Chapter Ten

 

Ella

I wake up with arms around me, and I instantly know that they are Damien’s. We are on our sides, and his hand is over my baby bump. I smile to myself, and try to move from under his arm since I really have to go to the washroom, but his arm just tightens around me.

“Damien,” I whisper. All he does is tighten his arm around me in response.

“Damien,” I say louder.

“No, go back to sleep,” he mumbles.

I chuckle silently. “I have to use the washroom.”

He sighs loudly like it almost pains him to let me go. “Come back when you are done.”

I nod my head even though I knew that he couldn’t see it with his eyes closed. I quickly go to the washroom and do my business, and then brush my teeth. When I get back into the bedroom, he is on his back with a hand behind his head and one on his stomach. His eyes were closed, but they open when I came back into the room. He stretches out a hand to me. Okay, I guess he really meant for me to get back into bed with him.

I climb onto the bed, and put my head on his chest. I listen to his heartbeat, and it feels very soothing to me. I don’t know why I always feel so safe in his arms. Damien affects me like no one I have ever met. I don’t remember the last time I felt so safe, that nothing and no one can hurt me as long as Damien is near. I didn’t know if I should be scared of the fact that I found myself attached to him so quickly, but I wasn’t going to start second guessing myself.

“I’m sorry that you had to deal with Nikki,” he says with his voice still full of sleep. Husky, scratchy, and deep. I find that I like his morning voice a lot.

“It’s okay. I knew not to take her seriously. My dad seemed to take care of it pretty well.” I run my finger around his abs.

When I look up at him, his eyes are dark and hooded. I could see how much I affected him. It was probably the same way he affected me.

We lay there looking into each other’s eyes, searching for something in them. I knew fear was holding me back. I already lost one man I loved, and I couldn’t let myself fall for another one so soon; but here in this moment, I felt the desire to kiss him. It felt stronger than anything I had ever felt. I wanted him, and I didn’t know if I was strong enough to admit it. How could I get close to someone and risk having them taken away from me? I don’t think my heart could handle any more heartbreak. Looking at Damien is intense, and scares me in a way that if something were to happen to him I’m not sure that I could take it. I know that he means more to me than just a man whose sperm I used, but was I ready to admit it to myself?

Luckily, I didn’t have to answer or risk it all by kissing him because there was a loud knock on his door that made me jump.

“Yo, VP! Church, Now!” someone calls on the other side, and I know I didn’t know much about the MC life, but I knew by the way he said it that it was important.

“Fuck,” Damien grumbles, and I reluctantly roll off of him to get up myself since I am seriously hungry right now.

“Babe, go get yourself some breakfast. I can hear your stomach from here,” Damien says with a smirk on his face. I blush and look down as a loud grumble comes from my stomach.

I hear him leave with the door closing behind him. I sigh and walk over to my bag to get some pants on. A smile comes to my face thinking about what I could eat.

Damien

I walk into church, and I know that I’m already the last brother here. A few of them smirk at me. All I can do is shake my head at them. I take my seat beside Prez and wait for him to start the meeting.

Once I sit down, Prez starts the meeting.

“Now, let’s start off with the run, how did everything go?” He looks at Crash, Trapper, and me.

“Everything went smoothly as planned. No run-ins with the Devil’s Souls MC.” The Devil’s Souls MC is our rival club. They have been trying for years to take our territory.  They deal in drugs, guns, and sex in their club. In our club, we don’t deal with anything sexual, drugs or guns. The old ladies and club whores are here because they want to be, and no one is ever forced to do anything they don’t want to do. We have been trying to catch them in the act for years, but they are sneaky fuckers who know how to cover their tracks.

We used to deal with drugs years ago, but stopped since Prez decided he wanted his club clean. Some of the brothers disagreed and had left the club for The Devil Souls MC, but we didn’t want people who were okay with the shit that went on in their club anyway.

For the most part, we have our strip clubs, tattoo shop, diner, and some of the old ladies opened a salon under the club. From time to time we deal with weapons which was what we did the last few days, but it’s not something that is done regularly.

The Devil’s Souls MC President, Demon, had it out for our Prez. It has been that way for years, before I even joined. I’m not sure what the full story is there, and I don’t think that even Prez knows himself, but we are always aware and cautious because we never know if he’s going to attack.

