Braun chuckled. “If they paid more attention to their own subs and less to mine, they wouldn’t need to be. Where did everyone go?”
Jasper stretched out his long legs, making himself comfortable. “Atticus is herding out the stragglers from barn three and closing it down. Loki is still on the front desk, and Anarchy...” He glanced over his shoulder. “She’s being a star employee and cleaning shit like the world will end if it doesn’t get done tonight.”
“You like clean,” Braun pointed out.
“I also like to play with subs who know what the hell they’re getting into with me,” he shot back, frustrated. “Watching a scene and living it are two very different quantities, Braun. We’ve had this conversation before. Anarchy wouldn’t like me if she knew the real me. These pretty fantasies she has in her head...they’re just not realistic.”
“Then you’d best tell her that.”
“She won’t listen. For some reason, I check her boxes.”
Braun rolled his eyes. “Yes, I can see where you’re confused. It’s not like you’re attractive or anything. And, you know, you give aftercare like a dick, so God knows what the poor girl sees in you.”
“Fuck you, nobody ever complains about my aftercare.” Jasper huffed. Wisely, he changed the conversation. “Connie and Liam are at the house, by the way, with a special delivery. They’ll bring it over as soon as the coast is clear.”
Ah, well that explained Atticus’s slightly premature eviction of members. “How many are left?”
“Half a dozen at most. Nearly all the scenes were already drawing to a close when Connie texted to say they were here.” Jasper grinned. “Anarchy’s refusing to serve anyone else, so they won’t hang around for long.”
Braun pinched the bridge of his nose. His inbox might suffer from an influx of angry emails from members come morning. One night of not having a drink after a scene wouldn’t kill them, but he’d have to make amends for those who felt it was their given right. Luckily, they didn’t have many assholes on the membership roster.
“I’d better wake sleeping beauty here and get her dressed. She’s more comfortable with being around people naked, but she gets antsy and stressed if she thinks they’re staring at her scar.”
“A natural reaction. No one likes to think they’re lesser than anyone else, and a scar is a flaw to some people. Close-minded idiots. No one who knows Bodie would dare think anything along those lines. She’ll adjust.”
Yeah, she would. She was strong and feisty. A scar wouldn’t hold her back.
Reluctant to disturb her, Braun shifted her limp weight on his lap and untucked the blanket down to her waist. He managed to get her arm through a shirt sleeve, cursed under his breath as he fought to get it around her back, then wrestled her other arm in.
Thank God he hadn’t tried to put the bra on first.
Jasper just linked his hands behind his head and watched in amusement.
Braun had just finished buttoning up the shirt when the last stragglers came through. Looking satisfied and tired, they headed for the bar, only for Anarchy to firmly but politely point out she was done for the evening and wish them goodnight.
The few people still hovering here and there joined the group leaving, and finally there was blessed silence. Braun heard the front doors close, and a few minutes later, Loki wandered in. Not long after, Atticus came from the other direction.
Almost a full house, Braun thought, suddenly nervous about the surprise delivery Connie would bring at any moment. He was taking a huge gamble, springing this on Bodie, especially now she was soft and sleepy, more open to being emotional.
Emotional Bodie was a train wreck waiting to happen.
“I’m presuming poppet doesn’t know about her surprise?”
“No, she doesn’t. I’m questioning my wisdom.”
“She might not appreciate the gesture,” Jasper mused, glancing at her. “Rather, she might not appreciate it at this moment in time. Are you going to warn her?”
Braun studied her face. For more nights than he could count, he’d watched her as she slept. Wondering how to erase the lines of worry and pain from her features. Not an easy task—the watching or the wondering. He’d started to believe the incident would mark her more thoroughly than he’d prepared for.
Seeing her like this, relaxed and peaceful, was invaluable.
He didn’t want to wake her and bring her back to stark reality where life wasn’t perfect. Not when she slept without distress or discomfort. He kissed her forehead, simply because he could. “Would it make a difference? Bodie wants this, I know she does, but it all stems back to being judged. In this case, she’s judged herself and deemed herself unworthy.”
