by Sam Crescent
Knocking on the door of the trailer, she waited. After a minute, she knocked again.
Nothing.
She raised her hand to knock once more, but the door flung open, and she had no choice but to step back.
“What the fuck do you want?” Daisy’s father asked.
Angel couldn’t recall his name, and the fumes coming from him made her feel sick. She placed a hand to her stomach, remembering she was carrying another child, and she needed to be careful. “You forgot to collect Daisy from school.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Your daughter? Daisy?” She turned toward the car and watched as Twisted climbed out of the car.
The concern for her unborn child made her more relaxed to see that Twisted was there. She couldn’t help but smile. If Lash was here all hell would have broken loose. Her husband wasn’t exactly known for liking addicts. After everything that went down with his brother Nash, who got addicted to drugs, Lash couldn’t stand them. They were no longer allowed within the walls of the club, nor did the club have anything to do with them.
“What the fuck that little bitch done now?”
****
“Daddy looks angry,” Daisy said.
“Angel will fix it.” Tabitha squeezed her hand.
Daisy loved being around The Skulls. Her parents, they didn’t care about her. They always forgot about her. If they forgot about her at school, they also forgot to feed her. Her parents were not like those of The Skulls. Daisy had learned that at a young age her parents were not like others. Not every parent drank bad stuff in the morning, or sniffed white stuff up their noses. She loved being able to sleep at Eva’s or the clubhouse with the rest of her friends.
“Your mom is nice,” Daisy said, turning toward Anthony. Once again, he was staring at her. He was a strange boy, always staring, observing.
“You’ll be safe now. Mom won’t let anything happen.” He squeezed her hand a little tighter.
She rested her head against his shoulder. It would be nice to be safe. Her parents were always shouting and screaming, and hurting each other. For once, she’d just like to know what it was like to be wanted, to have a mommy who hugged her, kissed her goodnight, and read her a bedtime story.
Her father started to shout, and Twisted moved away from the car.
Closing her eyes, Anthony wrapped his arms around her, and Tabitha hugged her back. She didn’t have much, but she had friends.
****
Late that night Angel paced up and down the length of her bedroom. They were not at the clubhouse, and Daisy was sleeping with Anthony in his room as the spare room didn’t have a bed yet. Lash sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her.
“You want us to adopt her?”
“Yes. This is not the first time they’ve left her, Lash. They don’t deserve their daughter. They were drunk, and I couldn’t leave her there.”
After bringing her home, Angel had done homework with Anthony and Daisy, made dinner while waiting for Lash to come home.
“Look, babe, I know you want to adopt her, and I don’t want to see her go back to those fuckers, but you’re carrying, and Anthony, he can be a handful.” He got to his feet, pulling her into his arms, and stopping her from pacing. “You can’t hide the fact that you’re struggling with this pregnancy. You’re sick, tired, and exhausted. If I’d known that Daisy was still at school before you, I’d have gone to get her myself.”
The pregnancy was exhausting her, and she’d even noticed that she was sleeping a lot more, and the simplest thing made her tired.
“I can’t send her back. Don’t make me.”
“Lacey and Whizz,” Lash said.
“Huh?”
“They adopted Sally. Lacey loves kids, and I recall seeing her around Daisy. She’d happily have her as a daughter.”
Tears filled Angel’s eyes. “Don’t you want a daughter either?”
“Angel, babe, I love you, and I’d love to have Daisy as my daughter. I’d take care of her, and Anthony would be her brother, but I told you before, you’re my main concern. It kills me to give Daisy to Lacey when I know you’d love her like your own. But you can’t handle another child right now, and I’m going to be taking care of you. You come first.”
“I could handle it.”
“Daisy will be loved, and she won’t go far.”
“What about her parents?” Angel asked, crying. Her emotions were all over the place. She couldn’t stop crying, and she hated it. Even as she was crying, she was hating herself, wondering why the hell she was crying.
“I’ll pay a visit to the family, and they won’t have a problem. I’ll get our lawyer to do the paperwork, and we’ll go there together.”
Resting her head against Lash’s wide chest, she let out a sigh. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Chapter Seven
“How did you burn pasta?” Charlotte asked, staring at the burnt strands of linguine.
Lacey sighed. “I put the pasta into the water, and I forgot about it. I went to sit with Whizz.”
Charlotte stared at the other woman’s face, seeing that she was blushing. “I see.”
“What?”
“You were doing more than sitting around.” Staring into the pot, she saw the water had boiled away, and the pasta was just wrong. “You might want to throw the pot out.”
“That will be your fifth pot this week,” Sally said.
“I’m trying, okay? I can’t cook.” Lacey took the pot out of the kitchen, and Charlotte stared at the stew.
“Do you have bread?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes. Dad makes sure we have bread in case Mom ruins dinner, or won’t let us call for takeout.” Sally moved to the far side of the kitchen, and opened a large cupboard. “Tada.”
Chuckling, Charlotte gave the stew a final stir. “It’s ready.”
