– Harley –
2 months later
“When are they due home?” Shelby asks from behind me, “Next few hours I think” I say putting out my cigarette, “God it’s been a long 20 days” Shelby exclaims as she begins to place beers in the fridges, “Tell me about, Jax humped me like a rabbit the week before they left, something along the lines of ‘remember if you find someone else I’ll kill them and kidnap you back’, apparently Wood and Dino keeping an eye on us isn’t enough for him to be certain I’m not going to run away with someone else” Shelby laughs and faces me, “And what if you just so happened to fall in love with Wood over here and run off into the sunset with him?”.
We both laugh and turn our attention to Wood who’s sitting at the bar sipping on a beer, “I don’t even want to joke about it in case he finds out and kills me” He says while looking around for Jax like he’s suddenly going to appear out of thin air, “Smart choice Woody” Shelby yell’s out from over her shoulder. “Well, what now?” Shelby asks, I look at my phone and see we still have ages until they’re back, “Wanna get drunk?” I ask and she nods her head.
“You turn the jukebox on and I’ll get some whiskey, I jump over the bar and search through the bottles until I find a brand I like, I jump down and grab 2 glasses with ice. Shelby starts the music and I pour us drinks “Cheers!” We yell over the music and clink our glasses together before skulling it, “Another one?” I ask, “Oh hell yeah!”.
Many songs later and a bottle of whiskey later and Shelby and I are shit faced, “Come dance with me Harley” Shelby cries out from on top of the bar while pouting her lip, “What song do you want?” I shout out to her, “Surprise me!” she yells back. I look through the songs and finally pick one, Never Tear Us Apart by INXS begins to blast throughout the speaker. Shelby holds out her hand for me to take, I grab it and she pulls me up onto the bar.
We were to dance and sing like idiots when the doors of the clubhouse swing open, my head basically snaps off to the door to see everyone standing there back from the ride, I jump down from the bar and jump into Jax’s arms wrapping my legs around his waist, “Oohhh I’ve missed youuu” I coo to him pinching his cheeks, “Oh dads here too!” I shout over his shoulder when I see dad and Betty hugging each other, “Wait have you missed me?” I pull back and pout at him, “Yes kitten, of course, I’ve missed you” He replies while moving hair from out of my face, “Good”.
We sit down at one of the tables as the boys tell us about the lastest runs, I zone out while everyone’s talking, “You alright kitten?” Jax asks stroking his thumb over my knuckles, “Yep, I’ve just figured out my next plan, I need some shovels and wooden box” I stand up abruptly and make my way over to the bar, I grab a bottle of beer and make my way outside towards the garage, I search around until I find the wooden box some of the car parts were sent in the other day.
I drag it out of the garage and carry it around to the backyard of the compound, I go into the shed and find some shovels and get to work digging a deep enough hole, the first person to find me is Jax, soon followed by Gunner and my dad. Nobody says anything they just stand there and watch, eventually one speaks “Do you nee-” Gunner starts but I stop him, “Nope”.
Soon enough I have a deep enough hole, “Can someone grab the asshole?” I ask, Gunner nods and makes his way to get him, I get out of the hole and attempt to dust myself off, I bend down and take a large gulp of my beer before wiping the sweat and dirt from my face, “Are you sure Harley?” I hear my dad ask from my side, “Yeah dad I’m sure” I reply still staring down at the hole in the ground. Soon enough Gunner emerges with the boss, “In the box” I point towards the wooden box that’s now sitting at the bottom of the hole, he nods and puts the man in the box, I walk over and close the lid on top ignoring his pleas and cries, I grab the power drill and nails and begin to screw the lid on, once the lid is secure I stand back and smile at my finished product.
I pick up the shovel and begin to fill the hole in with the dirt, the sound of the dirt hitting the wooden box fills my heart with joy and I am finally at peace. Once the hole is filled in and compacted down, I throw the shovel to the side and admire all my hard work, I turn around with a giant smile on my face, “Now who wants to party?”.
……
*BANG BANG BANG* *BANG BAN BANG* *BANG BANG BANG*
“What the fuck?” I mumble to myself I open my eyes to be met by bright sunshine and the smell of alcohol, I look down and realise I’m laying on the pool table, “What the fuck?” I mumble to myself again, I attempt to sit upon the table but my from my waist down is pinned down by something heavy, I turn around and see Jax asleep on my ass and legs, “What the fuck?” I mumble once more. I look down at myself to see I still have clothes on, well that’s a bonus.
*BANG BANG BANG* “Owwwww my head” I cry to myself,* BANG BANG BANG* “Oh for fuck’s sake I’m coming!” I yell out, I spot Shelby and Gunner asleep on one of the tables across from me, not even flinching at the asshole currently banging on the front door. I get out from underneath Jax and make my way towards the door. As soon as my feet hit the floor a wave of nausea hits me like a tidal wave, too much alcohol Harley you’ve overdone it this time I run to one of the trash cans and empty my stomach contents from the night before, it always tastes worse coming up the next day. I look down at my phone and see its 8:30 am why the fuck is anyone awake right now?!
