Payne (The Soldiers of Wrath MC: Grit Chapter Book 3) (6 page)

“
A
nd when you
’re all grown up, I bet you’re going to be causing so much trouble for Mommy,” Clara said, rubbing Vicky’s stomach.

“You’re a bad influence, telling him how many girls he’s going to date, and probably hurt.” Vicky rubbed her stomach.

They were sitting outside. The sun was out, shining down on them. Vicky felt a little chilled, and so she had a cardigan on. The slutty clothes had disappeared. In their place was a pair of jeans with elasticated waist, fit for maternity wear, and a large-ass shirt that was getting tight around her stomach.

“I can’t believe you’re having a baby,” Clara said.

“I was terrified.”

“Now?”

“I’m still scared. This is a little life I have to take care of. I’m also excited. Yeah, I’m excited. I can’t wait for this little guy to come into the world, and I can love him so much.”

“Loving him will never be a problem. You’ll have aunty Clara, and moody uncle King.” Clara blew on her stomach through her shirt.

“Wait until you’re the pregnant one.”

“At the moment that’s not going to happen, not at all.”

“Trouble with King?”

“Yeah, giving the Prez a reality check clearly wasn’t a good thing.”

Vicky chuckled. “You ripped Payne a new one?”

“Babe, I completely ripped into him. I mean, the guy was pretty much crying by the time I was through with him.”

Staring down at her stomach, Vicky didn’t find comfort in her friend arguing with Payne, or causing problems. “I don’t want you hurting your own marriage, Clara.”

“I won’t. Once King sees that I’m right, we’ll be good.”

She sighed. “I appreciate you telling Payne how it is and sticking up for me, but from now on, don’t. He’s going to be the father of my child, and that is going to have to be a big deal for us.” Stroking her stomach, she wondered if he’d look like Payne, or her. “He’s told everyone I’m going to be his old lady.”

“Yeah, he did. The truth is, Vick, everyone knew you belonged to him. You just didn’t have the actual title.”

“I know. It’s probably silly but he never seemed to trust me enough. One moment he was an asshole, the next he was sweet. I got damn whiplash from him constant hot and cold.”

“You’ve got no choice now. You’re going to have to put up with him for a long time.”

Vicky smiled. There were worse things to look forward to.

“What about you and King?”

“We’ll have kids one day.” Clara winked at her. “I want to see how you handle everything.”

Her laughter was cut short by the sound of several bikes pulling into the parking lot. Payne was on one of them, as was Beast and King.

She stayed on the ground, brushing off a bug that landed on her knee.

He didn’t look around, and went straight for her.

“Hey, babe, got a minute?” Payne asked.

“Sure.” She made to stand up but Clara stopped her.

“You’re comfortable. I’ll go.” She got to her feet, and without a word, left them alone.

“Has she been taken over by a fucking alien?” Payne asked.

“No. She’s not that bad, most of the time.” Vicky chuckled. “She just cares about me, and wants what is best for me.”

“That makes the two of us. So, I went out looking today, and I’ve found us a place. It’s a really nice place.”

“What about your old house? Won’t that work?”

Payne knelt down, taking hold of her hand. She watched as he ran his thumb back and forth over her hand. “When I was younger, I went a little crazy. Being part of an MC, it messes with your head. I don’t want anything we create to be in danger. I took drugs and shit. Fucked women that I didn’t care about. For us, Vicky, I want us to have a fresh start.”

“Wow,” she said.

“I’m going to make this work. You and I, we’re going to do this.”

She licked her lips and nodded. “I believe you.”

“Would you like to come and see the place?”

“You’ve got it already?”

“Yep. No reason to put it off. I love you being at the club and all, but I also want you to make a home.”

* * *

P
ayne watched
Vicky as she walked around the place. He loved the home, and he could see them raising their son, and all of their children, here. Yeah, he was thinking about the future hardcore.

“The neighborhood is good. It’s close to the school, as well,” he said.

“You put a lot of thought into this.”

“I didn’t want our boy to have any problems growing up. He deserves the best, and I’m going to give him the best. You deserve the best, too, Vicky.”

She nodded. “I believe you.” She rubbed her stomach.

“Does he kick a lot?”

“Not so much at the moment.” She paused in front of him. “Would you like to feel?”

God, he was nervous as hell. “Yes.”

She took hold of his hand and placed it on her swollen stomach. “Every now and then he kicks.”

