Rough & Real

by Hayley Faiman

  “Bailey already texted me. Says there was a threat made,” she announces.

  I don’t contain my groan, half tempted to take her fucking phone and throw it out of the window as I pull into our driveway. “A threat was made,” I confirm as I shift the car into park.

  “Against who, Mom?” she asks in a demanding tone.

  Turning around in my seat, I let out a breath, trying not to be irritated at her, or Bailey. He’s just trying to help, I’m sure. She’s been through enough, that she’s probably terrified. “How about you let Dad and the club worry about things? We’re going to follow directions. Walk in that house and pack our bags, okay?”

  “Okay, Mom,” she whispers.

  I don’t waste another second, I open my door and slide out of the car as Rosalie does the same with her shopping bags in tow.

  West is pacing in the living room as soon as I open the front door. He stops and looks up at me, his face pale and his eyes nothing short of relieved. I hold my breath when he hurries toward us, and without a word, he wraps me in his arms, burying his face in my neck.

  “Thank fuck you’re here,” he murmurs against my skin.

  “Anything else?” I ask.

  West lifts his head, shaking it. “You girls go on up and pack some shit,” he murmurs running his thumb along my bottom lip.

  I nod and take a step back, holding my hand out for Rosalie. She puts her hand in mine and together we hurry up the stairs.

  She releases my grasp only when we arrive at her room. I don’t look back as I hurry to mine and I pack a week’s worth of things. I hear West’s boots as he enters our bedroom and I let out a sigh. “I should just quit my job,” I mutter.

  “I’ll pay for your training with Chad,” he quickly replies.

  Stopping I turn my head and glance up at him. “West,” I whisper.

  He shakes his head. “Not discussing it. I’m paying for it. I want you home, you’re happiest being available for the kids and you love working out with your friends. I was being a stubborn ass, Ivy. A fucking dickhead and I’m sorry.”

  I blink, trying to keep my tears at bay. “Seriously?” I ask.

  He nods but doesn’t say anything else, I watch as he turns and walks away. He leaves me alone in our room. I let out a breath and try, again, not to cry. Instead, I focus on packing my bags.

  The past few months have been, eye-opening to say the least. Our marriage has been teetering, and then actually started to fall and crash into a million pieces. Somehow, we picked them up, we discovered some new things about each other, and now West is having a change of heart concerning my employment.

  I shouldn’t be as excited as I am about being able to be a stay-at-home mom again. I should want to be that independent woman, who applied and was hired by the dentist’s office. However, I can’t deny that I love being home, I love being with my children whenever they need me.

  Glancing at my phone on the nightstand, I walk over to it, picking it up in my palm. I scroll through the numbers until I find my boss’s name. Pressing send, my eyes travel out of the window and I hold the phone to my ear as it rings. Nobody answers, so I leave a message. Just as I’m pressing end on the call, I see a motorcycle ride by very slowly. It doesn’t stop, but a chill runs down my spine nonetheless.

  Turning back to my bag I quickly finish packing. I’m just zipping up my bag when West appears again. “I’m all ready to go,” I state. He grunts as he reaches for the handle of my suitcase.

  I follow closely behind him, down the staircase and glance around the living room to the rest of my family. “Let’s get the fuck outta here,” West growls.

  Rosalie wraps her hand around mine, and I give it a squeeze as I follow behind my three strong boys. I feel like I’m seconds from breaking apart. The unknown is what is scaring me the most. All I can imagine is Rosalie being taken again—the thought will not leave my headspace.

  Once we’re loaded up in our SUV, West drives toward the clubhouse. He doesn’t speak, and neither do the rest of us. It’s the quietest car ride I think I’ve ever been in with the entire family.

  I can’t keep my legs from bouncing up and down as we continue to drive. West glances in the rearview mirror every couple of seconds and I hold my breath until I see those clubhouse gates in front of us.

  One of the prospects opens the gate and I let out a long exhale as the car drives through the entrance.

