by Anne Malcom
Ian directed a sad smile at me. “Gwenevere …” He said quietly using my full name. I held up my hand.
“I’m not finished.” I snapped before stomping up to him, clutching his shoulders to make him listen. “Don’t you see? I will not have you directing those looks full of pity at me anymore, and I sure as shit don’t want you to have to handle me like I’ll break at any moment. You don’t need to. I’m okay, it’s taken awhile and it’s taken that crazy fucks phone call to make me fully realize it, but I’m okay.” I smiled into my brother’s eyes hoping he got me. I sensed movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Cade, face unreadable leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed watching me. I moved my gaze and it landed, surprisingly on Luke, who was in his uniform, looking openly concerned but with a hint of a smile. How did he get here so fast?
“How long have you guys been standing there?” I wanted to know how embarrassed I should be.
Luke’s face broke out into an all out smirk. “Big Earl?” Amusement danced in his eyes.
A lot embarrassed as it turned out.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Hey I don’t know too many prison nicknames, my knowledge goes as far as ‘Shawshank.” I joked, trying to keep the jovial mood.
Luke’s face softened and he entered the room, engulfing me in his arms.
“I’m so sorry sweetheart.” He whispered in my ear.
I opened my mouth to reply when Luke was suddenly standing a good distance away and Cade stood in front of him, anger palpable.
“Hands off Crawford.” He ground out, barely controlling a growl. “You are here in professional context only, keep your fucking distance.”
Luke glared back at Cade and I rolled my eyes, which Ian caught giving me an amused expression.
“Not another macho man stare off, please! I can hardly breathe with the amount testosterone in here. Cade do not talk to Luke like that his is my friend.” I scolded Cade and he turned to me, death stare directed in my direction now. Whatever, I ignored this and sent a soft glance in Luke’s direction.
“Please Luke, sit down. Thank you for coming, can I get you anything?” My mother taught there was never an excuse for bad manners even if my crazy ex boyfriend had just called me from prison threatening to rape me.
Luke instead of sitting, turned to my brother and held out his hand.
“You must me Ian, it’s great to finally meet you, Gwen has been looking forward to your visit, sorry it had to start out like this.”
Ian looked surprised but took Luke’s hand giving it a firm shake. Cade also looked surprised and pissed. He obviously figured out me and Luke had been talking.
“Nice to meet you too, glad to see Gwen has a friend on the right side of the law.” Ian said, directing a pointed look at Cade. I scowled at him, obviously my brother was still not happy with my boyfriend. Great.
Cade grabbed my hand and sat me down on the couch. He didn’t join me, just stood beside the arm of the chair, hand lightly on the back of my neck.
“Now the pleasantries are over, can we please cut to how the fuck this bastard got Gwen’s number, or how the fuck he got a phone in the first place?” Cade barked in Luke’s direction.
Luke looked from Cade me, obviously deciding not to engage in any hostilities, he sighed and sat across from me, scrolling through his phone. My brother stayed standing, eyes on me or more specifically Cade’s hand on me. I poked my tongue out at him. He needed to lighten up on the whole protective brother thing.
“Okay, so I just got off the phone with New York lockup. According to the Warden, O’Fallan paid one of the guards off to smuggle him in a cellphone, which he had one of his men program your number into.” Luke tried to sound detached and all business but his jaw was hard. How did they do this so quickly?
“How did they even get my number though?” I asked. Deciding to ignore the super efficient and scarily quick response from Amber PD.
“My cellphone number isn’t anywhere, I made sure only a few people had it specifically for something like this happening.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated.
“I don’t know Gwen, that’s all the info I could get for now. Either one of these guys is a master hack, or someone has given up your number.” He said the last part gently, but that still didn’t mask his true meaning.
My stomach dropped as three pairs of male eyes focused on me.
“That’s not possible, only the people I love have my phone number and they sure as shit wouldn’t give me up.” I told them all firmly.
