Owning Destiny (Forsaken Sinners MC Series Book 4) (3 page)

Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door and a woman says, “Knock, knock,” before the door starts to open. Realizing I’m still holding Mack’s hand—or rather he seems to be holding mine—I pull my hand out of his grasp and take a quick step back.

I hear tiny, loud footsteps running before I see them. Two little kids—one boy and one girl—race into the room and yell, “Papa,” simultaneously. Once their little feet bring them to Mack’s bed, they jump at the same time, but each on a different side. Mack reaches out both hands and seems to be able to grab a hold of both children without too much trouble. His arms are long and strong enough that really the only trouble he had was trying to sit up in time to catch them.

I knew Mack had grandkids and I could see just by the way he spoke of them when I was around that he loves them dearly. But seeing him firsthand with them is a sight to behold. Here’s this big, tough, and rough-looking man who’s the president of a motorcycle club being gentle and loving to these children. I guess I just never imagined him being this way. Loving them and protecting them, yes. Talking about them and even playing with them a bit, yeah, I could even see that. But this—what I’m seeing now—is more than I thought possible.

The boy and girl have climbed completely on the bed and are now each sitting on his lap. At least he’s big enough that they can both fit, though there’s the bed beneath him, so it’s not like they would be at risk of falling or not having enough room.

Mack starts to tickle them and laughter and giggles fill the room. It brings a big smile to my face. I love the sound of children laughing. I’ve always loved kids, though I wasn’t sure if I’d have any. Or even want a child. Plus, you have to have a man to do that, and I could never find a man that was to my liking. I’d get bored before things got too serious, but I guess that’s a good thing.

“Shocking, isn’t it?” a woman’s voice asks, making me jump. I was so caught up watching Mack with the kids that I didn’t even pay attention to who came in with them.

Turning around to face the woman talking to me, I notice two more standing beside her. Three women, who are Mack’s daughters, are standing there looking at Mack like I was moments ago.

The woman closest to me is Dani. She’s the mother of the kids still giggling from Mack’s tickles. I’ve seen her the most around here, visiting and checking in with me and the doctors on the progress of Mack’s condition. Dani is beautiful in a badass biker chick sort of way, but it fits her like a second skin. She’s so confident and bold.

The woman next to her is Harlow. She’s the one who brought the flowers Mack threw across the room a few weeks ago. She seems to be younger than the other two, but I can’t be one hundred percent sure. Harlow is both quiet and outspoken at the same time. It’s strange really that she can be both, but, like Dani, it fits her.

And then there is Sara. I don’t see her like I do the others but I know she stops by as much as the other two do…I’m just never around when she does. I think she mainly comes at night after I’ve left for the day. I heard around the hospital that she works at a gym that helps battered women and children. What she does is amazing. Maybe on one of my days off I’ll go down and see what I can do to help.

I nod to Dani’s question even though she isn’t looking at me, but I think it was more a rhetorical question anyway. Fuck, maybe it even still shocks
her
seeing Mack with her kids.

All three of the women move further into the room; Dani moving to the right side of the bed, Harlow and Sara on the left.

“All right, children, that’s enough. Leave Papa alone,” Dani says sternly, but I can hear the happiness in her voice. She loves the sight before her. I have to say, so do I. It’s such a contradiction of what you’d expect from someone like Mack. He’s a rough biker. He’s as big as a truck and could kill someone with just one finger I’m sure. But with these children, he’s as soft as a flower. It’s humbling to watch.

“But, Mama―” the little girl starts to argue.

“Don’t talk back to your mother,” Mack says. His face is cut in hard lines but there’s still a twinkle in his eye as he addresses the little girl.

She pouts a little bit, but she doesn’t try to argue any more, gently getting off the bed and running toward the window, already preoccupied with watching what’s going on outside.

The little boy is silent as he gets off the bed too, though he doesn’t look upset about the order from his mother. There’s something strangely older about the boy even though he couldn’t be older than three. He’s quiet and watchful, guarded and thoughtful. Definitely not what you’d expect from a toddler.

“So,” Dani says, setting a large bag I didn’t notice down by the side table before taking out a baggy of Gold Fish, two sippy cups, and coloring books. “How have the massages been going? Any progress?”

I open my mouth, my excitement from earlier coming back, to tell her about what happened moments before they came in, but one look at Mack has me snapping my mouth shut again. He’s looking at me pointedly, like he’s trying to convey a message to me, but I have no idea what it could be. Does he not want me to tell them about his progress? Or does he want to be the one to tell them the good news?