“Who’s unworthy?” Loki demanded, rounding the pit with a tray of drinks balanced on his fingertips. Motherfucking showoff. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Fortunately, your expert opinion won’t be needed, Loki.” Grateful for the interruption, Braun accepted a shot glass from the younger Master. He was too tired to argue the psychology of his sub with Jasper—the damn sadist could outthink even the most evasive of subjects.
Jasper’s cell phone chirped with a text message. Lifting his hip, he retrieved the phone from his back pocket and, after pressing his thumb to the screen, read the message. His lips quirked. “Seems someone is getting antsy,” he muttered to Braun. “Are you ready for this?”
There wasn’t any going back now. Bodie would either love or hate him for whatever transpired next, but he really hoped she saw it as a gift. A steppingstone into the next part of her life.
And if she didn’t...well, she couldn’t hate him forever.
“Now or never,” he said grimly, his stomach knotting as Jasper’s slim pianist’s fingers tapped rapidly over the screen.
With his friends quietly talking among themselves, counting the seconds down in his head, Braun roused Bodie from sleep. Whispering her name, stroking her cheek until those fabulous blue eyes fluttered open delicately, meeting his with slumberous recognition.
Soft, sexy sounds echoed in her throat as she shifted restlessly, content exactly where she was. “Ugh, not morning?”
“Not morning,” he confirmed, love for her overtaking his nerves. The most disastrous of surprises couldn’t quell what he felt for her and he’d figure out a way to make it up to her if this went sideways. “I love you, Bodie, you know that, right?”
Her pout transformed into a delightedly shy smile. “Not as much as I love you. Don’t think I’ve told you that.” Her hand rose, her tiny palm cupping his stubbled cheek. “I’ve loved you since our first kiss. I should have told you.”
The missing piece of the puzzle finally slotted into position with an audible click. A hollow space inside his heart closed in on itself, healing a rift and sealing it off with her words.
She really was perfect, everything he could wish for.
“You’re telling me now, that’s all I care about.” Braun ran his fingertip over her lower lip. Taking her again, right here, was deliciously appealing. His cock vehemently agreed, straining against his pants. “If I didn’t have a surprise for you, I’d be showing you just how much I fucking love you, Boadicea.”
“A surprise?” Hesitance colored her voice. “I-I’m not big on surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.” Please, God, don’t let her turn me into eunuch.
“Incoming,” Atticus rumbled as the main doors opened, then closed with a snap. “Boss, you might want to hide the cuffs.”
The...oh, shit. It took Braun seconds to snap the poppers on Bodie’s cuffs, whisking them off and tossing them to Atticus. At Bodie’s confused look, he shrugged. “Your surprise doesn’t know about extracurricular activities yet.”
“My surprise...” Bodie bolted upright as the sound of wheels on wood reached them. Her eyes were huge, panicked. “Oh my God, Braun, you didn’t.”
“It’s time, Bodie. She’s waited six months for this, just the same as you. The longer we leave the
bridge broken, the more it’s going to fall apart, darlin’. Alicia doesn’t care what you look like; she loves you. She asks Connie about you every damn day—and don’t look so shocked. You ask me about Alicia every damn day too.”
Bodie pushed off his lap, forcing herself up onto her feet, hobbling in a slow circle to face the doors. He reached to steady her, but she held up a hand to stop him.
Goddamn it, there were tears in her eyes.
Fearing the worst, Braun cursed himself for being an idiot. Ready to embrace the fallout, he stood and ranged himself behind her, getting his first look at who he hoped would become his sister-in-law.
His initial thought was how similar Alicia was to her older sister. Despite the four years between them, they could have been twins. Alicia’s hair was the same sleek fall of black but much shorter, ending a couple of inches above her thin shoulders. Her eyes were the same shape, framed with long lashes, but while the color matched Bodie’s, the inner spark in them was absent.
