by H. M. Montes
“Hey Bryan, I kind of need to talk to you. Are you at the club? If you’re busy you can just call me later.”
“No I just walked in the house, everything okay?”
One thing about Bryan is he could always read people even without seeing them. “Honestly no, not at all. I really don’t want to talk about it over the phone though. Can you come to campus tomorrow? We can talk before the game.”
“Sure, is it okay if I bring Cade? He’s been helping out a bunch at the MC, I think your dad is going to just patch him over to our club.”
Cade would know exactly why they were coming here and he would be furious. “Yeah can you have him text or call me please?”
“Who? Cade or your dad?” he asked with a laugh.
“Cade. I’ll see you tomorrow after my last class.”
“Later Syd.” The call disconnected.
Theresa came out of the bathroom, “Is he coming?”
“Yeah and he’s brining Cade. This could get really really ugly.” I laid down on my bed.
“No, it’s already ugly, it’s going to get real for that asshole Syd. If anybody can stop him and protect you, it’s those guys.”
We each shut our lamps off and laid there in the darkness not speaking both thinking. I closed my eyes and felt the tears seep past my lashes. I choked back a sob and sucked in a deep breath then my phone rang with a number I knew had to be Cade.
“Hello?”
“How bad is it?” His voice sent a shiver through my body.
“It’s not good at all. If you don’t want to come tomorrow that’s fine, I don’t blame you for not wanting to get mixed up in this mess.” I told him.
The line was silent for a few seconds, “Can I tell you something?” he spoke low and soft into the phone.
“Yes.”
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the night you watched me shower.” This time it was me that was quiet, waiting for him to say more, “I’ll be there tomorrow. You can fucking bet on that.” He said.
“Thank you.” A tear slid down my cheek.
“Syd, do not let yourself be alone with him. He’s going to try everything in his power to get you alone. I’ll be there tonight if you want me there.”
I remained quiet, “Would you and Bryan both be able to come? We aren’t supposed to let guys stay the night but honestly. I’m scared for me and Theresa.”
“We’ll be there in an hour, text me your info.”
“Okay, be careful.” We hung up and I text him the dorm number.
Theresa started laughing, “Who in the hell is staying here? Have you seen this dorm size? There’s not even room for two guys on the floor Syd.”
“Bryan and Cade.”
She flipped her lamp on, “Bryan AND Cade?”
“Is that okay?” I knew she was nervous too about Ronnie coming back.
“Oh it’s more than okay. I’ve always had the hot’s for Bryan. I think we’re better off keeping the lights off until they get here. I’m guessing Ronnie is out there lurking somewhere.”
A shiver of fear ran through me, part of me wanted to look out the window to see if he was out there but I chose to not look.
My phone beeped with a message, I was hoping it was from Cade but it wasn’t:
Ronnie: Syd, please don’t ignore me. I fucking love you to the moon & back. I’m trying to change, I know I have problems. I swear I will do whatever you want me to, please just talk to me babe. I <3 you.
Me: You have no idea how much you’ve hurt me. How can you tell me you love me knowing you haven’t been honest with me the entire relationship?
Ronnie: I have been honest with you, please can we just go somewhere and talk?
Me: Not tonight, we just need to take a break. You need to get help and I need to figure out things in my head. You really have no idea how much you hurt my heart.
Ronnie: Fuck taking a break Syd!! We are mature fucking adults, we can work through this together. Please meet me at the beach so we can talk? Please. I’ll wait outside your door if I have to.
Me: Just focus on the last game tomorrow, let me have the weekend to think about my feelings and I’ll talk to you Sunday.
“Is that him texting you?” Theresa broke the silence.
I froze when I heard the sound of Ronnie’s motorcycle screaming away from the building. “Oh my god he’s been outside the entire time.” My voice shook. I moved through the darkness to her bed and handed her my phone so she could read the messages.
“You are NOT going to be talking to him alone, do you understand me.”
