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

by Christine Michelle

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, asshole.”

  My head was pounding even as Merc laughed and came over to give my jaw a playful little slap. “That was some fuckin’ show you put on for the guys last night. I guess all they had to do was throw down a challenge all these years and you would have forgotten about your blond little bitch that was too good for this life to see what was right in front of her, huh?”

  “What the fuck kinda shit are you spouting?”

  “You fucked that old broad with the shitty dye job last night out in the common room. Hell, from what the guys said her husband was none too happy about it this morning when he came to collect her. Decked your ass and put you out for the rest of the morning.” Merc was chuckling now.

  “Husband? What are you talking about?”

  That’s when Merc stopped trying to torment me and took a good look. “Shit! You don’t remember?”

  “I remember getting fucked up last night, little blurs of this and that, but I sure as fuck don’t know what you’re on about.”

  Merc ran his hand down his face then. “Well, then I guess this is probably a good time to tell you that you fucked some bitch raw last night where everyone had a good view of the shit going down, including Prez and PeeWee.”

  “What did they have to do with it?” I was still fuzzy in the brain and things weren’t processing as fast as they should have been.

  “It was PeeWee’s sister-n-law you fucked last night,” Merc explained.

  “Sister-N-Law?” I questioned, trying to wrap my head around what he was saying. “His brother is in his fifties, yeah?”

  “Yeah, he is. His wife, Marcy or Marsha or some shit like that is somewhere in her forties man. I tried to tell you that you fucked some old bitch raw. RAW,” he emphasized.

  “You mean no protection?” I watched as his head nodded up and down.

  “Might wanna get your dick checked, man. Apparently this ain’t the first time she’s stepped out on PeeWee’s brother either.”

  “Fucking hell,” I groaned as I attempted to sit up straighter and felt the tumble of whatever was still on my stomach as it started to rise. Merc must have noticed something about my demeanor, because he kicked a bucket my way, and just in the nick of time too. I hurled up the vodka and whatever else I’d mixed it with that was left festering in my stomach along with a boat load of bile before wiping my mouth off with the back of my hand. “Shit. I don’t even remember fucking anyone,” I mentioned. Then I glanced down and realized my damn dick was actually still hanging out of my pants and my jeans surrounding it were a mess. “Fuck!” I gritted out through clenched teeth. “This is not how I wanted to start living my life without Lucy. I knew I should have just gone up to my room last night.” Up to my room now since I couldn’t go back to the one where it had all happened. I’d moved to the farthest corner room upstairs. It helped ease the memories away, both the good and the bad.

  “That probably would have been wise, brother. Hopefully, you get a clean bill of health. On the plus side, at least you broke the seal. Now, you can hop on the horse and start plowing through the women folk until one sticks again.” He clapped me on the back. “It’ll be nice to see you not fuckin’ moping around.”

  I glared up at him as I tucked my dick into my sex ravaged pants. “I need a shower.”

  Chapter 15

  (Lucy – age 22, Double-D – age 25)

  “Why can’t you just stay?” I was whining and I knew it, but I’d grown so close to Maggie over the past year since she’d delivered my son on my kitchen floor that I couldn’t stand the thought of her and her two children picking up and moving to California with her new man. He was in the military though, and had been stationed in San Diego. He made her happy, and I knew it was wrong of me to wish her happiness away for my own selfish reasons.

  “You know why I can’t stay. I wish I could take you and little Toby with us though. I think the west coast is just what you need.”

  “Ugh,” I groaned as I slung yet another little boy outfit over my shoulder as I tried to separate the laundry so I could get it put away before company showed up. I still didn’t know that many people, but since I had to put Toby in daycare part time in order to work I’d invited some of the moms with kids in his room to come over so the little ones could play together. I still couldn’t believe my son was turning a year old. My heart fluttered at how quickly the past year had gone by. “What I need is a maid.” I wasn’t joking either. Taking care of a baby all on my own, plus having to work to support him was no joke. I felt like I was tired all the time. I used to read, but now my favorite past time was sleep. “Maybe just a dedicated nanny a couple days a week would work, or a winning lottery ticket. If you could conjure me one of those before you go, I’d be ever so grateful. What I don’t need is to try to move all the way across the country with a baby in tow and no savings to keep us afloat.”

  “You could always sell this place,” she said again. It was an old argument. She’d known for the past two months that they’d be leaving soon. Her house had been on the market, and she said the realtor had a buyer for it. She’d be going to sign the papers just before leaving.

  I glanced around my little two bedroom cottage house with the view of the bay. “I couldn’t. I actually like it here. Plus, you know this was my grandma’s house before she had to move into that retirement community. She saved it for me. I would feel horrible having to give it up.”

  “I know. I worry about you though. Who the hell will you have to count on for anything here when I’m gone?”

