by Eve R. Hart
Blade seemed to bounce all over, but it wasn’t uncommon to find him hanging here or even back at the clubhouse. He was one of the welcomed outsiders that no one questioned when he walked up into the place.
“What the hell you two doing here so early? Did you leave Sketch to watch the shop?” I asked with a ‘what the fuck?’ kinda look on my face.
“Nope,” Brand said and blew out a frustrated breath. “Fucking plumbing problems.”
The tattoo shop was in an old building that had seen better days. It was a work in progress and while they had done a pretty great job with it so far, it still seemed to have little hiccups every now and then.
“Had to close up shop. Can’t be sanitary if I can’t wash my fucking hands.”
Brand was clearly unhappy about having to miss out on business. He took that place seriously and I could see why it was such a big deal that he got his own place down here. Cal, the head chapter’s Prez, said it was the first thing we needed to set up, that it had been a long time coming for Brand. He took pride in Brand and after I got to see his work, I could see why.
Not to mention, that Brand was one hell of a brother. Stories had floated through the club about some of the things he’d done for the club. He was a good one and I trusted him to watch my back one hundred percent. He had only been with the club a few years but it was no surprise to me that he held the road captain patch after I’d learned his background and knew his loyalty.
“Yeah, and he thought it was a good idea to leave Sketch there to deal with the cleanup and handle the plumber,” Blade said with a loud belly laugh.
Blade was a guy I wouldn’t want to mess with. I was there the day we had the shop almost done. The sign was up already on the front of the building and this huge guy walked in the propped open door with a look that said ‘don’t fuck with me.’ He asked for ‘the bitch that ran the place’ and stood there with his feet planted wide and arms crossed over his chest. The place was filled with Paragons, wearing cuts and all, and this guy didn’t even so much as flinch as we all stood tall and surrounded him. Brand stepped forward and Blade stood there and demanded a job. When Brand asked him his name the only thing he supplied was ‘Blade.’ So that was who he was. Didn’t ask how he’d gotten the name but I had a good idea it had something to do with at least one of the three knives he had on him at all times. There could have been more, but the three were obvious. I, for one, had no need to find out if there were others.
His don’t give two shits attitude may have gotten him noticed, but his work was what got him hired. He was good and I had plans for him to do some work on me one day. That being said, Brand would be the one to give me my next ink.
I didn’t have much in the way of tattoos and I didn’t have plans to be covered in them. So far I only had three. I had a single deep purple and blue orchid on the back of my right hand. It was suspended in a thin circle filled in to look like a night sky, little yellow stars and all. That tattoo was my first and I got it not long after I’d left for college.
My next one took up the entirety of my inner bicep. A vintage looking pocket watch that was done in color surrounded by smoke done in grays and blacks. If you looked closely enough there were words floating around in the lighter parts of the smoke. Words that meant something to me. Ones that I used to whisper to someone long ago.
Then I had my club ink over my right shoulder blade. That one was given to me by Brand one night when I was still at Gray Fort. A bunch of us took a ride to Moon Hill and he offered to do one that night.
The shop was an upgrade from his tiny as fuck room back at Moon Hill. And once all the kinks were ironed out and word got around, I had no doubt the place would be busy all the damn time.
“Sketch can handle it,” Brand said as he tilted back his beer. “Hell, it can’t get much worse.”
The conversation continued around me but I was suddenly frozen in my chair. A sound from the past filtered into my ears and my chest tightened. I couldn’t breathe. Or blink. Everything went silent as the sound of my blood pumping filled my ears. One song. Hell, just the first opening seconds of that song had thrown me back into a past that I tried so hard to forget. Or a girl, rather, that I’d spent years trying to push out of my mind. A song that forced me back to when I was a kid spending nights outside under the star-filled sky out behind the compound. Dancing and laughing and living in the moment. Doing anything and everything I could to make her smile. A song that not only reminded me of the girl that would always have a huge chunk of my heart, but also of what I’d lost.
A beer appeared over my shoulder and with a flinch, I jerked back into the present. As I reached for the bottle, I noticed slender fingers gripped the outside. The bottle was wet from the ice in the cooler and I watched as it ran down the side and pooled around those slender fingers. That was when a very familiar scent filled my nose making me dizzy.
No fucking way.
It couldn’t be. I didn’t want to believe it. And as I thought of all the ways I could escape, I couldn’t bring my eyes to look at the person that was holding that bottle.
“You gonna take that, man? Or make her hold it all day?” Charming’s voice came out of nowhere and made me aware that we were on display.
“I’m good,” I managed to force out of my mouth in a gruff tone. I went to stand, but just as I did I saw a familiar big profile walking down the back hallway.
“Knight?” Brass called once he reached the opening to the main room of the bar. “You got a minute?”
No.
Nope.
I did not have a minute.
But I didn’t even have the balls right then to open my mouth and tell him no. I had a fucking feeling my day was about to go from shitty to living hell. I seriously contemplated running out the door right that second. Pussy. Yeah, I fucking knew it. But the combination of what surrounded me screamed ‘bad fucking luck, brother’ to me.