“It’s going well, but no progress yet,” Mack replies, and I’m flabbergasted that he’s not telling them he was able to move his leg. I thought for sure he’d be jumping for joy about it and even happier to tell his family about it, but he’s not, and I can’t figure it out.

The three women look from Mack to me, questions in their eyes. I feel put on the spot with their eyes drilling into mine. But if he doesn’t want to tell them yet, then I won’t say anything either.

“Yes, things have been going great. Mack’s body seems to be responding well to the massages. I have a good feeling about this form of treatment and know that he’ll be walking again soon,” I say, happy with my words. I didn’t lie, but I didn’t break Mack’s trust in me.

My words seem to put the women at ease. They all take a seat around Mack’s bed and start talking to each other about him getting released soon and the welcome home party they want to throw.

Mack isn’t paying any attention to them though, looking right at me with a look I can’t decipher. It’s strange and intense at the same time. I look toward the window where the children are quietly babbling to each other in what sounds like gibberish, but is probably twin talk.

Suddenly, I feel out of place, like I’m intruding. Here Mack is with his daughters and grandchildren and I’m standing in the back looking in. I shouldn’t be here. I finished his massage and now it’s time for me to go.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I really should be going,” I say to no one in particular before turning around and reaching for the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, same time?” I hear Mack ask. Turning my head to look at him over my shoulder, I see him staring at me with a small smile gracing his lips.

Returning the smile, I reply, “I’ll be here.”

Opening the door, I hear him yell after me, “Don’t be late.” It makes me laugh. He and I both know I’m never late.

I don’t answer him, but I can’t help the smile that won’t leave my face. Mack is getting better and I couldn’t be happier for him. But when I remember what his daughters were talking about, my smile fades to a frown. He’s getting released soon, which means he’ll be gone and I’ll probably never see him again. This man is everything I thought I’d never want in my life—patient or not—yet I can’t help but feel the loss of his presence. Tomorrow very well could be the last day I have with him.

My mood takes a nosedive as I rush into the locker room to grab my things. I should stay and do my final rounds but I can’t stand to be in this place any longer with the knowledge that soon he will no longer be here.

Slipping past the nurse’s station without being noticed, I make my way to my car in a daze. Why can’t I get it through my head that Mack is just a patient and nothing more? Everything about him should turn me off, so how come I can’t stand the thought of going a day without seeing him, talking to him,
touching
him?

Something white on my windshield catches my attention as I round the hood of my old beat up Ford Taurus. It’s a piece of paper, but I have no idea what it is or why it’s here. I know for a fact it’s not a parking ticket because I have my pass displayed on my windshield and I’m in the employee parking lot. But if not a parking ticket, what could it be?

Pulling it out from under my windshield wiper, I read the words that turn my stomach and have chills breaking out all over my body.

Sister Dearest―

I have a surprise for you…

Chapter Three

Mack

It’s been a few hours since Rose walked out of my room, but I can’t help but to look at the door every few seconds. A part of me prays that she comes back in. Maybe she’d have an excuse like she left something here, but we’d both know that’s a fuckin’ lie.

“You seem happy,” I hear Dani say.

Moving my eyes away from the door, I look at her. She has a big shit-eating grin on her face and looks smug as fuck. On any other day, I’d probably give her hell and deny what she thinks is going on between me and the sexy as hell nurse, but she’s right about me being happy. Today was a good day. For reasons she probably thinks she knows and reasons she doesn’t yet know. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to play into her hand or make it easy on her.

“Well, yeah. I have three beautiful ladies in my room,” I say with a wink.

“Phor beetful gores, Papa,” Harley says from the window.

Laughing, I say, “Yes, Harley Bear, four beautiful girls. How could I forget about you?” She graces me with dazzling smile, then turns back around to look out the window. The girls laugh with me but they don’t comment. Harley is like her mother in a lot of ways. She likes to know she’s right and always has to have the last word.

I love all my daughters, though. They are more than beautiful, which is where my granddaughter gets her beauty. But Dani, Sara, and Harlow all have spunk, which they need when dealing with their men. They’ve all been through hell, but have risen above it and come out the other side stronger. And they all have this glow about them that lets me know how happy they are. I love these three women more than I ever thought I could love someone.

I never thought I’d have children of my own, didn’t even want any, but the day they each walked into my life, I couldn’t have been happier. I love them as if they were my own flesh and blood. I’d do anything for them. They are my daughters in every way that matters.

“Uh huh. So it has nothing to do with the fact that
Nurse Rose
was just here?” Harlow teases, then chuckles.

I have half a mind to tell them about the progress I made during my massage today just to get them off the subject of Rose, but I don’t. I’m not ready to tell them yet. A part of me is worried it was only a fluke; that the movement I was able to make won’t last. I don’t want to tell them so they get their hopes up for nothing.

