“What were you two laughing about?” I ask them when I join them back outside.
“It’s men stuff. You wouldn’t understand.” Callum shrugs and Elijah nods.
“Yeah, men stuff.” He grins widely at me and runs inside to get a teddy that Callum got him.
“Oh god.” I snort and follow them inside, totally checking out Callum’s ass.
“Enjoying the view?” He turns around and looks at me, totally busting me checking him out.
“Very much so.” I smirk and slap his ass.
“Good. I miss yours.” He kisses me and grabs my ass, giving it a good squeeze.
“If we were alone I’d totally do you right here, right now.”
“Is that so?” He smirks.
“Don’t be so cocky,” I scoff.
“You know how cocky I am.” He chuckles.
“Smartass.”
“Always.”
We all get in his car and he drives us to the compound where the party is already in full bloom and it’s only ten in the morning.
As soon as we are out of the car, Elijah goes to the playground and starts chatting away with a little girl who seems to be around his age.
“Looks like he’s made friends already.” Callum chuckles, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“He’s much better at this social thing than I am.”
“You’ll do great, Bella.” He kisses my head, and we walk toward Nancy and who I’m assuming is Bennett.
“Looks like he finally pulled his head out of his ass,” she says, hugging me.
“Shut it,” he mumbles.
“Don’t tell a pregnant woman to shut it.” She glares at him. “Don’t mind us, we have a long history together, I’ve known him for far too long.” She grins innocently.
“And me!” he scoffs and hugs her.
“I’m Bennett. I’ve learned to ignore these two, it’s better for my sanity. Just know that they never fucked.”
“Good to know.” I chuckle. “I’m Annabella.”
“I know all about you.” Bennett waggles his eyebrows. “Do I ever get a lap dance with a family discount?” He grins innocently.
“Oh shit,” I groan and glare at Callum.
“I’m going to deck you if you keep that up.” Callum glares at Bennett.
“What? I had to ask!” Nancy slaps him on the back of the head.
“Did you really have to tell him I was stripping?”
“He’s a good listener at times, I had to get some stuff off my chest.” Callum shrugs.
“At times? You wound me, brother.” Bennett sighs, looking disappointed.
“Fuck off.” Callum laughs and wraps his arm around my shoulders again, and we walk into the compound.
He introduces me to everyone, and it goes about the same as it did with Nancy and Bennett.
It’s good to see Callum in his element and joking around with everybody. It’s a side of him I have never seen, but I’m glad I saw it. He is not the hard-hearted guy he wants people to believe he is. He’s loving and caring even if to him it’s just normal because these people are his family.
He’d do everything for them and they would do everything for him. He might not have a blood family around anymore, but he has all these people who make it up for it. I’m glad he’s surrounded by so many good people. Some might not think these bikers are good people, but they are. They probably are better than half of the population. They take it upon themselves to fix whatever is wrong in their lives and not always in the most legal way, but it seems to be working well that way for them.
Callum
December 1, 2016
Things have been good with Bella and Elijah these past couple of weeks. We’ve been spending more time together, we’ve had a lot more sex and barely any fights. It always comes down to one subject, the stripping. I’m not one to tell a woman what to do with her life, but I don’t want her to go back there for those perverted men to look at her the way they do. Only I can do that, and I know it makes me fucking hypocritical as she likes to say it, but that’s just the way things are.
She hasn’t moved in with me yet. I want her to, but something is stopping me. Until we put the mystery of who is threatening her at rest, I don’t think I’ll be able to fully let her be here. Not because I don’t want to keep her close, but because they clearly are out to hurt me and her, not her friends or they would have attacked the house already.
Gabe, Aleck, Bennett, and Jase are on the lookout for anything suspicious happening around town. They adopted Bella in the group before she even met them and it was confirmed at the barbecue. She’s been hanging out with the girls a lot more either at the compound or at Josie’s coffee shop. I’m glad she has more friends now, and she seems a lot happier about it, too. She used to have only Gail and her family, but now she has a brand-new family, and she feels the love.
We don’t know if keeping an eye out will keep the danger out, but it’s worth a try as long as no one gets hurt. Whenever she’s at the coffee shop, one of my brothers spends some time either inside or keeping an eye on the shop. We don’t want to make it too obvious that we are keeping watch on Bella. Sure, it could discourage whoever is after us, but it could also entice them to pay more attention to her and get her in that split second she would be alone. I can’t risk that.
Right now, she’s at home with Elijah. He’s been spending more time at my place, and I don’t mind it at all. I actually like having him there. It puts back some life into the house. It’s just hard that he’s sleeping in Billy’s room. Bella didn’t want him to sleep in there because she was afraid of how I would react and while it’s true I struggled the first few times, it’s getting a little bit easier. The main issue is that if Elijah wakes up crying in the middle of the night, I jolt up in bed and for that split second, I think Billy is in there. It breaks my heart a bit more, but it’s quickly put to rest when Bella doesn’t wake up and I go see what’s wrong with him. I’ve fallen asleep with him more than once, and I suspect Bella has been taking pictures of the two of us asleep in the bed that is way too small for me. She’s totally going to use them as ammo at some point, and I’ll never live it down.
