Breed Me On The Bike

THEY DON'T WAIT

CORA~

“Mom. Stop.”

Her voice is barely above a whisper, but it carries across the room. Avery looks at her mother and for a second, I think she might actually say something. Instead, she lowers her gaze and stays quiet.

Vivian doesn’t even look at her.

“You’ve been planning this wedding like it was already your life,” she says, her voice strangely calm. “You’ve been picking flowers, tasting cakes, talking about dresses and venues, making plans for the future as if everything belonged to you. As if Miles belonged to you.”

I stare at her, struggling to understand how she can stand there so calmly after what I just walked in on.

“I just caught you screwing my fiancé in my bed,” I say. My voice shakes, but I force myself to keep going. “So if you have something to tell me, Vivian, then stop talking around it and say exactly what you mean. Because I’m done standing here trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”

She finally looks at me. “Iron Dominion.”

The name lands differently from everything else she has said.

I know that name. Everyone in Chicago knows it. Even people who have never met a member of the club know what Iron Dominion is. My father used to change the television channel whenever they came up on the news, and when I was younger, I never understood why. I thought he simply didn’t like stories about biker gangs.

Now I wonder if he was trying to keep me from hearing something I was never supposed to know.

“What about them?” I ask.

Vivian takes a slow breath. “Your father owes them money, Cora. A lot of it. More than he can ever repay on his own.”

I shake my head immediately. “My dad has had a bad year. The shop hasn’t been doing well, and I know he’s been stressed, but that doesn’t explain this. It doesn’t explain why you’re in my bed with Miles, and it definitely doesn’t explain what Iron Dominion has to do with me.”

“It has everything to do with you.”

The certainty in her voice makes my stomach twist.

She looks at Miles before turning back to me. “Your father got himself into debt with Iron Dominion, and when he couldn’t pay what he owed, he made a deal with them. He gave them you.”

For a moment, I genuinely don’t understand the words.

I look at her, waiting for the rest of the sentence because there has to be one. There has to be something she hasn’t said yet that will make this make sense.

Instead, she simply watches me.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“My father would never do that.”

“He did.”

I turn toward Miles because I need someone to contradict her. I need him to laugh, to tell me Vivian has lost her mind, to say this is some disgusting misunderstanding.

Instead, he stands there in silence.

“That is not how you say it,” he finally tells Vivian.

My attention snaps to him. “Then how do you say it, Miles?”

He doesn’t answer.

I take a step closer. “Go ahead. Tell me how she should say it. Because right now, she’s standing in front of me telling me my father sold me to a biker club, and you’re standing there half dressed while she says it. So if she’s lying, Miles, this would be a really good time to tell me.”

His jaw tightens.

“Cora, your dad got in over his head. I didn’t put him there.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I know.”

“Then answer me.”

He looks away.

That silence tells me more than any denial could have.

My chest tightens as memories begin rearranging themselves in my head, one after another. Things I thought I understood suddenly look completely different.

“You’ve been with me for a year and a half,” I say quietly. “You dated me, you met my friends, you came to my house every weekend, and then you proposed to me in front of my father. You helped pick the venue. You tasted the food with me. You sat beside me while I looked through invitations.”

My voice cracks, but I keep going.

“And you never touched me.”

Miles looks at me.

For a long time, I had convinced myself that meant something beautiful. I thought he was waiting because he respected me. I thought he loved me enough not to rush me. I had even been embarrassed sometimes because I wondered if something was wrong with me, but I always pushed the thought away because Miles had never made me feel unwanted.

Now I realize the truth is so much worse.

“I’m still a virgin,” I whisper. “After a year and a half with you, I’m still a virgin, and I thought that was because you loved me.”

Miles closes his eyes for a moment.

Vivian doesn’t.

“Your father made one condition very clear,” she says. “You were supposed to remain untouched.”

I look at her in disbelief.

“So that’s why?”

“Miles was useful because he could play the role your father needed him to play. Your perfect boyfriend. Your respectful fiancé. The man who would keep you happy enough that you wouldn’t start asking questions.”

“And you were all just pretending?”

“No one said you had to know.”

Avery suddenly speaks through her tears. “Mom, I didn’t know.”

I turn toward her.

She wipes at her face, shaking her head. “I swear, Cora. I knew Mom was hiding things from you, but I didn’t know about Dad. I didn’t know you were part of some deal.”

I almost laugh because I don’t know what else to do.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You were in bed with my fiancé.”

Her face crumples.

“I know.”

“And you expect me to believe you had no idea?”

“I didn’t know about the debt,” she says quickly. “I knew Mom was involved with Miles, but I didn’t know why. I thought it was just… I don’t know. I thought she was having an affair and that was it.”

The room feels smaller with every word.

I turn back to Vivian.

“My dad loves me.”

She gives me a look that almost resembles pity.

“He does.”

“No. He would never sell me.”

“Cora—”

“He wouldn’t.” My voice rises as I shake my head. “He calls me every Sunday. He cried when I tried on my wedding dress. He kept telling me how proud he was of me and how happy he was that I found someone who loved me. He would never make a deal like that behind my back.”

“You should ask him yourself.”

I stare at her.

“Ask him what?”

“Ask him why Iron Dominion is coming for you.”

The blood drains from my face.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me.”

I look from her to Miles, waiting for someone to tell me she is lying.

No one does.

“The deal is already finalized,” Vivian continues. “Your father made his choice, and now it’s time for him to pay what he owes.”

I shake my head slowly. “No.”

“Cora—”

“No. I’m not some debt he can hand over because his business failed.”

“You are the only option he had left.”

Something inside me breaks at those words.

Not because I believe her completely.

Because some part of me is beginning to fear that she might be telling the truth.

Miles steps toward me.

“Cora, baby, look at me. We can leave tonight. I’ll get you out before they—”

“Do not baby me.”

He stops.

I stare at him, and whatever softness I once had for him is gone beneath everything I’m feeling.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore. Not after this. You don’t get to stand there and pretend you’re trying to save me when you’ve spent the last year and a half lying to my face.”

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

“You still did.”

He looks like he wants to say something, but I don’t give him the chance.

Vivian folds her arms across her chest.

“You can be angry with all of us if you want, Cora, but none of that changes what’s happening.”

I turn toward her.

“What’s happening?”

Her expression doesn’t change.

“Iron Dominion doesn’t wait. They’re coming tonight for you.”