Pulled Read online

  She started to stir and she made the cutest noise. “Mmm Bro—” She stopped before she called out his whole name. She shot straight up in the bed and tensed. “Oh my God, Jax, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…I thought…shit. I didn’t mean to almost call you him. I just…I guess I’m used to waking up with him…like this.”

  “Stop apologizing, it’s all right, I get it, but I’m not sorry you curled up with me. I’m glad I got to hold you and comfort you. You needed it.”

  She relaxed a little, then climbed down from the bed, went to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. I knew she was probably sitting in there crying, so I decided to take her mind off of it for a little while.

  “Aye, yo. We gotta get movin’ princess. Plane’s taking off in an hour and fifteen. So we need to leave like now.” I grabbed my pack and shoved my clothes in. My tux hung in the closet so I pulled it out and threw it on the bed. I heard the toilet flush, then she came out.

  “Will we have time to stop for a bite to eat? I’m actually hungry.” She sounded shocked as she put her toothbrush in her duffle bag and tied her hair back again.

  “You’re surprised you’re hungry? I thought women were hungry the entire pregnancy.”

  “I wish. I haven’t been able to stop throwing up,” she said, scrunching up her nose.

  “We can pick up something on the way.” I didn’t do late. I was always on time.

  “Do you mind if I take a quick shower?”

  “’Course you can. I took mine last night, so it’s all yours. I just gotta piss first.” I walked past her into the bathroom.

  We finished getting ready, then met the car service downstairs. We stopped at the Carnegie Deli for takeout and made it to the hanger with fifteen minutes to spare. We boarded the fourteen-passenger jet and ate our sandwiches in comfortable silence.

  *****

  ~Leila~

  Once we got home, I drove out to Johns Island, praying the entire way. One minute I prayed Brody would still be in New York. The next I prayed he would be there, waiting for me, ready to tell me what a fucking moron he had been.

  I knocked on the door and Jane answered. I could see the pity in her eyes. She knew. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, but I swallowed, blinked them back and went inside with her.

  “Ruger is just out back. Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen. Are you hungry? Can I make you some lunch?”

  “No thanks Jane. I’m not hungry. I don’t really have an appetite at the moment. I just want to get Ruger and get out of here before he gets home,” I said, looking around for my Shepherd. “You don’t know when Brody is getting in do you? Because I don’t want him to find me here. He was mad enough last night. I just want to grab my stuff and my dog, then I will leave him alone, like he wants.”

  “Sweetie, I understand y’all are havin’ some issues right now, but just please give him some time to come around. He will. He just needs time.”

  “Jane, I love you to death, but I don’t have time to wait for him to pull his head out of his ass. I have a baby to think about. I need to worry about us.” I placed my hand on my abdomen. “And how I am going to raise him or her by myself.” And here come the tears. “I’m going to go get my things from Brody’s bedroom. I won’t be long.”

  Racing up the stairs, I grabbed everything of mine I could see. I left the gifts, jewelry and toys. I didn’t need any more reminders of Brody than I already had. Throwing the duffle over my shoulder, I went back down to get Ruger.

  “Jane, I think I have everything. If you see anything else, would you please just set it to the side and call me. I could meet you somewhere.” I hit the bottom step. “You know, so I don’t have to come back out here.”

  A look of panic flashed on her face and I knew.

  He was home.

  FML. Part of me wanted to run out the front door, but I could hear him talking to Ruger in the family room.

  Fuck, fuckidy, fuck, fuck, fuck!

  I knew he saw my car out front. It was pretty hard to miss. I felt a stray tear slip past and quickly wiped it away.

  Jane walked to the foot of the stairs where I was standing and whispered, “Please Leila, just go talk to him. I promise he is calm. You know he won’t yell in front of me. Or Ruger for that matter,” she said with a little giggle, trying to lighten my mood.

  “Jane, I don’t think it’s a good idea, I need to just go. He made it perfectly clear last night what his decision was. Please, don’t make this any harder on me.” I bit the inside of my cheek to distract myself from the emptiness and ache in my chest. We were whispering back and forth when I heard him clear his throat. I closed my eyes, looked down and took a deep breath.

