Chapter Twenty
Amy
“Luke, you are not the father.”
“Told you,” I whispered, pointing a spoon full of mint chocolate chip ice cream at the TV. I was watching one of those mindless TV talk shows, one that did paternity tests, and had so far accurately called each one of the results. Of course, the women had reacted like it was surprise, that they hadn’t been hoeing around during the time they got pregnant.
As for me, I knew who my baby’s daddy was, but it wasn’t all sunshine and roses either.
“Ugh,” I groaned, dropping my spoon back into the carton.
Hayley was having yet another late day at school, so I was on my own, stuck with mindless TV and ice cream to keep me company. I should be back at my father’s house, attempting to make up with him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. He had hurt me with his words, and while I had a pretty tough skin, knowing that he didn’t have any plans for me in the future had stung.
Maybe it was for the best. After all, I was going to be a mom, and raising a kid in a motorcycle gang maybe wasn’t the best idea or give me any points toward mom of the year.
Sighing, I pulled myself off the couch, taking the carton with me back to the kitchen. My gun was on the counter, where it had been since I had left my father’s house. I wasn’t taking any chances with the Brotherhood or with Eric, wanting to make sure I kept myself protected at all times. It wasn’t just me I wanted to protect. My sister and my unborn child needed protecting too. I wanted Hayley to continue to focus on what was important in her life, without having to worry about the shit that we were in for the club.
After all, the club wasn’t going to be there for her if she failed an exam. As much as we had grown up in the club and were family, it didn’t mean they were there when times got tough. I imagined that, once word got out about my pregnancy and the father was revealed, some would turn their backs on me, and I couldn’t blame them. It would look like I had jumped into the enemy’s bed, even though I hadn’t known who Eric was at that time.
I opened the freezer and placed the carton back in its place, shutting the door. Maybe I should leave. The thought had crossed my mind more than once. I could pack up and leave town, leave the state and make a start fresh. I had enough money in the bank to do so, courtesy of my mother’s trust fund and the extra my father had added over the years, wanting his daughters taken care of. All my life I had thought I would settle down in Cibolo, take over the club, and continue my father’s legacy.
Now, life was different. I no longer cared if I stayed in my hometown, where all my friends and family were, if it meant a serious threat to my child. I was willing to take that step to protect this baby, and if it meant moving away, then so be it. My father would be pissed, but right now it didn’t matter what I did. He was pissed either way.
So that just left my friends and my sister. I couldn’t very well take them with me, but I could at least tell them the truth and my fears. I doubted any of them would fault me for wanting to get out.
And what about Eric? This was his kid too, and up until the incident in front of the salon, I hadn’t been willing to keep him away from raising our kid. Now, however, I could care less if he dropped dead.
Okay, maybe not that. I would care, and it would have been stupid to admit otherwise. I cared about the asshole, far too much, despite all that had happened between us. I loved the bastard.
Slumping against the counter, I ran a hand over my stomach, feeling the baby-bump starting to make an appearance. If there hadn’t been a kid involved, would I have felt the same way? I wanted to say ‘no’, but my feelings for Eric couldn’t just disappear overnight. He had taken my heart way before our extracurricular activities had taken over, and we had been good together.
Too damn good.
But I could not forgive the fact that he was working with the Brotherhood. His association with Jenny Baer the other night proved that he was. There was no other reason for him to be there, with her, pawing her like she was some great thing. My associations with Jenny had been limited, but I knew who her father was and what they stood for. I knew she was a woman looking for opportunity, and by the looks she had been giving Eric, that was an opportunity she wanted very badly.
So, did that mean that Richard Baer was approving of the match? What was Eric’s ranking in Brotherhood? Was he posed to take over one day?
There were too many questions and not enough answers. Nowhere near enough for me.
A knock on the door filled the air, and I grabbed my gun, holding it down at my side as I walked to the door.
“Who’s there?” I called out, cocking back the hammer.
“Don’t shoot.”
I sighed and released the hammer, keeping the gun in my hand. It was Eric. How had he found me? Why was he here? Hadn’t he taken my threats seriously?
“Go away.”
“Please, Amy,” he said, his voice muffled through the door. “I-I need to talk to you. It’s something important.”
“Go on,” I answered, my throat tight with emotion. “You can say it through the door.”
“Shit, come on Amy,” he growled. “It’s important and I don’t want to be standing out here like a target when I say what I got to say.”
There was an edge to his voice I had never heard before, one that had me concerned instantly. Was he telling the truth or were there other Brotherhood members waiting for me to make an appearance, so they could take me?
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I dismissed it. This was the man who had run into a burning house and rescued me. This was the man who had gotten shot while rescuing me and my friends. I doubted that Eric would be leading anyone here.
Despite my better judgement, I walked to the door and flipped the locks before pulling on the knob. Eric’s handsome profile filled the doorway, and I sucked in a breath against the flurry of emotions that were plaguing my body. Oh, how I would love to just throw myself at him!
“Talk.”
His eyes raked down my body, lingering on the gun in my hand.
“Are you going to shoot me?”
