Page 63 of Serendipity

He sat on the side of the bed. “I’ve called in a favor from a friend of yours. Hope. I did a little research when she turned up to the Boss fight with three feathered boyfriends. Her father was a well respected neurosurgeon in his prime. Also, they aren’t unfamiliar with the supernatural, if Hope is anything to go by. Seemed like the perfect option.”

“A brain surgeon. Don’t want to disappoint you there, Pres, but he’s working on the wrong end,”

Sol teased.

Judas rolled his eyes. “Delivering babies isn’t as complicated as slicing and dicing a brain, Dickhead. Maybe he can open your thick skull up and see if he can clean out the dust bunnies.”

I laughed, and breathed out a relieved sigh. I trusted the guys. I felt like an idiot for not planning this sooner, but I somehow thought I’d have more time.

Judas leaned down and kissed me. “He’s getting on a private jet. He’ll be here in an hour. Cain will be back with all the equipment. This time tomorrow you’ll be holding a beautiful healthy baby.

Boy or girl? Have you thought of names?”

I’d be happy if it was safe and healthy. I hadn’t thought of names. “I’m ruling out Uriel Junior,” I joked, and Sol growled.

“Have you called Goliath? He will want to be here,” Solomon said softly.

Judas looked worried for the first time since I told Cain that the baby was coming. “I sent him a text to get back here ASAP. He’ll be here.”

I bit my lip. “Do you think he would really want to be here? We aren’t… I mean, he isn’t as invested in all this as you guys are. Shit, someone should tell Marco.”

Sol kissed between my shoulder blades so lovingly that I wanted to cry. “G is more invested than you could imagine. Don’t worry about Marco, I’ll get him for you. I’ll get Sweetie and Shots to watch the kids too. I’m pretty sure they’ve adopted them as extra grandkids anyway.”

Solomon gave me one last kiss and left the room. And then there was one. Although he held himself with absolute confidence, there was a tiny crease between Judas’ brows that told me that there was more going on behind his eyes than he let on. I wondered if it had anything to do with his wife. “This must be hard for you,” I said softly. “You don’t have to be here, you know? I’d understand if it brings back painful memories.”

He ran his fingers over my temple, down my cheek. “The day my son was born was the best day of my life. I remember every second of it. I want to remember every moment of the birth of this child too.”

Shit, now I was crying. I sniffled and swallowed down the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me. “Help me up. I want to walk around a bit.” Judas helped me to my feet, and kept an arm around me as I wandered around my bedroom, trying to ease the uncomfortable ache. “What happened to them? Laura and your son. Sol wouldn’t tell me, said it was a story you should share.”

Judas’ face closed down. “That's not a story for now, Sweetheart. It is a sad, miserable story that can bring nothing but pain. This is a time to be happy.”

I shook my head. I don’t know why I wanted to press this. It was like I had to learn about the ghosts I was going to share my men with. They will look at my baby and see another one. They will look at me and see another woman. I just wanted to know the end so I could start my new beginning without standing in the shadow of their tragedy.

I didn’t realize I was speaking out loud until Judas took a shaky breath and held me tighter.

“Alright. But it isn’t pretty. But know, when we look at you, we see only you Serendipity.” I smiled and snuggled into his side.

“Soon after I married Laura and my father died, I stood for President of my old Club. There were a couple of guys who believed that she’d made me soft, who fought me becoming Pres, but we’d fought it out per the rules of the Club, and won. My opponent, Ricky, had taken the whole thing badly, because he was a fucking weasel, and the worst sort of psycho. Sneaky. Underhanded but compelling.

He left the Club, took some of his friends with him, and I forgot about that shit, you know? It was done. I’d won fair and square.” He shuddered, and I didn’t need a narrator to tell me that it wasn’t over.

“Laura got pregnant, had the baby, and for a few months we were the absolutely happiest fuckers in the universe. We’d bought her a home with a white picket fence and a wrap-around porch. There

was a fucking tire swing in the front yard. It was everything a family home should be. A few months after my son was born, we went on a run. Small time shit, running some guns up the coast. No big deal. But Ricky knew. He’d joined a rival club, the fucking traitor. Told them Laura was my weakness. That she could bring us all down. That she was the Club’s Achille’s heel. While we were away running guns, they came and took her from us. Took them from us.” Judas’ voice cracked, and he turned away from me. “We found the baby first. A single bullet in the chest. Small mercy, I guess. But Laura, they’d shredded her. She was unrecognizable. The coroner had to use dental records to ensure it was really her. She died in so much pain because I’d dragged her into this life. But Ricky had been right, Laura was our Achilles’ heel. When she’d died, we all shut down. Goliath turned into an emotional vacuum. I didn’t see Solomon for three days. Cain organized their funeral. His breakdown came later. He kept his shit together long enough to make sure they were put in the ground properly.

Then Lucifer came and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my head between his shoulder blades, my huge stomach between us. “Did you gut those fuckers? Did you make their deaths as slow and painful as possible?”

Judas gave a short, humorless laugh. “The things we did to them still haunts me, but they deserved every moment of screaming pain.” I agreed. I hope Lucifer was down there, making sure their eternal damnation was as painful as possible with no relief. “We moved out here, started a new Club. Fed the darkness that now resided in us all. Avoiding getting attached to anyone.” He turned in my arms.

“Until you. You have the power to destroy us all over again. I handed you that power myself. Maybe Goliath, that big, mean motherfucker, is the smartest one of us all.”

I brushed my fingers through his hair, kissing his lips softly. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not so easy to kill.”

Another contraction had me leaning over and panting. Ouch. Judas rubbed my back, making soft, soothing, nonsensical noises. I straightened slowly. “Thanks for telling me.”

He nodded, leading me back toward the bed. Solomon and Marco walked in, the latter coming toward me at a breakneck pace. He looked at my face, looking for something. God knows what.

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