It is currently a Friday night, and I get a text from Alaina:

  Alaina: Right mama bear, it’s time for us to hit the town like old days.

  I laugh while picking up my phone.

  Me: Oh yeah? And who is going to watch the cub?

  Pipper has had the nickname “Cub” since her birth. Just as I get a reply, someone knocks on my door. Getting up to answer it, I see it’s Phoebe.

  “Hey Phoebs, what’s up?” I greet her, letting her in. I haven’t seen her in a few weeks, but I am aware that she has been spending more time in WB.

  “I have come to babysit the little princess,” she coos in a baby voice to Pipper.

  “Alaina’s idea?” I ask with raised eyebrows.

  “Of course, when the queen speaks, you listen,” she giggles while throwing her jacket onto the kitchen bench.

  “Alright then, I guess I should get ready,” I say, making my way to my bedroom to find some clothes to wear.

  After an hour of shuffling though my wardrobe, Alaina finally finds something for me to wear.

  “Alaina, I don’t want to wear this, my body is not the same,” I whine to her while looking at myself in the long mirror.

  “Vick, you had a baby and even then, your body is still banging.” She’s lying, my body will never be back to how it was; my hips are wider and my ass is bigger, and my tummy isn’t tight like it used to be. “Thanks for the fake encouragement, Lain.”

  She smiles up at me, while we make our way out the door.

  “I am not lying, Miss Paranoid.” We make our way out to the front of my apartment, just as the taxi pulls up.

  “I can’t believe I wore this,” I say as we are getting in. I’m wearing a tight pastel purple baby doll dress, and black heels. My long dark brown hair is flowing in soft curls at the ends, and I’m wearing a bit more makeup than usual. I had better work extra hard on my face, to make up for my fat ass. We pull up to the club and I thought I would be excited, but all I feel is anxious. This is the first time I have been away from Pipper, and I hate it.

  “We stay till 12, and that’s it?” I ask Alaina as we jump out of the car.

  “Yes, I promise. Come on mama bear; let’s drop that kitty down low.” I pause our steps and laugh at her.

  “Ew Lain, what have you been listening to? You have only been living away from me for a few months, and your music taste has already turned to shit.” She hooks her arm around mine.

  “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go.”

  I’m surprised Zane has let her out of his sight, this does not happen often. They have been trying for a baby, so they usually spend their free time having sex; and I mean everywhere.

  We walk in and order some drinks, luckily, I can actually drink now; I tried the breastfeeding thing but my boobs are about as good as a dry nun. We are back to our old antics, shooting down tequila when I feel a body brush up next to me. Looking up, I see that it’s Ryder.

  “Holy shit! What are you doing here?” I smile happily, pulling him into a hug. He’s looking as good as ever; in a white long sleeve shirt rolled up at the sleeves, showing off two arms that are completely covered in tattoos, and jeans with white Nikes. Shit, he looks really good.

  “I’ve been in the area for a few weeks,” he smiles his smart smile at me, and I blush. I look over to Alaina and see her fangirling out, waiting for me to introduce her to him.

  “This is Alaina, Alaina this is Ryder. No, I am not going to tell you how I know him; and yes, Blake knows I know him,” I say to her.

  “Nice to meet you Ryder, I am a huge fan of Spinal Tap!” She’s fanning her face and embarrassing herself, so after saying goodbye to Ryder, I drag her out of there and towards the toilets. Once in the safety of the women’s toilets, she turns to me.

  “Vicky, what the fuck? Oh my god, how do you know Ryder Oakley?” I look at her, wanting to slap the stupid out of her.

  “I can’t tell you, I’m sorry. But you will love me for doing it.”

  She laughs while splashing water on her face. “You know, I had to beg Blake to even let you come out tonight.” I walk up behind her and look at her in the mirror.

  “What do you mean? He was the one that decided I wasn’t worth the fight, Alaina, not me.” She drops her hands, turning to me. “I’m sorry, that was a dumb thing to say.”

  I wave my hands away. “Don’t worry, its forgotten. Let’s go dance.”

