by Jenika Snow
“Hey, sweetheart,” Kink said in a deep, gravelly voice, and the sound of rock music could be heard. She assumed her dad was working on his bike or some kind of vehicle, and when she heard the clank of something hard and metal hitting something else equally hard and possibly metal, she knew that was what he was doing.
“Keeping busy so I don’t freak out and head back home.”
The sound of the music lowering and of her father breathing out came through the receiver.
“Honey, you don’t have to go to that school. You can go to one closer where you can still stay with Cookie and me at the house.” The silence stretched between them for a second. “I want you to experience life, but I also want you to be comfortable. With everything that has happened these last few months I don’t want you to be stressing yourself unnecessarily.”
“I’m fine, Dad, really.” She glanced down at her hands, her gaze locked on her fingers as she picked at a loose thread on her shirt. She thought about Lucien, about everything that they had done, and wondered what he was doing now. Was he searching for one of those easy club girls to ease the blue balls he had to have? She didn’t know if he was still sleeping with them, even though he was barely on the mend, and the fact that she knew he had feelings for her. The problem was she didn’t know how deep his feelings for her were, and thinking about him having sex with anyone, least of all those loose girls they always seemed to have at the clubhouse, made her ill.
“Met anyone yet?”
“Dad, I’ve been here like an hour total.” She glanced at the door, and remembered Ritchie’s help. “Actually, I did meet a guy, a really nice one that helped me with getting my information packets and even showed me my dorm.” The line got deathly quiet. “Dad?”
“He try anything on you?”
“What?” She stared at the wall in front of her and started chuckling. “Dad, he’s like an advisor or something, and totally just showed me where things were.”
“Uh huh, well if he touches you in any way that is inappropriate then you tell me and I’ll rip his balls off—”
“Dad, please don’t go all alpha biker on the situation.”
“Okay, okay, but I want to make sure my daughter is okay.”
“I’m okay, Dad, and in fact going to some kind of social tonight.”
“Social, like a party?”
“Yeah, Dad, but everything is okay. I’m not a baby anymore.”
He exhaled. “I know, darlin’. I worry though.”
She smiled at his concern. Even though she liked speaking to him, loved that he was worried because he cared about her, she felt guilt every time they spoke. Callie wanted to tell him about how she felt for Lucien, but the more time that passed the more she knew she never would say anything to her dad. She should have just told him right away, but with it now being months away she knew even if he hadn’t freaked out if she would have told him then, he most definitely would now.
“Be careful, Callie, and call me when you get back, no matter the time.”
They spoke for another five minutes, and she finally got off the phone, set it on the bed beside her, and lay back. She stared at the off white ceiling, thought about what trouble she could get into this weekend, but knew she would probably be moping around. Nothing like having one’s hopes shot down by the man she loved to put someone in a shitty mood.
“Hey, watch it, prick."
The voice coming from down the hall drew Callie’s attention. Before she even entered the room she knew that coarse language had to be coming from her roommate. At least she hoped so. Callie wanted to be shacked up with someone that wasn’t a pushover, and had some life. However, she had heard horror stories from Ian’s older brother about his freshman year and the roommate he had gotten stuck with.
When the young girl rounded the corner and stepped into the room Callie pushed herself up on the bed and braced her upper bodyweight on her elbows. The first thought that came to Callie’s mind was that she was bunking with a Gypsy. The girl who she presumed was her roomie had hair that was a wild mass of black curls that fell down her back. The sound of her twenty bangle bracelets jangling against her wrists preceded each step she took. Her multicolored ankle length skirt swirled around her as she literally sashayed across the threshold. She was very pretty, with an ethnic flare to her that instantly had Callie admiring every part of her.
“Oh hey,” the girl said and stopped by Callie’s feet. “You must be my roomie.” She said it without question, and Callie should have been offended by the way she eyed her up and down. But her warm smile made it hard to feel that way. She offered her hand to Callie, and she stood and took the offered gesture.
