by Brook Greene
“What did he say when you told him about me?” She looks at me with a little bit of that heartbreaking hope in her eyes again.
“I didn’t tell him,” I say on a hushed tone.
“You didn’t tell him? Why not?” She leans back, crossing her arms over her chest. “Isn’t that the whole point of doing all this work?” She jumps to her feet and begins to pace back and forth.
I stand and go around to stop her. I rest my hands on her shoulders and bend a little so that I can look her in the eyes. “Hey, listen. We can stop this right here, right now.” I beg her with my eyes to drop this, to not go any further. I know I won’t be able to control my actions if and when he hurts her.
“Why didn’t you tell him?” She reaches up, grasping my forearms with her hands, a pleading tone to her words.
I lean in, placing my forehead to hers. “He paid to have you scrubbed, Hollis. I spoke to the nurse who did all the dirty work for him. He didn’t want you then, so I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want you to resurface now. And with a man that powerful, it scares me to think of the lengths he’ll go to to keep that secret quiet. Keep you quiet.” I’m not above begging her to drop this, because the man I met yesterday is just the kind of man who pays to make others who get in his way disappear, and not just on paper, but physically. He isn’t the first type of man like this I’ve met, but this time the situation revolves around my woman, my life, and that changes everything.
I never thought I would be wishing he’d been a junkie, living on the streets where we could’ve given him a twenty-dollar bill and moved on with her, knowing he was nothing. But I can see by the set of her shoulders and the resolve in her eyes that she isn’t just going to let this go. I know Hollis, and she’ll see this through till the end, and if that means her confronting a man who can emotionally ruin her, then that’s what she’ll do.
“Let this go, Hollis, please?” I beg her. I can’t lose her again, not right when we’re getting to the good part of our lives together.
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, hopefully taking my words into consideration. “Who is he?”
“His name’s Keaton Campbell.” Her eyes fly wide and gleam with delight.
“Keaton?” She’d asked me before where her mother had gotten her last name and now we know. The bitch wasn’t going to go quietly, no matter how much fucking money he paid for her to. “Keaton.” She repeats the name, letting it fall heavily between us.
“Yeah, and he’s the Mayor of Souders.”
“That’s just two hours away.” I shake my head yes. “He’s practically been in my back yard this whole time.” I want to shake her, shake her until what I’ve said sinks in and she turns away from this.
She backs away from my hold and begins to pace again. She stops and looks at me. “The mayor? No shit. My mother did have a type.” She scoffs and then stops when she realizes what she’d just said. “Oh, Roman, I’m sorry.” She’s too late if she thinks that what she said has raked my heart over the coals of the fire her mother set to my life. She’s wrong, it’s been hurting since I was twenty. I shake off her apology.
“Who was the nurse to him and how did you find her?” she asks, stepping back to me and taking my hand, leading me over to the island, both of us sitting back down.
I take a deep breath and turn to her with a half-smile on my face. “You’re never going to believe me when I tell you.”
Her eyebrows shoot up into her hair. “Really? Because all this other shit is so normal?” She pushes my shoulder, and for the first time this morning she laughs, and the sound makes me smile. With all the heavy we’ve been going through, its God’s gift to see that beautiful sight.
“Cruz.” Her smile falls just as fast as it had appeared.
“Cruz Lloyd?” Her shock at the revelation is almost laughable.
“Yeah, Cruz,” I confirm as I reach for my coffee cup, wincing when I throw back a gulp of the now cold liquid.
She leans back, crossing her arms over her chest, watching me as I pour myself another cup, and get her one as well. “And how the hell is that?”
Placing the cup in front of her, I settle back down on my stool. “Remember the other day when you girls showed up at the clubhouse and they were there?” She nods her head. “Well they were on a run, just passing through, and needed a place to crash.” I lie. I have to about why they were here. She stays silent, accepting what I’m telling her. “Anyway, he dropped by the office one day and found me at my desk with your folder.” She lifts her cup to her lips, completely enamored by my story. There’s no need to recount the whole conversation to her, so I cut right to the part she asked about. “He recognized a photo of your mother.”
