by Anne Malcom
“Watch your mouth, you forget who you’re talking to Fletcher.” Luke clipped “As far as I know Gwen is not your woman.” Still, he took his hands off me.
“Not forgetting anything Crawford, I know I am currently talking to a prick who not only had his hands on my woman but made her fucking cry. And trust me, she’s fucking mine.” Cade promised, shades on me.
I stood on shaky feet. Cade took a step towards me stopping when I retreated.
“Baby...” His was voice gentle as if it was just the two of us.
“Stay away from me.” I whispered brokenly.
Luke stood in front of me protectively. “You heard her Fletcher, beat it.”
Cade scowled at Luke, then dismissed him, focusing on me. “Whatever he said to you…”
I couldn’t deal with this. Any of it. I turned away and ran, ignoring the male shouts behind me. I ran in the direction of the beach, not knowing where else to go. I reached the sand pausing to take off my shoes. I walked until the water was kissing my ankles. I stood, looking blankly at the horizon, a million thoughts running through my head. I must have been here for a while because me feet and ankles were numb. But at least I could feel, at least I was alive. Unlike Laurie. I didn’t know her, but she could have been me so easily. Still could be if I didn’t sort myself out. I slowly walked out of the water, choosing not to react when I saw Cade leaning against his bike with his arms crossed, watching me.
I turned my back to him, sinking down into the sand, watching the waves, trying to beat away the demons currently knocking at the corner of my mind.
“She was beaten, savagely, raped, stabbed. Face fucking tattooed.” Jumbled words from Luke’s short but heartbreaking story rushed through my mind. Beaten. Stabbed. Raped. Sweet girl. Clueless girl. Like me she just fell in love with the wrong guy. Yeah that guy did not kill her, but she would still be alive if it wasn’t for gangs and their fucking politics. I didn’t react when Cade sat behind me, his powerful thighs coming around either side of mine. Strong arms pulled me to his chest. I sat rigidly, trying to work up the strength to fight him off. Problem was, all my strength was going towards not having a mental fucking breakdown. It was focusing on what an idiot I was for letting another man so much like the one that almost killed me, into my bed, under my skin.
“Babe.” He murmured in my ear, voice soft. I ignored him and continued looking blankly at the sea.
“Crawford had no fucking right to talk to you like that, badmouth the fucking club.” He still sounded soft, he was angry but he was checking that anger for me.
I went as hard as stone. “God forbid he badmouth the fucking precious club.” I hissed. “Never mind the girl that was murdered.”
At my words, Cade tensed. “You don’t know anything about Laurie, Gwen.” His voice turned hard.
“Yeah, I do. I know she fell in love with a man, a dangerous man, who at the time seemed exciting, made her feel alive. And no matter how dark things got, the love was still there to make it seem light, so she could ignore the signs, the big fucking flashing red signs that should have made her run the other way. But she didn’t and that got her dead. Raped. Beaten. Dead.” My voice cracked at the end.
I felt Cade flinch at my words, his arms tightening around me. Then I’m in the air, turned so I was straddling him, his hands came to my face.
“Need your eyes Gwen.” He muttered, staring at me so hard I felt like he was staring into my soul.
“Bull loved Laurie, fuck never seen a love like it. They were the last two people you’d ever think to be together. Him a huge fucker with tattoos. She was tiny, smaller than you babe, with blonde hair that shone like the sun. Smile, Christ, she had a great smile, made everyone happy just by being around. They didn’t seem like they’d fit, but you saw them together, you knew, they fit perfect for each other, made sense.”
“Cade...” I interrupted, not wanting to hear anymore, but his eyes turned hard.
“I’m speaking now babe, shut it. Wait till you hear the hole fucking story before you say one more word.” His voice was tight. “We had shit going with another club, not gonna elaborate babe. But that shit got bad, brothers both sides felt the hits. But no women, fuck, women never see that kind of shit. Until that day. Laurie went for a walk, a walk in the town she lived, place she felt safe, happy. They snatched her right off the street, broad daylight, fuckin witnesses.” Cade’s eyes turned feral, he was devastated and furious. Of its own volition, my hand reached up to stroke he cheek.