Both of the dogs come bounding down the stairs to see whos at the door, I grab the pair of sunglasses off of Gunner’s head and put them on before opening the door. “Sit and stay” I command the dogs who do as they are told, “Who the fuck is awake this early, what the fuck do you want?” I say as I open the door, I look around and see no-one, what the fuck is going on?
I go to close the door but one of the dogs begin to cry and sulk, “What boy do you need to pee?” I open the door a little wider, both dogs take 2 steps outside before they begin to whine and cry again, they begin to huddle over something on the floor infront of me, “Back boys” I command, they slowly begin to back up as I make my way towards whatever they were sooking about.
“That’s not a- is it?” I ask myself out loud as I slowly get closer and closer to it, “Jesus is it real?” I once again question no one but myself. I squat down near it and poke it slightly to see if it moves, it begins to move and I jump back startling the dogs in the process who instantly go into defence mode, “No stop!” I yell out and they do thankfully.
I walk back over and sit down on my knees “Who would do this? Why?” I ask silently, “Why would they leave a baby at a biker clubhouse?”, I slowly lift the newborn into my arms, it begins to move and wiggle a little but settles down quickly, I dig through the bag that was next to it to find something. Nappies, wipes, bottles, formula, dummies, clothes, and some pieces of paper.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” I ask myself, I look down at the newborn and sigh heavily, “Come on boys, let’s go find somewhere to lay while I figure this out” I give the strap of the baby bag to one of the dogs to carry while I walk with the baby. I walk around to the backyard to a small part of the garden that’s filled with flowers and soft grass, I grab a blanket out of the bag and lay it down people laying the baby down infront of me, both of the dogs lay down next to me and the child.
“Pink clothes so you must be a girl hmm?” I say as I unravel the thin cloth blanket she was wrapped in, I look through the bag and find the pieces of paper I saw before. I open the first one and it’s a birth certificate, I look over the details quickly “Soo your name is Isabella you are only 2 weeks old and your mum and dad are…” I trail off when I read the names Stacey and Matthew Blackwell. “You’re Matthew’s kid?” I ask her as if she’s going to reply to me, I take a deep breath in and open the second piece of paper to find a letter.
Harley,
I know we left on not good terms but I can’t turn to anyone else, once Matthew and I left we made our way to the next town over. Matthew became part of the MC for protection and started using drugs, quickly he became abusive towards me.
I tried to leave him, I didn’t want to bring our baby into a place so full of hate and revenge. He told me if I ever took our child that he would have me hunted down and killed.
I know he’s dead but he still has people out looking for either Isabella or I.
My aunty has dropped Isabella off, you’re the only place I know she will be safe.
She isn’t safe with me. Please take care of my baby.
If you cant do it, it’s okay to give her up for adoption I just ask you place her under a different name and date of birth so they can’t find her.
Thank you, Harley and Jax, I will never be able to repay the two of you.
– Stacey X
I put the note down and look down at the small baby infront of me, “Jax is going to freak out” I say out loud, “Jax is going to freak out about what?” A voice comes behind me and I’m frozen in fear, I begin to panic. Isabella begins to cry which seems to snap me out of my thoughts, “Harley what is that?” Jax asks as he starts to walk towards me. I quickly pick her up before turning around to come face to face with one very confused Jax.
“Harley tell me you didn’t steal this baby” Is the first thing he says as he begins to rub his temples, “No.. I didnt.. It’s Staceys and Matthews… She left her at the door and ran” I eventually mumble out, still not believing the whole thing myself. I hand the note and the birth certificate over to Jax who carefully reads it while I rock isabella back and forth.
I sit back down on the grass and put Isabella back on the blanket to stretch out a little, once Jax had finished reading everything he sat down next to me and stayed silent while looking at Isabella, “What should we do?” I break the silence first, “We keep her” he says simply before looking over to me.
“What do you mean?” I ask him still a little confused, “You remember what it’s like growing up thinking no one loves or cares about you, here she will have a full house of people that love and adore her, you read the note. She’s safe here, she is our family” i turn to face Jax with tears in my eyes “Are you being serious or not?” I say while trying not to sob.
He smiles and leans in to kiss me before wiping the tears away “I’m being serious Harley, if Stacey thinks we are the right people then we must be. She’s staying here end of story and anyone who disagrees can leave” A giant smile breaks out across my face and I jump onto Jax’s lap, I wrap my arms around him tightly and squeeze as hard as I can, more tears begin to fall when it sinks in that this just might be my second chance at being some sort of mother, “Thank you Jax, thank you so much”.