And then the other part of me doesn’t want to share the moment Rose and I seemed to have after I was able to move my leg. The way she said my real name with excitement, the smile on her face, and the way she took my hand in hers. It was like she really cared about the fact I was getting better—that she had hope for me when I had lost it for myself.

Needing to change the subject, I cross my arms and give each of the girls a pointed look. “Speaking of happy…what’s going on with you three? It’s usually like pulling teeth from a lion trying to get you to sit back while the men go out on club business. I actually thought I’d have to chain ya’ll down.”

I thought me turning the line of questioning back to them would have them dropping the smug smiles on their faces, but instead, their smiles just get bigger. Now I’m really worried.

“What the fuck is going on?” I say with more edge in my voice. I hate not being in the know. Before I got shot, I knew everything that went down in my club; who was fucking who, where everyone was at, and what needed to be done. Now, I feel like I don’t know jack shit.

The smugness drops from their faces but they’re still smiling. I wish I could find comfort in that, but I can’t.

Sara is the first to speak. “Well, we thought that bringing you some good news might cheer you up. So there’s something I’d like to tell you,” she says, but doesn’t elaborate. I try to not show my irritation, but I’m not sure if I succeed. If they can tell though, they don’t comment.

“Well, are ya going to tell me or make me guess?” I say after she doesn’t say anything further.

Sitting up straighter in her chair with the biggest smile I think I’ve ever seen, she says excitedly, “I’m pregnant.”

I feel like a fish out of water, my mouth is opening and closing with words that won’t come to me.

Shock was the first feeling to come because I was not expecting that to be what came out of her mouth at all. I was thinking maybe she got a new job, or their buying a car, or shit, even they are getting another dog so the one they have wouldn’t be lonely when they are both gone. But pregnant? That was so far from my mind that it was in a different fucking timezone. But now that I’ve had a few seconds to let it sink in, happiness bathes my body in complete joy. She’s pregnant! Which means I’m gonna be a grandfather again.

A huge smile takes over my face and I reach out my hand. “Congratulations,” I practically yell as she takes my offered hand and I pull her into me for a big hug. I wish I was able to get out of this bed and hug her like I want to, but this will have to do for now.

“Thank you, Mack. I’m very excited, though I’m nervous to tell Toby. I know he’ll be over the moon about it, but it wasn’t something that we planned,” Sara says quietly. She lays her head on my shoulder while I continue to hold her. I’m surprised as fuck that I’m the first person she told, though I assume the other girls know already…but still. She told me before her man. I may have to gloat about this fact after the shock and happiness wear off.

Pulling back enough that I can see her face, I look at her with a serious expression. “Honey, he’s going to be thrilled. It doesn’t matter if you were planning on it or not, he’s going to love this little baby with everything he has. But if he’s being a shithead about it, you come tell me and I’ll whip some sense into him. Don’t worry your pretty little head, okay?” I reassure her. I have no doubt that Toby is going to be so fucking happy he won’t even know what to do with himself.

I hug her close once more before letting her go. She makes her way back to her seat, then looks at Harlow with a cashmere smile on her face. What the fuck now?

Looking at Harlow expectantly, I wait her out. Does she have something to tell me too? I can’t even imagine what she could want to tell me, and since any of my guesses for Sara were completely out of range, I’m not even gonna try this time around.

“Mack, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I’ll be forever in your debt.” Harlow starts, and I feel a little of the tension from my shoulders drain a bit, though I am a little irritated she keeps bringing this up. I didn’t do anything for her that demands thanks. She’s my family and I protect my own.

“But I do have something to ask of you. I want you to know that I’d like it very much if you accepted, but I completely understand if it’s too much to ask.” This time when she speaks, there’s nervousness in her voice. What could she have to ask me that would make her feel like this?

“Sweetheart, I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to tell you this, but there is nothing I have done that needs repaid. You can ask me whatever you want and I’ll happily oblige. I’d do anything for you. You should know that by now.” I hate that she feels like she’s in my debt and like she can’t ask me for something. I care about her just as much as I care about Dani and Sara. She’s like a daughter to me. I would do anything to make sure she’s safe and happy—give anything for her just like the other two. I don’t need anything in return.

“Well, I’m glad you feel that way because what I’m about to ask you is very important. It’ll most likely be a lot of work, and make you aggravated beyond belief, but I hope you agree.”

