by Zoey Marcel
Her reply didn’t come right away. “I think so. At first I just thought the guys couldn’t kiss right. My first boyfriend was inexperienced, but the second one wasn’t. I’ve only slept with one guy, but I just wanted it to be over.”
“Aw, I’m sorry.” Sean’s brow furrowed and he rubbed her leg. “Did he not take the time to make it good for you?”
“No. He did. I came, but it just felt weird. I thought sex just sucked, but when I kissed that girl during Spin the Bottle last year ...” Her face lit up and she bit her lip in a cute little grin. “It was really good. Pictures of women always excite me, but the ones of men don’t really do anything. If they’re muscular I admire their hard work in the gym, but I don’t want to touch them or anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I haven’t told anyone. I guess I was just afraid if I said the words aloud that somehow my family would overhear.”
“It’s good to tell someone, though.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I only mentioned it to a guy mate of mine. His lady was there, too, and Heath knows. He happened across me by mistake, but no one else knows.”
She smirked. “I’m sure the guy who had his cock in your mouth knew.”
Sean snickered, getting warm again. “Yeah, I think he figured it out.”
“It feels good to talk about it.”
“It does. Have you been with a woman?”
She sighed. “No. I don’t know if I want to try.”
“Why not?”
“Sex has been so boring for me and at times gross. If I just fantasize about women it’s wonderful. I’m worried if I actually sleep with one it won’t be as good as my fantasies.” Her countenance dimmed. “Then I won’t have any satisfaction.”
“That’s so sad.” Sean rubbed her back. “You should at least try. You’re too sweet to be on your own. You don’t deserve to be lonely.”
“Thanks. I’ll be okay.”
“So tell me about your fantasy woman. What is she like?”
Lacy licked her lips. “Curvy with copper skin, black hair, and hazel eyes. She’s dominant, wears black a lot, looks striking in red, too, and loves to take charge in the bedroom. She likes to boss me around and spank me when I’m bad.”
Sean arched a brow and gave her a saucy smile. “Are you sure this woman is a fantasy?”
Lacy smiled. “Well, I might have glimpsed an exotic-looking Domme before and used her in my fantasies. Her name is Cibola.”
“Nice. Have you been to the BDSM club in McKenna Downs?”
“No. Have you?”
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “No. My da co-owns it. He’d never let me in.”
“Cibola works there as a Domme. So what’s your ideal man?”
His body heated and his heart stirred when he thought of his beloved Malachi Brodie. “Older than me and dominant. I like when a man presents a good, honorable front to the public and is wicked behind closed doors.”
“You mean like a hypocrite?” she teased.
He chuckled. “Call it whatever you like. I prefer a good man with a bad side.”
She grinned before looking off into the horizon of blue sky and swaying golden grass and sobering. “I wish we could just be ourselves.”
He breathed out, leaning back on his elbows on the rock they sat on. “I know what you mean.”
“You’re in love with that preacher, aren’t you?”
Damn.
“What preacher?”
She glanced at him knowingly. “Malachi Brodie. When he’s around you don’t see anyone else in the room.”
Sean massaged his forehead with his fingertips. “Crap, is it that obvious?”
“Probably not to anyone else, but I know you really well.”
He exhaled nervously. “Yeah, just don’t say anything, okay?”
“I wouldn’t tell anyone.” She smiled sweetly. “I think it’s cute the way you get whenever he’s near. Your face lights up and you can’t stop smiling.”
Sean sat up and elbowed her, smiling at her feminine giggle. “What about Cibola? You said she works at my da’s BDSM club?”
Lacy got stars in her eyes and a demure smile. “Yeah, I’d love to see her in action.”
“I bet you would.”
They snickered and she playfully slapped his arm.
“I could try to get you in there just to watch.”
“And how are you going to do that when your dad works there?”
“Hmm, good point. Maybe we could sneak in after hours. I could get his keys and we could explore. No one will be there, but it would give us a chance to look around. If we knew the layout maybe we could figure out a good way to get in without my da seeing, some time when the club is actually open.”
“That sounds like fun.”
They ate for a minute in silence before he breached it. “I was wondering if...not hitting on you or anything. It’s just my da’s been on my ass about moving out of Malachi’s house and wondering why I don’t have a girlfriend and no inclination to go away to school—”
“Yes.”
He smirked. “You don’t even know what I’m gonna say.”
She gave him a sassy look. “You want me to be your beard until you leave for school.”
He let out a breath of relief. “I do, actually. You’re not offended?”
“Nope, I need one, too. We can hold hands and hug to make it convincing. I think people will buy it since we’ve been friends forever and we’re always hanging out together.”
“That’s what I thought. If I was straight you’d be the type of girl I’d go after.”
“Go after? Sounds kind of creepy, Sean.”
He laughed. “Pursue.”
“You animal.”
Sean grinned and unscrewed the lid on his Snapple again. “Are you okay with a quick peck every now and then in public?”
“We can French in public sometimes. That’s fine. Just no sex, unless you want your ego deflated by someone who doesn’t think of you that way.”
He snorted. “I’ll pass. I know you don’t like men, but I’m a good kisser.”