  You can do this. Just walk out the front door, whistle for Ruger and walk away. Come on, one foot in front of the other.

  “I didn’t expect to see you here,” Brody whispered.

  “Yeah, well, I guess I could say the same about you. I just came to get my dog and my clothes. Don’t worry, I am leaving now and you won’t have to see me again.” I barely slowed for a breath. “I’m sorry, if I would have known you were going to be home so quickly, I would’ve called Jane and met her somewhere else.” I whistled and Ruger came trotting over. Grabbing the large duffle bag and a small box off the stairs, I bolted for the front door.

  He stood there quietly, not moving and watched me hauling all of my shit out of his house. Jane ran ahead of me to get the door, all the while glaring back at Brody. And let me tell you, if looks could kill Brody would have been bloody and dismembered on the hardwood foyer.

  “Leila, wait,” he finally spoke and my heart seized. He walked over and reached into the back pocket of his Levi’s. He pulled out the sonogram, looked at it once and then extended it out to me. “I thought you might want this back. I’m sure it’s the only one and you should have it.”

  He might as well have pulled a knife out and stabbed me in the chest.

  “Thanks.” I fought with every last fiber of my being not to cry. I balanced the box on my knee and took the picture from him, our hands brushed. I put the picture on top of the box, turned on my heel and fled. Jane helped me out to my car. She got Ruger loaded up and gave me a long hug.

  “Jane, please call me anytime. We could have lunch.” I felt like I was losing a friend. I was.

  “I’d like that my sweet girl. I’ll call you later this week and make arrangements.” She released me with tears in her eyes. I was grateful I wasn’t the only one crying this time.

  “Bye Jane. Take care of him please. Even though I hate him right now, I do still love him.…I probably always will.”

  She smiled at me as I got in my car, started the engine and let the music distract me. Ruger sat in the front seat with his head out the window as I put it in gear and drove away.

  I made it all the way home, into the house and upstairs before the dam burst. I sat in the middle of my bedroom floor, holding the sonogram and just wept. I cried for my broken heart, hurt pride, abandoned baby and the end of our relationship.

  After who knew how long, I got up, washed my face and went downstairs. I needed to call Drew. He was always my rock, the one person I could always count on, no matter what. Just as I picked up my phone to call him there was a knock at the door. My stomach jumped sideways. Brody?

  I ran to the door and flung it open without even looking.

  “Jaxon, hey, what are you doing here?” Disappointed didn’t even begin to cover how I felt. Which was horrible, Jaxon was a good guy, despite his gruff appearance.

  “Hey princess, I just wanted to stop by and check on you. Make sure you got back okay from gettin’ your shit.” He stopped and looked into my eyes as he stepped just inside the front door. “He was there, wasn’t he? Did he give you a hard time?”

  “Yes, he showed up while I was there packing my stuff. He didn’t stay much of anything. He only gave me the sonogram of the baby back.” God, saying it out loud shattered my heart yet again. I sighed and exhaled loudly. “Do you wan
na come in?”

  “That’s up to you. If you wanna talk or just want someone here, I can chill for a while. Or I can go and leave you to your own devices. Up to you,” he proposed.

  “Honestly, I’m not really in the mood to hang out or talk. I just wanna curl up, go to sleep and wake up from the nightmare that has become my life.”

  “I’ll go. How ’bout I stop over tomorrow and take you to get some breakfast?” he asked, but it didn’t really sound like a question. Nothing he ever said sounded like a question or an option. Nope, it just sounded like that’s what you were doing, like it or not.

  “Sure, sounds good.”

  “Maybe I can get you on the back of my bike. Before you say no, it’s only a few blocks and you’ll love it,” he said with a grin.

  “Yes to breakfast and we’ll see to the ride.” I wasn’t making any promises. Jaxon pulled me into a comforting embrace, leaned down and kissed me on the top of my head.

