Page 52 of Gunner

“Well, isn’t this interestin’.” Fucking Locke. Thank fuck he found us. Everyone stops and looks toward him, where he stands with a gun pressed against Clark’s head. I smirk as I kick the other asshole in the ribs who’s on the ground.

“Took you long enough,” I tell him. He shrugs and smiles at me as Remy and Hodge both step up next to him.

“Looks like you had it handled,” Hodge adds with a laugh.

“Somethin’ like that. Get these fuckers back to the clubhouse,” I tell them, nodding toward the other two. A few more of our guys show up to help gag and load them into the van. I turn and find Nat still sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees. I walk over to her and pull her off the ground and into my arms.

“Never leavin’ me, baby girl. This thing? This is forever.” More tears fill her eyes as she looks up at me but doesn’t say anything. I lean down and press my lips to her forehead before leading her to the bike.

“You wanna ride or go in the van?”

“I don’t want to be near him,” she whimpers.

“You just had a baby, Nat.”

“I’ll be fine. I don’t want to be in the van with him.”

Chapter 24

Natasa

“This is going to be good,” Kiki squeals in anticipation as we sit in the corner and watch as the guys drag Clark and the other two men to the basement.

“What do you mean?”

“He came after you twice, Nat. Dad is going to lose his shit,” she tells me. I don’t know what to feel, if anything. I don’t care what happens to Clark. I don’t care if they kill him, but what about Gunner? What kind of toll does that take on him?

“He’s been pretty calm,” I inform her.

“The calm before the storm, girl. I can guarantee none of them are leaving here alive,” she says. I watch as Gunner talks to a few of the guys before his eyes come to rest on mine. There’s something there. Something I hadn’t seen before. Love. He does love me. I can see it shining in his eyes as he looks at me. A tear falls down my cheek as he walks toward me. In seconds he has me pulled from the chair and into his arms.

“Fuck, Nat.”

“What?”

“I never wanna lose you.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I wanna keep you forever. Maybe it’s wrong, I don’t know fuckin’ know, and at this point, I don’t care if it is.”

“I love you, Gunner.”

“I love you too, baby girl. I gotta handle this.” He nods toward the basement door. He kisses me, and it’s soft and gentle. I revel in the feelings it causes to erupt inside me. It’s the most I’ve felt in a long time now, and I never want to let it go.

“I’ll be back,” he says before pulling away from me and heading toward the door. I look over at Kiki and the sound of crying coming from the monitor. She quickly stands and heads down the hall as I follow behind her. I have to get over this. I have to deal with this.

I walk into the room behind her as she changes Jesse’s diaper. He’s still crying, no doubt hungry.

“Can you make a bottle?” she asks as I stand here like a fool. I nod my head, walk over, and fill the bottle with water before scooping in the formula. I shake it and walk back over, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Kiki picks up Jesse, ready to take the bottle, except I shake my head.

“You want to feed him?”

“Can I try?”

“Of course. Here,” she says, passing him to me. My heart nearly shatters in a million little pieces. This is my son. How have I neglected him for so long? How could I do that to him? Everything seems to hit me at once, and as I stick the teat in his mouth, more tears fall down my cheeks.

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