The Other Princess

by Christine Michelle

  When I first came back to town and saw Ever I swear my heart twisted inside my chest, the ache was so real. She truly was a gorgeous creature, inside and out. It was also apparent that she had grown into herself, very well too. Her curves didn’t seem to stop, and I overheard more than one of the brothers talking about her phenomenal tits since I’d been back. They might have hated on her for their own personal reasons, but they still appreciated the way she looked. The bastards.

  “She’s not going to come back out here,” Double-D stated solemnly. “Maybe we should just go. I’m starting to think this was a bad idea.”

  “So, what? You leave and never speak to her again?”

  “I think that’s what she wants at this point,” he explained in an emotion-roughened voice.

  “Really? You honestly think that? Did you see the same girl I saw who just broke the fuck down from seeing you all in her space together?”

  “Yeah, she broke down because she doesn’t want us here.”

  “I never thought you were a coward,” I told Double-D knowing full well I had probably just earned myself a beat down by the man.

  “What did you just say?”

  “You heard me. You walk out of here with your tail tucked between your legs before you set shit right with Ever and that is exactly what you are. Hell, it’s what you’ve been all this time anyway. What all of you have been, considering your target started out as nothing more than a little girl who fucking watched her mom die in front of her only to be thrown into a fucked up family who hated her for no fucking reason. You guys lave all your praise and love on Anna, who doesn’t even try to be in your good graces, and then there’s Ever who has broken herself trying to get the scraps anyone’s offered. The only difference is who their mom is, and neither of them can help that. The thing that SHOULD have mattered was who their father was, and that should have been everything for both of your girls. So, yeah, you heard me. If you walk out before resolving things with her, you can take my kutte with you, because I’m done being a part of an organization and a family who would destroy a girl because they’re too fucking stupid to see the amazing person standing in front of them all these years.”

  I expected a retaliatory outburst from Double-D at best, but his eyes fixed on something beyond my shoulder instead, causing me to tense. I hadn’t wanted Ever to come back out and hear that I was arguing with her father to stay and see things through. That kind of defeated the whole purpose of this trip and them walking in on their own without a fucking gun held to their heads. Not that I hadn’t thought of getting them here in just that way.

  “Um,” Ever started hesitantly, making me turn around and take in the rest of the shop again. She stood there looking slightly defeated with her arms wrapped around her own waist as Zeke stood tall behind her. I wasn’t sure what to make of Zeke, and his relationship with Ever. T-Bone had told me he was her mentor here, but I’d heard enough about his escapades to wonder if he had different motivations too. At least, I was happy to see that Kane hadn’t come back out with her still wrapped up in his arms. I wasn’t sure if I could handle seeing that again without getting a little violent.

  “Can one of you please explain why you’re all here so we can get this over with. It’s not fair to have Zeke’s place closed up like this.”

  “Take your time, Ever. I already told you it’s not a problem.”

  “No, it’s my problem apparently, and it shouldn’t affect your business.”

  Zeke just shook his head in the negative and smiled down at her. “Remember our little talk last week, girl? This is one of those times when a hand’s being extended. Just take it.” With those parting words Zeke turned and disappeared back around the corner to the employee lounge, no doubt. I didn’t think he was sliding out the back door with all of us still here with Ever.

  “You sure do have these boys here wound up about you,” Crow huffed out indignantly. I turned and gave him a look that could damn near kill. He blustered a bit before tacking on, “Just saying, they seem pretty loyal to her is all.”

  “Yeah, take a good look, so you remember what that looks like,” I told him before turning back to Ever. “I’m not sure where to start, but that’s what they’re all here for, a fresh start, and closure on the past. We have a proposition for you.”

  “A proposition?” She looked entirely reluctant to hear any more, and damn near confirmed this when she glanced over her shoulder, no doubt looking for one of the shop boys to come save her from whatever proposition we had.

  “Ever,” Double-D stepped up then, but he choked out her name and then took a step back to collect himself again.

  “Sis,” T-Bone stepped forward in his dad’s place. “Each one of us in this room has wronged you in some away, aside from Deck. I know that our club ceremony didn’t mean anything to you, and that not a whole lot of attitudes changed afterward which led you to believe it was a sham.” I watched as Ever just shrugged her slim shoulders at her brother. It was somewhat unfortunate that the gesture also made her tits rise, fall, and bounce in a way that made a certain part of me begin to stand up and take notice.

  Luckily, for me, T-Bone was her brother and didn’t notice shit like that so he kept right on going which kept everyone’s attention rapt on either him or Ever. “The thing is, you were right about that. I think only a few of us took it seriously, and because you noticed that, none of us got the second chance that some of us wanted so badly.” His eyes were pleading with hers then. “I do, Ev. I want the relationship we used to have before everything went down. I know I fucked up – big time. I tried to make up for it, but I know it was too little too late then. I can’t stand to think that I didn’t have your back when you needed me most, Evie. It kills me inside every time I want to pick up the phone and call you, to share things about my life, or to fucking know what’s going in yours and then to realize I can’t, because you hate me.”

