by Jayne Blue
“I’m all ears, Veronica Rose.”
She flinched as if my words had physical form and had struck her. Her tears flowed freely and she looked up at me for a moment before burying her face in her hands. I wanted to go to her. I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss away whatever pain she’d tried so hard to hide. But, I couldn’t. Not until I knew everything.
Finally, Veronica looked up. The fear had left her eyes and stony resolve replaced it. She looked at me. “Where is he?” she said, her voice nearly toneless.
“He? What the fuck…”
Veronica slowly rose from the bed. “Are you going to try and pretend Caleb didn’t get to you?”
“Caleb? Who the fuck is Caleb? Thea...Veronica...dammit. Liza of all people figured you out. She remembered you from some cable show you were on.”
Veronica’s face fell. Her mouth formed a bloodless line and something broke inside of her. “I didn’t...oh, God. I thought...he was.”
As she stammered, something broke inside of me too. I went to her and pulled her into my arms. She didn’t pull away. She slid her arms around my neck and looked at me with such desperate need it gutted me.
At that moment, it didn’t matter. I didn’t care who she was or what to call her. I only cared that she was here, she was mine, and I’d destroy anyone or anything that tried to take her away.
Chapter Fourteen
Veronica
I thought I’d fall apart. I imagined this moment with King virtually from the second he walked into my workshop at Pete’s. When he found out the truth, I expected the cold look in his eyes and his straight back as he turned and walked away from me.
But, he didn’t.
Instead, King took me in his arms and held me close. We sat back down on the bed together and he didn’t ask me a single question. I don’t know how long we stayed like that. Long enough that Rusty gave up and simply fell asleep in the corner. I wanted nothing more than to curl on the bed with him and give myself to him openly and completely. Except, there wasn’t time.
The first brave thing I did today was waiting for King to come back when the fire inside of me yearned to run. The second brave thing I did was take a deep breath, look into his eyes, and finally tell him the truth.
“I love you,” he said. Just those three words and all the walls I’d built seemed to blow away like ash in the wind.
I had to get through this. It would have been easier to just let King hold me while I let the words come. But, I needed to be on my feet. I needed to turn and face him taking whatever judgment he laid at my feet. He’d earned that right.
“Take a walk with me,” I said and it felt right. It seemed fitting that I told him everything while we were out in the open. Let the ocean itself bear witness to my sins and my secrets.
He came quietly and we walked down to the beach together. We found a spot in the sand. I dug my bare toes into the powder and King sat beside me. The noon sun beat down on my back, a constant reminder to the seconds that ticked by.
“My name is Veronica,” I started. He already knew it, but to do this right, I wanted to own it all. “Veronica Marie Rose. I used to get teased that I have three first names.”
“They’re all beautiful,” King said. “I’ve known from the beginning, I think that Thea wasn’t you. It’s why you pulled away from me that first night, isn’t it? I whispered the name and you started to cry.”
I wanted to cry now, but I wouldn’t. Instead, I turned to him and smiled. “You made me feel something real, King. For the first time in so long. God, for the first time in forever. It was killing me not to tell you.”
“So, why didn’t you? If Liza hadn’t figured you out, were you ever going to tell me?”
The truth was so much harder than I thought. But, the lies had hollowed me out inside. “I don’t know. I wish I could tell you yes, but I really don’t know.”
“Veronica.” When he said my true name, it sent a wave of warmth through me. I never realized how badly I yearned for him to know it. “Baby, I know you’re running from someone. I figured that out in about ten seconds. You know that. Who? What happened to you?”
“King, please. Let me do this my own way. If Liza showed you the video from the Project Design show, you know a lot of it already. I grew up doing all the things you’re supposed to do. You talk about the horror your dad put you through. That tears me to bits. But, I didn’t have that. My father was an amazing man. He was my world. He had to be. My mom died when I was a baby, so it was just the two of us. My dad’s name was Emmett Rose. He was a carpenter.”
