sound was coming from the front door, I pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed my gun from the nightstand. No one should’ve been knocking on the front door to the clubhouse because they shouldn’t have made it past the gate.
I didn’t bother checking the security feed to see who it was. Trouble didn’t usually knock. To my surprise, I pulled the door open to find a furious middle-aged woman I didn’t recognize. She glanced at what looked like a picture in her hand and back to me. Before I could open my mouth, she nodded and shoved something into my arms.
“Your demon spawn killed my daughter and ruined everything! You keep that thing away from me!” With that, she turned and quickly walked toward her car, which obviously plowed through the gate we recently had repaired.
I looked down at the squirming, and now screaming, baby in my arms.
“Hey!” I yelled and started after her. “Hey! Crazy lady, wait! What the fuck?”
She whirled around and aimed a pistol directly at me. In the most eerily calm voice, she said, “I have just lost my child. I will kill you and yours if you take one more step.”
“I won’t. Just go,” I vowed and prayed she would leave as I cradled the screaming infant against my bare chest.
She waited for several long seconds with her gun trained on me before she finally got into her vehicle and drove away. All the while, I stood stock-still with absolutely no idea what to do. I was a grown-ass man and had been in plenty of unthinkable situations—ones that many men wouldn’t have been able to face. But the possibility of being the father of the child in my arms was the breaking point where my brain and body no longer functioned properly.
And that’s how my older brother found me. Standing in the forecourt holding a crying baby with a look of utter shock mixed with complete panic on my face.
“The fuck is going on?” Copper barked, though I could hear the worry in his voice. “Whose baby is that?”
“I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “She said it’s mine! I opened the door, and she shoved the baby into my arms. I tried to stop her, but she pointed a gun at me. What the fuck am I supposed to do, Copper?” I asked, hoping my older brother would know how to handle the situation.
“Wait. She who?”
“I don’t know. Some woman I didn’t recognize,” I said shakily.
Copper’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Let’s go inside and get this shit sorted.”
I dazedly followed him into the clubhouse with the crying baby still in my arms, unsure of where to go or what to do. “Sit down and tell me exactly what happened.”
I relayed the events of the morning the best I could with the baby wailing the entire time. Just as I finished, Layla came running through the front door with a phone pressed to her ear. Her eyes landed on the baby, and she gasped. “Oh, it’s a fresh one,” she almost whispered. “Like newborn newborn.”
“Who the fuck are you talking to?” I demanded.
Copper tagged the side of my head with his fist. “Don’t disrespect my woman, especially when she’s trying to help you. She’s talking to Leigh, who’s at the store getting baby shit.”
I blinked at my brother. “How? When?”
“Fuck,” Copper swore. “You can go into shock later, but I need you to function right now,” he demanded and met my eyes. “Who’s the baby’s mother?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed and tried to think back. “I’ve never seen the woman who brought the baby.”
“Well, start thinking, bonehead. Who were you fucking eight to ten months ago?” Copper asked.
Layla took that as her opportunity to leave. “Can I?” she asked and held out her hands. I didn’t miss the way her fingers lightly danced with delight, but something happened in that moment. Some deep-seated natural desire to protect the innocent child in my arms from any potential harm sparked to life inside me. I hesitated. Layla smiled knowingly. “I won’t leave your sight.”
“I’m sorry. I-I don’t—I didn’t—”
“It’s okay,” she soothed. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
Reluctantly, I handed the baby over to her. She immediately began gently rocking the bundle while she softly cooed. Soon, the cries quieted to little whimpers. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
My eyes widened, and I jumped to my feet. “I don’t even know what kind of kid I have! What kind of parent does that