Sparing a quick glance he goes about putting Mindy in her place. If I wasn’t so shocked at him appearing like a mirage in the desert I would say something about his interference, but as it is I’m struck dumb for the first time ever.
“I’ll lay it out for you bitch, in a way I’m hoping you won’t forget. I hear you talking about, to or around Alexis like that I’ll knock you on your ass faster than you can spread your legs.” Making one hundred percent sure she’s listening, focusing all her attention on him he barks, “Do I make myself crystal fucking clear?”
Whimpering Mindy replies,
“Y-yes, I understand.” And that’s all it takes. Dammit, I wish I had that super power I internally sigh to myself.
As her pose, or should I say whore-pack scurries off I yell,
“You girls need to get to cleaning up this joint. It looks like a brothel on steroids in here.” I suppose that’s it for my list of instructions then, not really a detailed list, but after Glock’s little outburst I think they get the picture.
Heaving a sigh I turn back around, finally calm enough to face him only to see him walking away from me. I seem to be seeing a whole lot more of him going than coming these days. And before you say it, no that was not a pun, just an observation. I’m not sure how long he intends on ignoring me for, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he won’t have that luxury for much longer.
CHAPTER NINE
Thomas
“I’m no good at relationships. My last relationship ended
when I didn’t open the car door for her.
Instead I just swam up to the surface and left her in the car.”
- Rotten eCards
There are a shit ton of words to describe what I am when it comes to the way I left the situation between Lex and I. Yellow-bellied, coward, chicken, pussy, quitter, scaredy-cat, and the list goes on, but honestly I didn’t know how to explain what I had to do to her. If I could have found the words, could have found a way to make her understand my choice I would have, don’t doubt that for a second. But in the end I was put between a rock and a hard place, with no way out of either.
Waking up the morning after I made Lex mine, I felt like I could breathe deeply for the first time in seventeen years, since the day Priest brought me home with him, so that’s saying something. I’ve felt for years like there’s been something missing, a hole in my life that would never be filled, and a demon inside me fighting to get out, but with Lex all that changed. Everything changed. Pity the warm feeling of comfort changed into one of cold, bitter anger so quickly.
The knock on the door was the first thing to wake me up the morning after, and the smile stretched across my face at the thought it could be Lex had me jumping out of bed more energized than ever. At the front door I wasn’t graced with the gorgeous woman that owned my heart, however I did find myself standing face-to-face with one pissed off dad, his best friend, and Nick.
“Want to invite us in, brother? I think it’s time we had a chat.” Standing aside so they could enter really was my only choice, and to be honest, if they were here to kick my ass I’d prefer they do it in the privacy of my own home rather than on the street.
“Yeah, come in. Coffee?”
“That’d be good, Glock,” Steel says with a nod.
“Take a seat, brother, Nick will get it though.” Turning to face him from the position he’s taken up on my recliner, Cage points Nick in the direction of the kitchen and motions me to have a seat. “Before you say shit I want you to hear me out. You’re not gonna like what I have to say, and in your position I wouldn’t either, but that doesn’t change the facts, so do me a favor and listen, yeah?”
Grunting my agreement I sit back and wait for the shit storm to roll in.
“I just wanna make it clear, this jackass,” Steel says giving Cage the bird, “dragged my ass over here and didn’t say shit about why we’re paying you this little visit. I can guess, but if you ask my wife I’m fucking wrong all the time so I won’t even bother.” Cocking my brow half in amusement, half in confusion he adds, “I don’t want to get up in your business, brother, but he’s my boy and you’ve gotta know I’ll back him all the way, as long as he doesn’t do anything fucking stupid that is.”
"Shut the fuck up idiot, you’ll find out why we’re here in a minute. That alright with you?” Cage sneers. There’s no heat behind his words, but his intent is clear, he’s in charge of what’s going down here today.
My irritation is escalating by the second, and I feel the walls closing in on me. Haven’t felt suffocated in a long time, definitely not when I’m surrounded by the men I trust with my life.
“Can you just get on with it? Say what you need to say then get out. I’ve got shit to do today, and I want to get to it.”
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, Glock. I know you’ve got a thing for my daughter, and it’s not secret she’s been head over heels for you long before that. We’ve had enough shit go down that’s affected our women over the years, and I don’t want my kid being one of those statistics. She’s smart, beautiful, and she’ll go places when she gets this writing thing out of her system.”
I interrupt because I can’t help myself. He can go fuck himself for thinking Lex’s writing is only a passing phase. She loves what she does, and she’s damn good at it. Fuck, I even got hard reading one of the sex scenes she’d written the other week.
“Fuck you, man. She’s crazy talented, and if you’d pull your head out your ass for five seconds…”
Cage bangs his fist on the coffee table and leans forward.
