by Simone Elise
“He really cares for you Ivy.”
“How would you know?” My back stiffens and my eyes flash to hers in the mirror. “You haven’t been talking to him have you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I saw the way he looked at you in that shoot. Come on Kace Striking the biker, posed in photos for you. FOR YOU!”
My eyes drop to the basin sink. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because if he loved me unconditional he wouldn’t have left me while I was beaten up in an induced coma!” And saying it out loud hurts. To the point I’m tearing up. “He never came back to the hospital Elle. He turned and left, as soon as he realized what I was involved in.” I was getting more and more worked up. “He didn’t want me.” And those few words break me and the tears flow. “So why would he want me now?”
Elle bring me into her arms and hugged me, but it doesn’t stop the pain I feel.
A knock on the bathroom door, causes Elle and I both to pull away and see Gabe standing there with a frown on his face. How long had he been hovering?
I wipe the tears away and go back to the mirror, trying to distract myself.
Gabe is giving me a long hard look and I can feel it. So I drop the makeup wipes, the makeup was basically off and I push past Gabe, leaving.
Elle nor Gabe stop me.
So I headed for the garage, knowing I had an imported American Muscle to work on. I just needed a distraction.
36
Ivory
Working over the bonnet of the car, I wasn’t thinking and go to drain the radiator before putting the bucket underneath it. I had already removed the cap and the coolant floods the floor. Fuck my life. I grab the bucket put it under it, but most of it has run on the garage floor. Deflated. Emotional. I sink to the ground, next to the coolant and leaned back against the car.
He was in my head.
And it was showing.
I was lucky that no one was here.
A clearing voice made me glance up, and Kace is standing there. I blink expecting him to disappear but he doesn’t.
“Can we talk?” He said with hesitation in his voice.
“About?” I get up off the ground, coolant up my jeans.
His eyes run over. “What’s wrong with the car?” He changes the subject and I glance back at it.
“Bad radiator it overheats. So I’m replacing it.”
“We can talk while we replace it.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Yeah. I know that’s part of the problem.” He walks towards me and looks at the radiator. “You’ve drained it, clearly.”
Well that was obvious.
He grabbed the spanner and started undoing the bolts. I paused for a moment before helping, and working so close to him, floods me with memories. I swear by the look in his eyes he is feeling the same.
I feel like I can’t breathe having him so close. So I try and focus but eventually I realize I can’t and I take a step away from the car for a break.
Kace lifts the radiator out. And places it on the ground. I move to the replacement one, which is still in its box. I see a debate playing in his eyes. God one would think he was about to open up about a deep dark secret.
“I was nine.”
I blinked and turned to him. What did he say? He was nine? I frowned.
“When she died.” He adds, and I looked at him, wondering who he was talking about. “My mother was in a car accident. A car ran a red light. She was put on life support for a week.” He looks down at the ground. “Dad turned it off a week after the accident, when there was no brain activity.”
I have no words. I can’t think of anything to say. I hear the emotion in his voice. I hear the pain in his words.
“She just went to the store one day, and then… didn’t come home.” He now looks me in the eyes, and I see grief. “Like I said I was nine when it happened and I never coped with it.” He hand runs over his head. “I just don’t think about it. Suppressed it. That was until, I arrived at the hospital and then I saw you. Just like her.” And he looks me in the eyes. “I’ve loved two women in my life, and I lost her and I thought I was going to lose you.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I closed the gap between us. “Didn’t Gabe explain to you it was an induced coma. I was always going to wake up Kace.” I say softly. And I see the grief across his features. Like the other option of me dying had ran through his mind more times then he could count.
“Yeah but there was a chance you might not have. And I couldn’t tell you goodbye. Just like I couldn’t tell her goodbye.”
My hand goes to his cheek. I see him getting worked up. “Kace.” And my voice breaks with that one word. His hands are slightly shaking as he takes my hand from his face, and instead of pushing me away, he kisses my knuckles.
“I realized I fucked up a week later but I was too much of a coward to reply back to your messages.” He voice shakes a little and he looks down at me. “Ivory I fucked up. I know I don’t deserve you to let me back in. But I wanted you to know the reason why I…. fuck,” he shakes his head. “I’m a coward.”
“No you aren’t Kace.” I place my other hand on his chest. “You are just human. Like the rest of us.”
Kace and I had never talked about his family. A part from Nash. I didn’t know anything about his family. I now know that he did that on purpose because he had trauma around his family.
He leans forward, his other hand going to my hip.
“How much damage did I do Ivory?” he whispers down at me. “Can we come back from this?”
And that was a really good question. Cause I had promised myself I wouldn’t go back there. But now knowing his reason, influenced my better judgement.
I trace my thumb over his bottom lip and I want to say yes. My heart is beating it. Yes. Yes. Yes.
“Or am I fighting a losing battle?” He adds.
“Would that stop you?” I looked up at him taking my thumb from his bottom lip.
“No.” and he leans forward just slightly brushing his lips against mine. “I’m not going anywhere.”
