Aiden: The Lost Breed MC #8

by Ali Parker

  “Sounds fair,” I said.

  She started scrubbing. She passed me every clean dish and I dried it before putting it back in its home in one of the kitchen cupboards. She hadn’t been lying. She was wicked fast-much faster than me. We made a good team and cut through half the dishes in no time.

  “So you haven’t been in New York City very long?” Ellie asked as she handed me a freshly cleaned serving platter.

  I ran my towel over it before sliding it into one of the bottom cupboards near the stove. “No. Only a few weeks. Vinny and I moved from Georgia for a fresh start and better business opportunities.”

  “What do you think so far?”

  I shrugged. “Besides Aiden it’s been smooth sailing.”

  Ellie chuckled and pursed her lips together. “Yes. That man has a way of getting himself into trouble.”

  “Him? How about me? I’m the one who’s in trouble.”

  Ellie didn’t say anything. She just carried on cleaning with a knowing smile on her lips. “Do you have any friends or family living out here?”

  “No.”

  Ellie frowned and stopped scrubbing to look over at me. “That must be hard.”

  I didn’t deny it. “It’s lonely. But I’m sure within time I’ll make some friends. Maybe take some yoga classes or something to meet new people.” Vinny would be thrilled if I got back into yoga. I’d been wanting to try hot yoga. I heard it melted the fat right off your bones. It was terribly uncomfortable, of course, and I didn’t do well in the heat, but it would be worth it if it helped with the weight loss.

  “Does Vince know people out here?”

  I shook my head. “Not really. But he gets along with everyone and it seems like he’s already connected with a few guys from work. I’m hopeful they’ll have nice wives I can spend time with at the next work function.”

  “You could always hang out with me,” Ellie offered. “I spend a lot of time with dudes. Trust me. Some more estrogen in my life sounds glorious.”

  “More dudes as in Lost Breeds?”

  Ellie passed me another freshly washed platter. “He told you about that?”

  I nodded.

  Ellie picked up a pot and started scrubbing. “I’m surprised. But yes. I spend most of my time with the Lost Breed MC.”

  “Are they, you know, dangerous?”

  Ellie snorted. “Dangerous? You mean are they the sort of guys you should be worried about breaking into your house at night? No. They’re not dangerous. Only when provoked.”

  I rubbed my lips together. “How would one provoke a gang member?”

  “Club,” Ellie corrected. She was just as diligent about the right terminology as Aiden had been. “It’s hard to do. You’d have to be a threat to them. Or hurt one of them. Or have plans to hurt them. Otherwise shit just rolls off their backs. If you’re worried about Aiden holding a grudge against you don’t be. He’s not like that. You’re perfectly safe when it comes to him.”

  I was starting to get the sense that Ellie was here to learn more about me rather than just help me clean. But for some reason I trusted her. What kind of person, other than a good one, would offer up their afternoon to help a complete stranger clean their house?

  I sure as hell wasn’t that nice and I didn’t know anyone else who was either.

  Besides my mom. She might have done something like this in her day.

  “Can I ask you something? And will you promise to tell me the truth?” I asked.

  Ellie nodded. “I promise. Ask me anything.”

  “Did Aiden send you here to do recon on me?”

  Ellie shook her head. “No. I asked for your address. I wanted to come here on my own.”

  “Why?”

  Ellie dropped the dish sponge in the sink and turned off the tap. Then she turned, looked me in the eye, and said, “Because I think you’re with a man who hurts you and I wanted to make sure you were safe. And if you weren’t, I wanted to see what sort of mess Aiden was going to get himself into with you. Because he’s not going to be able to walk away from this. Or from you. Not yet, anyway.”

  Chapter 15

  Aiden

  Ellie had already been gone for three hours, and in that time Axel and I managed to move three cars out of the shop for pick up, polish the front end of an old corvette in need of new paint, and give the shop a quick sweep.

  It was close to three in the afternoon when Ellie returned.

  She parked Axel’s big black truck in front of the bay doors and hopped out. Her boots crunched on the gravel as she walked up the drive and ducked into the shop. Axel greeted her with a kiss, and then she turned her attention to me. “Do you have a minute to talk, Aiden?”

  That didn’t sound good. “Sure.”

  Axel nodded at the office. “Jamie went home for the day if you want to sit in the office.”

  Ellie motioned for me to follow her. So I did.

  I paused in the doorway to the office and looked back at Axel, who gave me a shrug and a look that said ‘good luck’. I closed the door behind us and turned to find Ellie sinking down into the couch. She patted the open space beside her. “Sit.”

  “I think I’d rather stand.”

  “Don’t be a pussy, Aiden. Just sit down.”

  Frowning, I took up the open seat beside her and turned so I could face her directly. “Alright. I’m sitting. What do you want to talk to me about?”

  “I don’t really know where to start.”

  She looked nervous. Quite nervous. Like she had a lot she needed to say and knew none of it was going to go very well.

  “Was she mad when she found out who you were?” I asked, hoping I could help guide the conversation a bit.

  Ellie shook her head. “No. Confused maybe, but not mad. I helped her clean the house. It was still a mess from the party on the weekend.”