  “I don’t hate you, Toby,” Ever stated quietly, and I saw the hope swell in his eyes right before she deflated it again with her next words. “I just don’t trust you anymore.”

  “I deserve that,” T-Bone told her as he ducked his head and went to take a seat, the stench of defeat coming off of him in almost palpable waves.

  “We all want you to make us a tattoo,” my idiot brother finally blurted out after watching his best friend strike out.

  “You what?” Ever asked, voice raised and incredulous.

  My father moved behind J-Bird and slapped his hand across the back of Jay’s neck. “Idiot!” Instead of continuing to admonish his son, Merc turned to Ever and held his hands out, palm down, as if she were a rabid animal he was attempting to calm. “My son is an idiot, and we all learned that lesson the incredibly hard way already, so I don’t know why the hell he thought it was his turn to speak. What the dumbass was trying to say is that we would all like to wear our sins on our skin as penance to you, and as our way of letting you know how committed we all are to really making things right this time.” Merc set weary eyes on me for a moment before looking back at Ever. “My other son has a good head on his shoulders and some fine ass ink on his arm, that you are apparently responsible for. Those two things combined to come up with the idea.”

  “What idea, exactly?” Ever asked once more.

  “We want you to draw a tattoo for each of us. Something that symbolizes how you feel, or I suppose more to the point, how we’ve made you feel over the years. We want you to ink that tattoo on our skins, and once they’re healed we want you to tell us all about them in a family meeting. The other brother’s will know our shame, and that we wear it for the rest of our lives.”

  I was actually proud of my dad for that last line, because he was finally acknowledging the fault they all shared in destroying Ever. Ever seemed to be contemplating what her response should be. “You want me to draw a tattoo for each of you and put them on your bodies?” She asked, seemingly in a daze.

  “Yeah, Ever. We’re not even going to look at them until we all
get up in front of the rest of the club and you explain what each one means. You get to pick, and we don’t even need to know ahead of time what they are. Just, if I could request one thing, no giant dicks.” I knew T-Bone was trying for levity with his request, but I could have kicked him, because I told them no requesting anything from her other than she does this thing to help everyone heal.

  “No giant dicks,” she parroted while nodding her head and glancing down at her shoes. “Hmm,” the sound clearly meant she was thinking, but I wish I could know what was going through her head in that moment. “After this is said and done, if I ask that you all stay out of my life, you’ll do it?”

  A choking sound came from my left, where I knew Ever’s dad was, but I couldn’t look away from her. My dad was the one to answer her. “If that’s what you truly want, I will make it a club decree, if need be.” When Ever didn’t respond he asked the hardest question I think my dad has ever had to ask anyone, because the answer was something no one in this room was ever going to be ready for. “Is that what you want, Ever?”

  She only offered a quick shrug of her shoulders again before answering. “I’m not sure just yet. I guess I’ll wait and see how this plays out first.”

  “You have my word that our intentions are genuine this time.”

  She made a noise that sounded like she was attempting to laugh, but couldn’t follow through with the sentiment for whatever reason. “Your word means nothing to me.” She turned her back on all the men in the room and started walking to the back hallway that branched off to the right and left. I knew the left would take her to Zeke in the lounge and the right would take her to her apartment. She glanced back over her shoulder before she chose which way she was going to go. “I’ll let you know what I decide.” Then she turned left to go to Zeke, and my stomach dipped before knotting up with anxiety all over again. For the first time since I set out to right everyone else’s wrongs I wondered if I had done the right thing by bringing them here and demanding even more from her.

  Chapter 10

  ~ Ever ~

  What just happened out there?” My question was directed at Zeke who sat with one leg crossed over the other as his booted ankle rested over the ripped spot of his jeans just about his knee.

  Zeke eyed me for a moment and then patted the couch next to him. “Come sit down. We need to talk a minute.”

  Anxiety immediately flooded my system with a boost of adrenaline, probably my third hit for the day which was going to mean either I was going to crash spectacularly in a short while or I was going to be up for two days straight. I never could tell how my body would react to stress.

  “You need to figure out what you want from them before you move forward with anything.”

  “What exactly do you mean?” I asked the question; because I had a feeling he wasn’t just talking about whether or not I wanted to tattoo those men.

  “I mean you need to decide if you want a relationship with those people again, and if you’re willing to put what happened in the past and leave it there for good.” He looked me right in the eye as he spoke, and it felt like he could see right into my damaged soul. “My mom had a lot of hate for my old man for some shit he pulled when they first got together. It tore them apart for a while, but finally he convinced her to take him back. The thing was, she never let it go. She never put that shit behind them for the fresh start they were supposed to have. She threw it in his face every chance she got. Every time he did anything slightly out of step she was ready to fling past hurts on him.