This makes her sit straight up on the stool, almost spilling her coffee all over the both of us. “My mother?” She shakes the liquid from her hand and wipes the rest on her jeans. “How?”
“Y’all are from the same town.”
~~~~~~
Hollis
His words hit me hard. “Does he know me? I mean, from then?”
“No, do you remember him?” He grabs the towel from the other side of the island and begins to wipe up my mess.
I search the areas of my memory I tried to burn away with drugs and alcohol, the parts I pushed out of my mind with highs that lasted for days. “No, I can’t remember him at all.” I feel ashamed that those parts of my past are gone because of the actions I’d taken to rid myself of them. “And the nurse?”
“Sarah. Her name’s Sarah Lloyd, and she remembers you perfectly.” He takes my hands in his. “She’s Cruz and Mose’s aunt. When Cruz’s mom ran off and Mose’s dad nearly beat his mom to death, she took them both in and raised them as her own, but she had an alcoholic husband and needed the money.” He looks sympathetic as he tells her story. “He approached her in the maternity ward one night and offered her more money than she could make in five years on her salary.”
I blink back the tears this woman deserves. She isn’t at fault for what they did, she was just as much a victim as I am. I could never fault a woman who had two children to take care of. I spent my life trying to find that kind of devotion from a woman who never really wanted me. Now I know why, she was tossed aside by him just as fast as I was. I was a terrible reminder of her not being good enough, and she laid that blame on me.
My mother was never one to take ownership of her actions, like sleeping around and becoming pregnant by a married man. I was just the collateral damage of the way she steamed rolled through life, wrecking anybody and everything in her path, the man sitting across from me being one of the unlucky ones. She might as well have been the one who jerked that steering wheel wrecking the car that killed both of Roman’s parents.
I reach up, cupping his face in my hands, looking into those breathtaking, crystal blue eyes. “I have to do this. Even if it’s just for a few minutes, let him see that even though he beat her down, she didn’t give up.” He stills at my words, and I watch as his calm slips from his eyes.
“You don’t owe that bitch anything,” he says through gritted teeth, right before jerking his face from my grasp. He pins me with his eyes, and I feel them burn my skin. “You’ve spent your whole adult life hating her, so why now do you feel the need to prove something for her at the risk of your own life?” He shoves his fingers into his thick blond hair and tugs at it, cursing under his breath. “I should’ve just lied to you, never told you what I really found.”
I take his arm and turn him to me. “Why would you do that?”
He scoffs at me. “Because you’ve not heard a fucking word I’ve said.” He throws his arms out to his sides. “About the kind of man he is, and what he’s capable of doing to you.”
I snake my arms around his waist, but this time, he doesn’t hold me back. “I have you.” I smile up at him, trying to get him back to the sweet Roman.
He gives his head a violent shake. “Not all the fucking time you don’t. I can’t be up your ass twenty-four seven, Holl
is.” I smile a flirty smile at him. “Stop. You know what I mean.”
“Well what if you go with me?” I’m trying everything. Not until now did I realize how badly I wanted to know who he was, and now I’m consumed with wanting to come face-to-face with the man who ruined my life because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
“That’s for shit too.” He scrubs his hands down his face in frustration, but his anger, although it probably should, isn’t making me back down from this.
“And why is that?” I lean one hand on the island and prop the other on my hip. I can see he’s holding back how he really feels. He’d hurt me when I first asked him to do this, and he’s trying not to do it again.
“I showed up at his country club yesterday, dropped an insane amount of money on a fucking golf membership, and shared a damned bourbon with him. He knows who I am.” He pounds his finger into his chest, the thumping echoing around the kitchen. “He probably has a file on me three inches thick by now.”
I rub my hand over his chest, stopping my hand at his neck, the heat of his anger burning my skin. “Well then, if he’s as good as you say he is, he’ll know not to fuck with me or you’ll bring hell fire down on his head and release Leo on him.” I snicker, making him smile.
