Page 2 of No Mercy

She was still fucking beautiful.

“What are you gonna do, brother?” Hawk wanted to know.

I didn’t even have to think it over. “I’m going to Cedar Key.” The look in his eyes said that he’d do the same thing in my situation. “Going after my son.”

“What about Allie?” he asked. He reached forward for his beer. “You gonna bring her back, too?”

I took a deep breath, wondering about that myself. Thinking about her fired me up. I wasn’t even sure if I could be around her without hurting her. “Haven’t thought that far,” I told him.

“Bring her back.” Fox got to his feet. “If you don’t claim her ass, I will,” he joked.

I sneered at his backside, reaching for the whisky bottle. He’d have a hell of a hard time explaining that to his wife.

“Don’t do it, brother,” Hawk grinned. “Waste of good whisky.” I picked up the bottle anyway and poured some of the amber liquid into my glass. “You need to take backup with you.”

“No, no backup.” I swallowed back the whisky, enjoying the raw burn it left behind. Fuel for what I had to do.

“Non-negotiable.”

We glared at each other for a few minutes, neither giving in. I knew that Hawk would fight me on this. None of us went anywhere without backup, it just wasn’t safe, and with me going all the way to fucking Florida I’d be riding on roads belonging to other MCs. It couldn’t be helped. There were a lot of us out there. Even though life had been peaceful for the club in the last couple of years, it could change in a minute. One member of an MC riding through the territory of another MC was grounds for war.

“You’re my VP, brother. That alone puts a mark on your back. Take Big John and BK with you. Try to stick to the highways as much as possible.”

“Daddy!”

A tiny squeal drew both of our attention toward the door. Hawk’s little girl, Isabella, was running toward us, her arms outstretched. Audra followed close behind with a squirming one-year-old in her arms. It was obvious that Nate wanted to get down and join his older sister.

“Hi, Peanut,” Hawk said in a tone that was reserved only for his children. He scooped her up into his arms and settled her onto his knee. “So how did everything go at the doctor’s?” He smiled up at his slightly red-faced wife.

“Okay. Both are healthy.” She bent down and they kissed briefly, and then Audra pulled back and looked at me. “Hi, Rock.”

“Hi, honey.”

“Is something going on?” she asked, looking back and forth between us. She finally lowered the wiggling Nate onto Hawk’s other knee.

“No. Just talking about Rock’s trip to Florida.”

“Florida!” Audra said with surprise. “That’s a long way from here. What’s in Florida?” Hawk and I exchanged glances. “Never mind,” she spoke with resignation. “Club business.”

“Not really, honey. I’m going to get my son.” She stared at me, dumbfounded. “Yeah, even bastards like me can procreate,” I joked.

She laughed. “I didn’t mean to look at you like that. It’s just that I can’t picture you as a family man. How old is he?”

“Six.”

“Oh, a little guy.” She gave Hawk a wink. “We’ll soon have this club filled up with little Phantom Riders!”

Audra and Hawk were well on their way with baby number three due in six months. I was happy for them, I really was. Hawk deserved to be happy, and though I’d had issues with Audra in the beginning, she’d turned out to be good for him. I’d never seen him this content.

Fuck. His life wasn’t for me. I’d never had any illusions about what I deserved. I’d made my bed years ago, and I would die in it, alone. Maybe I didn’t deserve to have my son, but I was a mean bastard, and Allie was going to find out just how mean the next time I laid eyes on her.

She wasn’t without blame.

Chapter 2

Allie

It was October and the Seafood Festival was right around the corner. Hotels were booked up, the overflow filling up the vacant rooms in homes where folks made extra money renting them out. I had a spare bedroom in my little cottage and had considered renting it out, too, but with having a small child and being alone, I’d had second thoughts.