Chapter Nine
Caelin
“What the fuck is happening?” I mumble to myself as I watch one of the trail cams we have on the Heaven Hill property. Since Dad and Liam have retired, they’ve tried many different things to occupy their time.
Their new thing?
Chickens. Fucking chickens.
We have a coop and everything. I watch over these things as much as I do the people in our club. It’s dark, later than I like to be sitting in my office, but I had a few kinks to work out on a new system we’ve installed.
Leaning forward, I try to see better in the monitor. There’s something prowling around out there, and it doesn’t look human.
I hear someone scrounging around in the kitchen. When I stick my head out, I see Bishop. “Yo, come here and look at this. What the fuck is that?”
He strolls in, eating gelato out of a container of Talenti. One hundred percent Harley’s turned him on to that shit. Leaning forward, he squints. “It’s a goddamn fox. We need to go down there. It’s going to kill those chickens.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it’ll climb the fence. Used to happen all the time when I lived at home. If we get close enough and shoot in the air, it should scare him away. But you need to talk to Liam and Tyler about doing some upgrades.”
“Motherfucker,” I grumble. “Those two have bright ideas for everything but neither one of them do the research to make sure it goes off without a hitch. They leave that to everyone else.”
“When we get to be their ages, we can do the same shit.” Bishop sets his container of ice cream down. “Want me to come with you?”
“Yeah, people I ain’t too scared of, but nature? That’s in their DNA.”
“Let me go grab my gun.”
I continue watching in the monitor. “Don’t you do it.” I can see him fully now and can definitely tell it’s a fox. He’s prowling around, looking for a vulnerability in the coop. If we don’t hurry, he’s going to find it, and all thirty chickens we have will be gone.
“Ready.” Bishop comes back from his dorm room, gun in his hand.
Together we exit through the sliding glass and out onto the deck. “How far back do you think we have to go?” I question as we walk through the blackness of the night.
“Not all the way, but we want to get close enough for the noise to scare him. Might want to let Liam know we’re back here. All we need is for him to come out, guns blazing, and shoot first before asking who the fuck we are.”
“Good point.”
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I quickly call Liam.
“Is everything okay?” He answers before the second ring.
I guess some habits die hard, and one of them is that he still answers the phone anytime one of us calls. I’ve never served under him, but he’s always answered when I’ve called.
“Everything is good for the most part, but there’s a fox going after your and Dad’s chickens.”
“Son of a bitch,” he grumbles. “Do I need to come help?”
All I need for him to do is break a damn hip. “No,” I say, probably too loud. “Bishop and I have got it. We just don’t want you to hear gunshots and get spooked. It’s us. Don’t come out ready to take down an army.”
He chuckles. “You know me well. Be safe, and if y’all do require some help, I’m right here.”
“We’re good,” I confirm with Bishop, putting my phone away.
The two of us are quiet as we slowly slink to the back of property, as not to spook the fox. When we get closer, we can see him looking, measuring how far it’ll be for him to jump so that he can grab onto the fence and make it into the coop.
“Right here.” Bishop holds out his hand to me, speaking softly. “Just fire in the air. We don’t want to hurt ‘em. They’re good for a lot of things, but chickens are a huge tease.”
We both point our guns in the air, firing at an angle as not to hurt ourselves. “There he goes.” I give a sigh of relief once I see the fox fleeing.
“So, you and Justice, huh?”
“You too?” I look over at Bishop.
He and I have been friends for a while. Since he was taken into the club by Drew. We’re closest in age, although I’m roughly six years older than he is.
“Hey.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “I know what one of the Walker girls is like. Thoughts and prayers, dude, thoughts and prayers.”
“Those two are nothing alike,” I laugh at his verbiage.
“They can be more alike than you think. It’s subtle. Unless you spend a lot of time around them when they aren’t with members of the club or family, you don’t see it. But when they’re alone, they’re very similar.”
It’s weird, having someone else tell me how Justice is. For the last few years, I’ve felt like I know her better than anyone. What if that isn’t the case? “Guess I have more to learn about her than I thought.”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad, Caelin. I can understand why you kept away from her. Why all you did was text her, and meet her in club situations. I see the way you look at her, the way she returns those looks. Drew is scary, straight up. Man to man, he’s scary and I didn’t go about dating Harley in a respectful way - not like you.”
“Respect is important to my family,” I explain.
“I know, and I wasn’t taught respect until I came here. Honestly, he could have told me to pack my shit and never come back, but he didn’t. I’ll always owe Drew for that. But I’ve learned just as much from you as I have from him. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“There’ve been a few times where I know you’ve seen me watch you in situations I’m unsure of. You’ve let me follow your lead when I don’t know what’s the correct way to go. Which is why I’m warning you that little Justice Walker, she isn’t as helpless as everyone makes her out to be.”
He waves as we get to the clubhouse, turning to go back to his dorm room.
I go to my office and have a seat at the computer banks, wondering if what he’s said is truer than I’ve realized.