I had no choice but to suck it up and see to what he wanted. With my lips pressed into a tight line, I gave him a short nod as I stood. I still couldn’t turn my head to look at her. Yes, because I fucking knew it was her. It didn’t escape me that the room had gone deadly quiet and I knew everyone was watching with curious eyes. I kept my eyes on Brass’ retreating form as I made my way away from the table, away from Gwen, and away from the last little bit of hope that I could have ended this day with a fun, relaxing night.
Inside the small office of the bar, Iron sat behind the desk looking relaxed as a man with nothing better to do. Brass stood just to the left of the desk, and I couldn’t read anything from the expression on his face.
“So, Gwen is moving down here to finish up her last year of college. California just wasn’t for her,” he started and as he talked about his daughter his face softened then hardened.
If I were a guessing man, I would have said it was because he knew his daughter wasn’t happy while she’d been away. I knew Gwen, even though it had been forever and a day since I’d actually been around her. But the sense of family that she had gotten from being around the club growing up was something I always knew she’d gravitate toward. I couldn’t imagine that running so far away from home had been good for her. And it made me wonder why the hell she even did it in the first place.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Brass continued, “When she called me in tears saying she wanted to come home, I didn’t even want to let her leave once I got her back. She sounded broken, Knight, and lost. But I also know my daughter, and she wants a sense of life on her own. So I suggested here, knowing you and Mouse and the club were here to watch out for her and give her that sense of home.”
Fuck me.
I could completely see what he was saying and the thought that she’d been so miserable but also too stubborn to admit it for so long hurt like a fist to the gut.
“Iron here informed me that you got a place off compound and you got an extra room.”
Yep, I saw where this was going. I would have rather stepped out i
nto the road when I knew a bus was coming.
“I think it would be a good idea if she lived with someone she was familiar with. Someone that could watch out for her. You feel me?” His tone wasn’t one that was asking any kind of question. It was one that told me I really should agree with him.
My mind screamed ‘fuck no’ while my face held a tight smile. All I could do was nod as I swallowed down the huge lump that clogged my throat.
I couldn’t blame the man. I wasn’t even sure he had the first clue about what went on with Gwen and me. He simply knew we were friends, and then we weren’t so much. I could only imagine that he assumed we drifted apart like kids sometimes did once they grew older.
“Great,” he said as he relaxed his stance and slapped me on the shoulder so hard I knew I’d feel the sting for a good while. “We’ll be there in the morning to set shit up and get her moved in. I gotta head back home the day after tomorrow.”
I needed to get out of there. I needed to fucking scream and throw things. Hit things. Run. Something—anything—to get this anxiety and frustration out. What the hell was I going to do?
Sure it didn’t seem like I had much of a choice in the matter, but if I wanted to tell him no, I could have opened my mouth and done so. The thing was, it was a tight line to walk. Brass had been like a second father to me all my life. He was more than just the prez of the chapter I’d grown up in, prospected for, and got patched-in to. He was a man I looked up to and never wanted to let down. And that was why I was going to bite the bullet and watch over the most precious thing to him.
Even if that meant that I would be living in my worst nightmare.
Even if it meant that I would be faced with, and living with, the one person that no matter how hard I’d tried, I couldn’t get out of my fucking head.
CHAPTER FOUR
Gwen
I hadn’t seen Knight in seven years. I didn’t know what I expected but it sure wasn’t the icy welcome that I received. I wanted to cry but I held my tears back. It was all I could do not to jump into his arms the moment he realized it was me standing there, but the fact that he hadn’t turned to look in my direction wasn’t lost on me. Good thing I didn’t because I could have bet that I would have been dropped on my ass. It was that cold. It was almost as if he didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that I was there.
It cut me.
It gutted me.
This was the boy that used to hold me at night when I couldn’t stop crying. The same boy who brought me a treat when he knew I was having a bad day. The very same one that danced with me under the stars late at night and gave me my very first kiss.
That was when I realized that boy no longer existed. He died that night when he turned his back and walked away from me without so much as a look back.
I was living with the memory of a ghost. The hopefulness of a teenage girl. He would never be my Knight ever again. No matter how much time had passed. You couldn’t go back, time only ticked forward and with that brought a man I didn’t even recognize.
With a heavy sigh, I turned away from the hall he’d walked down. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to come here. But then again, I had no idea that he was even here until I’d seen him walk into the bar. It seemed that Dad conveniently left that information out. Though I couldn’t blame him. He never really knew what went down between Knight and me, he simply knew that we didn’t talk anymore. Even if I was hurt, I didn’t want to put a tear in Dad’s relationship with Knight or his dad, Cringer. It was my baggage to deal with. I had tried my best to stuff the feelings down for so many years.
“So, sweet cheeks, you the new girl?”
I turned my attention to the smooth voice. My brow raised almost as if to challenge him for the pet name. His dark hair was pushed back from his face. His nose was a bit crooked like he’d gotten in one too many fights, but for some reason, it worked on him. His smile was lopsided in that smug but charming way. If it were anyone other than me it might have worked. But I grew up around guys like him and therefore, knew what was hidden behind the outward charm.
