by Jenika Snow
He glanced at Lucien, watched as the other man stared off into the distance, and knew that he was about to speak by the way his jaw clenched tightly.
“I meant it when I said I won’t let her go.” Lucien looked at Kink then. “I’m in love with her, so fucking gone for Callie that I can’t think straight, see straight, and know that no other woman will do it for me ever again.” Lucien exhaled, looked down at the ground for a few seconds, and when he looked at Kink again there was this honesty on the man’s face. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love her. She makes me see that not everything in this world has a hard edge and needs to be put in its place. She’s made me see that I am a better person because of her.” The silence stretched out between them for a few seconds before Lucien started speaking again. “I know you have to know what I mean, what I feel, because when I see you look at Cookie, I know that is how I look a Callie. We look at them as if there is nothing in this world that can bring us down as long as they are by our sides.”
Lucien faced forward again, and although Kink didn’t respond, didn’t know what to say, he knew that Lucien was right.
“I’ll say it again, because what I did was wrong on every level, and I deserved everything you gave me. But I want you to understand that what I feel for your daughter is real. I know you need time to process all of this, to understand it even, and I can give you that time.” Lucien looked at him again. “I also understand that you may never be okay with me being with her. But I can’t let her go, Kink. I won’t let her go, because I am totally, madly fucking in love with Callie.” They stared at each other for a moment, and then Lucien nodded once and turned and left to head back into the clubhouse.
Kink was left standing there alone, deciding whether he wanted to be okay with his daughter being with Lucien, or say fuck it all and accept what was happening, and that Callie was growing up and able to make her own decisions. But there was a part of him, the father part, that wanted to pack up his family, move away, and leave the club and everything else behind because he wanted to protect her. Of course he could never leave his club, because this was his life, his world, and his family was rooted here. He couldn’t just run away from his problems because for the first time in his life he felt lost and not in control. He looked at the clubhouse, felt the love he had for those men inside, and knew this was one of the hardest things he’d ever have to face in his life. This hit close to home, and therefore went straight to his heart.
****
Three days later
“Give him some time. I love you, and I swear that this will work out. It has to work out. I am not letting you go, Callie. If there was ever anything in this world is worth fighting for it is being with you. I am here, no matter what, and will never leave you behind no matter what.”
Callie listened to the voicemail Lucien had left three days ago. After she had told her dad about them, found out he had gone to the clubhouse again and attacked Lucien, and then also found out that day that Lucien had just sat there and taken it, she knew that all of this had gotten so far into a what-the-fuck level that she couldn’t even comprehend it anymore. She loved Lucien. God did she love him. It had been Lucien’s decision to spend a few days apart, to give her dad some time to get used to the idea of them being together, and come to understand how important being together really was. She still talked to Lucien daily, yearned to have him close, to have the scent of him surround her, and his big body holding her tight. He made her feel safe, protected, and that wasn’t a feeing she wanted to get rid of.
But she loved her father as well, and knowing that she had hurt him, done things behind his back with a man that he was pretty much family with, hurt her on a totally different level.
She listened to the message once more, feeling this pang of hurt in her heart at the sincerity in his voice. She didn’t want to spend time apart, but she sure as hell wasn’t about to flaunt her relationship with Lucien in front of her dad. But being away from Lucien was hard. Really. And it wasn’t because they had only had sex that once. They actually spoke to each other, maybe not deep, intellectual conversations, but things that were important to them. And Lucien was different with her. She saw how he was with the other members, how he kept this calm, cool, and hard composure that said he wouldn’t put up with any shit. But with her he was softer in the way he spoke to her, gentler in the way he stared at her. He was a definite hard-ass that others feared, but all she felt from him was love and trust.
Tossing her phone on the bed, she started putting her clothing in her duffle bag. She was heading back out tomorrow evening to the university. She had declined Lucien’s offer to take her when he had asked, not because she didn’t want him to, but because she was hoping her dad would want to take her so they could talk about all of this. She had cried more times in the last three days than she had in her entire life. Although she was an adult, and she knew she had every right to be with the man she loved, she had also done something that was reprehensible in the MC community.
But she refused to let go of Lucien, and she knew he would not let her leave him either. She felt, for the first time in her life, that she had found the person she was meant to be with. Who cared if she was so much younger than he was? Who cared if for the last three months they had been going through this tug and pull with each other? There was no doubt in her mind that people had talked about the fact she was young and impressionable, even naive a little. Hell, her dad had even said that Lucien had taken advantage of her. Of course that was a load of shit, and she knew that he was aware of that fact, too. She was a no-nonsense girl, and certainly didn’t let other people tell her what she wanted or didn’t want.
Callie knew what she wanted in her life, and for her future. And that was being happy with Lucien, and having her family be okay with it.
She turned and grabbed a small stack of jeans, and put them in her bag. Her dad and Cookie were downstairs, and although the nonexistent conversations she had with Kink were to be expected, she wished that he’d understand her side, too. Sighing in an almost defeated tone, she looked around her room. There were a few boxes left that held her things, and a couple downstairs that were ready to be packed in the SUV. She obviously wouldn’t take anything that wasn’t of importance, because she’d be sharing a dorm room with Meredith.
