Page 7 of A Biker's Tiny Present

Oh man, she’s a spicy little vixen when she’s angry . . . and I like it.

“Listen here, little lady. That boy over there ismyson,” I growl as I stand up to my full six-foot three height, using every inch of myself that I can to look down on her sassy self. “Half of his blood is mine, so if anyone is leavin’ with him tonight, it’s gonna be me.”

“But—”

“No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Vixen,” she tried to speak but I interrupt her. “he’s comin’ home with me whether you like it or not. You can choose to make this easy on yourself, and I’ll let you come with, or I’ll make what happens next very unpleasant. I’d choose wisely if I was you.”

“You can’t take Nicholas away from me,” Riley whisper shouts. She peeks over her shoulder to make sure we haven’t woken the baby. Once her attention is back on me, the claws come out. She stabs me in the chest with her index finger, and it stings a bit but I will never admit it. “I have no idea where my sister is, so you can’t take the only piece of her I have. He’s just as much my baby as he is hers.”

“And he’s mine too.” I push my chest harder into her finger and she drops her hands into fists at her sides.

“How do you know?” she snaps back. “For all I know, you were just the first biker to see Nicholas and grabbed him ‘cause you wanted a baby.”

“Look here honey, I’ve made it this far in my life without climbing on the Old Lady and baby train. But I also didn’t just wake up this morning and decide that this would be the day I grab some random baby just for shits and giggles.”

Arms folded again, she looks up at me like I’m a mystery she needs to solve. I guess in a way, I am. She’s never met me before, and I’m basically holding her hostage and threatening to take her nephew, but she’s the one who more or less accused me of kidnapping him.

“Well, it’s not my fault we’re here.”

Very gently I put my hands on her shoulders and lead her backward toward one of the chairs in front of the desk. Raven is still in the office with us, but she stealthy moved to sit in her chair sometime during mine and Riley’s face-off.

“I had other plans for the evening before Nicky was dropped into my arms, so if anyone is slighted because what’s goin’ on, it’s me.” I spin the second chair to face her, positioning myself between Riley and the door. “It’s not my fault we’re here either.”

“Where did you find him anyway?” my snappy Vixen snips.

“That I can help answer,” Raven speaks up while typing a few things on her laptop. After a few mouse clicks, she spins the computer around, revealing the screen to show a grid of four surveillance camera views. Once she presses the space bar, the box in the upper comes to life. “These four clips follow your sister from the second she enters the building, to the second she drives out of the parking lot.

Speechless, because there’s not much to say as we watch Taylor walk into view on the screen with a diaper bag over one shoulder and the car seat holding my son sleeping in her otherhand, I see my one-night stand from some random night last fall for the first time in fifteen months.

Now that I’m seeing her face, I can remember her from that night. She came to an open clubhouse party we had in the middle of September last year, the last one we had for a while before Duchess showed up looking for her sister who was missing at the time, and I haven’t seen her in person since. Taylor and I had sex once, that part I can honestly say I don’t recall being particularly memorable, and she was gone before I came out of my bathroom after tossing the condom. A condom that obviously failed at doing its job, might I add.

As the other screens come to life, Taylor walks inside, looks around the room, and walks right past a group of club Brothers and Old Ladies who commandeered a big table along the far wall. The second screen shows her stopping at what looks like the only empty table in the place, probably empty because it’s right in front of the cased opening leading to the bathrooms, and setting the car seat and bag on the reclaimed wood top. She looks around the room once more, looking for who knows what, but then disappears for a few seconds after heading down the back hall. There are cameras back here, but only a handful of people have access to the footage, not even Raven who basically runs this place can see what goes on when she’s not around. Club business is club business and Old Ladies are not privy to what we do unless absolutely necessary.

The third screen comes to life and it’s a view of the employee and overflow parking lot from the top of a light pole at the back of the building. The only activity happening outside before Taylor appears is a raccoon running out from under one of the dumpsters. She comes out the back door, walks around the left side of the building, and disappears again until the fourth screen starts playing. She weaves through a few rows of other vehicles,unlocks a mid-size four door car parked in the middle of the lot, gets in, and drives away heading west. And she’s gone.

“Why did she leave him there?” Riley turns her attention from the screen to me. “She obviously came here for a reason, to find you. So why didn’t see ask any of the other bikers she walked past how to find you?”

“No clue.” I shrug. “I was back here in the office. Watching this is the first time I’ve seen her in over a year.”

“Cypher pieced that together for us,” Raven turns the laptop back around. “He just emailed again saying Taylor’s phone is still offline. Last place it shows a signal is their house at three o’clock.”

“Who’s Cypher?” Riley asks, looking between me and Raven.

“He’s the club’s tech guru,” I reply. A question pops to mind but it’s for Raven. “What’s the timestamp on that video?”

She clicks the mouse a few times. “Six-oh-four to six-eleven p.m.”

“She walked right past me and I had no clue.” I turn and look at the door behind me, dumbfounded. “She was right out there, and I was in here, and she left Nicky out there, all alone.”

“He wasn’t alone for long.” I can tell Raven is trying to lighten the mood with her attempt at a chipper response, but it doesn’t work. “Sunshine came out of the bathroom and saw him there. She hollered over to Ring, and he came over to find me. He asked if I knew who the baby belonged to, but I was only seeing him for the first time. She found the letter tucked next to him in the car seat, read it once, and said we needed to find you right away. And you know what happened from there.”

“But I don’t,” Riley interjects. “And what letter?”

The letter is still laid out flat on the desk, so I slide it over to her. Riley starts to read and deflates with every word. I watch her lips move, like she’s reading out loud, but no sound comes out. I have the entire thing memorized, burned into my retinas,so I know the exact second she gets to the line about Taylor not wanting to burden her sister anymore, she’s crushed. Then when she says her son needs her father, the tears start falling.

A box of tissues appears in front of me. I pull a couple out and grab Riley’s free hand, passing them to her. Her fingers squeeze mine for a second, sending a shock wave up my arm, but just as fast as it started, she pulls her hand away. I don’t know if she felt it, but I’ll never forget.

“I got home from work tonight and the house was too quiet,” Riley says with a sniffle. She sets the letter back on the desk and leans her head back and stares at the ceiling. “Both her and Nicholas’s rooms are a disaster. She must’ve packed in one helluva hurry.”

---