Page 11 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“So sorry, darlin’. I’m sure this isn’t how you thought your wedding day would go.”

“No,” I admitted. “It’s exactly how I thought it would go when I was told I had to marry him.”

Charles stiffened and turned me around so that I was facing him and not the brawl that was going on a few feet from where we now stood. “You didn’t want to marry Merc?”

“Merc?” I questioned.

“Damon,” he corrected. The minute he said Merc, it clicked why he might earn that road name and it made me smile. Damon Mercury Donovan had always been embarrassed by his middle name. Apparently, someone must have found out and told the men of the club. I would bet money that someone was my father, just to fuck with him a little bit harder. I chuckled at the thought.

“Now, answer the question,” Charles demanded in that alpha biker way that he was growing into.

“Of course, I didn’t want to marry a man who wants nothing to do with me,” I answered, voice rising above the noise behind us. “Why on earth would I ever want to marry some asshole who only saw me as a burden, and one time as a convenient fuck, after he temporarily broke up with his bitchy girlfriend who was only using him to piss her daddy off in the first place?”

The silence, along with his bulging eyes, as Charles stood there with his mouth gaping open must have meant that I shocked him. I guess everyone thought that this was all my idea and that I really had trapped Damon – no Merc – with a baby.

“The minute he told me he would pay for my abortion was the minute he no longer mattered to me. I would rather be out on my own, homeless, with no job, and trying to figure my life out than to be stuck married to someone who will never – in this lifetime or the next – care one iota about me or my baby.”

It was only as those angry words left my lips that I realized all the noise had ceased. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and then turned slowly to see that every single eye in the place was trained on me. That included Damon’s, which was quickly swelling closed. He turned and walked away from everyone then, leaving me to stand there and face the music all by myself. I figured it was just a prelude to the way the rest of our time together would go.

My eyes found my father’s and I could see the remorse there. “Why did you make me do this?” I asked him again as emotion cracked my voice. “Why would you put me in this position?”

Dad sighed before answering. “You put yourself in this position, Lil. I just made you stand up and face the consequences, same as Boone did for his son.”

I nodded my head in understanding. This was my punishment for being stupid enough to get pregnant. I knew I had gotten off too easy, without my dad’s wrath ever being aimed at me. I just hadn’t realized how quiet his wrath could be. “Five years, and then I’m done. No matter what!”

His gaze swung from me to Boone. Both men appeared resigned to what I said, which clued me in to the fact that they’d both agreed to my out-clause. They hadn’t given Damon the same out because he had been given other outlets instead. I had never resented my father more than I did in that moment. I know he truly believed that, given time, something would develop between Merc and me, but I knew better.

Today should have proved it to him, if nothing else did. Merc never wanted to be my friend, let alone boyfriend, husband, or father to my child. This forced marriage was going to destroy us, not bring us together.

5 - The Gifts and Strings

Tiger Lily

Our wedding present came as a huge surprise to both of us. Once Merc – I refused to call him Damon any longer – managed to pull his shit together and ice his eye down, we were summoned to the backyard again by our fathers. Merc’s mother had been gone since about a year after they moved into the neighborhood. She took off with some man in a band and never returned.

No one stuck around after the shit show of a wedding for a reception, cake, or dancing because this wasn’t a real celebration. Instead, they had all hauled ass back to the clubhouse to drink, fuck, and talk about the shitstorm their youngest brother had gotten himself mixed up in. I was pretty sure that I heard something about a new rule for the MC – something about members not fucking around with daughters and sisters just like it was for not fucking around with another member’s old lady. I rolled my eyes at the thought. Somehow, I didn’t think it would go through. I loved my dad and some of his friends, but they didn’t honestly care enough. If they did, I never would have been forced into this marriage to begin with.

“What’s going on?” Merc asked as he strolled up and dropped the ice pack from his face.

“Damn, son, Robbie fucked you up.”

“Yeah, whatever. I had it comin’.” Merc told him while avoiding all eye contact with me. I wasn’t about to argue the point. He did have it coming.

“We wanted to give you guys your wedding present,” Boone spoke.

“No offense, Boone, but I don’t think I want any more presents you guys are offering.”

Boone chuckled, as did my father. Merc just looked at me as if I had two heads and they were both spinning.

“I get it, darlin’. Here’s the deal, we know neither of you wanted this.” Merc scoffed as if he thought I was getting exactly what I wanted. Boone ignored him as my father bristled, ready for a fight again. “It’s what you’re getting anyway because my grandchild deserves a home with both parents in it.” He pulled out an official looking paper then. “The house is yours. Deed is now in both of your names. That means it belongs to you equally.” Boone looked at me pointedly. “If you decide you really want to go when your five years are up, you can keep the house or sell it. If you sell, the money gets split between the three of you.”

“The three of us?” Merc stupidly asked. I guess he already forgot the reason we had to get married today.

“You, your wife,” yep, he flinched at that word, “and your child.”

“So, she gets two-thirds and I get a third is what you’re really saying,” Merc launched back at his father.

“Boy! If you could stop making yourself sound like a selfish prick for just two minutes, that’d be fuckin’ great. One third will go into a fund for the baby. You both split what’s left. That clarify shit enough for you? And let me tell you something else, if you think just because that girl is smart enough to leave your ass in the dust in five years, that your responsibilities end there – you have another thing coming to you. That kid is yours whether the two of you are together or not.”

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