She wore a plaid shirt and dark pants. He could almost see her bones under the material. Connie had told him the girl was recovered from the house in a bad state—her parents had not only beaten and berated her on a regular basis, they’d starved her, used her as an ashtray, broken her down to a shell.
Yet she’d had the strength, the sheer fucking willpower, to bring an end to her suffering by pulling a gun and putting a bullet between Abraham’s eyes. Another through her mother’s abdomen.
Yeah, she and Bodie were more alike than they knew.
Fighters, both of them.
Connie and Liam flanked either side of the wheelchair. Liam seemed rather taken by his new charge, and Braun wondered if his friend had an unspoken crush spanning back across the years. After all, Liam had grown up with Bodie, which in turn meant he knew Alicia. If that was true, how much pain had the boy suffered to side with Bodie when Alicia was hurt?
Too much. Enough to tear a heart down the center.
Bodie stiffened as Alicia rolled forward slowly, her attention riveted on her sister’s face. Around them, everyone was silent, absorbing the emotions ricocheting between the siblings. Waiting for the tension to explode.
“Bodie?”
Braun felt it rip through her. Just her name spoken in a soft, unassuming voice sliced through whatever held Bodie back. She stumbled forward, hindered by her cast, and he saved her from faceplanting with an arm around her waist.
With her crutches nowhere in sight—maybe shouldn’t have left them unattended when he hauled Bodie away for their scene earlier, he mused—he picked her up and carried her from the pit, hearing her breath catch in her throat.
He knew that sound, too well.
She was crying by the time he stopped in front of Alicia. Big, fat tears sliding down her cheeks. He lowered her to her feet, noting neither Connie nor Liam were unaffected by the storm buffeting around them. Such keen and powerful emotions, sucking them all in and spitting them out.
Anarchy appeared by his side, silently offering Bodie’s crutches before she retreated back behind the bar. His heart ached as he guided Bodie’s arms through the supports, wrapping her fingers around the handles.
Braun stepped back and let nature go to work.
*
She’s not a little girl anymore.
Bodie couldn’t stop the tears, didn’t know how. For years, she’d lived with the knowledge her family hated her. She’d never understand the why of her parents’ loathing, would never have the opportunity to find out, but she’d dealt with that a long time ago. Paying them off had been easier than confronting them.
Money was easier to part with than pieces of her heart.
But Alicia...as annoying as little sisters were, Alicia hadn’t been the worst. Bodie had memories of them from...before. Before the accident. Before the guilt and the blame. Before Abraham and Diane used what happened as a permanent weapon against her.
There’d been scuffles and tears, laughter and hours of fun. Screaming matches and the occasional hair-pulling, nose-bloodying antics their parents encouraged...until Bodie reached an age where she understood she and Alicia were doing nothing but fueling the bloodlust that lived in their rotten veins.
She remembered hiding under her bed when she was eight. Pulling Alicia in with her and keeping her quiet when men burst into the house, looking for Abraham. She’d known they would take her, take Alicia, if the men found them. Because that’s what people who ran with Abraham, who lived in his circle, did.
Bodie had stopped thinking about Alicia. After almost a decade, she’d been able to get through a day without wondering how she was, where she was, how much her parents were fucking up her life and warping her mind. Helpless to do anything to help her, it was torture to hold her close.
So, she’d let Alicia go.
Now, here she was. Trapped in the chair Bodie’s actions had put her in—that was the truth, even if her motivations had been to save Alicia, not maim her—and looking at Bodie as though her world had just realigned with its favorite star.
No hatred, no malice.
Just love.
“Alicia.” Her voice cracked, but she didn’t care. They’d survived. They were goddamn survivors of the nightmare they were born into. They’d both gone through hell at their parents’ hands and yet she and Alicia were here. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Tentatively, Alicia’s arms rose, spread wide. Forgiveness offered in a simple gesture. Bodie’s crutches clattered to the floor and she fell forward into her sister’s arms, weeping as they came around her and drew her in.