“I’ll go and get everyone.”
Carrying the large pot into the dining room, she placed it on the center mat and made her way back into the kitchen. Gash was entering the kitchen, and wrinkling his nose. “What could she have possibly burned now?” he asked.
“Pasta. I didn’t think it was possible, but it is.” Charlotte didn’t know how Lacey had lived her life with the way she burnt things.
She grabbed several bags of buns and paused in the kitchen. Gash was still there, and now that he knew the truth, she didn’t know what to say to him. Opening her mouth, she closed it once again. What was there to say?
Heading back toward the dining room, Gash stopped her. He held onto her arm. “Were you going to live the rest of your life waiting for me to come to you?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she shook her head. “I was just trying to get on with my life. I didn’t know if Jeff was going to come back for me, or if I’d done my time. They kept me alive, which has always been a question for me. I’d have been better off dead.” She shrugged. “I didn’t exactly plan anything in my life. I’ve just dealt with everything that has come my way. I’m still alive, so I always figured something else was going to happen.”
She loved his touch.
The pleasure from the brush of his fingers was making it hard for her to focus. “What about you?”
“I was going to kill you because I truly believed you were part of it. Now, I should take you back home and let you live in peace.”
“Peace? You think going home now will help me find peace? I need this, Gash. I need to put an end to this.” She would beg if she had to. “What happened between us is over, I get that—”
“Is it?”
“What?” She frowned, confused.
“Over, between us.”
She paused. What the hell was she supposed to say? After everything that had happened to her, she’d never once blamed Gash. Sure, she’d been pissed at him for not remembering their time together, but she had taken advantage of him, so she shouldn’t expect anything, and everything with Jeff had been on him, not on Gash. She’d
always blamed Jeff, and that fucking bitch Rebecca. From the moment she saw her, Charlotte should have listened to her gut, and kept her away from her. She had ignored her gut feeling, and allowed Rebecca inside.
“I don’t know what you want me to say?”
He cupped her cheek and pressed her against the doorframe. His large body surrounded her, stopping her from moving. Staring into his dark eyes, she couldn’t help but bite her own lip. There were times she still fantasized about what those lips felt like on her body. It had been so long since she’d felt him. Seven long years of remembering.
“You kept me sane. My memory of you, and our time together. I may not have remembered it was you, Char, but I knew I was with someone, and I wanted that feeling again.”
“I’m not some toy for you to play with.”
“I know. I’m not hoping to take you out to play with you every now and then. I’ve found you again, and I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose you.”
This was not what she had expected. “There’s a lot of history—”
“We can’t change the history that is between us, but we can rewrite our future. Don’t shut me out. Give me a chance to prove to you that I wouldn’t have just walked away from you. That night seven years ago, Char, you took a part of me with you, and I’ve never had it back.”
Gash shocked her even further as he took a kiss. It was a tender kiss, his lips pressing against hers.
“I’ll take these into the dining room.”
He brushed past her, and Charlotte grabbed onto either side of the wall of the door frame. Her pussy was soaking wet like it always was with Gash. Her body craved his touch like her lungs craved air. This was a fight that she could never win no matter how much she tried.
“Wow, that looked kind of hot,” Lacey said.
Opening her eyes, she found Lacey in the doorway, arms folded and smiling.
“You heard?”
“Yep, I think you guys should give it a chance. You both were torn apart from one another, and that just completely sucks.” Lacey sighed. “We’re all in the dining room.”
Nodding, she followed Lacey to the main rom. Whizz, Gash, and Sally were already there, waiting for them. Taking a seat, she accepted the bowl that Whizz handed her. The chicken stew looked tasty, and her stomach growled.
She sat beside Sally, who was handing out the bread rolls.
“It has been a long time since we had a good, home cooked meal.”
“Angel did the last one. She sent home some soups and lasagna,” Sally said.
“Okay, okay, I get it, all right? I’m trying, and Angel is even trying to teach me how to cook. Nothing is working.” Lacey glared at each of them.
“I can cook,” Sally said. “How about I give it a try for the next week, see what you think?”
Whizz tilted his head to the side. “You can cook?”
“Yeah,” Sally said.
“I’m game if you are,” Whizz said, turning to Lacey.
“We’re supposed to be looking after her.” Lacey sighed.
“I can’t stand anymore takeout food, and we can’t expect other women at the club to cook for us.”
Charlotte glanced across the table to see Gash laughing. “You were totally unlucky in picking one of the few women at the club that can’t cook.”
“I wasn’t originally part of The Skulls,” Lacey said, glaring at him.
Smiling, Charlotte dipped her bread into the sauce and listened to the couple debate with each other about how they were going to keep on eating for the remainder of their lives. It was funny to watch. Whizz and Lacey were very much in love, and Charlotte saw the bond between them. Sally was giggling as well, and the atmosphere around the table was one of friendship and love.
“This is really good,” Sally said.
“I’m pleased. It would taste great with pasta as well.”
Lacey sighed. “It’s good with bread.”
