by Zoey Parker
Jace shrugged. I could tell he was angry, but somehow managing to hold everything in. “That’s how it starts,” he said, looking away. “The abuser always wants to make sure you’re isolated before trying anything too bad. He wants to make sure you don’t have anywhere to go.”
“I lost all of my friends,” I admitted. “The only friend I still have is Becky. You remember her? That blonde girl who used to live across the street from me.”
Jace nodded again. “What kind of shit has he been doing lately?” When I didn’t respond, Jace licked his lips and stared at me. “Tell me about the breakup, Katie,” he added, this time in a gentler voice. “Tell me what you said to him, and the things he’s threatened you with.”
I winced. These wounds were more recent, and I hated thinking about them. “Okay,” I said softly. “I broke up with him about a month ago. The…the violence had gotten really bad,” I added, feeling my voice shake. In my chest, my heart was beating but it felt hollow, devoid of love. “There was one really bad night where we were going to go out. I did something to piss him off…I don’t even remember what it was now. It was probably something really stupid. But, either way, he was furious with me. He told me he was leaving and that I wouldn’t ever see him again.” I looked away, ashamed of what came next. “I’m not proud of it, but I begged him to stay. I grabbed him by the arm when he tried to leave. And then he took off his belt…” My voice faltered.
“It’s okay, Katie,” Jace said. “I’m here. You can talk to me. You can trust me, remember?”
I nodded. “I just hate talking about this,” I said as a hot tear squeezed out of my eye. “It makes me feel so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid,” Jace said in an even voice. “You’re really brave, and I promise this will get easier.”
Taking a deep breath, I made myself continue. “He took his belt off and he beat me with it,” I said. My voice sounded wooden, clinical, almost dull. “And when he was done with that, he started using his fists. My face was so swollen that I couldn’t leave the house.”
Jace let out a deep breath and I saw he was shaking. “I’m sorry,” he said, giving me an odd, tight little smile. “I don’t know how to hear this stuff without getting furious,” he added. “It sickens me that someone would have treated you like that.”
I looked away. “I don’t even feel like it happened to me,” I said softly. “I feel like it happened to someone else, some other girl.”
I didn’t exactly know what to think about Jace. I liked him, against my better judgment, but there was some tiny voice in the back of my head that was telling me not to trust him. After all, this was the man who was supposedly involved with my father’s death. This was the man who was possibly a killer. He was a good listener, though, and I realized I was starting to feel calmer than I had in ages.
“You can’t stay at your place anymore, Katie,” Jace said.
I gaped. “Are you kidding me?” My mind started racing. Right now, I didn’t have the money to move out. My dad had left me an inheritance, but I wouldn’t be able to touch it until I turned thirty.
“I’m dead serious,” Jace replied. “It’s obviously not safe for you. Has he broken in before?”
I bit my lip. “I had the locks changed when I broke up with him,” I replied. “But he’s tried to get in all the same.”
Jace shook his head. “That’s not going to change,” he said gruffly. “A guy like Troy won’t be satisfied until you’re in the hospital, or dead.”
A strange wave of emotion came over me. I couldn’t begin to explain it, but somewhere, deep down, I felt like I was starting to have an anxiety attack.
“I don’t feel good,” I said slowly. “I mean, this is a lot for me to take in.”
“I know,” Jace replied. “But it’s for your own safety.”
I laughed. “And just where do you think I should go? I can’t go live with Becky; she has roommates and they wouldn’t allow it. And it’s not like I have a couple thousand lying around for a security deposit and rent in a new place.”
Jace looked at me. “You have to move in with me,” he said. “That’ll keep Troy away from you. He’s too stupid to fuck with me, and, if he’s not, I’ll take him down in an instant. Plus, the other guys from the MC can stand guard if I have to leave the house.”
I frowned. “You mean I’m supposed to stay locked up in your house?”
“Well, you’re a blogger, aren’t you?”
I let out a long sigh. I was a food blogger, and despite what had happened with Troy, things had actually been going pretty well for me. I’d been invited to judge a couple of cooking competitions, one of them was even in California. But I didn’t see a way for that to happen now. “I work from home,” I said in an icy tone. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t ever need to leave. I can’t stay inside all day,” I whined. “Come on, Jace. That’s ridiculous.”
Jace glared at me. “Katie, this is your life we’re talking about,” he said sternly. “Don’t you place more value on yourself than that?”
I glanced down. “I just…” I sighed. “Fine, I’ll move in with you.”
“That’s not all,” Jace said. “We should get married. That way you have my protection and the full protection of the club. I don’t think anything will happen to me, but if it does…but if it does, you’ll be taken care of.”
I gaped at him. “You can’t be serious,” I said with a little laugh. “You’re joking, right?”
Jace stared back at me. “I’m not kidding,” he said. “This isn’t a joke, Katharina.”
I winced. “Please don’t call me that,” I replied. “It’s Katie now.”
