Cajun sat silently and listened, staring at his friend for a few moments, “So where are you at with this shit right now?”
Slider glanced at his friend because he had an edge in his voice that he knew well. They were best friends and had been for a long time, Slider was the only one who knew even part of the story about his imprisonment. When Cajun returned to the States, he was worried about what the fucked up shit in his head would mean if he wanted a relationship of any kind with a woman. He talked to Slider about it a little at a time until finally he asked if Slider would help him, as in having his back. That was how the two started sharing women. It made Cajun feel more comfortable knowing his friend was there, and they also found they liked tag teaming a woman and getting her off together. They had never discussed making a lifestyle out of it, but Cajun knew the President of the Warriors and his Vice shared their woman, as did the two Enforcers. When they had heard about it, of course the talk kinda came about between them, nothing serious, but with his reaction to the gorgeous woman biker, it made him think maybe they should. Taking a deep breath, Cajun finally made the statement he had been thinking for the last few hours.
“You ever share her?” Cajun said and Slider’s gaze snapped to him in a glare.
“Fuck no,” Slider ground out.
“Ever think about it?” Cajun asked calmly, took a long pull from his beer, and waited as his friend mulled it over in his head.
“Why do you want to know?” Slider asked.
Cajun took a chance, “Don’t get pissed, man, but seriously, when I saw her storming in the fucking clubhouse I got rock hard. Hell, every fucking time I see her I get rock hard, can’t seem to control it. There is something about her.”
Slider nodded and looked down, then he took a long drink from his beer, and took another shot before asking, “For yourself, or for both of us?”
“Both of us,” Cajun said quickly. There was no way he was going to actually do anything alone with a woman, not yet, fuck, maybe not ever. If Slider wanted Shady all to himself, then he would have to find a new partner. It was something he didn’t want to do but he would bow out somewhat gracefully.
“We do this, there is no going back. She is going to be a handful, and we are either all in or all out. No halves. Shady will fight us every step of the way, but if we play it right, we will win. I'd planned to come back and fight to claim her, I would love to have some help with her. 'Cause, brother, I think she is gonna need both of us,” Slider finally said slowly.
“Not sure if she needs anything I can give her, brother, claiming her is one thing. I can help you, but long term?” Cajun said grimly.
“Then what the fuck are we talking about, brother?” Slider asked.
“I don’t know, I'm attracted to her,” Cajun said uncomfortably. “Claiming a woman though?”
“Seriously, after all I just told you, and all you heard, you want to fuck her, then leave?” Slider growled.
“Dude, you know I am fucked in the head, I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep,” Cajun said gently. He was being realistic.
“All you have to do is try, man,” Slider said and stared at his friend intently.
Cajun was silent, he wanted this so much, to finally stop running from the shit in his head, but he didn’t know if he could. And true to form, his friend must have known what was playing in his head because he always knew what to say.
"Man, I have been with this woman. If we win her, which I have no doubt we will. She could be your saving grace, the one to fill the crack in your heart, and lay your demons to rest. Brother, if there is one for us, it is her. It would answer why we have walked the path we have in our lives to bring us to this point together—her—she is to be our everything."
Fuck, this sucked but he was going to give this a shot, because something was telling him that if he didn’t, he would lose the best chance he had to heal and become more than what he was. Inside, he felt his friend spoke the truth.
“What do we do?” Cajun asked firmly.
“Well, she is gonna be pissed we are her shadows. Shady doesn’t like to feel like someone is protecting her. Let’s go piss her off, shall we?” Slider said and grinned, “Trust me, she is hot when she is pissed.”
*****
Shady flopped back on her bed wearing only a tank and her underwear. She had taken her leathers off and threw them over her desk chair; right now they felt too confining. Normally she could wear them for hours, they were like an old sweater that gave her comfort, but today it didn’t seem to help.
She flipped on her music with the control in her hand and sighed when she felt the bass from her music begin to thump. Her playlist ranged from Hip Hop to Country, anything that called to her, or made sense in her head was added. There was no rhyme or reason, the guys teased her about it all the time, especially when she was in charge of the music at a party.
Fuck, she needed to figure out how the hell she was going to get around the club. She loved them like brothers and she was loyal to them to a fault. However, they didn’t know every last detail about what happened to her, some of it was just too much to actually say aloud, it was for her to know and no one else.
Shady felt the tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes as memories locked away all this time escaped their box and the reason she had to run when she was younger. You'd think a sixteen-year-old, out on her own, was just fucking frightening. But staying in that house one more night was a lot more frightening. If her mother or stepfather would've found out the truth, they would have made her stay and she couldn’t, she wouldn’t end up there. She did the only thing she could.