“Just ask already,” I urge, needing to know what it is. Hopefully my tone doesn’t come off mean because that’s not the way I intend it. I only want her to ask whatever it is she needs already.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” she says, leaving the sentence hanging a little before continuing. “Mack, you’ve been amazing to me and I see the way you are with little EJ and Harley. Would you do the honor of being the grandpa to the baby I’m now carrying as well?”

Again, I’m completely thrown off guard by her request. Well, the news in general. I didn’t see it coming when Sara said she was pregnant, but there wasn’t even a molecule in my body that thought Harlow would be pregnant as well. What a fucking day! A great and amazing day.

“Of course!” I shout, reaching out and dragging her closer so I can pull her in for a hug as well. Like she even had to fucking ask, but I kind of love that she did.

These girls have made me the happiest motherfucker in the world. I love my grandkids more than my own life, and knowing that I’ll be adding more is the best feeling ever. Better than being president of my club and better than the feeling of riding on my bike.

My smile is firmly planted on my face to the point of pain, but I don’t give a shit. I am so happy right now that if someone came in here to do any of these girl’s harm, I would shoot them with this smile still on my face. Well, I’d probably do that anyway…but still.

When Harlow pulls away, I look to where Dani is still sitting silent. She has a smile on her face that could rival my own. Knowing her, she probably has something up her sleeve. Do I dare take a guess?

“Are you pregnant too?” I ask, though I think I already know the answer.

Her smile gets even bigger and I can’t help but laugh. No fucking way! This has got to be the best damn day of my life.

“Are you shittin’ me?” I have to ask, because she could very well just be fucking with me, but I hope like hell she’s not.

Shaking her head, she finally gets up and takes the few steps to my bed. “Nope. We’re all pregnant. We found out a few days ago. We thought it’d be perfect to tell you first to bring your spirits up a little, but I gotta tell ya, I can’t wait to see the look on the guys’ faces when they find out.”

“Find out what?” Blaze says as he, Louie, and Toby walk through the door.

His tone is cautious but also almost angry. I’m sure because there’s something he wasn’t
in the know
about. Well, how does it feel, asshole? It’s nice to have a one up on someone right now when I can’t seem to get ahead anywhere else.

“Daddy,” the twins both squeal as they jump down from the chair they were sitting on, coloring, and run toward Blaze.

Leaning down, he takes both kids in his arms, gives them a smile, and kisses their cheeks before putting them back down.

“Go on back over and play while the adults talk,” Blaze says, before turning back toward Dani. I don’t know if something happened at the meet or if they are just waiting for the girls to reveal their secrets. I’m going crazy not knowing now that I remember why they’re here, though finding out about the pregnancies still gives me a high like no other.

Looking each guy over for any signs of injury, my body visibly sags with relief when I see none. They’re pissed and maybe a little rough looking, but no one is hurt. At least nothing physical seemed to have happened at the meet. Or if it did, our guys came out on top. Thank fuck for that.

The first hour after they left, I swear my whole body was buzzing with adrenaline, going crazy not being with my brothers to back them up and knowing what the hell was going on. But after the girls laid their news on me, I lost track of time and what was going down. They’re here now though, so I’ll know soon enough what happened. But first…

My eyes move from Sara, to Harlow, and finally land on Dani. Now it’s my turn to have a smug smile. Looking at Dani now, you never would have guessed minutes ago she was smiling like the fat kid who got the last piece of cake. Nope, now she looks like the fat kid that ate too
much
cake and is about to be sick. She has no reason to be nervous or scared, but I’m thinking it’s because she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She wasn’t ready to reveal their surprise just yet, but it’s too late. The guys knew something was going on, but now it’s confirmed. And they won’t stop until they know what it is.

“Someone better start talking before I lose my shit,” Blaze growls, but his bark is worse than his bite. He’s more irritated and antsy than pissed.

When the girls told me about their news, Sara was the first to go, but this time around, it’s Harlow.

“Louie, I wanted to wait and tell you tonight while we were alone, but I guess now will have to do,” she says, taking a big breath.

“Whatever it is, babe, just tell me. We’ll get through it. I promise.” Louie’s voice is calm but you can see he’s nervous. He has no idea what’s coming. Not a fucking clue! He’s probably worried and thinking it has something to do with what happened to her, but it’s so far from that subject. It’s going to blow his mind.

“I’m pregnant,” Harlow says quietly as a tear slips down her face, but I can tell by the tone of her voice they’re happy tears. She may be scared to death to be a mother and a little unsure about what Louie will say, but she’s happy. And I know she’ll make a great mother.

Louie looks like he’s made of stone. This news completely shocked him, but it only takes seconds for it all to sink in and the look I knew would grace his face to appear. Smiling from ear to ear, he rushes toward Harlow, picking her up and swinging her around.