Player Chapter 15

For the past couple of hours, I watched in confusion and misery as my woman danced, laughed, and had a fun time with everyone in the club but me. Any time I'd approach her, she'd ignore me or quickly get caught up in conversation with someone else. I didn't know what to do.

I knew my reaction to her outfit had been all wrong. I should've thought before I spoke, but when I saw her, not only had my desire gone through the roof, but so had my insecurities. I wanted to hide her so no one would be tempted to steal her away from me. She was too smart, stunning, sexy, and so much more for a man like me to be blessed to have.

After the way I'd acted toward women for so many years, did I truly deserve her? The answer was no. Despite the fact I would literally do anything for her, would it ever be enough? I knew she wouldn't make demands, but she deserved, in my opinion, the world. Seeing her looking even more stunning than usual and hearing the appreciative remarks and what Payne said made me criticize her rather than praise her. The hurt look on her face when she walked off told me I'd wounded her. Watching her walk off after ignoring my plea made me freeze in place.

"What're you waiting for, dumbass? Your woman goes to all that trouble for you, and you act like a dick," Demon hissed.

"Yeah, did you think she did it just for herself? She's trying to find her place with us, and you spit on her efforts. She's looking fucking amazing," Maverick said snappishly.

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I agree. She looks stunning. I just lost my head for a minute," I defended myself lamely.

"You'd better find a way to make it up to her, or you'll be sleeping alone tonight," Iceman added. That was what finally got my feet moving toward the bathroom.

When she came out of the bathroom, she wore a mask, and nothing was piercing it. She was protecting herself, and the worst part was she was doing it against me. The one person who should and would shield her no matter what.

I was just waiting for the night to end so I could take her home to explain and beg for her forgiveness. It couldn't come fast enough. I had a plan for tonight, and I had it all worked out, but after fucking up, there was no way I could do it. She'd probably laugh in my face if I did.

I was draining my beer when the front door opened, and in sashayed a line of women. I choked on my last swallow. Son of a bitch, just kill me now. I thought tonight wouldn't get worse, but I forgot to get Saylor out of here before the bunnies and other women showed up. I searched for her, hoping to grab her and run. She was clear across the common room. Setting down my empty beer bottle, I stood up and began to weave my way to her.

She'd stopped dancing even though the music was still playing over the sound system. She was with a group of the old ladies. It struck me then that they'd stayed, but the kids had all been rounded up. Shows you how much attention I was paying everyone else. I hadn't been able to focus on anyone but Saylor. My brothers all tried to talk to me on and off but ended up leaving me alone when I wouldn't say more than five words to them.

I was ten feet at most from Saylor when I was grabbed by the arm and stopped in my tracks. I swung my head around to blast one of my brothers for stopping me, only to find it wasn't one of them. My heart sank. This was the last thing I needed tonight. With the mood Saylor was in, she'd probably walk off and never speak to me again. Standing there, smiling up at me, was Clover.

I used my other hand to pry her hand loose, and I flung it away from me. Her smile dimmed a little. Good. Maybe she'd start to get the point. "Clover, don't grab me again," I snapped at her.

"Player, honey, what's got you in such a bad mood? You've never minded me touching you anywhere I wanted before. I've been trying to catch you for weeks. No one would tell me where you were. I went to your room several times, but you weren't there. I'm so glad you're here tonight. I want to talk to you. Let's go somewhere quiet," she said, pointing toward the hallway, which led to where our rooms were for those who didn't have a house.

I wanted her to disappear before Saylor heard her. There was no way she'd forgotten that night in the bar. The night I brought Clover along to help me forget my growing obsession with Saylor.

"Hi, Player, how've you been?" Vida asked.

She was another bunny. We had four of them in total. Kayla, who'd been with us several years, had decided she'd had enough of the bunny life, and she'd left about six or seven months ago. That left Clover and Vida, who'd been here a couple of years. Kayla's leaving left an opening. When it came time to replace her, we ended up checking out and trying out several who were interested. We settled on adding two—Shantal and Bonnie. They were nice enough. I'd been with all of them, but Clover was the pushy one.