“Alright, boys, you know who is on watch duty, and you switch out every eight hours. Someone is to be with the Princess at all times. We can’t risk anyone using her against the club. It’s become common knowledge out there now that we have a princess, and that she’s pregnant with VP’s kid. That paints a big target on her back,” Prez tells us looking at everyone in the eye one by one. I can tell how much his girl means to him. Fuck, if I’m being honest, she means a lot to me too.

I know that I’ve got to take whatever this is between us fucking slow because she only just lost her husband, but I still haven’t fucked anyone or looked at any club pussy since I had met her. Something tells me that she will be worth the fucking wait.

We discuss a few more things that are club business, and Prez calls the meeting to an end. Everyone gets up and walks out of the room to a banging sound in the kitchen. We all make quick steps to check out what the fuck is going on, only to see Ella standing at the fridge banging her fucking head on the door and mumbling to herself.

“Ella, what the fuck are you doing? You’re going to hurt yourself,” Prez says walking up to her. She turns around, and unshed tears are in her eyes.

“It’s all gone,” she says quietly, pulling open the fridge wide enough so that we all see what’s inside. Her apple juice. Fuck, shouldn’t everyone know by now to make sure that shit doesn’t go empty.

Prez wraps his arms around her in a hug, looks at us over her head, and rolls his eyes. We are all trying to hold in our laughter since that will make it worse. This girl gets seriously hormonal when she’s hungry or thirsty.

I am just about to send someone out when Kid comes running in with grocery bags. He’s the youngest member to be patched in. He came in when he was sixteen as a runaway, but remained a prospect until he was eighteen. He’s only twenty-one now. My guess is that he was on Ella duty this morning by the amount of apple juice I see in the bags.

“I’m sorry, princess. I tried to run and get someone before you woke up, but I see that I didn’t make it in time.” He looks at me curiously when he sees that she’s on the verge of tears. All I can do is shake my head.

He hands her a bottle out of the bag. “Here, this one was from the cooler, so it should be cold still. I will stick the others in the fridge for you.”

Ella takes the juice from his hand with a big smile on her face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Wow, she is acting like he had bought her a diamond necklace or some shit. Ella doesn’t waste anytime chugging the apple juice down. I don’t think she is aware that most of us are still watching her with amused expressions.

Once she is done drinking her apple juice, she looks at everyone and smiles shyly.

“So, how’s my house going? When can I move back in? Not that I don’t love it here, I do… but I miss my bed,” she says on a sigh. Complete change in hormones. She’s going to give us whiplash.

“It’s almost done, baby girl. We want to make sure we get all the paint fumes out so that you don’t inhale anything. Just humour us, okay?” Prez says to her. I don’t miss her lips twitching before she nods. I know that she has no clue how important to us she really is.

“Okay, well I’m hungry. Where’s Cook?” she asks looking through everyone still standing in the kitchen.

“Here, Princess. I’m right here. What are you craving this morning?” he asks her as he is grabbing his apron. Most of the brothers leave now since there isn’t any hormonal entertainment going on anymore.

“Umm… I think I want an omelet… but with spinach, cheese, sausage and bacon… OH! Maybe some peppers too!” she says excitedly while clapping her hands. I can’t help but chuckle at her. If someone mentions food, she gets a smile on her face if it’s something she’s craving.

I don’t miss the way Cook’s eyes widen a little bit before he turns his back to her. That is a big fucking omelet. I sure hope that she can eat all of that. If not, I will sure as fuck help her with it. That sounds delicious, actually. Cook narrows his eyes at me like he knows what I’m thinking. I just smirk and nod my head at him. Prez stands there taking in the silent exchange shaking his head.

Just then, Lily comes in and automatically goes to Prez. “What are you making there, Cook?” she looks at the pan with interest.

“He’s making my omelet. Spinach, cheese, bacon, sausage and peppers,”  Ella tells her and claps her hands with excitement.

“Wow, that’s a big omelet,” Lily says with laughter in her voice.

“I know, but it sounds soooo good right now. I can almost taste it,” Ella says back. I swear she goes into her own little world when it comes to her cravings. She doesn’t care what she says, how she says it, or who is listening; she just says what she means. I really fucking like that about her. I‘ve never had to guess how she felt because she would tell me, or I could see it in her eyes. There’s no need to question if she’s playing mind games with me, or if she is saying what she is really thinking.

Everyone just chuckles at her. Cook makes enough for everyone who wanted one, which was most of the brothers that were in the clubhouse. Ella had ate half of it and said she was full, but she had also drank more apple juice during the meal. I ended up finishing hers like I thought I would. It was a really good combination of food. I can’t help but think that the next time it’s not going to be so tasty.