Page 19 of Ink

“Fine,” she spat, “I’ll let you set up a safe place for me and Bethany to stay, but you have to agree not to visit us there. I don’t want to see you anymore, Ink. It would just be too painful for both of us if you show up and try to see us.” She didn’t want to give him false hope that she’d take him back and she didn’t want him showing up to check on them. Her heart wouldn’t be able to take it, and besides, she needed time to think about everything. If Ink was around, he’d cloud her mind with pretty promises, and she couldn’t let that happen—not again. That was Zeb’s go-to move, and she was foolish enough to believe him every time he said that he was sorry and that it would never happen again.

Ink sighed, “I don’t like it, but I’ll agree to your stipulation if it means that you and Bethany will be safe.” Charlie nodded, not knowing what to say next to him. Honestly, she just wanted to sit somewhere and have a good cry, but that would have to wait until she was alone. She wouldn’t do that in front of Ink—not now that he had disappointed her.

It had been two weeks since Ink had put her and Bethany up with Mace and Brooke and she was sure that he did that to keep an eye on her. He had at least kept his promise to stay away from her and Bethany, and she wasn’t sure if she was grateful or pissed that he had. She was still angry that he had lied to her, but a small part of her understood why he did it. Telling people thathe was rich would have put a target on his back. People would start taking advantage of him if they had known, but how could he believe that she’d do that to him? Charlie didn’t give a fuck if he was rich or dirt poor—she loved him either way, and that was the part that hurt the most. If he loved her, how could he keep something like that from her or worse, believe that she’d take him for granted?

Mace and Brooke were kind enough to let her and Bethany stay in one of their spare rooms, and she was grateful that neither of them had asked too many questions—even if they seemed to want to. She was sure that Mace was getting all his intel from Ink when he went into the club. On the nights that Brooke went to the club with Mace, Charlie would stay home with their baby. It was the least she could do to repay them, and Bethany seemed to like having a playmate. But a part of her wanted to go to the club, just like she used to with Ink.

She had even driven by his tattoo shop a few times, wanting to just see him through the big glass window that covered the front of the store. She was playing the masochist, needing to see him, but not allowing herself to do the one thing that her heart wanted to do—forgive him.

Mace’s cabin was off the beaten path, and she worried that if something happened to Bethany, she wouldn’t be able to get to town—especially with winter setting in. It was only November, but she could feel the chill in the air and the weather forecasters had even predicted snow for the next two days. Mace assured her that he’d be able to get them all to town, but she worried, nonetheless. Brooke tried to tell her that was normal for new mamas, but she was so new to motherhood, she didn’t trust her own instincts.

Charlie had just put the babies down to sleep when she heard a vehicle pull into the driveway. Mace usually parked his pick-up in the garage next to his bike, so she knew it wasn’t himand Brooke back home early from the club. A small piece of her hoped that it was Ink, but she had made it very clear that she didn’t want to see him, and he promised to give her space. But the more space he gave her, the more she wanted to see him. Her heart ached for him, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay mad at him. Charlie was a firm believer that everyone deserved a second chance. Wasn’t that why she had gone back to Zeb so many times? Maybe that and a crazy sense of desperation since she really had nowhere else to go. The question was, if she was willing to give Ink a second chance, would he be willing to take it? What if she had burned her bridge with him and he wouldn’t want anything to do with her or Bethany?

She had almost forgotten that a car had pulled into the driveway and decided to check out who her visitor was. Charlie even foolishly crossed her fingers and closed her eyes to make a wish that it would be Ink, but when she tugged open the front door and saw Zeb standing on the other side, she felt sick. He had found her and while she tried to shut and lock the front door again, she knew that he’d find another way in.

“Oh, come on, honey,” he drawled from the other side of the door. “You know that a locked door won’t keep me out. I just want to talk to you, but if you want to do this the hard way, and probably wake up the baby, I’m game.” Shit, the last thing she wanted was Zeb anywhere near her baby. She played out all the scenarios in her head, trying to come up with the one that would keep her baby safe, and she knew that she had to go outside and talk to Zeb and hopefully, that would be enough to appease him, and he’d leave.

But first, she needed to let Mace know that she was in trouble and needed help. He told her to text him if anything went sideways while they were gone, and she had a sick feeling that things were about to go very sideways once she opened the front door and stepped onto the porch.

She pulled out her cell phone, wanting to shoot Mace a quick text as Zeb banged on the front door. It sounded like he was going to tear the door down and she knew that his patience was waning. She typed 911 and sent the text to Mace, hoping that he’d see it and know what she meant because she didn’t have time to type much more.

