by Ambere Sabo
“I’ll let you two catch up,” she says taking my cheek in her palm. “Remember you need to rest,” she says softly raising from the bed.
Just as she goes to pass Snoop, she grits out, “Don’t upset her. And later you and I are going to have a chat. Understood?”
She doesn’t give him a chance to reply before she’s out the door running straight into Enterrador. He lets her pass, and just as the door is about to swing shut he yells, “You cheating bastard. Five minutes and I’m coming in.”
“What is that all about?” I question quietly.
“Not. A. Clue.” He struggles to get out.
Gesturing to the door, I ask, “You have no clue why my brother is standing out there yelling at you?”
“Oh that,” he answers with a shit eating grin. “Let's just say it pays to know all the shortcuts in the place.”
That’s it, that's all the explanation the fucker gives me as he crosses the room to take the chair at my side. Looking down at my hands in my lap I realize I don’t know what to say to him. Where I stand. The last time I was conscious when I saw him he basically wanted me to drop dead then… well, then I almost did. So I say the only thing that comes to mind.
“You good?”
Chapter 15
Snoopy
Fuck. My. Life.
Why? Why did I send that? She’s never going to let me live it down. I can’t fucking blame her though, can I? It was a pretty douchey thing to say.
Five minutes. I have no doubt that her fuckstick brother is outside the door counting down the seconds until my five minutes alone with her are up. And what am I doing? Sitting here staring at the ceiling of our new infirmary. A room that with the shit ton of money Enterrador threw at Doc could rival that of any major hospitals ICU. All because I can’t even decide where to start.
With a deep breath, I exhale and grow a pair. Looking down into her honey brown eyes I can’t help but smile back at the smirk she has plastered to her beautiful face. Bruised and all she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She always has liked to fuck with me.
“About that,” I say with a chuckle.
“Umm hmm,” she replies.
“I probably could've come up with something else to respond with.”
“You don’t say?” she asks feigning innocence as she reaches up and scratches at her chin.
“Okay, okay, I was a tool. Better?”
“Much,” is all she gets out before a cough rips through her body. The pain in her eyes as her upper half is rocked with sharp jerks while she tries to catch her breath guts me. I’m on my feet and around to the bedside table as fast as I can get there. Grabbing for the cup of water I spill damn near half the cup trying to get the straw to her lips.
Enterrador rips the door open just as she's starting to catch her breath, “What the fuck did you do?” he roars at me, sprinting to be at her side. It’s the second time today someone looks at me like they wished I was the one on that damn bed, fighting for my life. I can’t take it. I run away like a fucking coward.
This is all my fault. Why couldn’t I have just replied sooner to one of her messages? Why couldn’t I have reached out and asked if she needed some fucking help? So many why’s and they all boil down to one simple fact. I’m a dick.
“You son of a bitch,” Gunner hollers at me the minute my feet hit the main floor of our clubhouse.
“Fuck, you too?” I grumble.
“Weeks. Weeks! I held my baby girl as she cried herself to sleep. Cried as she worried for the life of her friend. Cried as she feared for the safety of the girl who saved her from that fucking devil,” he rages pointing at the door to the basement level. “And you. You were in communication with her? How long Snoop? How fucking long did you know she was still breathing?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I look to the ceiling, “A week after she left,” I whisper.
“So you lied to me,” Lil questions. I didn’t even realize she had walked up.
I can’t bear to look her in the eyes when I nod in reply.
“Look at me,” she grits out. When I don’t, she demands, “Look. At. Me.”
Those blue eyes hold hurt and rage but never in a million years did I expect little ass, Lilly, to rear back and punch me dead in the face.
“Fuck you,” she yells at me before walking away shaking the pain from her hand.
I deserve that. I deserve the black eye I can feel forming on my face. I earn a scowl from my brother as he walks off to comfort his fiancee. I chose to let her hurt, allowed her to worry. All because I couldn’t handle the truth of it all. I let Mythic in. I fell in love with a woman I hardly knew and took it out on the girl who had nothing to do with my feelings. Nothing to do with my pain. And that was a dick move.
Walking to my lair, I hang my head. How could everything get so fucked up so fast? Swinging the door open I throw myself in my chair leaning back and staring at the ceiling I let all the emotions run through me. Shame, for making Lilly suffer. Anger, for the lies Mythic let me believe. Rage, at her piece of shit father for making her think she couldn’t trust. Fear, for the future. Will Mythic’s body heal? Will she leave here again? What does this all mean for us?
I don’t know when or for how long but I fell asleep. Something apparent when I jolt forward as something cold is laid on my face.
“Woah, Snoop. Calm down. It’ll help with the swelling,” Cessy cautions as she picks the t-bone up from the floor.
Leaning back I let her place the meat on my now almost swollen shut eye.
“I don’t need a lecture right now, Cess. Believe me, I know. It was a fucked up thing to do.”
“No lecture, Snoop. Just a question.”
With a huff, “Shoot.”
“Were you ever going to tell her?”
It takes me a moment to respond, but I'm honest when I do, “I don’t know Cess. I really don’t know.”
“Why?”
“Stupidity, selfishness, dickheadedness.”