  Ordering more shots, we shoot them up then move to the dance floor, where Brandon Beal’s “Twerk it like Miley” comes blasting through the speakers. We start laughing, dropping it low and grinding up on each other in probably the most inappropriate of ways, but it’s what we do. I turn my head around and see Blake sitting at the bar with the rest of the boys, them all watching us like hawks; I stop and pull Alaina into me so I can whisper in her ear.

  “You invited them?” I ask. She shakes her head before putting her face up to my ear.

  “I told them where we were going before, but that’s all, I swear.” She throws her arms up. I roll my eyes and forget that they are there; Blake hasn’t made a move on me since before he found out I was pregnant, he’s not about to do it now. Which is a good thing, because the thought alone makes my skin burn with need. When the song finishes, it’s followed closely by Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” and I automatically look to Blake, knowing that he and I share the same love for good rock music. He lifts his bottle to his lips, smirking around the rim before letting the drink drop down his throat. I keep dancing, not taking my eyes off him, watching as his eyes grow dark and needy. I haven’t seen that look in months, and any time I thought I had seen that look, I thought I had imagined it. I turn my back on him as I begin to dance more, not being able to contain how much I am turned on just by his stare; he could make me orgasm all over this floor with that look alone. I feel a body flush up against my back, so I spin around and meet his grasp.

  “Oh, I exist?” I ask him innocently. He wraps his arm around my back, pulling me into him.

  “You have always fucking existed Vicky, but now I don’t give a fuck about anything else, I need to have you.” I laugh and stumble backwards.

  “Tsk tsk biker man, your ship has sailed.” I have no idea what I am talking about; there is no way his ship has sailed. He pulls me back into him, and pushes me up against a wall in the dark corners of the room. Bringing his head down to my ear, he runs his perfect pouty lips around the edges. “I don’t believe you; I can feel you squirming under me as we speak.” I start to breathe heavily. I would be lying if I said that I don’t feel disappointed in how I feel right now, I feel ready to open my legs up to this man in an instant, despite everything. Whore. One of his hands stays up against the wall beside my head, the other hand drops to cup my ass. “Fuck I love your body. I loved it then, but I love it even more now. This ass? Goddamn,” he growls into my ear, setting alight a fire in between my legs. His legs push mine open, until his crotch is pushing into mine. All I can feel is his huge bulge pushing up against me. I moan out a little at the contact; making him bring his mouth over mine lightly, while he slowly opens my mouth up with his tongue. He slides it over mine, before it turns into a full-blown hungry kiss. My hands have flown up to wrap around his neck, and he currently has me up against the wall with my legs wrapped around his waist. “Blake?”

  He carries me through the crowd to an exit, pushing it open onto a dark back alley. I laugh while kissing him, as he pushes me up against the brick wall. I feel the roughness of the wall on my back, but I don’t care; I want him and need him, now.

  “Fuck, I’ve missed you baby. I’m sorry, I’ll explain it all to you tonight,” he says, pausing what we were doing.

  “Okay.”

  With that, he moves his hands up my dress, moving my panties to the side and dipping his fingers into me; massaging my g-spot. My eyes roll back in pleasure. “You on the pill? A different pill?” he asks. I nod my head and he brings his hand up, pulling my dress down over my breasts, sucking each of them ro
ughly. He runs his hand back down my dress and unzips his jeans, pulling his dick out and slamming it into me. I scream out at the contact that I have craved for so long. My need for this man is beyond normal, it is borderline obsession. He’s pounding into me, hard; I feel myself tense up around his cock as my body begins to convulse from my orgasm. He pounds into me one last time, before I feel his dick start twitching inside me. “Holy fuck,” I say while sliding down off the wall. He hooks his finger under my chin, tilting my face up to his and kissing me sweetly on the lips. I smile, and look over his shoulder just in time to see Corrin, his ex-girlfriend, drawing a gun up and pointing it at him. My need to protect the man that I love takes over me, and all sense leaves my body. I scream out, “NO!” as I run in front of him, taking the bullet that she fired right in my stomach. I fall to the ground, as my whole world turns black. The last thing I hear is Blake shouting, and a car’s tyres screeching while taking off.