  “Naturally. I wouldn’t expect Vince to help her.”

  “No. He wouldn’t.”

  “You’ve been gone for hours, Ellie. What did the two of you talk about?”

  “You.”

  “Just me? That whole time.”

  She pursed her lips together and shook her head. Then she looked down at her lap. “No. Not the whole time.”

  “Spit it out then.”

  “She told me a lot about him.”

  “Vince?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And?” Clearly I was going to have to keep pushing, which made me wary. Ellie wasn’t the sort of person to hold something back. She was the sort of girl to put it all out there for you to do what you wanted with it. This was different. There was something bothering her.

  And that made me nervous.

  Ellie chewed the inside of her cheek before saying, “He’s not a good guy, Aiden. Not at all.”

  “I already knew that.”

  “You knew he was an ass, sure. That he was a misogynist. And a bully.”

  “Yeah. And?”

  “He cheats on her all the time. He was sleeping around behind her back in Georgia even after her parents died. He isolated her. Set up ground rules for when she could and couldn’t leave the house. And if she broke the rules—” Ellie sighed and shook her head. When she looked up at me I could see determination in her eyes. She was going to spit it out. “He’s knocked her around a few times, Aiden. Maybe more than a handful.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  But the anger started to boil.

  Ellie ran her hands up and down her thighs. When she spoke it seemed like every word tasted foul on her tongue. “And the worst part is, Cheryl thinks she deserves it. She thinks this is balance because of ‘everything he does for her’.”

  “Which is what, exactly?” I growled.

  “Making the money. That’s all, Aiden. Literally. He makes a good living and he keeps them comfortable. But he cheats on her. Lies to her. Hurts her. Manipulates her. Undermines her. Makes her think she is unworthy of anyone else’s affection or energy but his. He’s a controller. He wants to keep he
r under his thumb for the sheer joy of it.”

  “Bastard.”

  “When I tried to explain that this wasn’t healthy—that she should get away from him—she told me she couldn’t blame him. She said she knows she makes him angry. She says she pushes when she shouldn’t. And she says he’s upset more often now because she’s let herself go since she lost her parents.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  Ellie ran her fingers through her hair. “It means he’s picking her apart on the inside and the outside. And her weight seems to be his area of focus.”

  “What fucking weight?”

  “I know,” Ellie sighed. “She’s beautiful and has no idea. But he knows how gorgeous she is. He knows how easily she could replace him. Which is why he reminds her every day that she’s not worthy. That she already got someone out of her league.”

  “Out of her league?” I scoffed. “That arrogant bastard knows she’s too good for him. He knows he’d never stand a chance with her if—”

  “Aiden,” Ellie said, none too gently. “I know. I’m on your side. And I agree with you. I’m just giving you the information. Relax.”

  I collapsed against the back of the sofa and blew out a long exasperated breath. “And just what am I supposed to do with this information? I don’t suppose you’re suggesting I drive over there and beat the shit out of his pompous ass?”

  Ellie shook her head. “No. I’m most definitely not.”

  “So?”

  “So nothing. Just because you know this now doesn’t mean you are entitled to take action and break down their door like a barbarian. You need to step back. Cheryl is smarter than the people in her life have given her credit for.”

  Of course she was smart. I’d thought she was smart from the moment we first started talking. I knew she was smart the minute she tried to decline my invitation for coffee. She’d known I was bad news right from the start and she hadn’t given in.

  But I’d kept pushing.

  I hated the idea of her being home alone in that big house waiting for Vince Price to come home at the end of a long work day. Did she anticipate his mood swings? Was he as unpredictable as a hormonal teenager? Or did he have patterns? Were Mondays the worst days of the week or the best?

  Did she spend all day making sure everything was perfect so he had fewer reasons to strike her when he lost his temper?

  “Aiden,” Ellie said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  My jaw had been clenched so hard that my teeth were starting to ache. I forced myself to relax and gave my head a shake. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I get it.”

  I rubbed my forehead. “How could you leave her alone in that house, Ellie?”

  Ellie looked me in the eyes. She was wearing that stern motherly expression that prepared me for the wisdom I was sure was about to come out of her mouth. I needed it. I desperately needed her to convince me that things would be alright and that I shouldn’t ride over to that big ass house and wait for Vince to get home from work.

  I’d show him what it was like to get knocked around.

  “It’s not my decision to make, Aiden. Or yours. She needs to be the one to call it and walk away from that jerk. If she’s forced into it by someone else it won’t be her victory. She won’t have grown from it. It will just become this traumatic thing from her past that she never dealt with. I think—no, I know she’s strong enough to do this on her own. She just needs to come to that realization.”

  “And if he beats her to shit before that happens?” I asked.

  “It won’t come to that.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because she has me now. She has someone she can call.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes at her but didn’t. Instead I managed to say, “Are the two of you best friends now or something? Are you going to braid each other’s hair and make pinky promises to always have each other’s back and tell each other if you have something in your teeth?”

  Ellie narrowed her eyes at me. “I hardly think this is the time for jokes.”