  “The thing is, by doing so, she was hurting them both, and as a result me and my sister too since we had to listen and hear all about how my dad was a cheating scoundrel once upon a time.” Zeke blew out a breath and went on telling me his family’s business. “My dad still swears, to this day, that he never stepped out on my mom except that one time, and that he knew when he was doing it that he was fucking up the best thing he ever had. When he got her back though, he thought he was getting that same sweet girl back. He had already damaged her though. She wasn’t the same anymore, and he had to live with what he’d done, and how it had changed her.

  “The problem was she couldn’t let it go, couldn’t move on, and get past it. Because of that, they never had a chance at starting over. My dad stuck it out with her long enough to produce kids somehow, but by the time I was seven and my sister was nine he couldn’t handle it anymore. He couldn’t handle seeing how the blowback was starting to affect his kids either. Hell, I remember the day my dad sat my mom down and gave her the reality of their situation.” Zeke didn’t look like he actually wanted to tell this part so I just sat and waited patiently until he got his thoughts together.

  “He told my mom that I had asked what cheating was and why he had done it. He told her I then asked why mom hated him so much, and why telling her sorry didn’t work. He told my mom if she couldn’t get over shit that was nearly a decade in the past that they had no business being together, because he wasn’t going to have his children poisoned against him based on one mistake he made before they were ever born. My mom fell apart on him that day, I remember because I was peeking and listening in on their conversation. She said she would do better, but you see once you let that bitterness fester too long it becomes a habit. Not a week later my dad was late coming home from work and had forgotten to stop off for the milk my mom asked him to get. She was on a tear, yelling at him, accusing him of cheating again. Telling him she hoped whoever the woman was she was worth the fact his children didn’t have milk to drink.”

  “That’s brutal,” I interjected before he went on. Zeke nodded his head in agreement though.

  “It was especially brutal, because the reason he was late and forgot the damn milk was that he was getting her a brand new ring to celebrate the fresh start she’d finally given them.”

  “Oh no!”

  “Yeah, instead of handing her the ring he quietly got up, walked upstairs, and started packing a bag. He came back downstairs, handed the bag to her, and told her she could come back for the rest of her things once she had a solid place to stay.”

  “How did she take that?”

  “Not very well,” Zeke admitted. “She started yelling and screaming at him telling him she wasn’t the one leaving the house because she hadn’t done anything wrong. Screamed at him to get his shit and get his cheating ass out. That’s when he pulled the ring box from his hand. My mom shut up then, and stood there stunned. My dad opened the box and showed her this gorgeous three-carat sapphire and diamond ring, then he looked her in the eye and explained how he had to wait on the jeweler to finish up since he’d made sure it would fit her finger. He told her, ‘I thought we were truly starting new this time so I wanted to commemorate the occasion with this ring to show how serious I was and how thankful that you finally found it in your heart to forgive the young man I was for the one horrible mistake I made. I can’t continue to be your punching bag though. I made that clear before. I won’t allow our children to continue seeing all this anger directed towards me for something I haven’t done since before they were born. I finally get that you can’t find it in your heart to forgive me. Maybe one day you will. For now though, you need to go see someone, and work on the anger you can’t control. I’ll pay for it, because I helped put it there, but I won’t put up with it any longer. You need to get help. Once you do, you can come see the kids and we’ll discuss where to go from there.’” Zeke paused in the telling of his story then, and when he didn’t pick it back up I had to ask.

  “What happened? Did she get help?”

  “No, she didn’t. She left that night and went to look for help in the bottom of a bottle. When that stopped working for her she eventually started looking for help in drugs. Eventually, the drugs took her from us. She let one incident in her life define her, muddy a relationship that could have been great again, and taint her children’s lives. So, when I ask what you want it’s because I don’t want to see you travel her path, Ever.” He grabbed my ha
nd and held it sandwiched between his two larger ones. “If you want to forgive and try again with these people, then give it all of you. If you don’t, then walk away clean and cut those ties so the hurt doesn’t fester.”

  “Thanks, Zeke,” I told him as I leaned up and kissed his stubble-roughened cheek. “I’m sorry about your mom, and I promise I won’t end up like her.” With that, I left to go to my room and contemplate exactly what I wanted out of this venture, and if I had anything left to give any of them.

  I had taken most of the rest of the evening to think about everything, and I still was unsure of how I felt or what I wanted to do. I was so frustrated that the thought of maybe going out and getting completely fucked up on something actually flitted through my mind a couple times, but then Zeke’s message to me would make me feel guilty for even thinking it. Again.

  My cell ringing felt almost like salvation, and as a result I ended up answering without looking to see who was calling. “Hello?”

  “Holy crap, I can’t believe you picked up,” a familiar male voice huffed out on a breath.

  “Jay?” The question his name posed was really something like, what the fuck are you doing calling my phone? It didn’t matter, I had already picked up, now time would tell if that would be a mistake. After another moment of silence I asked again. “Hello?”

  “Uh, yeah, sorry. I guess I never expected you would actually answer my call. I’m guessing you only did because you didn’t see who it was.”

  “You’re not wrong so far. Do you want to get to the point, or should I just hang up now?”