Angel's Halo: Fallen Angel (Angel's Halo MC Book 6) by Terri Anne Browning
“Um, so, are we talking twins?” Willa asked the doctor after watching me for a few more moments.
“At the least, yes.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I roared.
Doc, used to my temper after years of dealing with the MC, didn’t even flinch. “It means we’re going to do an ultrasound so we can determine just how many babies Willa is carrying,” he informed me calmly.
“Okay, when can we do that?” Willa asked, her voice shaking with both excitement and apprehension.
“Let me get a wheelchair, and I’ll take you downstairs and do it myself,” he offered.
“Thanks, Doc.” Her smile was shaky, and as soon as he was out of the room, it fell.
Unable to have so much space between the two of us, I fell to my knees beside her bed and buried my face in her lap. Her fingers stroked over my bare head.
“How can I even be pregnant?” she grumbled to herself. “I’ve been on the pill for years now, and we haven’t had any issues.”
“What about when you had that bad ear infection a few months back?” I reminded her as I turned my head so that I could see her beautiful face. “You went through three different antibiotics before it got cleared up. Raven told you to be careful.”
Amusement darkened her eyes. “Yeah? Well, then I blame you.”
Seeing that look in her eyes had a bit of my tension easing. “So, this is my fault, is it?”
Her lips twisted into a sexy little smirk. “Yup. All your fault. You put these babies in me, and now look where we’re at.”
Lifting my head, I stroked my palm over her stomach. “This is scary shit, baby.”
One of her hands covered my own. “I know. But we’ve got this.”
“Do we?” I didn’t feel nearly as sure as she sounded.
“Why do you doubt it?”
I lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “I will probably fuck this kid up.”
“Um, I’m guessing it’s going to be more than one kid, babe. But you’re not going to fuck up anything. You’re amazing with Lexa, and Max adores you.” She leaned forward and touched her lips to mine. “You’re going to kick ass as a daddy, James. Actually, I’d been thinking of babies lately. I wanted to wait until all the crap with those damn Italians was over before bringing it up, though.”
“Don’t worry about those motherfuckers, Willa. I’ll gut them all before I let anything happen to you and the kids.”
She kissed me again, then gave me a sly smile that had my cock jerking painfully against the zipper of my jeans. “I didn’t doubt it for a single second, babe.”
Doc came back a few minutes later with the wheelchair, and I followed them downstairs. The room he took us to was dark, with only a monitor on a large machine to see by. I helped Willa get onto the little exam table and get comfortable while Doc typed in all her information. A few minutes later, he pulled out a wand and put what looked like a condom over it.
“What the fuck do you think you’re gonna do with that, motherfucker?”
Willa giggled even as Doc tried to explain what he was going to do. Everything inside of me told me to knock his ass out and take Willa home. Whatever the fuck he was about to do could wait for when a female tech could perform this exam on my wife. I stood stone-still beside Willa’s head as Doc put the condom-covered wand inside of Willa and shifted it around.
She made a few noises of discomfort and reached for my hand. I took it and lifted it to my lips. “You’re okay,” I murmured, but I wasn’t sure I believed my own words.
“Ah,” Doc commented after a minute or two of making Willa squirm. “Here we go.”
Willa’s eyes went straight to the screen, but I only watched her face for a minute. She looked on in awe as Doc pointed at something, and I wondered if she had ever looked more beautiful.
“Oh my God, James!” she whispered emotionally and lifted wet eyes to me.
The sight of her tears was like a kick to the gut, and I snapped to attention. “What? What is it?”
Doc patiently pointed to the screen again. “Baby A is right there. This is Baby B. And here is Baby C.”
“Three?” I choked out.
All I could make out were three little dark blobs. If he hadn’t told me what I was looking at, I never would have thought they were babies. But as I watched Doc shift the pictures in front of me by moving the wand inside of Willa, my heart melted in my chest. Then the room filled with the sound of their heartbeats. Willa began to cry and laugh, and it was all I could do to hold back my own tears.
Three babies. Holy motherfucking shit. How was that even possible? Sure, people had twins all the time, but fucking triplets? I thought that only happened when the parents used IVF or some shit.
“Looks like you’re measuring at about ten weeks, Willa,” Doc told her with a grin. “And everything is looking great. I want to get you into a specialist as soon as possible, though. Someone who deals with multiples on a regular basis.”
“Can you tell if they’re identical or not?” She tossed it out there just as the thought floated through my own mind.
He shook his head. “I can’t determine that, but the specialist might be able to.”
“This… Whoa, this is just so crazy. I never imagined something like this could happen. Triplets… Twins don’t even run in either of our families, and here we are with three?”
Doc’s face suddenly became very serious. “I’m going to warn you now, Willa. There is a chance that all three babies may not make it to delivery. You’re still in the first trimester, even if you only have a few weeks left. You need to be aware that carrying multiples, no matter how healthy the mother, comes with some bigger risks than if you were just carrying one baby.”
