Page 4 of Knuckle's Dispute

“I’m not like that, Knuckles.The baby is yours.It’s not as if you’ve been around for me to tell.Don’t worry, I’m not expecting anything from you.It was my choice to fuck you that night and my choice to keep the baby,” she says simply as tears fill her eyes and one slides down her cheek.“If you knew anything about me, you’d know I’m not a slut and don’t jump from one man’s bed to another.For you to accuse me of that shit is uncalled for.Seth, we’ll meet in my office tomorrow.I don’t want to come here for our meetings any longer.Rooster, I’ll always help the club out, but I won’t come here again.And I won’t represent Knuckles for anything.Seth, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That’s fine, Janessa.Go home and get some rest.I’ll come check on you later.You really don’t need to be upset or stressed in your current condition,” Rooster says, his voice softer than I’ve heard in a long time.

“Keep him away from me, Rooster.Please,” she begs before Seth and Rooster help her from the chair and she avoids looking at me.

Janessa leaves the clubhouse with Seth at her side as they talk quietly together.Rage rushes through my veins as I can’t tear my eyes from the pair as they disappear through the door of the clubhouse and I can’t see them any longer.Tease places a hand on my shoulder when I go to step away from the table with Rooster and Marie.

“What the fuck is your problem, Knuckles?”Tease questions me, his voice harder than normal as he glares at me.“Janessa didn’t deserve any of the shit you just threw her way.She’s one of the best women any of us has ever met and you know that shit.You obviously fucked her and that’s fuckin’ with your head.We’ve all seen a change in you over the last almost eight months.Now you turn into a fuckin’ asswipe to Janessa.This isn’t you, Micah.”

“That’s not my kid, Tease.I always use condoms and you know this shit.We’ve shared enough in the past for you to know I don’t ever fuck without a condom.Hell, I don’t get a blowjob without havin’ a condom on.Janessa is tryin’ to fuckin’ play me and all of you fuckin’ believe her,” I state, glaring at Tease as he steps closer in my space.

“Shit happens, Knuckles.If Janessa is sayin’ the baby’s yours, I believe her.She’s a good girl and there’s no way in fuck she’d lie about bein’ pregnant with your baby,” Rooster states simply as Omen and Homicide walk up to our group.

“The fuck is goin’ on here?”Omen questions, crossing his arms over his chest and looking between all of us.

“You’ve all seen Janessa and know she’s pregnant.Heavily pregnant,” Marie begins, glaring at me and letting me know without words how pissed at me she is.“Well, she finally told us who the dad is today and it’s this stupid fuck, Knuckles.He made her feel like a whore and she’s refused to ever come back here again because of him.Cut the meeting with Seth short and won’t meet with him again until tomorrow at her office.”

“What the fuck?”Omen questions me, uncrossing his arms as I watch his fists clench at his side.“Janessa has never done a damn thing wrong to you or any of us here.For you to treat her like a Slayer Slit is fuckin’ ridiculous!The fuck are you gonna do about that?”

“Nothin’.The baby isn’t mine and I’m not about to have Janessa try to pawn off some other man’s kid on me.All she sees is dollar signs and wants to bleed me dry,” I state, not giving a fuck about the tension surrounding me as Seth walks back in the clubhouse and heads for the bar to get back to work.

“You’re stupid as fuck,” Homicide speaks up, shaking his head at me in disbelief.“If Janessa is sayin’ the baby is yours, then I believe her.And as for the condoms, you know shit happens and condoms aren’t always a hundred percent effective.You’re the only one here who doesn’t believe Janessa.If she’s sayin’ the baby is yours, it’s yours.And you better make this shit up to her.She’s a damn good lawyer and if she leaves us because of your shit, you’re gonna have a lot of pissed off men against you.”

“I’m not stupid.You can all believe Janessa if you want, but I’m not fallin’ for her bullshit.You want her as your lawyer, keep her the fuck away from me.I’m not about to be sucked in by some gold-digger who’s only lookin’ for a payout from me,” I tell the group with me before disappearing and heading up to my room.