“Don’t fucking tell me what my daughter is or isn’t. I know who she is, and what she’s capable of. What I don’t need is a guy looking to get his cock wet, and fucking off at the earliest signs of attachment. I don’t need my daughter at home crying in her bed at night because the guy she thinks she loves is out there getting it from anyone, and everyone that’ll give it. And I don’t fucking need you telling me you wouldn’t do that shit to her because we both know different.”
“You don’t know shit about me and Lex, Cage. If you sit back and think about it, you know that isn’t what this is.”
Shaking his head, Steel adds looking at Cage,
“I think you’re wrong on this one, brother.” Fucking aye he is.
Lowering his voice Cage relaxes back in his chair, watching me cautiously, eyeing me up and down.
“As much as I’d like to give you the chance to prove me wrong, I won’t risk my daughters’ happiness on that bet. And if I know anything about the kind of man you are deep down, you won’t either.” Considering his words, I weigh them carefully.
I want to promise I’d never hurt Lex, that I’d never upset her, make her cry. I want to assure him I’ll always put her first, in everything. That I won’t let him down, but I know I can’t and he does too. That’s why he’s here after all.
“So, why are you here? You warning me away from her? Telling me I can’t see her anymore?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” he states with resolute deadly calm laced through his voice. “Better yet, consider this a warning. I’m asking nicely this time, but if we need to have another chat like this I’m gonna make sure you never see my daughter ever again.”
“Yeah, and how are you going to do that exactly? As far as I know she’s her own woman living in her own place, and she doesn’t need her dear old dad looking out for her anymore.”
Steel rolls his eyes and sighs,
“Ding. Ding. Ding. Game on.”
“Fucking simple really, I’ll have her ass shipped off to college so fast she’ll think her ass is on fire. You want to test me then go right ahead brother, because I promise you when it comes right down to it, she’ll chose her family over you.” Cage snarls.
“Fuck me, really?” Steel hisses. “Low blow asshole.”
He’s not wrong. I know how much Lex loves her parents, her dad especially, but did he really think it was necessary to point out h
er devotion to her family like that. If he wanted this kind of talk he should’ve done it man-to-man, not in front of Nick and Steel. It’s not like they don’t know, shit, everyone knows how much family means to Lex, but having that shit spelt out isn’t my idea of a being good brother, a good friend.
“Might be a low blow, but I’ll do anything, and I mean any-fucking-thing to make sure I keep my little girl safe. It doesn’t make a lick of difference to me whether that’s her, or her heart, it’s one in the same thing and you know it.” Shaking his head in frustration, he runs his hands roughly through his hair tugging at the ends. “You’re like the rest of us, Glock, you’ve got baggage, risk, and danger written all over you, and I don’t want that shit for my daughter. She’s not built for this kind of life, she deserves better, and she can have better if she stays clear of you. That’s not gonna happen if I leave the decision up to her though. I’m not stupid, I know she’s already half in love with you, fuck me, as far as I know she’s all the way there. Given the choice she’ll pick you and she’ll come to regret it later.”
Taking a gulp of his rapidly cooling coffee, Cage assesses whether his words have hit their mark.
“Lexi isn’t like most girls, she’s soft in the center. Her feisty attitude, her sass, and her backbone of steel are only as good as the people she’s got reinforcing it. Until now you made up a good deal of that reinforcement, but now I’m asking you, brother-to-brother to take a step back. Let us step up to the plate and take over where you left off. She needs the chance to live string free, and brother, you come with a fuck load of strings.”
I want to argue with him, rally against what he’s saying, but I just like I can’t deny what he said earlier, I can’t deny he’s right now as well. I do come with strings and baggage. I come with permanence and roots in Blackwater. And while Lex has the same connection to the place through her family, she has the gift of being able to travel, move, leave, and still know that they’ll be here for her whenever she chooses to return. I don’t. I’ve got my club, my brothers, and a few friends, all of which require me to be here to keep. I can’t follow her if she leaves, and I can’t hold her back, so as much as I’d like to tell Cage to go fuck himself, that I’m not walking away from his daughter no matter what he threatens me with I won’t. And I won’t for Lex’s sake, no other reason.
Nodding seems like a far better option than fighting to find the words to answer him. That, and I’m done fighting, I don’t have any left in me to give. If I thought I was broken before when I arrived at the Devil’s Spawn compound beaten, starving, dirty, and tormented, but it had nothing on this. It had nothing on the despair I feel at knowing I’m going to irrevocably lose the only good, clean thing I had in my life, Lex. The only thing that’s ever chosen me for who I am, and not what I can do for them or to them.
Resigned to what I know is going to be a living hell I ask,
“How are we gonna do this? You know Lex isn’t going to just stop talking to me, the girls’ far too stubborn for that, and I don’t think she’s going to take it well if you tell her to stay the fuck away from me, so what the plan here.” Some of you, who am I kidding most of you, are going to think I’m a weak fuck for giving up on what I’ve wanted, this thing with Lex and I, so quickly, but bear with me you’ll soon find out why. And I hope when you do you cut me some fucking slack.
