by Jordan Marie
“Yeah?” I grumble into the phone. I feel Carrie place a kiss on my chest. I look down to a sea of golden red locks, I feel another feather-light kiss and then she snuggles back down, her breathing evening out. Shit. Had the other person answered yet? I’ve pulled the phone away from my ear to watch Carrie. This woman is so fucking dangerous. “What?” Wondering who the hell is calling.
“I said, I need you at the club.”
Dragon.
I may have wanted to take a breather from Carrie, but going to the club is not what I had in mind. That place fucks with my head. The men and the loud party atmosphere, I can’t handle it. Always before, I’d go to a bar, find a good lay within a few minutes and take her (or them) back to the cheap hotel I was living in. The few times I’ve been summoned to the club have played hell with my brain. In prison we were always kept in groups, never alone. When the men weren’t talking or yelling, the guards were. There was never silence. It only got worse at night. At night you were locked in your tiny cell with another inmate. The room was always so hot and thick with stomach-souring odors. There’s no way to describe the actual stink and desperation that clamps over everything in prison.
“Motherfucker, are you listening to me?”
No.
“I can’t leave Carrie unprotected,” I argue, ignoring the fact that I almost left her alone before Dragon called.
“Bull should be there anytime to watch over Red. You get your ass to me. It’s important.”
“Fuck no. Bull is not getting around my woman,” I yell back before I can stop myself.
“I know you didn’t just argue with me. I said Bull will watch over your woman and Dance? He. Will. Watch. Over. Your. Woman.”
“Damn it, Dragon,” I raise up off the bed. I dislodge Carrie off of me in the process, but I’m fucking pissed at my brother. She moans, but doesn’t wake up. She rolls over to her side, the white sheet hangs loosely around her body, leaving her breasts completely exposed. My cock is totally standing at attention now, shit. “Bull doesn’t need to be anywhere near Carrie, you have to know he’s hung up on her.”
“He won’t go there with a brother’s old lady.”
“Bullshit….”
“He won’t, unless Carrie wants it. So I guess it depends on how you’re treating her,” Dragon comes back at me. He doesn’t realize what a bear he is poking. I cannot handle that shit. The thought of another man putting his hands on Carrie? Someone else getting even a small taste of what I just had? Just the thought makes me tighten my hand on my phone, so much, it is a wonder the damn thing doesn’t crumble into dust.
“She’s passed out after I popped her cherry and fucked her seven ways to Sunday. I made her scream so loud the neighbors probably called 911. Does that answer your question?”
I hear a gasp from behind me and glance over my shoulder to see Carrie looking as if I had slapped her. Her face is white and those damn green eyes are looking at me with…shame?
“You’re a fucking ass, Dance man.”
I absolutely am and even more so than he knows right now.
“Bull will watch Carrie and you will get your ass here,” Dragon finishes.
“I don’t…”
“Wow, I didn’t realize.”
“Realize what?” I ask trying to watch Carrie as she gets up with the sheet wrapped around her.
“That I woke up this morning in a world where it is fucking okay for you to question me. Get your ass here, or I’ll make sure it gets here. I’ve cut you slack Dance, but do not fucking test me on this,” he orders, hanging up.
I end the call and turn to watch Carrie walking away.
“Carrie, honey I didn’t…”
“Yes you did, you enjoyed telling him,” she says quietly, turning to look at me.
“I didn’t lie, there’s no reason for you to be acting like I did,” I grumble, knowing I’m making a bigger fucking mess, but I’m not about to keep apologizing.
“No, you didn’t lie.”
“Damn it, Princess.”
“Don’t worry about it, Jacob,” she says quietly, turning to go into the bathroom.
“You should be glad you got a man that makes you…”
“I am glad to be with you, Jacob. I just don’t think you can say the same. Tell me, Jacob? Will it upset you at all when you succeed in pushing me away? Or is that not important, now that you’ve had me?”