“You nearly packed?” Her dad’s voice came from behind her, and her heart instantly started pounding.
She turned around to see him standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed, and looking around her room. He wore a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt, and his feet were bare. Even when he was looking so casual, she knew the real man Kink Roberts was, the biker that was dangerous and intimidating, and stuck to his guns when he was being pressured. But when he stared at her there was just a man that was looking at his daughter, trying to get past the last three days of revelations, pain, and anger.
Clearing her throat, she nodded. This was the most he had said to her since he had stormed out of the kitchen and gone back to fight Lucien. “Yeah, last bag.” She pointed to the duffle bag on her bed.
He nodded and pushed away from the frame. Kink walked into the room, and then sat on the edge of her bed. After he pushed her bag away, he patted the mattress, gesturing for her to sit beside him. She stared at him for a moment, took in his short black hair that was styled in a faux hawk, looked into his bright blue eyes that were the same color as hers, and knew that this man’s opinion meant so much to her. Callie sat beside him and shifted her body so she was facing him. For a second he just stared around her room again, taking everything in apparently, or maybe he was gathering his thoughts, and then looked at her.
“You love him.” He stated it without any hatred, anger, or malice in his voice.
Callie nodded. “I do, Dad.”
He glanced down at his hands in his lap. “You understand why I got so angry?”
“Yeah, I do, but we really didn’t mean to hurt or betray anyone intentionally.”
He nodded again. “Yeah, I understand that, baby girl, and I didn’t mean to blow the fuck up in front of you and Cookie, but I just kind of snapped.”
“I know, but I wish you wouldn’t have gone after Lucien the way you did.” When she noticed how hard his jaw went she regretted saying his name. “But can you understand where I’m coming from?”
He didn’t respond for several seconds, and then he nodded, grabbed her hand, and gave it a squeeze. “Yeah, baby girl, I know where you’re coming from, and although it’ll be hard for me to accept that my little girl is a woman now, and can make her own decisions, I know you have a good head on your shoulders.” He lifted his hand and brushed a stray piece of hair from her forehead. “But you’re smart, tough, and don’t take shit from anyone.” He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, sweetheart, and I want you to be happy. If being with Lucien means that you smile, and that you never have a sad day, then who am I to stand in the way of that?” He smiled down at her. “I also know that if there was a man that I wanted you to be with, that would protect you as fiercely as I would, that man would be Lucien.” He glanced down at his feet. “I know that he loves you, too. I could see it in the way he looked at you, talked about you, and wouldn’t fight me back. It’s hard for me to come to terms with that, sweetheart.” He looked at her again. “It’s hard for me not to see the little girl with the black ponytails, smiling up at me with a missing front tooth, and those big beautiful blue eyes, and calling out my name because you wanted to go faster on the swings.”
She leaned into him, and he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “I’ll always be your little girl, Daddy.” She tightened her hold on his waist. “But I’m grown up now, and know what I want in life. I know I want to get my business degree, and to be with the club afterwards.” She felt him nod. “But I need you to be okay with it, because you are my world, and I can’t stand the idea that you’re mad at me.”
“Oh, baby girl.” He pulled her back and cupped her cheeks. “I’m not mad at you. I could never be angry with you. I just worry.”
She smiled. “You don’t have to worry so much.”
He nodded and pulled her in for a hug again. “I am realizing that, sweetheart.” They stayed silent for a moment, just holding each other, and she had missed this with her father. “Just don’t put up with any shit from him.”
She started chuckling. He was accepting this, or at least trying to, and that was a start. That was all she could ask for.
****
“You’re doing the right thing, Kink,” Cookie said from behind him. He stood at the kitchen widow, and watched the taillights of Callie’s car disappear down the street.
“I hope you’re right.” He hated that his little girl wasn’t little anymore. She might only be eighteen, but she was an adult, a young woman that knew what she wanted in life, and didn’t take shit from anyone. Yes, it was really damn hard to think that his daughter was with the President of his MC, but since finding out he had done a lot of thinking. He had beaten the shit out of Lucien, torn up the man that had been his family for longer than he could even remember.
“All I can think about is Callie as a child and Lucien as this dirty old fucking man that took advantage of my little girl.”
“You know that’s not right,” Cookie said, and he turned around and stared at her. “If that’s the case then you’re a dirty old man, too.” She grinned and walked up to him. He hugged her, wrapped his arms around her body, pulled her close, and kept her there.
“I know that’s not the case, but that was my first thought and reaction. Now that I’ve thought about it these last few days, realized that Callie has her own life to lead, and that Lucien will take care of her with his life, I know that I can’t stop this.”
Cookie tilted her head back and stared at him. “I don’t know about the brotherhood code of loyalty, or anything like that, but what I do know that if there was one man on this world that you trusted to treat your daughter with respect, and protect her with his life, who would it be?”
He didn’t even need to think about it, didn’t need to picture his daughter with anyone else. “Lucien. I would want her to be with a man like Lucien.”
Cookie nodded and leaned into him again. “Age is just a number, but family is family, and love is love, Kink. Aside from you, there isn’t a man on this planet that will care, protect, or lay his life down for a woman like Lucien will for Callie.”