“Maybe,” I answered coolly, tapping it against my leg. “But then I would have to clean the blood out of the carpet, and I don’t think Hayley would appreciate that.”
Eric chuckled, running a hand through his hair.
“Can I come in? I won’t stay long, I promise.”
I stepped back, my resolve crumbling. My body was melting toward him, drinking in the sight, while my mind was sending out all sorts of warning signals, reminding me not to give in so easily.
Eric stepped inside, and I shut the door, not offering him a seat. That would mean he would get comfortable, and I would be in the bed with him before the hour was up.
“Say what you have to say.”
“You look good,” he said, his eyes on me. “Sleeping well? Eating?”
I ignored his probing questions.
“You look like shit.”
He shook his head, chuckling.
“God, I have missed you Amy.”
His words warmed my heart, but I remained impassive.
“Did you come just to give me empty compliments or to tell me something else?”
His grin died.
“Grayson Barnes and Richard Baer are coming after you and your family. I need for you to alert your father and get the hell out of town, now.”
My heart jammed into my throat as I stared at him.
“What?”
He took a step forward, stopping himself before he reached for me.
“You heard me, Amy. Get the hell out of Cibolo now. They are going to slaughter your family, tonight.”
“Oh God,” I said, my body trembling.
I had to tell my father. I had to get Hayley away from school and out of town.
“I’ll help you,” he said, his jaw clenched. “Amy, I…”
The door burst open, and I screamed. Eric dove toward me and knocked me out of the way.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
Eric’s body covered mine, his arms locked securely around me, as Grayson Barnes came into view, a smirk on his face and a gun in his hand.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Eric pushed me behind him, trapping me against the wall so that I would be protected.
“You can’t have her. She’s off limits.”
I watched as Grayson moved inside the apartment, Richard Baer and a few others coming in behind him, all carrying guns. There was no way I was going to survive this. My gun didn’t have enough bullets.
Oh God!
Grayson arched his brow.
“Off limits? Son, no one in the Travis family is off limits. You should know that.”
“Son?” I blurted out, feeling Eric’s body tense as he pressed it against mine.
Grayson chuckled.
“That’s right, Miss Travis. Eric is my son. Don’t you see the family resemblance? Oh wait, he takes after his whore of a mother.”
Eric hissed, but I was too wrapped up in the bit of news I had just received. Eric was Grayson Barnes’ son? I was carrying a Barnes? Oh, dear God, this could not be happening!
“Don’t listen to him,” Eric said softly. “I-I was going to tell you, but… hell, he’s not a father. Never has been.”
“I never wanted to be,” Grayson stated, leveling his gun at Eric. “Get out of the way son.”
“No,” Eric growled.
I pressed my gun into his hand the best I could, keeping my body still.
Eric was Grayson’s son. I had slept with him, loved him, yet there was nothing similar between the two of them. Eric was far from the evilness that was standing before me, and now some of the pieces were falling into place, why he was at the bunker, the reason he was with Jenny Baer.
And given the fact that he was protecting me right now, I wasn’t going to hold his paternity against him. He had come to warn me, to protect me and our kid. He loved me.
I watched with bated breath as Eric aimed the gun at his father.
“Let us go, and I won’t shoot you.”
Grayson let out a bark of laughter.
“You won’t shoot me anyway. I know all about you, son. You wanted someone to love you, and I preyed on your weakness. You’re shit, Eric, weak like your mother, but you’re no killer. I should have left you in the hovel you were born in.”
Let us go,” he repeated as my heart went out to him, thinking of how wrong I had been about everything, the things I had thought about Eric and what I thought he had been doing. I had been so wrong, and when we got out of here, I was going to make it up to him. I was going to show him the love he wanted, he craved, and we would leave this town, this state if he wanted to.
I just needed one more chance.
“Enough of this,” Grayson muttered before firing his gun.
I screamed as Eric crumbled to the floor at my feet, my gun sliding out of his hand and toward Grayson.
“Eric!” I said, crouching beside him, shaking his shoulder.
I could not lose him, not now. There was so much I had to say to him, so much that I had to apologize for.
“Get her,” Richard said.
I shook off the first couple of grabs at my arms, clutching Eric’s prone body.
He was dead.
He couldn’t be dead.
I would know if he was dead. I would feel it.
Finally, they succeeded in pulling me off of his body, and I stared at his father, tears rolling down my cheeks.
“You shot your own son, you… you bastard!”
Grayson chuckled as he holstered his gun, looking down at his son’s body.
“It was a long time coming, I assure you. He was never strong enough to be my son.”
“He was ten times the man you are,” I spat, as the hands of those that were holding me bit into my upper arms. “I will kill you for what you have done.”
“Get in line, Miss Travis,” he said as I was drug past him, outside into the Texas heat.
They forced me down the stairs, and after zip tying my hands together, threw me into the back of a double cab truck, shutting the door behind me.
My cheek was pressed against the rough carpet, tears leaking out of my eyes in silent tracks. Eric was gone. I should have believed him, gone with him when he had asked me to, and kissed this world behind.
But now, I would be fighting to keep my own life and that of our child’s.