Page 3 of Hunter (Hell's Bastards MC)

“If you could just give me a moment,” Ava said. She stepped awayfrom the counter and quickly disappeared into thebathroom.

The front of Ava’s Bakery was unmanned,and her boss was currently throwing her guts up. They ate the pie aweek ago. It was now the new year, and she didn’t understand howher friend could still be feeling ill. Glancing through the door,she saw there was no customers and there didn’t seem to beanyonewaiting to comeinto the bakery. She rushed toward the bathroom, swung open thedoor, and then tried to help Ava the best way she could.

The smell was gross, no doubt about it.Swooping up the woman’s hair, she held it out ofthe way, and tried to help without causingmore trouble. She was so close to throwing up herself. Harlowgritted her teeth and rubbed at the woman’s back.

“It’s okay. I promise you,it’s going to be okay.”She had no idea what she was saying, but it felt like the rightthing. “I won’t tell Abriana, but I tell you what, with how bad herpie has affected us, it does make me wonder, how is Ugly Beast not,like, super thin? Is he eating someone else’s pie, and I don’t meanthat to be cruel.”

Ava pulled away, dropped the toilet lid,and then reached up to flush.Harlow still held onto her hair.

“It’s okay, Harlow. It’s fine.”

“If it’s not the pie, then what could it be? Are you ill? Sick? Idon’t know what to do. Should I call Smokey? He gave me his numberand told me not to fucking bother him, but you’re like his wife,and you know, I think he would want to know if you’re sick. Maybe Ishould call you an ambulance!”

“Stop,” Ava said, and laughed. “It’s fine.It is all fine. If you just give me a minute, everything will befine.” She sat on the floor but had moved to lean up against thewall. “Will you go and keep an eye on the maincounter? I don’t wantanyone to think they can come and steal our cream buns.”

Harlow looked back toward the maincounter. She hadn’t heard anyone come through the main door, butthen she wasn’t paying much attention to it, because she was morefocused on her bestieand not allowing anything bad to happen to her. If something hurtAva, it didn’t matter that her brother was part of the MC club,that would be a certain death sentence. Smokey would kill her. Shewould want to kill herself but that didn’t matter.

“I’m fine, Harlow. Really, I just need amoment.”

Harlow wanted to argue, but she heard thedoorbell ring, which alerted her to someone entering theshop.She had no choicebut to go and do what her boss was telling her, even though it wasthe last thing she wanted.

Stepping toward the counter, she had everyintention of upsetting the customer, only to find a mother andyoung daughter. The small girl had her hands pressed against theglass, and she looked inside at all the bake treats as if they weresome kind of miracle. There was no way she was going to be rude tothis woman, or upset that little girl.

She smiled at the two, and then asked thempolitely what they wanted. The girl couldn’t decide if she wanted acookie or a muffin or aslice of cake.

It took a good ten minutes, and then, finally, the young girlpicked a double-chocolate-chip muffin, while the mother went for acookie. She bagged the items, rang them up, and as she finishedserving, Ava came out of the bathroom, looking a hell of a lotbetter than when she went in.

“How are you feeling?” Harlow asked. “Areyou okay?”

“I’m fine. Truly, I’m fine. I will be.”

“You know people don’t just randomly throwup, and then you know, seem okay.” Harlow frowned and then glanceddown at Ava’s stomach.“Unless…”

“Don’t worry about it, Harlow.”

“You’re pregnant.”

“I don’t know what I am,” Ava said, pushingsome hair off her face.

Harlowdidn’t know what to say, which was rare. She normally hadsomething to say about everything. “Are you happy to bepregnant?”

“I don’t know if I ampregnant.”

“You don’t know? How can you not know?”Harlow was getting even more confused. Actually, this was helpingher to not think about another problem.

“I’ve not taken a test. I … I’m not sure.It might be a stomach bug orsomething.”

“You don’t suddenly feel fine and thenvomit and feel fine with a stomach bug. Do you want me to go andget you a test? Ican.”

Ava held her hand up and laughed. “And howlong before Big Dick turns up,asking who the father is?”

Harlow frowned. “Why would my brother careif you’re pregnant?”

“Not me, you.”

Harlow took a second, and then sheunderstood what her best friend was saying. “Ah, right, because ofthe town gossip and crap like that. “Yeah, yeah, I totally get it.”She let out a chuckle.She hadn’t even considered people gossiping about her. Other thanworking for Ava, she hadn’t done anything of significance. She wasjust the crazy daughter of the Erickson clan, which was kind offunny to her. She had a brother called Erick Erickson. Always madeher laugh, which pissed him off.

She’d not seen Erick in a few months. Thelast time had been at the hospital, where he had shown genuineconcern for her. She hated him. Out of all her brothers, he was theone she disliked themost. The others were just selfish assholes, while George—BigDick—she had always been close to.

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