She remembered the first thing that triggered her need to take flight. Her mother and stepfather sitting in the living room having a conversation about her that would decide her life, without even speaking to her.
“She could go to a good college, study art and music,” her mother had said. “Then when Dom and her are in public, she will look more poised and refined.”
But her stepfather disagreed. “No, she doesn’t need school, Dom can teach her everything she needs to know to be by his side.”
She had just sat there, but in her mind she was screaming NO. Francesca Sophia Reyes, sixteen-year-old invisible girl, just sat and listened. Her anger was beginning to get the better of her by that time in her life, but she would never say anything. At least that is what she normally did, but listening to them that day as they planned her life with that monster, well, that was never going to happen. She'd even thought that she would kill herself before that took place.
God, her so-called family was whacked and she did was continue to listen.
“But, darling, if someone asks her opinion on something?” her mother had just kept on.
“She will follow her husband's lead, just like you do. Dom will know how to keep her in her place. Her opinion doesn’t matter, only pleasing her husband,” her stepfather said and she swore a little vomit made its way up her throat.
“I know that, honey, and you are right, Dom will take her in hand,” her mother simpered and Francesca had grimaced, she had always hated it when her mother did that. It was like she didn’t have a mind of her own, she never disagreed and questioned him. Shady waited for her mother to disagree with her stepfather. She was only sixteen; she had plans, a life she wanted that did not include staying in the fortress forever. And she had decided that no way her nightmare of a life was going to end and soon. “Well we have a few years.” Her mother had sighed and Shady though she had time to plan. But it hadn't been the case.
Her stepfather laughed and shook his head. “No, dearest, Francesca will marry Dom in the summer.”
Yeah, she'd said it, "What the fuck?" in a whisper of course. Then little old Francesca panicked, the summer, the fucking summer. There she was panicking and they just continued to talk.
“But she is sixteen,” her mother frowned.
“Yes, and of age in our country. She needs to be taught how to behave now.” Her
stepfather had sounded so impatient and she knew what was coming and evidently so had her mother because she backed off. But not quick enough; her stepfather’s hand snapped out and struck her mother in the cheek. “I told you I would make the decisions about Dom and Francesca.”
“Of course, I am sorry.” And as always her mother agreed even with tears in her eyes.
And was also the minute she snapped, because oh hell no, so she'd yelled while jumping up, “No you will not.” Her stepfather looked at her in surprise, she had never talked back to him. “It is my life and I am not marrying Dominic. I have plans,” she'd intended to follow those plans too. Then the day just kept getting better and better.
Her stepfather laughed at her, and her mother turned a shade of green. She should have freaking read the cues but, she was pissed. Her stepfather stood, walked to the bar, poured himself a drink, and then turned, and his face wasn’t smiling anymore.
“You will do what you are told,” he said warningly.
“Yeah,” she yelled, “fuck you. I make up my own mind.”
Boy she thought she was so smart, until she realized she hadn’t heard the footsteps behind her, so when Dom III grabbed her by the hair, turned her around, and began screaming at her, she was shocked.
“You are MINE!” Dom roared at her, causing her to cry out in pain.
“Son, get her in line, the wedding will be in three weeks, make sure she is ready by then. No noticeable marks,” her stepfather said, his tone sounding bored.
“Of course,” Mini-Me-Wannabe—Dom answered him back.
The following three days held nothing but pain in her memories.
However, it was those three days and the subsequent days after, that sealed her plan. She had to escape, or he would kill her one day. That was when she decided she was no longer going to be Francesca Sophia Reyes, and Shady was born.
The music changed and her favorite song by Demi Lovato came on. Shady rolled over, grabbed her pillow, and hugged it as the lyrics flowed over her. It spoke of rebuilding and surviving and that is what she did, Dominic III didn’t break her no matter how hard he tried, Francesca was dead but Shady was living and strong enough to fucking survive.
She didn’t hear the knock on the door, nor did she hear the door being opened she was so focused on the words. Tears rolling down her cheeks as she thought about the day Francesca truly died, when everything was taken from her, so she jumped when the music shut off and rolled over glaring at whoever was in her room. Fuck, she thought, it had to be him. He wasn’t going to get this piece of her, no one was. She glared at Slider as she watched him grin and then lean on her desk like he had every right to walk right into her room without permission. Even if the door wouldn't lock because Harmony had broken it. Fucker, she was not giving him the satisfaction of yelling at him. Her gaze slid to the other man who was watching her intently. Shady shook her head in their direction.
