Page 44 of Break Out

I shrugged. “I guess. We haven’t talked about that yet.”

“Yeah,” he whispered.

That single whispered word held so much regret, but then how could it?

“You don’t want parenthood again, so what do you care?”

“Fuck,” he hissed. “Because part of me nearly asked you to move to Augusta. But that’s also because I can’t control myself around you.”

I laughed. “Again, you’re managing quite well.”

He shook his head. “You don’t need an asshole like me fucking up your life. Or, fucking it up further.”

I tilted my head. “A baby doesn’t fuck up someone’s life, Steel.”

His brows shot up. “It does when that baby is used against someone. To get child support, to force me to bend to some other club’s demands.”

I stepped toward him. “Has someone threatened our unborn baby?”

Those gorgeous brown eyes shone with malice. “No, they did it to Jordan when he was five fuckin’ years old.”

I heard Jordan’s bitter voice in my head, “Dad left when I was five.”

Another piece fell into place, and I realized I had been right. I’d told Jordan no decent biker would abandon his kid without reason.

Steel narrowed his eyes at me. “That doesn’t fucking faze you?”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t say that, but let’s say some of Jordan’s attitude makes sense now, especially if he hasn’t heard that from you. Because that pain is right there in your tone.”

“Leave Jordan out of this.”

That pain in his voice – I wanted to hunt down Jordan’s mom and throat punch her.

“Fair enough. To sum up, you don’t want our baby—”

“Didn’t say that.”

“Same thing. But your rationale is because of a yet-to-happen threat. The threat of a threat, if you will.”

He widened his eyes. “You’re my son’s ex-girlfriend and twenty years younger than me.”

“The ‘ex’ means it’s over and age is just a number.”

He shook his head. “It’s still wrong.”

I arched a brow. “Funny, it wasn’t wrong back in December.”

“Simone.”

“Now, I’m Simone.”

“No, now you ought to be bent over my knee getting spanked for that sass.”

My lips tipped up. “If only you had the energy, old man.”

His hands settled on his hips. “You’re goading me.”

“You aren’t the only one struggling.”

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