Rough & Rowdy (Notorious Devils #1) (13 page)

I need to stay inside of my own head until it’s time to spill my secret. Brentlee,
surprisingly
, helps me set the table, and it feels like we’re little again—like it’s us against the world.

I know that this feeling won’t last. Once my secret is revealed, Brent will fade away while I’m roasted on a spit; but it feels good to have her at my back for the moment.

Once the table is set, I go in search of my dad. I find him in his office on his computer.
He must be on call.
He is studying the computer monitor so intently that he doesn’t hear me walk inside or shut the door. I clear my throat to alert him to my presence. Only then does he tear his eyes away and finally focus on me.

“Kentlee,” he murmurs.

“You on call?” I ask, lifting my chin toward his computer.

“Yeah. I’m monitoring three patients right now,” he says before he stretches his body.

My dad still looks good for his age. He’s tall, with an olive complexion and thick dark hair, only a touch of gray at his temples. He’s still fit, too, spending too many hours living off of coffee alone, then visiting the gym at least four times a week to play tennis or basketball with his friends.

“I have to talk to you and mom tonight. You’ll be eating with us, right?” I ask, knowing that sometimes he’ll take his dinner in his office when he’s on call.

“Wasn’t planning on it, but if you need me to, I will,” he offers with a smile.

“Yeah, probably should. It’s important,” I say, looking at my feet.

I can’t look him in the eye. We aren’t very close, my father and I, but he’s still my dad and I still seek his approval in everything that I do.

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Just let me open up my iPad and get it set up,” he says with a serious nod.

I leave my father’s office and head toward the kitchen to help my mom finish setting the table. My thoughts travel to Connellee. I wish my big brother were here. He’s always the one on my side. We aren’t best friends, but when my mom gets on my case, Conn is always there to tell her to back off. He would support me; he would offer help in any way he could give it – or any way I would accept it.

I miss my big brother, but he’s off living the college life, studying and becoming a doctor
. He amazes me.
He succeeds in everything he attempts. I wish I could be more like him.

“Well, what’s this you wanted to talk to us about then, Kentlee?” my father asks as we sit down at the table.

My mother’s head pops up and her eyes widen in surprise. I didn’t want to tell her ahead of time that I wanted a chat. She would have been relentless trying to find out first.

“I – uh – I met someone,” I begin.

My mother’s eyes round as her face lights up.

“What’s his name? What does he do?” she immediately asks.

I pinch my eyes closed for a moment, taking a deep breath before I continue. I’m just going to spit it out quickly, like ripping off a band-aid.

“His name is Pierce and I’m not exactly sure what he does, but we’re moving in together, and I’m pregnant with his baby,” I blurt out.

I then watch my mother’s face go from excited to absolutely shocked. Then I chance a look over to my father, who is emotionless. However, I don't miss how his fists and his jaw are clenched.

He’s pissed.

“
You’re pregnant?!
” my mom screams.

“I am,” I answer.

“Who is this man, Kentlee? Don’t lie to me,” my father grinds out.

“He’s the president of the
Notorious Devils
,” I confess. My father’s face turns bright red in anger.

“Are you fucking serious?” my mother screeches. I stare at her in complete surprise. I have never heard my mother curse before—not in my whole life.

“Mom…” Brentlee begins. My mother shuts her up with a side-long glance.

“You’ve just ruined your life and this entire family,” my mom says.

“That’s not fair,” I begin.

My dad holds his hand up, which shuts
me
up.

“I cannot have trash like that in this family, Kentlee. We have to uphold a certain image in this society, and a man like that? He doesn’t belong. Men like Scotty belong here. I could overlook it if you fell for a man with a blue collar job. I wouldn’t be happy about it; but if you dated a police officer or a firefighter, at least it would make us still look decent. This guy? No, Kentlee. I won’t stand for it,” he announces.

“So if I move in with him, then what? I’m out of this family?” I ask, my lips trembling with each word.

“I’m sorry, but yes. You either take care of that baby and break it off with him, or you’re out,” he says.

I blink in shock.

Of all the ways I saw this going, never in a million years would I think my own father would suggest an abortion.

“Dad, I could never abort my baby,” I say, my voice shaking and tears forming as I place my hands on my belly.

“That’s your answer?” my mother interjects.

I stand and my eyes flick back and forth between them, unbelieving that my parents would do this to me – would make me choose between my baby and my family. Even if things don’t work out with Pierce, I will never regret keeping this baby.
I couldn’t.

“I will never destroy a life to appease you. This wasn’t planned,
at all
, but it happened. I’m not ashamed that it happened, and I’m not ashamed that it happened with Pierce. He’s been good to me and he’s willing to do what it takes to make this work – or at least give it a try. I’m sorry that you feel a baby would give you so much shame,” I say before turning to Brentlee. “I love you, Brent. You’re always welcome in my home and in my life.”

I turn and I leave.

There is nothing left here for me.

Grabbing my purse off of the hook by the door, my fingers linger on the knob—waiting—
hoping
that my parents will realize their mistake and stop me. They don’t.

I walk out of their house, leaving them to their small-minded world.

I have a life to live, a beautiful life with a new family of my own. I begin to walk, irritated that I allowed Brentlee to drive me, because now I’m without a ride. I dig my phone out of my purse and place a call to Pierce.

It goes straight to voicemail.

“Pierce, things didn’t go well with my parents. My sister brought me over to their house, and I have to walk home. If you get this, maybe you could call me and give me a ride?” I ask before ending the call.

It’s dark and lonely on my walk home, so I decide to call Connellee before my parents get to him first.

“’Ello,” he answers with a yawn.