"He's right man, Lexi’s never gonna walk away from him, so whatever you’ve got cooking in that thick as shit head of yours better be good, because I’m not gonna sit around and let you draw this shit out. It’s bad enough you’re pulling this crap in the first place, let alone making it worse,” Steel rasps as he gets up and slams his way out the front door.
Linking his fingers under his chin, Cage turns at the sound of Nick’s voice,
“Steel’s not wrong, but you are brother.” Nick’s not one to say much of anything usually, so color me fucking surprised when he jumps to my defense, especially when he’s coming up against Cage, one of the few men Nick looks up to.
“Stay out of it Nick, this doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Then why’d you bring us, Steel and I, if you didn’t want a fucking audience, why drag us with you?” Nick retorts fiercely.
Cage’s face is turning red, and I know it’s not long before he blows a fucking gasket, and I’d prefer the carnage not be in my living room if I can at all help it.
“It’s cool Nick, stand down, I get what the man’s saying.”
“No, it’s not fucking cool, it’s far from fucking cool.” Turning his glare from me to Cage he spits, “This was whack, you bring us here to witness this bullshit warning of yours. If you wanted to be the big man you think you are you should’ve come here on your own, spoken to him like the brother he is, not some piss-ant dude getting up in your daughters business. Because this isn’t that brother, and you know it. They’ve got something, something real, and when Lexi finds out you fucked with it…all I can say is good fucking luck because you’re gonna need it.” Turning on his heal Nick slams the front door behind him too, following closely on Steel’s tail.
“He’s right you know. When Lex finds out about this visit, and you fucking know she will, there’s going to be hell to pay, and she’s going to want blood in lieu of payment, Cage.” I can only hope whatever plan he’s got is solid, because right now I don’t see this ending well, for anyone.
“Yeah, I know,” he says on a heavy sigh. “I want you to know I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for loving the hell out of my girl and wanting the very best for her.”
Standing up because I can’t stand sitting around anymore I bark out a harsh laugh.
“No brother, what you mean is if I didn’t have the past I do you wouldn’t be doing this. Call a fucking spade a spade, and do me the favor of saving your pity for someone who actually gives a shit. I said I’ll go a long with what you want, not for you, but for Lex, because in the end you’re right, she could do better.”
Cage pushes out of the recliner and comes to stand directly in front of me.
“If she was anyone else Glock, anyone else, I’d have your back, watch you patch her in as your old lady, but not Lexi brother, not my little girl.”
Curtly I nod and prompt,
“So what’s the plan?”
“No plan, just avoid her. Her calls, messages, visits; fuck, make yourself scarce when she’s around. I don’t know how long it’ll take before she cottons on, but avoid her and I’ll do the rest from my end, yeah?”
Stretching out his hand, I eye it carefully. One half of me wants to rip his arm from his body and beat him to fucking death with it, but the other half recognizes he’s my brother, and no matter what, I’ve agreed to his bullshit warning so all I can do is shake his hand and say,
“Yeah brother, I’ll try.”
CHAPTER TEN
Thomas
“Everyone’s in a relationship, getting married, or having babies.
I’m just over here like, ‘I love bourbon’.”
- Rotten eCards
Once upon a time there was a young man…
This young man was homeless, penniless, and had no prospects to speak of. Most nights he sought out shelter under the overhang of an unoccupied building, in abandoned warehouses, or carparks. And he was alone, so fucking alone. But there was more to his story. So much more that came before the situation he found himself in then.
When this young man was a boy he had a family; a good, loving, kind family with a mom, dad, and a younger brother. But all too early in this young boys’ life he learned the meaning of soul shattering pain and devastation when they were killed in a home invasion. The police said it was a random act of violence. That the perpetrators broke in when the family was sleeping and ransacked the house. The young boy hadn’t been there, he was staying over with a friend that night celebrating his friends seventh birthday.
There was no one left to comfort the boy in his grief. No one to take him in, or save him from the cruelty
of the foster system. He was alone and scared, and he didn’t know what would become of him…
Okay, you get the picture. I was that kid, and I was the one who lost their family. I ended up in the system as you already know, and then I ended up here, with Devil’s Spawn. You know who found me, and you know Priest entrusted me to the care of Vic and Sheila at fifteen. What you don’t know is what came in between those life altering events. You’ve got no clue what hell I endured, or the cruelty I suffered before I got to where I am now, and I wouldn’t expect you to. I’ve never told anyone about the years between seven and fifteen, and if it wasn’t for Cage bringing up how much of a liability I am, how damaged I am, how much my past still dictates my present I wouldn’t be telling you now. But it is what it is, and now I don’t have a choice…just like I didn’t have a choice then.
Broken: A Devil's Spawn MC Novel Page 10