"Vida, I've been fine. Hope you have been too. Listen, I don't have time to talk. I'm needed elsewhere." I tried to squeeze past the two of them. While Vida smiled and moved out of the way, Clover thrust herself further in my path.

"Player, I don't understand. You took me on a date, and then you disappeared. That night was special."

I quit trying to get away from her. I needed to address this plainly so she'd understand once and for all. "Clover, taking you out that night wasn't a date. It was a terrible mistake. I did it for the wrong reason. I was confused and thought I'd use you to help me with something, but I've come to realize that what I thought needed to be fixed didn't. How can you even say it was special? We were there for maybe ten minutes, then I took you home, and that was it. There's nothing between us."

"How can you say that?" she cried.

"He can say it because he's with me. I was the reason he took you out that night. He was trying to deny his feelings for me." Saylor's voice shocked me.

Her coming to my defense was the last thing I thought she'd do. She moved over next to me without me knowing it. She was maybe less than a foot away from me. I reached out to hook her arm and gently tugged to see if she'd come to me. To my relief, she did. I wrapped an arm around her back and rested my hand on her hip.

Clover's eyes widened when she saw her. I watched as she scanned Saylor from head to toe. There was defiance and maybe jealousy on her face as she met my gaze. "You can't be serious. This is the blind bitch that's been hanging around. Why would you be interested in her? She's nothing. Putting on some leather doesn't make her a biker's woman," Clover sneered.

"Clover, leave it alone," Vida whispered to her. She had a panicked look on her face. The other two were watching with interest. Neither said a word. My brothers and their old ladies were gathered around us, watching.

"No, I won't! She's not coming in here with her stupid dog, using her blindness to try and snag my man. Player needs a real woman, not a defective one."

Anger shot through me at her insult to Saylor. "She's fucking superior to you in every way, and that's with her being blind. She's strong, intelligent, caring, and loving. She thinks of others, not just herself. She's shown me how to be a better man, even though I still fuck up, and I'm learning. Saylor is my woman."

I wanted to announce she was my old lady, but the property cut I planned to give her earlier hadn't transpired due to my fuckup. I could still say it, but it wouldn't mean as much to Saylor.

A loud throat clearing had heads turning. Bull stood there. He was holding the cut I'd gotten for Saylor in the air. "Player, brother, I know you wanted to give this to Saylor earlier, but we got sidetracked. I know it's not with the usual fanfare, but here, I think it's time." He handed it to Bear, who handed it to me.

Grasping it like a lifeline, I prayed she would accept it. Standing up for me against a bunny was one thing. Accepting my property cut was another. Saylor had turned more toward me with a puzzled look. I let go of her hip and faced her. I picked up one of her hands and brought it to her cut.

"Babe, I had this all planned out for earlier, and then things got messed up. I wanted to surprise you. I hope you'll forgive me and still accept this. You know you're the only one I want. I love you, and there's no one I want more than you as my old lady. Will you be my forever ride-and-die woman?"

"No!" Clover yelled.

Saylor answered by holding out her arms. Before she could change her mind, I slipped it on her. As she hugged the leather to her, I lifted one of her hands to run it across the patch over her heart. It read Juno , but I'd talked to the lady who made our cuts, and she found a way to add the Braille dots to it so she was able to read it. When she felt them, her face lit up with joy. One second, she was smiling at me. The next, she was flying backward and almost fell.

"He's mine, bitch! Mine! That's my cut!" Clover screamed. She was trying to yank Saylor's property cut off.

Her out-of-control behavior stunned everyone. I knew she was getting a bit clingy before that night at The Dark Angel, but she'd never acted this way. She appeared unhinged. I lunged toward them to get Saylor away from her, but I needn't have bothered. My old lady took care of herself. Freya was growling. I heard Saylor call out, fuss , which meant heel. Freya did it, but very reluctantly. She stayed near her mistress, though, alert and tense—ready to go for it if given the command to attack.

At the same time as she gave Freya the command, Saylor was swinging around to face Clover. Her fist flew out and landed a perfect punch to Clover's jaw. Saylor followed up with a punch from her opposite fist, taking the bunny in the side of the head. As she staggered back from the second punch, Saylor snapped out a leg, taking her in the gut. Clover went flying, landing in a heap on her ass in the middle of the floor. She was crying.

