Page 15 of Emergence: Prequel
“Good, huh?” she grinned proudly.
“Jesus, baby, I think you’ve sucked my brains out. What the fuck was that?”
Snorting out a cute little laugh, she held up her hand for me to help her up. Pulling her straight up and into my arms, I buried my face in her neck as I tried to get my breathing to even out.
She was still laughing slightly because I could feel her shoulders moving, but I found I didn’t have it in me to care. The bedroom could be on fire, and I’d not care. It wasn’t that I’d never had blow jobs because I certainly had a fair few in my life, but whatever she’d done was nothing like I’d ever had.
Tilting her head back slightly, her eyes sparkling with amusement, she told me, “No gag reflex, honey. That’s why it was different; I can take you all the way down.”
“Stace, if I wasn’t already planning on marrying you, I’d certainly be planning on it now.”
“It was that good?” she chuckled slightly before sobering. “How about this? I don’t really want to get married again, but what I do want this time is a property tattoo wherever you want me to have it, and I’ll take that cut you have hanging next to yours. Will that work for you?”
“Perfectly, baby. Fucking perfectly,” I muttered against her lips before taking them in a deep kiss. Drawing back slightly so that I could see her face, I said, “Love you so much, baby. Have donefor twenty years, and I still can’t believe you’re finally mine. I’m fucking thrilled that you’d have me put a tat on you, and the cut is just waiting for you to wear it.”
Stacey blinked rapidly and wiped at the tears that hovered on her lashes. “Love you too, Roman. Wish I’d seen you first and we hadn’t lost twenty years, but I got my kids out of the deal so I can’t complain too much. I’ll be proud to wear your property cut and your tat. Just tell me where and when you want me to get it.”
“Your kids are pretty awesome, Stace; the world would be a poorer place without them. I wish I could stay with you today, especially since you’ve just agreed to be my Old Lady.”
“You go do what you’ve got to do to keep the girls safe,” Stacey replied, patting my chest and turning to leave the bathroom. Stopping in the doorway, she turned, “If you need to bring Ford home, you do so. I don’t think his home is a good one—not from what I’ve gleaned from the girls’ conversations.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” I agreed. With a smile, she took her cut off the peg, slipped it on, and with a last wink, left me with a stupid, if happy, grin on my face.
A grin that was still on my face as I walked out of the house after kissing Stacey goodbye and giving Rosie a hug. From the looks of the ingredients laid out in the kitchen, they’d be baking something today.
Cash was waiting on his sled that was parked next to mine, with a shit-eating grin on his face as he pointedly looked at his watch, “Ten minutes, huh? More like forty-five,” he chuckled with amusement.
“Fuck off,” I grunted, swinging my leg over my sled. Even his teasing wasn’t going to put me in a bad mood.
Cash smirked a grin at me as he swung onto his sled and picked up his helmet, “Happy for you, brother. She’s a great woman.”
“She’s my Old Lady. She wants a property tat. That’s not something she gave him, and I can’t fucking wait to see it inked onto her,” I said, slanting my eyes to my best friend as I returned his smile.
“Fucking awesome, Roman. It’s been twenty years coming, so I’m fucking thrilled you’ve finally got your woman. Let’s go see this kid so we can get back; maybe have a party tomorrow to celebrate. Club only.”
Starting my sled, I tugged my helmet on and secured it before pulling out of my driveway towards the clubhouse. Cash alongside me, we drove into the club parking lot to pick up Kyle, who was geared up with a Prospect cut on his back, chatting with Bolt Tinman. It made sense that they knew each other, as he was only a few years older than Kyle.
Revving my bike to get Kyle’s attention, he didn’t waste any time getting on his sled once he realised I was waiting. As we pulled out, Buck followed—no surprise there, as he was our Sergeant-at-Arms and usually came along on rides that involved club business. What did surprise me was having Tinman and my dad pull in behind him, with Kyle bringing up the rear. Tinman because he’d been pulling away ever since Chains had died, and my dad because he didn’t ride as much anymore, not with his arthritis playing up. I was glad for the backup, though, even with us all carrying. Not that I expected anything to happen today, as we were just visiting a kid.
We rode into the trailer park on the other side of town. It was run down, and while a few trailers looked like they had tried to keep things tidy, the rest looked broken down and on the edge offalling apart; the one we were looking for was one of the worst in the park.
Stopping our sleds, we got off, and I put my helmet on the seat. Cash and I exchanged a look—there was no way I was leaving this kid here, not after what he’d done for Rosie. I’d give him a choice; we had contacts that I could call for a favour. It wasn’t as if he was a small child; he was sixteen and could make up his own mind.
Going up to the door, I was just about to knock when it opened, and the kid that I was assuming was Ford filled the doorway, looking at us suspiciously. His face showed signs of the fight he’d been in, with the black eye he was sporting and the way he was holding his ribs. I had no idea he even existed until yesterday, but from the looks of him, either Dad, Chains, or I should have known about him at least sixteen years ago.
His appearance was a shock to all of us if the comments of, “Holy shit, he’s Maestro and Chains’ twin,” were anything to go by. And he could be mine or Chains’, because he looked exactly like we’d looked at sixteen: tall, not quite filled out but still muscular, with the same eyes, olive skin, and if I’d let my hair grow, the same black hair that all the men in my family had. It was like looking at my much younger twin.
“Ford?” I questioned, holding out my hand to him.
“Yeah,” he replied, shaking my hand. “Can I help you with something?”
It seemed that while he’d seen the resemblance, he wasn’t going to comment on it, so I pushed forward with why we were here and I’d swing back around to us obviously being related in a minute.
“You helped our girls yesterday. We wanted to say thanks and to find out if there was anything you needed. But obviously there’ssomething else we should be discussing because, looking at you, you’re either mine, my brother’s, or my father’s. Can I speak to your mother?”
He let out a scornful laugh, “Only if you can commune with the spirits. She died six months ago. She always told me she didn’t know who my father was, and I believed her.”
He sighed and ran his hand over his head, “Look, my mom had issues, drugs being one. She was clean enough when she had me but didn’t stay that way, so when I say she didn’t know, she really didn’t know. Trust me, if she did, she’d have hounded you for money.”