  “Kids you go inside, quickly,” West announces. I’m thankful when we don’t have to tell them twice and they hurry inside of the building.

  “Do you have anything else?” I ask before we exit the car.

  West shakes his head. “I’m going to give my phone to Hacker, see if he can find anything out about who called me,” he explains.

  I watch him walk around the SUV to my side. He opens the door for me and I quickly exit before I wrap my arms around his neck. “I love you. Whatever happens, I know that you’ll keep us safe,” I whisper.

  West’s hands wrap around my ass and he tugs me close to his body, his head dipping down and his lips brushing mine. “I’ll die for you and the kids, Ivy. Swear to fuck, nobody will touch you without my permission,” he winks as his hand taps me on the ass.

  “Don’t be cute,” I grumble. “I’m scared.”

  His face turns serious and his lips gently touch mine again. “I know you are, baby. Trust your Old Man, yeah?”

  “Okay,” I breathe.

  “Go inside, keep the kids calm. I’m going to see what I can find out,” he grunts.

  I nod as his lips graze mine one more time and he takes a step back from me. I turn around and walk away from him, sending a prayer up that he’s got this, that whoever this weirdo is, he’s found and dealt with—quickly.

  “Swear to God if you can’t find, anything, I’ll beat the shit out of you,” I growl as I slam my phone down on Hacker’s desk.

  Hacker’s eyes widen and he grunts. “Brother, I’m only a man. I can only find what’s there. I’ll do my fuckin’ best though,” he mutters.

  I watch as he starts to press a bunch of buttons on his computer. Then, he plugs my phone into his laptop and squints as he punches a bunch more buttons. He isn’t moving fast enough for my taste, but I don’t bitch him out.

  “You said he knew the girls were together?” Torch asks from his spot, leaning against the wall.

  I run my hand through my hair. “Yeah, he said they were standing next to each other, they were shoppin’ earlier today.”

  Torch nods, but doesn’t say anything right away. “Nobody else has had anything like that happen. I have to wonder if whoever it is, he’s only gunning for your family,” he mutters.

  “Why?” I ask.

  Torch shrugs. “Fuck if I know, why do crazy fucks do much of anything?”

  I wait. Watching Hacker and hoping that he’ll find something—anything.

  Hours tick by. Hacker hasn’t found a fucking thing, and my patience is starting to wane. “Brother, there’s nothing. Whoever this guy is, he knew what he was doing when he called you,” Hacker admits.

  I turn around and walk away from him. I don’t go into the open bar area where I know Ivy and everybody else is. Instead, I make my way to the gym. I need to blow off some fucking pent up anger.

  Once I’m inside of the gym I drop my cut on the workout bench, and grab my shirt from behind my neck and take it off as well.

  Pounding the bag in front of me, my fists slam against it over, and over. I should have taped them but I don’t really give a fuck if they’re tore up right now.

  All I can think about is that I’ve finally got my shit together, my family’s in a great fucking place, and now someone is trying to fuck with me—with us. I feel out of fucking control.

  “Baby.” Ivy’s voice breaks through my grunting.

  I stop, placing my palms on the bag to keep it from swinging and hitting me. Glancing over at her, she looks fucking small and fragile. I’ve never imagined my strong woman as anything but just t
hat, unbreakable. Right now, she could break like a goddamn twig.

  “We got nothin’,” I admit.

  She quickly closes the distance between us and wraps her arms around my waist. I shift one of my hands, placing my palm on her lower back. “You’re wrong,” she whispers.

  “I’m not.”

  “We have everything, that’s why this person, this stranger wants to mess with us. Whoever he is, knows that we have it all,” she murmurs, tipping her head back with a wide, watery smile. “We have a happy, healthy, family and people who love us. We have, everything.”

  I only grunt. She’s right. We do have everything, but I’m not naïve enough to think that this person wants to fuck with us, just because, there’s a goddamn reason. I aim to get to the bottom of it. Ivy lowers to her knees, and I grab at the back of her hair, looking down at her in confusion.