"Don't you ever lay hands on me again, bitch. And that goes for my man and my dog. He told you there was nothing between you. Listen!" Saylor snapped.

"Yes, there is! He made love to me that night for hours. He told me he loved me. I'm carrying his baby. He can't be with you. If he is, he'll never see this baby," Clover screamed.

Everything came to a screeching halt. I knew for sure I hadn't slept with her that night. As for the pregnancy thing, there was always the slightest chance if the condom had been faulty that I could've gotten her pregnant, but it would've been four months ago, maybe more. Everything got eerily quiet. Dread filled me as Saylor turned toward me.

There was hurt there. I didn't know if it was at the thought of Clover being pregnant with my baby, or in addition, she thought I'd lied about not sleeping with her that night. Christ, this couldn't fuck it up for me. I refused to let some bunny destroy what I was just starting to build with Saylor. Her face was pale.

"Saylor, she's lying out her ass. I did not sleep with her that night. I told you what happened."

"You did. What about the other? Is it possible she's pregnant with your baby? It is, isn't it? You've been with her." Her voice wobbled a second, then strengthened.

I saw her erecting shields right in front of me. She was going into protection mode. The place she'd been for years. I'd worked so hard to tear those down, and now I was the cause of them reappearing. I wanted to scream, but I maintained my cool.

"Yes, I've slept with her. You knew that as well. If she is pregnant, I don't know how she knows who it belongs to. I'm not the only one here who has slept with her. I never went without a condom, and I seriously doubt any of my brothers did either. If she is pregnant with my baby, she's at least four months or more pregnant. I don't see a baby bump."

Saylor gasped, and her hand came up to cover her mouth. I saw horror there. "Oh my God. I kicked her in the stomach," she moaned.

No matter if it were a scheming bitch like Clover, Saylor would never do anything to hurt an unborn baby intentionally.

"That's right, you bitch! You did it on purpose. You're trying to kill our baby so he'll stay with you, but he won't. Player won't ever risk not having contact with his baby. Not after what happened to his first one."

This caused a murmur to go through the room. As for me, I stiffened, and a niggling thought started to grow. How the hell would she know anything about me and Christie? The only one I'd told was Saylor.

"What the hell is she talking about, Player?" Bull asked over the murmurs.

"I'll explain it once I take care of this. Clover, mind telling me how you know about that baby?"

She was on her feet, being comforted by Bonnie and Shantal. Vida was keeping her distance. She wore a suspicious expression. Saylor had her arms wrapped around herself, looking miserable. Devyn and Jocelyn were on either side of her now, holding her and whispering in her ears. I wanted to know what they were saying. I ached to hold her myself, and I would, just as soon as I dealt with this slut.

"You told me. Don't you remember? It was one night when we were in bed. You'd just finished making love to me, and you were telling me how much you wanted a baby, how your girlfriend betrayed you and killed your first one. You said you wanted one," Clover interjected.

I hated to do what I was about to do, but I had to be sure my suspicion was correct. I put a smile on my face and moved over to her. She smiled back. Looking into her eyes, I could see how unbalanced she was. Why hadn't any of us noticed it before? We'd dealt with enough crazy people. We should be able to see it easily.

"Yeah, I think I remember now. I told you about…" I let it hang there, waiting to see what she'd say.

"Christie, yeah, what she did to you was awful. And you swore that you would never settle down or have a family, but I changed your mind. You wanted to have one right away. Remember, we made love again without a condom because you wanted to get me pregnant as soon as possible," she said with a huge smile as she cradled her nonexistent stomach.

I heard Saylor cut off a sob. I fought not to look at her. I had to make Clover fuck up. If she thought I had any concern for Saylor, she might revert to being careful. At the moment, she was working her lie, or maybe it was a delusion.

"Yeah, she betrayed me with that guy. What's his name?" I pretended not to recall.

"Will, his name was Will. You found out in that letter," she supplied eagerly. A soft whimper came from Saylor. I wanted to vomit. This was tearing her apart. I knew it was. I prayed I'd be able to convince her I had never spoken to Clover about this.

