"I was feeling pretty good with just the long sleeved shirt and the pants when I got out of the car. Then I started sitting here, and all of those bikers showed up. I was too worried to move after that." She explained "Why didn't you make the appointment?" I asked her.

Baylee started laughing humorlessly. "It died about five miles that way." She said pointing West with her finger.

I stilled when I realized she'd walked the entire way.

Pushing her back slightly so I could see her face, I scowled at her. "Why didn't you call me?"

She produced her own scowl. "Would you have answered?"

Touche.

"It's been a busy three days. I haven't purposely avoided you. I've been getting tons of s.h.i.t taken care of that comes with 500 bikers from our club entering into town at one time. I'm sorry, baby." I explained.

"You couldn't spare one single phone call?" She asked skeptically.

I grimaced, holding on to her a tad tighter. "I should have. There's no excuse. I was just so f.u.c.king mad. You could have died, Baylee."

"I know. I was monumentally stupid." She whispered forlornly.

Turning with her in my arms, I led her over to where Stone was still leaning casually against his bike.

I had to laugh at the expression on Baylee's face the closer we got to Stone and the other members of the club. They were all a little rougher than the Louisiana chapter. A little more into the hardcore side of the biker life. They lived a little bit rougher, and played a little bit harder.

But they were a great bunch of men who'd lay down their life for anybody worthy just like the rest of them. Man, woman or child.

"Baylee, this is Stone. He's the president of the Alabama chapter of the Dixie Wardens. Stone, this is my old lady, Baylee."

Stone held out his hand and Baylee reluctantly held out hers. When Stone had Baylee's hand in his, he brought it to his mouth and gave it a kiss. Even though it was an innocent gesture to most, it was a test for me. Stone was doing it to see what I would do. Stone knew it'd p.i.s.s me off, and he wanted to see if I'd actually say anything, or play daddy's little diplomat like I'd always done.

Well, he was in for a rude awakening. Baylee came second only to my son, no matter what. My father was nowhere near first in line anymore. My duties were important to me but I wasn't going to take anybody, even the president of another chapter, disrespecting me.

"Stone." I warned through clenched teeth.

He chuckled. "Good to see you found one that means something to you boy." he said as he dropped Baylee's hand and stepped back.

Baylee was confused by the interaction, I could tell, but I wouldn't explain it to her now. Not in front of all of them.

"Alright, well we've got a doctor's appointment to get to. Check you guys later. You know where I've got y'all booked, right?" I asked as I got Baylee settled on the back of my bike.

While waiting for him to reply, I extricated myself from my cut and handed it to Baylee.

She clutched it tightly to her chest like I'd just given her a lifeline and watched as I stripped out of my sweatshirt, and then gave that to her as well.

"Put that on." I demanded as I took my cut back.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Yeah, at the Horseshoe. Thanks. That's one of our favorites." Stone said dryly.

Stone didn't gamble. He said it was a waste of money. But there were really no other places other than the flea bag hotels in downtown that didn't have any gambling at them.

"I could've booked you at the Budget Inn." I offered wryly.

Stone waved me off and mounted his bike.

With a signal of his hand, the other men with him started their bikes, and one by one, they left the parking lot and headed for the interstate.

"You ready?" I asked once the last one had left the parking lot.

She nodded, spread her legs a little wider, and patted the seat between them. "Always."

Baylee I felt better than I had in days.

Sebastian was asleep on his stomach in bed next to me, dead to the world. After escorting me to my doctor's appointment, we went to the warehouse where his office was located, and he continued to make arrangements for some annual party they had every year.

He'd been on the phone from the time we'd entered his office to the time we'd left, four hours, later to go pick Johnny up from daycare.

He'd spoken to some barbeque joint to deliver over a thousand dollars' worth of meat the day of the party. Then he'd made arrangements with some man to bring wood. Some woman to deliver kegs. Another man was to bring a bounce house to entertain the kids. h.e.l.l, he'd even had someone scheduled to come DJ.

I'd asked where they were planning to have it, and he'd told me at the warehouse He'd explained that it was big enough to house a small circus once they rearranged and pulled in all the bleachers. I hadn't been aware that the bleachers were retractable, but he'd told me they'd had them installed for that very purpose.

I hadn't had the desire to ask Sebastian how a club that wasn't doing anything illegal could afford something like that when most of their members were public servants in some capacity. I wanted to keep my illusions.

I knew they weren't completely legal in everything they did. There was no way they could be. I was just glad he let me in where he could.

"Can't sleep?" Sebastian rasped from the bed beside me.

My eyes, which had been staring at his chest blankly, snapped up to meet his. "No."

He rolled over onto his back and held his hand in the air, waited, and laughed when I crawled into his embrace readily.

"I missed you." He said, kissing the top of my head lightly.

"I missed you more. Like crazy bad. The past three days have been horrible." I sighed, running my nose along the smooth skin of his chest.

"Is that why you can't sleep?"