“So that’s where you get it from.” King smiled at me as he carved circles in the sand with a tiny twig.
“Yeah. We worked side by side when I was old enough to stand on a stool and reach the bench. I grew up just outside of Cleveland. He sent me to private school, then college. I went to Case Western Reserve for undergrad and got a master’s degree there too.”
King’s shoulders shook with low laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, baby. I’m just proud of you. I know it might sound strange to say that, but I am. You’re fucking amazing, do you know that?”
I looked back toward the water. “I’m scared, King. That’s what I am. That’s all I’ve been for so long the rest of these things, this other life, it doesn’t even feel like mine anymore.”
King shifted his weight, turning to me. He brushed the hair away from my forehead and stared at me with those intense, dark eyes of his. “Veronica, you need to know something. I said I loved you. I’ve never told a woman that before. Not ever. So, whatever you think you have to hide, you don’t. I might be crazy as hell for saying this. God knows Nash and the crew thinks I am, but I don’t care. I love you. You’re still mine. Jesus, I want to marry you someday, baby.”
My heart flipped. I hadn’t said the hard things yet, but this amazing man didn’t seem to care. Tears stung the corners of my eyes as I looked at him. Because now, I had to tell him one of the hardest things of all.
“Oh, King. The thing is, I love you too. But...I’m already married.”
Only the tiniest tremor near his temple revealed the turmoil I’d just stirred inside of him. I hated myself for it, but he didn’t walk away. He sat beside me, turning back to the surf. “Tell me the rest,” he finally said.
“Caleb,” I said, nearly choking on it. “I met him at Case just before I finished my master’s. He was a law professor there. It wasn’t the most ethical thing for him to get involved with a student, but I wasn’t his student. He was handsome and smart. He seemed to have an answer for everything and he knew what he wanted out of life. That appealed to me. I was so young, King. God, it was only five years ago, but it feels like forever. Looking back, I realize now I barely knew him. There were signs. He was quick to anger, but I chalked that up to him being under pressure. His teaching gig at Case was only a part-time thing. He was a defense lawyer and worked for a big law firm in Cleveland and he was trying to make partner. He had so many ambitions. They were grooming him for politics too. We got married a few months before I auditioned for the show on HLC. God, that was just supposed to be a whim. A friend of mine dared me to do it. Caleb was furious because I hadn’t discussed it with him. Then, we both got swept up in it. His firm liked the attention I was getting because of the show and it benefitted him.”
“You mentioned him before,” King said. “You asked me back in the bedroom if Caleb was here. Veronica, is he the one that hurt you?”
I couldn’t keep the tears from rolling down my face now. “Yes.” Just one simple word, but it shattered the last of the barriers I’d constructed between us. King threaded his fingers through mine and I drew strength from him. Now was when I’d need it the most.
“Caleb got jealous of the attention I was getting after a while,” I said. “He made trouble for me with the producers, always insisting that he be on set when I was. It came to a head the night of the live finale. We’d had such a terrible figh
t. It was the first time he got physical. He pushed me against the wall. I had bruises on my back and one of the makeup ladies saw them. She was so nice about it. They’d picked a backless dress for me to wear and she covered it all up. God, I’ve wondered so many times if things would have turned out differently if I’d just let the whole audience see.”
King’s whole posture changed. Kinetic energy seemed to coil through him, making his shoulders quake as he listened. “He made you give up the prize money? Liza said they offered you a show of your own or something.”
I swallowed past a dry throat and nodded. “I let him convince me the show had ruined things between us. I feel so stupid for it now, but I was trying so hard to make everything okay. It was never okay. For a few months after that, things calmed down. I got a lot of notoriety from the show anyway and business really picked up in my own shop in Cleveland. Eventually, that threatened Caleb too. He said he wanted me home and that we needed to start a family. I argued. I was only twenty-five. I said we had plenty of time for that. Finally, after a few months of arguments like that, he pulled a gun on me.”