She really fits in with the girls. They are as bad as each other.
Driving home, I let my mind wander into the future, or rather, what our future would be.
It’s hard to imagine myself happy and with a new family. I feel like I’m cheating on Alina and Billy and replacing them. I know I’m not. I have to move on and live for myself at some point, but that’s how I feel most of the time.
I’d love nothing more than to have a family again, despite all the heartache it can bring. I still struggle to see the positive in things at times. Nancy has been trying to get me to open up to Bella. I still haven’t been able to tell her my life story. I want to, but I don’t know how. I’m not good with words, and I’m surely even worse at showing and telling someone I love them. Bella knows I love her without me saying the words. If I do, that’s when things are going to get fucked up.
Parking my Harley in the driveway, I get off it and walk to the front door. I’m about to put the key in the lock but the door is ripped open and a frightened Bella is on the other side.
“What’s w—”
“There’s been another note. Not even five minutes ago!” she says through gritted teeth.
“What?” I walk in and lock the door behind me, arming the security system.
“Here.” She takes it from the small entry table and shoves it toward me nervously. I take it and read it over a couple of times, unbelieving what is written on it.
You thought I was done when I took Alina and Billy from you.
You thought you could live a happy life with Bella and Elijah.
You thought I would forget what you’ve done to me.
I’m always in the shadow.
I know everything that you do.
I know when you’re near Bella, when one of your brothers is, and when she’s alone.
<
br /> I will get her, Callum.
One day, when you least expect it, I’ll get her and kill her and Elijah in much worse ways than what I did to Alina and Billy.
I’ll make you watch.
You’re not going to recover from this.
I’ll make sure you’re unable to kill yourself so you suffer.
Suffer like you’ve made Alina suffer, like you’ve made Billy suffer, like you’ve made Emily suffer.
You are going to pay for all the wrongs you’ve done in your life.
And I can’t wait to be the one to bring Callum Richardson down.
I know where you live.
I know where Bella lives.
I’ll see you both very soon.
I’m at a loss for words. I know who is behind all of this now, which doesn’t make any of this better.
“Who is Emily?” Bella asks, sounding confused as she brings me to the kitchen.
“Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue.” I really don’t know. I don’t know nor do I remember ever knowing an Emily.
“That’s strange.” She sighs.
“This fucking mess is because of me. I’ve told you that from the beginning. I should have never let myself get this close to you.”
“I’m going to stop you right there. If you’re trying to break up with me, push me away, or whatever to get rid of me, it won’t work. Whether we stay together or you leave me, he won’t back down from whatever is masterplan is. He wants to make us suffer, and I’m fed up with this man’s bullshit. He’s handling this like a teenager, passing threats in little notes. That’s fucked up. I don’t know what happened in your life with this man, but fuck it all to hell if I’m going to let him ruin what we have. I’m here if you want to talk about what happened with him or in your life. Whatever you want to tell me, I’m here,” she says placing a bottle of beer in front of me before disappearing into the living room. Well fuck, I didn’t expect her to react like that. I thought she would be scared shitless, pack up and leave as she is used to doing.
It takes me a few minutes before I can join her. I had to try and come up with something to say, but it’s harder than I thought.
“Alina was engaged to someone when we met. She dumped him for me, and we got together the same day. He was never really a problem for the longest time. Never came around, never spied on us, at least not that I know of. I don’t remember ever seeing him around. Things started to change when we had Billy. From time to time we’d get phone calls and no one would be on the other line, just heavy breathing. They became more frequent as Billy grew older. I was always the one picking up those phone calls, at least I think so. Alina never mentioned anything. One morning, she was going to drop Billy off at school and like every morning, I was with them on the lawn to see them off.
“As she was trying to start the car, it was making a buzzing noise. It wasn’t that strange, her car had been having troubles so I didn’t really pay much attention to it. When she tried again, the buzzing was louder and suddenly the car went up in flames. The inside was a blazing inferno that trapped Alina and Billy inside. I couldn’t do anything. I wanted to, but I couldn’t help them. It killed me to watch them burn alive. To know what they were going through was because of me being unable to stay away from her and pursue her.
“When I met Nancy, those phone calls started again. They were a warning that someone was still watching me in the background and aware of what I was doing and who I was seeing. I wanted to put distance between Nancy and me, but I couldn’t. I knew she needed me. Fortunately, nothing happened to her.
“The same thing happened when I fucked Lewis. Phone calls every other day. They were silent threats so I had nothing to go by and at that point, Jase wasn’t a cop anymore so I couldn’t ask him to trace the calls. The cops wouldn’t have helped anyway. The same thing is going on with you, except those phone calls. I haven’t received any since Lewis but you’ve got the notes.” I sigh.
“That man is seriously fucked up. Why would someone do that?” she says, dumbfounded.
“Because he’s clearly deranged. If he couldn’t have Alina, neither could I.”
“Why wait for four or five years?”