“I’m Meredith Jacobson.” The girl dropped Callie’s hand and tossed her bag onto the free bed. She turned around with a brow raised and stared at Callie. “Do you have a name or should I just call you girl?" She was teasing. Callie could tell in her voice and see it in the smile she offered.
“Callie Roberts.” She smiled at Meredith. “I’m not usually this spazzy, I swear.”
Meredith laughed and lifted her hand as if to brush her comment aside. “No worries. I was just giving you a hard time.” She turned and started tossing her clothes out of her duffle. The sound of her bangle brackets jingling on her wrists seemed to fill the room and kept Callie in a kind of trance.
Callie sat back on the bed and grabbed a sweater out of her bag. “Where are you from, Meredith?”
“Originally Utah, but we moved to Colorado when I was I fourth grade. My parents are set up in Northglenn.” She looked over her shoulder. “You?”
“River Run.”
“Dang, I think I’ve heard about that place.” Meredith sat on the bed and knitted her brows. “Was that where that big ass explosion happened, or where all those dead cult people bodies were found?”
“How sad is it that you know the town from the news?” Callie chuckled, but it was dry and not very humorous. “But the explosion was in Steel Corner, the town right beside River Run, which is where the cult issues were at.”
“Damn,” Meredith said. “You’re not one of those biker princesses, are you?”
Callie chuckled, and this time there was amusement in the tone. “There really is no such thing as biker princesses, but my dad is the VP of a club.”
“Shiiiiit,” Meredith said seriously. “You must be hardcore then?”
“Um, me?” Callie shook her head and chuckled. “The most hardcore I ever got was getting trashed at a party, and calling my then-boyfriend and the whore he had cheated on me with a bunch of names.”
Meredith grinned wider. “Yeah, you are totally my kind of roomie. So, what's your major?" Meredith turned back to grab a few more things out of her bag.
“I don’t actually know, really.”
Meredith laughed. “Hey, you're entitled to be undecided your first year. Just don't let it carry over after that or you become one of those students.”
“One of those students?” Callie leaned back and rested her upper body on her elbows again.
“Yeah, one of those students that are in college for like six years, but could have graduated two years before that. One of those students that enjoys the college life way too much to actually grow up.” Meredith tossed her hair over her shoulder and watched Callie intently.
“You have a major?” Callie asked.
“Holistic Healing is my ultimate goal, but right now I am taking all the bullshit classes: biology, chemistry, English Comp, stuff like that. Once I get the first couple of years under my belt and have the pre-req stuff done I’ll get into meditation, some medical classes, and then some of the more holistic courses.” Meredith sounded very passionate about her goals, and Callie wished she were there in her life, too.
“So, you got rid of the douchebag cheating ex, but another boyfriend in the background?” Meredith asked, but she was looking at her phone now.
“Ugh, no boyfriend in the woodwork.”
Meredith stopped typing on her phone
and glanced up. For a second she didn’t say anything, and then she grinned.
“What?” Callie asked and straightened.
“That tone you just had, that totally means you got one on the side.” She grinned. “Let me guess, because, girl, I am good at reading between the lines, and the fact your face is red as hell tells me there is more to the story.”
Callie felt her face heat and knew that even if she hadn’t gotten embarrassed Meredith was clearly the type of person that could hear what wasn’t being said. But who was Callie kidding? She had Lucien on the brain, and clearly that wasn’t hard to pick up on.
“No, there isn’t more to the story.” Callie cleared her throat. Meredith’s gaze was unmoving, and she glanced away, needing to focus on something aside from this girl she had just met, but who clearly knew more about her than she had told anyone else.
“I’m sorry. I’m known to be nosy and assume shit.” Meredith smiled, but it was soft and apologetic.
Callie shrugged. “It’s nothing, but I don’t want to talk about it, if that makes sense.”
