Original Cin: A Raptors MC Novel Read online

  “What’s that for?” he asked, a slight smile on his face.

  “I just think you’re adorable,” she shrugged.

  He snorted. “Bikers aren’t adorable, Cin.”

  “Oh, I don’t know, why don’t we ask the experts?” She took a seat next to Sophie. “What do you think, Soph? Isn’t Brennan adorable?”

  “What’s that?” the girl asked.

  “Cute, like your dolls.”

  Sophie’s eyes lit up. “Yes, he is!”

  Cinnia stuck her tongue out at her fiancé. “See? The verdict is out.”

  “I think the jury was bought with chocolate chip pancakes.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, babe.”

  Connor tapped his fork on the edge of his plate for a second, getting their attention. “When’s mom picking us up?”

  “She said she’d be here around nine.” Brennan glanced at the clock. “Just a few more minutes, buddy. Why, are you getting tired of us?”

  “I just miss mom.”

  “Of course you do, sweetie.” Cinnia frowned at the sound of a car stopping outside. She glanced at Brennan. “Is that them?”

  He frowned. “No, I’m pretty sure Nixon would have—”

  The front door burst open. “Bren! Bren!”

  “Over here!” Brennan yelled, raising his eyebrows once Haye appeared. “What’s—”

  “It’s happening.” Haye’s ginger hair was spiked in all directions. He hadn’t even bothered to put on a shirt or zip his pants up. Thankfully, he wasn’t going commando. She wouldn’t survive seeing too much of her best friend’s husband. “Oh God, it’s happening!”

  Cinnia’s eyes widened. “Where is she?”

  “In the car.”

  “What the hell’s going on?” Brennan insisted, a bit slower than usual.

  “Don’t be daft.” Cinnia jumped to her feet. “Dawn’s in labor.”

  “She asked for you, Cin,” Haye explained, running his hands over his hair.

  “I’m there.” She glanced at Brennan. “Will you be okay with the kids?”

  He inclined his head. “Yeah, I’ll wait for Jemma and Nixon to come get them and then follow you.”

  “Thanks, babe,” she murmured, kissing him softly, then giving Sophie and Connor a hug. She grabbed Haye’s wrist. “Come on, let’s get your wife to the hospital.” She didn’t even worry about clothes or shoes as she rushed outside, Haye right on her heels. They’d recently bought a minivan, and Dawn was on the backseat, looking like she was in agony. “Get in next to her, I’ll drive.”

  “Right,” Haye nodded, obeying.

  Cinnia jumped onto the driver’s seat. “How are you doing, Dawn?”

  “Contraction,” Dawn gasped, clutching her stomach.

  “When did they start?”

  “It’s been on and off for the past few hours,” Haye said as he shut the door. “She thought it was a false alarm at first, but I think the baby’s coming.”

  Cinnia backed out of the driveway and, as responsibly as possible, sped off in the direction of the hospital. “Have you had false alarms before?”

  “Yeah, this whole week.”

  “Have you gone to the doctor?”

  “Each time.”

  Dawn let out a breath, her facial expression relaxing. “Jesus, that hurts.”

  “Like before?” Cinnia asked her friend.

  “No, this is different. Haye’s right: the baby’s coming.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the false alarms?”

  “It didn’t feel right, I can’t really explain it. And I didn’t want you to start getting complacent.” Dawn smiled apologetically. “I knew you’d be there when it actually happened.”

  Cinnia rolled her eyes and slowed down for a red light, even though she was burning to throw caution to the wind and drive like a maniac. “What were you doing before the contractions started?”

  The awkward silence that followed adequately answered her question.

  “You guys, I swear,” she sighed.

  “Hey, you’ll be exactly the same with Brennan,” Haye reminded her. “In fact, he probably won’t let contractions stop him.”

  “That’s… disturbing.”

  “Now you know how we feel. Deeply disturbed, thanks to the two of you.” Dawn laughed. “What happened to your wrists, anyway?”

  “Jesus, Dawn. Do you have the eyes of a hawk or something?”

  Haye coughed to conceal his laugh. “I guess we know what that’s about, then.”

  “I’m just observant,” Dawn replied defensively. “Why were you tied up when you should be babysitting?”