She was right, she was always right, and he knew that he needed to let Callie live her life the way she wanted to.
Chapter Fourteen
Callie had gone to the club first, thinking he might be there doing paperwork, but she hadn’t seen his SUV or his Harley parked outside. And then she had heard the pounding bass from the clubhouse, saw a few of the club whores heading out with a few members wrapped around their bodies like a pretzel, and Callie hadn’t even gotten out of the car. She could have just called him and asked where Lucien was, but the truth was she was over the moon that her father had spoken with her. She was leaving for school tomorrow evening, and although she’d be coming home on the weekends and would see Lucien then, she wanted this time with him now.
The smile on her face was actually starting to get painful, but the words her dad had spoken to her just an hour before replayed in her mind over and over again.
“I love you, sweetheart, and I want you to be happy. If being with Lucien means that you smile, then who am I to stand in the way of that? Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better man that will protect you with his life. I may not be one-hundred percent on board with this, only because I’ll need some time to get used to my baby girl with the club President, but I want you to be happy.”
She pulled into Lucien’s driveway, cut the engine, and stared at his place. The sun had set, and the light in the living room was brightly lit with a yellow glow. She got out of the car and headed up to his place. But before she could get to the door or even knock on it Lucien had it opened. He stood in the entryway, no shirt on, his tattooed chest on full display, and his sweats hanging low on his hips. That V of muscle was on clear display, and with the light silhouetting his profile the muscles on his big body were pronounced. She missed his touch, longed for his mouth on her, and just missed him in general. But she couldn’t stop staring at his face, one that was bruised, cut in some places, and was swollen.
He stepped aside, and she went inside, instantly feeling the memory of being here with him, even if it had been innocent. She remembered his place well enough, remembered the smell of it, the feel of the carpet beneath her feet, and the sight of Lucien coming out of his room in nothing but his pants on. God, he had looked so good that day, and she was so stunned that it had been three months since all of that crap had gone down.
“Baby,” Lucien said and shut the door behind him, sealing them in. They stared at each other for several seconds.
“Are you okay?” she said, feeling her throat tighten at the thought of her dad doing this to him.
“I’m good.” He smiled. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, because I really fucking am, but what are you doing here? I thought we were going to wait to see each other until Kink was a little calmer?”
Callie didn’t say anything, didn’t even think about what she was doing until she started walking toward him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and slammed her mouth on his. She kissed him like her life depended on it, like she couldn’t live another second of she didn’t have this moment with him.
Lucien turned them around so now Callie was the one pressed against the door. He pressed his body to hers, and she felt his hard cock dig into her belly. He cupped her ass with one hand, and with the other held a chunk of her hair in his fist. He kissed her raw and hard, sweeping his tongue inside and claiming her. A moan left her when he sucked her tongue in his mouth and gently dragged his teeth along it. The hand in her hair tightened, sending a sting of pleasurable pain through her scalp, to her bre
asts, and straight to the center of her pussy.
She broke the kiss, breathing heavily and staring into his liquid silver-grey eyes. “I spoke with my dad, or, well, he spoke with me.” She breathed out roughly, so on edge with her arousal that she didn’t want to speak, but knowing it was necessary to tell him.
“I can’t say he is one-hundred percent okay with all of this, but he accepts what I want and that I’m unbelievably happy with you.”
“Callie…” Lucien cupped the side of her face, stared into her eyes, and then grinned. “God, I fucking love you so much.” He kissed her again, making her feel possessed, loved, and so damn owned that the entire situation almost felt surreal. And when he lifted her easily into his arms, deepened the kiss, she knew tonight wasn’t going to be about soft and slow, but a fierce and fast coupling that put everything else in the dust.
She tightened her legs around his waist and ground herself on his erection. He grunted out and used the leverage he had in her hair to tilt her head back. With her throat arched he broke their kiss and dragged his tongue up her neck, as if marking her as his. God she loved that, loved that he couldn’t control himself with her, the same way she couldn’t control herself with him.
He shifted his hands so both of them held her ass now, and then he moved one of them up to her hip, and clenched her side for a second. When he slipped it under the hem of her shirt she felt every roughened inch of his fingers on her skin. It felt good to be touched by him, to feel the roughness that covered the tips of his fingers. He ran his teeth up and down her neck, nipped at her flesh, and thrust his erection into her again and again. She didn’t want to wait any longer to feel him inside of her. They had already waited too long, and now that her dad was starting to become accepting of this relationship she just wanted to be with the man she loved, and not having to hide any of it.
She was feverish and excited, and all she could think about was how it would feel for him to thrust all those hard inches into her again. Lucien murmured something against her flesh, but it was distorted against the base of her throat. She didn’t care about words though. All she wanted was him. Moving her hands between their bodies she fumbled to get his sweats off. But in the next instant she was being turned in the air sharply and then set back on her feet. The cold, smooth fabric of his couch pressed to her belly. Jerking her upright he pulled her shirt from her in one swift move, and then tore her bra off. His actions were hard and fast, frantic in their intensity. She loved it all.