“Soon as we found out, had to lock Bull down. He was ripping things apart, in a rage like I never seen, he couldn’t check it, couldn’t reign it in, couldn’t help Laurie like that. We had boys out looking for her, even got the fuckin pigs involved, cause we knew what they would do to her. Didn’t help. We got the call, telling us to back down or they’d kill Laurie. We knew they’d kill her either way, these weren’t the kind of guys to just drop her off, unharmed. Minute they got what they wanted they’d put a bullet in her brain. We were in an impossible position.”
I felt the pain in his voice. I immediately knew Luke was wrong, those men did care about this girl, but Luke’s mind was so clouded by hate, that he couldn’t see the love.
“Honey...” I started, but Cade cut me off again.
“I’m speakin babe.” He sighed, looking to the ocean then back at me. “We gave in to those boys, there would have been blood, a shitstorm we couldn’t weather, the town couldn’t weather. We knew either way, Laurie got dead. So we tried to find her, ripped apart the fucking countryside looking for her. We couldn’t, they dropped her off the next day. Left her alive, barely, they did that on purpose. It was the worst day of my godamm life, seeing that girl like that, seeing my brother, unravel. Life went right out from behind his eyes, he’s empty now. Only way he got through any of it was cause of the club, cause we had his back, pulled him through.” Emotion saturated his voice.
I stared into his eyes, lost for words, fresh tears streaming down my cheeks. Cades thumbs wiped them away. Seeing the grief, the raw pain in his eyes, something in me clicked. This wasn’t Jimmy wasn’t even close. Jimmy’s boys didn’t give a shit about me, didn’t blink as the beat me, watched Jimmy beat me.
I saw the love that Cade had, love for his brother, love for that girl. The pain he obviously felt, still felt. I was so conflicted, he was obviously different, and the men in the club were different. But that didn’t mean the club was, it caused her death, no matter what way you look at it, no matter how much it broke their hearts. I had no words, no kind whispers to make anything better, so I touched my mouth to his. That’s when my actions stopped. He gripped the back of my head, thrusting his tongue into my mouth, his kiss unraveling me, draining me. I felt him fall back on the sand and I fell on top of him. His hands travelled down my back, resting on my bottom, kneading it. Delightful shivers ran down my spine as I ground up against him, needing to feel closer. Then I realized where we were, on a beach, in public, in broad daylight. Shit! I sat up quickly and Cade frowned, trying to pull me back down and after being unsuccessful he sat up.
“Babe, like your mouth, like you on top of me, especially after all that. What the fuck?” He growled.
“We are in public Cade.” I declared, righting my shirt and darting my eyes around the beach. Thankfully there wasn’t anyone in the immediate vicinity.
“So?” He stared at me annoyed.
“So? I thought that might be enough of a deterrent! We could get done for indecent exposure!” I blew the hair out of my face to see him smile.
“Baby, was kissing you. Wasn’t fuckin you, and sure as shit wasn’t going to expose any of you, that’s for my eyes only. Although you exposing more than enough in those shorts.” His gaze narrowed, dropping to my legs.
“These shorts are the shit.” I snapped, sensitive to people criticizing my fashion choices.
“Yeah they are, your legs look amazing in those things, all I can do is imagine them wrapped around my back, and that will be w
hat every other man will be thinking when he looks at you.” He raised his eyebrows. “Not to keen on men thinking about my woman like that.”
His woman. It hit me. He considered me his, considered us together, as he had done pretty much since the first moment we met. That was intense, too intense, given all the information I had learned about him and the club, I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted. We had slept together once, okay more than once technically but we had spent one night together. A handful of amazing make out sessions, multiple orgasms and limited conversation did not a relationship make. I couldn’t deny this man was under my skin, there was something between us, something I couldn’t describe but something that seemed to turn this relationship up to warp speed. With a regular guy this would freak me out, with someone who represented a past I was trying to escape, it made me want to run for the hills.
“Gwen?” Cade asked softly, interrupting my inner monologue.
“I can’t do this.” I whispered, watching as his face hardened.
