Chapter Eight

Bethany

It had been just over a week since Coyote rolled into my office, and I had to admit I was enjoying having him in my life again. We'd met up a couple of times for lunch, ostensibly to go over details for his launch event, but more often than not, we started talking about old times. Or at least old times in general, both of us kept away from the subject of me running off. I know Coyote thought it had something to do with him, and I tried to reassure him that it didn't, but I couldn't tell him what really happened. From what he had told me, life in Griffinsford has been relatively peaceful over the past few months, and I think if I told him why I left then that peace may be short lived.

The throaty roar of a motorcycle brought me from my musings.

"Sounds like your boyfriend is here," Reggie said with a wink.

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, "Shush, we're just friends."

"Just friends my ass," my boss said as he peered through the window. Sure enough, Coyote was sitting there looking delicious straddling his Harley in his leather vest. He was typing out something on his phone and when my cell phone dinged, I took a look.

Wanna ride?said his text.

He caught Reggie and I peeking through the window and held up a spare helmet.

Normally for our lunch dates slash working meals, we went to the sandwich shop over the road or one of the local restaurants. Truth be told, I kind of missed being on the back of his bike—there was something so free about riding into the wind, holding on as his bike hugged the curves.

When I breathed in, even years later, I could bring to mind the scent of his leather vest as I held on tight.

"What did he say?" Reggie asked, curiously.

"He wants me to go for a ride," I answered as I glanced down at my outfit. I was wearing a loose summer dress today, because my job often involved long hours on my feet or climbing around unpacking boxes, I wore sneakers unless I was meeting a client. I guessed I was dressed okay, it's not like we'd be racing along the pavement.

"Go!" my boss shooed me towards the door. I looked back over my shoulder, "Go on! And don't hurry back, I'm okay to hold the fort for a couple of hours."

"I can't do that to you, Reggie," I protested.

"Nonsense, everyone needs to cut loose every so often,"

I didn't need telling twice, as I grabbed my purse and denim jacket and headed for the door.

"You look good today, Bethany," Coyote said with an appreciative grin on his face as he caught sight of me walking towards his bike.

"Thank you, you're looking mighty fine too," I said hoping that my cheeks weren't as red as they felt. I don't know what it was about being with Coyote, but instead of feeling like a single mom with the weight of the world on my shoulders, I was back to being a carefree girl with no worries in the world. Obviously that feeling didn't last for long and I kept getting overwhelming surges of guilt over the whole Nessa situation. I'd actually had a look at some of the ‘at home' paternity testing kits available, but two hundred dollars was a huge chunk out of my limited budget. Plus, there was a fear of what the results might bring, I'd seen firsthand the chaos that motorcycle clubs could bring, and I also had an idea of how far-reaching their influence could be. If Coyote was Nessa's father, then I had no worries about what that could mean for us all—other than the fear that he might not want her or he might be angry at me for keeping her a secret—but if it was the other bastard… I knew outlaw biker gangs had influence in all walks of life, how could I be sure that he couldn't somehow find out what I'd done and come for my child?

I shuddered.

"You, cold, sweetheart? Wanna wear my vest?" Coyote said, drawing me from my thoughts.

I shook my head, "I'm okay." My eyes went to his bike, I'd never really considered myself a connoisseur of motorcycles, back when we were together, he'd ridden a beaten up machine, I couldn't for the life of me remember the make, I think he'd called it a chopper, which is essentially a franken-bike, but I remembered the numb behind I used to get from riding it, by contrast, this Harley looked comfortable. I stated the obvious, "You got a new bike?"

He gave a smirk and smacked the seat playfully, I felt my clit tingle at the motion as I imagined what his hand would feel like on my ass. Our sex life had been pretty adventurous, and while I wasn't a big fan of pain, I had found it a turn on when he slapped my ass as he thrust inside me, "Yep. The chopper I used to ride was my pride and joy, she might have looked sweet, but the hardtail and ape hangers were a bitch for long rides and I ain't gettin' any younger. She bit the dust when I crashed a couple of years ago while chasing some mafia assholes, I got off, but she hit the guardrails and flipped.

"God, Coyote, you could have died!" I exclaimed, as he brought it back to me how dangerous his lifestyle was. This was one of the reasons I'd taken off in the first place.

"Nah," he shook his head, "Got the reflexes of a cat, felt the skid coming and jumped clear."

I pursed my lips together, it still sounded dangerous. Not the accident, but the reason why he had an accident. Not wishing to think about it anymore I asked, "So where are we going?"

"Thought we might have a picnic. Callie dropped by earlier and she'd made a batch of empanadas, and it got me thinking."

My mouth was watering already, his sister Callie was a fantastic cook. I had memories of her empanadas, which she made Puerto Rican style with sazon seasoned meat. "Do you need me to get drinks or anything? I can get something from our refrigerator?"

