by Hart, Eve R.
“Huh?”
“She’s having people over to her place. Sit around and eat and talk. That kind of shit. Like normal couples would do, I guess.”
I wouldn’t have said I was all crazy about it, but she seemed like she was trying for… something, so I would be there with a smile and a good attitude.
“Good luck with that,” he said with a shake of his head and a pat on my back.
I was going to need, it for sure.
I left him shaking his head at me. I couldn’t blame him, I was damn near doing the same thing as I rode over to her place.
I knew what I was going to walk into before I even stepped off of the elevator. That was why I’d gotten here early.
Her eyes pinned me with a hard stare as soon as I stepped foot into the living room.
I walked over and flopped down on her fancy-ass couch and waited. Sure enough, the pacing started up again. I knew it was bad if she was pacing.
Reaching out, I snagged her wrist as she walked by. And with a soft yank, I had her sitting in my lap.
Her head went to my shoulder as I ran my hand over her hair.
“I should have thought this through,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I know, babe,” I said as I brushed my lips over her bare neck.
A few light kisses and she relaxed into me.
“I’m not good at making conversation,” she said with a shuddered breath. “I don’t even like to talk about unnecessary things.”
My hands slid up her thigh. A smile spread on my lips when she opened her legs for me.
“I’m not sure I understand the reason behind this,” I whispered against her skin as I continued to place light kisses along her neck. “But I know it must be important to you and I’m here. I will always be here, even when you don’t know you need me.”
Her breath hitched as I pushed her thong out of the way and slid a finger into her wet pussy.
Her hips rocked against me and it didn’t take long until she was panting out her orgasm.
After I made sure her panties were perfectly back in place, I brought my hand to my mouth and licked her sweet cream from them.
Then, before she could breathe another word, I kissed her hard.
“They’re here,” I said as I got to my feet, keeping my hand around her waist until she was steady.
The doors opened right as we made our way over.
“Rowan,” I greeted and she didn’t hesitate to smile and kiss my cheek to return the greeting.
I introduced myself to the three that followed in behind her. The judge and his son both shook my hand with respect and as my eyes landed on the woman behind them, it was like I was looking at Rowan’s younger sister. The woman wasn’t as voluptuous and outgoing as Rowan and it was clear they weren’t really sisters, but there were similarities that had me scratching my head.
Once introductions were made, Petra kissed my cheek and walked off in the direction of the kitchen she hardly ever used.
“So, Petra tells me you have an interesting story,” I said to Rowan as we all walked over to the couch and took our spots, the men protectively close to their women. “And that it all starts with a dress?”
Was it the most appropriate thing to say? I would have bet not, considering what I suspected was going on here. But at least it broke the ice.
Petra brought out a tray of drinks to find us all laughing.
“Oh, it wasn’t just a dress,” Rowan said as she took in Petra’s quizzical brow.
Petra tucked herself into my side as much as her stiff posture would allow. I didn’t crowd her, but I did toss my arm over the top of the couch as I leaned back with my beer.
The night hadn’t been what I had expected, but it didn’t turn out all that bad.
I realized that this was Petra trying and I couldn’t hate it. Rowan meant a lot to her, and so did I. Petra was taking steps to sew us all together while at the same time, show that she cared enough to be interested.
And, yeah, the night was a little awkward, but I fell more in love with her for it.
Petra
“Where is he?” I demanded as I stepped foot into the clubhouse.
Iron had let me know that he would be ‘out of commission’ for a few days but wouldn’t tell me why. It was unlike him. When he had business to take care of he always told me about it. He didn’t go into great detail but gave me enough so I knew what was going on. Which was all I ever asked for.
I tried not to let it get to me. After the last time, I thought we had this new level of trust now. I thought that I had made him understand that I might not always accept his way but I would at least try to.
I couldn’t imagine what it must have been that he felt he had to hide it from me.
Three days I hadn’t heard from him.
Three days of me pacing and becoming more irritated.
And maybe even worried.
Three days was all it took for me to find my spine and treat this like any other situation.
So I stormed over here to get answers.
It didn’t surprise me the way everyone froze after the demand left my mouth. I knew I wouldn’t have to say another thing for them to understand that I was looking for Iron.
“I’m here, Pet,” his voice called out from somewhere in the back of the crowd.
If I was mad before, I was even more so now.
I thought he’d gone off somewhere to handle something.
But he was here, in the clubhouse, in the middle of a party it seemed.
The crowd parted and I saw him sitting on the couch.
He didn’t get up as I clicked my way over and my steps almost faltered at the unusual behavior.
There was a sharp pain in my chest and I wasn’t sure why it was there. Ignoring it, I kept on my path to him.
I didn’t want to think that he was done with me, but the pesky thought was in the front of my mind. I just couldn’t understand why he hadn’t told me. Running wasn’t his style so none of this made sense to me.