His laugh holds a slight hint of humor. “Kinda like the Kraken?”
My smile widens. “Exactly.”
He digs his fingers into my hair. “God, I fucking love you, woman.”
Chapter Seventeen
Roman
“He’s a real fucking douche,” I tell the boys who are sitting around the table in the clubhouse. I’d recounted the events of the day before, and the discussion Hollis and I’d had this morning. Eno’s already on his laptop, typing furiously, and has his cellphone to his ear.
I lean forward, resting my forearms on the table. “All that aside, he worries me.”
Leo leans back, sighing. “Me too.” Propping his elbows on the arms of his chair, he laces his fingers together in thought.
“But,” Dalton says, leaning in, “we have proof he’s a dick. The nurse’s statement, the folder full of documents you have and the money trail, our boy here,” he points at Eno, “is going to find.”
“Are your intentions to bring him down?” Cowboy asks.
I give my head a fast shake. “No, not at the moment, even though I have a valid reason to.”
“You have more than a fucking reason, brother,” Matt scoffs.
“We need to create a cushion around Hollis. Dig up enough dirt on him to keep him from touching her,” Leo instructs.
I hold up my hands. “He fucking touches her, I’ll go to prison.” There are a few grumbles of agreement around the table. “He’s good, so by now he has enough on me, and us, to know who we are.”
“Fuck yeah, man.” Eno throws up the devil horns with his left hand at me. “That’s enough to know we’ll fuck his world over if he fucks with her.”
Leo sighs, looking at his brother with a hint of a smile. “And she’s hell-bent on meeting him?” Leo asks, his hand balled in a fist.
“Yes, and she’s using us as a security blanket. She thinks having us at her back, he won’t try anything or be stupid enough to.” I try my best to convey my concerns to my brothers. I’ve been eye to eye with this man. I’ve seen the evil in his eyes, and I’m more than aware of what he’s capable of.
“Can you put her off for a few days, so we can get our own ducks in a row?” Leo asks, looking over at Eno who’s still buried in his computer and typing like a mad man.
“I’ll try, but…,” I trail off, rolling my eyes, remembering how anxious Hollis had been this morning. “I would like to talk her out of it, but that shit isn’t gonna fly. She has this sick idea that being face-to-face with him is going to somehow get revenge for her fucking mother.”
“Her mother?” Dalton leans onto the table. “How do you feel about that?”
“How the fuck do you think I feel?” I say with a disgusted sigh. If I’d known that she was wanting this partially for her mother, I don’t think I would’ve been quite as motivated to find him for her as I have been. “She’s pretty hell-bent on meeting him.” I rub my eyes with the butts of my hands, fighting exhaustion.
~~~~~~
I walk through the door a little after dark, and the heavenly smell of food hits me, making my stomach growl. I find Hollis in the kitchen, standing at the stove, and walk up behind her, gently snaking my arms around her waist. I plant my lips on her exposed neck and inhale her smell of lavender and vanilla. “What’s all this?” I mumble against her skin and feel a full body shiver roll down her. She turns in my arms and smiles up at me. I take her mouth with mine, pushing my tongue into her warm wet mouth, feeling her glide against mine.
I spin us both, pressing her butt against the counter to lift her legs around my waist. I dig my fingers into her hair, holding her mouth tight to mine as I rub my cock against her core. The feeling of her warmth against me has me needing to fuck her. We kiss until we’re breathless, and a fucking food timer goes off. She pushes against me and sits back, panting. “I’ve got to get the rolls out of the oven,” she mumbles against my mouth, just as winded as I am. I reluctantly take a step back, giving her enough room to jump down.
She looks back over her shoulder at me as she takes a pan of homemade rolls from the oven, a flirty smile on her slightly swollen lips. I almost lose the breath I just caught. Her beauty has always stolen the air from my lungs and punched me in the gut. I resist the urge to fall on my knees and beg her to let all this go. That the pain she’s going to endure isn’t worth it, and her bitch of a mother sure as hell doesn’t deserve any of her pity.