“I know.” I laid down beside her and tried to calm my shaking but nothing would stop it. I woke up to my phone ringing. “Hello?”
“We are coming in through the back way.” Cade said and hung up.
I climbed out of bed and waited by the door, the hallway lights were dim when I looked through the peep hole. Then Bryan’s face came into view with Cade towering over him. I quickly unlocked the deadbolt and the door knob and let them in.
Bryan hugged me, “Calm down Syd the college knows we are here. You’re not going to get in trouble.”
“What? How do they know?”
He pointed a thumb over his shoulder, “He has connections.” He said about Cade. Theresa turned her lamp on, Bryan looked over at her and smiled. “So fill us in on what’s going on.” He said then looked back at me.
“I’ll just show you some stuff and answer questions for now.” I handed him my phone with the pictures that Theresa had taken of me.
Cade looked at them then at me, his jaw set tight and his shoulders tense. “I’m going to kill the motherfucker.” He said in a low whisper.
“You,” Bryan pointed at me, “Sit the fuck down and tell me why the fuck you are just now realizing this guy is a woman beating piece of shit.”
I walked over to my bed and sat down, I didn’t want to cry in front of them so I took a few deep breaths before I told them about everything that Shelby had told me. Bryan and Cade remained standing and read the text messages Ronnie had sent me earlier. When I told them he was outside the building the entire time they both shook their heads. “We’ve got rooms booked for a hotel tomorrow night and Saturday if he comes to look for you here tough shit, you’re not here.” Bryan said then started taking his riding gear off. Theresa sat that staring at him and Cade both, Cade massive body made our room seem like it was the size of a card board box. “Lights out girls.” Bryan said with a grin and turned the lamp off. I heard belt buckles and clothes hit the floor, Theresa squeaked when Bryan climbed in her bed. They both laughed and started whispering. When Cade touched my leg and climbed behind me my bed springs popped and squeaked causing him to laugh.
I slid under the covers and tried to stay as close to the edge of the bed as possible, “Come here.” Cade whispered and gently rolled me so I was facing him. The moon was hitting his face through the blinds just enough I could see his eyes. We laid there looking at each other, my nerves were still causing me to shake, “Tomorrow things have been changed up for the last game. You guys are going to do a pep rally in the morning; in the afternoon a local grade school is coming to tour the campus. They’ll split the kids off into groups; the cheer squad will be paired up with groups so you can show them around the campus. I will always be within ear shot at all times. If he approaches you, tighten your pony tail and I’ll make him go away. After the game tomorrow night, you’ll ride with me and she’ll ride with Bryan. Your cars will be moved to another local club house, Sunday morning you and her will be moving out of the dorms and into one of the safe houses they have here in town.”
“My, dad though, him and mom will know something is up when I tell them we are moving out.”
“Your dad’s going to find out sooner or later, convincing him not to kill the asshole is what I’m worried about Syd.”
Cade was right, I shouldn’t be hiding this from my parents, but I knew that dad would go to drastic measures to protect me. “
What about the rest of the year? He’ll still be on campus.”
Cade took a deep breath and slowly released it, “I know, you’re just going to have to make sure you and Theresa never separate. Your class schedules are now exactly the same so you two will be connected at the hip until you graduate. Try and get some sleep.” He kissed my forehead and pulled me as tight against his body as he could, avoiding my upper back.
I knew each time I called her little girl it pissed her off, she might be little but she was all fucking woman, never in my life had I felt such a strong pull to a woman as I did with Sydney. The very second we collided at the back door of the club I wanted to drag her away from everybody. But she flinched at my touch—then I seen the bruises. My blood was boiling instantly, rage, anger, hate, you name it. I wanted to kill that motherfucker Ronnie, I knew, fucking knew he had put those marks on her.
