Page 30 of Coyote

I cupped her face in my hands and gave her a tender kiss, wishing with all my cold, dark heart that her words were true. They weren’t. They couldn’t be. No, she was a nice lady trying to gloss over my failures in order to avoid hurting my feelings. That’s just the kind of woman she was and the primary reason I didn’t deserve to be with her. But hopefully soon I could prove to her that I did deserve her.

At least I had the satisfaction of knowing that our prospects were looking out for her. I couldn’t stand the thought of some asshole hurting her again. I’d move heaven and earth to keep her safe.

Chapter Twelve

Bethany

Four days later, I was strolling around our local supermarket with Nessa, she was sitting in the shopping cart seat trying to grab boxes of brightly colored cereals, normally I’d be trying to distract her, but today my head was totally in the clouds. Since the night I spent with Coyote, he’d been all I could think about. Being intimate with him again was even better than I remembered. My life had been filled with chaos ever since I was a young teen, and I was made homeless when my mom died.

Although being raped was the most horrible experience of my entire life, aside from my mom dying, those months I spent being homeless were a close second. Finding a safe place to sleep had been nearly impossible and I was always hungry. I remember dumpster diving, cramming whatever food I could find in my backpack and climbing a tree to get onto the flat roof of a local strip mall. It had a knee-high edge that enabled me to go unnoticed if I lay flat.

I found occasional odd jobs, sweeping parking lots, raking leaves, or mowing grass. It was never enough to keep me fed, much less come close to putting a roof over my head. As I hadn’t graduated from high school and had no fixed address it made getting regular work impossible. I ended up being attacked one night and had the strangest feeling that I wasn’t going to survive. Fortunately for me, a police cruiser noticed something was amiss in the alley he’d cornered me in. When the officer came to investigate, my attacker fled. I ended up in the ER overnight. After that, it was all about being cautious enough to avoid running into him again.

Back then Coyote had been my knight in shining armor, my protector. He introduced me to one of his club brothers who owned a gym. I ended up with a job and place to stay. We eventually hooked up and it was the happiest I’ve ever been. Then Cyclops noticed me. He was a member of Twisted Metal MC. They were a one percent club with a reputation for being into all kinds of criminal activities. Eventually, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I know back then if I’d told Coyote what had happened, he’d have gone after him, but I couldn’t risk that. Cyclops was crazy and his club were outlaws. I didn’t want the Dark Slayers to go to war with Twisted Metal over me. So I ran, taking my problems as far away from Coyote as possible.

Glancing down at Nessa as she sat in the shopping cart singing a silly song to herself, I gazed at her dark hair and brown eyes. Both Coyote and Cyclops had the same hair and eye coloring, I had dark hair and eyes too which made it hard to tell anything. When she looked up at me, I tried to see if she was starting to look like either of them. Her facial features were delicate, like mine. She even had my nose. Not knowing who fathered her was more painful now that I’d spent time with Coyote again. I wanted her to be his daughter so badly and I had convinced myself that she was starting to look like him. That dimpled smile was so reminiscent of his. I think he would accept her and be a good father to her, but not if he came to find out she belonged to a disgusting criminal from a rival MC. He might try for my sake, but the truth of her conception would always be floating around in the back of his mind. I imagined as time passed and the novelty of getting back with me wore off, he’d start resenting the fact that in order to get me, he was stuck raising another man’s child, an enemy’s no less.

Maybe keeping her father a secret was the better option?

It felt wrong, but if Coyote turned out not to be her dad, then that would open up a whole new can of worms and might even push Cyclops back in my direction. As I hadn’t seen that bastard since the night he attacked me, I had no wish to be at his mercy again. My lips would stay sealed.

“Thought you could get rid of me by siccing that biker on me, didn’t you Miss Bethany?”

My head jerked around to look in the direction of the cold, mocking voice. Sure enough, Rufus was standing about six feet away with a case of beer tucked under his arm.

“You look like you done seen a ghost. Well, I ain’t dead yet, missy. And that new boyfriend of yours don’t scare me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Hello Rufus. I didn’t see you there.” I shot him a disapproving look and told him in no uncertain terms, “I didn’t sic anyone on you. Whatever is going on between you and Coyote is no concern of mine.”

Suddenly, Nessa spoke up. “I want cookies, Mama.”

Rufus leaned around to catch a glimpse of my daughter and that made my hackles go up. “Well now, who do we have here?” he said curiously as he tried to peer over.

I turned, intentionally blocking his view of my daughter. “Rufus, I should have told you long ago that I’m not interested in being your friend—or anything at all. I’d like you to steer clear of me entirely if that’s possible. And don’t even think about approaching my child or speaking to her.”

His expression took on a dangerous edge. “I don’t take to kindly to women telling me what to do.”

A deep voice resonated from behind him. “Well, why don’t you let me explain it all to you.”

A huge man wearing a Dark Slayers’ cut was on him before I could open my mouth. The next thing I knew, the man had jerked the case of beer out of Rufus’ hands, set it aside and walked Rufus out of the store, like cops do to shoplifters. I watched them disappear, unsure of what had just happened.

“Cookies, Mama,” Nessa’s voice pulled me back to the present.

I grabbed the bag she was pointing at and gave it to her to hold. “Remember you can only have one, after dinner.”

“Cookies,” she said as she stared down at the bag, her eyes big and covetous.

This was the third time I’d seen one of the prospects from the Dark Slayers hanging around town. It dawned on me that maybe they were hanging around me, as in keeping an eye on me for Coyote. Naw, that was crazy talk. If so, why did it feel like that’s what was going on? I should have known something was up when Coyote, being the overprotective type that he is, didn’t keep showing up every day to check on me.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

I pushed the shopping cart to the check out, trying to figure out if I felt insulted or grateful for the inconspicuous bodyguards he’d sent to look out for me. I was all kinds of anxious when I left the store, because I didn’t know what happened to Rufus or if he was going to be waiting for me in the parking lot. I looked around and thankfully didn’t see Rufus or the big man in the leather prospect cut. Maybe it was just a coincidence, and Coyote hadn’t done something as dramatic as sent prospects from his club to keep an eye on me.

I put Nessa in her car seat first, loaded my groceries and then slid behind the wheel. Still feeling worried, and to be honest a little scared, I locked my doors, and called Coyote.

“Hello, Bethany. Are you alright?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” I stammered.