A Love So Hard (Aces High MC - Charleston Book 2)

by Christine Michelle

  “How dare you bring that up? I knew you’d throw it in my face eventually. You want to go live out your youthful bad boy dreams and join a motorcycle club, go right ahead.”

  “Get off your high horse. I asked you a question, and I want an answer. Did you know the next door neighbor was a member, or a prospect, of the club you hate so damn much?” I didn’t hear her response, but my father must have received one because he carried on as if he had. “Yeah, what do you think of the way you’ve been pushing him on our daughter now? She is interested in one of the club members, but it ain’t him.”

  “You have to get her away before it’s too late. She can’t end up like…”

  “Like you?” My father roared the words so loudly even I flinched from my room at the back of the house. “What the hell is so goddamn wrong with your life?”

  “You know that’s not what I meant. We had a rough start,” she admitted.

  “Yeah, but something you’re missing is that most couples have a rough start when they’re adjusting to something new, especially when one demands the other leave his dream behind so that she can be comfortable. Nice to know I did that for nothing, because you’re still ungrateful. So damn ungrateful and willing to make demands on your daughter just the way your father did with you that she’s leaving in the morning. Think on that.” I didn’t hear anything else beyond the front door slamming shut. I closed and locked my bedroom door so that my mother couldn’t get in and I continued throwing clothes and a few things I couldn’t do without in a bag.

  I cried myself to sleep that night. I heard my mom come to door and knock softly, but I still didn’t bother to answer. My body wasn’t capable of words that wouldn’t come out angry so I refused to say anything at all. “I’m sorry,” I heard her whispered apology through the door. “I didn’t even think that I was doing the same thing to you that my dad did to me.” She chuckled lightly. “I should have remembered. It was because of my father pushing me in one direction that I ran the opposite way. I don’t regret your dad, or being with him, but it’s hard to get over the fact that I was supposed to have a different life. I know you can’t understand, but I just wanted more for you and well, I thought Johnny would get you there. His mom kept bragging about how smart he was and how he was going to be a lawyer. I didn’t realize it was all lies.”

  I rolled my tear swollen eyes and just pushed my pillow harder around my head in the hopes of blocking her out. It didn’t work. “I think going to stay with my mom will help you both. At the very least, it will get you away from the bikers here. I wish you’d never had to get involved with them. Those vile beasts,” she admonished. I wanted to throw something at her because apparently my dad had once been one of those vile beasts she seemed to loathe so much. It made me wonder if maybe she had once had her eyes set on a different biker, and settled for my dad when things didn’t go her way. It didn’t matter though. Their story was just that – it belonged to them. I didn’t want to know it because it was the thing that had stood between me and my happiness. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself in order to keep the images out of my head that Johnny had painted earlier of Double-D and those girls together.

  In the morning I took my bags out to the truck and tossed them in back without any help. I glanced up and saw that there was a man posted just down the street on a motorcycle watching my every move. I couldn’t really see his features to distinguish if he was happy about this, pissed off, or what. His mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes from me too. Instead, I got the view of a man straddling his motorcycle with his arms crossed over his chest. When he just stayed there, waiting for what, I didn’t know, I turned and moved to go back in the house. Johnny came outside then.

  “Don’t do this. Please, don’t go, Lucy. I’m sorry I said those things yesterday. I just needed you to know the truth about him.” His pleading tone did nothing but grate on my nerves. I continued to walk, trying to get around him and back into the house until my dad was ready to go. He quickly put himself in my way and grabbed hold of my arms tightly. “Lucy, talk to me. Jesus, I can’t take this. Don’t go.” I could see the sting of tears in his eyes and felt nothing but revulsion for the man. No matter what Double-D had done, I’d had no claim on him or him on me. He was able to do whatever he wanted even if it killed me to hear about it. What Johnny had done though, that was the thing that broke me. Telling me, in all those details, was something I couldn’t get out of my head. There was no forgiveness there for him.

  I was about to break my unofficial vow of silence when my father’s voice carried down from the porch steps. “Get your hands off of my daughter,” he shouted and when I looked up I was startled to see my father actually had a shotgun pointed at the man. My eyes widened in surprise, which caused Johnny to finally glance over his shoulder and see why. He immediately released me then and I stumbled back away from him, putting a wide berth between us as I made my way up the porch steps to stand behind my father. My eyes couldn’t help wandering to a certain biker still perched just down the road taking in the scene before him. I wondered why he was there at all since he had apparently moved on with other women since we were last together enjoying a dance under the stars. Not that he’d promised me anything that night, but still.

  “You have everything loaded, baby girl?” My father asked. I nodded my head and he huffed, having no doubt hoped that I would speak this morning. “All right, then go ahead and climb in the truck. We’ll get gone.”

  “Please, don’t,” Johnny hissed out again.

  “Boy, if you know what’s good for you, you will get the hell on out of here and leave it be. Between you, my wife, and that mother of yours you’ve caused enough trouble for my girl.” When it looked like Johnny planned on ignoring my dad and coming for me again as I moved toward the truck my dad continued on. “She told me the bullshit you said to her. You’re lucky I don’t want her to see any bloodshed, but you better believe we’ll remedy that after I get her out of here.”