No one follows me as I think back to the night I spent with Janessa.When I took the condom off, it was broken.Janessa vanished so quickly, I wasn’t able to let her know about it.However, I didn’t believe she’d be reckless enough not to have some other form of birth control.Janessa is trying to trap me with this baby she claims is mine and I’m not having it.She’s just one more in the line of women who have played this same game with me and other guys in the club.If everyone thinks I’m stupid enough to fall for it, they can think again.

Walking in my room after unlocking the door, I find it as I left it with one exception.The drawer on the stand next to my bed is partially open.I never leave it open.Not only is it where all of my condoms are, but I’ve got other stuff in there and I know it was shut when I grabbed the condom I had in my wallet.Instead of heading to my bathroom to shower, I head straight for my stand and pull the drawer open even more.There’s a stack of condoms out of the box and that’s not how I left them.Picking them up, I carefully inspect the packages.If I weren’t looking for anything specific, I wouldn’t see the holes poked in the wrapper.

“Fuck!”I call out, my voice hoarse as I drop the condoms to the floor at my feet and sink down onto my bed.

“What’s up?”Carbon asks, stopping in my doorway and leaning against the frame.

“Someone poked holes in all my condoms.Janessa is claimin’ to be pregnant with my baby.I know the condom broke that night, but this is ridiculous.She’s not havin’ my baby.It’s some other guys and she’s just tryin’ to pawn it off on me.Janessa’s been around the club enough to know we’re not poor men.The bitch wants a fuckin’ payday and is lookin’ to score one with me,” I tell him honestly as his face turns red and a glare turns in my direction.

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me right now?”Carbon shouts, pushing himself off the door frame and stepping just inside my room.

“No.She just told me downstairs in the common room in front of Rooster, Marie, and Seth.I’m not buyin’ her bullshit or playin’ her games,” I state as the VP of our club shakes his head and disappears from my room without saying another word to me.

Getting off my bed, I leave my room and head for Brick.If anyone can get to the bottom of who’s been in my room, it will be him.He’s put all the cameras up in the common room and knows every single angle and the right one to look at for what I need.The common room is filled with everyone in the club, including the women and kids, and I walk through without saying a word to anyone.I don’t stop until I’m pounding on his door.

“What the fuck?”Brick questions, opening the door as I almost hit him in the face.

“Need your help.Now!”I call out, my voice hard as I push past him and enter the room without waiting for an invitation like normal.

“Knuckles, what the fuck is goin’ on.This isn’t you.You never just barge in my room or act like this,” Brick says, shutting the door behind him as I hear footsteps in the hallway coming toward us.

“Need you to pull up the camera footage from the hall outside our rooms.Someone poked holes in all of my condoms and I want to know who the fuck it was,” I tell him, pacing his room like a caged animal as rage simmers in my body.

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ right now?Does anyone else know?Have any of the other single guys checked their stash?”Brick asks, sitting down at his desk and pulling up the camera feed from our upper hallway where the rooms are located.

“I haven’t told anyone else.The second I found out, I came right here to find out who the fuck did this shit,” I say, not stopping my pacing back and forth across his room.

Brick pulls out his phone and I barely hear his words as he speaks into it.I don’t pay attention as his door opens and others enter the room.While they all crowd around Brick, I just keep pacing.It’s not until Tease stands directly in front of me that I finally stop and look at my best friend.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this, Knuckles.And you’ll apologize to Janessa.You’re the only one here who doesn’t believe her.I’m one of the few people here who know your past and understand why this shit is hard for you to believe.However, if you were ever gonna put your trust and faith in one woman, it should be Janessa.She’s a damn lawyer and there’s no way in hell she’d lie about somethin’ like this,” Tease says, his voice firm and controlled the way it is when he’s trying to pull me out of my head and get me back on track.

“No one here knows her, Tease.The only capacity we’ve ever seen her in is professional when she’s representin’ one of us.None of us know her fuckin’ past or anythin’ personal about her.Yeah, she’s a lawyer, but she just moved here and could be a gold-digger.Just the same as the rest of them.Nothin’ ever changes with women and you know that as well as I do.It’s not like you ever trust women either.I don’t know why the fuck you’re bein’ like this when it comes to me,” I tell my best friend as I turn to walk away from him and continue my pacing once again.

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