Without a word, she rolled off the bed, went into the bathroom, and locked the door. Looking in the mirror she frowned, she had been crying and didn’t feel the tears, how weird was that. Grabbing a towel, she washed her face and then grabbed clean clothes from the shelf she had in there. She didn’t care if they fucking saw her at her worst; they barged into her room without permission. Taking a deep breath now that she had clothes on, Shady walked out of the door frowning and stood at the entrance with her arms folded.
“What the fuck do you want?”
The air was filled with tension, she couldn’t tell who it was coming from, both men were frozen and staring at her. She looked down and frowned, had she put on dirty clothes? When she saw what she had actually grabbed to wear, she wanted to groan. Her jeans were slit up the front in small cuts, they were worn and showed a lot of leg, and then the shirt was the one she wore when she wanted to get laid, it was all lace except for the strategically placed pieces of material over her nipples. Damn it.
Chapter Five
Cajun leaned against the wall and looked at the gorgeous woman before him. She had no clue how beautiful she was, he could tell when she rolled her eyes and shook her head when she saw that they were staring at her tits. Shit, he ached to cross the room and find out if they were as perfect as what he thought. The only thing that stopped him was the tired and exhausted look on her face. The silence in the room was stifling; he wasn’t used to this, normally anything with emotion he avoided like the fuckin' plaque.
“What the fuck, Slider?” Shay asked into the tension-filled room.
His best friend shifted, grinned, and then said, “We were assigned as your guards. Wanted to introduce you to the other shadow. Ryan ‘Cajun’ Dubois meet Shady.”
Shady’s eyes narrowed and he wanted to laugh, she was going to blow. He put his hand out, and smiled at her, “Nice to meet ya.”
With a snort, Shady took his hand and shook it. He felt the zing of awareness when their skin touched and so did she because she pulled her hand back quickly and her frown deepened.
“Yeah, you too. But your assignment is short lived. Creed and Fork have another thing coming if they think they are putting me on a fuckin' leash,” she said.
“Babe,” Slider laughed and Shady almost turned purple at the endearment. “You are going to do exactly what they tell you to or we are gonna lock your ass in a fucking room and throw away the key. You were shot.”
Shady laughed loudly and then stared at both of them with a serious expression. “Yeah I know. I was there. You know better than to think I am going to do anything you tell me. I have shit to do, and a life to live. No one is going to be following me around shadowing my every move.”
“Yeah well, suck it up 'cause that is what is going to happen,” Slider said and stood. “Cajun here has the first shift, I am going to go get our stuff and get moved in.”
“What do you mean your stuff? You never bring anything here,” Shady asked.
“Babe, things are gonna change around here. Cajun and I are done being Nomads, we are settling here for good. Stuff is being delivered later this week. Cajun, keep your phone handy and I will keep in touch. If you need me, call. And we will be talking later about the whole being shot thing,” Slider said and then walked out of the room without a backwards glance.
Cajun knew what he was doing, giving him a chance to get to know Shady without any of their shit bleeding over quite yet. Slider gave him a brief rundown on the way over about everything he knew about Shady, which truthfully wasn’t much. His friend had actually been embarrassed when he realized he didn’t know much about her. Only surface shit, hell, he admitted he had never actually been out to dinner with her, had no idea what kind of food she ate.
Shady walked over to her desk, plopped down in the chair, and turned her back as if to ignore him. It gave him a moment to actually look around and get the lay of the land. Her room was decorated in red, and one of the largest bedrooms he had ever seen. It had not only the bed, but a small office space in the corner, and also a small sitting area with a TV in the other corner from the office. The walls were white with one wall where the beds headboard was situated that was red. It was interesting, the comforter on her bed matched the wall but was a mix between red and white swirls. The huge pillows, he almost wanted to touch to see if they were as soft as what they looked like, were held in white and red pillowcases. There was only one picture on the wall; it was of a bike that was set against the mountains. Under the picture, which was almost the width of the wall, was the word Beauty, which the damn thing was, and the bike was a work of art. He wondered if it was something she found online. It had to cost a mint, the detail was amazing, and the bike was just plain hot.
“Don’t look at my shit,” Shady grumbled and he grinned.
He ignored her and began to wander around the room slowly; he could tell by the noise she made he was irritating her. But then, he didn’t care. He went to the closet and looked in. It was fucking huge, damn, the whole room probably took up half the floor. He stared at the walls for a second and then realize
d it was two rooms together. Because through the closet was a private bath. Damn, he thought this was the Pres’s house and Shady was just staying with them, but apparently, he was wrong.
Shady: Ops Warriors MC Page 4