I hesitated before answering, and then let it all pour out of my in a rush. "I'm scared to death to be pregnant. I've learned a lot of bad s.h.i.t about this disease I have. Childbirth is risky in the first place, then you add into the equation my disease, and I'm looking at a very high-risk pregnancy. Then, the doctor tells me I can't even take my ADHD medicine, and I'm so nervous I can barely see straight."

Sebastian hesitated for a few long moments before addressing my concerns.

His hand, which had been curling around my shoulder went to my hair and started sifting through it. "Have you ever been off your ADHD medicine since you were in your teens?"

"No. The meds have changed, but I've been on some form or another ever since I was young. Why?"

"What makes you think that you'll have a hard time handling stuff now? And if you do, why is it that big a deal? You're with a man that loves you. Your boss at work will understand. What will it hurt if you're are still affected but off of it? From what I can tell, the only real things I can see that you have trouble with are boredom, lateness, and you s.p.a.ce out from time to time. Mult.i.tasking isn't a problem that I've seen. You juggle everything very well that I have noticed. Why don't you just take it one-step at a time? Plus, it won't be forever. It'll be another seven and a half months. That's doable."

He made it sound so simple. So easy.

I wasn't sure it would be, but I'd give it the old college try.

I wouldn't disappoint him.

I'd fight for him. For me. And for our family.

"Wait, did you just say you loved me?" I gasped as I continued to replay what he had said in my head.

He snorted. "Like f.u.c.king crazy."

Chapter 21.

Bikers don't go gray, they turn chrome.

-Biker Patch Baylee Two days after the party dawned dark and stormy.

I was outside on the dock and watched as a fish jumped in the middle of the lake producing a large splash.

Boots on the dock had my looking over my shoulder to see Silas walking towards me with his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

He was wearing a black t-shirt that made me chuckle every time I saw it.

"I love that shirt." I said to him as he got close enough that I could see it.

He looked down and studied it, then smiled.

"I like it." He agreed.

The shirt had an old man riding a motorcycle with the top rocker saying, 'Sons of Arthritis' and the bottom rocker saying, 'Ibuprofen Chapter.'

I'd asked him to get me one for my birthday since he wouldn't tell me where he got it.

"What's up?" I asked him.

He sat down, letting his feet dangle over the side of the dock, and leaned back putting his weight on his hands. "Nothing. Sebastian sent me to pick you up. Told me to take you kicking and screaming if you resisted."

I eyed the slight mist that was scheduled to turn into a hurricane within the next twenty-four hours.

It was said to be, by the National Weather Service, one of the worse the country has ever seen.

Sebastian had been scheduled off for the next week for his vacation; yet, as soon as we'd heard how bad it was supposed to get, Sebastian had volunteered to go in.

"He did not say that!" I laughed.

"No, he didn't. But it made him sound like a p.u.s.s.y when he asked me to say please. I just wanted to make an effort to make him not sound so much like a little girl."

"I'll go under one condition." I cautioned.

He looked at me skeptically, as if he didn't believe I'd go without a fight. "What's that?"

Sebastian Apartment fire at Town Oaks. Neighbors say it has fully engulfed the first apartment on the West Side.

As soon as I heard those words, I knew it was going to be bad.

We'd responded to call after call in the past six hours of my shift.

Kettle and I had both been on the first hose as we'd pointed the stream into a large hole that was cut into the side of apartment 1A's wall.

Kettle had been at my back, his shoulder pressed against the middle of my back to ensure we both kept adequate control of the hose.

Apartment 1A was the one below 1B, which was fully engulfed.

All we were supposed to be doing was hosing down the apartment to ensure the area wouldn't have a way to catch, but I'd been blindsided.

"I think we need to pull back. Something doesn't feel right!" I yelled at Kettle.

As Kettle stepped back, giving me a little slack in the line, another firefighter walked up.

Feeling somewhat mollified, I yelled out to Kettle to hold, and turned my head back to the fire. If they had someone else there to keep an eye on the situation around them, I'd keep hitting the house with my line. It just felt like something was off, and my senses were telling me to get the f.u.c.k out.

Kettle must not have heard me because, suddenly, I had no more support at my back. The support I had holding the hose was suddenly gone, too.

Not able to look over my shoulder because of my bunker gear, I managed to turn the water flow off with a push of the lever, and set it down.

What I saw when I was clear was enough to chill my blood.

Everything happened quickly after that.

The fire ax that the other firefighter was holding came down quickly.

One second it was above the man's head, and the next it was buried in my chest. I looked down as if in a haze and saw the axe protruding from my chest. Then I looked back up to see the firefighter leaving. Saw the name on the back of the gear. McRae.

I didn't feel the agony like I should have.

The only thing I could think was 'good thing it's not in my heart.'

Kettle, who'd been on the ground flat on his face, turned over, and removed his helmet.

I would never forget the horror in his eyes when he saw the ax protruding from my chest. h.e.l.l, I probably wouldn't be able to un-see that in the near future, either. That is, if I lived to see the near future.