~~~~
She’s scared to death, wrapped in my arms, she’s shaking…shaking just like my mom did when she would curl up in my bed after dad beat her. Dad yelling, moms body slamming against the wall, dad’s slurred words, his fist connecting with moms body—his massive foot kicking my bedroom door in. “No Charley leave him alone!” mom cried as she ran and jumped on dads back before he could smash his fist into my stomach again like he had so many times before. Her face bruised, lip bleeding… “Get out Cade go!” she yelled as he tipped his shoulder back and flung her off. I darted for my bedroom door but my feet left the ground when dad grabbed my shirt and yanked me back. His eyes not the normal green like mine, they were bloodshot and dark as midnight. I was twelve years old the night my dad died, the night the single bullet went right through his heart stopping it. My ears rang from the blast, mom dropped the pistol in the doorway and started crying. She rushed over to me helped me up and carried me to the bed and shook with her sobs I wrapped my arms tightly around her until the silence was flooded with the sound of police sirens and the front door of our house being kicked in by the cops. Guns drawn they shouted orders for whoever had the gun to surrender. “He’s never going to hurt us again Cade.” mom whispered as she hugged me and brushed a hand through my hair.
Sydney wrapped her arms tighter around me, “I’ve never been this scared of a guy before.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you.” I kissed the top of her head and felt her relax and her shaking subsided.
I knew when Bryan said she needed us that things had gotten worse, just like I had told her they would. When she told us what that Shelby chic had told her, when she showed us the pictures, and the text messages. It took all I had not to leave her and go find Ronnie, the pleading look in her eyes made my mind up for me. She needed to feel safe she needed to know that she was safe. Her cell phone chimed with a text message, I stopped her from rolling over to grab it. Nothing that motherfucker had to say was important, nothing he had to say was going to hurt her or scare her ever again if I had anything to do with it. “Just ignore it.” I whispered to her, I felt her nod against my chest then after a few minutes her breathing evened out when she fell asleep.
I pried my eyes open when her alarm clock on her phone started quacking, “A duck are you fucking serious?” I mumbled. I reached over her shoulder and grabbed the phone to silence the alarm.
“Shut the duck up for fucks sake.” Bryan grumbled from Theresa’s bed.
Sydney’s shoulders shook with her silent laugh, “You think it’s funny?” I said and looked down at her.
“Very.” She smiled and ran her hand across my chest to one of my nipple rings and flicked it up and down. “Did that hurt?” she looked up at me.
She lightly tugged it causing my dick to start growing hard, I cleared my throat and pushed her hand away, “You really shouldn’t mess with it.”
Her thigh brushed against my dick and her eyes grew wide, “OH!” she jumped out of the bed like it was on fire.
I grinned and laid back with my hands behind my head as she hurried into the bathroom with her clothes in hand.
“Hey asshole she’s off limits, remember that.” Bryan said as he stretched.
“Yep.” He didn’t have to remind me, Lucifer would cut my dick off if he knew the thoughts that were going through my head. Theresa tapped on the bathroom door and asked if she could go in there, the door lock clicked so she squeezed through the opening.
“That just made a million and one dirty things go through my head and right to my dick.” Bryan said as he pulled his clothes on and adjusted himself through his jeans.
I shook my head, “Did you explain to her what’s going on today?”
He nodded his head yes, “I heard text messages coming in most of the night, what did the asshole say in them?”
I picked her cell phone up and started scrolling through them, they were all him begging her to come talk to him except for the last two where he threatened her by saying “This is not ending it’s not over.”
Bryan read the messages and shook his head, “Her dad is going to flip the fuck out when he finds out.”
“That’s no shit…”
The bathroom door opened and out stepped Sydney in her tiny black cheerleading uniform and a towel wrapped around her head.
My eyes got big, “Are you fucking serious? You wear that to cheer in?”
She looked down at the top that stopped mid stomach and the skirt was enough to cover just over her ass cheeks. Sydney ran her hand across her stomach and down one hip, my eyes followed the line of her hand, thoughts of my tongue running across her skin flashed through my mind. I curled my hands into fists as the thought of gliding my hands across her skin feeling goose bumps prickle under my fingertips. Sydney cleared her throat, my eyes snapped up to her face, one eyebrow was raised. “You were saying?”
