Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 57341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Chapter Twelve
River
Ipulled my phone out of my pocket when it began vibrating with a call, raising an eyebrow at the screen when I saw who was calling me.
Joey.
I knew it was only a matter of time before he got word that Adelaide was with me. I’d just been waiting.
“Been a minute,” I said when I answered his call.
“How is she?” he asked, skipping past all the pleasantries. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know he was asking about Adelaide. She was the only woman besides his sister that Joey cared about.
The woman in question was currently holding Axel as she fed him. Reina was sitting next to her, and both women were talking quietly amongst themselves. I smiled. It was nice to see Adelaide finally making a friend here, and it would honestly be good for Reina, too.
My lips tilted up a little more at the corners when her beautiful, dark eyes raised from Axel’s face and met mine. “She’s doing okay,” I told him. She arched an eyebrow at me in question before she turned her head back to Reina when Reina said something to her. “You’re more than welcome to come to see her if you want, but I’ve got some conditions.”
I trusted Joey around her. He’d changed. I saw it when he saw her again a few months ago.
He was trying to be better… better for her.
“Name them,” he ordered.
This was what I liked and appreciated about Joey. He never beat around the bush. He didn’t play fucking games. If he wanted something, he normally got it. And I knew that where Adelaide was concerned, he would do whatever it took to make her happy.
And he knew the meaning of boundaries with her, something that Grim had never grasped when it came to her… never tried to either.
“Hold on,” I told him as I moved outside, where my conversation wouldn’t be overheard. I needed to inform him of her pregnancy before he came to my territory, but I didn’t want anyone overhearing. Adelaide and I had both agreed that her pregnancy needed to be kept under wraps for as long as possible. At least until everyone here got used to her being around.
Once the clubhouse doors were shut behind me, and I was secluded, I began talking again. “She’s pregnant, and no one in my club knows except for Sam,” I informed him. “I want it to stay that way for right now because I’m pretty sure that I’ve got an inside problem.”
“Understood,” Joey stated, the only shock being revealed at the news of Adelaide’s pregnancy being his sharp intake of breath when I first announced it.
“Tristan was just here yesterday, and he fucked her up pretty good when he tried to get her to take him back.” Joey softly growled. “If I hadn’t stopped her, she would have destroyed my fucking garage. I don’t want her that fucking worked up again. The second that I feel that you being here is fucking with her, I’ll boot you off of my grounds and out of my town,” I warned him. “She comes above all else.”
“As she should,” he agreed. “You can trust me with her, River. I won’t do anything to hurt her, not anymore. Anything else?”
“Nope,” I told him. “You know how to handle her, so I’m pretty sure your visit will go well.”
“Ink and I will be there in a few hours,” he informed me before he cut the call. I’d almost forgotten he made Ink his VP. I had a lot of respect for Ink. It was because of him that Joey’s club had remained intact.
I walked back into the clubhouse, finding Gregory and Adelaide in a heated argument as Axel cried against her chest. She was trying to get him to quiet down as Gregory got in her face.
My blood ran hot.
“Shut that fucking baby up,” he snarled at her. “Some of us need fucking sleep, and your fucking brat is disturbing us.”
Adelaide tightened her hold on our little boy, her features twisting into a scowl as she lightly bounced Axel, quieting him almost instantly.
“He’s a baby, not a fucking brat,” Adelaide sneered at him. “Babies fucking cry, Gregory.”
“And he’s my fucking son, so if you’ve got a mother fucking problem, you take it up with me, not my fucking woman,” I barked, making my presence known. I walked up to them and wrapped an arm around Adelaide’s waist, protectively tugging her against my side, my eyes narrowed on Gregory.
He knew that he had fucked up. He’d let me catch him popping off at her after I had already warned him about his mouth around her.
Gregory clenched his jaw. “My bad, Prez,” he grumbled.
I gripped his shoulder before he could walk away and swung him back around to face me. Still gripping his shoulder, I stepped around Adelaide, then swung my other fist, clocking him across the face. He slammed against a couple of tables, sending them crashing down to the floor with him. A couple of the girls screamed in fear. Vern quickly moved over toward us, ready to back me up if Gregory tried some stupid shit. Vern was always ready to protect his president.