Love is Strange: A Taboo Anthology

by Yolanda Olson

  “You’re as sick as he is,” Gunner spits in my direction.

  Tank’s large figure fills the room behind him.

  “Everything that happened in the dungeon was consensual. It was her way of getting revenge.” I try to stand up tall in response to the threats but doubt creeps into my head. What if I did take advantage of her. I saw the darkness in her from the start, but she's been through so much. Shit, I am just like Snake. I'm still wearing only my cut and jeans after putting my t-shirt on Layla earlier. I lower my cut down my arms and hold it out to Prez. He takes it. This is how I’ll meet my end. I’d hoped it would be when I was a little bit older and maybe with a wife and kids to mourn me, but I'm guessing it's not to be.

  “Your daughter’s been through enough today. Can I ask we take it outside where she doesn't have to hear anything or witness the aftermath?” I request.

  Prez nods at Gunner who jerks his head for us to go. I'm stopped by Tank’s hand on my shoulder before I get to the door.

  “I know you don't think you're worth much, Caim, whatever messed up shit you have going on in your head has left you believing that. I just want you to know if there were another way, I’d take it. You're one of my best men. I'm sorry.” He taps me again on the shoulder. I don't turn around, just lower my head.

  “I’m sorry. What I did was stupid, but she needed it, Boss. She needed to show him that she wasn’t the victim he believed he’d made her. It might sound fucked up to everyone else, but the stuff I have going on in my head – it's made me just like her. Darkness feeds off darkness – that's our way of finding the light. I know this has to happen. I broke the rules, but at least I know she'll be ok, now.”

  I don't wait to hear his answer. Gunner’s waiting impatiently downstairs for me. He leads me through the throng of people in the main clubhouse. Some whisper amongst themselves, others – Gunner's club– turn their backs in disgust. Those who know me from my club, though, stand and bow their heads. Heat stands at the end of the line – my partner in crime. He gives me the most significant nod, and then, I'm outside. My legs are carrying me to my fate, but I think my mind is back in the room with Layla. Her scent still lingers on me. I bring my fingers up to my nose – her dried essence coats them. Damn, she smells good. We’re down in the woodland by the clubhouse before I realize. The crisp leaves of an autumnal drop crackle underfoot.

  “On your knees,” Gunner orders.

  “I’d prefer to stand," I tell him, my voice resolute and calm even with a death sentence on me.

  “Fine.” He pulls a pistol out of his back pocket and aims it directly at me.

  “No, Father, no!” The shrill feminine voice floods through the woodland and bounces eerily off the trees. Layla, still wearing only a t-shirt, runs into the clearing and stops directly in front of me. “You will not shoot him. He saved me. What we did, I consented to. I needed it. He cleared my mind and body of what Snake did, and I won’t allow you to kill him. He’s a good man. The best I’ve ever known. Please. Don’t do this.”

  “He defiled you.”

  “No. He made me whole again,” Layla sobs.

  I want to move her out of the way. I know this has to happen, but she shouldn’t be witnessing it. These are the rules I live by.

  Tank, Iron, Heat, and a couple of Gunner's men have followed Layla into the clearing. Ginger arrives shortly afterward and walks straight up to her daughter. The evil look she gives me would give Medusa a run for her money, and I'm surprised I've not turned to stone.

  “Willow, honey. Come back inside. Let Daddy deal with this.”

  Layla shrinks back at the use of the term ‘Daddy’. She struggles to get air into her lungs.

  “He’s not Daddy. Never.”

  Ginger, as if not realizing why her words are drawing this reaction, looks between her daughter and husband in confusion.

  “It’s what he made her call him.” I explain and stepping forward, I start to stroke Layla's back. Gunner's eyes turn even darker, and his men surround us.

  “Don't touch her,” the Chicago MC leader orders.

  “Gunner,”–my president steps forward– “I think this might not be the way.”

  “What the fuck? He fucked my daughter just after she’d been rescued from the perv who had her for the last ten years. He’s no better than that snake in the grass,” Gunner exclaims.