  “See ya bright and early baby girl. I’ll text before I show up. Get some rest.” He opened the door and stepped across the threshold.

  “Thanks for checking on me, and for being so understanding.” I gave him a weak smile before he pulled the door shut.

  Chapter Two

  ~Jaxon~

  I hated to leave her all alone at her place, but she didn’t want to be around anyone. Hell, who could blame her? She just had her heart ripped out and served up on a silver fuckin’ platter. I’d give her today to sulk, mope, eat ice cream and cry, but tomorrow, I was taking her out for a ride. She said she’d never ridden before, but said she was scared to even try. I think once she felt her hair dancing in the wind and felt the rumble of power between her legs, she’d be beggin’ me to take her for a ride.

  I pulled up to the clubhouse of the Marines MC. It was a drab, beige two-story building next to a dirt parking lot. We had occupied this hole in the wall for years. It looked like an old abandoned building, but you know what they say about looks. Once you walk in through the first set of doors, you are stopped another five feet in by a set of secured, thick metal doors. We had the place wired with cameras and an intercom system. No one was coming in unless we let them.

  From the looks of it, most of the brothers were here. It was Sunday afternoon and I was late for church. Church was our weekly meeting that just coincidentally was on Sunday this week. I walked in, punched in a code and the metal door buzzed, signaling I could enter. The inner sanctum looked like a nightclub with its long bar to the right, painted black concrete floors, round tables and couches. There were a few other rooms on the first floor. The office, kitchen, liquor cage, bathrooms and laundry room were all situated to the left in the building. On the second floor there were ten bedrooms. Some of us had a permanent room here, while others took turns sharing. Of course, we all had homes, but often crashed here.

  Mark, the president, Viper, the sergeant-at-arms, Dig, the secretary, and Drill, the treasurer were all seated around the table in the office when I entered.

  “Nice of ya to fuckin’ show up, Remi,” Dig started giving me shit before I shut the door.

  “Fuck off, pussy. I just got home from New York.” I took my seat and filled them in on the event. There was much discussion of new prospects, budgets and requests for assistance. We voted on a few items before the official meeting was over.

  “You made it home just in time for one hell of a party. One of the prospects is in a band, and they’re playin’ tonight. Bonfire out back, burgers, beer, the whole nine yards.” Viper slapped me on the back.

  “I might chill for a while, but I got somewhere to be in the morning.” I followed Viper, Dig and Mark out to the bar. Drill was already there talking with one of the new girls whose name I couldn’t remember.

  “Hey Remi,” Kat purred in my ear. “I missed you the last couple of nights. Wanna take a walk with me?”

  I knew what she was getting at but I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her shit right now. “Nah, I’m gonna have a beer and relax with the boys. Maybe next time.”

  “Fine, whatever. Dig, you up for some fun?” She was trying to make me jealous, but the joke’s on her, I don’t get jealous. Especially not over some club pussy.

  “Have fun Dig.” I slapped his shoulder with a boisterous chuckle.

  “Don’t mind if I do, since you’re not gonna.” Dig grabbed Kat around her waist and pulled her to him. “See y’all in a couple hours.”

  The rest of us sat around drinking and bullshitting until the band showed up and the sun went down. Finally I managed to pry Wendy off me about 11:30 and made a run for the door. No matter how many times I told her I wasn’t interested, she still tried. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her. I was eager to get home, so I could check on Leila tomorrow.

  *****

  ~Leila~

  I didn’t sleep for shit last night. Every time I would fall off, I thought I heard my phone go off or would wake up just to check it. After about 3:30 a.m., I finally turned it off so I wouldn’t be tempted.

  “He’s not going to call or text or email or Facebook message me,” I told the ceiling. Then, I put my phone on the dresser and went to sleep.

  About 7:45 a.m., I got up and turned on the TV. I watched the news for a little and then remembered my breakfast with Jaxon. Oh shit, he was gonna text me. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my phone. When it finally powered on I saw I had three text messages. One from my BFF, Barb, asking how the weekend went. Ughhhhh, I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. One from Drew, checking in, and one from Jaxon, telling me to be ready at 8:30.