“You wanna what?” I ask my niece as she runs into the office. She got a mouthful of chips and looks to be wearing a pair of Addie’s high heels. “Don’t talk with your mouth full of food.”
She gives me a look before chewing and swallowing dramatically. “I wanna go swimming. Mom and Dad aren’t here. Will you take me?”
“Where’s Grandpa?” I mention Dad.
“He’s helping Liam do something in the back yard.”
Those fucking chickens.
“I’m a little busy here. Can you wait for like an hour?”
“C’mon Uncle Caelin, it’s hot,” she whines.
“I can take her.” I hear Justice’s soft voice.
“What are you doing here?” I check the time on my phone. It’s two on a weekday, she should be at work.
“I worked late yesterday, so Mom let me go early today. I came here to say hi to you and do a little swimming.” She rubs the top of Meri’s head. “So I don’t mind taking her with me if you’re busy.”
“You sure?” I don’t want to pawn her off on someone else, but Dad’s the one who brought her here and then left her to me.
“Yeah, it’s no problem. I’m gonna be out there anyway. Just gotta go change.” She points back to the dorms where her and Harley keep changes of clothes and anything else they might need while they’re here. “You have a suit?” She looks down at Meri.
“Mom packed it for me this morning.” She nods.
“Okay, go get changed and I’ll meet you out there.”
Meri takes off at a run toward the dorm their family uses while they’re here.
Hooking my finger at Justice, I motion for her to come into my office. “Shut the door.”
She does as I ask, leaning against it. Tilting my head to the side, I give her a sheepish grin. “Why are you standing all the way over there?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you want me to come over ther
e?” She points to where I’m sitting.”
“Umm yeah, I haven’t seen you all day.”
Her walk is slow and deliberate, hips swinging as she makes her way over to me. This is part of what Bishop was trying to tell me. I’ve never seen her walk like this before.
“Thank you.” I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her down onto my lap. “Dad brought her over here and was supposed to go swimming with her, but you know my dad and your grandpa.”
She rolls her eyes. “They love those animals more than us.”
Moving my hand up to her neck, I shove my fingers into her blonde hair, twirling her turquoise streak around one of them. I use it to move her head whichever way I want it to go. Justice is submissive, willing to let me navigate. “At least it gives us a little time.”
“Time for what?” she whispers.
“For this.”
Tilting my head, I move in to kiss her. It’s only been a few days, but it’s way too long to go without feeling her lips against mine. It’s tentative at first, I think maybe all our kisses will start like this. Until we remember we know the way each other’s mouths are contoured and then we can go all in with every bit of feeling we have for one another. Her arms snake around my neck, pulling me in deeper.
If we were in another time, another place, I might see how far I could go with her, but…we aren’t.
Opening my eyes, I wipe at her mouth when I see I’ve smudged her lipstick, and when I do, I see Meri T already running back toward the office.
“You better get going.” I crane my neck to the monitor. “She’s gonna wonder why you aren’t dressed.”
She gets up, a grin on her face. “Maybe I’ll tell her, her uncle is super distracting.”
I give her a wink. “I always got time for distraction with you.”
Chapter Ten
Justice
“Are you and my uncle dating?” Meri asks as she swims alongside me. A little while ago I climbed up onto a float, enjoying the sun and the hot weather.
Tilting my sunglasses up, I focus my attention on her. “Why do you ask that?”
“I heard my mom and dad talking about it the other night. Something about it being about time for it to happen. I don’t know what that means, but you’ve always been honest with me, so I thought I’d ask.”
This girl…
“Yes, we’re dating, and between us, it is about time. Don’t let your parents know they were right though,” I whisper like it’s our little secret.”
“That’s exciting. Caelin is my favorite person.”
It’s obvious the way she says the words with a lilt to her voice, he very much is. “He’s one of my favorite people too. What makes him your absolute favorite?” I want to see him through her eyes.
“Usually he has time for me, no matter what he’s doing.” She grabs another float, and I hold it while she hoists herself up. “Or if he doesn’t he finds something else that will work.”
“Like this?”
“Yeah, and he never gets frustrated with me.” She splashes her hand in the water. “My parents, sometimes they get this tone with me, and I know they don’t want to deal with what I’m asking for. Caelin never does that.”
My heart goes out to her, I understand what she’s saying, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also come to understand my parents more. “They’re probably stressed and don’t mean it, Meri. Adults can be super selfish and not realize how they come across to others.”
“That’s what Caelin says, but it still hurts. A lot of times I’m only asking a question.”
I’m not close enough to Addie to talk to her about how she deals with her daughter, but the sadness in Meri’s voice makes me want to. “Hey.” I splash water at her, to get her attention, causing her to giggle. “You ever feel like you can’t talk to your mom or dad, you know you can come to me and Caelin, right?”
“Yeah, I text him all the time.”
“When we get out of the pool, I’ll give you my number so you can text me when you need a girl’s perspective. How’s that?”