Meredith smiled. “It’s nothing, but you don’t want to talk about it means it is something, but I feel ya, girl. Consider it dropped unless you ever want to talk. Then I’m here.” Meredith fell back on the bed. She closed her eyes and put her hands above her head.
“You see the hotties that live down the hall?” Meredith said but didn’t open her eyes or move. “I swear it is like a sausage factory on our floor. We lucked out, Callie.” Meredith smiled widely, but still didn’t look at Callie.
“I actually didn’t have a lot of time to check anyone out, although I will say the guy that showed me around and has a room right down the hall was really nice.”
Meredith did sit up then, and she cocked a dark arched eyebrow. “Yeah? Sounds like I might need some help, and he could be the person to lend a hand.”
“He invited me to a frat party tonight at eight.” Now it was Callie’s turn to lift an eyebrow. “I told him I’d go, but honestly I probably would have bitched out anyway. But if you go I’d check it out, meet some people, maybe even get familiar with the area.” Memories of her partying, drunken encounter months ago, and Lucien coming to save the day, were still very much fresh in her mind. She had agreed out of courtesy, told her dad even, but the truth was she probably would have declined when the time came to go.
“Yeah?” Meredith flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Girl, I am there.”
“I have to go to this freshman orientation thing at noon.” Callie wasn’t really looking forward to being tied up all day with what would be boring statistics of the university, the founders, and probably a lot of other administration points, but she had come here to get acquainted with everything.
“I’m all tied up, too, but I don’t think we are in the same group since mine starts at two.” Meredith stood and took out her phone from her bag when it started ringing. “Hey, it’s my mom, and if I don’t take it she’ll freak,” Meredith said and gave her this sympathetic smile. “Hey Mom, hold on.” She pulled the phone away and covered the mouthpiece. “I’m sorry.” She smiled. “But I am totally here for the frat party. But we stick together, well, unless I hook it up, girl,” Meredith said softly and winked. Callie couldn’t tell if she was being serious. “I’ll be back at the dorm at like six-ish? I have some paperwork to fill out for my financial aid.”
Callie nodded, and Meredith turned and headed for the bathroom. Meredith started speaking to her mother in a different language, and the sound of her bangle bracelets jangled until she shut the bathroom door behind her. Callie turned and focused on the window again, and then fell back on the bed, closed her eyes, and then thought about the life she was about to lead, the journey she would take, and the fact she could do this without having Lucien in her life the way she wanted.
Things didn’t always work out the way someone wanted, and if she thought about it constantly she would be stuck, covered in her desires that would never be a reality and she didn’t want to live that way. She could do this, could see Lucien down the road and not have to feel this longing for him, and thinking maybe one day things would work out for her. She could look at him and see the President of The Brothers of Menace, and nothing more.
Looking up at the ceiling, she knew that all of that was nothing but a load of bullshit.
Chapter Five
Lucien stepped into the clubhouse, his hand busted up and bandaged, his body achy from the workout he had done earlier in the day, and the need to get a good buzz on riding him hard. He still had the flavor of Callie on his lips even all these hours later, still had the tingle from their kiss moving through his veins, and didn’t fucking like it because he felt off balance and unstable. He had worked out so damn hard his muscles ached, he had sweated so much he had gotten dehydrated, and then he had jerked off in the shower thinking of Callie. But having his cock in his palm, his other hand braced on the wall, and his head lowered with his eyes closed as he thought about her, made him feel like a sick bastard. The things he had thought about, pictured doing with Callie, had gotten him off so damn quick. Her naked before him, her lush body on full display, her tits and pussy begging for his mouth and hands. Yeah, he had come hard enough that his legs had shaken from the force of it.
Sleeping for a few hours hadn’t cleared his head, and he was right back where he had been before he had grown exhausted. Now he was at the clubhouse, ready to get his drink on, smoke some pot, too, and he hoped get through this bump in his life.
He saw Cookie and Kink at the bar and knew he shouldn’t go by the VP because he was feeling like a bastard, but then Kink waved him over.
“Hey, man,” Kink said when Lucien came closer.