“You sure about that sis?” My brother asked quietly.
I glared at him. “Well no Ian, I guess Ryan could have given me up, you know the guy who slept beside me for two weeks after I got out of hospital so I wouldn’t be alone? Or maybe Alex, who followed me around the whole of New York whenever I went out so I would feel safe? Or fuck maybe Amy, my best friend who uprooted her whole life to move out here with me?” I paused, breathing heavily, about to list all of my new friends who I trusted just about as much, but a firm squeeze on the back of my neck stopped me. I glanced up to Cade and his expression was still unreadable.
“Give your brother a break baby, we just need to explore every option. Don’t worry we will sort this, you will never be getting a phone call like that again.”
His voice was firm, sure. I trusted him. I trusted all the men in this room, Ian looked slightly taken aback at Cade backing him up and I fought a smile.
Luke cleared his throat, standing “Okay Gwen I better be going, just wanted to come and fill you in face to face, make sure you were okay.” He slipped his phone away.
I stood, feeling Cade’s arms at my waist. “Don’t you need a statement from me or something?” I asked Luke, surprised.
He locked eyes with Cade for a split second before his gaze came back to me.
“No sweetheart, we can see the phone records as proof of the call and we have Cade’s statement. I’ll call you when we have something new.” He gave me a smile, shook my brothers hand yet again and nodded stiffly to Cade. The room was silent for a moment after he left.
“So Ian what’s new with you?” I asked with only a hint of sarcasm.
I laid a plate of food in front of my brother, along with a beer.
“Thanks sis.” He rubbed his hands together. “Looking forward to this, there ain’t exactly five star restaurants where I am stationed.”
I grabbed my own plate and sat across from him. “Well I don’t think I’m a world renowned chef either Ian.” I replied, amused.
“Pretty darned close.” He took a bite and groaned. “Come on what do you marinate this steak in?”
I tapped my finger to my nose. “I’ll never tell.” I teased, before adding, “Oh and I made peanut butter cup torte for dessert.”
My brother’s eyes lit up. “No shit?” He all but yelled, mouth full.
“Eww, yes you ape, did Mum teach you nothing? Don’t talk with your mouth full, I would rather not wear your dinner.” I gingerly picked up piece of steak that had flown from his mouth onto my shirt and threw it back at him.
Ian just chuckled and continued to devour his dinner. I focused on my plate and smiled, happy that the mood had lightened. After Luke left earlier today, Cade also split, saying he had ‘shit to do’. That was probably a good idea, after a more than rocky introduction and that phone call, Ian and me had needed some time to talk. Although we hadn’t actually talked about anything important all day, I showed him to his room, made him some lunch then showed him round Amber. He was very impressed and agreed that it reminded me of home. I showed him around my store, which he didn’t say too much about, he was an alpha male, girly clothing shops didn’t exactly excite him. Weirdly, it was only Rosie and Lily there, and they both had no idea where Amy was. Making up with Brock I hoped.
After that, we had laid by the pool drinking beers and Ian told me some funny stories about the boys from his unit. I knew a couple of them, and one of them Keltan,
was my brother’s best friends from back home. He was like a second brother to me so I was always happy to hear about him too. We seemed to have let the events of this morning be temporarily forgotten so we could spend some time together, which we hadn’t done in a long while.
Which brought us to now, having my kick as steak (if I do say so myself) and joking together, like we always had. Still no word from Cade or Amy, which had me slightly concerned, but I’d hear from them both at some point, hopefully.
“So Gwen. You and this Cade guy, what the fuck?” Ian’s tone brought me out of my thoughts.
I sighed, I knew this was coming. “I knew you wouldn’t give him a chance. Please try not to judge him based on appearances, I did that when I first met him and I regret it. I really like him Ian.”
I tried to give him my puppy dog eyes to soften him up, but he just scowled back.
“Jesus Gwen another biker? These guys are dangerous, I don’t want you getting caught up in this again.” He barked angrily.