“Abigail wanted me to tell you that she did the design on the cake,” the young one that kept his distance from me called out as he walked into the room from the back hall.
“Oh my, God! I did not!” Abigail called out as she walked in behind him. Her cheeks were flaming red and she looked around the room to see who might have heard him.
It was clearly a party because the skinny boy was carrying a cake in his hands.
“Just kiddin’. I did the decorating,” he said looking at Iron with a smirk on his face.
I stopped a few feet in front of Iron as the cake was set down on the coffee table in front of him.
“Pet,” he said and his tone held a strangeness to it.
The skinny one turned and finally noticed I was standing there. His face went pale and he backed up a few steps.
It wasn’t Iron’s birthday and so I couldn’t see any other reason he would have a cake.
My eyes dropped to the top of the cake figuring there must be something on there indicating what it was for.
“Why does that cake have a snail with a lumpy shell on it?” I asked confused at what I was seeing. There were also random, short lines sticking out from the strange shell.
Iron started chucking and he wasn’t the only one in the room.
Bridget stepped up and swiftly turned the plate around.
I was stunned as much as I was confused. My mouth dropped open but I wasn’t sure which question I should ask first.
Then I read the messy words written under the phallic picture.
It takes a man with big balls to chop them off.
I still wasn’t understanding.
Iron pushed to his feet a little slower than he usually did. A grimace hit his face once he was standing and I didn’t miss it.
“It was a joke. I’m sorry,” the skinny one said as he came forward again and attempted to wipe the penis shaped icing away.
I didn’t think he was apologizing to Iron.
&n
bsp; “What is this?” I asked as Iron slowly made his way to me.
“Well, I didn’t want to do this in a room full of people, but I guess they already know anyway.” His eyes looked over my shoulder to pin someone behind me with a hard stare. “I had a vasectomy.”
I studied him to see if he was joking.
He was not.
“Why? I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“I know you didn’t, Pet. I did it for us. I did it to show you that I’m in this one hundred percent.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
He knew that I didn’t want kids. And yes, he had told me that he was fine without having any, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if he was sure about that.
Now, I had my answer.
“Why did you hide it from me?” I asked, my mind still trying to process it all.
“Because I knew you’d want to come check on me and I couldn’t have that. Not for a few days.” I guessed I needed him to spell it out because I wasn’t understanding. “Knew I couldn’t be around you and keep my hands to myself.”
I couldn’t say anything back but I did let a tiny smile slip out.
“Thank you,” I said low so that only he would hear.
My hands moved to his face, his beard cradled in my palms.
Then I kissed him to show him how much it meant to me.
It was time to let go of the hang-ups that I held on to.
Iron had showed me over and over again that he wanted me in his life for a long time to come. I might have had trouble admitting it at first, but I wanted the same.
Iron
“Do you ever think of going home?” I asked Petra as we lay in my bed naked and sweaty.
Her head turned so she could look into my eyes.
“If you mean back to Slovenia, then, no. I lost all sense of home that night. I don’t even think of this place as home.” There wasn’t a hint of sadness or anger in her tone. She meant those words and whatever ties she might have had to the country, she severed the moment she left.
“Sometimes home isn’t necessarily a place,” I told her, my fingers running over her hair.
“Hmm,” she replied and her eyes slid away from mine. She might not get it right now, but I knew she’d be thinking about it. And if I was lucky, she’d realize that she did have a home. It was me. It was the people that filled the Gilded Rose. It was even the club.
“How did the Gilded Rose come about?”
It took me a couple of years to finally ask about this one. I knew Petra wasn’t someone you could push and I had no clue how she would react to my questions.
“I’m not going to pretend that I know what it’s like to go through what you went through, but I guess I imagine anything having to do with sex would be the last thing they’d want to be surrounded by,” I said softly, then placed a kiss on her forehead.
Her head lightly nodded, her hair tickling my shoulder with the movement.
I hoped she would open up to me. I knew many things about her, but there were a few pieces of the puzzle that were still blank.
“When I was in high school all the girls were talking about how they were having sex with their boyfriends. I never really had any friends, but I would overhear things.” Her shoulders shrugged and I got the feeling like she wasn’t trying to overhear shit, she just couldn’t get away from it. “They always sounded happy and excited about it, but it was the look in their eyes that told their disappointment.”
I chuckled.
“Yeah, high school boys can be dicks. They don’t know what they’re doing and only care about themselves. Some learn, and some don’t take the time to.” I remembered back to my high school days. Even I had my moments early on. But I was one of them that learned. And now I loved the fuck out of pleasin’ a woman. One woman in particular.
“Yes,” she said in a tone that said she’d figured that much out already. “Right before I graduated, I took one of the football players up on his offer to sleep with me. I believe there was a bet to see who could have the Ice Queen first. It made no difference to me.”