“Hey.” Lucien tapped on the bar and ordered a beer from the prospect.
“You doing okay?” Kink asked.
Lucien glanced at the other man, and saw the flash of what he had done with his VP’s daughter just earlier that day, and shook his head to clear it. “I’m good, brother. You doing good? You look like you’re on top of the world.”
Kink grinned and pulled Cookie close to him. “I am, brother.”
Lucien took the beer from the prospect, and turned around to lean back on the bar. “I’m glad through all the shit that had gone down with the club that something good came out of it.” He stared at the scene before him, of his guys having a good time, getting drunk, smoking weed to unwind, and enjoying the women that were grinding on them like they were trying to get the members’ cocks to tear through their jeans. And from past experience Lucien knew the club pussy women could get a cock harder than granite—well, they used to be able to get his cock that hard. Now the damn fucker stayed limp unless it was Callie on his mind.
“Yeah, just goes to show you that some happiness can come to a bastard like me,” Kink said and started chuckling. “We just came by so Cookie could drop off some paperwork for Tatum, but then all these assholes started coming up and talking to us, and then we started drinking,” Kink looked at Cookie and smiled. “Anyway, things are getting wild here, and I want to be alone with my woman.” Kink looked back at Lucien. “If I don’t occupy myself with something I’ll just be worrying about Callie all damn weekend.”
Lucien strained and faced Kink. “Why? Everything okay with her?” He felt on edge even more now at the thought of Callie in trouble, but then he told himself that she was safe in the dorm room, and that Kink’s worrying was what a devoted father did.
Kink waved off his questions. “She’s good, just left for that orientation thing at the university. She’ll be back tomorrow evening, but still, stresses the fuck out of me.”
Lucien relaxed. “She leave already, huh?” he said, his voice a bit strained, and for the first time in his life he felt pretty fucking uncomfortable in front of one of his members. Yeah, he knew Callie had left, because he had kissed her right before he told her to leave.
Kink nodded. “I swear I’ll be worrying about her so fucking much I’m liable t
o age a decade by the time she comes home for a break.”
Cookie started chuckling. “Kink, she’ll be fine. It’s only for a few days, and then she’ll be back where you can be the overprotective papa bear.”
Kink scoffed. “Baby, she will still have to go back in a couple of fucking weeks.” Kink scrubbed a hand over his face and breathed out. “Lucien, man, be glad you don’t have a daughter that is going to college, hanging out at those fucking frat parties, and probably having assholes sniff around her.”
Lucien straightened at the mention of a frat party. “She’s going to parties already?”
Kink shrugged. “She mentioned going to one of them tonight. She’s a good girl, and I trust her to take care of herself, but man, thinking of all those pricks hanging around her.” Kink shook his head. “They are the ones I don’t trust.
Yeah, Lucien didn’t trust those little assholes either, because he had been one years ago, knew how they thought, and knew that all they had on their minds was getting their dicks wet. All Lucien could think about was the shit that had almost happened to her all those months ago when she had gone to a party. What if one of those motherfuckers drugged her drink, tried something on her, and he wasn’t able to take care of her like last time? Why in the hell would she put herself in that situation again? He was starting to get pissed, visualizing all the fucking shit that could go wrong, and feeling like an asshole for pushing her aside. But when he looked at Kink he saw the other man watching him curiously.
“You doing okay, man? You look like someone sucker punched you and you’re about to go ape-shit.”
Lucien exhaled roughly, turned away from Kink to stare at the club, and then ran a hand over his scruff-covered cheeks. When he looked at Kink again he smiled, knew it was fake as fuck, but was not about to do this now. He had Callie on his mind, those horrible images of her alone at that party, fuckers trying to take advantage of her, and couldn’t think straight. Lucien saw red, saw bodies at his feet as he kicked every asshole that talked to her, and had to leave now. He knew what he had to do, because if he didn’t he’d be a motherfucking mess and start destroying shit.