The Devil's Ride

If She Finds Out

Scar’s POV

After what felt like forever, I finally got to go home from the hospital, but the sense of relief I expected never came because the house felt too quiet and too heavy the moment I stepped inside.

Ace had been handling my s**t while I was gone and keeping things running for me, and although he had warned me that he had some bad s**t to tell me, he still had not said what it was, which sat in the back of my mind like a growing weight.

Since getting home, I had been keeping my distance from Rachel, not because I wanted to, but because I could not deal with the questions I knew she would ask about what was wrong with me, and even though we were getting married today and I had no choice but to be around her, I still found myself retreating whenever I could. The truth was that my sickness was the only reason I was pushing this so fast, because time was slipping through my fingers, and the next step was already clear in my head even though we had not talked about it yet.

The pressure inside my skull surged without warning, sharp and crushing, and I groaned as I lowered my head, another migraine slamming into me hard enough to make my vision blur. My hands began to shake uncontrollably as black dots crowded my sight, and I reached across my desk for my medication, my fingers scraping uselessly over the surface when I could not find it anywhere.

“Motherfucker,” I muttered as the pain intensified, squeezing my head so tightly it felt like it was caught in a vise, and I yelled when the pressure spiked, knowing these migraines were only getting worse and more frequent.

I kept refusing treatment because I did not want to poison my body anymore, and that was exactly why I was keeping this from Rachel, because if she knew, she would try to talk me into it, and I was not ready to fight that battle, especially when this new medication was already making me volatile and short-tempered.

When the door to my office opened without a knock and Rachel walked in, the anger exploded out of me before I could stop it, and I snapped as I slammed my hand down on the desk,

“What the f**k? Why the f**k didn’t you knock before you came in here?”

The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I had just crossed a line I could not take back.

“I heard you yelling, asshole,” fully stepping into my office, and before I could say anything else, I barked at her to get the f**k out, the words sharp and ugly in the air, but she whipped something at me instead and I caught it just before it smacked me in the face, the small plastic rattle instantly familiar when I looked down and saw my medication sitting in my palm.

“Here are your f*****g meds, which I found on the kitchen counter,” she said, already turning around to leave, her shoulders tight and her back stiff, but something in my chest twisted and I finally spoke again, my voice lower and steadier than before.

“Rachel, wait. I’m sorry I yelled at you like that. I’m having a shitty morning and I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

She froze, clearly shocked by the change in my tone, probably because she was used to me snapping at her instead of apologizing, and she did not seem to know what to do with it as she slowly turned back to face me.

“We are getting married tonight,” I added. “Let’s have a good day, huh?”

She crossed her arms, her expression still guarded.

“Then stop yelling at me like that, Scar. I was only trying to help you.”

I knew she was right, and I forced myself to rein it in before I made things worse, nodding once as I exhaled slowly.

“All right. I apologize for yelling. You want to know how you can help me?”

She hesitated.

“How?”

“Get the f**k over here and I’ll tell you.”

The tension drained from her face as a small smile finally appeared, and she walked back toward my desk, eager but cautious, until I patted my lap and she sat down, wiggling her ass just enough to make my c**k hard.

I brushed her hair away from her ear, exposing her neck, and she let out a quiet sound when I kissed her there, my hand sliding to her stomach and moving slowly beneath her clothes, warming her skin and raising goosebumps under my fingers.

“Here’s how you can help me,” I said quietly. “Starting tomorrow, you’re done taking your birth control.”

I stopped moving my hand and rested it flat against her stomach, my thumb grazing lightly as she went still in my lap, her body tense.

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me, Rachel. I want you off your birth control so I can put a baby in here.”

I looked down at her as she grabbed my hand and pressed it more firmly against her stomach, her face full of shock and uncertainty as she tried to find words.

“Scar, I…”

The office door swung open before she could finish, and Ace walked in like he owned the place, stopping short when he saw us.

“Ah, my bad, Scar. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No problem,” I said, my voice steady again. “Rachel, why don’t you go get yourself ready? Ace and I need to talk before we head out.”

She leaned up and kissed me without being asked, soft and lingering, then smiled warmly at Ace before leaving the office and shutting the door behind her. I leaned back in my chair and looked at him.

“Tell me you found something out the other night.”

“Oh, I did,” he said grimly. “And you’re not going to like it. I saw her tongue-f*****g Body at his apartment. I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I took pictures.”

He handed me his phone, the screen already open to his camera gallery, and my jaw tightened as I scrolled through image after image of Mo wrapped around Body, kissing him like nothing else mattered.

“What the f**k is she doing,” I muttered, anger burning hot in my chest. “f*****g Paul’s goddamn father?”

“No ideas, Scar, or do you think it has something to do with why Paul was killed? And do you think his father knows?”

I dragged a hand down my face, my jaw tightening as the pieces clicked together in a way I did not like, and I nodded once before answering.

“Yeah. Now I do.”

I tipped a couple more pills into my palm, swallowed them dry, and chased them with a long pull from the ice cold water bottle, the chill doing nothing to ease the pressure squeezing my skull as Ace watched me closely.

“Are you going to tell Rachel about what happened with her father?”

My hand stilled midair, the room seeming to close in as the hum of the air conditioning grew louder in my ears, because that was the one line he was never supposed to cross, and I slowly lowered the bottle back onto the desk.

“I would rather not.”

“She deserves to know, Scar. It is not like you knew who he was. You were lied to. It is not your fault.”

My chest tightened painfully as I clenched my teeth, anger and guilt mixing with the constant ache behind my eyes, and when I spoke again my voice came out rough and raw.

“How the f**k am I supposed to tell the girl I am falling in love with that I okayed the fuckking hit on her father?”

Ace’s eyes widened as he stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time.

“Wait. You are falling in love with her?”

I let out a sharp, humorless breath and leaned back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling as the truth settled heavy in my chest.

“f**k yes, Ace. What the f**k am I gonna do, man?”