  “Who’s joking here? I’m not,” I said, pressing one hand to my chest. “I’m simply pointing out how incredibly ludicrous that sounds. A ‘BFF’ won’t stand in the way of an abuser, Ellie. Give me a break.”

  “Have you not been listening to a word I’ve said?”

  I held my tongue.

  Ellie rolled her eyes at me. “We can’t fix this for her, Aiden. She needs to come to terms with things on her own. She needs to be the one to tell him to take a hike. She needs to choose her safety and her happiness over the nice cars and the big house and the—”

  “Expensive jewelry.”

  “Exactly. And I can be her sounding board in the meantime. And, naturally, I can keep my ears peeled to make sure things don’t get worse over there.”

  “And if they do?”

  Ellie sighed. “Then I’ll tell you and we’ll handle things your way. But only if they get worse. Got it?”

  I hesitated. This was probably a better solution for everyone involved. I knew she was right despite how maddening it was to have to sit back and do nothing. I also knew that it wasn’t my place to step in; it wasn’t my place to make Cheryl’s decisions for her.

  I nodded. “Got it.”

  Ellie stood up. “Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. Now, I’m going to go give Axel a kiss and remind him how grateful I am for him. I can’t imagine being Cheryl.”

  “Me neither,” I muttered as Ellie slipped out of the office.

  The door fell closed behind her sealing me in the quiet little room with elevator music playing.

  It did nothing to calm me down. In fact, it made me all the more irritated.

  I got up and marched out into the shop. Ellie and Axel were sucking face in the corner and they pulled apart to watch me go.

  “Where the hell are you off to?” Axel called after me.

  “To blow off some steam,” I said.

  “Don’t you go to that house, Aiden. I mean it!” Ellie yelled.

  I got to my bike parked out in the lot. “I don’t plan to. I just need to clear my head.”

  In other words, I just needed to find a way to stop thinking about Cheryl all alone in that big house and Vince coming home to give her a hard time. To hurt her.

  It was going to be a full throttle ride. I knew that much before I even lifted the kick stand.

  Chapter 16

  Cheryl

  “Ouch,” I hissed. Pain swelled up on my right index finger after accidentally pressing it to the piping hot ceramic of my curling iron. I let my hair fall from the rod and shook my finger out, which did no good, so I turned on the cold water and ran my finger under the bathroom sink for a good thirty seconds to dull the burn.

  I still had about half of my head to go and this was the second time I’d scalded myself.

  “This is what you get for trying to look cute,” I muttered.

  Once the burn in my finger subsided to a dull pulsing I resumed the curling, wrapping each strand of blonde hair around the barrel and holding it in place for fifteen seconds before letting it fall free, and then coating it with hairspray.

  I wanted to look my best for dinner tonight. Vince had to work a bit later than usual, which gave me a bit of extra time to prepare a rather over the top meal and get myself dolled up. He had a meeting with some of the guys in his department and had told me this morning before he left that he’d be home around eight.

  I didn’t mind eating late.

  It gave me an extra hour and a half to have the house to myself and in that time I’d indulged in two glasses of wine that, on every other night, I never would have gone for. But it had been a hard week and now that a bit of normalcy was returning to my life I needed a reward in the form of a rich merlot.

  Soul searching was how I’d spent most of my week, and the desperation to forget everything that had happened the weekend of the party had almost been paralyzing.

  Ellie coming over h
ere on Monday and offering me a shoulder to lean on was another thing I didn’t want to think about. I especially didn’t want to think of how I’d taken advantage of it and spilled the beans like a three year old with no self-control.

  I wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something about her that made her really easy to talk to. I’d told her things I hadn’t said to anyone—ever—and she’d stood there, washing dishes, nodding along, making me feel like she wasn’t placing any judgement on me at all. Just understanding.

  She’d told me that if I ever needed someone to talk to I could call her. We could talk on the phone or go for coffee, or I could go to her house if I needed a quiet place to escape to.

  Well, sort of quiet. She’d warned me that she had two children and they could get rather rambunctious, especially when their father came home from work at the end of the day.

  But, after spending the rest of the week on my own in this house, I’d realized that I’d just been spewing nonsense to her. Sure, Vince and I had our problems, but every couple did, and the pros far outweighed the cons.

  He made me feel safe and secure. He gave me a beautiful home. He took care of my financial and physical needs. Not the sexual needs, but the self-love sort of needs like my weekly manicures and biweekly hair appointments.

  Without Vince the lifestyle I’d coveted and enjoyed for years would be very, very far out of my reach.

  I had no skills of any sort to land a job that would pay a decent salary. If I ever found myself out on my ass and single I’d have no idea where to start. There was no safe place to land. With my mom and dad gone I would have to completely fend for myself. Nobody back in Georgia would take me in. I’d successfully isolated myself after losing my parents, and the only friend I had on this planet was Vince himself.

  Why on earth would I want to give that up?

  The answer was simple. I wouldn’t.

  The reason all of this doubt even surfaced was all because of him. Aiden. If he hadn’t come along with his smug smile and good looks I never would have questioned how much I loved Vinny. I never would have been tempted to look at another man the way I looked at Aiden, and I sure as hell never would have kissed him.