  “You aren't listening to me. I’m not the little girl you lost. I’m not Willow,” Layla screams, and I feel the force of her agony shoot through my body with ferocity. She turns to her mother. “I’ll heal even more and recover from this, but I'll forever be Layla. He changed me, Snake, with what he did. I've experienced his degradation for half of my life. I was dead inside until I met Caim. You’d have had a shell of a daughter returned to you if Caim hadn’t acted the way he did. He’s made my heart beat again. It doesn't mean I love him, and we’re going to marry and live happily ever after. It just means he made me breathe again. You should be praising him, not putting a bullet in his head.”

  “Willo...Layla,”–Gunner moves closer to us both– “you need to come with us. We need to recover as a family.”

  I don't know why, but I want to draw Layla even closer to me when he talks of her leaving. I’ve known all along she would go but hearing that I’ll never see her again, despite the fact I'm more than likely about to die anyway, scares me.

  “I’ll come with you if you let Caim go.” Layla stands up tall, and I'm pretty sure Tank’s, Iron’s, and Heat’s mouths just fall open in shock.

  “It doesn't work that way,” Gunner replies.

  “Screw the fucking rules. It didn't work for me when I couldn’t kill the man who abused me for ten years, but you know what, I stuck a sword in his throat anyway. I'm not a part of your rules anymore. Your rules got me into this situation. The desperate need for retribution is why I was taken. I know about Mom and Snake. He told me with his parting words.” Ginger gasps and the anguished sob that leaves her mouth is almost otherworldly. “Walk away. Let’s go home and learn to be a family again.”

  Gunner looks over at Prez.

  “You tell her what I was doing?”

  Tank shrugs. “He’s a good man.”

  Gunner lowers his gun, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

  “He takes a beating for disobeying orders, though. No below the belt shots, he may need those parts. I have a strange feeling my daughter is protesting a little too much about the marriage and baby bit.”

  My head starts to spin. Woah! Marriage! Babies? Am I about to be at the head of a shotgun ceremony?

  “Not until we recover as a family first,” Layla contends, telling her father off for teasing before turning to me.

  “Do you want me to stop the beating?”

  I shake my head. I'm sure I deserve it for some reason or other. I've never been a stickler for rules.

  “Uncle Tank, Heat, and Iron are to inflict it. I just want to go home,”–Layla tells her father, and I groan when my three supposed friends crack their knuckles– “Go, get in the car. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  “I’m not sure I should be taking orders from my little girl?” Gunner raises an eyebrow at her.

  “We’ve all got a lot of healing to do if you think I'm going to be anything like I was before.” Layla waves her parents and his men off. My club-mates hang back, knowing they have an ass-kicking to inflict. They give Layla and I a little privacy though.

  “Thank you.” Layla leans forward and kisses me on the lips. Our first proper kiss.

  “Anytime,” I reply, trying to act cool.

  “You know why I have to go, don't you?”

  “Yes,”–I nod– “you gotta sort your head out, first.”

  “Before we marry,” she giggles, and it’s a beautiful sound.

  “Fuck. I'm tempted to ask them to put me out of commission down there.”

  “Don't you dare, Caim. I’ll be back. Maybe not in the next few weeks, but I’ve found a darkness that matches mine. I’m no
t walking away.”

  “Go heal, my dark beauty. You know where I am.”

  I don’t realize I still have my hand touching her through the t-shirt. She looks down at it and smirks. Before I can say anything, she pulls the shirt over her head and hands it to me.

  “To remember me by.”

  I go to hand it back to her, but she's already striding butt naked out of the clearing and back to her parents.

  “I think we got the better end of the deal.” Prez steps up and puts his arm around my shoulder.

  “Yep. She’s going to be a firecracker to handle,” Iron chuckles.

  “I think I know a man who can tame her." Heat winks at me and sends a fist flying into my stomach.

  I cough at the sudden pain.

  “You’re just jealous she likes my weapon of torture better than yours,” I retort, and we all laugh until they start taking it in turns to hit me again. That part isn't so funny, and I’m not laughing anymore.

  The end.

  CAIM is a prequel to the Jade Riders Series. Coming 2019 from Anna Edwards.