I let out a frustrated noise, sounding like a petulant child.
“You don’t even know him Ian, please just reserve judgment until you know him a little better. He does actually care about me.”
Ian gave me a look. “Yeah I can see that, that’s what I’m worried about.” He muttered.
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? You are angry because my boyfriend likes me?” I said unbelievingly.
Ian put down his knife and fork, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
“It’s just intense Ace, the way he looks at you, Christ you haven’t even known each other for two months.”
I kept looking at him, doing what I used to do when we were young and I wanted something. Stared at him looking sad refusing to speak until he gave in.
Ian knowing my game growled and picked his knife and fork again.
“Fuck it I’ll try my best to be civil to the guy.” He conceded before focusing on his food.
I beamed, and begun to talk about something else when the doors slammed and Amy stormed in glaring at me, not even glancing at Ian. She pointed her finger at me angrily.
“You!” She yelled before approaching the table and standing in front of me.
What now?
“I can’t believe the prick who shall not be named called you and I had to find out from freaking Lucy! I mean I love the girl but I don’t want to find this shit out second hand. You should have called me the moment you got off the phone with that maggot so I could call him back and reach down the phone and castrate the fucker.” She finished, voiced raised to a near screech at the end.
I gave her a second, knowing that she was just upset for me and a teensy bit of a drama queen.
“Hello Amy, how’s it going? Want to say hello to Ian who just got here from some unknown war zone?” I asked sarcastically narrowing my eyes.
Amy blanched a little as if she didn’t realize Ian was even here, she glanced across to Ian and smiled tightly.
“Sorry Ian, I didn’t mean to be rude was just a little preoccupied with the whole ‘Gwen getting a phone call from a murderous psychopath’ situation.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
I was about to reply, when Ian pushed back from his chair, staring at Amy with a weird look on his face. He advanced on her in two strides and engulfed her in his arms. She looked surprised for a second then melted into his embrace. Ian released her, looking her up and down, eyes twinkling. “You look great Ames.” He said softly.
She returned the favor, gaze scanning him until her eyes rested on the scar I spotted today. She nodded her head towards it.
“Just another one to add to the collection.” She remarked dryly with a weird expression.
Before I could think too much of this strange display they both seemed to snap out of whatever that was and sat down, Ian back to where he was, Amy beside me. She took a pull of my beer and grabbed my fork which was halfway to my mouth, eating my last piece of steak. I glared at her.
“That was my last piece you bitch.”
Amy said nothing just smirked. Her face suddenly got serious.
“So what happened with this phone call Gwennie? How did it even happen in the first place?”
I tell her about what Luke told us, leaving out the part about one of my friends possibly giving out my phone number because that was just bullshit.
Amy was fuming. “Right I am calling my father and he can talk to one of his buddies about sorting out the guards at that prison.” She snapped, betraying her upper class breeding.
“Can we not worry about it right now?” I pleaded, standing to take our plates and serve dessert.
“How about we talk about where you have been all day Abrams?” I shouted over my shoulder as I got the torte and some plates out. “Having some makeup sex with Brock maybe?” I gave her a wink, walking back to the table. Her face blanched, a panicked look on her face was quickly replaced with a glare.
“Who is Brock?” Ian clipped, jaw hard.
I set the plates down with a smirk. “Oh just some guy that won’t take Amy’s shit but is so totally under her skin.”
Amy scowled at me, quickly glancing at Ian who was staring at her with a blank look on his face. “He is no one. No one special and I certainly won’t be talking to him again. Subject closed.” She exclaimed grumpily before dumping a huge piece of torte on her plate. I raised an eyebrow, she usually avoided refined sugars and carbs like the plague. She scowled at me yet again.
“It’s my cheat day.” She declared defensively.