Everything Clover was saying was as if I'd had the exact conversation with her that I had with Saylor. And I knew without a doubt I never told her any of it. Even drunk, I would've never confessed any of it. The conniving whore had been spying on us. She must've been sneaking around the townhouse and somehow listening to our conversations. How many times had she done it? Had she watched us make love? The thought that she had made me sick and furious at the same time.

"Player, what the—" I made a cutting motion to Vex.

"When is our baby due?" I asked her.

"In eight months. I got pregnant the night we went to The Dark Angel, although I know we were trying earlier than that. I think it'll be a boy. We'll name him after you, Brooks," she said happily.

I cringed inside, hearing her use my name. A quick glance showed me my club was angry. I hoped they knew I would never do what she accused me of. God, I hoped if she was pregnant, it didn't belong to any of my brothers. I knew if she was a month pregnant, it couldn't be mine. I knew what some of our friends went through with the club whore who ended up having Knight's daughter, Cara. It worked out in the end, but it was a mess and cost him the first couple of years of Cara's life. If Clover were pregnant with a Warriors' baby, we'd ensure it was never raised by her.

"Have you been to the doctor yet?" Zara asked. I was about to object, but she gave me a slight head shake. Her tone was very pleasant. One she might use as her doctor's voice to calm and establish rapport with patients.

"I haven't, but I took the home test, and it was positive," Clover said. She was now looking at Zara.

"You should get medical care right away to ensure the baby is growing the way he should. I'm a doctor, as you know. Why don't you let me check you over? I bet it would make Player feel better to know you and the baby are healthy. Wouldn't it, Player?" Zara asked.

"It would, greatly. Please, Clover, let Zara make sure our baby is healthy," I pleaded.

It sickened me to say our baby, but I had to prove whether she was pregnant or not. If she was, then came the process of determining whether the baby belonged to a brother. If not, we'd figure out how to deal with her. One thing was for sure. She wouldn't remain a bunny. Clover appeared uncertain. I was stunned when Vida spoke up.

"Clover, you need to do it. You don't want something to go wrong, do you? What if you lose the baby because you waited to get medical care? You took a kick to your stomach. It would hurt Player so much, and then who knows what he'd do."

After she said that to Clover, she shifted her eyes to me briefly and gave me a nod. She was trying to help us. That was a surprise. Bunnies usually sided with each other. It was enough to prod Clover, though.

"Okay, I'll do it. Player, I want you to come with me. Where do you want to do this?" she asked Zara.

"We'll go to my treatment room here. Follow me. I have everything I need there," Zara said as she began moving in that direction.

As I moved over to walk next to Clover, I glanced at Saylor. She was standing there in tears. The old ladies were holding onto her. I knew she couldn't see me, but I mouthed it anyway. I love you. She's lying. Jocelyn nodded, then turned to whisper in Saylor's ear. It was tearing out my heart to leave her there without me, but I had to see this through. I'd explain it all to her when I was done.

I held onto Clover's arm, although I hated to touch her even that much. The fact I'd ever fucked her filled me with disgust. All those women like her I'd slept with. My past was coming back to haunt me, and it was doing its best to tear apart my future. I refused to allow it. Entering the treatment room, I closed the door behind us. No need for an audience.

"Okay, hop up on the table for me. First, I need to do a couple of things. I need to check your blood pressure and pulse. Then, I need to do an external and internal examination. Finally, I'll need a urine sample from you," Zara told her.

"Why do you need my urine?" Clover asked suspiciously.

"Well, we have much better technology than we did years ago. I have a way to check your urine, and it'll tell us if you're having a boy or a girl. Don't you want to know?"

"I do. Please, I want to know what we're having," I said quickly.

"Alright, if Player wants to know, then do it. I can't wait to know how to paint the nursery. We need to get a house, Player. Soon."

"We will."

I watched as Zara went about her thing. She kept up chatter with Clover to keep her focused on her. When it came time for the physical exam, I stood by Clover's head. She insisted on holding my hand. I did it, but I didn't desire to see anything. When Zara was done, she had Clover get up and go into the bathroom. I was taken aback when Zara went with her. When they came out, Zara was carrying a cup of urine. Clover was trailing behind her, smiling.