She beams over at me. “Sounds good.”
“Mer, get your suit changed, we gotta go meet your dad for dinner.” I hear Addie’s voice.
Embarrassment washes over me, as I think about what she probably just heard the two of us talking about. Meri sighs, but hops out of the pool, dragging the float with her. I wait until she’s out and in the clubhouse before I turn to Addie. “I’m sorry if you heard what we were talking about.”
“No.” She puts her sunglasses on her head, pushing her hair back with them. “I think I needed to hear that. She’s tried to tell me how I make her feel in the past, but I wasn’t listening. It hurt,” - she wipes under her eyes - “but it’s necessary.”
“I’m sorry if I overstepped, offering her my phone number.”
“Every girl needs someone besides their parents they can talk to. All I ask is that if something happens between you and Caelin, you don’t leave her out. It’s not her fault, ya know? And if there’s something I should be aware of, please let me know. Obviously I’m not doing everything I can be as a mother if she’s coming to you saying the things she has been.”
“Oh, there’s no worry about that. If there’s something I feel as if you need to know, or she’s in danger, you’re the first person I call.”
“I’ll put your number in her phone and text you from it,” she says as she follows her daughter into the clubhouse.
I wave. “See ya, Addie.”
She waves back, going back. Now that I’m by myself, I close my eyes and tilt my head back, enjoying the peace and quiet of the afternoon. It’ll be this way until the guys start coming in from their day at the shop. I’ll cherish it for as long as I can.
I don’t know how long I’m out here when I hear the backdoor slide open. I know immediately it’s Caelin by the way my body responds to his nearness. “Shouldn’t you be doing things in the office?”
“I finished,” he answers as I feel the water move.
It’s hard to open my eyes against the lull of sleep, but I do, turning my gaze over to him. He’s shirtless and presumably wearing a pair of swim trunks under the water. A pair of sunglasses covers his eyes and tattoos dot his skin.
Carefully I slide off the float and move toward him in the water. “So you decided to come out here and spend a little time with me?”
“I always wanna spend a little time with you.” He tucks his chin against his chest, kissing me softly on the top of the head. “It sucked watching Meri T take all my time.”
“Why do you call her Meri T? I don’t think I’ve ever asked.”
“Her full name is Meri Tyler Evans.”
“She wears the namesake of those two proudly.” I speak of his parents.
“That she does. Stubborn as my mom and as deep as my dad. It’s crazy sometimes to think she’s only seven.”
“I don’t remember being seven,” I admit. “I don’t remember much from before Travis kidnapped me. It’s almost as if my life started that day.”
His face becomes stormy, a mask of irritation. “If there’s anything I could have done to prevent what happened to you, what you saw, I would have done it.”
Grabbing him around the biceps, I pull him down to me. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. I owe you everything.”
“You don’t owe me anything. You gave me purpose. I didn’t have it before you.”
Part of me doesn’t know how to feel about this admittance. Does he care about me because he cares about me, or because I’m some sort of sign that signified his transition from teenager into man? I guess I could ask, but I’m afraid of the answer.
Instead, I reach up, tangling my fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and bring him all the way down for a kiss.
This one is more out of control than the others we’ve shared, and when he pulls away, I throw an offer out I’m scared to. “Do you wanna come over tonight and watch a movie?”
“To yo
ur apartment? Or do you want to come to mine?”
“Wait.” I bring my brows together. “I thought you stayed here at the clubhouse.”
“Most of the time I do, but I have an apartment for when I want to be alone. No one else has ever been there.”
My heart thunders against my chest. “No one?”
“No one.” He caresses my neck.
The unspoken fact he’s taken other women in his dorm goes without saying. This is the special I’ve wanted to feel. The time I’ve wanted with him to get to see the Caelin I’ve read in the texts we’ve shared back and forth for years.
“Okay,” I agree. “You’ll come and pick me up?”
“Yeah. Dress for the bike.”
“Always.” I grin, before leaning in to kiss him again.
“Caelin has an apartment?” Harley hisses as she lays on my bed, watching me get ready for my date.
“Exactly what I said.”
“How does anyone not know this?”
“I guess because he’s the one who basically controls what everyone else in the club sees.”
“But he’s showing it to you?” She clicks her tongue, giving me a little grin.
“He is, so of course I’m nervous as hell about it. Like what does him showing me mean?”
She laughs. “What the fuck do you want it to mean? I don’t think he’s going to propose marriage today.”
“No shit, Sherlock. I’m talking more about physically.”
“Ohhhh!” She sits up, pushing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Does he know you’re a virgin?”
“I hinted at it, but I haven’t come right out and said it.”
“How did he react to your hint?”
“Basically said that just because he’s had certain things before doesn’t mean he needs them again.”
She sighs. “Then what are you freaking out about? He just told you it doesn’t matter to him.”
“Is that what it really means though?”
Restraint (Heaven Hill Generations Book 5) Page 6
