Ethan

 

Ethan walked out of the house, aware Gregory Stratton was following him closely and watching his every move. Probably to make sure he didn’t steal anything on the way. He shouldn’t have bothered. The only thing he’d wanted to leave with was on the back deck, refusing to look at him.

 

And she hadn’t told him she was pregnant. A month and a half of silence, an engagement to another man, and now this. Ethan’s head was spinning.

 

He shoved the huge metal gate open and walked down to where his bike was parked. Every footstep sent the words through his brain again. She was pregnant. With his kid. He didn’t even have an extra bedroom. Where would he put a baby? How would he afford to feed it?

 

He made enough to get by, to put a little aside even, but he wasn’t exactly rolling in dough. He could sell the bike. He could take on more hours at the shop. He could--

 

Ethan shook his head. No. What was he thinking? He didn’t have to worry about any of that because Stratton was going to call the cops if he ever so much as saw him within five hundred feet of Amelia. Amelia, who hadn’t told him she was pregnant.

 

Why in God’s hadn’t she told him? Why the hell hadn’t she said something? The conversation had been enlightening and infuriating, but he’d felt close to her. She stood up to him. So why couldn’t she stand up to her father? Or was it more that she simply wouldn’t?

 

He slung his leg over the bike and jerked his helmet down over his head. Now where the hell was he going to go? He couldn’t go home. There was no way he could face the bed that still gave him flashbacks of their night together. Not knowing what he knew now. Knowing he was never going to be able to be with her again.

 

The Flathead needed work and he had anger to burn off. That settled it. He’d go to headquarters.

 

He rode there almost distractedly and, when he recognized William’s bike parked out front, walked straight into the garage, bypassing the common room. He couldn’t bring himself to face the man, not while he was still so shell shocked. There were other guys there, as well, full patch members. Ethan vaguely remembered that they played poker once a week here. So they probably wouldn’t pay him any attention anyway. They tended to take the game pretty seriously.

 

He walked into the garage and over to the full-sized refrigerator they kept there. Maybe a beer or ten would help him get some feeling back in his numb brain and body. The massive black refrigerator was covered in layers of newspaper clippings, postcards...most of them featuring nearly naked women and dirty jokes...from rides various members had been on, and photographs of varying quality taken with cheap cameras. As he reached to pull the door open, he accidentally pushed a clipping of Stratton that someone had drawn devil horns onto off of the picture behind it.

 

He’d forgotten the picture was there. Ethan tugged it off of the fridge and leaned back against a workbench, beer forgotten. It was a picture of him with his father, right after he’d first come out to Nevada. He remembered posing for it now. Maria had taken the photo.

 

“Come on! It’s the first time your son has been to your motorcycle club!” she said, waving her camera in their faces. “You’re gonna wanna remember it!”

 

Marcus looked at William over Maria’s head and William shrugged. “Might as well let her do it, man. She’s been taking pictures of every damn thing since I bought it for her. ‘Bout time she picked on somebody who ain’t me.”

 

“Shut up, or you’ll end up in the picture, too,” she said with a grin. “Now, get in closer, in front of that bike.” She glanced up at them, frustrated. “Pretend like you love each other, okay? We’re going for a Kodak moment here.”

 

Marcus put his arm over Ethan’s shoulders, both of them tensing up. This was the first time Marcus touched him since he’d arrived in Nevada two weeks before. Ethan stood stiffly, not leaning in. He’d been so unsure back then. Hell, they both had. And, of the twenty-seven years Ethan should have gotten with his father, he’d missed out on sixteen of them.

 

Was he really planning to do the same thing to his own kid? Ignoring it? Going back to his life with the motorcycle club as if he didn’t have any responsibilities at all? Letting Anthony Barlow raise his child just because the guy had more money than he did? Or worse, just because Gregory Stratton had told him to back off?

 

Hell no. With some of the shock dissipating and his brain firing on all cylinders again, Ethan knew there was no way some jackass politician was going to keep him out of his own kid’s life. He shoved the picture into his back pocket and started for the door. Then he pulled up short.

There was no way in hell he was going to get back into Amelia’s house without a fleet of cops showing up. He chewed his thumbnail, thinking hard. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number from his call log.