King rose. It was as if he couldn’t physically contain the rage he felt. He stormed back to the steps leading to the patio and punched a fist into the wood. He turned back to me, his eyes filled with tenderness.
“I tried to leave him,” I continued. I’d come to the hardest part, but couldn’t stop now. “I threatened to get a restraining order, but he begged me not to. He said it would ruin his career. He was right about that. My dad knew something was going on, but I lied to him. I thought I could manage it alone and started planning to divorce Caleb. The lawyer I called stupidly left a voicemail for me and Caleb found it. I didn’t know he was monitoring my phone. He told me if I ever tried to leave him he’d kill everyone I loved and then he’d kill me. God, it seemed like such a crazy thing to say. Doesn’t that sound crazy? Even now. I thought that’s the kind of thing people say, but they don’t really mean it. Then, my father confronted me. He saw the bruises. That was supposed to be the end of it. I changed the locks and told Caleb it was over.”
I couldn’t breathe. The air grew thick. King came to me. He slid his arms around me and tilted my face to his. “Veronica?”
My throat ached with the tears I cried. “King, he did it. Caleb made good on his promise. He killed my dad. My father confronted him after I told him the truth. I’d begged him not to, but he did it anyway. He was my dad. He wanted to protect me.”
King’s eyes reddened and a muscle jumped in his jaw, but still, he held me. “He almost killed me too,” I said. “King, he got away with it. He promised me no one could touch him, and they didn’t. The firm he works for is one of the top defense firms in the state. Caleb covered his tracks. He’s defended some rich, shady people. He made the whole thing look like a suicide, like my dad shot himself. I tried to tell the police, but they didn’t believe me. I don’t know if Caleb paid someone off, but no one would help me. I had no choice. If I’d stayed, I’d be dead too. He was going to kill me. So, I ran.”
King nodded slowly. “You ran and you became Thea Clark.”
“Yes.”
I pressed my cheek against King’s chest and let all the tears flow. “He’s back, King.” His muscles hardened to steel and he pulled me away from him.
“What do you mean he’s back?”
“Caleb. You were right last night. Something bad happened. He called me.”
“How could he call you?”
I pulled the burner phone out of my pocket. “He’s connected, King. I don’t know how. Every couple of weeks, I get an untraceable phone and call my Aunt Marie. She’s the only family I have left. She lives in Toledo. Caleb never met her. He wasn’t supposed to even know she existed. But he did find her.”
I showed King the picture Caleb had texted to me. His eyes narrowed and he gave it back.
“You talked to this motherfucker?”
I nodded. “Right after I hung up with Marie, he called. He said he’d tapped her landline. I have to call him within the hour or he promised he’d hurt her.”
“Toledo,” King said, his voice devoid of all emotion. He took me by the hand and started walking up the steps.
“King, I have to call him back. I know what Caleb’s capable of. He will kill her.”
King took the burner phone and threw it on the kitchen table. “He won’t touch so much as a hair on her head. I know what I’m capable of.”
All at once, every emotion I’d tried to keep in check cascaded through me. Love, anger, rage, but mostly fear. It would happen again. Another man I loved would try to save me and it would ruin him. Caleb would win, just like always.
King grabbed his cellphone off the charger. He punched in a number then walked into the other room. When I moved to follow, he lifted a finger, gesturing for me to wait. I heard muffled commands before he walked back to the kitchen to face me.
“Your aunt’s address,” he said.
“What?”
“Veronica, where does your aunt live?”
“What are you going to do?”
He let out a breath. “Baby, I told you once there’s nothing more dangerous than me or my club when we have to be. I also told you when you’re with me, the Great Wolves will provide. You said she lives in Toledo. We have a chapter just a few miles from there in Lincolnshire. You give me her address and I can have a crew over there in ten minutes. They’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”
My knees felt weak. I gripped the countertop to steady myself. King held out a pen and with shaking fingers, I wrote down Aunt Marie’s address. He gave me a stiff nod then texted the address to someone at the club, I presumed.