Her quiet questions punch me in the gut. She doesn’t stay to see the hit delivered. She closes the door and leaves it to echo in the silence. I look down and see the small stain of red blood on the sheet. My guilt ramps up.
Fuck. Fuck! Fuck!! FUCK!
Chapter 19
Carrie
IT IS WEAK, I admit it. I lean against the bathroom door, until I hear Jacob’s bike start up and become a distant rumble. I run a bath with hot, hot water and slide inside. I wash every inch of my skin, needing to feel less used. I hold it together, until the hot water becomes less than lukewarm and then, my tears fall.
I don’t know how long I cried. It could have been ten minutes—it could have been an hour. I’d probably still be lost, except for the touch on my shoulder. I gasp in surprise. Nicole is looking down at me, with a sad look on her face.
“Let’s get you out of here, before you prune up,” she says. Proof she has been here for a while, she is holding a big bath towel out to me.
I wrap up in the towel and let her lead me back to the bedroom. She has stripped the bed and put clean sheets on it. I’m a little sad because those sheets smelled like Jacob. I might be hurting, but if I could wrap up in his scent and just pretend it was all okay for the night? Just pretend long enough to sleep? I’d be okay with that.
“I found your pajamas. Dry off and put them on and I’ll brush your hair.”
“You don’t have to…”
“Shush, you need a friend and I’ve decided it is going to be me. So suck it up and do as I say. I’ll go get you something to drink.”
“How do you know?” I question, not able to voice the whole question. I’m not sure I want to face or process what has happened.
“Dragon told me.”
“Of course he did, I guess everyone knows now.”
“Only me, and shame on you for thinking Dragon would ever do something like that.”
“I didn’t really. I figured Jacob has already told the world.”
I notice she doesn’t argue with that. Probably, because she knows I’m right.
“What do you want to drink?” She asks, going to the door.
“Getting drunk sounds appealing right now and don’t try to tell me I’m underage,” I mumble. I don’t need to be told I’m a child. I am adult even if I don’t feel equipped to handle this situation with Jacob.
“Brandy it is,” she mumbles.
I dry off, and slip on the clothes she laid out. Then, I crawl under the covers. I lay my head on the pillow and mourn the fact that it no longer smells of Jacob. I grab the other one and hold it close to my stomach, hugging it.
I have no idea where to go from here. I’m not ready to give up, but suddenly I’m seeing this may be a bigger job than I first imagined.
“Here, sit up and take a drink of this. We need to brush your hair.”
“I don’t want to, I just want to go to sleep,” I say honestly.
“Drink and hush,” she bosses placing the drink in my hands. I take a sip, grimacing at the obvious dark taste of alcohol.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She asks angling behind me. I guess I’m getting my hair brushed, whether I want it or not. I take another drink.
“No.”
“I warned you it wasn’t going to be easy,” she says while she runs a brush through my curls.
“I think you possibly understated that,” I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
Nicole makes a sound close to a snort, agreeing with me. It’s probably more of an I told you so, because she did. She absolutely did and it is the reason I’m here now an
d not half way to Georgia, or hell anywhere else. Here is being in Jacob’s bed, with my heart ripped out while he tosses out facts about my virginity.
I’m mad at myself because I’m still in his bed. I didn’t throw things at him, throw him out or anything! Instead I cried, while he left like hell’s fire was nipping at his heels. Worse, I’m still missing him. When did I become such a doormat?
“You’re not a doormat.”
Shit, I didn’t realize I said that out loud.
“I am, but I deserve to be. I’m the reason Jacob killed that man. I’m the reason he was put in jail. I’m the reason he was there and was…attacked.”
My voice breaks on the last note. I can’t bring myself to say raped. It keeps screaming in my brain, but I can’t give voice to it.
“Carrie…”
“It’s true, Nicole,” I say, swallowing the last of my drink and reaching over to put it on the table. “It’s my fault, all of it.”
“Bullshit! Jacob’s a grown ass man. He did what he did and you can’t take the guilt of that.”
