by Eve R. Hart
Then I went back to bed and my woman. I wrapped every inch of me that I could around her and passed the fuck out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Allison
“Are you okay?”
His soft words pulled me out of my sleep. I knew I was waking, but I wasn’t ready to open my eyes just yet. I was enjoying the feel of his body pressed against mine too much.
“Mmmhmmm,” I moaned as I wiggled deeper into his hold. He softly chuckled and it vibrated through his chest and into my ear, making my entire body feel like it was on fire.
His fingers drew lazy lines along my skin. Each time they would graze over one of my scars I tried my hardest not to flinch. But as I got lost in his touch, I realized that his fingers skimmed over me as if he didn’t even notice they were there. I smiled against his chest as a warm feeling spread throughout my body.
So much had happened over the last twenty-four hours. Time seemed to drag out the entire day. But now it was a new dawn and a new, fresh start.
“Really, baby, are you alright?” he asked sounding oddly hesitant. “Did I hurt you?”
My head lifted and I looked at him.
“It was everything I needed,” I said speaking the truth. “You owned me in the most perfect way possible.”
He kissed me and I felt his body relax the moment our lips touched. I knew last night he had been scared. He had been terrified that he would ruin me and that I would only be able to see Savage in his place. But I didn’t. That evil man didn’t even enter my mind for a second. Which was surprising, to say the least. However, I wasn’t going to question it. I wasn’t even going to think about it at all.
Axe pulled away and cleared his throat.
“We, uh, should stop. I want to take you so badly right this second, but I know Neiryn will be awake any minute now.” He smiled at me then kissed the tip of my nose.
It was a bit strange but boyishly cute. I could see that in him from time to time, the little playful charm and I couldn’t exactly say I didn’t like it. I couldn’t deny that I wanted to see more of it.
With a kiss to the forehead, he rolled out of bed.
“You make breakfast and I will get Lil man. Good?” His voice had that sexy, just woken up roughness to it.
“Okay,” I said and my voice sounded strained.
I was still a little unsure of how things would go from here and I had no idea what to expect. But then the day played on and it was confusingly normal. Normal felt like such a weird word to use to describe anything in my life, but that was what it felt like.
The next few days played out the same way. We’d wake. I would get breakfast together while he would get Neiryn dressed. We would all sit down and eat together. Then he would clean up the dishes while I got some time with my little guy. When he was done, he would join us.
When Neiryn went down for a nap, he would spend time exploring my body in the tenderest of ways. He would kiss every part of me like he wanted to imprint his scent on every inch of my skin. He didn’t linger or hesitate around my scars. He treated them as if they weren’t even there and it brought tears to my eyes every time.
In the day he worshiped my body but when night came, he owned it. It was, well, perfect. When I was with him the world melted away. All the bad things turned to dust and were gone with a gust of wind. When he looked at me he let me know that I wasn’t my past or my scars. I was me. And in his eyes, I was completely flawless.
It was the little things that he did that really got to me. In a good way, that was. Like the way he would look at me and there would be a light in his eyes. Or how he would brush his hand against me for no reason other than to touch me.
Together we created the most amazing balance between light and dark. During the day, we helped chase each other’s demons away, and at night we proved to the world that our darkness wouldn’t overtake us. That we could find a way to embrace it. Lemons into lemonade, right? But as cheesy as it sounded, I believed we were meant to find each other.
There were times I sensed he was on edge. I asked, but he just brushed it off telling me that it had to do with the club. I knew better than to push it further but that didn’t mean I liked being in the dark. I had a feeling some of it had to do with me and a lot of it was about Savage. He left a few times to go handle club stuff but seemed to come right back to me when he was done.
“I think he’s asleep,” I whispered to Axe who was holding Neiryn against his chest.
We were all cozied up on the couch and I’d just read Neiryn his bedtime stories. Axe held him the entire time. When the little guy’s eyes grew heavy and eventually fell closed, Axe continued to hold him and rub his back. It seemed like he was in no rush to give Neiryn up.
“Just a few more minutes, then I’ll go put him down,” Axe whispered back.
“Fine,” I said and playfully rolled my eyes.
“Don’t get smart with me, woman,” he shot back, eyes full of amusement.
I could have pushed and played along, but I wanted to enjoy this moment of the three of us sitting there in a peaceful calm. I wondered if it would always be this way. And I dreaded the day it would all be taken away.
I felt like I was on shaky ground. Sure, things seemed good—no, fucking great—but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about what the future really held for us. I believed him when he said he wanted all of me, forever, but I wondered if we weren’t both lost in the newness of the whole thing. Or that he would wake up one day and realize that I was broken beyond repair. Would there be a point when all of my demons would be too much for him? What about raising a kid that wasn’t his? That wasn’t an easy thing. And let’s not forget where Neiryn and I came from. Would he always be able to see past my entanglement with Savage?
In a sense, I was waiting for reality to slap him in the face, for the day when he wised up and realized we weren’t worth the trouble.