  It was her

  Blake

  I take Vicky under my arm as people start to crowd around us. For the first time in my life, I am crying like a little bitch.

  “Fuck baby, hang in there please,” I tell her frantically as I put pressure on her wound. I hear the ambulances pull up just as Alaina, Zane and the rest of the boys round the corner.

  “Oh my god, VICKY!” Alaina screams, running up to her while she lies over my legs. I wipe the tears from my eyes while still keeping pressure on the wound, smearing blood all over my face. This doesn’t look good; I’ve seen these sorts of injuries before. Hell, I have caused these sorts of injuries before, and they never live, not in the stomach. Everyone is standing around me, and I look to Zane.

  “It was her,” I say, sneering the word “her”. His eyes narrow and his jaw clenches, before he nods his head. Once they have Vicky packed into the ambulance, with me right next to her; the rest of the boys follow us the whole way there. Once we get there, a mob of doctors and nurses rush to her and wheel her right out of the room. It all happens so fast, I blink and she is gone. I can’t believe I fucking let this go on for so long, this is my fucking fault. I pull at my hair in frustration as I look around the waiting room; I see all the brothers here, as well as Alaina.

  “I need to call her parents,” I say, picking up my cell phone. I dial her parents’ number. They are not too bad; her Mom liked me straight away, but her dad wasn’t having it. Her dad picks up on the second ring.

  “Jefferson, I’m sorry. Vicky’s in the hospital and I think it’s bad; you need to get here as soon as possible,” I say to him. Another tear trolls down my cheek, out of frustration that it’s all out of my control. I don’t give a fuck if I’m crying, and if anyone has a problem with it, I’ll shoot them. This is my woman, my old lady, the mother of my daughter; this can’t be happening, I need her.

  “What? What do you mean?” he asks in a panicked tone.

  “There was an incident tonight at a bar, and she got shot. I’m so sorry.”

  After giving him all the details, I hang up my phone and put it back into my pocket. Ade comes up to me, with pain obvious in his eyes. It took him a while to warm up to Vicky; but after she had Pipper, his love for Pipper was so strong it carried on through to Vicky.

  “I’m sorry, brother. But if anyone would be able to pull through this, it would be Vicky,” he says, throwing his arms around me. I tap his shoulders in appreciation as I sit back into my seat.

  We wait for what feels like years, when I see a doctor come out the doors; I stand to make my way to him. “Is she going to be okay?” He looks at me with sympathy in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Rendon, at this stage all I can say is that we have the best team working on her. The bullet penetrated her stomach, but missed all major organs; we are working the best we can to pull her through this,” he answers. I stand there in shock.

  “So she is going to be okay? It missed all major organs, so she’s going to live?” I ask with a little bit of hope.

  “It is still early to say, because there is still chance that she could run into an infection; there is also the possibility of a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). For now, she is in a medically induced coma.” Fuck, that does not sound good. I don’t care if she’s brain dead, I will look after her until my last days. I will never leave her again.

  “Can I see her?” I ask. He shakes his head.

  “Not yet, you should go home and get some rest. Come back in the morning.” I would fucking punch him out for even expecting me to leave her here alone, but I won’t. I walk back to the waiting room; Alaina stands and makes her way to me.

  “What’s happening?”

  I explain everything to her the best I can, before I go to sit next to Zane.

  “I know where she will be, I’m going there now,” I whisper to him. He looks up to me.

  “I was thinking we bring her down through the system, and we can call Abby. Let’s just lock the bitch up; there is CCTV footage all over that street, that’s all the evidence we need. You don’t want to go in blind brother, it’s what she wants.” I look over to him, my eyes dead.

  “It is Vicky this time, Zane. She got fucking shot! She took a fucking bullet for me. I need to kill Corrin.” He pushes back on his seat and bores holes into my head; he does this when he thinks I am not thinking clearly.