"All sorted, got a mini cooler in my luggage compartment," he said as he handed me the spare helmet, "Ready to go?"

I fastened it in place and climbed on behind him, tucking the skirt of my dress under my legs so it wouldn't blow in the breeze. I was pleased I'd worn my sneakers as I really couldn't imagine doing this in heels, Reggie had told me this morning before I left for the shop that we had some orders to unpack today, so just to dress casually. I got myself settled and wrapped my arms around Coyote's waist.

Once we were off it was just like old times, hugging his big body tight and leaning in, as his bike ate up the pavement. The bike was worlds more comfortable than his old one and I felt like I was riding on air, as he made short work of the miles of road.

***

I hadn't asked where he was taking me, but when he pulled up at the lakeside park we used to hang out at, my heart skipped a beat. Some of my favorite moments with Coyote happened in this park. When we were together, he'd lived at the clubhouse, and as I was staying in the backroom of Grit's gym that didn't give us much privacy. Though back then we'd visit at night and sneak in past the security guards as the park didn't allow visitors after dark. Today the area was filled with the cheerful voices of kids as they played, and I had a thought that maybe I should take Nessa here sometime. It hadn't crossed my mind before as I tended to avoid old hangouts.

"I used to love it here," I said, as Coyote parked his bike and started unloading stuff from the luggage box. There was a plastic container filled, no doubt, with his sister's empanadas. Another smaller box that looked like it might have fruit in it, and a small cooler, big enough for a few drinks.

"Me too," he said as he locked up the luggage box. He also had a checkered blanket, which I guessed we'd be using to sit on. That man had thought of everything.

"Do you need a hand?" I asked. He was pretty much laden down at this point.

Coyote did a showoff twirl, "I got it," he grinned back. He started walking towards the lake and I followed behind. "Thought we could find a spot over on the far side of the lake, it should be quieter as the families generally stay close to the park office and facilities."

We walked for around ten minutes after we left the main path and ducked through a lightly wooded area. If I had been with anyone other than Coyote, I would maybe have made some protestations, as it looked like we were heading way off the track. But I trusted him—still, I had a few concerns, "I don't think we should go too far, I know my boss said I could have an extended lunch break, but I still have to get back in good time."

"No, you don't," Coyote said as he waited for me to catch up with him. He had long legs and each of his steps was around four of mine.

"What do you mean?"

"This wasn't a spur of the moment picnic, I already cleared it with your boss,"

I stopped in my tracks, "What?"

He grinned at me, a huge dimpled, charm-the-panties-off-a-nun grin, "Yep! You've been working really hard on my grand opening and even though we've been having working lunches, it was more work than lunch. I called Reginald and asked if he could spare you for a couple of hours because I wanted to thank you for all your hard work."

"Oh," I said, because I couldn't think of any suitable retort.

"He said yes, he also said that you'd not taken any time off since you started working for him, so you were long overdue some personal time. You have the whole afternoon off and he said if we aren't back in time, his nieces can collect your daughter from daycare."

At that I rushed over to him and threw my arms around him, giving him a peck on the cheek, "Wow! Thank you, Coyote! I honestly don't see my work as work because I enjoy it so much. This is really sweet of you, and of Reggie."

"My pleasure, querida. Now let's get this set up."

I looked around, the part of the park he'd taken me to was simply beautiful. Away from the crowds it was much more peaceful and did seem more like an unspoiled natural resource rather than an overcrowded theme park.

After Coyote had laid out the blanket and opened the containers of food we got settled, there was something so right about being here with him in this environment and for a moment I could almost imagine us doing it as a family. That was enough to bring the dark thoughts front and center again. I tried to push them away as I bit into one of Callie's empanadas, "These are so good. How does she get the pastry so flaky?" I asked.

He laughed, "That's her secret, maybe when you see her at the grand opening you can see if she'll talk and give away our abuelita's recipe.

We ate in comfortable silence for a bit, and then Coyote asked the question I'd been dreading. Without the distraction of work and restaurant customers I knew eventually we'd have to have ‘the talk'. He swallowed his mouthful and looked at me, "I know you don't want to talk about the attack, but I'm just curious as to what happened to you when you left, where did you go? I looked for you for months afterwards, before I realized you clearly didn't want to be found."

My heart almost broke at the sadness in his voice, I didn't want to lie to this kind man, but I still wasn't ready to tell him everything, "I took off for LA and tried to make a go of it out there. When I first arrived, I was couch surfing, then I found a live-in job as a housekeeper at a motel. It was a pretty run-down place, but it gave me a roof over my head, but around about then I found out I was pregnant." I paused, it wasn't exactly a lie, when I arrived in LA and skipped my period I was totally in denial, and pretty much kept up that denial until I was six months gone, and the appearance of an obvious baby bump made my mental excuses of stress or poor nutrition being behind my missing periods, a joke. "I had no insurance and had to work up until Nessa was born, we were managing, the guy who owned the place was okay he never tried it on with me, but then when she was almost a year old, the motel had to close, and we were out on the streets. I had enough savings to rent a room short term, but you know what LA is like. I knew that if I stayed, we were gonna end up as a statistic. Living rough is bad enough as a woman, but with an eleven-month-old in tow?" I couldn't look at Coyote, instead I fixed my gaze on the picnic blanket. I felt his big hand on top of mine as I blinked away the tears.

