Page 114 of Dirty Dylan: Dirty Dusters

“Yes.” There’s no hesitation in his response.

I don’t reply. For whatever reason, I wanted him to say that he was always brutally honest with me. Always had been. Always would be. Can he sense my disappointment?

“And are you, Jaine?”

“Am I what?”

“Hiding things from others?”

“That’s none of your goddamn business.”

He laughs. “You complain but you’re doing exactly the same.”

“What I’m hiding I’m doing for a very good reason.”

“Aren’t we all.” he says dryly.

“Fuck you, asshole,” I hiss. It’s all his fault I’m having to keep things hidden.

“For heaven’s sake, stop getting so agitated, Jaine.”

“Stop telling me what to do.”

“You're pregnant. You should be trying to keep calm.”

“Oh, so you know all about pregnancy….”

I’m about to have another go when I’m suddenly conscious I’m sitting in a puddle of water. My heart sinks when I realize what’s happened and that Ace isn’t even home.

“Fuck.” It’s a whisper.

“Jaine, what’s going on?”

“My waters have just broken.”

“But you’re not due to give birth for another month. Is your husband with you?” He sounds worried. I don’t want his worry or his sympathy. I don’t want this asshole’s fucking anything.

“Ace is on his way back from Nevada. Listen, I need to go”

“Have you got anyone there with you?”

“IsaidI need to go.”

* * *

An overwhelming waveof emotion threatens to drown me as I watch Ace cradle our newborn son in his arms.

My big, murderous biker stares down in awe at this little scrap of nothing like he can’t believe he’s real. That he’s finally here. That he’s finally ours.

It’s past midnight. He’s arrived on his big brother’s birthday. Exactly twelve months separate them.

In some way, it feels like the blink of an eye since Finian was born, but so much has happened since.

Dr. Bruce’s office in the center of Rising is a far cry from the state-of-the-art hospital in Nevada we were planning to have this little one in. A facility that catered for every eventuality should, God forbid, something go wrong. Thankfully, nothing did as little Jason Nathaniel Steele wasn’t prepared to wait to make his entrance.

He was ready to be born. To fill his little lungs with the air of his hometown of Rising, California, and let it course through his blood where it will forever remain.

Ace arrived with only minutes to spare. Wearing a thick layer of road dust, he scrubbed up just in time to welcome our screaming little red-faced bundle of anger into this world of ours.

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