“Guilt. God, there’s so much guilt. Jacob has so much he can’t breathe. I have so much it hurts to breathe. How can that ever work out Nicole? I think you’re wrong. I’m not the person to save Jacob. I’m too clueless to help him.”
Nicole is silent. She stops brushing my hair and instead I can feel her braiding it. It feels nice, relaxing even. I close my eyes, wishing I could still the thoughts in my brain.
“I wasn’t wrong. Dancer’s already let you in more than he has anyone else—so I wasn’t wrong.”
“But?” I ask, because I can hear a but.
“You have to decide if you’re strong enough to see this through, because I’m not going to lie, I think this might be small compared to some of the hits you may take.”
Am I strong enough?
“Was it worth it for you?” I ask. She’s finished with my hair and we’re both quiet, like we’re afraid to move.
“It is different for me. I love the person involved, but I’m not in love with them. The attacks…they aren’t personal so they don’t cut as deep as the ones you’re taking, Carrie.”
“Even when it’s good, there are still…things that keep it from being what it should be, Nicole,” I confess, like it’s a dirty little secret. It hurts that I couldn’t hold Jacob while we made love. It cuts that I couldn’t hold him close and love him the way I have dreamed of for years.
“I know, baby,” She says, only she doesn’t—not really.
“I’m so tired,” I say for no reason in particular, just that I am. I am bone-deep tired. I think if I managed to shut my brain down and go to sleep, I’d sleep for days, weeks even.
“There’s something else I know,” Nicole says getting off the bed and picking up the towel I had used.
“What’s that?” I ask not really caring. I lay back down against the pillow now that Nicole has left the bed.
“If the roles were reversed and it was me and Dragon? I’d fight so fucking hard to pull him out of the hell he was in. I’d fight with everything I had and I wouldn’t give up no matter what. I’d fight with my last dying breath, Carrie.”
“Dragon loves you,” I answer. If Jacob loved me, I’d never waiver. I don’t have the security of that, I don’t think I ever will and that’s where the problem lies.
“True, but I love Dragon. I love him so much that I’d fight just for the chance that someday he’d be happy. You need to decide if you love Jacob that much, or if everyone and their mothers are right and you’re too young to know that kind of love.”
“They think I’m too young?” I ask, hurt but annoyed because it seems I’ve been the topic of conversation among the Savage MC compound.
“Why do you think they moved you away from the parties and things? They see you as a young kid sister they need to protect. Hell Crusher even lets you call him by a name he hates.”
“They don’t,” I argue, though warmth fills me at the thought of these tough men thinking of me as family.
“Yeah, you’re right,” she says and damn there goes that feeling of belonging out the window. “Bull absolutely does not think of you as a sister.”
Yeah, I’m not going there.
“Turn the light out, I need to sleep,” I say rolling over on my side and curling back into Jacob’s pillow.
“Just saying, hooking yourself up to Bull’s wagon would definitely be easier and he’d be good to you.”
“He’s not Jacob,” I whisper the sad truth, “I don’t want anyone but Jacob.”
“That’s how I knew Dragon was the one for me, Carrie.”
I sigh, my brain is on overload.
“Do you know, I’m not that much older than you are?”
I did. I don’t say anything.
“I have a brother. No one knows that. He’s actually a half-brother, who is ten years older than I am. A brother and we never talk, ever.”
“I…” Nicole goes on before I have a chance to say anything.
“He’s thirty-five years old and all he can do is drink and make mess after mess. My father always bails him out. Me, they refuse to talk to. Even when I sent word they were going to be grandparents, they wouldn’t talk. They’re older, my brother is older.”
“Nicole…”
“My point Care Bear, is that age is just a number. When I look at you I don’t see a young girl who doesn’t know her mind. I see a woman who has survived. I see a woman who is in love.”
“Care Bear?” I ask, my heart feeling a little lighter.
“Dragon says he heard Dancer call you that. I like it. It fits you.”
