Black Wings MC: The Novel (Motorcycle Club Romance) (7 page)

“
Derek, I’m worried. We don’t know for sure if everyone’s dead or not. What if they come for us in here?”

“
That won’t happen. Even if they’re not all dead, we won’t have to worry about Santiago or Paseo. They’re the ones that call all of the shots for the cartel and La Familia. They won’t be bothering us.”

I admired his bravery but I was still scared. What if some of their men did come to attack us at the hospital? My heart also began to race as I thought about our baby. I could hardly wait to tell him the good news. For a moment, I wondered if he would want a boy or a girl.

“
Try to get some rest babe, you need it.” He told me.

“
You too. I love you.”

“
Love you too, Tara.”

I drifted off to sleep as we lie in our hospital beds. When I awoke, I saw Animal and Doom standing by Derek’s bedside. They were talking about the casualty count from the bombing. Santiago was dead and Paseo was clinging to life on life support. Most of their men were dead from both the cartel and La Familia.

While I was glad the cartel leader was dead, I worried that Paseo might live and order his men to come after us for nearly killing them. I continued to listen to them talk with my eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. Derek told them about his condition and then I heard one of them—I think Animal—ask about me and how I was doing.

“
She’s going to be alright. She got a little banged up but she’s fine.” Derek told them.

“
You really love her, don’t you?” Doom asked as they joked around about him being a softy.

“
It’s weird, I do. I never thought I’d fall in love again after…” his voice trailed off. It sounded as if he was choking back on his tears.

“
We know” Animal said. “You gotta good girl over there though. She thinks the world of you.”

I smiled. The MC approved of me and supported Derek and I as a couple. I continued to drift in and out of sleep until one of the nurses came in to care for us. I awoke by hearing Derek moan out in pain as the nurse checked his dressings and repositioned him in bed. He was in a lot of pain. When she was done with him, she came over to me.

“
How are you doing today Tara?” the nurse asked me.

“
I’m fine. A little sore but I think I’ll manage.” I answered her as I tried to smile the best that I could.

“
Well you better make sure that you get plenty of rest. You’re pretty lucky that your injuries weren’t worse. You and that baby need lots of rest.”

“
Baby!?!?” Shadow asked.

The nurse looked over at him and then back at me. She made a face that apologized as she realized that I hadn’t told him yet.

“
I’ll just leave the two of you alone.” The nurse said as she exited the room.

“
Why didn’t you tell me that you were pregnant Tara?” He sounded excited but a little angry at the same time.

“
Shadow…I’m sorry. I had to wait until I knew for sure. I didn’t want to be wrong. I wanted to tell you as soon as I knew for certain. I had it all planned out how I was going to tell you and everything.”

“
How far along are you? How were you going to tell me?”

“
Maybe a couple of weeks along? It’s not time for my period yet. I just knew the moment that I conceived that I was pregnant but I had to wait until I could take a test.”

“
You didn’t answer my second question. How were you going to tell me?” I could hear the excitement in his voice.

“
Well, my plan was to wait until I could take a pregnancy test. I was going to make you breakfast, put everything on a tray—including my pregnancy test—and bring you breakfast in bed.”

“
That would’ve been awesome. So we’re going to be a family now, huh?” He asked.

“
Yeah. Are you happy?” I was almost afraid to ask.

“
Happy? Are you kidding? I’m super excited. I’ve always wanted a kid, maybe two.” He said as he glanced over at me with a mischievous grin on his face.

“
Woah, slow down there partner. Let me get this one out before we start talking about more.” I said as I laughed.

I was so happy that he was excited about the baby. I had feared that he might not want a baby; it might slow him down or cramp his style. If he was this excited, I couldn’t wait to see how he would be when the baby actually got here.

The hospital staff brought our lunches. I was never a fan of Mexican food. The closest I’d ever gotten to eating Mexican food was eating tacos at Taco Bell. I didn’t like all of the beans and rice that they smothered everything in, and that’s exactly what my hospital tray looked like.

“
Eat up” Derek ordered at me. “You need your strength and my little lump of lovin’ needs nourishment.” An enormous smile played on his lips. I hadn’t seen him smile like that in a long time.

“
I’ll try.” I said as I picked at my food.

The next day, the entire MC came to see Shadow and check on him. They all boasted on how bad ass everything was and reminisced about how everything went down. While they were all going on about the previous day’s events, I could tell that Shadow was getting antsy.

Just as he was about to speak, he looked over at me. It was almost as if he were seeking approval to tell the guys about my pregnancy. I shook my head no. I’ve always been superstitious and have heard that you shouldn’t break the news to anyone until you’re past the first trimester…just in  case something were to happen to the baby and you lost the pregnancy. He frowned and made a sad face at me. I mouthed “sorry” to him and smiled back at him.

The doctor and nurse came in shortly after everyone left and talked to us about our discharge. They said that we would probably have to stay one more night but we would both get discharged in the morning. Discharged…that was the best word that I heard since we came to Mexico. Maybe now we could go back home.

Home? That made me wonder. Would Shadow come live with me or would I live with him? Certainly we weren’t going to live apart since I was carrying his child, or would we? I wanted to ask him but I didn’t want him to think that I was being too pushy.

The next morning, before we were discharged, the doctor ordered an ultrasound on me. He just wanted to make sure that the baby was fine due to the trauma and injuries that my body had suffered during the explosion. I asked if Derek could accompany me during the ultrasound. I wanted us to see the baby together for the first time.