"Alright, you can put on your pants. It should only take me a few minutes to find out. Tell me, do you have any names you like if it's a girl?" Zara asked. Clover was behind a privacy screen dressing. Zara mouthed to me, hang on. It's gonna be okay. I promise.

I had no idea how she could promise that unless her exam had told her something. She removed a pregnancy test from a drawer and inserted it into the urine, then removed it to lie on a tray. I knew enough about them to know they had to sit for a few minutes before you would know if the woman was pregnant. Clover was busy rattling off names she liked.

I was a nervous wreck. What if she was pregnant? Then, we had to find a way to determine how far along she was. Surely, if she were four months or more along, she'd be showing. Her stomach was flat as ever when Zara palpated it.

Clover came out and was standing there watching Zara. She frowned. "Why are you using a pregnancy test to find out if it's a boy or girl?"

"It's not a pregnancy test. The same company makes it, so it looks the same, but it tests for the chromosomes in the urine given off by the baby," Zara said smoothly.

I had no idea if any of it was possible or not, but she had me convinced. The frown eased from Clover's face, so I assumed it worked with her, too. It was the longest five minutes of my life. When Zara finally picked up the stick, I was ready to hyperventilate. She faced Clover.

"Clover, would you like to amend your statement?"

"Amend? What do you mean?"

"As in telling the fucking truth! You're not pregnant with Player's baby. You're not pregnant, period, thank God. The idea of one of the guys having to have you as the mother of their child makes me sick. You've never been pregnant, as far as I can tell. Even if you were only a month along, this would be positive. You're lying, and we want to know why and how you know all this stuff about Player. Things I'm pretty sure not even his brothers knew," Zara snarled.

Clover was backing away from both of us. Panic was the prominent expression on her face. "I'm not lying! I am pregnant. He did tell me all those things. He wants to have an old lady and kids, and he wants to have a baby right away!"

"I do, but not with you. It's Saylor that I want to be my old lady and to have my baby. She's the one I've not been using protection with, not you."

"No! It's me," she shouted.

"No, it's Saylor, and the only way you know the shit you do is you've been spying on us at the house. Those were things I said to Saylor, my true old lady and the woman I love!" I shouted back.

Like lightning, Clover snatched up a sharp blade, a scalpel lying on another tray. She held it in front of her. "Don't come any closer," she snapped.

Great. Now, I had to subdue a crazy woman with a weapon. What happened to having a great night with my woman? Surely, Clover didn't think she was just walking out of here. I began to circle to one side of her. I saw Zara doing the same.

"Zara, stay back," I ordered. No way was I letting a brother's woman get hurt. This was my mess to fix. Zara froze, but I saw her take out her phone. No doubt calling in reinforcements. I'd take those.

"Put down the scalpel," I told the crazy bunny.

She shook her head. "No. You're supposed to be mine, not hers. I'm not letting her steal you."

"Clover, I was never yours. This is all a fantasy you cooked up in your head. Even if Saylor weren't here, I wouldn't be with you."

"We'll see," she said cryptically.

The door slammed open, and Demon, Payne, and Bull came in. I saw more bodies in the hallway. It made sense for Payne to be here. He was our enforcer. Demon was Zara's old man, and Bull was our president.

We surrounded her. Demon pushed Zara gently toward the door. I saw Tank reach in and grab her, bringing her to him. As a unit, we closed in on her. I'd been in a few knife fights over the years. I knew how to avoid getting cut, but if not, hopefully, it would be superficial. Regardless, short of shooting her, which I might want to do, we couldn't until I got more information from her.

We converged on her at the same time. She slashed at us, but it was wild. I heard someone hiss. Taking the chance, I grabbed the wrist that was holding the scalpel. I applied pressure to her trigger point, which made her drop it. As I wrapped her up in my arms to subdue her, she went wild, fighting and screaming. I was about to knock her out when there was a loud booming sound, and the clubhouse shook. What the fuck!?

We all gave each other stunned and questioning looks. I heard running feet and shouting. I knew the guys were checking on their women and kids. The explosion sounded like it was a distance from us. Payne slapped zip ties around her wrists. Clover let out a cackle.