She patted his arm. “I’m sure you try.”
He chortled. “See if I buy you anything.”
“You have to. Flowers, candy, jewelry.”
“Jewelry? I make minimum wage.”
“So? Your dad’s paying for you to go to school. You can afford it. No cheap crap. I want shiny things. Pretend I’m a princess.”
“You are.” He kissed her cheek and stroked her back before raising the glass bottle to his lips. “And I’m gonna help you see the woman of your dreams face to face.”
“So you won’t have to buy me expensive stuff anymore?”
Mirth almost had him snorting juice up his nose. “Exactly. I do love you, Lacy.”
She gave him a smile and clinked her Snapple bottle against his. “I love you, too, Sean.”
* * * *
A few days later Sean walked into a bar in Rapid City. Spying his da with a beefy biker, he headed over to them.
“Da?”
Aiden Friel’s eyes widened and he immediately stood, face stern. “What are you doing here?”
“I haven’t had anything to drink. I just wanted to ask you something.”
The tough biker lad smiled. “Is this your son?”
“It is. What are you doing here, Sean?”
The stocky man decked out in leather stood, extending his hand. “The name is Taurus. I’m a friend of your father’s.”
Sean shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.” He noticed one of the patches on the man’s vest. “Princes of Hell, eh? Is it true that motorcycle club is part of the one percent?”
Taurus grinned, looking amusing with that big-ass flaming-red horseshoe mustache. “Rumor has it.”
“You can’t believe everything you hear,” Aiden said quickly.
Sean glanced between the two men with a humored smirk. “I didn’t know my da was mates w
ith an outlaw gang. Is he doing anything illegal for you?”
Taurus laughed.
Aiden chuckled through a saccharine grin and then grabbed Sean by the arm, leading him away. “Give us a minute?”
Taurus waved them off and sat back down with his pint.
Aiden glared down at his son once they were outside. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you part of their motorcycle gang? Is that why you have a Harley?”
“It’s not. I amn’t one of them. Now what the feck were you doing in a bar?”
“I was looking for you. I needed some advice.”
Aiden relaxed, breathing out. “About what?”
“My mate, Lacy. I mean my girlfriend.”
His brows popped up. “You have a girlfriend?”
Sean nodded. “We’ve known each other for years. It just made sense.”
Aiden smiled. “Is that the girl you said you fancied?”
“It is.”
The lie made him feel guilty, but he could never tell Da that he was in love with a man. That wouldn’t go over well at all.
“Good on you, son. If you’re gonna fornicate, be sure and protect y’rself.”
Sean blushed. “That’s...not what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What is it, then?”
“It’s about Lacy’s stepdad. He’s abusive.”
Aiden’s face changed, softened with shadows. “In what way?”
“Verbally and emotionally.”
“That’s it?”
Sean blinked at this. “What do you mean, ‘That’s it’?”
“Has he hit her?”
“No.”
“Forced himself on her?”
“Well, no.”
Aiden shrugged.
“He says cruel things to her and makes her cry. Plus he throws objects and breaks them when he’s mad.”
“Sean, people lose their tempers and say things they don’t mean. I hardly think it constitutes a need to cry abuse.”
“She doesn’t call it abuse. I did. She knows it’s wrong, but she didn’t realize it was abuse until I told her. He says she’s weak and stupid and that she’s going to hell for still wanting to do the opposite even when she obeys him anyway. He told her no one would want her because...whatever reason he gave. Her best is never good enough for him. She was suicidal a couple of years ago because of it. I talked her out of it.”
Aiden rubbed his brow with his fingertips, head bowed and eyes hooded. “It’s a hard world. People starvin’ and getting slaughtered, suffering actual violence, and you think a girl whose stepdad is something of an ass is the worst of it?” He lowered his hand, expression jaded and weary. “Welcome to reality. Nobody chooses their parents. When she moves out she can get away from him.”
“He won’t let her move out because he wants to control her. She told me one time he closed his bedroom door and laid her down on his bed and laid on top of her.”
“What?” Aiden turned to face him again, eyes baring a dangerous edge that startled him.
“Nothing happened. He just kissed her and played with her hair, but it made her uncomfortable. He rarely praises her, mostly he criticizes her. Most of the compliments he gives her are about her body since she works out. I think that’s why she has such low self-esteem and thinks her only value is her body. Lacy is not vain. She’s hurting inside.”
Sean wanted to hug her again and tell her how amazing she was. It seemed like there were times when she might be starting to believe him.
“You can’t tell me it’s not abuse. She said he actually sets her up to punish her. He’ll throw stuff on the ground so if she happens to walk by it without noticing, he can yell at her and punish her for not picking it up. Sometimes he’ll pretend he doesn’t know something and ask her about it, so if she lies to him he can punish her. He gets very physical with her when he’s angry. He hasn’t hit her, but he’s made it clear that he condones parents slapping their kids in the face when they misbehave. If she makes him mad enough someday he might hit her.”
Aiden just listened.