  “You need to be able to think, and the only way to clear your head that I’ve ever found is through sex,” she smirks. My cock goes hard instantly at her words.

  Ivy unbuttons my jeans, and reaches inside, wrapping her hand around my already hard dick. She works my jeans past my hips as she gently strokes me. Leaning forward, she sticks her sweet tongue out and tastes the tip of my cock. “Open,” I grunt.

  Without hesitation, she opens her mouth and I sink down inside of her. Grasping onto her hair even tighter, I wrap my other hand around the front of her neck and I fuck her mouth. I know what she can take and she takes it so goddamn well.

  Keeping my eyes focused on her, I sink further down her throat with each pump of my hips. When I feel my balls begin to draw up, I pull out of her.

  Her breathing is labored, and without even being instructed, she quickly rips all of her clothes off, leaving them in a pile next to my cut and T-shirt. I push my jeans down my legs a little further before sinking to my knees on the gym floor. Ivy is already positioned in front of me, on her own knees, her legs spread and her ass tipped.

  “I’m fucking you in the ass later tonight, baby,” I murmur as I sink my fingers into the flesh of her gorgeous ass cheeks. She moans and pushes against me a little more.

  With a chuckle, I slap one of her cheeks before I guide my cock into her warm pussy. She’s so goddamn wet from sucking me that I groan as I slip between her folds.

  Wrapping my hands around her hips, I hold her still. It’s a warning she knows all too well, it means this is going to be hard and fast, she needs to brace.

  “Play with that gorgeous clit, baby, make yourself come.”

  I rear back until just the head of my cock is still inside and then I slam back inside of her. I don’t stop, I continue to fuck her with rapid, hard strokes. She only moans, her pussy growing even slicker with each down stroke of my cock as she plays with herself.

  This is us. This is my woman, and I’m her Old Man. Nothing will ever come between our bond, or break it, no matter how hard they try.

  My fingers grip her skin even harder, leaving bruises, I’m sure. I don’t give a fuck. The only thing that matters is my cock filling her cunt, over and over again. When my back tingles, I growl with a warning of my impending climax.

  “I’m coming, oh fuck,” Ivy sobs as her pussy clamps down around me. It’s all I need to send me over the edge and I bury myself as deeply as I can inside of my wife and I come.

  When my balls are empty, I gently ease out of her and sit back on my ass. Ivy doesn’t wait even a second before she’s crawling over to me and rests her head on my shoulder, her face in my neck. “You’ll find whoever it is,” she whispers.

  Reaching up, I shift her blonde hair to the side. “Yeah, I will,” I murmur. “Nobody will hurt my family, fucking nobody,” I growl.

  Ivy lifts her head and her lips brush mine before she whispers against them. “I love you so much, West. You are amazing.”

  I don’t feel amazing. I feel fucking helpless, but I don’t tell her that. We dress in silence and she leaves me to go back to the kids. I don’t stay in the gym.

  Instead, I make my way back to Torch’s new office, the president’s office. I will figure this shit out. I will find out who the fuck is threatening my family, and I’m going to fucking torture them.

  I don’t know if I feel any better after my time with West in the gym, or not. I feel a little less frazzled, so that should count for something I suppose. Unfortunately, I’m on edge and I don’t know that anything will make that feeling go away, not until we find out who made the threatening phone call.

  “Between Hacker, Torch, West, and the rest of these boys, everything will be just fine,” Genny states, sitting next to me with a nod.

  I want to believe her, and I want to agree, but I can’t. My daughter was taken, she was scooped up and stolen from a public place. I don’t put anything past anyone these days. I find it hard to speak at all, my focus on Rosalie.

  What have I done to my daughter? I brought her into this world, I brought all of my children into this world—into this chaos.

  “Don’t think like that,” Genny whispers.

  I turn my head and place my fingers over my lips, unbelieving that I said those words aloud. “It’s true though. This is the second time in a matter of just weeks that she’s been threatened,” I murmur.