And while that gave me reassurance. “I suppose time will tell right?” Is all I can say, and I see the hope spark in his eyes.
37
Kace
The rain poured down as I rode the bike back to Elle’s, following Ivory’s car. The rain whipped across my body, and the weather had changed suddenly.
Parking in Elle’s driveway behind Ivory’s car. I rush inside. Drenched and dripping wet.
I pull the wet tshirt from my skin, and take it off, dropping it on the ground. Ivory came rushing down the stairs with a towel.
“I swear this storm has come out of nowhere.” She says handing me a towel.
“Thanks.” And I begin to dry my skin. But my jeans are basically glued to me at this point.
“I’m going to change.” I run the towel over my head and head upstairs, to dry myself off and put dry clothes on.
I crack open the bedroom door heading for my suitcase. I still hadn’t unpacked. The thought of committing to staying at the same place as Gabe, stops me every damn time.
My hand goes to my belt, when a hand runs down my back, and I would have jumped, if I didn’t know those soft fingers. I enjoy her running her hands over my back, and then picks up the towel, slowly wiping the water from my back.
I turn to face her, and her eyes are on my chest. She places the towel on my body and slowly runs it over me, drying me.
Then she drops the towel and her hands goes to my belt. I don’t want to move. Not wanting to spook her. Did she realize she was touching me? Willingly?
She pushes my jeans down, and I step out of them. While she is down there, she grabs the towel and began to dry my legs. I’m telling myself mentally not to think about her soft touch on my skin. But it backfires and her on her knees in front of me, is killing me. Making me go stiff, basically right in her face, I need to adjust my boxers, just as I think that she s
tands up.
Towel still in one hand, but her other hand goes to my chest and she traces the outer edges of the blank space I have in the centre of my chest.
Would she let me touch her? Or would it awaken her from this spell? God she was killing me. I can’t stop myself from my hand wrapping around hers which is on my chest. She glances up, I see her panic she thinks I’m going to push her away. But she was so fucking wrong.
I place her hand on the side of my neck, where I liked it and she knew exactly what I was going to do next. I grip her by the ass, and lift her up in the air. Her legs wrapping around my waist and her other hand going to the other side of my neck.
She frowns for a moment. “Kace?”
“Yeah darling,” I head us towards the bed.
“What does this mean?” She runs her fingers over a certain tattoo on my neck. I had to think for a second, because I had two meaningful marks on my neck, that was designed into the artwork.
She was touching my right side, so that meant she was looking at one of the first club marks I got. “Club tattoo darling.”
“Yeah, but what does it mean?” She says and I don’t want to answer. Never been ashamed of my ink. But for her to know the meaning behind some of them. That scared me. And made me for some reason want to cover up. “Kace?” She prompts me.
“The eleven stands for the letter K and the four stands for D. Making…”
“King Deceivers.” She puts it together. She frowns for a moment. “What does the lettering underneath it stand for?”
I grit my teeth. Not wanting to tell.
“Kace?” and she locks her eyes with mine. “You’ve gone tense.”
“I’m not proud of half the shit I’ve done Ivory and those letters stand for a level that most KD riders don’t sink to.” My words make her frown. “Somethings you are better off knowing.” I cup her face. “I’ll always protect you, even from my past. And that tattoo stands for something you don’t need to know.”
She continues to frown. I see the confusion in her eyes. She has to know I was still a one percent biker and my ink reflected that.
I kiss her lips, and she pulls back. “Kace, you know you can’t scare me away from you right?” Her hands run up my neck, bringing them to my face. “Whether I’m your friend, or girlfriend. As dark as you go, I’ll always cast the light for you to follow.” She swallows sharply. “As long as you don’t push me away again.”
I had women pledge to be mine. I had women say they would fulfill my every fantasy. I’ve had women on their knees. But I had never had a woman love me for me. I didn’t think it was possible but what Ivory just said, stirs something in me, and I know in that moment. I don’t just have a thing for her. She looks at me, like she sees me flaws and all, and she isn’t scared. Her soft hands on my cold skin and as she looked me in the eyes. I know, she’s the one.
I panic for half a second. Because I’m prepared to do anything and everything to get her back as mine.
“Ivory?” I whispered against her lips. “I’m about to fuck you. If you don’t want that I need to know.”
Her eyes stay locked with mine, and she leans forward, brushing her lips against mine and just as she sparks it. A crack of lightning, goes over the house, causing her to jump in my arms. The thunder followed a second later, and the power cuts out.
Now in slight darkness, as her wide eyes come back to mine.
“I can go see if it is a fuse.” I go to put her down, but her arms grip around my neck.
“Or don’t?” She whispered against my lips before kissing me softly, and I growl, wanting more.
Placing her on the ground, my fingers go to her jeans and I pull them down, spinning her back around. I kiss her lips. While my hands goes to her top, lifting it up, breaking our kiss before dropping the top on the ground. Bra and panties then she is mine.
I lift her up, laying her down on the bed, and kiss down her stomach as I loop my thumbs in her lace underwear and pull them down her thighs.