  Cinnia blushed slightly. “For the same reason you were banging while getting contractions!”

  “Hey, I stopped when it started,” Haye insisted.

  “At least you’re lubricated enough for the baby to come out,” Cinnia snickered.

  “God, you’re such a child.” And yet, Dawn cackled happily.

  “So, have we decided on a name yet?”

  “We’ll wait until… Fuck!” Dawn’s face scrunched up in pain. “It’s happening again!”

  Haye grew a bit pale. “Shit, that didn’t take long.”

  “We’re almost there,” Cinnia soothed, accelerating. So what if she was going nearly twice the speed limit? “You should’ve just called and let us meet you there!”

  “Ha, I’m glad you think she would’ve let me,” Haye muttered, patting Dawn’s forehead with a damp facecloth.

  “Want you… there,” Dawn panted.

  “When you say ‘there’, you mean—”

  “In the delivery room,” Haye supplied.

  Cinnia felt faint. “I don’t think any woman who hasn’t given birth already should see that.”

  “We tossed a coin. You lost.”

  “Thanks a lot, Haye.” Cinnia screeched to a halt at the hospital and parked the car. “Okay, I’ll go get a wheelchair.”

  “And a nurse!” Haye called after her.

  “Sure!” Cinnia was already halfway to the entrance. She hailed a nurse—who was probably on a smoke break—and grabbed a wheelchair. “Follow me! Lady in labor!” she yelled by way of explanation. It was only then that she remembered she was still dressed in a robe.

  Perfect.

  “Okay, here it is!” She caught up with Dawn and Haye just as they locked the car. “Sit your fat ass down, bestie!”

  “I’ll… kill you,” Dawn gasped.

  “Good luck catching me,” Cinnia smirked.

  “How far apart are the contractions?” the nurse asked, taking over the wheelchair duties and pushing Dawn closer to the glass doors of the hospital.

  “Uhm, I’d say about four minutes,” Haye responded, consulting his watch.

  “I don’t know, they seem to be getting really intense, really quickly,” Cinnia pouted.

  “Whatever. The baby’s coming, that’s all we know for sure.”

  She rolled her eyes and then remembered her state of undress. “Can I use your phone?” Haye got it out of his pocket and handed it over. “Thanks.” Her eyebrows shot up in surprise when Dawn clutched her wrist. “Uh, what’s wrong?”

  “You’re… not leaving,” Dawn grumbled, her face sweaty and red.

  “I wasn’t going—”

  “Stay!”

  Cinnia held her hands up in surrender. “I know, Dawn. Just breathe, okay? Breathe.”

  They all arrived at the maternity ward’s reception area, where Haye veered off to sign whatever forms required his signature. Cinnia held Dawn company as the nurse wheeled the pregnant woman to the birthing room. Cinnia took a few seconds to type a message to Brennan, asking him to bring her some clothes.

  “Fucking hell, that hurts.” Dawn leaned back in the wheelchair and breathed deeply, relaxed now that the contractions have ceased. “I don’t know if I’ll go through with this again.”

  “You’re supposed to be selling pregnancy.”

  “No one has time to tell that lie.”

>   Before she could retort, Haye’s phone rang. Cinnia saw that Brennan was the caller and answered with a smile. “Hey.”

  “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to bring you clothes.”

  She blushed, effectively drawing Dawn’s attention. “Uhm, why not?”

  “I like the idea of you having no underwear on, so I can fuck you whenever I feel like it.” Brennan chuckled darkly. “And believe me, Cin, I’ll be feeling like it the second I get to the hospital.”

  “What’s he saying?” Dawn asked gleefully, having deduced that Brennan’s on the line.

  Cinnia turned her back on her friend. “But do you like it that other men know I’m not wearing anything under this robe?” she asked her fiancé.

  He didn’t respond for a while. By the time he spoke again, his voice had lost that sexy edge that she adored so much. “Fine, you win this round. What do you want to wear?”

  She grinned broadly. “Jeans and a T-shirt. Oh, and boots. I’m barefoot.”

  “You’ve got it, lass. See you in a bit.”

  “Are the kids still around?”

  “Nixon’s just collected them.”

