I’m shoved into the hallway by two nurses trying to explain to me why I need to be out here instead of in there with Simone, but I can’t hear them. I’m unhinged and on a mission to get back to Simone’s side. If I’m in there, I can protect her. Why I think that, I don’t know, I have no experience in medical. I just need to be beside her.

I shove at them, trying to get back to her but as soon as I get rid of one woman, the other is in my face.

Roaring like a lion whose lioness has been taken from him by a headhunter, I jerk and thrust my hands through the nurses. Determined to get to Simone even if I have to hurt someone. I promised her I’d be by her side.

“Brother!” Zeek’s voice cuts through the chaos, and I freeze. His voice grounding me back to the reality of where the fuck I am. My head trembles with emotion racing through me like poison.

“I’m going to call security if you can’t get ahold of yourself, sir!” a young nurse with black hair hollers in my face. My eyes fall to hers, then her name tag.

“Shelly, fuck you,” I push through gritted teeth. Her eyes widen, mouth parting at my crude behavior.

“That’s not necessary, we got him,” Machete informs, stepping in between me and the nurse. Shelly shakes her head and hurries back inside to Simone.

Machete turns, eyeing me warily. “What the hell has gotten into you? They’re trying to help her!”

“Oh fuck her!” I wave him off. “She’s acting superior because she got on a pair of fucking scrubs. I need to be in there with Simone, what if she dies like my mother and I’m not there!” I point at the doors, and by the blank stare on everyone’s faces, I realize what I’ve just said.

“Fuck,” I mumble, hanging my head.

“You need to let them do whatever they need, especially if there’s a problem,” Zeek states, patting my shoulder. Glaring in his direction, I shake my hands out, the ache to slam them into something itching up my wrists.

“She’s not your mom, she’s going to be fine,” Zeek whispers, and I close my eyes. I’m trying to believe him, but it’s hard to when I feel like everything bad in my life is due to me ever being born. Ever since I was a little kid I’ve had it in my head that maybe if my father was by my mother’s side when she gave birth… she’d still be alive. Crazy, I know.

“Come on, let’s get some coffee or something while we wait for an update,” Machete suggests, and I refuse. I’m not leaving this fucking spot.

“The last thing he needs is caffeine.” Zeek narrows his eyes at me, and I return the fuck you look.

Instead, I pace outside the doors to Simone’s room, my hands pulling at my hair, fidgeting. It’s taking too long. Something is wrong. I should go in there.

“What’s taking so fucking long?” I holler at Zeek who is looking a housekeeping magazine over. He opens his mouth to say something but shuts it. Nothing he has to say is going to calm me down, and he knows it.

“I’ve never seen him like this, should we do something?” Raven whispers to Machete, but she sucks at keeping a low voice because I hear every word.

“Yeah, give him a tranquilizer dart in the ass cheek,” Machete scoffs, his arms crossed while glaring at me.

I shouldn’t have claimed her, this is my fault for getting too close. I’m bad luck.

“I know what you’re thinking, and stop,” Zeek interrupts my thoughts. My boots screech to a stop, and I scowl.

“You don’t know shit,” I sneer.

“You’re thinking about your mother again.” His face softens, and the back of my neck begins to sweat. How can I not think about my mother at a time like this.

“What happened to your mother?” Raven asks from a waiting room chair, a cup of coffee balancing on her knee.

I shake my head. “Nothing.” Nobody needs to know my sob story, it doesn’t change anything. I’m bad luck, it’s in my DNA. Period.

Zeek sighs, pushing himself off the brick wall of the hospital. He grabs me by the shoulder and pulls me in close. His fingers digging into my leather cut.

“We all have been where you are, maybe not in this particular situation, but the place where we don’t think we deserve anything good.”

Scratching my forehead, I close my eyes.

“You’re starting to sound like Raven,” I sigh.

“Well, then she’s one smart bitch.” Thumb and finger rubbing the stubble on my cheeks, I exhale.

Does an outlaw ever deserve anything good? An outcast that breaks all the rules is bound to have karma breathing down their neck, waiting for the moment to hurt them at their weakest point.

Finally, the doctor steps out of the room, his coat covered in blood and my knees suddenly feel weak at the sight of it. I’ve never felt ill at the sight of blood, but right now I feel like I might faint.

