He hesitates a beat then says, “Thing is, she’s not exactly a stranger. Hang on...” He holds up his hand to me when I go to speak. “Let me clarify. She’s a stranger, but we know her family.”
Now I’m fucking confused. Which of our allies would send a woman to us who isn’t on our cleared list?
“Did she give you a name and why she is asking for me?” I want to know.
“No idea where she got your name, but her name is Jeanie O’Shea.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, my heart beating double time when I hear her first name. Could it be her? Happiness floods through me at the hope that fills me. Perhaps it is? I don’t care why she tracked me down. All I know is that I’m fucking glad she did.
I bolt from my stool, leaving my drink on the bar and ignoring Blue’s surprised look. I stride out of the clubhouse, unaware that my abrupt exit has caught the brothers’ attention.
I’m in a hurry to get to the woman who’s the first to have made me feel alive in six long years.
It doesn’t take me long to reach the gate, and my strides shorten as soon as I see her leaning against the side of her vehicle, ankles crossed, hands in the pockets of her puffer jacket and a purple beanie covering her long, dark hair. She’s as gorgeous as ever.
“Jeanie,” I whisper, but she must hear me because she turns her violet eyes towards me and smiles.
“Bolt,” she breathes. “You’re a Queens Wraith.”
I walk over to the button on the gate and hit it, waiting for the electric gate to slide open enough that I can slip out as quickly as possible. Walking over to her, I stop as soon as I’m within arm’s reach.
Jeanie straightens from her slouched position, the toes of her boots touching mine. She reaches up and ruffles my hair, murmuring. “You cut your hair.”
“I did,” I reply. “It was time.”
“I like it.” She smirks at me.
“Do you want to come in?” I want to know.
Her smile fades. “I do.” She nods. “We need to talk.”
The happiness at seeing her dims at her reply, and I swallow. “About?”
She looks at me from beneath her lashes. “I think you know. A girl doesn’t track her one-night stand down for many reasons.”
I swipe my hand over my mouth and swallow down the bile that rises in my throat. It seems history really does repeat itself. “Fuck,” I whisper, and tears prick my eyes, and I can’t stop the words that tumble out of me. “Please don’t get rid of my baby. I know I don’t have any right to ask you that, but I’m begging you—please don’t. I’ll take all responsibility if you don’t want it.” My breath hitches, and I struggle to breathe as panic fills me. I’m not sure whether I can do this again.
“Hey,” Jeanie whispers, enfolding me in her arms and hugging me. “Breathe with me, okay. Slowly, in and out. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry, Bolt. I should have handled that better, especially knowing your history.”
She still doesn’t let me go. As my breathing evens out and as my panic eases, I realise I’m clutching her coat in my fists, my face buried in her neck as I inhale her scent. I’m not sure how long we stand like that with her supporting me and murmuring comforting words, hands smoothing up and down my back. Eventually the panic subsides, and her quietly promised whispers penetrate the panicked haze that I’m trapped in. Maybe I should be embarrassed at falling apart, but Jeanie doesn’t seem to be fazed by my panic attack. Easing my hold onher, I’ve got to pull myself together and listen to what she has to say.
“I’m sorry,” I apologise, lifting my head from where I buried it in the crook of her neck. “We should go in and have a proper conversation in private. I’ll try not to have another meltdown.”
“I think privacy is a moot point.” Jeanie snickers as I hear footsteps behind us. “I’m guessing this is your brotherhood coming en masse to check on you?”
“Fuck, probably,” I mumble.
“Before they get here,” Jeanie says. “Rest easy, I’m not getting rid of the baby. I’d never do that. I came to tell you about the baby so that you could make a choice if you want to be involved or not. From your reaction, I think I have my answer.”
“Fuck, Jeanie. Damn right I do, but I’m also fucking thrilled to see you. I haven't forgotten our night together, and I’ve been going through my memories of that night wondering how I could track you down,” I admit.
Jeanie beams a smile at me. “Me too. I finally caved and spoke to my sister. She’s an old lady in the Crow MC. Sam’s,” she clarifies before continuing. “I started here because this was the first American MC we could think of. I’m stoked to find you so quickly. And just so you know, I haven't been able to forget that night either.”
It’s a small world. I know Sam, not well, but I know him. He was the biological son of our VP in the mother chapter in the US and spent some time with our MC a few years ago.
Cupping her cheeks, the feeling of rightness that I felt the night we met fills me. Tilting my head, I take her mouth with mine. And the same as the night we met, Jeanie kisses me back just as enthusiastically as she did then. If Coal hadn’t interrupted us, I have no doubt that I’d have scooped her up and taken her to my mobile home then and there.
Sadly, he did.