  “Lucy!” Johnny called out still ignoring my father.

  I heard a loud thud and glanced back just in time to see Johnny doubled over and my father pulling the butt of the shotgun back from where it had obviously smacked right into Johnny’s abdomen. “Get out of here, and don’t try to talk to Lucy again.”

  It didn’t take long after that for my father to join me in the truck. We drove right past where Double-D was sitting on his motorcycle, my dad cussing up a storm again as we did. My eyes locked with his as we passed. At least, I think they did. I couldn’t honestly tell since he still had those mirrored sunglasses pulled tight to his face. His head followed our movement until we were well passed him though and then I watched as he rode off in the opposite direction.

  Chapter 5

  (Lucy – age 20, Double-D – age 23)

  He had received the vote after putting the extra time required of our Prez once I pointed out that the fucker had been responsible for running the girl off. I wasn’t stupid. I knew Prez had gone and had a chat with Jack to verify what had gone down. Hell, I was counting on it so I could finally find out what had gone down that sent my girl running to her daddy in tears, and then exiled to some other place. Prez wouldn’t divulge what he’d learned though. He’d only appeased me by letting me know that no physical harm had befallen her, and she was nursing her hurt feelings while caring for an ailing grandma and finishing out high school out of state. I’d gotten the warning he delivered loud and clear too. I wasn’t to go looking. At least, not until she turned legal age. Prez agreed to tack on an extra six months of prospecting for Johnny the Weasel though, because apparently whatever he’d done had been to the detriment of a club member who he was supposed to have put first. I could only assume I was the club member he’d fucked over by sending my girl running. Even after what he did he still earned his position in the brotherhood along with his new road name – Stiff. I huffed out a little laugh at the thought of it. The dumbass thought he’d been given the name because he was always rock hard and
ready to go with the club’s whores. He earned it by being the biker with something shoved so far up his ass he always rode stiff like he was never quite comfortable on his bike.

  It had been a little over three years since I last laid eyes on sweet Lucy. When I heard her name fall from Stiff’s lips I tuned in immediately.

  “Saw that hot bitch on the porch next to your parent’s place this morning. That why you stayed there last night?” Crow asked him.

  “Fuck yeah. My mom overheard them talking about how she was coming home since her grandma died. She figured I would want to know since she still has some crazy delusion of us getting together.”

  “I don’t know why you wouldn’t want that,” Crow teased him while looking over the idiot’s shoulder at me. He was baiting the man into telling him everything so that I could hear it. Good man. Crow was a prospect, and might just earn himself a full patch sooner than later if I had anything to say about it.

  “Didn’t say I wouldn’t want that. She left here pissed at me.”

  “What the hell did you do that she couldn’t get over it in, what, three years?”

  “A little more than that,” Stiff admitted as he shrugged his shoulders at Crow. “I told her some shit she didn’t want to hear. She was still a little girl at the time, and couldn’t take it.”

  “What the fuck did you say to her?” Crow couldn’t hide the growl that laced the question.

  “It’s not important,” Stiff told him. “What is important is that she’s back now and fuck if that time away didn’t change a few things.” He held his hands out in front of his chest indicating that Lucy must have grown a few bra sizes in her time away. “She was gorgeous before, but she’s a fucking bombshell now. All that silky, golden hair, and now she has amazing tits and ass for days.” He smacked his lips together, but I had heard everything I needed to. I turned to leave just before I caught the next thing he was stupid enough to mutter to Crow. “It won’t be long and I’ll have her squirming underneath of me just like she was meant to be.”

  That was my limit. I turned and walked over to the stool he was sitting on at the bar. “You will keep your fucking distance just like our Prez ordered you to years ago,” I informed him before my fist landed a blow on the left side of his jaw.

  He pulled himself up off the floor where he’d landed when his stool tipped over under the shift in weight the hit had caused. “That means you have to stay away too,” he growled out at me as he cupped his jaw with his hand and glared in my direction.

  “No one ever told me she was hands off. That was directed at you, per her father’s request, asshole. I was only told I had to wait for her to be 18. She’s a couple years beyond that now.” With that little tidbit of information I took off. I had to see for myself just how well my Lucy had filled out over the years. I knew she was doing okay, because we had a clubhouse down near where she lived and one of the guys checked on her and her grandma for us every now and again. A favor our Prez did for her father since we seemed to be the reason his little girl needed a new address. They took pictures, but I couldn’t look. I refused to. I knew the minute I saw her image nothing would hold me back. Hell, the only thing that held me back this long was that I knew I couldn’t fuck with the fact that she was getting her degree. I had to allow her some space to be the person she was working on becoming as an adult before I went back there. Not that I didn’t resent the hell out of her loss, but I could see how people had been right before. She was too young back then.