  “Shit.” I threw the phone on the bed and ran to the shower having fifteen minutes to get ready. Thankfully, it was only breakfast with Jaxon. Okay, that sounded bad, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I didn’t have to dress up for breakfast and Jaxon was laid back. I didn’t feel like I needed to go overboard and do my hair and make up for breakfast. He didn’t strike me as the high maintenance kind of guy Brody was. Great, there went the leaky faucet that was my face. I had to stop. I was stronger than this.

  Shower done, I patted my hair dry, then threw on some clothes. Nothing special just a pair of jeans, a fitted white shirt and my brown oiled Danskos. I let Ruger out the back door just as Jaxon knocked on the front door.

  Swinging open the door, I said, “You’re early. I still have five minutes left to finish—” Oh fuck, that was not who I expected.

  There on my front porch stood Brody, with a brown, double handle shopping bag. A bag, I was sure was full of my shit. Oh dear God, please let me be dreaming. This couldn’t be happening.

  “Sorry, were you expecting someone?” He looked agitated.

  “What’re you doing here?” I prayed to God Jaxon was running late.

  “You left your dresses and some other things.”

  “I told Jane I’d meet her, you didn’t need to come over here. Besides, the dresses aren’t mine. You bought them, so you keep them. Maybe you can give them to the next bed warmer…You need to leave.”

  “Leila, you aren’t a bed warmer—”

  “Weren’t Brody. As in the past.” I seriously wanted to slam the door in his face. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t want whatever is in that bag. I just want you to go…please.” I looked down at my feet, closed my eyes and mumbled, “Don’t make this any harder on me.”

  I started to shut the door because I could feel the tears welling up and my nose starting to burn. Brody caught the door. “I’m sorry Lei.”

  “No. You don’t get to call me that anymore. My name is Leila. And if you were truly sorry, you wouldn’t be here. If you were really sorry, you would man the fuck up.” He dropped his hand from the door. “Just as I thought. Goodbye, Brody. Please don’t come over here again. It’s too hard to see you anymore.”

  I shut the door in his face and slid down the back of the door. I could still hear him through the door. “I am sorry.…Take care of yourself.”

  Cue the tissues. The dam burst and I was sobbing. I s
at there for a few minutes before I heard the familiar rumble of a Harley and picked myself up off the floor. Literally and figuratively. Jaxon had become a friend and I could really use a friend right now. Barb was working and I’m sure Drake was on call. I wasn’t ready to tell Drew yet. He would be the first one to punch Brody in the face and the same person to say I told you so. So no, I didn’t call Drew. I was sure Brody would be telling him soon enough.

  Jaxon knocked on the door as I opened it. “You ready?” he asked with a cocky smile and a gleam in his bright green eyes. He was wearing well-worn Levi’s that were ripped and frayed at the hem, a gray USMC T-shirt, leather vest and shit-kicker black boots.

  “Yeah.” I gave him a forced smile.

  “Wait, what’s up? Why do you look worse this morning than you did last night?”

  “Gee, thanks. Come in, I need to let Ruger in the house and grab my purse.” I turned and walked back toward the rear of the condo.

  “What happened between the time I left here last night and now?” he barked. His gruff voice startled me, causing me to jump slightly. He must’ve seen; he modulated his tone. “Sorry, I just wanna know whose ass to beat for upsetting you. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “It’s okay, you didn’t scare me. I was just thinking.”

  I opened the back door to an awaiting Shepherd that went bounding through the house to Jaxon. I was really surprised he didn’t go into “protect mom mode.” When I made it back to the living room, Jaxon was leaning on the back of the beige leather sectional petting Ruger.

  “So you wanna tell me what the hell’s goin’ on?”

  I really wanted to say no, but instead I went with, “Later. Right now I just want food. Lately, mornings have sucked, but it’s getting better, knock on wood.” I knocked on the dining room table.

  “Well then, let’s go, princess.”

  “My car is out back. We can go this way.” I tilted my head toward the back door.