  I shrugged my shoulders once more. This was also the argument she presented, and it was a good one, because I was certainly scared that my one emergency contact for my son was moving out of state in a couple days. I knew some people at work and I had been friendly with some of the parents at the daycare, but I didn’t really know any of them enough to trust them with my child’s life. I also refused to go crawling home to my family though. My father would take me in without asking a single question. My mother, on the other hand, would have an agenda before I could even pack the first thing. I shook off any thought of my mother. I hadn’t actually seen the woman in person since the day I had Toby. Once we were taken to the hospital I made it clear to the staff that my mother was not welcome and refused to allow her to see Toby or me. My father had been furious with her for causing me to go into labor early, but he was also angry with me for not allowing my own mother to see her grandbaby.

  They had left on their retirement vacation two days after Toby was born. The same day I came home with him to an empty house and no one to help. That was until Maggie had invited herself over to cook dinner for me. I’d cried that day, just like I was crying over her leaving me now. She had been my rock when I had no one else.

  Two kids showed up to Toby’s first birthday along with Maggie’s three and six year old girls. I wasn’t sure if that was a success except for the fact that Toby seemed to have a great day and that was truly all that mattered. I wondered how he would take the loss of Maggie and her girls from our lives? Would he know? Surely, he would at least wonder what happened to them even if he couldn’t express it. These were the things that rolled around in my head at night when I was too exhausted to sleep. Sure, that doesn’t seem to make sense, but it never failed that the insomnia would creep in right around the time I was ready to drop dead on my feet if I didn’t get a nap in.

  Then I would imagine another life. The life I was supposed to be living. The one we’d planned out together, and the loneliness would eat me alive. The sadness I felt over Toby not having a man in his life because his father didn’t want us anymore and my father was afraid to come around because he didn’t want anyone following him. I felt abandoned. Worse, I felt that same abandonment for my son too.

  Maggie never did tell me who was buying her house. She simply left a note for me with a cryptic message.

  Girl, you are going to thank me for moving out one day soon. Remember to tell me all ab
out it when I call.

  Maggie was crazy. So there was no telling what she’d meant by that. At least, not until two days after Toby’s birthday, the day after Maggie left for San Diego, when my new neighbor stopped by to check on the place and have the locks changed.

  I would have never known he was there except for the knock on my door. I pulled the door open and there before me stood a man who could have been on billboards selling just about anything and people would have run to buy what he had on offer. “Hi,” I managed to get out after I rolled my tongue back into my head.

  His cocky grin told me he knew exactly what kind of affect his presence had on me. “You must be Lucy,” he stated evenly as his eyes travelled up and down my body taking in the whole package just as I’d done to him moments ago.

  “I’m sorry, do I know you?” I knew I didn’t, but my southern manners were as ingrained as ever and I wasn’t about to get snippy and ask how the hell the God at my door knew who I was.

  He held his hand out to me. “I’m Jordan, your new neighbor.”

  “My new,” I started as I reached out and shook his hand feeling the warmth of another person’s body connecting with mine for the first time in forever. I looked over at Maggie’s house and her little note suddenly meant a lot more. “You bought Maggie’s place?”

  “I would have bought it a whole lot sooner if I’d realized what a bonus the neighbors would be,” he told me without a hint of remorse at what he was suggesting.

  “Um, well…” Apparently, I was doomed to trip over my own tongue the whole time I tried speaking to this man. Then an exuberant screech cut off anything else I might have failed at saying. “Crap, I have to go get him,” I explained and turned to shut the door, but Jordan had come in behind me when I turned.

  “Sounds like you might need backup,” he offered. I just laughed him off and went after Toby who was screaming even louder. It took me two seconds to scope out the problem. My boy was covered head to toe in mustard yellow, runny, baby poop and he was not the least bit happy about it.

  “Oh no! What have you done?” I asked the stinky baby as he huffed and continued to cry while holding out his messy little arms for me. I approached his crib warily wondering how the heck I was supposed to even pick him up.

  A deep chuckle sounded behind me. “Where’s the bathroom? I’ll go get the water warmed so you can dunk him. If I may suggest, just pick him up and sling him in the tub clothes and all for now. You can hose him down a bit, then peel the layers off before scrubbing.”

  I turned wide eyes on the man who shrugged sheepishly. “My sister has a three year old. I was there the first time she encountered this problem.”

  “This is a thing? It’s not just a nightmare I dreamed up?”

  “If it was a nightmare, would you have the handsome new neighbor here ready to help you out?”

  That caused me to giggle. “Okay, you’re probably right. Let’s do this thing.” I dove in and snatched my son out of the crib, holding him out from my body by his armpits and ignoring the squish beneath my fingers while I tried not to gag. I hurriedly moved him to the bathroom down the hall where Jordan had, as promised, already had the water running to perfect baby bath temperature. As soon as I ducked Toby into the bath Jordan stepped out. I thought he had gone completely, and I lamented the fact because I really wanted to thank him. It seemed that Maggie had left me with a wonderful replacement for a neighbor, and just as he’d said, a handsome one at that.