“To make sure I’d suffer as much as he did? I’m not sure. I never got to talk with him. Nor do I want to. If I ever see him, he’s dead,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I’m sorry he’s been causing you so much heartache.” She kisses my shoulder, wrapping her small arms around me.
“Do you get now why I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to still be together?”
“Fuck that. He’s not going to stop his quest of making you suffer even if you dump me, so get that out of your mind.”
“I’m just trying to protect you.” I blow out a breath.
“And clearly you’re doing it the wrong way.”
“Maybe. Why aren’t you scared out of your mind?” I look at her.
“Because I know you won’t let anything happen to Elijah and me.”
“Fuck, woman.” I wrap my arms around her and lean back into the couch.
“What?” She chuckles softly.
“Too real.” I kiss her head.
“Badass Callum can’t handle some realness?”
“He can, but he’s at his limit. If I keep at it, my balls are going to drop off, and I’ll grow a vagina.”
“You’re such a dick.” She punches my ribs, and I flinch. “What?”
“I was shot not that long ago. Go easy on me.”
“Sorry, big baby.” She snorts and kisses me. “You done trying to push me away?”
“Do I really have a say in that matter?”
“Fuck no. It was a rhetorical question.”
“Figured.” I kiss her deeply. “You’re one of a kind.”
“I know, I’m fucking awesome!”
“And so humble.”
“You’re a bit awesome too.”
“Finally you acknowledge it.”
“Don’t be so cocky about it.”
“You and my cock.” I chuckle and carry her upstairs. Life is good right in this moment, even with the enormous Damocles sword hanging over our heads. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time.
Bella is a lot stronger than I gave her credit for. She can hold her own and reacts better than I do in a situation like this. The way she had to live her life, pregnant and on her own, has strengthened her and taught her how to deal with the unexpected. She’s not afraid of danger when I wish she would pack up and leave so that she’s far away from me. But then, I wouldn’t be able to protect her, which wouldn’t solve the issue at hand.
Annabella
Knowing what Callum has been through with Alina and Billy gives me a better understanding of everything now. The way he’s acting, the way he’s trying to push me away since I’ve started receiving the threats. It all falls into place, and I don’t blame him. It’s his very own fucked up coping mechanism to push someone away before something bad can happen to them because of him, or so he thinks.
He won’t understand that the one who started all of this is Alina. I’m not trying to blame everything on her, but she’s the one who dumped that psycho and went to Callum. She didn’t have to do that, even though the man is pretty irresistible.
Had she not gone to Callum, none of this would be going on and she’d probably still be alive. Man, that sounds harsh coming from me. Either way, trying to make Callum understand that it’s not his fault is like trying to tell a kid on Halloween that he can’t eat all of his candy. It’s impossible!
Yes, the shit storm is following Callum, but he’s not the one creating the problems. I just hope he’ll understand that before it’s too late.
The note that I got today scared the shit out of me. More so for Callum and Elijah than for myself. I don’t want either of them to go through any length of pain. I’d rather suffer for them than have them hurt. I don’t think Callum expected me to stay this calm. I’ve had time to adjust to getting those thr
eats, they were scaring me in the beginning, but I’ve learned to enjoy the moment and hope for the best. Which is what the other girls from the MC seem to be doing. They aren’t letting the bad guys put a shadow over their lives anymore.
The only thing I’m hoping for is that the psycho sending the notes is just all talk and no real action. He’s spent the past three months sending notes, trashing my place, and blowing up my car, which I still don’t get if I was meant to be inside. I left work early that night. I didn’t give any lap dances, and the car blew up before I was in it. I don’t know if it was just a warning or if it blew up too early by accident. Either way, the cops have no lead at all. I’ve shown them the notes besides the one I got tonight, and they haven’t been able to match it to anyone. It makes me wonder if they are actually interested in helping us at all. I’m starting to understand Callum’s resentment for the cops.
Distant screaming wakes me from a deep sleep, and I put the pillow over my head to stop it but it gets closer and closer. I groan, frustrated as I’ve been suffering from some serious lack of sleeping these past couple of weeks.
‘No, Billy!’ the distant voice screams, and I realize that it’s not so distant. The screams come from next to me, and I’m awake instantly. I throw the pillow away from my face and look at a shaking and crying Callum. He’s still sleeping and probably having a nightmare about what happened fourteen years ago.
“Callum, I’m here, it’s okay, you’re just having a nightmare,” I say in a soothing voice wrapping myself around him, hoping it’ll do the trick, but it’s not that easy. “Baby, calm down.” I shake him gently to wake him up to no avail.
“Mommy, what’s going on?” a sleepy Elijah asks.
“It’s alright, sweetheart. Callum is having a nightmare. Go back to bed,” I say softly.
“Oh,” he scrunches his cute, little face and jumps into bed, cuddling his little body into Callum. “I don’t like it when I have nightmares.”
“I know.” I smile softly at him and stroke his cheek. Not two seconds after he’s cuddling Callum, he calms down and stops shaking. I sigh in relief as the screaming and crying subside, and Elijah slowly falls back asleep cuddling on Callum’s chest.
Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6) Page 18