"Babe, I hate to think of what you've been though."

I heaved out a sigh, "It was hard, but we're here now. Anyway, I packed what little we had and decided I needed to return home. Or at least closer to home, which was how we ended up in Patterdale. Me and Nessa were living in my car, it was awful, and I was terrified that someone would see me and report me to the authorities. The thought of my little girl being taken away was more than I could bear. But that's where Reggie stepped in, he'd seen me in the supermarket feeding her samples and—" I stopped abruptly, I really wasn't proud of the next part, "He saw me stealing a box of diapers, looking back I don't know why I even tried to do it, it was a crazy idea, but I kind of draped my coat over the packaging. Anyway, he followed us out and to my car. At first, I thought he was going to drag me back to the manager and I broke down in tears knowing that I'd reached rock bottom. But instead, he asked what he could do to help, and the rest is history." The tears were running down my face now and I couldn't stop them. Even thinking back to that dark period chilled me to my bones, knowing how close I'd come to losing my daughter.

Coyote lifted his hand to brush away my tears, I looked up to see his soft brown eyes gazing intently into mine, "Querida, I wished you'd come to me or my club. I want you to promise me that if anything bad happens you, come to me, you tell me what you need, and I will make sure you have it." His thumb brushed softly over my lips, and I leaned into his touch.

No matter how many years had passed or what life had thrown at me I couldn't deny that my heart had always been with this kind man. I shouldn't have run, back then I'd thought all MCs were the same, but the Dark Slayers had always looked out for me, they'd given me a place to live when I had nothing. I reached out and put my hand on Coyote's shoulder, bringing him closer. As our lips met it felt as if I was finally home.

***

The surprise picnic had been magical, Coyote and I had talked some more and kissed until my lips were swollen and tingling. They weren't the only part of me that was tingling, but we were taking it slow. I wasn't sure what was happening between us, my heart was ready to jump back in to being madly in love with my handsome biker, but my brain told me to hold back. I was keeping something massive from him and he had the right to know he might be a father.

We'd gotten back from the picnic at four and Coyote dropped me off at the store so I could collect my car. I'd popped in to thank Reggie for my surprise afternoon off, typically of the man he made it out to be nothing. Nessa had been playing in the back office and it looked as though she'd been having a picnic with her dolls. Her favorite stuffed toy was sitting in front of a tiny cup and a plate of cookies lay in the middle of the floor under a copy of the local newspaper.

"Did Mr. Monkey enjoy his picnic? Uncle Reggie was telling me about what fun you had."

"Picnic," Nessa said with a giggle like she thought the new word she'd learned was the funniest thing ever, "We got cookies!"

"I can see that sweetheart," I said, hoping she'd not eaten too many of them otherwise I'd have difficulty getting her to eat dinner.

"Yum! Cookies are my favorite," a deep voice called over my shoulder, and I turned to see Coyote standing there, grinning at Nessa. Seeing the two of them together made me catch my breath. While she was clearly her mommy's daughter, that cheeky smile was pure Lucas.

"You wanna cookie?" Nessa asked, her big, brown eyes staring up at Coyote. I'd told her not to talk to strangers, but I guessed she thought that because he was in my office then he was a friend. I'd have to have a stranger danger talk with her again later on, but in the meantime, I was astonished to see my daughter, who never shared, happily offering Coyote a cookie.

"Sweetheart, you've already taken a bite out of that one, I don't think Coyote wants it," I said, looking around to see if there were any unnibbled ones left. It looked like she'd been picking out the chocolate chunks.

Coyote reached over for the half-eaten choc chip, "You really sure you want to spare this one, princess?"

She nodded emphatically, "Gotta full tummy."

Oh great, she'll definitely be picking at her dinner tonight, I thought. Meanwhile Coyote took a bite as Nessa watched on curiously.

"Did you forget something?" I asked, while I didn't mind him dropping in, I thought we'd said our goodbyes in the parking lot.

He lifted the bag he held in his non cookie eating hand, "We still had some empanadas left over, I thought you might want them. I've got another full box at home."

"Thanks, that's tomorrow's dinner sorted then."

With that he turned to go, but not before fixing me with a pantie-melting look, "Querida, this afternoon was fantastic, I hope we can do it again sometime soon," he crouched down so he was eye-level with my daughter, "Nice to meet you too, Miss Nessa, and thank you for the cookie."