When he finished, he put the phone down and came to me. King placed a soft kiss on the top of my head. “Now,” he said. “Get your things. We’re going to the club. It’s time for you to take your life back.”
Chapter Fifteen
King
Rage seeped through my veins as Veronica climbed on the back of my bike and we headed into town. She clutched me tighter than usual and my blood heated from her touch. I couldn’t shake the image of hands closing around Veronica’s throat, hands touching her in anger, making bruises that she’d tried to hide.
I would kill him. If Caleb ever got anywhere near her again, I would end him. I squeezed my fists around the throttle, imagining it was that motherfucker’s throat.
As I pulled into the Den, Veronica hesitated before getting off the bike. I was careful with her. I’d had one moment of weakness back at the beach when I pounded my fists into the wooden railing, but I wouldn’t let her see that side of me again if I could help it. I could be a violent man, but I would protect this woman if it killed me.
“Come on,” I said. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of anymore.”
She bit her bottom lip and forced a smile. As always, I could tell what she was thinking. She thought I would underestimate this Caleb, that he was far more dangerous than I realized. But, I knew exactly how dangerous he was. He was no different than the asshole who raised me, and I’d beaten him too. As she looked at me with those big, blue eyes, I had to shake the memories of my mother that superimposed themselves over the woman standing in front of me.
Caleb Monroe wasn’t my father. Veronica wasn’t my mother. God, she was so much stronger. She’d found a way to get out from under Caleb after he destroyed everything she had and the one man who was supposed to protect her.
“What?” she said, sliding a hand into the back pocket of her jeans.
“You,” I said, smiling. I pulled her to me and kissed her forehead. “You don’t even know how amazing you are.”
She hiccupped, holding back a sob. “I don’t know how you can say that.”
“Because it’s true. You’re still standing, Veronica. He didn’t break you. I’ve known other women who couldn’t say that.”
She squeezed me tight, thinking she could draw strength from me, only I knew it was the other way around. Arm
in arm, we walked into the club. Nash and the others were already waiting. I’d filled him in on the highlights of Veronica’s story. She was supposed to call Caleb within the hour. It was my idea to make sure she had my club around her when she made that call.
The Den was empty; Nash had closed it for the day. We made our way back to the conference room. The full membership was seated around the table and Liza rushed out from behind Shakes, making a beeline for Veronica.
“Oh, honey,” she said, throwing her arms around a shaken Veronica. She got her hands up just in time and shot me a look over Liza’s shoulder. “You’ve been through so much. You’re a warrior queen, did you know that?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her,” I said. Veronica wiped away a tear and smiled at Liza.
“Let’s talk,” Nash said. He reached across the table and offered a hand to Veronica to shake. She took it warily, then sat down next to me.
“You get a hold of Colt up in Lincolnshire?” I asked.
“Everything’s under control,” Nash answered. “Talked to him a few minutes ago. He’s got three guys over at Marie Leonard’s house. She’s a little confused, but she opened her home to them.”
“They’re already there!” Veronica gasped. “Oh my God, Aunt Marie’s got to be freaked out. She’s okay though?”
Nash pulled out his cellphone. “You can hear for yourself.”
He dialed a number and waited. “Hey, Mac? Nash. Yeah. You set up okay?”
Mac was one of the road captains in the Lincolnshire charter. He was a good guy and a perfect choice to deal with Veronica’s aunt. He was quick to smile and didn’t have a hot temper like a lot of the rest of us. After Nash had asked a few more questions, he handed the phone to Veronica.
“Hello?” Her whole posture shifted when the person on the other line started talking.
“Oh, thank God. Aunt Marie, I’m so sorry about all of this. I’ll explain when I can, but for now, those bikers are friends, okay? You don’t go anywhere unless you take one of them with you. Will you promise me that?”