by Vivian Cove
I turn and smile at fuming Damien, just barely suppressing the urge to stick out my tongue. Damn, I’m on today!
“I’m going to regret this.” My dad groans as he sits, then holds his head in his hands. “Fine, but if you fuck up Princess there will be hell to pay.”
There was never hell to pay with my dad, unless hell was a flavor of ice cream. Whenever he gave me a stern talking to as a kid, a scoop of ice cream was always right after. I ended up not even minding the talks so much because of the yummy goodness that was sure to come.
Alright. Maybe he had spoiled me a little too much as a kid…but it’s not like I’d grown up bad! Damien’s a total freak and his dad hit him in the back of the head constantly. Probably caused some permanent damage.
But my self-righteous happiness is short lived, because everything’s about to change again.
“Now, Damien, let’s talk about your bike,” my father says.
My head whips to the side. He couldn’t be talking about Damien’s baby, could he? The bike I fucked up?
My father riffles through the papers on his desk. “How much did you owe the club on it? $45,000?”
“No, fifty,” Damien says.
50K? And that’s just what he still owed? Could that bike tell the future? Could it transform into a unicorn? What the fuck did he do to it???
My dad scowls at him over the papers. “I still expect you to pay it back.”
“I know.”
I stare at them. No. It should be me paying back that money, not him. I couldn’t let my dad do this! “Wait, wasn’t the bike insured?”
Damien flashes a half smile. “Most of the adjustments weren’t legal.”
UGH!!! “Well, it was an accident, right? You can’t make him pay for something that wasn’t his fault.”
My dad’s scowl deepens. “And how wasn’t it his fault? He recklessly drove at an insane speed at night. He’s just lucky no other son of a bitch was on the road with him.”
I feel truly chastised. I had been so reckless, and I hadn’t been thinking of anyone but myself. God, I’m lucky that rival MC President with the godly tongue was also a godly driver! I could have killed us both! “I’ll pay for it!”
My dad and Damien stare at me, stupefied.
“For breaking down Damien’s door,” I babble. “It was really bad of me so I should, uh, pay for it.”
My father smiles. “I’m glad you’re taking responsibility, Princess, but Damien’s bike is worth a lot more than those doors.”
“Then maybe you could find the average?”
My father shakes his head. “Princess—”
“You don’t get it!” I interrupt. “You can’t make Damien pay you back for that bike, alright? You just can’t. I am going to show you just how serious I am about getting along with him by paying it off myself!”
My dad sighs. “You don’t even have that kind of money, sweetie.”
“Well, I can get it!”
“How?”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Damn, that’s a good question. “Well, I don’t have it now, but I could work the debt off…you know, with my body.”
It is such a good thing my dad is looking at me and not Damien. And I don’t know how to express just how good it is. Because while my dad thinks me working off the debt with my body was a little silly, Damien’s looking at me like it’s the best thing I’ve ever said.
His dark eyes drink me in. Slowly, they move up my body, making me feel like I’m naked and sparkling instead of a “gym” outfit that looks like it was salvaged from the dumpster behind the lady’s changing room.
When he’s to my face, I feel like I’m going to burst because I’m suddenly having difficulty breathing. His eyes lock onto mine, like he knows what he’s doing to me, and he smiles. Just when I think it can’t get any worse, I see his tongue snake between his lips, over his teeth.
Oh hell no. He can’t smile at me like that when I’m in front of my dad. What the fuck is he thinking?
You know exactly what, my body responds, tightening and quivering and doing all sorts of inappropriate things.
Fuck!
“I mean, use my body by cleaning and stuff! Like labor, but not laborious moving up and down labor…I mean I will get shit done.”
“I think the person you owe the debt to should be the one to decide how you work it off,” Damien responds.
Him decide? Him??? FUCK!!!
My dad sighs. “Princess, don’t worry. No one is going to make you clean.”
“Your dad’s right, Princess,” Damien begins, teeth and eyes flashing. “No one is going to make you clean.”
Oh my god! What the hell was he going to make me do? I run around my father’s desk and latch onto his arm. “Dad, PLEASE tell him there is no debt! Please!!!”
“No,” Damien said. “Sooner or later, everyone has to pay what they’re owed.”
My father nods. “That’s right. A man respects responsibility for his actions.”
But I’m not a man! I want to scream.
“Now, the two of you get out of here,” my dad says. “There are some business things I have to attend to. Damien, walk her back to her room.”
He wanted Demon Spawn to walk me back? “No dad, you can’t possibly—”
“Princess, am I to understand that you’re giving up already? That you can’t even walk back to the room with him?”
I look down. “No.”
My dad sits at his desk and rubs his temples. “Good. Now get out before I change my mind.”
Chapter 5
The fastest way to get to the clubhouse is through the front of the shop and into the parking lot, but when I try to walk out, Damien steps in my way.
“Not that way, Princess.”
It’s been less than ten seconds and already he’s trying my patience. “Why the hell not?”
Damien glances up at the windows to my father’s office. “Some of the guys are getting together. Not everyone is happy with the terms of peace treaty.”