“I’m coming out,” she shouted at the door as Zeb banged on it again. “We can talk, but that’s it,” she insisted as though she was in charge. Charlie hoped that if she could keep him talking long enough, she’d give Mace enough time to come home to help her.

She unlocked the door and opened it again, finding Zeb standing so close to the storm door that his breath had fogged up the glass. “You’ll have to move back if you want me to come out,” Charlie ordered. She wanted to roll her eyes at him for being so dense, but she knew better. It was the one thing that she knew for sure would get her backhanded and she didn’t want to set Zeb off.

Charlie waited for him to take a few steps back, as he kept his eyes on her the entire time. The way that he watched her reminded her of the day they were in court and the judge dismissed his claims to Bethany. That was the last time she saw him and a small part of her knew that she’d see him again, but she hoped that she had more time before he found her.

“I promised you that I’d find you,” he reminded as she stepped out onto the porch to stand in front of him. He had threatened to find her and Bethany as he was led out of the courtroom against his will. He said that he’d find her and the baby, and nothing would be able to stop him from taking Bethany from her. He was right, there was nothing to stop him from taking her baby—except her, and for the first time in her life, Charlie was ready to fight Zeb with all her might. She had never stood up to him, but then, she never had another little life to protect.

“I won’t let you take her,” she said, defiantly raising her chin to Zeb.

“Now, does that seem fair, Charlie?” he drawled. “I just want to see my wife and daughter—the daughter that you are keeping from me.”

“By court order,” she reminded. “The judge ruled in my favor and threw your case out if I remember correctly.”

His laugh was mean. She remembered that laugh and still heard it in her nightmares. But in those, she could wake up and find that she was safe. Now, she wondered if she’d ever feel safe again. “Oh, Charlie,” he chided. “You remember what happens when you taunt me, right?” he asked. He took two menacing steps toward her, and she backed up against the glass door. She was all that was keeping Zeb from her daughter, and she planned on putting up one hell of a fight.

“I won’t let you go near her, Zeb,” she insisted. He barked out his laugh and practically pressed himself up against her. She could smell the alcohol on his breath and a new panic welled up inside of her. Zeb was mean without the booze, but with it, he was mean and dangerous.

“You can’t stop me, honey,” he whispered. “And don’t try to lie to me and tell me that your new boyfriend is in there because I dropped by the Road Reapers on my way here to make sure that you’d be alone tonight. I’m guessing that there was trouble in paradise since you aren’t shacking up with him any longer.” Charlie wanted to tell him that it was none of his fucking business, but she pressed her lips together to stop the words from escaping her mouth. Egging Zeb on was never a good decision.

“I wasn’t going to lie to you, Zeb,” she assured. That wasn’t the case, but he didn’t need to know that. Buying time was her only option and if that meant sweet-talking her ex and lying to his face, that worked for her.

“I’d really love to hear the truth then,” he said, “for a change.” Hearing him accuse her of being the one who was the liar in their relationship pissed her off. Keeping her temper in check was the old her. New her wanted to rage against the asshole who had hurt her for so many years.

“I’ve always been truthful with you, Zeb,” she insisted. He barked out his laugh and she waited for him to finish before continuing. “For example, when I told you that I won’t let you anywhere near my daughter, I meant it.” Zeb stopped smiling down at her, his scowl firmly in place again as he stared her down. She was poking the bear and there was no way that she could take back the words that had just left her mouth. Maybe she didn’t want to either. It was time for her to stand up for herself, even if that might mean him beating her black and blue since there was no way that she’d be able to take him on physically.

“You’re playing with fire,” he said. “You have already pissed me off by taking my daughter from me and raising her with your neanderthal boyfriend. I won’t let you keep her from me any longer. I don’t mind taking her by force, but you might,” he promised. She knew that Zeb meant every single angry word he was saying to her, but none of that mattered now, because she knew something that he didn’t.

“I’m all for you trying to take her by force, but I think that you might not like how it turns out for you, Zeb,” she said. She looked past him to where Mace and Ink were standing behind her ex—murderous expressions covering both of their handsome faces.

Zeb took the hint and turned to find the two, big, badass bikers staring him down and he actually took a step back from them, almost pushing her into the front storm door. “I like the idea of him trying to take Bethany by force,” Ink said to Mace, “how about you?”

“Yeah, I have some stress that I’d like to work off tonight,” Mace agreed, cracking his knuckles in anticipation of what was coming next.

“You can’t do that,” Zeb insisted. “I’ll press charges against you both and then, who will be around to protect Charlie and my kid?” Police sirens filled the air, and she knew that Mace had called in the Calvary.

“We figured that you might say something like that, so we called the cops to back us up,” Ink said. “You won’t get to touch Charlie or see your daughter ever again, asshole.”

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