Page 20 of Hash

“Can we go somewhere and talk, baby doll? Please,” I ask softly as I try to swallow the panic of what’s slipping through my fingers.

All I want to do is hold my woman and my baby in my arms.

“Time for talking was almost two years ago, Hash. You don’t get that from me. Not now.”

“Baby doll, please,” I beg.

Aisling shakes her head, her eyes watering. “No,” she says barely above a whisper, shattering my heart. “The thing is, Hash… You were right. I don’t belong in your world. You’re loyal to your club and your brothers, but you were never loyal to me.”

She might as well have slapped me across the face.

I’m unable to move, frozen with my heart pounding ears as she puts my son back in the stroller and walks away.

You’re loyal to your club and your brothers, but you were never loyal to me.

I need to prove to the one person who I don’t deserve forgiveness from that she belongs in my world.

Chapter

Nine

AISLING

Hash: Is this still your number, baby doll?

Hash: Aisling?

Hash: Guessing from your not responding, I’m going to assume I have the right number.

Hash: I’m sorry. Can we please talk?

“Did he text you again?” Frankie asks from my living room floor with Cormac playing in her lap.

We just got back to my house from Hickory Hills a couple of hours ago, and I’m… unsettled to say the least. Seeing Hash at the Rhythm and Brew festival in Georgia tilted my world on its axis more than it was the day I found out I was having Cormac.

I mean, what are the chances of me running into him? Especially there of all places?

“Yeah,” I respond as I stare down at my phone.

I’ve gotten a text every hour on the dot since I left him standing there at the hayfield. I haven’t responded to any of them. Partly because I don’t know what to say and also because I’m just flat out pissed. How fucking dare he have the audacity to pop up and act like I owe him anything? And now you’re sorry? He had almost two goddamn years to be sorry. It’s a little too late.

“What did he say?”

“The same bullshit he’s been saying since yesterday.” I sigh, throwing my phone down on the cushion next to me.

I smile softly as I watch Cormac laugh and crawl around. His eyes are so innocent and full of life.

“I know it’s not my place, but don’t you think you owe Hash at least a conversation?” Frankie asks, treading carefully and not meeting my eye as she keeps her attention on Cormac.

I take a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down before answering her. The last 24 hours have been a lot. Logically, I knew that I would have to mention Hash when Cormac got older, and started asking questions about his dad. However, with the way things ended, I did not think I would ever see him again, let alone this soon.

Seeing him brought everything back up and made me realize I never truly moved on from it. I just buried it all and kept going because I had to. There wasn’t any other option. I had to keep going for Cormac.

“I don’t think I owe him anything,” I finally answer.

Frankie’s attention moves to me. “But you guys have a baby.”

She says it like that’s the end-all be-all. Like I know we have a fucking baby. I’m the one who had him cut out of me and who has the scar to prove it.