“When she was little he spanked her, she put her hand in the way, and he slapped her hand so hard it bled. He told her she deserved that and kept spanking her hard instead of stopping to take care of her bleeding hand. If you spank a child hard enough to make them bleed, you’re hitting them too fecking hard.”
“You should move in with your uncle like I told you to.”
“What? Is that all you have to say about it?”
“If you move in with your uncle and Lacy does as well, she’ll be livin’ with a cop and it will just look like you’re livin’ with your uncle and a mate rather than pissin’ her dad off by you movin’ in with her.”
“But he won’t let her move out until she’s married.”
“People can change. Off with you now.” Aiden headed back into the bar.
Sean exhaled in frustration. A load of good that did.
* * * *
Aiden Friel sat back down in the booth across from his biker mate.
Taurus tilted the glass to his lips and took a long drink before setting it down and giving Aiden his attention. “Teenage drama?”
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Sean has a propensity to overreact, but this time I think there might be something to it.”
“How’s that?”
“His best mate, Lacy Henderson, has a shite stepfather. He hasn’t done anything serious yet, but the warning signs are there.” He tipped his tumbler and gulped a short, satisfying drink.
“Want me to pinch him off for you?”
“Jaysus, Bully boy, that’s a bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?”
Taurus shrugged, gripping his glass. “Depends on what he’s doing.”
“Something’s off about him. There might be more going on in that house than she lets on. Find out for me.”
“How am I gonna do that?”
“Use that morbid creativity of yours.” Aiden swallowed down more scotch.
“Will do. Just for the record, my dad used to beat me whenever he felt like it and I turned out just fine.”
“We hafta intervene as soon as possible.”
Taurus smirked. “Bastard.”
Aiden’s lips twitched into a half smile. “You were just a wee one. That shouldn’t have happened to you.”
“Damn, is that compassion? You didn’t seem too concerned about the bruises I got from that brawl I was in.”
“That was different. You’re grown now.”
Aiden stroked his cold glass with his fingertips, caressing the droplets of condensation and gazing into the hypnotic sea of amber fluid. If the fucking long summer would ever end he could go back to drinking scotch without ice like he usually did.
“Men can’t be abused, only women and children. Lacy doesn’t deserve that.”
“No problem.” Taurus slanted a finger at him. “But I’m not wasting my time if this is just one of those wolf-crying claims of verbal and emotional abuse. Whatever the fuck that means. Whiny, stupid bitches.”
Aiden smirked, raising his glass again. “Do you know what irony is?”
“No one does. Why?”
He lowered his tumbler, holding it in his hand. “No reason. Even if nothing grave has happened, she has to leave home before it does. Make that happen.”
“I will. There’s a charity fundraiser Saturday night at City Hall in Stone River. Malachi Brodie’s church is hosting it and some charity auction or some kind of shit. Anyway, the gang and I are gonna be there to drop off toys for the kids and cans of food for the needy.”
“That’s generous of you,” Aiden said in boredom.
“You should hit me up there and I’ll tell you what I’ve learned.”
“Sean might be there. You want me to be seen in that town with you?”
Taurus shrugged. “Why not? You’re a friend of the Princes of Hell MC. So what? Nobody gives a shit.”
“And you don’t think people will wonder if we do
business together?”
“So what if they do? You’re just providing for your kids. Nothing wrong with that.”
Aiden tapped the pad of his finger on the table, disposition serious. “My kids can never know. I’m sure Sean’s figured out by now that I’m no good, even if he doesn’t know the specifics, but Cara still worships me.”
Taurus made a sound somewhere between spitting and a horse neighing. “You’re making a big deal out of nothing. I’ve done way worse than you, and if you ever do step over to the dark side, I’ll cover for you.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded once, a sly smile building. “So there’s gonna be an orgy at the clubhouse tomorrow night. Whores everywhere. You wanna—”
“I’m not an orgy sort of man. I’ve told you that.”
“Goddamn, you must be a eunuch or fucking gay to keep turning down all those hot-ass sluts.”
Aiden scratched his temple. “I’m Catholic.”
“You own a fucking sex club.”
“I didn’t say I was a good Catholic.”
Taurus laughed. “Gotta give yourself a reason to go to confession?”
“I haven’t been to confession in donkey’s years.”
“You’re doing that thing again where I can’t understand you.”
“It’s been a while.”
“How long?”
Aiden took another swallow of spirits. “Last time I went I was fifteen.”
“Damn. That long, huh? What did you do?”
“Became a father out of wedlock.”
Taurus smirked, reaching for his glass. “Should have worn your rubber.”
“Accidents happen.”
“What is Sean, nineteen?”
“He is.”
The biker guzzled his beer. “That’s a long time to live with a mistake.”
Aiden felt a tender pull when he thought of his angst-filled little otter. His son was always moving, forever rabbiting on about God knew what, but both his kids filled the gnawing silence and put a smile on his face that he thought he’d lost.
“Sean was an accident. I never said he was a mistake.”
* * * *
The air buzzed with excitement. Sean couldn’t contain himself. It was a nighttime charity fundraiser to feed the less fortunate and collect toys for their kids. The building was full of pleasant people and some not so pleasant individuals.