  I hadn’t even considered the mess that had been left behind in the crib until after I had Toby and myself cleaned up. Luckily, I had the playpen set up in there from when we had to do naptime with one of the visiting babies during his birthday. As soon as I got to his room I found Jordan there with my trashcan beside him, kitchen gloves on his hands, and the whole mess in the crib cleaned up to perfection.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” I whispered as I glanced around. He’d cleaned up the whole mess while I was taking care of my son. I wanted to weep for joy at the thought that someone had been here for my messiest baby moment to date and they’d helped me through it. It was like God had sent me an angel in my time of need. I’ll admit, it went a long way toward me forming the answer to Jordan’s next question the way I did.

  “I didn’t mind. Everyone needs help sometime, Lucy. I’m just glad I was here when you needed me.”

  That was when I burst into tears, and ended up blabbering my whole story of heartache to the stranger turned neighbor that was standing in my son’s bedroom bagging up poop-filled trash so we wouldn’t have to continue smelling it. Instead of placating me with kind words about how everything else would get better Jordan just smiled at me. “I’m going to go take this trash outside, and then when I come back I’m going to get your answer.”

  “Answer to what?”

  “Whether or not the two of you will join me for dinner tonight,” he explained before turning and leaving the room with the remains of Toby’s big blowout. How did a crappy situation end in a dinner date proposal?

  I said yes to him.

  I don’t know if it was because I was tired of being lonely, if I was just grateful he’d been here to help me during poopapalooza or if it was just time to move on. Either way, I started dating Jordan, and Toby finally had a man in his life. Those same reasons I ran through for dating him were also probably the things that held me back from realizing the position I’d put myself in far too late. Slowly, over the course of the next year and a half, Jordan managed to dictate our schedule, the clothes I wore, and the things I was allowed to do with my own son. I even stopped talking to Maggie when she’d threatened to come put her foot up Jordan’s ass after I told her I walked in on him yelling at Toby for throwing a piece of food on the floor. My world had become warped and I never noticed it happening until the day one of the girls from work told me she saw Jordan out with another woman the night before. He had been out, supposedly entertaining business associates from out of town. I couldn’t go with him because Toby had been running a fever, not that he had asked me to go anyway. Still, the woman from work told me she’d taken pictures of it, and would gladly hand them over to me once they were developed.

  I waited until she could show me, which was about two days later, and then I took the copies she had given me of Jordan with a scantily clad woman on his lap at a bar, her nibbling on his neck, him with his hand disappearing up her dress, and I showed them to him and told him he needed to leave his key to my house on the table and that I’d have all his shit that was in my house boxed up and sent to his place. He took one look at those pictures and then threw them in my face. “You had someone spying on me?”

  “No, a girl from work just happened to be in the same bar,” I’d informed him.

  “You had someone spying on me?” He screamed again. I glanced over at Toby who was sitting in his big boy seat at his table, and my heart started beating wildly.

  “You need to calm down in front of Toby,” I told him, and that’s when his hand cracked against my face leaving a stinging burn behind. My hand immediately flew up to cover the spot as tears filled my eyes. I heard, more than saw, Toby start to cry.

  “You will never again attempt to tell me what to do, or have me followed. This is such bullshit, Lucy.” Then he came down on me again. This time it was his fist, and I curled in on myself to protect my face. His punches kept coming until he ran out of steam and then it was like whatever rage had overtaken him snapped free and he realized what he’d done.

  “Oh my God! Why did you make me do that?” He reached out to help me up from the kitchen floor, but I flinched away. “Jesus, Lucy. You can’t piss me off like that. You should have never said anything. How the hell are we going to explain this?” He paced back and forth, ignoring the fact that Toby was still crying hysterically, but couldn’t get to me because he was belted into the seat. “I know. We’ll say someone broke in and beat you. I found you like this, and…” I stopped listening, because the world was going dark.

>   When I woke again I was in the hospital and a nurse happened to be standing in my room. “Toby?” I called out.

  The nurse came over and smiled sweetly at me. “Your son, right?” I tried to nod, but it hurt to move so I stopped. A look of sympathy crossed the woman’s face.

  “I’ll get you something for the pain.”

  “No, wait!” I was in a panic now. “Where is my son? Oh God, where is he?”

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. He’s fine. He’s with his daddy. He wasn’t hurt in the attack.”

  “NO!” I screamed. “He’s not Toby’s dad. That man did this to me. Jordan did this. He’s the one that attacked me. Please! Get my son! Please!” I was begging as a fresh wave of fear-laden hysteria buzzed through my veins.

  “Oh my word! I’ll go get the police officer right away. He’s still here.” I nodded as the woman ran from the room. Another nurse came barreling in my room moments later.

  “The police have gone to get your son and arrest the man who did this to you. He had already left the hospital and had taken your boy home with him. We’ll keep you informed as soon as we know something,” she quickly tacked on at the end. What kind of person was I that I attracted men who would cheat so easily? Men who took the time to fool you and then… I glanced down at my battered body and cried. What if he’d hurt Toby too?

  It was two hours before my son was found in the back of my car, still in his car seat, parked in the backyard of the little cottage I had. Jordan wasn’t there. Thank God it hadn’t been a hot day outside. “Can I use the phone for a long distance call?” I asked the nurse who informed me my son was being brought up now.