I held my hands up, serving myself a piece, choosing to ignore the weird atmosphere and instead to enjoy the deliciousness of peanut butter and chocolate. At that moment, I heard the roar of a Harley and smiled. I hadn’t heard from Cade since he left, I was glad he was ignoring my request not to sleep with me while Ian was here since I needed him tonight. Ian gave me a look hearing the Harley too, just not as excited as I was. Amy caught this and she pointed her fork at my brother dangerously.
“Look here Mr Solider, don’t you dare try any of your macho man bullshit and be a dick to Cade. He can handle it, I have no doubt about that, but we don’t need the drama. He cares about your sister and makes her happy, that’s all you need to know.” She said firmly, holding a stare with Ian until he nodded stiffly, grabbing his plate and getting up.
“Thanks for the amazing grub sis, but I am knackered.” He heaped more cake onto his plate before shrugging his shoulders at me.
“If I get hungry in the night.”
I let out a giggle as he kissed me on the cheek, nodded at Amy and walked down the hall to the guest bedroom.
I quickly turned to Amy as I heard the front door open and close.
“What the hell was that?” I inquired.
Amy looked at me innocently. “What?”
I glared at her disbelievingly. “You know what. You and Ian, what the hell is going on? You guys were acting weird.”
“No we weren’t.”
“Yes you were.”
“Were not.”
I let out a frustrated groan, yanking her plate away.
“Hey what the fuck?” Amy asked angrily as I swiped the serving plate away and stood out of her reach.
“You don’t get anymore until you tell me what’s going on.” I declared, holding both plates up in the air. I was vaguely aware of Cade’s eyes on me as he entered the room, grabbing a beer.
Amy scowled at me, then at Cade. “Your girlfriend is evil.” She stated, pushing past me and snatching a piece of cake before running upstairs.
“That will go straight to your ass.” I yelled to her back.
“Fuck you!” Was her reply.
I laughed, turning towards Cade who was leaning against the breakfast bar with a raised eyebrow. “Do I even ask?”
I dumped the plates on the counter and began tidying up.
“Nope, just girl stuff.” My mind was still stewing over the weirdness between the two people I love.
Cade remained si
lent, and stayed where his was, which was weird. He always had to have his hands on me.
“Where have you been today?” I inquired softly, not wanting to sound like a whiny bitch, but also needing to get him to tell me about more about where he had been disappearing off to.
“Club business.” He clipped, taking a chug of his beer.
I didn’t answer, waiting for him to elaborate or tell me what was going on. There was just silence, apart from the sound of me cleaning the dishes. The silence lasted awhile until I drained the sink and turned to look at my broody man. Our gazes locked and we just stood there for a moment staring at each other. It never got old checking Cade out. He had a rough growth of stubble shadowing his face and along with his long black hair, he looked wild and sexy. His muscles nearly burst out of his black tee shirt he wore under his cut, his veins pulsing underneath his tattoos. I licked my lips, feeling a tingling between my legs as my gaze neared his eyes. His look was intense, hungry, roving over my body. I was only wearing my yoga pants and a racer back singlet, but the way he looked at me you would have thought I was wearing my sexiest LBD. Without a word he stalked towards me and seized me, covering his mouth with mine. The kiss burnt out of control, Cade lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. His mouth never left mine as he carried me up the stairs. Suddenly, I was thrown on my bed, Cade jerking my pants off and lifting me to get my underwear off at the same time.
“Cade” I groaned, my voice rough with arousal.
His dark gaze stilled me. “No talking.” He commanded as his unzipped his jeans, just to free himself, but leaving the rest of his clothes on.
He leaned down lightly kissing my inner thigh before reaching up to take off my tank. I was fully naked and Cade covered me, fully clothed. There was something terribly erotic about that. He roughly tweaked my hard nipple, I cried out as his other hand worked between me legs.
“Quiet.” He instructed gruffly.
He covered my mouth with his own before roughly thrusting into me. I moaned loudly into his mouth, raking my fingers down his cut as he pounded into me mercilessly. I felt my orgasm rip through me, melting me into little pieces, I arched my back unable to take the intensity as Cade continued his thrusting.