  Genny shakes her head and wraps her hand around mine. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, or how much money you have. The world is an ugly place, Ivy. People will do bad things. I know it feels like this is all because of the club, and it very well could be. But that doesn’t mean that all of you would be completely safe out in the world either.”

  “I know,” I admit, and I do know. It’s hard to see past the fact that this club shit is the cause of a lot of fucking headaches sometimes.

  I decide I need to change the subject so I tell her that West has asked me to quit my job. “How do you feel about that?”

  Shrugging, I turn back to watch Rosalie who is talking quietly to Finley across the room. They look like they’re deep in conversation and I hope that it’s helping Finley. She’s been having a hell of a time coping with everything that happened to her.

  Glancing back to Genny, I answer her, honestly. “I’ve really enjoyed being home with my kids, and being the one to take care of everything around the house. There was something a little freeing about going to work every day, though. It was something I did, like working out, that was just for me,” I admit.

  “But…”

  I smile, Genny knows me well enough to know that, that statement definitely had a but attached to it.

  “But, I think there is such a thing as doing too much for myself. I felt like I didn’t have time to go to the boys’ sports practices, or go to the football games to watch Rosalie cheer, and then I was trying to figure out how I was going to go to all of their school stuff during the day. I’ve been a little overwhelmed thinking about that aspect.”

  “All of this was because you and West were having problems?” she asks. “Do you think that those will come back, and he’ll fly off of the handle about money again?”

  Letting out a breath I look to the ceiling and then back to her. “I want to say that we’ll never have problems on the scale that we just worked out. However—”

  “That’s not real life,” she chuckles.

  “Exactly. It’s not real life, and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

  Genny snaps and points to me which causes me to close my mouth. “What if you did secretarial work for Chad and Brian? It would be a little something to do, but not to the degree of full-time, and it would give you experience in case you needed it, in the future.”

  My eyes widen at her suggestion and I’m unable to stop myself from throwing my arms around her in a huge hug. “You are the freaking best, Genny,” I whisper.

  We break apart and she smiles at me. “Chad kicked my ass, I signed up for personal training for the rest of the year. I’m sure they can pay you part-time now,” she winks.

  We continue to talk about the gym for a
few minutes, then our conversation turns toward our kids and their sports. Mary-Anne joins us a few minutes later and then the rest of our close group of friends join as well.

  It’s nice having the distraction of conversation as the minutes tick by. Unfortunately, for me, it doesn’t distract me at all. My eyes keep darting around from Rosalie to the hallway, where I know West is working on figuring out who called him.

  “Can I talk to you?” Mary-Anne’s soft voice asks interrupting my internal screaming.

  I glance over at her and I nod. “Bailey is completely smitten,” she states.

  My eyes widen at her words. “Rosalie is too,” I admit.

  “Shit, what are we going to do? I’m sure if West is anything like Max, he won’t want him anywhere near his baby girl,” she murmurs.

  “That’s an understatement,” I exhale under my breath.

  She shakes her head and looks across the room at something, I follow her line of sight and I suck in a breath. I can only see the profile of Bailey’s face because he’s staring directly at my daughter. He isn’t just staring at her in a friendly manner, either. I know the look on his face, it’s one of want and desire. He may be just a boy, but he’s also MadDog’s son, and he knows what he wants—Rosalie.

  “Shit,” Mary-Anne whispers.

  I bite the corner of my lip and close my eyes. “They have to stay away from each other. We have to keep reminding them of that.”

  “They would be so freaking cute together,” Mary-Anne exhales.

  I laugh at her words because she’s right. They really would. Bailey has light hair like his father and oldest brother, Fury. His blue eyes are piercing, and so bright that you can’t help but stare at them when you’re talking to him. He’s taller than most boys his age, and more muscular too.

  I can completely understand why Rosalie is smitten with him, I would have been too at her age. They’re also forbidden fruit for each other, which only makes them want one another even more.