When we were finally in the ultrasound room, I started to become very anxious. I was so excited to see the baby that was growing inside of me. Shadow seemed excited and nervous, too. The ultrasound technician squirted cold gel on my belly and began to move the probe around my belly. It was hard to make out what everything was on the screen but soon I saw the tiny little dot that was my baby.

I looked over at Shadow so I could see his first reaction to our tiny little blip. He was grinning from ear to ear. I could see how proud he was. I knew from that moment, that we would always be a family and I could tell exactly how much he loved me, and how much he already loved our little blip.

Once the ultrasound technician confirmed that everything was ok, the doctor signed our discharge papers. The MC rented a van for all of us to go back home. After we were all loaded into the van, we began to head toward the U.S. border. I couldn’t wait to get back into the U.S. At least then, I could have some normal food. I don’t know if it was the lack of food that I had eaten or the baby, but I was starving and craving a double cheeseburger.

Our ride home was pretty uneventful, but I was grateful for that. After our ordeal in Mexico, peace and quiet was exactly what I needed. As the van traveled toward the U.S., I watched the road out the window. Reflecting on being held captive, the explosion and the injuries that were sustained put me on edge. Passing the cacti on the road as the American border grew closer was a welcoming sight. I vowed to myself that I would never go back to Mexico, no matter what. From this point forward, I had to protect myself and our little blip. Shadow would have to understand that he had a family now and that he would need to put us first.

I secretly wondered if having a baby might be enough for him to quit the MC. I dreamt of us living in a big house with a fenced backyard. We could have two kids, just as he wanted. He could push one on the nice swing set that we would buy them while I helped the other down the slide. We could have backyard BBQ’s and invite the neighbors or friends. I could join the PTA and Derek could coach football or basketball.

My daydream came to an abrupt end as I realized that we were sitting in line to cross the border to come back into the States. An overwhelming feeling of joy and relief washed over me as I knew that we were homebound. As soon as we got back into the U.S., I planned on running home, taking a long hot shower and getting some McDonald’s or Burger King or anything! Just as long as it was American food, I would be happy.

Speaking of going back home, I’m sure my brother was worried sick about me. I wondered what he would say about me being pregnant, especially with Shadow’s baby. I imagined that he would be shocked, happy and surprised. At least I hoped. My brother and Shadow seemed to get along really well. I knew that my brother would make an excellent uncle. He had always wanted kids of his own but could never find the right girl to settle down with.

As we finally crossed the U.S. border, I breathed in the fresh American air. Shadow looked over at me and smiled, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

“
We have to swing by headquarters for a bit, ok?”

“
Why? I thought everything was over. I just want to go home.”

“
We have to debrief and figure out our next move. You can lie down in the bunks if you want to.” He said as he kissed my hand.

“
I don’t want to lie down in the bunks. I want to go home and shower. I want clean clothes and some food.”

“
We’ll leave soon. I promise that we won’t stay long. Then you can have all of the food and hot showers you want. Ok babe?”

How could I say no to that handsome smile? I couldn’t tell him no because he was so gorgeous, and he was all bandaged up. He looked pretty pathetic.

“
Ok” I reluctantly agreed. He better be glad that I love him, I thought to myself.

Chapter Ten

Back in the U.S.

The van traveled for another hour or so before we finally reached the MC headquarters. I was about to enter that ugly, deserted building for the second time. The first time was after a big blowout with La Familia. This time it was after a knock-down drag-out fight with the cartel and La Familia. I was beginning to see a pattern. We only seemed to go to the headquarters when something bad happened. I wondered if it would always be like this. While I knew that I would never grow tired of looking at Shadow, I would get tired of having to come to the headquarters.

“
Hey babe, you can go ahead and head up to my room if you want.”

“
Well, I changed my mind. I don’t want to lie down. I’d rather stay right with you.” I was curious as to what they said and did during their meetings. If I could figure it out, it might help give me some insight as to what really goes on.

“
That’s fine with me babe. You can stay by me as much as you want. You’re part of the Black Wings now.” He said as he flashed his intoxicating smile at me.

I smiled back. “Does that mean I’ll get my own jacket?” I joked with him teasingly.

“
Sure does.” He said as he kissed my cheek and we headed inside.

The guys had to help us up to the second floor where the meeting was since neither of us could get around real well. Once we got up there, Animal busted out cases of beer and everyone began to drink. I obviously didn’t since I was pregnant, but Shadow wasn’t shy to down a couple of beers as soon as we got there. They all made small talk until the meeting actually began.

Shadow and the MC discussed the events that had taken place, the casualties and what to expect next. The upcoming part was what I most interested in. I wanted to know what they anticipated La Familia or the cartel to do. This is the information that I was hungry for; it would help me tell my future. I listened intently as the men discussed everything.

They made talks of Paseo and La Familia mainly. Paseo would most likely still want to deal with the Black Wings and get shipments in. Much to my surprise, La Familia didn’t work exclusively with the cartel. They had several contracts with various other groups. It didn’t matter what happened to the cartel, they still needed to do business.

The men discussed what their plan of action was and how much they were going to charge for shipments now. The price had obviously gone up, but they didn’t know if La Familia would be willing to pay the new price. I must admit, it was pretty steep at $800,000 per crate. They were only paying $400,000 per crate before. When the Black Wings would get a shipment, each of them would take their own cut; roughly $100,000 each. With their increased price, each would get $200,00.