“I’m sorry,” Jace said. He shook his head. For a moment, I had the urge to tell him how much I loved hearing my real name. Or, rather, I used to love hearing my full name. Until Troy ruined it for me.
“I know,” I said. “I’m asking a lot of you…”
“Not so much,” Jace said. He grinned at me. “I have to protect you, you deserve the protection of the MC. Your dad would have wanted that.”
“I just…I don’t know if I can go through with this,” I said. “This…seems extreme.”
“Katie, Troy isn’t going to stop until he’s really hurt you,” Jace said. “This isn’t extreme. What would be extreme is you winding up in the hospital.”
I bit my lip.
“You’re vulnerable as a single woman,” Jace said. “If you marry me, that’s automatic, guaranteed protection.”
I blinked at him. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting when I went to Jace for help, but this definitely wasn’t it. I thought maybe he and his guys could ride by Troy’s house and scare him, maybe threaten to kick his ass or something until he left me alone. But move in with Jace? Move in and get married to someone I barely knew? It seemed ridiculous.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, what’s in this for you?”
Jace hesitated. “I have to protect you,” he said simply. “You’re vulnerable, and you need protection, and you have a shithead of an ex-boyfriend who thinks beating women is acceptable.”
My head was spinning. I didn’t even know what to say, I was so shocked. At first, when he’d suggested getting married, it sounded like a joke, like something he would have said to get rid of the lingering tension in the room. But now that I knew he was serious, I felt flustered. My whole body was shaking and it was scary, like having to make a serious decision on the spot.
“This will affect the rest of our lives,” I said softly. “Are you sure? Are you sure you can do this?”
Jace nodded. “I’m damn positive,” he said.
I sat back in my seat and blinked. Remembering my beer, I reached forward and drank the rest of the glass in one gulp.
“Troy is going to keep chasing you until you’re dead,” Jace said in a low, serious voice. “Katie, you wouldn’t have come to me for help if you didn’t think it was serious. Now that you know it is, what are you going to do? And you realize I
can’t let you just leave,” he added. “I’ll have to watch you, no matter what we do. But it’s going to be even worse for you if you don’t listen to me and take me up on the offer.”
I closed my eyes. Behind my lids, colors were swirling around in a frenzy, a frantic pattern of reds and light greys. It looked like the color of a bruise, like my wrists. Like my face will look if Troy can get to me, I thought with a shiver.
I knew something had to be done, but goddamn if I was going to like doing it.
Chapter 4
Jace
I watched as a swirling pattern of emotions took over Katie’s face. First, she was shocked. Her lips hung open and her eyes were white and wide. Then, when she realized I was being serious, she seemed amazed. And surprised, and maybe a little disbelieving.
“I don’t know,” Katie kept saying. “I just…I just don’t know. It doesn’t seem like a good idea, Jace.”
“It’s the only idea I have,” I said gruffly. “And just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you have to shit on it.” Part of me was angry. I’d promised Matthias I’d always care for his daughter, no matter what. And if that meant marrying her, so be it.
Honestly, deep down, I didn’t mind so much. Katie was smoking hot, and ever since she’d grown up, I’d wanted to take her for my own. Even if only for a night. Even if only for the shortest amount of time possible. I wanted those long legs wrapped around me. I wanted to feel the heat from her petal-soft lips. I wanted her musky, sweet smell to wash over me and take me over until I was drowning in Katie.
“It won’t be so bad,” I said with a grin. “I have a big house, you know?”
The mention of marriage brought up an unexpected memory. Margot. Margot was the woman I’d actually fallen in love with years ago. Margot was a woman who had broken my world apart, a woman who had come in and destroyed everything.
Back in my early twenties, I thought I was set to be an outlaw for the rest of my life. I’d just become a patched member of The Silent Havoc, and I was riding high on pride and hormones. Lust and the urge to get myself into trouble were around every corner. The guys and I would go out every night, carousing and fucking our way around Marquette. It wasn’t long before I had a line of credit at every strip club in town, and even some outside of town.
Those days had been some of the best of my life. Now, looking back was painful, almost like looking through a broken mirror. But back then, I’d loved being alive. I was young and powerful, and nothing could touch me. I thought I was immortal. I fucked a different girl every night and vowed to never fall in love. There were some women who I appreciated, but that wasn’t the same kind of thing as love.
And then I met Margot. She changed everything. She threw my world upside down and, before I knew it, I was head over heels in love with her. She was crazy, she was loud, she was brash. And then when I least expected it, she was shy. She was ladylike. She knew how to eat pasta with a spoon. She was basically a man’s dream come true. The kind of woman who wanted to be fucked hard every night and then delicately taken out to breakfast in the morning. The kind of woman who would make you laugh by mouthing curse words in public places. Margot had wild black hair and dark eyes. A couple of the other guys in the MC always used to joke that she looked like my sister, but I knew we were soulmates.
