Chapter 9
Harper
Back in my room, with my head in my hands, I wept. I couldn’t believe I’d just seen Cade. I never thought in a million years I would ever see that man again, but here he was. In the same damn city, I was in. Affiliated with the biker club that guarded this town. My mind raced with the implications as I curled up in bed, listening to my parents argue once again.
“She wouldn’t let me in the bathroom with her, Ryan,” my mother said.
“You were supposed to stay with her at all times, Patrice. That biker guy had to coax her out of the bathroom and get her to the fucking car!”
“Well, she got there, didn’t she?” my mother asked.
“Yeah, and now an entire group of people knows how screwed up our family is,” my father said.
“Oh, and that’ll… what? Affect your votes? You think those outlaw bikers fucking care about this town?”
I pulled the covers over my head and buried myself in my pillow. Of course, they cared about this town. Anyone who grew up here knew of the shit they did. The painstaking lengths they went to in order to protect this city. Sure, there were rumors of ‘guns for hire’ and pedaling firearms and shit, but they protected their own. Their family. The place they loved.
There was a lot to admire about that.
And it told me a lot about Cade.
Shit. It was just supposed to be a night of fun. A night of losing myself to a life I wished I live. Experiencing freedom and tasting what it was like to be away from my parent’s expectations. And I had to admit, when I found out I was pregnant, part of me was excited. Cade had altered my life in many ways that night. He helped me to understand things about myself I would’ve never found out otherwise. In those few hours we spent with one another, he taught me about trust. Lust. Punishment and reward, and how the two could intertwine for some of the most powerful orgasms I’d ever experienced. He taught me about beauty, and what it felt like to be cherished.
He taught me what a real man would do to a woman, and how he could make her feel.
The idea of having a part of Cade with me forever helped me to get through the morning sickness. It helped me to get through the restless nights and the vivid dreams that plagued me. It helped me through the screaming match when I broke the news to my parents that I was pregnant.
And it helped me now. Whenever they were fighting about me for whatever fucking reason.
But that was all it was supposed to be. A part of him. Not all of him. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He was never supposed to pop back up. When I left that rally in South Dakota, all I’d wished for was a piece of him to remember him by. Which was exactly what I’d gotten. A piece of him was growing within me, changing me for the better and pushing me towards a life I knew I needed but was always afraid to reach out for. The desperate need to get this child away from the toxicity of this home was what was pushing me. Shoving me towards a life I knew I deserved-- a life I needed-- in order to flourish in a way that would make me happy.
But now Cade was here. And Cade knew I was pregnant.
We would never work as a couple. We lived in two different worlds. I lived a very public life because of my father, and on a good day he led an invisible one. Things could never work between him and I. Our lives just weren’t meant for that type of thing.
But the look on his face when he saw my stomach. The way he started to piece everything together. The way he grabbed my arm and the strength behind his muscles. I closed my eyes and recounted his beautiful stare. His pillowy lips. Just his hand coming down on my arm reminded me of how he commanded my body. How he took what was his while cherishing every inch of me.
Seeing him again made me want him again. Now that he was so close, I could taste him. I could remember what it felt like to have his cock between my lips. What it felt like to have his body filling mine to the brim. I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist again. I wanted to be bent over his lap again. I wanted him to tie me down and make me cry with frustration until he rolled climax after climax over my body.
Would he see me again? Did he even want to? He lived in town, and I led a public life. But was it possible for me to see him again?
Now that he was so close, it was all I could think about.
My parents continued to fight in the other room, but I was too busy thinking about Cade. A smile crossed my face at the thought of feeling his lips against mine, but my father busting into my room ripped me back to reality. He ripped the covers off me, and I took in his angry stare, my mother hot on his heels as she tried to drag him out of the room.
“Just leave her alone, Ryan. This is between us,” my mother said.
“The next time you go off like that without your mother and embarrass me like that, I’ll be the one pulling you out the restroom. Do you understand me, Harper?”
I nodded mindlessly before I cast my gaze on my bed.
It would never work between us. If I ever saw Cade again, I would have to be strong. I couldn’t approach him, and he couldn’t approach me. If my father ever found out that he was the father of my child, his grip on me would tighten, and everything I’d been planning would be jeopardized.
I’d never be able to leave again, and my child would be stuck in this cycle of destruction.
As much as I wanted Cade, I couldn’t have him, and as tears ran down my cheeks, I heard my father storm out of my room and slammed the door.
“Come on, sweetheart. Why don’t you and I go get some dinner?”
My mother’s voice sounded so far away as I laid back down onto my pillow.
Just three more weeks.
Three more weeks and this nightmare would be over.