“O-okay,” she whispered, but then she set her chin in that stubborn way that irritated the hell out of me but always made me fall a little more in love with her. This woman was strong, determined, and all mine. “But we’ll be okay. These little beasts will come out fighting no matter what happens over the next six months.” She lifted her gaze to mine, and I nearly fell to my knees beside her. “They’re too much like their daddy not to.”
Chapter Twenty
Rory
“REMEMBER THAT TIME TANNER PUNCHED Bates in the face and told him to suck his dick when the sheriff pulled him over?” Raider snorted beer out his nose he was laughing so hard at the memory. “Spent three days in jail because of it, and made like two g’s from playing poker with some of the guards.”
“Remember the time…”
That was how all the conversations seemed to start tonight. From the moment we had walked through the doors of Hannigans’, everyone had been talking about Tanner and Warden. They were remembering the hilarious antics Matt’s brother had gotten into and all the good times they had shared with the two fallen brothers.
Having only ever attended my mother’s funeral, I didn’t really know what to expect tonight. I figured it would have been held at a church and people would stand up and talk about the two men who were now gone.
Instead, Matt had surprised me by pulling his motorcycle into the parking lot at Hannigans’ along with everyone else. Music was playing loud and proud, while everyone laughed and had a good time. Food was lined up inside on the bar top, a buffet of what Raven had told me were all of the two fallen brothers’ favorite dishes. They were celebrating the life of their brothers, not mourning them.
I had never seen the MC brothers look so dressed up before. At least, by their standards. They all wore button-up shirts under their cuts, with jeans that looked newer compared to the distressed ones they all tended to wear on any other day. But this day was different. Today they were saying goodbye to two of their own.
Oddly enough, that seemed like a better way to say goodbye to someone than standing over a casket and sobbing because my heart was broken at the loss of someone I cared about.
The bar was overflowing, and it was nearly impossible to talk to anyone over the roar of music and lau
Bash, whom I’d only seen a handful of times throughout the night, appeared out of the crowd with Spider and Hawk on either side of him. “We got a new lead,” he said in a deadly serious voice, and I saw a switch flip inside of Matt.
“You’re sure it’s legit?” he growled at his cousin as he released my hand.
“It’s worth looking into,” Hawk said with a shrug.
Spider tipped his head toward the door. “Let’s talk about this outside, man.”
“Yeah.” Matt dropped a kiss on my lips, barely looking at me. “Get something to eat, babe. I’ll be back in a little while.”
Without looking back, he followed the other three out the door, and I had a sudden bad feeling. Something told me that whatever was going on, it involved what had happened to Tanner. I understood Matt’s need to avenge his brother, but I didn’t want to have to go to another one of these damn memorials, next time for him.
I wasn’t hungry, but I figured Matt would be when he came back inside. There was a long line at the buffet, so I grabbed a paper plate and waited.
“Hey, Rory. We’re on our way out,” Flick called as she came up to me with Max on her hip and Jet right behind her. She paused long enough to let me kiss Max’s cheek, but he hid his face in her shoulder, making her roll her blue eyes. “This little monster is cranky, so I’m going to take him back to the clubhouse and attempt to get him to sleep.”
“Ah, poor little guy.” I kissed the top of his head, loving the smell of his baby shampoo. “Don’t be mad, Max. Auntie Flick will give you cuddles.”
He lifted his head and frowned at me, then pushed me away. “My Flick!”
Flick laughed, and Jet muttered something I didn’t completely catch about little cockblockers. I hid my grin as she gave me a wink.
“We’ll see you later,” Flick said as they moved away. “Tell Matt we love him.”
“I will,” I promised. “See you later.”
A few other people came up to me as I was waiting in line. Quinn and Raider came to say goodnight, and Willa stopped long enough to ask me if I had seen her husband. She looked better than she had before she had been hospitalized, but she hadn’t said what the doctor had diagnosed after all the tests they were supposed to do at the hospital.
“He’s outside with Matt, Bash, and Hawk,” I explained. “Club business.”
“Oh, well, I guess I’ll let him stay a little longer. I’m tired and wanted to head home. If you see him, tell him I’ll be in the bathroom, okay?”
“Sure. No problem. Are you feeling okay?”
She shrugged. “Nothing a little rest can’t cure,” she said with a smile, but there was something in her eyes that made me wonder what was going on with her.
Willa left, and two sheep in front of me soon pulled me into a conversation as we began to fill our plates. Everyone was still having a good time, laughing and telling “remember when…” stories about Tanner and Warden. I had been sad when Matt told me Warden didn’t have any biological family left, but hearing all these people telling stories about him, seeing their smiles and hearing the affection they had for the man, told me that maybe he hadn’t had any blood relatives, but he still had a family who had loved him.
“Get down!” a deep voice roared over the music.
Suddenly, everyone was dropping to the floor, and without even thinking about it, I followed suit. The music was cut off abruptly, but people were screaming in fear while the brothers all rushed outside. I didn’t know what was going on, couldn’t make sense of anything at first other than the fact that I was now on my stomach between a crying Aggie and some other woman whose name I couldn’t remember. My plate of food was gone, spread over the floor along with everyone else’s.
I lifted my head, looking around for any sign of what was going on.