In a club this size, that’s to be expected. “So?”
His eyes harden. “So I don’t want you to get involved.”
I squint. Something about this doesn’t sound right. “Does my father know about this?”
“The President is well aware that there’s dissent.”
“And what exactly is the cause of this ‘dissent’?”
He glances at the front doors. Dusty sunlight spills over the harsh angles of his face. He looks more weathered and sterner than he ever has before. “Some people think we’re giving up too much.”
“Why? What are you guys giving up?”
“Princess, this really doesn’t concern you.”
“The fuck it doesn’t! I’m a partial owner of this club. My father’s the President.”
“And if he had any interest in telling you he would have already.”
I gulp. “You don’t think I deserve to know, do you?”
“It’s not a question of deserving, it’s a question of safety.”
“So knowing what you guys are talking about in your super-secret meeting isn’t safe?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Then why the fuck are you having it?”
“Because some of us don’t want to just bend over and take it, alright? Some of us believe that there are things worth fighting for, and we’re ready to fight for them.”
“This would be a lot easier to understand if you used specifics.”
Damien glances back at the front doors. “I can’t.”
“Alright,” I say, turning. “I’m going to go tell my father.”
“Princess, come on.”
“No. I’m not going to ‘come on’ unless you tell me what the fuck is going on!”
“This isn’t something you can solve.”
“Yeah, maybe I can’t solve it, and maybe that’s because I already thought it was solved. I don’t know what ‘Peace Treaty’ means to you, but to me it means that everyone is ge
tting along, not that people are meeting secretly behind other people’s backs.”
I try to push past him, but Damien grabs me. “This isn’t your fight, Princess.”
“What do you mean this isn’t my fight? This club is my home.”
“I can’t let you do this.”
“Oh yeah? If my dad comes down here, would you hold him back too?”
Damien’s jaw clenches.
“I thought everything was fine,” I tell him.
“With that fucker, nothing’s ever as it seems.”
Before I can ask who he’s talking about, we hear a door click open. My father’s at the top of the staircase, glaring at us. “Things looked a little tense between you two. Figured I should come out and see what’s up.”
“We’re fine,” Damien tells him.
I yank my arm from Damien’s grip. “No, we’re not.”
My father leans against the railing. He’s always been such a vital man, such a strong member of the community, even at his age. It always seemed like nothing could rattle him. But right now, he looks old and tired. “What is it, Princess?”
Damien shakes his head, silently pleading.
I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know if I should tell my father or if I should listen to Damien. In the end, I make the decision for myself. “Members of our club are having a meeting without you about the Peace Treaty. Damien says not everyone is happy. I don’t know what that means, or what is going on, but it doesn’t sound good.”
My father shuts his eyes. “You’re right, it doesn’t. But it’s not anything you have to worry about, Princess.”
“What do you mean it isn’t something I need to worry about?”
“We’ll take care of it.”
I stand in silence—angry, confused, and completely alone. My father claimed that I was part of this family and always would be, but was it really true? I realize I don’t know anything about my family, my home, and our future. How could he say that I was a part of this when I didn’t understand?
“You still think I’m a child,” I realize.
“That’s not it,” my dad responds.
“No, it is it. Well, I have something to say to you. If you keep treating me like a child, how can you expect me to stop acting like one?”
“Princess, this isn’t a woman’s world,” my father tells me. “Cheyenne isn’t involved. None of the Old Ladies or their daughters are.”
Oh, I wasn’t going to take that. “You know all those women who aren’t a part of this? They’re the ones cooking and cleaning and making this a home. Without them, you would all be wandering around in your underwear and each other’s filth.”
My father scowls. “You think I don’t appreciate what the women do here? That’s bullshit. Of course I do. But the women are involved with running things, but not with politics. Not with what we really do. And you know why? Because it’s a man’s job to provide for those he loves.”
I shut my eyes. I knew he appreciated Cheyenne. The men here loved their women. But were they also selling us short? “Maybe we want to help because we love you too, dad. Maybe we could help if we were given the chance.”
My dad shakes his head. “You know why you don’t have this burden, Princess? Because I don’t want you to have it. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I passed it onto you. I want your life to be more than that.”
He turns his attention to Damien, assessing him silently. However, whatever he finds he keeps to himself. “My loyalty is to my brothers. And it’s to my daughters. And Cheyenne. And this community. There are more people than just us to think about. The world is changing around us, and we need to change with it. The question I gotta ask myself—I gotta ask everyone—is what kind of changes are we willing to make, and are we willing to accept the consequences of those changes.”
I don’t know if he’s talking to Damien or to me. Still, Damien isn’t talking, so it’s left to me to ask, “Dad, what are you talking about?”
He sighs. “When you love someone, you try to make the world a better place for them. Will you at least believe me on that, Princess? I want to make this little part of the world a better place for you, even if it means doing some things that I don’t like.” He scowls at Damien. “That’s what everyone’s tryin’ to do, even if we don’t agree with how the other goes about it.