Pushing them to the ground. I frown for a moment. “What has you wearing a bra darling?”
Her eyes are closed, as I run my hands down her sides.
“Men.” Was her reply.
My hand moves to her back, and I unclip it. “Well how about you go back to not wearing one? And I’ll handle the men, if their eyes linger.”
She opens her eyes, staring into mine. “You’d do that. Get into a fight over a man staring at my nipples.”
“Damn straight I would.”
She rolls her eyes, “You going to fuck me Kace, or just look at me?”
I kiss just above her belly button. “All in good time darling.”
“Ivory you home?”
I groan. Ivory scatters up.
“Fucking unbelievable.” I groan again. I nearly had her and nearly got my case of blue balls fixed.
“She’s not meant to be here.” Ivory says, grabbing her clothes, and pulling her jeans back on.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “How long till we get our own place again?”
I hear her laugh, so I look at her.
“I mean it Ivory. Are you mine again?”
She swallowed sharply. “I don’t know.” And then she grabs her bra and underwear and throws them in the washing basket. Having to deal with knowing she was wearing no underwear, will be the death of me. “I’m not playing hard to get. I just think we are better off as friends, maybe with benefits.”
“I don’t want that.” I growl, and step towards her. “I want you in my bed every night. I want you coming, screaming my name. I want you, as mine. Not as a friend, that I causally fuck. If I wanted that I’d get a club girl.”
She looks at me, and I see the confliction. “But that’s all I can give you Kace. Right now that’s all I’m capable of.” Her eyes drop. “But that isn’t good enough, then I guess we just part ways.”
“Ivory!” And I could hear Elle stomping up the stairs.
I gripped her arm as she goes to walk past me. “Am I the only friend with benefits?” I asked, because knowing she was doing this with other guys, would make me go on a murdering spree.
She nods her head.
“Then come midnight. I want you in this bed, naked and ready for me to fuck you. Understand?”
“Ivory!”
“Coming!” Ivory shouts back and then looks at me. “Midnight it is.”
“That’s my girl.” And I see something flash across her face, and I wished I knew what it was.
38
Ivory
I was nervous, so very nervous as I glanced up and down the passage. Making sure my brother wasn’t lurking. I then tip toed to Kace’s door. Not wanting to get caught because Elle would give me a lecture and to be honest with myself, I wasn’t sure what Gabe’s reaction would be.
I see his door ajar and I push it open.
I’m wearing a silk dressing gown and lingerie underneath it, to drive Kace wild. Closing the door behind me, I turn around and see Kace sitting in the armchair, a cigarette burning between his fingers.
Then I smell it, that isn’t a normal cigarette. I walk towards him, his eyes locked on mine- pulling me towards him. Pausing in front of him, I take the joint from his fingers and have a puff, before giving it back to him.
My hands go to my dressing gown, and I let it pool at my feet.
He inhales sharply and reaches for me, but then hisses in pain, as he extended his arm.
“Shit. Kace are you okay?” I ask and lower to my knees in front of him, seeing pain in his eyes. “What’s happened?”
“The fucking storm, that’s what happened.” He muttered, and I continued to look at him for answers.
“You’ve been gone most of the night.” I was upset when he left. Because I wasn’t sure if he was coming back. As stupid as it was. I thought he had changed his mind again.
“Cameras were taken out at the club with the power outage.” He explains. “When the power got switched back on, the storm had moved the cameras so I ha
d to readjust them. Only I fell off the fucking ladder.” He hisses in pain again, raising his arm, trying to reach out to me. “Bloody prince wasn’t holding it.”
“I’m guessing you landed on your shoulder?”
He nods his head.
“Come on.” I stand up, and pick up my dressing gown.
“Don’t you dare fucking cover up.”
I give him a look. “I’m going to get tape, and I can’t walk around my sister’s house in lingerie.” I give him a pointed look and take off, heading for downstairs. When Gabe had his physiotherapy. I learnt all about taping injuries. Gabe had hurt his shoulder at the time, as well as his hand. If it is going to happen, it will happen to Gabe.
So I walked back up the stairs, heading for Kace’s door. It only occurs to me now, I’m not his girlfriend. But as soon as that thought goes through my mind, I shake it and open the door walking in and closing it behind me.
Kace is now sitting on the edge of the bed, as I approach him.
“Top off handsome.” I say and I see the pain in his eyes, so I grip it when he gets it half way and I pull it off. Dropping it on the ground.
I softly get on the bed and go behind him. “I’m not going to lie this is going to hurt.” I tell him, “And the tape has to be firm, to support its healing.” I begin to tape it. “And I’m going to have to restrict your movement too.”
I’m a perfectionist and it takes me awhile but when I was happy with it, I cut the tape, and climbed off the bed.
Standing in front of him, he goes to reach for me, but his movement is restricted and I smiled out of pity and step closer to him.
“You have no idea how fucking furious I am with myself right now.” And his eyes run over me, I see the lust in his eyes. The desire. The passion. His good arm reaches for me, and his hand slips under the lace. “I need you Ivory. I haven’t been laid since we broke up.”