I don’t reply and she must give up, because she turns out the light. I hear the squeak of the door.
“Nicole?”
“Yeah?”
“I won’t give up.”
“I never thought you would. Take a nap, I’ll be out here with Bull if you need me.”
“What was all of this?”
“Even strong women need a kick in the pants.”
“So you just kicked me?”
“You’re welcome,” she says and I hear the door close.
I fall asleep with a smile on my lips for some reason.
Chapter 20
Dragon
I’M PROBABLY MAKING a mistake. Hell, I don’t know. I’ve wrestled with it for a week and I’m still not sure how to handle things. The only thing clear is that Dancer is not getting better. He may have allowed Carrie to get closer to him, but a damned fool could see he is just going through the motions. If I continue to ignore it and do nothing? If I do that and Dancer keeps spiraling? That will be on me. So, I know I have to try and reach him. The thing is, I have no fucking idea how to do that.
When I talked with Nicole in Dance’s hospital room and he started having a nightmare, I didn’t think anything of it. I thought he was reliving almost drowning. I know he is having trouble adjusting to the outside and I know he has secrets. I had no idea how bad those secrets are.
When he screamed out against unseen men holding him down, my blood ran cold. When he cried out how he would gut them? My heart stopped. When Dance cried? Cried in his motherfucking sleep? I wanted to join in. I didn’t. My woman did. She cried and looked at me with such sadness, I wanted to scream. Instead I held her close, buried my face into her neck and tried to absorb her. His words didn’t stop, each one more horrific than the next. When Nicole could take no more, I kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulder. Then, I watched her leave.
It was all I could do not to leave with her. She ran from the room, ran away from the horrible truth. I didn’t. I stood there listening to a story unfold that brought me to my fucking knees.
Now this shit is like acid swimming in my system. I need to try and help Dance. I need to be here for him, like I failed to do when he was locked up. I just don’t know how. I am at a loss. So, I find myself here. I figure I am fucking up, but I’m afraid not to try. Me…afraid. Fuck.
When Dancer make
s it into the club the room is eerily quiet. There’s no music, no crowds, nothing. It’s empty with the exception of me. I’m sitting at a table with a bottle of Jack and two glasses.
“What the fuck is this?” Dancer demands stopping at the door. His hands are pushed so far in his damn jeans, it’s a wonder the pockets don’t rip.
I don’t respond. I figure he knows what is going on. I pour two drinks and kick a chair out in front of me. I watch his hand shake as he rakes it across his beard. He doesn’t want this. Hell, I don’t want this.
“Say what’s on your mind,” he orders, watching me.
I take my shot and down it quickly. I drop the glass back on the table. The sound echoes in the room.
“Sit.”
“I don’t feel like doing this shit…”
“SIT THE FUCK DOWN!” I yell, because I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but fuck I don’t need it to be any harder either.
“Drag, this isn’t your concern, this isn’t your fight.”
“Don’t make me tell you again, Dance.”
He sits down, refusing to look at me. He downs the drink I poured and then pours another one, downing it just as quick.
My phone is sitting on the table, the ringer is turned off, but it vibrates.
I don’t bother looking at the number, already knowing who it is. The boys know what is going down tonight. They know to stay away from the club. A few are outside monitoring for protection, but they know not to come in.
“Hey, Mama.”
“Just letting you know I’m here, sweetheart. You were right. Carrie’s pretty upset, she is crying in the bath right now.”
“Thanks baby, try to stay off your feet and tell Bull if he don’t keep you two safe I’ll…”
“I’m pregnant Dragon, not struck with some dreaded disease. I’ll be fine. Stop worrying, you’re starting to sound like a mother hen.”
We just found out she is pregnant. It still seems unreal to me. My heart is so full of Nicole; I never realized there would be room for more. Nicole managed to make that possible though. She gives me more even when I don’t realize I want or need it.
“Whatever Mama, I’ll see you when you get back.”