“Hey, big brother,” I say, smiling. Even his sleepy hello makes me smile.

“Kent? What’s up?” he asks with concern laced in his voice. I never call him, like ever. He’s my brother and I love him, but he’s been gone for years and hardly comes home from school.

“A lot,” I admit before I take in a deep breath.

“Well, are you going to tell me or keep me guessing?”

“I met someone,” I confess, afraid to tell him the rest of the story immediately.

“And…”

“And, we’re moving in together, I’m pregnant, and mom and dad don’t approve of him. They just disowned me,” I rattle off quickly. Connellee grunts.

“Black sheep syndrome, Kent. Total black sheep,” he chuckles.

“This isn’t funny, Conn. They are so pissed. They told me to get an abortion if I wanted to stay in the family.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he shouts.

I can tell he’s just as angry as I am about it.

“Wish I were,” I murmur.

“Assholes. Don’t worry about them, Kent. You’re a big girl, you make your own decisions. They’re being their normal close-minded selves. They’ll either get over it or they won’t, but don’t you change the course of your life for those petty assholes,” he lectures. I smile to myself —
I love my brother.

“No worries. I basically told them to fuck themselves,” I admit.

“Good. Now who’s this guy, and is he going to take care of you?” he asks.

I spend the rest of my walk home with a smile on my face as I talk to my big brother. It’s the first time we have ever talked like this before in our adult lives, and it’s nice. I didn’t realize how much I had missed having him around until this moment. It feels good to have his support, even at a distance.

Once I reach my house, I promise to call him more often with baby updates, and to send him pictures of my growing belly—something he thinks is going to be freaky, but awesome—and then we hang up.

When I am inside of the house, I lock the door behind me and strip off my clothes and shoes.
My feet ache
. I look down at my phone and frown, only just realizing that I walked for over an hour and Pierce never called me back.

I decide to text him before I shower and crawl into bed.

Me: I made it home safely, walking home from my parents. I’m going to bed now. See you…. Whenever.

Fury

W
ar.

The word lingers, tasting vile on my tongue, but it is a necessity in this life.

I close my eyes and take a hit from the joint in my hand.
I need the green to calm down.
Brothers are gathering their Old Lady’s and children, packing clothes for a few weeks and shopping for food that will hopefully last a month.

We'll probably need to take a few runs for fresh shit as the weeks go on.

The temporary lockdown I insisted on a few days ago has just been blasted to semi-permanent. No end in sight, at this point.

“Notice you ain’t goin’ to pick anybody up,” Sniper remarks, lifting his bearded chin at me.

“
Nope
. Gonna enjoy this smoke right here and bake a while,” I reply, knowing exactly what he’s referring to—the fact that I didn’t rush out of here like the other guys and grab Kentlee to keep her safe from the
Bastards
.

“You need me to keep an eye on her, I’ll be more than happy to stick around her for protection,” he says, his eyes searching mine.

“Don’t want you anywhere near her,” I growl.

He nods once with a tip of his lips.

“Didn’t say I’d fuck her, man. She’s like a sister to me, anyway. A hot as fuck sister, but a sister, nonetheless.”

I want to stab him in the throat and gut him for calling her hot—
she’s mine
.

But is she?

If I don’t claim her in front of my brothers, is she really mine at all?

“She’ll be fine,” I reply, ignoring his bullshit taunting about her being hot as fuck.

“You’re the boss,
prez
,” he hisses in obvious disagreement of how I’m handling this situation.

I couldn’t give a fuck.

My phone dances around on the table, ringing, and I look down to see her name flashing. I don’t answer it. Not in front of him. I answer it, and he’ll know she’s got my nuts in a vice. She does, too. That woman could say jump and I’d ask how high.

Fucking pathetic.

I take the phone and shove it into my pocket as I walk to the bar. I need a beer and to finish this joint. I need to relax before this whole war breaks out. I look around, noticing many of my brothers are thinking along the same lines as I am. Kitty’s busy at work, sucking on one cock while another brother fucks her from behind. I shake my head with a laugh.

Dirty assholes
.

I sidle up next to Torch at the bar. He’s pouring himself a shot and grabs another glass, doing the same for me. It burns as it goes down, but it feels good,
calming
, and normal. I haven’t had my brand of normal these past few days, not since hooking up with Kentlee.
I need some normal.

“You been missin’ around here the past few days,” Torch comments. I nod.

“Yup,” I say, not elaborating.

“Get a piece of town pussy?” he asks, looking straight forward.

“Something like that,” I admit.

“Keep that close to the vest then, brother,” he grumbles.

I look over at him in surprise, but don’t say anything else. He takes one more shot before he leaves me alone to drink.

I don’t know how long I sit at the bar, but the music is blaring and the place is filled with Old Ladies, club sluts, and brothers.

The party before the hell; the calm before the storm.

I stumble away from the bar and into my room. I blink in surprise to see Kitty sitting spread eagle on my bed. I grin lazily when she slides her fingers into her pussy and starts to pump in and out.

“Fury,” she moans.

It sounds screechy and horrible; it grates in my eardrums, and I don’t like it.

I move my eyes back up to her face and cringe. She’s nothing but three holes. I feel absolutely
nothing
for her. I wouldn’t care if I never saw her again.

My cock doesn’t even twitch at the sight of her. I shake my head and take a step toward her. She giggles thinking that this is going somewhere.
It’s absolutely not.
I wrap my hand around her bicep and drag her out of the room. I feel her struggling, kicking and screaming, but it doesn’t bother me.

“Keep your nasty as fuck snatch out of my room, bitch,” I bark slamming the door and locking it behind her.