“How does it feel?”

“Sometimes a little painful. Other times, it’s the most magical feeling in the world. We made a baby, Payne.”

His throat felt thick with emotion.

Payne wouldn’t allow himself to cry. Tears were not useful right now, and men didn’t do that shit, right?

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’m glad you’re home.”

“I’m home.” She pulled away, and he felt that loss right deep in his heart. Vicky had no idea of the power she held over him. At times, it truly scared him how much she held him.

Being apart from her had nearly destroyed him.

“Will you be living here as well?”

Did she want him to? He wanted to like he needed to fucking breathe. “Yes. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

She smiled.

There was still tension between them. He was doing his best here, and so was Vicky. He saw it in her eyes every time he looked at her. She was used to running away, never being chased, or forced back home. He wasn’t going to let her go, not now, not ever. He loved her too much to be that selfless and let her go.

“
W
here exactly do
you have planned?” Vicky asked. It had only been a few days since Payne showed her the house, and although it was still in the closing process and they couldn’t actually move in yet, they’d been to the house several times.

Payne was really trying to make this work, and it was exactly how she’d wanted it. It was strange, yes, because she’d never thought Payne would be the type of man that would be domestic, especially for a woman.

Apparently I’ve tamed the beast.

She chuckled to herself.

Payne looked over at her and grinned, but didn’t respond to her question.

Vicky used that moment to take in his appearance. With that strong, square jaw, lightly stubble covered cheeks, and all around masculine appearance, she found herself always aroused. He wasn’t handsome in that clean-cut way, but more so in a brutally hardcore way.

He made her think of sinfully wicked things.

Vicky looked at the thickness of his biceps. They were huge, and his t-shirt was formed perfectly to the smooth flesh and hard muscle. He wore his cut, but she liked that he always had it on. It made him look dangerous, and what girl didn’t want a man that looked like Payne? Yeah, they’d had their problems, but they were working on their relationship, and moving toward the future.

His tattoos were clean, sexy, and covered his arms. She knew he had so many more on his chest and back, and her arousal jackknifed even more. His jeans were loose, but still showed off the thickness of his thighs … the thickness of the bulge at the crotch.

When she moved her eyes back up to his face her cheeks instantly heated when she saw that he looked at her.

“You keep looking at me like that and I’ll say fuck what I have planned and just throw you over my shoulder and take you in one of these rooms.” He grinned. “We haven’t broken in the new house yet.”

Hell, they hadn’t been together sexually since she’d been back, and truth was she desperately wanted to.

She cleared her throat and looked around the empty house. Because of who Payne was, she assumed, they could come and go as they pleased in the house, despite the papers not being finalized yet. Then again, Payne had made sure to cut the process down substantially, so they would be able to move in soon.

“So, what do you have planned?” she asked again.

“I wanted to cook you a nice meal, but believe me, you don’t want me cooking anything.” He chuckled. “I can grill a mean fucking steak, but I wanted you to have something other than BBQ.”

“Anything would have been fine, as long as I’m with you.” Yeah, she’d gone all sappy and said that.

They stood in the kitchen of the empty house, but there were grocery bags on the breakfast bar.

Payne reached over to take her hand in his. “I love you,” he whispered in his husky, deep voice.

Her heart started beating a little faster.

Before she could say anything he was moving over to one of the bags on the breakfast bar, grabbing a blanket, and moving back toward her. He spread it out on the living room floor, and motioned for her to have a seat.

Once she was on the blanket he brought the bags over to where she was, and started taking out deli items: chicken, pasta and potato salad, and cut watermelon. He kept pulling food out, enough to feed an army. He had the whole works going on for an indoor picnic.

“You’re full of surprises,” she said and smiled, feeling all kinds of love moving through her. “One of these days I’ll cook a real meal for you.”

He stopped eating, and there was this strange expression on his face.

“What?” she asked softly. Had she said something wrong?

“I’d like that, baby. I’d like you taking care of me the way I’ll take care of you.”

She smiled and reached out to take his hand in hers. They stared at each other for a moment, and although there was silence between them it didn’t seem uncomfortable or strange.

“For me, there is only you, Vicky.”

Suddenly she didn’t want any food. All she wanted was Payne, and seeing the way she could make out the long, thick length of his erection as it pressed against his jeans told her that food wasn’t on his mind either.

This had been a long time coming, and she was ready to be with her man again.