But for now, I would just enjoy it. I learned a long time ago that you couldn’t control the future and that in the blink of an eye your life could change. I was going to take the good, however it came and for however long it let me hold onto it.
“I can hear you thinking over there,” he said and his words brought me back to reality. I shook my head, clearing away everything.
“I’m fine,” I said with a tentative smile that I tried to pass off as confident. I could see it on his face that he didn’t believe me for a second.
“A woman is never fine. Learned that a long time ago,” he responded as he shifted Neiryn in his arms. “I’m gonna go put him down. When I get back, you are gonna talk to me.”
With that, he stood. My eyes followed him until he was upstairs and out of sight. When he returned, he flopped down on the couch, reached over and grabbed my waist, then pulled me onto his lap. His arms went around me, holding me tightly against his chest as if he was letting me know he wasn’t going to let me go.
“Now, bitch, tell me what the hell has got you looking so lost,” he said then kissed the side of my head.
“I just…” I started but had a hard time grasping the words that followed.
To have said that I was bad at communicating would have been putting it mildly. I’d basically had only myself to talk to for the last seven years, and well, Neiryn, but he wasn’t much for conversation.
“Baby,” he said as he ran his fingers through my hair and pulled my head back so that I was forced to look into his eyes. “I might not be great at this relationship shit. Truth is, I know I downright suck. But none of that has to do with you. In fact, I’ve never even really wanted to try like this before. I want you to know that I will bend over backwards, dive to the deepest depths of the ocean, and jump into a damn volcano to make this work, to do right by you.”
I couldn’t say anything in return. This man had my heart and he was doing his best to hold onto it and not crush it at the same time. I understood that for him it was trial and error on getting it right. But that meant that he was trying with everything that he had in h
im. Not that I was exactly miss-know-it-all when it came to relationships either. I was just as blind as him.
“I love you,” he whispered, his voice suddenly sounding choked up with emotion. “That ain’t gonna change today, tomorrow, or fuck, fifty years from now.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, trying my best to blink away the tears.
“Yes,” he stated. “Yes, I do. Because I’ve never felt as whole as when I’m here with you and Lil man. I’ve never felt the calm that I’ve craved my whole fuckin’ life. And that is what I get the moment I see you, a peaceful stillness of my soul.”
He kissed me as if he were kissing all of the bad, self-doubting thoughts away. He held me like he never wanted to let me go. He touched me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
He pulled away from my lips and I whimpered in protest. His fingers grazed the side of my face as he gently tucked my hair behind my ear. I loved the tenderness that he could give me as much as I craved the force with which he would take me.
“We may not be normal,” he said. I raised my brow at him and he chuckled. “Okay, we are definitely not normal. My point is, there are a lot of things about us that may not seem like they would work. But they do. This is us, baby, and admit it, its fucking perfect.”
I smiled because he was right. We weren’t like most people and so, therefore, our relationship would be like that either. But in our individual darkness, we became each other’s hope. He was the light that lit my way and I was the flame that kept his demons at bay.
The next morning, our blissful little bubble was popped with the loud ring of his phone. The moment he answered, I knew things were about to go sideways and I got a twisted feeling in my gut. I suddenly felt like things were about to get really bad, the kind of bad that you didn’t come back from. And I wondered if it would be my end.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Axe
“Yeah,” I said in a gruff voice as I answered the phone. It was early—too fucking early to be answering the damn phone. But it was Cal and so I had no choice but to pick up.
“Need you to get here,” he said and I could tell that there was something going on by the sharpness in his tone. “The Valories just showed up at the gates.”
“Fuck. What the hell do they want?” I asked as I jumped out of the bed and reached for my pants.
“I don’t know. Get here so we can find out,” he all but barked.
“On my way,” I said as I reached for my shirt and cut.
Allison rolled over, her naked body covered mostly with the sheet. Her hair a wild mess spread out on the pillows that I’d finally gotten around to getting. I smiled down at her but I could tell it did nothing to ease the worry she had within.
“I gotta go to the clubhouse. I’ll be back,” I said then bent down and kissed her soft lips. “It’s all good, babe. Don’t worry.”
Though as I said those words, I had a feeling it wasn’t. No way to know until I got there and so, I headed off as fast as I could. The sooner I reached the clubhouse, the sooner I would know why The fucking Valories were at our door.
The Valories were an all chick MC out of Virgina. We had never really had a run in with them before. For the most part, we were on different sides of the law and neither one of our clubs wanted to mingle with the other. They didn’t want to tarnish their so-called good name and we didn’t, well, I wasn’t sure why we had an aversion to them. I think it may have had something to do with things that happened long before my time. Nobody had said anything to me before and I didn’t fucking ask.
I rolled up to the gate. Ten bikes were parked waiting at the gate. Two lines, forming pretty much a V to the entrance. I wondered if they planned that shit. I mean, I knew they were trying to be out of the way but keep close at the same time, so the formation made sense. Maybe it was just ironic.