I could tell in her tone it was the truth. Even if she came off as if it didn’t matter to her, it bothered the fuck out of me. I wanted to ask her their names but I knew it wouldn’t make a difference now.
“He had me over when his parents were out of town. I went for a few reasons. One of them was that I wanted to know what it was like. Maybe even wanted to feel some sort of normalcy. But I also wanted to see if it made me any different.”
I didn’t ask her to explain because I knew what she meant by that. I wondered how long she searched for something that made her feel. All the places she looked to bring some sort of emotion into her soul. And I also wanted to know at what point did she finally give up and just accept that she was the way she was.
“And did you find the answers you were lookin’ for?” I asked.
“Yes, and no. But I did find some things that I wasn’t even looking for.”
“And that was?”
“When I removed my clothes, there was a look of disgust on his face,” she told me in a tone that held no emotion. “I decided then and there that I would always cover up my scars. I wasn’t ashamed of them. I actually didn’t have any feelings toward them whatsoever. But it was clear that I had to hide them if I wanted to make the other person more comfortable.”
“And what else?” I asked, urging her to go on.
“He had a pair of handcuffs. He thought he was going to use them on me, but I ended up convincing him to let me cuff him to the bed. I learned that I liked control. The act itself did nothing for me that night. It didn’t bring up bad memories or make me want more.”
“But it did something?”
“I suppose. I learned things about myself, so that was something,” she said with a small shrug. “It wasn’t until later, when everyone knew what I’d done to him and they called me names. It took me years of seeing this kind of behavior and shame all around me to want to step up and do something. I thought that sexual desires and wants weren’t something that should be looked down on.”
“So you made the Gilded Rose.” It was a statement because I knew that was why.
“Yes,” she said simply. “It took many, many years. Inside that building, I want them to feel like they’re safe to be themselves. Not just the girls but the clients, too. No one judges them. And they can do it knowing that it’s safe.”
I kissed her forehead.
I didn’t bother telling her how much love she had in that damn heart of hers. I knew she’d never see it. But for as cold as Petra came off, she was equally caring and protective. And I had no doubt that everyone she let get close enough saw it too.
I loved her with everything in me. Though she had melted a little bit for me, I never wanted her to change who she was. Petra was strong enough to take on life with me, and what a fuckin’ amazing life we were gonna have.
Iron
I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many kids were runnin’ around. Too many? Nah, I’d never think that. I loved them all and they each had their own personality. It was amazing to sit back and watch them grow into their own with every year that ticked on.
“Thanks, Prez!” Chry said with a smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Dad said I couldn’t get one of these until I was twelve. Best birthday present ever!”
My gaze shot to Mouse to see him giving me a hard stare.
I guess I hadn’t really been thinkin’ when I got the mini-bike for him. I couldn’t resist when Petra showed me the picture. She said it would make the perfect gift for the boy. I knew Chry would love it but seeing Petra take an interest like that had me whipping out my phone and debit card to order one.
I trusted that he’d be alright with it, he was actually a very cautious kid.
Unlike his sister.
Sparrow was a ball of fire.
And she wasn’t the only one that caused trouble.
The ten-yea
r-old kid ran off after giving me a fist bump to open the rest of his gifts. I smiled as I saw the wrench hanging out of his back pocket. He always had that thing with him. Mouse told me once that he even found Chry sleeping with it a couple of times.
“He’s unhappy,” Petra said as I watched Chry settle back down between to his best friend and his sister at the picnic table that was piled high with a ton of gifts.
My eyes shifted to look at Mouse again. Ingram was smiling at his side as he pushed the mini-bike off to the side. Her face held a sense of amusement.
“I didn’t know,” I said defensively.
“Should we return it?” She had no clue that it wouldn’t be that simple.
“Hell, no,” I said with a chuckle.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” she asked and there was something in her tone that told me she was no longer talking about the bike.
I swung my gaze to meet hers.
“I got another ten good years in me,” I told her.
“I know that. But you’re already planning for that point.”
I smiled at her as I pulled her into my side.
As she rested her head on my shoulder, I looked around the packed lot. My eyes darted over each and every one of the kids.
She wasn’t wrong and I didn’t need to tell her that. That woman could read me like an open book by now.
They were all still young but that didn’t mean I hadn’t thought about what would come down the line.
My gaze stopped on the oldest of the bunch. His face was relaxed enough to make him seem like a happy, care-free kid. But if you looked close, you could see the protectiveness in his eyes.
As if he sensed my gaze on him, he turned his head in my direction.
“He’s going to ask you for a chance soon,” Mason said as he sat down beside me.
“I figured,” I said with a tiny nod of my head.
“He’ll wait three more months,” he told me. “He thinks that once he turns eighteen he’ll get less hell for it.”