“Yes you can Gwen, don’t let that prick deputy get into your head.” He said fiercely, holding me tight.
“This has nothing to do with Luke, I just can’t do this.” I gestured between us. “There’s things you don’t know about me…”
“Well then tell me.” He interrupted roughly.
I shook my head, lifting myself off him, expecting him to hold me in place. Surprisingly he let me go, helping me get to my feet, then grabbed my hips softly. His grey eyes pierced mine. “I know you feel this Gwen, this thing between us, its not fucking normal, but don’t run away because you’re scared.”
His gaze, the electricity sizzling between us made my resolve waver.
“I need time to think about this, can you give me that?” I conceded.
He sighed, bringing my forehead to his. “Yeah baby.”
I was curled up on our porch reading a book, or trying to read when it was yanked out of my hands.
“Hey! I was reading that.” I scowled at Amy, who was standing above me, one hand on my book one on her hip.
“Oh really? Is that why you haven’t turned a page in the last half hour?”
“It’s a very engrossing page, I find that reading it a couple of times brings about a richer understanding of the complexities of the characters.” I countered.
Amy raised a brow.
I sighed. “Fine!! I keep staring at the same sentence because I can’t stop thinking about Cade. Happy?” I pouted at her.
She perused me for a moment, then gripped my arms and heaved me up to stand in front of her.
“No I am not happy, I am supremely disappointed at the revelations of the other days events, while I completely agree with your decision I am sad because I’ve never seen you like that with a guy, especially one that rivals Chris Hemsworth on the hotness scale. But, you know what they say, the best way to get over a guy is to get under another. So lets go!” She herded me into the house.
“Where are we going? Last time I checked there wasn’t any men hiding in my closet that I could get under.” Well as long as you didn’t count my vibrator.
“Har har Gwen. You’re not going to attract any men wearing a football shirt and sweat pants, so you have to change into my black Gucci dress.”
“It’s a rugby top not football, and if I was back at home my appreciation for the ‘All Blacks’ would have the men lining up to talk to me.” I argued as she shoved me into her closet, which was equally as impressive as mine.
“Yeah well, I wouldn’t like to know what kind of men they would be, but here in America, a hot blooded male responds to tits, ass and leg. You’ve got those in abundance.” Her gaze flickered to my chest. “Maybe not the first one, but the other two make up for that.”
I scowled at her as she threw me her dress, but took it, pulling off my shirt.
It had been three days since my conversation with Cade on the beach. I had kept myself busy, but he kept invading my thoughts. No matter how much my rational self pointed me firmly away from him, other parts of my body, like my vagina, and my heart nudged me in his direction. I almost drove out there last night, only stopping myself when I was actually in my car. It didn’t help I’d heard the rumble of Harley’s multiple times in the past few days, and had actually seen him drive past me when I was walking out of the coffee shop. Our eyes had locked for a quick second, even from a distance my thighs had quivered. It took all I had not to chase him down. Luckily I was carrying precious cups of coffee, which were otherwise known as my sanity, so I could not relinquish them, even to chase a sexy herd of bikers down the street. That was not normal behavior. So maybe Amy was right, maybe I did need to look at distracting myself with someone else, or at least consume huge amounts of alcohol. I wasn’t going near Luke, knowing that Rosie was into him. It would be totally against girl code, and even if she didn’t like him, my feelings for him were purely platonic, no matter how hot he was. He had called me to apologize for that day, and I had assured him it wasn’t his fault, he had said nothing about Cade, thankfully, but did turn up this morning at the store with my coffee and lighthearted banter.
So here we were, at Laura Maye’s bar, with Amy at my side. I had expected some country themed saloon, after meeting Laura Maye, but I was pleasantly surprised. Her bar reminded me of a trendy place in New York. The bar sat in the middle of the room, it had a shiny chrome top, with green leather stools along it. Floor to ceiling windows exposed the oceans breathtaking view, with classy booths running along the windows.
“You girls finally made it! And don’t you both look fine, the men in here are going to be fighting over each other to get to the pair of you!” Laura Maye appeared from behind the bar, kissing us on the cheeks like old friends.
I couldn’t help but smile at this woman’s warm and friendly nature.