  She nodded in understanding. “That’s why you didn’t respond to my text immediately.”

  “Yeah. Is Dawn okay?”

  Glancing over her shoulder, Cinnia winced. While she’d been chatting to Brennan, Dawn had been assisted onto the birthing chair and was currently going through another painful contraction. “She’s in labor, so no.”

  He laughed. “Noted. I’m on my way.”

  “I love you.”

  “Love you, too, lass.”

  Cinnia hung up and went over to hold Dawn’s hand. “Are you ready for this?”

  “I don’t… think… you’re ever… ready!”

  “I believe you. Until Haye gets here, do you want to breathe with me?”

  “Okay.”

  Slowly, Cinnia managed to get Dawn to relax a bit, which helped with her pain. She kept an eye on the nursing staff, who were running around taking Dawn’s blood pressure and hooking her up to a heart monitor. The frantic thudding of the baby’s tiny heart made tears well up in Cinnia’s eyes.

  God, she hoped she was pregnant already.

  “I’m so glad you’re here, Cin.”

  Her attention went back to Dawn, who was full-on crying. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I mean, that you’re here. Back home, with Brennan. I’ve never seen you this happy.”

  “Probably because I’ve never been,” Cinnia sniffed emotionally.

  “Thank you for being Aurora’s godmother.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Aurora?”

  “It was an accident,” Dawn said meekly. “I saw the baby’s sex by accident. And I like ‘Aurora’! She was my favorite Disney princess.”

  Cinnia quirked a smile. “Aurora it is, then. I’ll make sure Haye goes for it.”

  Dawn beamed happily.

  “Goes for what?” Haye asked, rushing to his wife’s side.

  “She, ah, says she doesn’t want any drugs,” Cinnia replied hurriedly.

  Dawn’s facial expression fell and she glared at Cinnia, who backed off with an apologetic look.

  “Let’s not be rash, okay?” Haye insisted. “I don’t want you to hurt.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Dawn whispered, acting contrite while simultaneously narrowing her gaze at her best friend.

  Everything happened really quickly, then. Cinnia stood back while the doctor arrived, firing questions left and right, causing everyone in the room to take on an urgent, yet focused air. They all rushed to follow his instructions. The energy changed from peaceful to chaotic pretty fast.

  All the while, Cinnia wondered if this was the type of environment she’d want to give birth in. The more she witnessed, the more convinced she became that she would rather opt to have a midwife at her house. There was no way she was going to allow the anxiety of the hospital staff to add to the stress of the birth itself.

  Brennan arrived and handed her a bag of clothes, but Cinnia didn’t want to miss anything. They stayed out of the way, hand-in-hand, as Dawn began pushing. They watched in fascination as the baby crowned. They felt the anticipation while Dawn exerted the remainder of her energy to get the baby out.

  It could’ve been one minute or ten hours later, for all they knew. Time had ceased to matter.

  The baby wailed as she was taken to a basin to get cleaned up. Brennan pulled Cinnia into a tight hug when she started crying, though she noted his broken sobs, too. She wanted a child of their own even more, now.

  “You’ve got a healthy baby girl, weighing in at five and a half pounds,” the doctor announced once the nurses handed the bundle of joy to Dawn.

  “Oh, she’s so beautiful,” she murmured, instantly in awe of her daughter.

  Haye smiled at his baby, stroking Dawn’s forehead. “Hello, Aurora.”

  Dawn looked shocked. “How did you know?”

  “I’ve known all along,” Haye chuckled. He kissed the top of his wife’s sweaty head. “I know you that well, babe.”

  Cinnia looked up at Brennan, blinking back her tears. “One day, that’ll be us.”

  “Soon,” he agreed before he claimed her mouth with a kiss that left her breathless.

  Soon, she marveled, savoring the moment.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Wow, Piper,” Cinnia said in wonder, “I’m beginning to agree with Mysie. You shouldn’t be an accountant. You should be a designer.”

  Piper seemed pleased. “So, you like it?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Cinnia stared at her reflection. The dress had an off-white leather corset and a flowing silk and chiffon skirt that flared out to the floor. It fitted like a glove, which was amazing, considering it had only taken Piper four weeks to design it, get Cinnia’s measurements and put it all together. “I love it!”

