him…I swear when I find out who he is, I’ll have a word with him about fatherhood. I’m not disappointed in you Harley, you’re going to be an amazing mother. I love you baby girl.” My dad says holding me tight talking into my hair.

“T
hanks dad, you’ll make an awesome granddaddy too.” I look up to him then look to Anna at my side and say, “…and you’ll be the coolest grandmother.” she smiles and pulls me from my father’s grip and hugs me again.

CHAPTER 8

To say I was surprised by my father’s reaction is an understatement, I was at least expecting to get lectured or yelled at... even if he’s never scolded me before. What I did not expect was how happy he looked at the thought of being a grandfather.

It was only ten o’clock at night when we left
the office. Jace walked with me out while my father and Anna stayed behind obviously to talk about the situation privately.

Jace pulls
me through the crowd and shields me from getting trampled on by the noisy crowd. Everyone at the club house is older than me, only club members were there and it wasn’t open to the public tonight so there weren’t any college students around like there usually is.

“Jace, I think I’m just going to head off to bed…I’m really exhausted after today.” I tell him covering my mouth to yawn.

He chuckles and brings me into his side
again. “Let’s go then gorgeous.” He waves to his friends and leads me to the back stairs leading to the apartment above.

I flop myself onto his bed too exhausted to change. I watch him as he starts to take his shirt off.

“You can go back to your friends…you don’t have to babysit me.” I say leaning on my elbow watching him, he puts his arm back into his shirt and sits on the bed next to me.

“I don’t mind
babysitting
you…” he says smiling at me as he lifts my feet to his lap and takes my shoes off.

“No really Jace, I’m fine by m
yself besides… its early for you. I’ll be here when you get back.” I tell him sitting up.

“Okay babe,
get changed so I can tuck you in.” he says and I start giggling.

“Really Jace? Tuck me in? Do you tell all the girls that?
” I tease him through chuckles as I lean into my bag and find something to sleep in.

“Only you Harley
…” he mutters running his hands through his hair.

I take out a pair of pajama shorts and put them on under my dress, I turn to see Jace watching me running his eyes over my body.

“Jace turn around so I can put my shirt on.” I don’t want him to look at my body, a guy like him has definitely seen models naked and my body could never measure up to that. I’m not completely comfortable with my changing body at the moment and I would prefer if no one sees me naked.

He laughs, “C’mon… there's nothing I haven’t seen before.” He teases making me feel uncomfortable under his lustful gaze.

Jace is a gorgeous guy with sex appeal oozing from him, he must have hooked up with a harem of woman. I don’t think he realizes how inexperienced I really am... even if I am pregnant. There’s only one guy that’s seen me fully naked ever and I’m not the kind to strip in front of anyone.

“Of course you’ve seen it all
but you haven’t seen all of me, so turn Jace.” I say raising my eye brow making him sigh and turn his head as I quickly drop my dress, pull my bra off and slip my shirt on.

I gently fold my clothes and place them neatly on the chair by his desk. I turn around to find Jace watching me
intently, “Jace! Did you see? I told you not to watch!"

He smirks
at me and pulls me onto the bed. “You should know by now, I do whatever I want and I wanted to watch.”  He says smiling down at me as he pulls open the covers for me.

“
Of course you are used to getting your way amongst the ladies.” I mutter to myself angrily as I get into bed folding my arms over my chest.

Of course he hears me…

“And why is that Harley?” he asks looking confused.

“Really? You
have
to ask? I mean, look at yourself Jace, you’re hot and obviously girls follow your every command… but I think you confuse me for the type of girls that hang on your every word. I'm not like them, you should know that…so when I say don’t look when I’m getting dressed, I mean it.” I turn around to avoid looking at his face.