“Did you burn the pasta on purpose?” Charlotte asked, trying to repress laughter.
“Totally. I love my bread, my carbs.”
“She’s totally lying,” Whizz said. “She can only handle some coffee in the morning, and pouring cereal into a bowl.”
“You do realize that you will pay for this,” Lacey said, looking at Whizz. “I can find other ways of making sure you’re not a happy man.” Lacey raised a brow.
“Ew, gross, you took it to the gutter,” Sally said. “I have young, delicate ears.” She covered her ears and had a disgusted look on her face.
“Do you see what I have to put up with?” Gash asked.
Smiling, Charlotte enjoyed the feeling of having a family. It had been so long since she’d felt this happy, and being around Gash and his club helped. In that moment, she no longer felt sad or in need of taking out revenge on the bastard who had ruined her life. At least Gash knew the truth.
The reality of their situation crashed through, and Charlotte lost her appetite. Leaving the bread in the bowl, she listened to the conversation around the table without saying anything. At the end when she made to take the dishes, Whizz stopped her. “You cooked, we’ll clean up.”
“You go and freshen up,” Lacey said. “I left some clothes out for you. They should fit, or they might be a little bigger.”
Nodding, Charlotte made her way toward the bedroom. Lacey had already told her where she’d be sleeping that night. Opening the door, she made her way toward the bed, and sat down. Sinking her fingers into her hair, she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.
You can do this.
You can do this.
Squeezing her eyes closed, she concentrated on her breathing, and was instantly taken back to a memory.
“You said it would get easier.” Charlotte sobbed the words out as best she could. It had been two weeks since she had last tried to take her own life, and the pain hadn’t gone away. Doctor Williams had promised her that she would start to feel better.
“Charlotte, I promised it would get easier, but I said it wouldn’t happen right away. It’s going to take time.”
She gripped her head, screaming as loud as she could. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got to help him. He doesn’t know, and he’s in prison.”
Doctor Williams touched her knees, and she couldn’t help it. She lashed out, hitting him hard. Charlotte attacked him, needing to get out. She only landed a few blows before he took over, pinning her to the chair. The door to his office opened, and she saw the nurses waiting to inject her with something to make her relax. She didn’t want to relax. Charlotte wanted them to miss, to kill her, or let her take the needle and finally end her life.
“Stay back,” Williams said, shouting at his employees.
“Sir—”
“This is what she wants, isn’t it, Charlotte? You want us to react so we give you an opening that means you can take your own life?”
He held her tightly so that she couldn’t move. Williams was damn strong for a doctor, and she had underestimated him. Tears spilled from her eyes.
“Let me go!”
“No. I’m not going to let you destroy yourself.”
Gritting her teeth, she watched as the nurses left his office, and all fight left her. She was exhausted, tired, and fed up. “I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of feeling,” she said.
“How we react to circumstances within our life is what defines us, Charlotte.”
“That’s a nice way of saying that I’m fucking up.”
Williams sighed. “You’re in pain. You’ve been handed a life that you don’t deserve. I’m going to make sure I can help repair the damage that has been caused to you.”
“You can’t fix me. I’m not some kind of puzzle.”
“I know, but I can create a foundation within you that makes you strong enough to fight. I can’t let you out of here, Charlotte.”
“What do I have to do?” she asked.
“You’ve got to learn to fight the pain, to keep on trying.”
Gash entered th
e room, pulling her out of her thoughts.
****
“What’s wrong?” Gash asked.
Charlotte had disappeared from the table, and he’d seen the change within her. As he stared at her now, the smiling woman was gone, replaced by this sorrowful shell. She looked like Charlotte, acted like her, but it wasn’t her. Seeing her like this, all he wanted to do was find Jeff and Rebecca. Before heading upstairs, Whizz had promised to have the information he needed by the end of the night.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie.”
“You have a wonderful family.”
“Charlotte?”
She shook her head. “It’s okay, really. I’m fine. I’m just thinking that once we handle Jeff and Rebecca, that I need to make sure I still have a job when I get back.”
“You really think I’m going to let you go back to your real life after all of this?” He closed the bedroom door, not wanting anyone to hear their conversation. Charlotte was a private person. Gash wasn’t that insensitive, and he remembered everything about Charlotte. The night they shared together was still foggy in his mind, but he was so damn happy knowing it was Charlotte. He’d been attracted to her even back then, but she reminded him a little of Angel. She was the kind of woman a man like him looked at but didn’t touch.
“Once you get what you want, there’s going to be no need for me here.”
“Seven years ago I fucked a woman and I thought I was hallucinating. Seven years ago I was accused of rape and murder, and sentenced to a prison cell. Seven years ago, you were put through hell because you tried to help me. You may think there’s nothing between us, but I’m not going to deny shit between us.”
“Gash—”
“No, I’m not going to make excuses. We would have had a chance if I had fucking remembered that we were together. This is real between us, and I’m not going to be the one denying it. You belong to me just like I belong to you.”