"She's gone. We'll see who you make your old lady. Saylor is just a memory, now."

Horror and anxiety hit me. I shoved Clover into Payne's arms and took off running to the common room. I had to lay eyes on Saylor. Clover was insane. Who knew what she'd done? Maybe she had someone make her a bomb. There was no telling what she was capable of.

It was chaos in the common room. People were shouting and moving around. It wasn't full. Some must still be checking on the kids. My brothers were making sure their families were alright. I saw guns being checked. The prospects were removing more guns from the gun safe kept under the bar. I scanned for Saylor, but I didn't see her. My panic grew.

Seeing Iceman close by, I grabbed his arm. "Where's Saylor?"

He gave me a worried look. "She left when you went to the treatment room with Clover and Zara. She said she couldn't stay and see this. We tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted. She was crying and so upset, Player. We let her go. Vex took her home and said he'd stay with her."

"Fuck!" I bellowed as I ran for the door.

My gut was insisting the explosion was near the townhomes, and she was the target. Had Clover somehow set up a device and triggered it remotely? How would she know Saylor had left? She couldn't, which meant she had an accomplice. All those things ran through my head as I ran outside and headed for the townhomes. They sat slightly closer to the wall than the clubhouse or the main houses. I saw smoke, and a giant hole had been blasted through the tall wall surrounding the compound. I ran harder. My gun was out, and anyone getting in my way was dead. Feet were pounding behind me, but I didn't bother to look and see who. I only had one objective. Find my woman.

Coming closer to the townhouses, I saw dark figures running. They weren't ours. I aimed and shot one. This got their attention and brought their guns to bear on us. I heard gunshots coming from the townhouses, but I had no way of knowing if it was Vex or the intruders. Bullets were flying while me and my brothers were taking cover where we could and returning fire, the same as the intruders.

The advantage was we knew the compound blindfolded. We slithered and found places to hide and advance they would have no idea of. There were things set up that, to the regular person, appeared to be decorations and such. In reality, they were strategically set up as blinds and other ways to take cover in the event of something like this happening. Bull and the others who had served were geniuses at making those.

There was more gunfire, and it was becoming hard to tell where it was coming from unless you saw the flash of fire from a muzzle when a bullet was shot. I was within ten feet or so of the townhouses when there was another explosion. It wasn't as big as the first one. Then I heard screaming.

Snaking my way forward, I got to the back of the townhouses and started to work my way to the back of ours. There was a back door and windows I could use to get inside. Movement behind me had me swinging to confront whoever it was. Thankfully, I didn't shoot first. It was Ajax and Loki. I waved them to come with me. We made it to the back of our house.

"I'm going in first. Loki, you cover left, Ajax, right. Watch out for Freya. She has to be going insane right now." I could hear her barking loudly inside, which would help cover our entry.

"Count it off. We've got your back," Loki said. Ajax gave me a chin lift. We took up our positions.

"One… two… three." When I said three, I opened the door. We didn't lock our houses up, and in this instance, I was both glad and upset. If they had been locked, maybe the intruders wouldn't have just waltzed inside. We went in low and fast. The rear hallway was empty. Downstairs were the laundry, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Upstairs were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Every room would need to be cleared. I could hear thumps and cursing, and I had to wonder what it meant. I forced images of what was happening to Saylor out of my head. I couldn't think of those, or I'd be unable to do what was needed.

Freya was growling, and then I heard a shot and her yelp. It came from the area by the stairs. Leaving the other two to clear the rooms, I raced there in a crouch, sticking close to the wall. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard thumping and grunts. A body was tumbling down the steps. As it landed, I heard my woman's voice.

"That'll teach you to shoot my dog, motherfucker! You'd better hope she lives, or I'm skinning you alive," Saylor snarled. It was dark in the house. There was only a faint light in the living room. I had no idea where Vex was or if there was anyone else in the house, but I had to call out to her.

"Saylor, it's me. Are you alright, Juno? Are there others in the house? Where's Vex?" I asked in quick succession. I waited impatiently for her to answer me.