“It’s so nice to see you again Laura Maye, your bar is amazing, I can’t believe we haven’t been here sooner.” I told her.
She winked at me, directing Amy and I to a table with an amazing view right beside a group of handsome looking men in suits.
“I spect you’ve been busy Miss Gwen, but I don’t see you with any man tonight, so why not get to know these gentlemen, just in town for the weekend, on business.” She winked at us again. “I’ll get you ladies some cocktails, coupla my specialties, you’ll like them, and they’ve got a kick.” She sauntered off, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
“That woman is something else.” I exclaimed, settling into my seat, looking over at Amy.
“I know, don’t you love it? I think she’s the only person in the world who can actually make head to toe leopard print work. I respect her for that alone.”
I giggled, agreeing with her. I noticed the men from next door glancing over at us. They were pretty attractive, and in their Armani suits, completely opposite to the biker who was dangerous to my emotional health.
“Here we are ladies, compliments of the gentlemen at the next table over.” A waitress set two delicious looking cocktails in front of us with a knowing smile.
Amy raised an eyebrow at me, bringing her glass up to mine. “I’ll drink to that.”
I clinked mine to hers with a smirk.
“No way! You like the All Blacks?” I directed a cocky smirk at my best friend who was getting very close with Travis, a handsome advertising executive.
“I was going to wear an All Blacks top out tonight but my friend here assured me it would be not very attractive.” I pointed with my cocktail glass, lucky not to spill any. Laura Maye was right, these were potent.
Jeff, the guy to my right slung his arm over the back of my seat.
“Trust me sweetheart, you in an All Blacks top would be smoking.” He flirted, eying me up and down. “Not that I don’t appreciate the dress.”
I smiled at him and sipped my drink, feeling delightfully buzzed and enjoying some harmless flirting with a hot guy. That’s as far as this was going. Just flirting. As much as I was enjoying myself I couldn’t picture
myself actually doing something with this guy. I kept picturing a brooding dark haired man in leather. Fuck it. Maybe I just needed more cocktails. I drained my drink.
“Can I get you another drink Gwen?” Jeff asked, leaning in so I could feel his breath at my ear.
“Yes please.” I replied softly back, giving him my best sexy gaze, which may have been hampered by previous cocktails.
“You won’t be buying her anymore drinks.” An angry voice declared from above me.
I turned my head in surprise to see not only Cade glaring at Jeff like he was going to strangle him with his tie, but Brock who was glowering at Amy. This could not mean good things.
“I wasn’t aware Gwen had a boyfriend.” Jeff said smoothly, not indicating he was the least bit intimidated by a huge pissed off biker and his equally huge pissed off friend.
“I don’t.” I said at the same time Cade growled. “She sure as fuck does.”
“For fucks sake. Gwen come with me.” Cade commanded through clenched teeth.
I grabbed my purse, deciding that talking to him would be the best way to avoid these two nice men getting beaten up in Laura’s lovely bar.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” I told Jeff, who looked uncertain to let me go.
“No she won’t.” Cade barked, grabbing my arm as I stood up.
Brock and Amy seemed to be having the same kind of problem as us, but Amy looked like she would cling to the seat if Brock attempted to move her. I let out a little giggle as Cade pulled me away disappointed I wouldn’t get to watch that drama unfold.
“What the fuck Gwen?” Cade snapped in my face as soon he pulled me into a bathroom and locked the door.
I struggled not to sway at all of the sudden motions. Why did bathrooms have the magical power of making you realize how drunk you actually were?
Cade’s eyes ran up and down my body and the intensity of the gaze made me instantly wet. He obviously didn’t want me to answer his question because he had me up against the wall before I knew what hit me. His mouth was on mine, his hand fisting my hair, the kiss was wild, frantic. His hands were everywhere, his grasp on my hair was rough and his kiss was merciless. Without thinking I wrapped my legs around his hips as he lifted me, hands on my ass. I moaned when he pulled up my dress, grinding his erection into the thin lace of my underwear. My hands reached between us, fumbling at his belt. Cade pulled his mouth from mine, breathing heavily, eyes blazing.