  It still pissed me off that I didn’t know exactly what had sent her running in the first place. I’d find out though, and heaven help that fucker if it was worse than I already imagined, because brother or not, I would put him to ground if it was. All that could wait a little while longer though. For now, I had to go see for myself that she was back. I’d done little else but think about her all this time. I hadn’t even been with a woman since the night she was at the clubhouse and saw those two whores attempt to play with my cock for anyone to see. I hadn’t missed the way she looked at me then. I knew the scene had made me less desirable in her eyes, and I couldn’t even blame her for thinking that. She was innocent. Hell, I hoped she still was, and not because I demanded her to be virginal when I damn sure wasn’t. I just needed to know that I wouldn’t have to kill another mother fucker who thought it was okay to touch what was mine.

  The brothers from Florida had informed our Prez that they had never seen her get involved with anyone, but they couldn’t keep eyes on her 24 hours a day seven days a week. Beside that, I didn’t trust my Prez to be completely honest with me where she was concerned anyway. He knew I had been waiting for her. He didn’t understand it even a little bit, but that wasn’t my problem. He didn’t have to understand. They say when you know, you know. I wasn’t one to believe in love at first sight. I’d probably argue any day of the week that love was a bunch of bullshit anyway, but I knew from the moment I first spoke to the girl that she needed to be mine, and I couldn’t have given anyone a good reason for it. I just knew that’s how it was going to be. As we got to know each other the course of those months before she’d been sent running, that feeling had only intensified. Her absence hadn’t made it wane either.

  It took me less than 15 minutes to ride over to her neighborhood. I didn’t even have to wait for luck to be on my side. She was sitting out on the porch step looking down at something in her lap when I turned the corner. I parked my bike and sat there idling as I watched. She didn’t sit there long. She did have something in her lap that was taking all of her attention though. Whatever it was had her smiling brightly as she spoke soft words to it. I couldn’t hear the words, but I could see her mouth move and the smile that lit up her face like the fireworks on Fourth of July light up the sky.

  “She’s not for you,” a voice called out from just over my shoulder where her father stood watching me watch her.

  “Just because you couldn’t follow your dream to be in the club because of her mother?” I asked the question having some back story details of what went down from my Prez. Timeless had held some of it back, but he admitted to the history he shared with Lucy’s mom and Jack Carter. The man had once been a brother too. I was certain I wasn’t supposed to confront Jack with the fact that I knew. Hell, I knew more than he would be comfortable with. “Does it ever bother you that you gave it all away and all you were was the consolation prize when he wouldn’t step up and do that for your woman?” I turned my attention away from my angel as she moved to take the little ball of fur into the house. Apparently she was going to keep the little kitten she’d found on her porch. “Does she know?”

  His hands shook then as he stood stock still and vibrated with pent up anger. “No, and I’d like to keep it that way.” I smirked.

  “I just bet you would. She’s daddy’s little girl. It would probably ruin everything if she were to find out you aren’t her actual daddy, and part of the reason you’re so damned determined to keep her away from the club is because her real daddy is there.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “Nope. I’m just stating the obvious.”

  “He was never supposed to tell anyone,” Jack lamented as he attempted to reign in his anger despite the fact that his fists were tightly balled up at his sides.

  “When he realized my interest after I went a little crazy when she was sent away, he sat me down and had a long talk with me.”

  “Nice to know that long talk involved spilling secrets that were never supposed to be divulged.”

  I waved away his comment. “It wasn’t like that. He was explaining why a promising brother had thrown it all away and why a man like that would fear his daughter being involved in the club he’d once loved.” I pulled my glasses from my face so I could look the man in the eye. “He gave me his blessing,” I explained.

  “His blessing doesn’t count for shit. He gave her up. He gave up the right to have a say in anything to do with my Lucy.” I couldn’t disagree with that. I also couldn
’t understand why a man as seemingly put together as my Prez could honestly watch as another man, a former brother, raised his daughter for him. That shit would gut me daily. Then again, the man had a serious drinking problem so maybe it did gut him.

  I nodded my acknowledgment. “That may be true, but she’s still going to be mine one day.”

  “What if she no longer wants you?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m going to at least give it my best damn shot, because I want her.” It was time to let him know just how much too. “I will keep your secret.” He sputtered and started to say something, but I cut him off. “I’m not doing it for you or my Prez. Whatever gentleman’s agreement you two worked out back then was between the two of you, but here’s what I know. That girl adores you. I’d never hurt her by revealing the truth. I need you to know that. I would never hurt her.”

  “Like you didn’t hurt her enough to make her leave before?”

  My head snapped back then. “What the fuck did you just say?” I watched as Jack schooled his features then and closed down right in front of me. He clammed up and didn’t say another word. “I don’t know why you think something I did sent her away, but I assure you the last time I spent a moment with your daughter I saw her home safely after getting to know her a little better.” His chest puffed up about to defend himself and his daughter’s virtue then. “Not like that, old man. I mean we sat and talked, discussed favorite books, movies, what we both wanted to do with our lives. Got to know HER, not her body,” I clarified needlessly. I saw the flicker in his mask when he realized that I was completely serious.