“Now both of you get out. I gotta lot of shit to do this mornin’, and I don’t want to spend any more time babysittin’.”
Then, he puts his handle on the door and steps outside.
Chapter 6
I don’t like it when people keep things from me. What my dad said makes sense to me…at least in the sense that I know he thinks he’s looking out for my best interests…but I still don’t like it. Unsurprisingly, walking around next to Damien makes me like it even less.
I play nice with him while we leave the shop. My dad is probably still watching, after all. Despite my anger at being cut out¸ I made a promise and I’m going to stick to it. Failing this early in the game would just be too pathetic. But once we’re in the back hallway? Oh, it is on.
I stomp on the cement. My pink bunny slippers don’t exactly make the pounding sound I want them to, but their little ears bounce with tons of attitude.
I hear Damien trotting behind me. “Princess, wait up.”
“No.”
“Come on, don’t be like this. We gotta talk.”
“You just said you didn’t want to talk.”
“Yeah, not about club business.”
“Well that’s too bad because that’s all I want to talk about with you.”
“Princess—”
“No, Damien. We have nothing to talk about.”
Instead of replying to this verbally like a normal person, Damien grabs my arm and spins me around so I’m face to face with that scarlet kiss mark.
“I think you want to say other things to me. I think you’ve been holding things back.”
I clench my jaw and see red—fire hydrant lipstick red. “So what if I have?”
“Then I want to know.”
“Fine,” I grit out. “You want to go there? Let’s go there. How many women did you fuck last night after me?”
Whatever Damien was expecting, it wasn’t that. “Where the hell are you getting these kinds of ideas?”
“Oh, so you’re saying you didn’t sleep with anyone? How the hell do you explain that?” I point at the scarlet smear like it’s the mark of the beast.
Damien frowns.
“You have lipstick on your neck, asshole!”
“What?” he rubs his neck. “Oh, yeah. Maggie or Molly or Magic or somethin’.”
So he wasn’t even going to deny it? “What the fuck? Or something?”
He shrugs. “Yeah, some strippers came off the poles to celebrate.”
“So you fucked one?”
“Why do you think I fucked one of them?”
My lip curls. Oh man, crazy eye is about to twitch out in full force. I grit my teeth in an attempt to hold it in as I point at the mark again.
Damien chuckles, like it’s cute. “Princess, come on, she just licked me.”
My eyes bug out. She licked him??? “WHERE?”
“What?”
“Where did she fucking lick you, Damien?”
“My neck, come on. I know I may not have inspired much trust in you up to this point, but I’m a little better than that.” Damien moves closer, his eyes softening as they look at me so sweetly that I almost forgive him.
Then he ruins it by opening his big, Damien mouth.
He pushes a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Don’t worry, Princess. I didn’t even let her suck my dick.”
I frown. Am I hearing him correctly? “You didn’t even let her suck your dick?”
“Yeah,” Damien says, totally serious. “She wanted to but I said no.”
I say nothing for at least ten seconds. Was it possible for a man to be more arrogant than this? And why the fuck did it
sound like he felt bad for her that she couldn’t suck it?
“Wow, how big of you Damien. You didn’t let the woman giving you a lap dance suck your dick.”
He smiles slightly. His eyes twinkle like he just shed a tear for all the poor girls who now won’t get a chance to slob his knob. “Yeah. Those days are over for me.”
OMFG he still doesn’t get it! I push his chest. “You know, I don’t know what part of you is bigger, your ego or your cock!”
Damien frowns. “Wait, is something wrong?”
Unbelievable! “What do you think?!?”
“Come on, what’s wrong Princess?”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong is you’re a manwhore.”
“But I didn’t do anything!”
“You let her lick you!”
“But it wasn’t my—”
“NO DO NOT SAY IT!”
“Alright. I won’t let any girls kiss me. Though, if one of them gets crazy and surprises me and—”
“No Damien,” I tell him.
“No?”
“No. I don’t care what the reason is. No excuses. Any girl kisses you, I am done. And if she licks you? Oh my god, I am scrubbing you till you’re as hairless as Mr. Clean and then I’m done.”
He frowns. “You don’t understand how hard it is to let them down. It’s hard to shatter a girl’s heart like that.”
“You think a girl’s heart shatters if she can’t suck your dick? Fuck it, I’m out. You need professional help.”
He grins knowingly.
I scowl. “You don’t know shit.”
For some messed-up reason his grin deepens. “Oh, I think I know somethin’.”
“Yeah. Something, as in one thing. I guess you’d have to know that much.”
He tilts his head to the side, eyes darkening. “You’re jealous, Princess.”
What? “Yeah right.”
“Sure you are. You wanna be the only chick who licks me.”
I gulp. “T-that’s so g-gross.”
“Where do you wanna start?” Damien asks, stepping closer. “Here?” he draws a line from his strong, angular jaw, down his Adam’s apple, to the dip in his collarbone, following the delicate, flowing edge of his tribal tattoo.
I open my mouth, ready to say something, but nothing comes out. I inhale sharply as he closes the distance between us.