 

“Hi, Ethan,” Marta said.

 

She sounded a little cooler than normal, but he couldn’t really blame her. He’d basically ignored her on their date and stared at other women half the night. He probably wouldn’t have even answered the phone if the roles had been reversed.

 

“Hey,” he said. “I wondered if I could ask a favor.”

 

“You can ask,” she said cautiously.

 

“It’s nothing crazy,” he assured her. “I just need Amelia Stratton’s cell phone number.”

 

“Are yousure it’s not crazy?” Marta asked. “You’re not thinking of ruining my investigation, are you, Ethan?”

 

He didn’t begrudge the question. “No. You said yourself that Amelia doesn’t seem to be a big part of the picture. What I need to talk to her about isn’t related to Stratton.”

 

“But she is.” Marta pointed out.

 

Ethan blew out his breath in frustration. “Okay, forget I asked.”

 

“Wait a second.” She sighed. “You really are impulsive, aren’t you? I’m not saying no.”

“Then what the hell are you saying?” Time was ticking away and he was getting impatient.

 

“I’msaying there’s a strong chance she knows the campaign inside and out. If you get any information out of her, I want you to remember who put you in touch, that’s all.”

 

“I’m not grilling her for you.”

 

Martalaughed ruefully. “You wouldn’t be very good at it anyway. Like I said, you’re impulsive. Too impulsive for the long game. What I’m getting at is simple. If she’s associating with you, I’m banking on the fact that she doesn’t exactly share her father’s ideals. She might tell you things freely. She might evenwant to help. If she does, come to me.”

 

Ethan pushed a hand through his hair and sighed. “Okay, I get it.”

 

“I’ll call you back when I have the number.”

 

Ethan paced the room, too wired to think of working on the bike to kill some time. He couldn’t even bring himself to sit down, let alone do anything that required any detail.

 

“What’re you doin’ here?” William asked in surprise.

 

Ethan jumped. He hadn’t heard the other man walk in. “Uh, nothing. I mean, I thought about working on the bike, but now I don’t know.”

 

“Okay,” William said slowly, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a Stratton of beer. “You look nervous.”

 

“I didn’t hear you come in,” Ethan defended himself. “And hell, with everything that’s going on...Stratton and his damn speech...why wouldn’t I be nervous?”

 

“Okay,” William said again. “Maybe have a beer or somethin’ while you try to figure out whether you wanna work on that bike. You’re wound awful tight, kid.”

 

“Sure,” Ethan said. “Yeah, I’ll probably do that.”

 

His phone buzzed and he turned away from William, reading the text quickly. Marta had sent Amelia’s number and a message wishing him luck. Ethan dialed rapidly, trying to get himself together. William was right. He was wound so tightly that his muscles ached. He could feel a headache beginning at his temples too.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Amelia?”

 

He heard a gasp on the other end of the line and he hoped to God that her father wasn’t in the room. Stratton would be all over that in a heartbeat.

 

“Ethan?” she whispered.

 

He guessed her father wasn’t there and held back a sigh of relief. “Yeah. I need...I need to talk to you.” He paused, but when she didn’t speak, he went on. “I can’t leave it like that, Amelia. You can’t expect me to.”

 

“Ethan, if you keep pushing this, it’ll damage your club even more. That’s part of the reason I’m doing what I’m doing. He said he’lldestroy you if I didn’t!”

 

Ethan snorted. “You think he won’t anyway? Amelia, I don’t give a damn about damaging The Angel’s Keepers right now. Not after what you told me. I just...I can’t leave things like this. Even if you want to marry this Anthony guy, I’m gonna be part of this. I’m not walking away.”

 

Amelia caught her breath again, and Ethan discovered he was holding his breath. What was he going to do if she said no?

 

“Okay,” she said finally, her voice unsteady but determined. “We do need to talk. But how....”

 

“You’ll have to find a way to meet me outside. I’ll be waiting down the road.”

 

“Okay. I’ll...I’ll figure it out. See you soon.”

 

Ethan disconnected and shoved the phone down into his pocket. In his haste to get out the door, he didn’t see William in the doorway. All he could focus on was getting to Amelia before she changed her mind.