“You’re the dad?” He looks to me. Everyone looks to me, waiting for me to claim Simone and the baby publicly.

“Yeah,” I reply, my eyes watery.

Zeek’s eyes widen.

“The baby is fine, she’s a tough little thing. Her stats are near perfect and I’ve seen babies full term come lesser than her—”

“And Simone?” I interrupt.

“Simone has lost a lot of blood due to a placental abruption. We had to do a blood transfusion, and stabilize her, but she’s doing okay. We’re keeping a close eye on her right now,” he explains, but he might as well be speaking Spanish.

“Placental abruption?” I ask, not sure what the fuck that is.

“It’s where the placenta detaches from the uterine wall early and causes bleeding. We have the bleeding under control right now, but if it doesn’t stop, we will have to remove the uterus. A hysterectomy.”

I turn, my hand on my forehead as the strangest sound spills from my lips. Relief and heartache rolled into one sigh. She’s okay but may never have another child.

“Would you like to see your little girl?”

I turn back around, my hand on my mouth. My little girl.

It rings around in my head and implants itself. I’m responsible for this little girl. I have to be her daddy, because if I don’t… who will? Gatz and Kane aren’t here, and I won’t let anyone else be her daddy because nobody can do the job better than me. Nobody.

“Yes, I want to see my daughter.” The words come out smooth, and they sound right.

I follow the older doctor around the corner, past the front desk to a large finger-smudged glass. There are little tubs full of babies wrapped in pink and blue blankets, but I spot Little Peach instantly. She’s darker skinned than the others, just like her momma, and has just the cutest amount of dark hair on her head. She’s the cutest one in there.

A nurse holds a stethoscope to her chest, as she cries bloody murder. My chest constricts, as if hearing her cry through the glass alerts something in me to go to her.

“Can I hold her?” A tear slips down my face, and I brush it off. I feel like a pussy crying, but I can’t help it. Look at her.

“Yeah, let’s go in.” He steps to the side of the glass to a metal door, and presses in a code into a keypad, unlocking the door. Stepping into the secure room, the smell of baby soap and the sound of crying babies is overwhelming.

The doctor steps up next to Little Peach’s tub, and I follow him. She’s so small, her skin nearly translucent.

A nurse wraps her tightly in a pink blanket and holds her to me. I hesitate, I’ve never held a baby before. Looking to her with panic, I convey just how fucking scared I am to hold her. What if I drop her? What if I’m sick and I don’t know it?

She smiles and presses the crying little girl to my chest.

“Just support her head here.” The nurse places my elbow just right under her head. “And snugly here.” She pushes my hand under her body.

Looking down, I draw in a tight breath at the sight of Little Peach. I’m holding her, and not dropping her. Her round face and small puckered lips are the most delicate thing I’ve ever seen.

“Hey little one.” My voice cracks with emotion, and she looks up at me with goo applied around her eyes. She stops crying, and I can feel her heartbeat against my arms.

“She recognizes your voice,” the nurse says with a big smile.

“What?” I look at her with watery eyes.

“The baby, she knows your voice, that’s why she stopped crying. She feels safe.” She nods.

And just like that, I’m wrapped around this little girl’s finger. We stand their quiet, looking at one another. She brings her fingers to her mouth and begins to suckle and it’s the cutest thing.

My eyes fall to a mark on her chest now that she’s removed her arm from the blanket. I turn my head trying to get a better look at it. Is it a scratch?

The nurse sees me staring with concern and steps over to me with furrowed brows. Using her finger, she pushes the blanket down a bit.

“Oh, that’s just a birthmark, or a stork bite. It might go away, but some don’t.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal. But it is a big deal. That birthmark is identical to someone I know.

I swallow the sudden lump in my throat and stare at the mark. Gatz had a similar birthmark to this one. A horseshoe-shaped birthmark.

This is Gatz’s little girl for sure. She’s an Outlaw.

A darkness falls outside the display window, and I look up. My boys with their women, are standing there in leather and smiles watching me. I smile, back holding my daughter.

If you asked me months ago where I’d be… I never would have said here. I’d never would have guessed I’d lose control of my emotions and become unhinged to a woman and unborn child that isn’t even mine.

My father used to tell me I’d never survive a day in the real world, but I’d like to see that motherfucker last a night in mine.

I’ll never be him. I will be the best man I can be in both of my girls’ lives.