I step back and cross my arms over my chest. “What?” Her once dancing eyes and bright smile fade from her face.
“I really wish you would lower your expectations about meeting him.” I cut right to it. There’s no reason to sugarcoat it for her because he sure as hell isn’t going to go easy on her.
She slings the pan of bread onto the stove and jerks off the oven mitt, tossing it aside. “Why can’t you let me have this?”
I lean one hand on the counter and tilt my body toward her, pounding my finger into my chest. “Because I’ve met him, and he’s a first-class asshole. He paid a shit ton of fucking money to make you disappear from his life when you were born, so forgive me if I don’t want you to go through the pain he’s going to give you when we show up at his office now.”
She sets her shoulders and narrows her eyes at me. “Consider me warned then.” She turns to slap the oven door shut. “Enjoy your fucking dinner,” she bites out as she shoulders past me and storms out of the kitchen.
“Hollis, stop.” I follow after her, catching up just as she rounds the steps up to the second floor, grabbing her by the arm to stop her.
She jerks her arm away from my hold. “Stop treating me like I’m some fucking china doll.”
I shove my hands down into the pockets of my jeans, lowering my head. “I’m not.” I lift my eyes to look at her. “I’m treating you like the woman I fucking love.”
~~~~~~
Hollis
I know my excitement is overrated and my happiness is utterly stupid, but unlike Roman who has a lineage that leads back decades, the man he found is the only family I have to hold onto for now.
“What the fuck do you think is going to happen, Hollis?” He jerks his fists from the pockets of his jeans and slings his arms out to either side of his big body. “He’s gonna say, ‘Oh yeah, I fucked up, let’s be a family?’” He steps up one step and comes face-to-face with me. “No, Hollis, he’s going to tell you to get the fuck away from him and possibly threaten you to keep you quiet.”
He’s telling me things I already know, but hearing him say them cuts me like a knife. I’m very aware of what kind of man he is, and I know I’m a dumbass to have just a little bit of hope.
“Roman, you seem to have forgotten I’m used to dealing with men like him.” I watch as
the memories of the shit I’ve gone through pass over his face, but it doesn’t stop me. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
“Then listen to me!” he barks. “This isn’t going to end well for either of us, because Hollis, if he threatens you, I’ll kill him.”
“I know you don’t understand why I want this so bad. Hell, I don’t understand it, but it’s just something I’ve got to do.” He covers my hand with his and leans his face into my palm. “I know you want what’s best for me, and I love the way you take care of me.”
He pulls me into his arms, wrapping me in his warmth. He buries his nose in my neck and his hot breath rolls across my skin. I can feel his body relax against mine. I’m safe, and he’ll do everything in his power to keep me that way.
“Because I have you, I know everything’s going to be okay, Roman. You worry enough for the both of us,” I whisper against the side of his face.
He grumbles against my skin, making me shiver.
He lifts his head and looks down at me, his eyes saying more than any words he could speak. “Dial it back just a little bit, baby.” He pinches his lips together and threads his fingers into my hair, bringing my forehead to his. “Because he’s going to hurt you.”
I wrap my fingers around his thick wrists, the fire of the fight fading fast. “This isn’t what I want. I don’t want to fight with you over this.”
“I don’t want to fight with you either, but Hollis,” his once tense features soften as he looks at me.
I push up on my toes and place a light kiss on his lips. “It’s going to be all right. When I asked you to do this, I knew what I was getting myself into.”
“It doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.”
“I love you.”
“Yeah, this love is gonna fucking kill me,” he grumbles, making me laugh.
“And you love every minute of it.”
He scoffs, but with a smile. “I don’t think there has ever been a more exquisite torture.” His strong arms snake around my waist. Lifting me up, he turns and walks us both down the steps to the dinner I’d been working on. The topic isn’t mentioned for the rest of the night. Although I would love to press him for more, I have to consider Roman and the things he’d said. The fallout from this isn’t going to affect just me.