With a small giggle, she asks, “Dickheadedness? Is that even a word?
With a shrug of my shoulders, “Not a clue but it describes the situation pretty well, dontcha think?”
“That it does,” she replies quietly. For what seems like forever she says nothing. Not a word. Just when I think this might be the easiest conversation I’ve had with this woman in months she does it. Asks the question I don’t think I can bear. “So what are you going to do now, Snoopy?”
With every bone in my body, I know it’s the truth. I know I’ll do whatever it takes. “Fight Cessy. I intend to fight for what's mine.”
“Well, it’s about damn time,” she says with a touch to my shoulder, and then she’s gone. Leaving me with my thoughts, with my plans. The only way to make this right, to make this better is to take down the devil himself. And for that, I’m going to need some fucking help.
Chapter 16
Mythic
I’m not supposed to be out of bed. Doc says my body needs rest to heal, but I can’t handle not knowing if he’s okay.
I haven’t had even a glimpse of his face since my brother came rushing into my room two days ago. Hell, the only way I made it out of bed without his fussing is I may or may not have put some of my pain killers into his food. Sue me. I need a minute without his constant worrying.
The stairs are a fucking bitch. The fact that I’m winded when I make it to the top of them is a significant kill to my ego. I’m not a gym rat in the slightest but I take care of myself, and a set of stairs should not kick my ass this hard.
It’s late, and the clubhouse is dim as I make my way to his sanctuary. I had to wait until I thought most of the brothers would be asleep. One peep to Lil and she’d be down here dragging my ass back to bed in seconds.
I half expect him to be asleep. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I still don’t know what to say to him. How to explain how sorry I am that I didn’t tell him the truth all those weeks ago. I’m better with written
words then I’ve ever been at those spoken. That’s why the messages I sent came so easily. There's no judgment or pitty through a screen, no anger. And I deserve his rage.
It’s only been a few days since Snoopy walked into his room when I thought I had the house to myself. The brush of his fingers across my chest had my heart stopping. Had he heard me call out his name just moments before? Was this something he wanted as much as I did? With how little sleep I've had these last few days I’d have to say he did.
I lay here tucked into his side after he damn near fucked me into oblivion with so many questions. Who is he? How did he become a son? Who taught him how to hack?
Running a finger over the crease between my eyebrows, he asks, “What's got that mind of yours turning Mythic?”
“You,” I answer honestly.
Turning on his side, he tucks his arms under his face and asks with a smirk, “Oh yeah?”
“Mmm-hmm?” I answer looking up at him through my lashes.
“What about me?”
“What's your name? Your real name?”
His head jerks back just a fraction before he can catch himself and I know I’ve opened my big mouth before thinking.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that,” I stumble looking down at the blanket between us. What right do I have to ask him such a thing? Would I tell him the truth if he asked me? No, I don’t even have to think about the answer to that, I wouldn’t. To the world Selena Maribel Ortiz is dead, and I intend to keep it that way.
Hooking a finger under my chin, he draws my eyes to his, “Ashton, my name is Ashton.Turner.”
“Ashton,” I say quietly, testing it out on my lips. I did my research on the club before I came here, but his name was one I couldn’t crack. His legal name was changed to Snoopy years ago, just as mine was changed to Mythic. The people we were before no longer mattering, no longer apart of who we want to be.
“Were your parents some kind of hippies to name you something like Mythic?”
Dropping my eyes from his, “Something like that,” I say with a sigh. It feels wrong to lie to him while looking him in the eye. Telling myself, it would only put him in danger if I told him the truth now.
Reaching over I run my fingers across his chin, and the three-day beard he’s sporting. “Who taught you how to hack?” I ask before looking back into his chocolate colored eyes.
“You know to ask a biker his real name is already something that could get your ass kicked, but now you want the secrets of what made me this awesome?” he asks with a chuckle.
“Oh, you're awesome huh? Funny I thought I kinda kick your ass at this hacker thing?” I sass.
The laugh that rips from his chest has him leaning onto his back, and it’s a sight to see. Gone is the intense, focused man I met just a few days ago. In his place I see the light starting to shine through.
“That you do Mythic, that you do. So you tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine.”
“Um, I guess you could say someone I looked at as an uncle taught me how,” I reply, being as vague as I possibly can.
“Well that explains it, must run in the family,” he says turning back to his side to face me. “I spent a lot of time as a kid trying to avoid my parents. I did that online. Everything I am is self-taught, so pardon me for not being at your level of greatness.”
“Why would you avoid your parents?”
The smile on his lips slips, and he clears his throat. Its clear he didn’t mean to bring them to this conversation. Damn it Mythic why do you always have to open your big fat mouth.
Just as I’m about to apologize, he tells me, “I didn’t grow up like most of my brothers. I lived in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Plano. My family had money, old money. From the outside, no one would’ve ever imagined the family within was so broken and demented.”
“You don’t have to tell me, Snoop. Really, I'm sorry I asked.” I rush out.