  “Think this through Blake, it’s not smart, this is a set-up. Don’t do it. I can call Abby now; we have girls inside that will make her wish every day that she was dead, trust me brother.” I think over his words, and they make sense. As much as I want to rip her fucking head off and feed it to pigs while pissing on her corpse, I like his idea better. She will suffer far longer than it would take for her to die.

  “Done, make the call.”

  The next morning, all of Vicky’s family are here. I thought that they would be swinging at me, especially Jacob; but they’re not, they are just worried, waiting for news on her. I get up off the plastic seat and look around to see all my brothers asleep on the chairs, every single one of them, with Alaina curled up on Zane’s lap. It makes me miss Vicky that much more; I should never had left her. I make my way over to Jefferson and Carol, giving them a hug, as well as Dominic and Jacob.

  “Has the Doc come back in?” I ask them all.

  “Not yet bro, what happened?” Dominic asks. I explain what happened, and at the end, I was ready for a few screams or fists thrown my way.

  “That’s Vicky, always trying to be a hero,” her mother responds, with complete sadness in her voice.

  “This was your fault?” Jacob asks with a straight face.

  “She was my ex that shot the gun, so yeah, I guess it is.”

  He shoots up off his seat, ready to hit me, until Dominic pulls him back down.

  “It’s not his fault, Jake. It’s Vicky and her fucking crazy ideas. Fuck,” Dominic tells Jacob, making him sit back down in defeat. He brings his hands over his face in frustration, and I take that as my cue to leave.

  “Blake? Who is watching Pipper?” Jefferson asks, just as I turn to walk away.

  “My sister has her at my place; you’re more than welcome to go up there.” I respond, before carrying on to sit by Zane. “You call her?” I ask. He nods his head.

  “Yeah my man, it’s all been done as of this morning, she is in custody as we speak,” he smiles at me, and I smile back, for the first time in three days. I will make sure she lives a very miserable life, for the rest of her life, too.

  “Mr. Rendon?” a young doctor comes out with her papers.

  “Yeah?” I ask, walking straight up to her.

  “Miss Abrahams is awake, and is asking for you,” she says with a smile.

  “Thank you,” I give her a quick hug, before running into her room. When I get there, I see Vicky hooked up to wires and tubes. It makes my stomach ache; fuck this is not fair.

  “Hey baby,” I say to her, closing the door. “How are you feeling?” I ask, pulling up a chair so I can sit right next to her bed.

  “I ha
ve had better days. How is Pipper?”

  “She’s at home still with Phoebe. Fuck you scared me, baby.” I kiss her hand as if my life depended on it. She smiles down at me briefly, but then her smile drops.

  “And Corrin?”

  “Locked up. We have a plan for her, don’t worry about that,” I say to her.

  She smiles. “I’m sure you do.”

  “I don’t want to live without you or Pipper, Vicky. I can’t live without you two.”

  She looks down at our joining hands. “Then don’t. I have been waiting for you Blake, you are my happily ever after.” Fuck, my heart feels like it stops just from her saying that. Fuck, this woman could kill me with her words.

  “I love you baby,” I say to her, kissing her on the lips.

  “I love you too, Blake.”

  The door opens and everyone walks in; I get up to tell them all to leave, but Vicky takes hold of my arm and shakes her head. Alaina straight away pulls over the covers and slides in next to her.

  “Fuck Lain, be careful, please,” I say to her, and she looks at me as if she is not bothered at all. She fits the Queen role perfectly; Zane could not find a better partner. I pull my seat up to her head, letting her brothers in next to her.

  “Vicky, don’t you ever fucking do that shit again, I mean it.” Jacob says, kissing her on the forehead.

  “I’m sorry; please don’t be mad at me, or at Blake. It’s not his fault, either,” she says, and I see her looking directly at Jacob. She knows her brother that well. Jacob turns around and looks to me.

  “You really do love him?” he asks Vicky. If he weren’t her brother, I would fucking smash his face in just for questioning my position with her; instead, I clench my fists.

  “I love him, Jake, and he is the father to your niece. End of discussion.”

  Jacob looks to me and smiles. “Alright then.” Still don’t like the cocky fucker, don’t care who he is. I tap the seat and get up.