“Shit,” I mutter in understanding, rubbing at my head. If Bailey finds out I won’t do his dirty work, I have no doubt that he’ll just find someone else to do it either by paying them or manipulating them. “What should I do?” I ask Conrad.
“You need to keep an eye on her, watch her back,” he says.
“I don’t think she wants me anywhere near her back,” I admit.
“Then she doesn’t have to see you. The point is, someone needs to watch out for her.”
“Why does it have to be me?”
“It’s not like you’ve got a job anymore, right?”
I wince at the reminder. “The dealership is mostly cleared out. Now we just have to wait for Winston and the guys to fix up some bikes to sell at a discount.”
“So, what the hell are you still doing here?”
“You think I need to watch her all day and night? When will I ever get to fucking sleep?” I grumble.
“You could bring in the prospects if Roman doesn’t have any other jobs for them. But if I had to bet, Bailey will move on the woman soon and come at her hard to try and get it over with. The prospects are still too green. I’m not sure if both of them together could handle that.”
“Okay. You’ve made your point,” I grumble before I reach over and snag one of his sandwiches. I don’t even know what it is until I take a bite. Ham, yum.
“That was for me and Hannah,” Conrad mutters.
“Make another. I’ve got to go.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” he asks while getting out two more pieces of bread. I know he’s only offering out of decency and doesn’t really want to come. He would hate leaving Hannah.
“No.” I answer between bites. “I told you I would handle this mess since you and Hannah have enough to deal with. It’s why I tried to talk to you alone earlier instead of talking about shit that might stress her out.”
“She can handle it. And I appreciate you doing this for us,” he says. “You will take care of her and the baby if I’m not here, won’t you?”
I stop eating long enough to stab my fingers through my hair and then around to that itchy, burning feeling on my neck. Now I’ve lost my appetite. Tossing the remaining bites of the sandwich away, I blow out a breath and tell him, “You know I will.”
“Good. I get that you aren’t ready to be a father and this is all my fault for attacking Bailey, but believe me, I had a good reason.”
“I know you did,” I reply since my brother is always calm and cool. It must have been something really fucking bad to set him off.
Wiping the breadcrumbs off on a dish towel, he turns to me and says, “Hannah was pregnant before, years ago.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“She was only sixteen. But she confessed everything to her parents as soon as she found out. She had decided to have the baby, and they knew that. Then, that asshole took her to the doctor and gave her pills to terminate it without telling her what the pills were going to do.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. That’s the lowest of the low for anyone to go, much less a father. “He’s a sick bastard.”
“What he did on its own is fucked up,” Conrad adds. “But you didn’t see Hannah three months ago, Cannon. She was…he broke her. It’s a miracle she didn’t end up dead or worse…”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Maybe you never needed to know either,” Conrad tells me. “But if I get arrested and locked up, I want you to understand why, that it wasn’t just a temporary lapse in judgment. Every punch was intended to hurt him even if it was only a millionth of the pain he caused her.”
“I understand,” I assure him. “And I’ll take care of her like she was mine.”
“Don’t go that fucking far,” Conrad says with a grin.
“Fine, I’ll treat her like…a sister. That better?”
“Yeah, it is. Thank you,” he says, and then he gives me a hug for the first time in…shit, I don’t even know if we’ve ever hugged each other before.
Chapter Six
Cannon
There are only five cars in the parking lot at the Savage Kings’ bar and clubhouse, and not a single bike because of the freezing cold. Usually at this time of night, even in winter, the place would be packed, overflowing with locals come to drink their worries away, the music loud enough to hear from the road. But since the city shut us down for some bullshit fire code violations and revoked our alcohol permits a few days ago, only the Kings have been coming and going.
Roman’s truck is here, which is all I care about. I’m thinking one of the small cars may be the prospects, so that would be perfect.
The frigid air nips at me as I hurry inside. As soon as I walk through the door, the warmth and familiar smells of beer and cigars hit me. It’s like my second home, and I hate seeing it so fucking empty.
“Hey, Cannon,” Leo says when he peeks his head out from the door leading to the storage room behind the bar. “Need a drink?”
“Nah, I’m good,” I tell him. “What are you doing back there?”
“Inventory,” he says. “Nothing else to do.”
“I hear ya,” I say when I spot Lucas and Jake, our two prospects, sitting at one of the four-person tables, arguing like usual while playing cards.
“Roman in the chapel?” I ask Leo, who nods before he disappears again.
I start walking in that direction when Lucas jumps up and runs over to block the door. “Sorry, Cannon, but you can’t go in there.”
I stare down the kid and ask, “Why the fuck not?”
“Charlotte’s with Roman,” Jake says as he stands up and comes over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lucas. Which is unnecessary now that he explained what’s going on. Not to mention that from this distance, I can actually hear the woman on the other side screaming Roman’s name along with God’s.
Great.
Normally, I wouldn’t mind listening to two people go at it; but since I hear enough of that shit in my own house and haven’t gotten laid in too long, I spin on my heel and walk back to the table the boys were sitting at on the other side of the room. “So, what are we playing?” I ask them as they follow behind me like good, little puppy dogs.
“Blackjack,” Jake answers.
“You must be bored as fuck,” I mutter as I turn one of the chairs around and sit in it backward, “Deal me in.”
“It probably won’t be much longer,” Lucas says as he retakes his seat and starts shuffling the cards.
“How do you know? They could be in there all night,” Jake responds.
“Ten bucks says she walks out in ten minutes or less.”
“Deal,” Jake agrees, offering the other kid his hand to shake.
I call them kids, but they’re both over twenty-one and only a few years younger than me and Conrad. Still, there’s something about them that just seems so naïve. They’ve been with the Kings for over six months, and yet they haven’t seen any violence yet. It’s a blessing and a curse. Until they are put through the wringer, tested in the face of danger, I just won’t see them as equals or think they’ve earned the right to wear the Savage Kings MC patches.