“We shouldn’t be the sorry ones.” Alicia’s voice was tight, on the verge of tears but somehow keeping them at bay. “They were horrible to you, Bodie. I didn’t understand how horrible until you went away. We were dollar signs in their eyes, quick cash when they had a lull in business. They blamed you for what happened to me, made you think I was something special to them, their favorite, but that wasn’t true.”
“I don’t care about them; they can rot in hell together. I’m sorry for leaving you there, leaving you with them, when I knew what they were capable of. I know you hated me for what I did, but I should have gotten you away from them.”
The scent of lilacs was strong where Bodie pressed her face into her sister’s delicate shoulder. She knew the signs of starvation—she’d been damn close to displaying most of them herself when she met Braun—but couldn’t understand Alicia’s condition when she was under Connie’s expert care.
She’d talk to Braun about it—after she kicked his ass for dropping this bombshell on her unawares.
“I’ve never hated you, Bodie. Did I blame you for a while? Yeah, I did. While I was young and blind to the fact my own stupidity put me in front of a bus. Once I was older, smarter, and could see the bigger picture from that day? I’d be dead if you hadn’t pushed me. And if you’d tried to take me away from them, Abraham would have killed you. Diane was just itching for a reason to crush you under her boot.”
Well, that was apt, wasn’t it? Those damn biker boots had wreaked their fair share of damage on Bodie’s body. “Doesn’t matter. Maybe if I’d gone back to the fold, let them suck me into the business, they wouldn’t have done this to you.” Her words were muffled against Alicia’s neck, but as she said them, the weight on her shoulders began to lift.
Alicia snorted. “They’d have sucked you in, all right. Straight into prostitution and drug running. Abraham liked to shoot the girls up with crack, then give them a test drive before packing them up like mules with product and sending them out. Buy a baggie, get a free fuck. One way to get return customers. Do you think he wouldn’t have tried you out before pimping you to others?”
From behind her, Bodie heard her Dom snarl in outrage. The primal noise of a male defending his female sent her already tender pussy into spasms of delight.
“Bodie, I think we should get you and Alicia settled where you can sit down.” Braun interjected quietly, running his hand down her back. Tingles
followed in its wake. “Can you stand?”
Um...that would be a no. Bodie struggled to push up, realizing Braun had noticed what she hadn’t in her endeavor to be near to her sister—she was squashing her into the chair. Hands hooked under her arms, picked her up.
Connie set her hand on Alicia’s shoulder. “Alicia, sweetheart, this is Braun Fitzpatrick. He owns Avalon, which makes him Liam’s boss. He’s also Bodie’s boyfriend.”
Thoughts of being given to a different man every night—several different men a night—in exchange for a hit of drugs sickened her. As Braun’s arms framed her, his fingers linking together over her scar, Bodie gripped his hands tightly. She knew her father would have done unspeakable things to her but hearing them from someone else—especially someone who knew him as well as she did—was terrifying.
It dawned on her how real it could have been if Abraham wasn’t dead.
How lucky she was her parents hadn’t knocked her out and kidnapped her that night, sending her into sexual slavery for their own gain. Suddenly, broken bones and scars didn’t seem too bad compared to that.
Even losing the ability to dance was bearable.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Alicia. It’s been too long in coming.” Braun kneaded Bodie’s stomach gently, resting his chin on her shoulder as though he sensed where her thoughts had gone and knew she needed support. “We’ve been rude, haven’t we? Manners forgotten in all the excitement. Would you like something to drink?”
Bodie leaned back against him, stealing some of his strength. Maybe she wasn’t as mad at him as she’d let him believe. This was a positive step; one she’d been hesitant to take. She didn’t know what she would have done if there’d been anything but love and acceptance in Alicia’s eyes.
Run, probably.
Well, hobbled for two steps, then fallen flat on her face in all likelihood.
Braun released her, bending to scoop up her crutches. She was beginning to hate the damn things even more than she already did. “Archie, two cokes please, and the usual for Connie and Liam.”
Dance for Me Page 33