What sounded like a vehicle backfiring suddenly drowned out everyone’s screams, and my breath froze in my throat. The noise came again and again, rapidly back to back, and I knew exactly what it was. Someone was shooting at the building. The windows were breaking from the bullets, sending glass flying in all directions, making people scream in surprise and pain.
Matt! The thought hit me in the gut with the force of a wrecking ball. Matt was out there!
No, please, no. Let him be okay.
Fear had made my vocal cords freeze up, so I didn’t scream along with everyone else. I ducked my head back down as the sound of more bullets echoed from outside, and I prayed that Matt had a gun.
“Momma!” Lexa’s frightened squeal could suddenly be heard over everyone else’s. My head snapped up, my gaze going to where I had heard the little girl.
Dread filled my stomach when I saw the beautiful little dark-haired girl standing by one of the windows. The pretty pink dress she was wearing was now covered in blood, most of which was on her left arm.
“Lexa!” Raven screamed, but I didn’t have time to figure out where she was in the chaos.
Another round of bullets started raining through the windows. There was no time to think about what I was doing as I jumped to my feet and started running toward the girl. I reached her in a matter of seconds, and I grabbed her well before Raven could reach her. Tucking Lexa close, I fell onto my stomach with her underneath me just as a handful of bullets flew over my head.
“Momma!” Lexa screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Lexa, I’m coming, baby,” her mother called out, and I chanced lifting my head to find Raven crawling toward us.
She reached us quickly, her face a mask of fear and rage. “Where was she hit?” she demanded as I lifted up enough so she could pull her daughter from under me.
“I think it got her in the arm.”
“Fuck,” she bit out. “Shit, thank God Flick took Max with them.” Her fingers were shaking as she pulled the dress over Lexa’s head so she could check the little girl’s arm. There was blood pouring from the back as well as the front of her arm. “Through and through,” she said, sounding relieved.
“Momma, it hurts,” Lexa sobbed.
“I know, baby. I know.”
Wrapping the dress around the wounds like a tourniquet, Raven grabbed my hand. “Hold this. Don’t let go.”
I nodded. “She’s going to be okay?”
“She will be fine,” Raven assured me, but her voice scared me almost as much as the bullets still flying by us did. “Stay with her. Protect her with your life.”
“Where are you going?” I cried as she got to her feet.
“Protect her,” she commanded and made a mad run for the door.
“No!” Lexa screamed and tried to get free when she realized her mother was leaving her. “Momma, come back!”
I tightened my hold on the dress and covered Lexa’s little body with my own once again, afraid more bullets would start flying. I had no idea what was going on outside, but all I could think was that Matt was out there somewhere.
Matt could be hurt.
Matt could be shot.
Chapter Twenty One
Raven
JET HAD BEEN AGGRAVATING MAX all evening, teasing him that he was going to marry Flick and he was going to take her away from him. Max hadn’t been happy and had clung to Flick all night to the point that she couldn’t even set him on his feet without him throwing a fit. When he’d started yawning, Flick had given in and offered to take him back to the clubhouse for the night. I was thanking every damned deity in the sky for that small blessing now. Just as I was thanking them that Lexa’s gunshot wound hadn’t hit anything major.
But the sight of my daughter standing in the middle of bullets flying all around her was going to haunt me for the rest of my fucking life. Her sweet face had been white with fear and pain as the blood had oozed out of her gunshot wounds. All I could think about was getting to her,
As soon as I realized she was going to be okay, that it was nothing life-threatening, the rage had boiled up fast and hot.
Outside, I saw at least four vehicles that shouldn’t have been there at the end of the parking lot. Men in suits were standing behind them, their powerful guns pointed at my family’s bar, at my friends and family.
At Bash.
The brothers were all ducked behind vehicles and motorcycles, shooting back at the suits. “You want some of this, Enzo, come get it!” Hawk yelled. “I’m right fucking here, pussy.”
I could tell where my brother was, not just because of where he was yelling insults at the men with guns, but where the bullets were suddenly being directed.
I ducked down behind a row of motorcycles as a stray bullet whizzed by my head, unsure it was friend or foe who had nearly shot me. On my hands and knees, I crawled through the maze of bikes toward my SUV. Bash didn’t know it, but I had a stash of guns where my spare tire should have been. I had started my little arsenal when Hawk had been shot a while back trying to protect Gracie from being taken. There was no way in hell I was going to chance being out with my kids and something happening to us that could have easily been avoided if I’d just had a gun.
It felt like it took forever to reach my blacked-out SUV. I opened the back and started moving shit around. My fingers shook with reaction as my hands wrapped around the butt of the shotgun I’d filched from Spider’s basement. Willa had caught me taking it, but she hadn’t said a word about it. The next day, she had done the same thing with her own vehicle.
The gun wasn’t loaded, so I grabbed the box of shells that was right beside it. Dropping the shells onto the ground beside me, I grabbed the two Glocks as well but left the second shotgun.
“Fuck!” I heard someone groan and realized it was Uncle Chaz. “Bastard got me in the belly.”
“No,” I whispered and prayed it wasn’t true. In my experience, gut shots were usually fatal.