I shook my head, “Nothing, I’m starving though. I’ll go get some coffee and breakfast.” I grabbed my wallet and hurried out the door. I had to stop anything I felt for her and focus on two very important things, one-she’s Lucifer’s daughter two-we were here to protect her and Theresa until they were in the safe house. I blew out a breath as I walked down the hall of the dorm and out the double doors. I scanned the area for Ronnie but nobody was out and about yet. I fired up my custom two thousand six chopper. The S&S 117 motor roared to life, I let it warm up for a couple of minutes then pulled out of the parking lot.
When I got back to the dorm Sydney and Theresa were both finishing their make-up. I put the to-go bag on the small table and the four coffees next to it. Sydney looked at me through the mirror, fuck, that woman. I shook my head and pulled the muffins, burritos, and sausage links out of the bag. Sydney walked over looked in the bag then at me and walked back over to her bed so she could pack her cheer bag. “You not gonna eat?” I asked her.
“Uh no, once you see the flying I’ll be doing you’ll understand why I’m waiting.” She said with a smile.
After they had their cheer bags packed we all started to walk out of the dorm, “Are you two following us all day long?” Theresa stopped as she locked the door.
“Planned on it, is that a problem?” Bryan asked and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Suit yourself I guess.” She said with a shrug, looped her arm through Sydney’s as they all but skipped out of the building.
Once they were out of earshot Bryan stopped walking and stopped me, “I’m not sure what’s going through that head of yours but you need to remember why we are here. Getting your dick wet by her will make things pretty god damn complicated.” He pinned me with a glare.
“I know that, for fuck sake.” I gritted out through my teeth.
“Right.” He said then pushed the doors to the building open.
Sydney and Theresa were now in a deep conversation with a couple of other cheerleaders and who I assumed was the coach. As we approached they all stopped talking, a tall skinny red head looked me up and down while biting the corner of her bottom lip. “Hey I’m Stasha.” She held her hand out for me to shake.
“Cade.” I shook
her hand then Bryan introduced himself.
“Anyways,” Sydney interrupted, “Are we are going to show them the Nationals routine?” she asked with excitement.
“YEP, they are going to go crazy!” The vibrant lady wearing shorts and a Washington State Hawks shirt turned towards me and Bryan. “I’m Cindy, I know why you’re here all I ask is that there is no confrontation in front of the entire school.”
“As long as he doesn’t make her uncomfortable there’s going to be no problem at all.” I told her then looked at Sydney. “Ready?”
They all started walking in a group through the campus, Bryan and I hung back. “Surely he won’t approach her with us around.”
“I hope for Sydney and Theresa’s sake he doesn’t. I have absolutely no problem with him trying to talk to her. He puts his hands on her though and shit’s gonna get real in a hurry.” I told him.
“Speak of the fucking devil.” He nodded his head past the group in front of us.
Ronnie was talking to other football players, he looked at the group of cheerleaders, smiled looked away then quickly looked back and stepped away from the group of guys he was talking to. “He looks like shit.” I said with a chuckle. The closer he got the more the dark lines under his eyes showed, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Before he could get close to Sydney, Cindy stepped in front of him, “She doesn’t have time to chit chat buddy boy, we have to get to the gym and practice before you all come in.” she patted his chest and motioned for the squad to follow her. His jaw muscle ticked and eyes narrowed at Cindy then he looked behind the girls and seen Bryan and me standing there.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” he asked with a sneer.
“Just visiting a friend.” Bryan grinned at him.
“Can’t find any pussy your own age so you have to come to a college campus and try to get some stray?” he said with a laugh and shook his head. “Fuckin pathetic.”
“Right.” I said with a grin as I shouldered past him knocking him back a couple of steps.