All of them were sitting on their bikes, looking badass and ready to roll. They reminded me of Tank’s woman, Nadya. And even I could admit, that I was a bit frightened of them.
Prospect Dane rushed the gate open as I got close. Giving a chin lift out of respect to who I presumed was the leader, I continued on my way to the front door.
They were going to wait there until all of us were here and Cal gave the go ahead.
Ten minutes later, we filled in the meeting table in church. Loch was absent again and it didn’t surprise me. At a time like this, I couldn’t even be mad at him. He’d always done right by this club and been there for all the little shit, as well as the big. So it was time for the club to be there for him. And if that meant that he needed time away to take care of his family, then so be it.
“I don’t know why they’re here but I’m curious to find out. I know we haven’t really had anythin’ to do with one another, but if they rode all this way it must be somethin’ important. So let’s all stay calm and listen. I don’t want them knowin’ any of the shit we are goin’ through, so no matter what, keep your fuckin’ mouths shut.” Cal’s warning rang clear in the room and we all understood.
“Go get ‘em,” he said as he nodded to Brand.
Brand and Diesel headed out of the room and about five minutes later returned with three of The Valories in tow, one that was clearly their president.
Cal cleared his throat as an older woman took the seat at the opposite end as Cal. She sat down like she had the fucking right to and all Cal did was raise a brow at her.
Oh, this was about to get good.
Her hair was long and yellowish blonde. I would have guessed she was in her late forties, and despite her age, she was pretty hot. Not that I was fantasizing about her or wanted to tap that. She kept herself in shape and she wasn’t lacking in the tits at all. Then again, The Valories MC was known for one thing. Bounty hunting. Not only that but they went after the hard to find jumpers. The ones that fled and went into hiding. The most dangerous of the criminals. I was sure staying in shape went a long way in their job.
“I ain’t got all day, Sherri. The fuck you come rollin’ up on my gates without so much as a call first?” Cal said and though his words were harsh, his tone wasn’t.
“Caliber.” She shook her head like she couldn’t believe the prez. “Look, we heard that you have a problem.”
“No problems here,” he said cutting her off.
“Goddammit, Cal. Just shut up and listen to what I have to say. I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be and I know you feel the same.”
I couldn’t believe she talked to Cal that way and more so, I couldn’t believe he sat there and took it. I would have liked to have said it was because she was a chick, but for some reason, I had a feeling it was something more.
“Go the fuck on then,” he barked, his eyes didn’t move away from her the entire time.
“This is The Devil’s Kings compound location.” As she held up a folded piece of paper I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.
Holy fuckin’ shit balls!
His eyes narrowed at her as if he was thinking it was some sort of trap. It could have been, but I couldn’t see them being involved in something like that.
Brand took the paper from Sherri and brought it over to Cal. I could see that Cal was hesitant, in fact, he didn’t even open the paper right away.
“Why?” he asked.
“Look, Cal. You and I both know what your club is into. Let’s not sit here and play like we don’t,” she said and I sensed a trace of boredom in her tone. “I know you are trying to go legit and to be honest, this club will never be able to be one hundred percent clean. You know that. It’s just the way it is. This club was born on the wrong side of the law and that’s all you guys have ever known.”
“I’m not askin’ for your thoughts on the future of my club. I’m fuckin’ asking why the hell you walked into my club with Savage’s location and just handed it over like it’s nothin’,” Cal said in a calm tone.
“I can’t touch this. I hate that man,” she started, shaking her head again. “He
is pure evil and something needs to be done. So, I’m bringing it to you.”
What she didn’t say hung thick in the air. She was good about watching every word that came out of her mouth and it made sense. From this short conversation, I could see how she was able to keep her club clean.
“You should just thank me so we can be on our way,” she said her voice full of humor.
“Sherri.” Cal’s hands clasped together in front of him on the table. “Why would I thank you for information I have no need for and don’t want?”
Even I could admit that he was playing it too cool. I had to try my damnedest to hold my laugh inside.
“Have it your way, Caliber.” She stood, and the other bitches left their spots on the wall to have her back. “It was good to see you.”
Something in her voice and the way her eyes stared him down led me to believe that she knew him better than just in passing. But whatever, I had too much going on in my head to even contemplate that Cal could have had something going on with anyone at some point. I knew he liked the clubwhores, but as far as having feelings for anyone past the moment he came, that was foreign to me.
Well, fuck me sideways. If that paper held what she said it held then I’ll be damned. This was the key we’d been looking for all along. I couldn’t fucking believe it.
The air in the room was as still as the conversation while we waited for Brand and Diesel to return. The small folded piece of paper sat there on the table in front of Cal, taunting us the whole time.
“Well, ain’t that some shit,” Cal said letting out a chuckle and breaking the tension in the room, but only slightly.
“Prez,” I said but his eyes didn’t move off of the paper, like for some reason if he looked away it was going to disappear into thin air. “You think this is legit? I mean, I don’t know those bitches from Jack Frost, so how do we know that we can trust them?”