With a shake of his head he continues, “My father is next in line to run the family business. Oil is big money but my grandfather, well he'll probably die sitting behind that damned desk. My father cheats on my mother all the fucking time, but she stays. She stays because the prenup she signed leaves her with nothing if she doesn’t. So she spends his money, botox, trips to Milan and Paris for fashion week just because she can.” Reaching over he runs his finger in patterns up my arm.
“Having a child didn’t fit into either one of their plans, and I spent a lot of time to myself. But if I wanted something, all I had to do was ask, and it was mine. Honestly, I got interested in hacking after a news report leaked about my father. There's no denying your cheating ass ways when its in the society section of the paper. If someone could show the world the fraud, he was with just a few swipes of the keys I wanted to learn how. So I did. It's actually how I became a son.”
With a shake of my head, “I don’t understand.”
“Rodeo’s farm, it sits on a nice well of oil. My father had finally convinced the company to give him more responsibility, and that was his first task. If he could persuade Rodeo to give up his oil rights completely or settle for a fraction of what he should’ve been paid he was golden. His place at the head of the company would be set in stone. They’d vote to replace my grandfather at the next meeting.
Dear old dad almost did it too. Convinced Rodeo the land wasn’t worth the money it would cost to drop the wells, that is until Rodeo opened an email from me with every plan they had, every note, every survey, all the nitty-gritty on just what my father planned to do with his land, hell this whole town. Needless to say, Rodeo did not sign on the dotted line, and without him, the town didn’t either. I’ve been a Son ever since.”
“We didn’t grow up with money,” I tell him, shocking even myself but I feel I have to give him something. After all, he just told me he deserves something of my past. “My mother was a maid, and at times my brother and I went without a lot of things, but we were happy once. There was a time in my life. I thought nothing could be better, but now, now it's just me.”
“What happened to them?”
“They died, everyone, I’ve ever loved has died.”
“Well, aren't we a pair. They may still draw breath, but I can guarantee my family wishes I didn’t. But I have a new family now, and they mean more to me than the one I was born into ever did. You could have a family here too Mythic, maybe not as a biker but… here.”
With a shake of my head, I turn away from him, I feel the tears flooding my vision, and I don’t want him to see me cry. “If everything goes the way I think it will, nothing will ever be the same again Snoop. Nothing.”
Leaning over me he kisses away the tears that slide down the side of my face. “I believed that once too Mythic.” Looking me in the eye, he tells me, “Never say never,” before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine.
In seconds the kiss turns from soft and sweet to hunger and want. Reaching up I wrap my arms around his shoulders pulling his chest to mine. Doing me one better he throws his leg over my hip fussing our bodies together. There isn't an inch of space or thread of clothing between us. I can feel every muscle in his shoulders as he runs his fingers through my hair.
Grabbing a handful he pulls my head back, “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he growls. He leans up just enough for me to slip my legs from under him and do as I’m told. Slamming forward he drives into me just as he yanks my hair back even further. The motion causing me to arch my back. The pressure on my scalp just short of painful as he shows my body no mercy.
His hips like a jackhammer as he fucks me to forget. To forget the pain of the past, the memories I drug out of him, and I let him. I take the punishing pace because as he poured his soul into mine, I gave him the smallest pieces of me.
With one strike of his mouth, he latches on to my nipple. Pulling the peaked point into his mouth as my core clenches around him. I feel the orgasm all the way to my toes as he pushes my body to its limit. Another one hitting just as the first is finishing whe
n he comes, stilling inside me as his hips buck forward.
My whole body vibrates. I have no control of the spasms running through my legs. When he releases my hair and moves to pull out of me, I lock my ankles behind him, shaking my head. “Don’t move,” I pant. Reaching down he rubs the muscles in my thighs. Calming the crazy, he’s left in his wake.
I’ll never forgive myself for that night. No matter how many nights I have left on this earth, nothing will rid me of the shame I feel for not telling him who I was. For letting him spill all the secrets he held and not giving him any of mine in return. I stand outside of his sanctuary, hearing him on the other side but I can’t bring myself to knock, to open the door.
He deserves more than what I gave him. More than the danger that follows me. I know now more than ever, it wasn’t fair of me to ask Adan to bring me here. No matter what I told Lilly we have to leave this place and disappear forever. But first… I have a promise to keep.
Chapter 17
Snoopy
“I’m coming,” I snap. Why the fuck has damn near breaking down my door become an acceptable thing? I’ve had less than five hours of sleep when the pounding pulls me from my rest. Can whatever it is, really not wait a few more fucking hours?
Yanking the door open I’m face to face with a fuming Lilly. Damn. What the fuck did I do now? The black eye she gave me still isn’t healed.
“What did you do?” she seethes through her teeth, slamming a piece of paper into my chest.
Drawing my hand up I pull it from her hands, with a shake of my head, “You’ll need to be more specific than that Lil.”
“Read. It.”
With a sigh, I unfold the letter, and I honestly cannot believe my fucking eyes. What the fuck?
Lilly,
It wasn’t fair of me to come here. To bring the danger hunting me and my brother to your door. Thank you for all you and the Sons have done for me. I couldn’t bear to tell you this in person, please forgive me for that. It’s time to once again disappear from those that hunt me. Know I’ll always be watching over you.