I’d asked her marry me six months after we met. She was eager to put the ring on her finger, and she couldn’t wait to be my wife. But then she died, and it fucking crushed me. The circumstances of Margot’s death were mysterious, and though I had my suspicions, I never figured out who had been involved.
After Margot died, nothing was the same. I couldn’t go back to the way I’d lived before. It felt empty, false. My guys always told me, “Fake it ’til you make it,” so I kept at it. I kept going out, fucking and drinking and drinking and fucking until everything was one big blur of pussy and beer and whiskey in front of my face, twenty-four hours a day.
I’d only recently started to enjoy living again. This had been almost ten years ago, but I’d thought about Margot every day after she died. Even though her face started to blur in my mind, I couldn’t get the sharpness of emotion out of my head: how it felt to fall in love. What it felt like to have a soul-crushing argument with the woman I loved, how good it felt to make up afterwards.
But there was no danger of that ever happening again. Katie was gorgeous, but she was the same woman I’d known growing up. She was Matthias’s daughter, a fiery redhead with a spitfire personality. Right now, she needed my help. I wanted to help her. There wasn’t a chance I’d fall in love with Katie like I’d fallen in love with Margot. With Margot, we’d been equals. Two wild people running free, trying to break the bonds of society and rule together as outlaws. But Katie needed my help; she was dependent on me for everything.
“Just marry me,” I said. “Come on, Kate. It’s not something you need to keep thinking about. If you want to stay safe, this is the only option.”
Katie looked up at me with her gorgeous green eyes. There was a blush on her pale cheeks and I could feel my cock stiffening in my pants. For all the talk I made about not being able to fall in love with her, I knew I’d be able to fuck her just fine. She was hot, maybe one of the hottest women I’d ever seen. And she’s gonna be yours, I thought to myself with a grin.
So maybe I wasn’t the biggest gentleman in the world. Sure, I was offering Katie lifetime protection. But I was also guaranteeing that I’d get laid with a hot piece whenever I wanted. I grinned; I couldn’t help it. A deal this nice hadn’t ever fallen in my lap before.
Since I’d fallen so hard for Margot, I knew there wasn’t a chance I’d get my heart broken with Katie. And judging from her attitude—the kind of coy way she was holding back from me—I didn’t think it would be a problem for her. Deep down, I felt really bad for her. After all, her biggest relationship had been with an abusive asshole. But that meant her head had to be all kinds of fucked up, that there wouldn’t even be room for her to love me.
Maybe it was a good thing she was so preoccupied with Troy. I had a feeling Katie was the kind of woman who could let her emotions take the best of her, and maybe she’d always think before acting.
“Katie, come on,” I said. “You know this is the right idea.” I reached out, intending to grab her arm, but she twisted away and my hand fell on her knee. Her skin was bare; she was wearing a skirt and a blouse, and she jumped but didn’t push me away. I could feel her pulse racing under her skin.
My cock chafed against my pants. Suddenly, I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anyone. She was right there, so close, right in front of me. Mine for the taking.
“We can divorce later, if you want,” I said, massaging her thigh with my thumb. Katie bit her lip and blushed bright red. “I mean, if you think that would be better for both of us. If you want me to agree to it now, I’ll even put it in writing,” I added, knowing I’d rip up the piece of paper immediately after signing. Now that Katie was going to be mine, I wasn’t going to let her go. At least not without a few rounds of hot sex, I thought wickedly. She’s going to be mine, even if only temporarily.
“I can’t marry a man who might have killed my father,” Katie blurted out. She shoved my hand off her leg at the same time and stood up on wobbly ankles. A red flush was covering her face and I found myself feeling both aroused and incredibly angry.
Anger flared up in me so sharply that I saw red. What the fuck was this broad talking about? I was loyal to her father! I loved her father! He was like a father to me, and ever since he made me promise to protect his daughter, I knew I had to obey him. Even if it was his dying wish, I wouldn’t be able to back down. I was so mad at her!
“You’re being an ignorant bitch,” I said, my voice low and warning. Katie stared at me. The air changed between us, became tenser. I could feel lust crackling between our bodies.
Katie sighed, and her sweet, musky scent washed over me like an ocean. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I reached
forward and tangled my hand in her long red hair, pulling her close to me. Katie was breathing hard, and her lips were slightly parted. Her green eyes were wide open and I could see the pulse of her heartbeat in her delicate, long throat. Katie’s legs went on for days, and I felt a lick of desire shoot through me as I imagined what she would look like without any panties on. I imagined soft curls between her legs, leaking moisture.
God damn, I thought. I couldn’t ever remember being this turned on in my entire life. It was like an arrow straight to the crotch, filled with a hormone that made me want to bend her over and fuck her raw.
Katie stretched. I misinterpreted her movement as trying to get away from me, and for a brief moment, we tussled. Then, before I knew it, my lips were pressing down on hers. Katie let out a small gasp as I kissed her, but she didn’t pull away. She tasted like beer and strawberries, and I closed my eyes, sucking on her full lower lip and sliding my tongue into her mouth.