This guy must have been fairly new.
I studied him a beat longer, his dark brown eyes didn’t blink once.
“Dude, don’t even think about it,” an all too familiar voice said as he walked up behind me. I couldn’t hide the wide smile that overtook my face even if I wanted to.
I turned and practically threw myself at Mouse.
“What are you doing here?” I squealed.
His mother had done her best to keep him away from the club. That woman was so head over heels for Brew, Mouse’s dad, that she stayed by his side, but she wasn’t a fan of the club. Mouse only came around every so often and usually only for big events. He was three years older than me and he had earned his name at a young age.
His mother, Beth, was very overprotective, and who could blame her. Mouse was always shy from the start and he would always scurry off and find a corner to hide in. Yep, that was how he got his name. That and sometimes he would squeak when he tried to talk. It was something he later grew out of as the confidence of his looks kicked in. Once he hit high school he was quite popular with the girls, just like Knight had been.
I shook off all those old thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to get buried in how I felt back then and all the damage that Knight had done.
“Well, got my patch a month after you took off for college. Then they were looking for people to help set up this chapter, and here I am.” He pulled me in, giving me one good squeeze before releasing me.
I took a step back. Man, he really had changed in the few years I’d been gone. He seemed a bit taller, or maybe it was just because so much time had passed. His face held no shyness in it at all and his smile was fucking blinding. It was good to see him happy.
“Bet your mom isn’t so thrilled about this,” I said with a pointed look.
“Yeah,” he said as he blew out a harsh breath and scratched the back of his neck. “She definitely didn’t let me leave without a few choice words. But what can ya do? I love her, but I gotta live my life.” He gave a little shrug.
“No, I get it,” I agreed with a nod.
“It’s in the blood, right,” he added with a knowing look of his own.
That was what it felt like. My blood, my heart, it was all tied to the club. I walked around for three years feeling incomplete and it took me a long time to figure out why.
Before we could say anything else, my eyes caught on a figure stalking down the hall. As it drew closer, I saw it was Knight. His hands were fisted at his sides and I could have sworn there was smoke coming out of his ears. He was pissed and trying his best to hold it back. The room suddenly felt like it was too quiet. He walked past, heading for the front door, his eyes focused on a nonexistent point ahead. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he didn’t give me one look but I couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.
“So, ah, Knight’s here,” Mouse said like I hadn’t already figured that out.
“Yeah.” I took in a calming breath.
“Gwen,” Dad called out from the back of the hall. “Can you come back here a moment?”
I took one last glance at Mouse, his brows were raised in surprise, then scurried down the hall to the office in the back. I had a feeling that what I was about to find out would probably make me as happy as Knight had just been.
“You’re gonna live with Knight,” Dad said gruffly as soon as I shut the door behind me.
My mouth fell open.
What? Why the hell would he do that to me?
“He’s got a place of his own and an extra room.” That was all the explanation he had to give me. This wasn’t happening.
“Dad,” I whispered but had nothing to follow up with.
I knew part of the reason was that he wanted someone he knew and trusted to keep watch over me. Why that had to be Knight, I didn’t know. And I wasn’t happy about it in the least. This was going to be a very long year.
Sure, I ha
dn’t really thought about my living situation. I thought that maybe Dad would help me get my own apartment, but that seemed to be far from what he had planned. And then I got to thinking. He knew Knight was down here. He knew—and he didn’t tell me. This had to have been what he had in mind all along.
Knight may not have been happy, but there was no way he would have told my dad no. After all, my dad was his former president and on top of that, he was like a second father to him.
My head was spinning. I couldn’t live with him. I just couldn’t see that working out well at all. But one look at my old man’s face told me two things.
One, I didn’t have a say so in this. Not even a little bit.
And two, he was desperate for me not to throw a fit about this. Not because I was a spoiled brat and that was what I did to get my way, because that wasn’t me, and I wasn’t about to start that now. This look was more desperate. He wanted me to accept this because he needed to know that I was safe.
My cheeks puffed as I blew out a slow stream of air.
“Yeah, okay,” I practically whispered and I saw my dad’s shoulders relax as much as he would allow them.
Then he took me out shopping for all the things I would need. A bed, of course. Then everything to fill my room. The room that I still hadn’t seen yet. The very one that was in the apartment that I was sure that I wasn’t all that welcomed in.
But whatever.
There was nothing to be done about it.
I simply figured I would go along with it for a year. Once I was finished with school I could put my foot down to my dad and move on.
Because I had absolutely nothing other than clothes and a few boxes of junk that I probably didn’t even really need, shopping ended up being exhausting. Finally, after Dad asked me if there was anything else I needed for like the millionth time, I turned to him, smiled sweetly, and gave him a firm no. Then I reassured him that if I didn’t have it I was perfectly capable of going out and getting it myself later on. I tried not to hold it against him. I was his baby girl and I was pretty much all he had left in his life. I mean, other than the club, ya know?
