After Us (Next Generation #6) - J.M. Walker Page 0,97
my face. “What are you talking about?”
“Promise me, Piper. Promise that you love me and are willing to stick this shit out.” I wasn’t making sense, I knew that, but there was no way that I could actually tell her that I was going to leave and go after the mayor myself. I knew that he had a hand in this shit. I just needed to prove it.
“Of course I’m willing to stick this out.” She paused. “You’re going to go after them, aren’t you?”
I went to walk away when her hand caught my arm.
“You can’t.”
I spun on her, forcing her back a step. “I can and I fucking will.”
“No.” Her eyes welled. “I can’t lose you too.”
“You won’t lose me, Piper.”
“You can’t make promises like that, Jaron,” she screamed, shoving me. “You can’t promise that nothing will happen because you don’t know. You are not God.”
“These bastards took our daughter,” I yelled. “Our baby girl. So yeah, Piper. I am God when it comes to this shit because I hold their lives in my hands.”
“Let the police do their job. Let your dad, the other guys, let them do this because I can’t be without you. I need you, Jaron. I need your strength.” She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t. You can’t. Please.”
I spun on my heel, heading to the door but not before I caught the look of pure and utter agony written all over her face. I could see her heart breaking before me and I hadn’t even left yet. But if hurting Piper meant I was able to get our daughter back, then I would do it and deal with her wrath later.
Piper
Jaron was going to leave. He was going to leave and take care of whatever and whoever took our daughter. Maybe I should have been grateful. I was sure some people would be, but not me. No. Because I knew that Jaron’s temper got away from him sometimes. It was why he ended up in jail in the first place.
I didn’t want him to go. I wanted others to do it for him. For us. But I knew that he wouldn’t have any of that.
I just wanted to go home and curl up in his warmth and hold our daughter. I missed her. I ached for her the longer time went on where she wasn’t in my arms. If I knew that she was safe and alive it wouldn’t hurt so much, but I didn’t. No one told me anything and it was driving me fucking crazy.
Jaron had insisted that I rest but he wasn’t around to make sure that I did, so I left the lumpy bed and trudged out into the hall. I was thankful for Ricky who made sure that I was okay and also for whatever favor Jaron owed him, so we could get the blood test results back quickly.
I didn’t know motorcycle clubs had setups like this. Although, I was sure that a lot didn’t. Shadow, or Nero, as I liked to call him since that was his actual name and all, had been around a while. I became fast friends with his granddaughter after Sammy and Cyrus forced me to take a drive to get out of the house when I was still pregnant with Brynn.
“Piper.”
I jumped, spinning around and found a young man coming down the hall toward me. I didn’t know him well, but I had seen him around at Jaron’s parents’ place from time to time. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember your name.”
He gave me a small smile. “That’s okay,” he said, holding out his hand. “I go by Cheesy.”
“Cheesy?” I asked, returning the handshake.
He chuckled, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Yeah, it’s dumb. When I was a kid, my parents couldn’t afford a whole lot, so I brought cheese slice sandwiches for lunch quite often. I was teased about it, but truth was, they tasted good. My mom made sure to buy the best kind, even though it wasn’t much. Some kids are worse off. So yeah. I got called Cheesy and it stuck.”
“I like it.” I pulled my hand from his and crossed my arms under my chest. “Have you seen Jaron?”
“No. Last I heard, he was with Greyson.” He nodded to the room I had just come out of. “You should be resting. I was instructed to watch the door, but I’ll get my ass kicked if you’re not in there.”