  Piper clapped her hands together. “I’m so glad!”

  “Still so sure about waiting a year, huh?” Mysie chirped from behind her.

  “Heck, I want to get married tomorrow,” Cinnia giggled.

  “Easy, tiger,” Mysie laughed. “You don’t even have a cake yet.”

  “Who needs cake? Brennan is going to die when he sees me in this.”

  “Speaking of, I got you something,” Dawn piped up. She gently placed Aurora back in her pram and reached for her handbag, retrieving an A5-sized box. “Just to help you look forward to the wedding night.”

  Cinnia lifted the lid and gasped. Inside was the most delicate-looking silk lingerie set she’s ever laid eyes on. The white of the material wouldn’t cover the color of Cinnia’s nipples or pubic hair, but that only added to the appeal. If Brennan hadn’t been so active, she would worry about his health once she donned this…

  Instead, she badly wanted to get married, just so he could peel off her sexy wedding dress to find this treasure beneath. She wouldn’t be surprised—and she definitely wouldn’t blame him—if the sex was over in five minutes.

  “Uh-oh, I know that look.” Jemma waggled her eyebrows. “She’s moving the date forward.”

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Dawn muttered. “You promised to give me at least three months so I can lose some weight!”

  “For crying out loud, Dawn! It’s not your wedding.”

  “I’m the effing maid of honor!”

  “Ugh, will you stop saying ‘effing’?” Jemma asked, rolling her eyes. “It’s fucking, okay? Fuck, fucking, fucker.”

  Dawn gasped. “Not in front of the baby!”

  “She’s three weeks old,” Mysie reminded her. “She doesn’t know the meaning of words yet! All she cares about is milk and sleep.”

  Cinnia burst out laughing at Dawn’s aghast facial expression. “Sadly, they’re right. Besides, you were swearing like a sailor while in labor, so you don’t really get to set the rules anymore.”

  “I’m just trying to be a good mom, okay?”

  “You are, already. You don’t need to
change anything,” Mysie soothed.

  “Fine, but that doesn’t mean that I’m allowing you to move the date forward. I need to lose a few pounds first.”

  Cinnia sighed dramatically. “Fine, then I guess Brennan will have to wait a bit longer.”

  “As long as you don’t pick up weight before the wedding,” Piper said, removing the pins that held the material together, one by one. “Leather is a bitch to work with.”

  “Ugh, then I guess I’ll have to go back on the Pill.”

  A long, uncomfortable silence followed her statement, and she blushed once she realized she’d spoken her thoughts aloud. She hasn’t yet told anyone about her plans to get pregnant…

  “Oh my God!” Loraine exclaimed, hand over her heart. “You’re trying for a baby?”

  Cinnia held her hands up defensively. “Okay, calm—”

  “Why haven’t you said anything?” Jemma interrupted, eyes wide.

  “If you’ll just let me—”

  “I didn’t take that into consideration,” Piper bitched, “or I would’ve made the corset shorter, to give you more breathing room.”

  “Everyone, stop!” Cinnia made sure they were listening before she continued her rant. “I want to surprise Brennan, okay? I haven’t said anything to him, and I don’t want this story reaching his ears, okay?”

  They digested that in silence. Her mother was the first to speak. “How long have you been off it?”

  Cinnia let out a breath. “About two months. I was hoping to be pregnant by now.”

  “It’s not unusual for the effects of the Pill to stay with you for a while,” Dawn said. “How long have you used it?”

  “Uhm, eight years or so?”

  Jemma nodded. “I’m not surprised you’ve been struggling, then. I’ll say to give it a few more months. Only start worrying if it’s been a year.”

  “I suppose.”

  Mysie sent Cinnia a small smile. “You’re giving Brennan everything he’s ever wanted by becoming his wife. The rest will happen when it should, so don’t stress about it, okay? Just take it day by day.”

  “Thanks, mom.” After the initial tension when she’d come back and had referred to Brennan’s mother as “Mrs. Drummond”, it felt good to embrace her old habits.

  “And keep me up to date about your success rate,” Piper chuckled. “I’d rather not make last-minute alterations to the dress.”