Maybe it wasn't crazy that she'd fallen for him so quickly, maybe it was crazy that she could think he'd feel the same way about her. Thoughts that Meg didn't want to have flooded her mind. Once that door was open, every other banished thought surged for the surface. The happiness, and hope, from earlier were gone, replaced with the things that she hid in the dark.
“Meg! I'm home. I got my paper back. I got a B.” Leo slammed the door behind him.
Meg shook herself out of the darkness, forced a smile on her face. After all, she did have really good news to share with him. “That's great, kiddo,” she replied. “I think that calls for some hot cocoa, and I've got some new for you too.”
“Sweet. I'm going to put my stuff upstairs.” He took off up the stairs, sounding more like an elephant than a small boy,
The normalcy of it made Meg breathe a little easier, realize that she was probably just letting her crazy head make her crazy. Things were good with Train; there was no reason to think it was going to go any other way. Except Meg knew that wasn't exactly true. There was one thing, a dark thing, that would change everything.
<#<#<#<#
Meg had been in Gino's plenty of times before; it was a neighborhood place with mismatched tables and the best Italian food in miles. She'd eaten at the counter and dining room but she'd never been in the back room before.
The room was usually reserved for events. Apparently, Nightshade was an event. There were pitchers of beer everywhere. Pizzas were set out buffet-style, and there were dish warmers on the other side. Laughter and conversation filled the air. It was easy and relaxed. Leo had taken off the instant that they got inside. Meg caught sight of him sitting with Bones and Cane, one of the prospects. “He's fine. Relax.” Train's voice from behind her made her jump.
“I'm relaxed,” Meg replied. She heard the lie in her voice, knew that he would hear it, too. He was a perceptive son of a bitch. “I'm okay, it's just been a long day.”
“That's bullshit. Ever since I came home you've been looking at me like you expect me to bite you. What's going on? That state bitch say something about me again? Fuck her. The judge ruled for you.” He remained behind her, placed his hands on her hips.
Meg shook her head. “She didn't say anything about it. It's just...” she didn't know what to say or how to say it. “I just... It's nothing. I'm just weird today.” As hard as she'd tried, the dark thoughts she'd had earlier had taken root deep in her mind.
“You're weird every day,” he pointed out, his mouth only inches from her ear. “You know what you need?”
“We're in a room full of people,” Meg replied. Train's answer to almost any problem, including being out of milk, was sex.
“Not that, but now that you mention it, there's a really nice storage closet down the hall, if you change your mind. I was more thinking that you need to have a drink, a few drinks, in fact. And don't tell me you can't get drunk, the case is closed. You're getting drunk, and then we'll talk about how nice that storage closet is again.”
“I love you.” Meg blurted out the words. Train went perfectly still, let go of her waist. With cold dread already pooling in her stomach, she turned to face him. The expression on his face was unreadable. Meg immediately regretted the words, wanted to snatch them back, but she couldn't. She'd said the worst possible thing she could have.
Suddenly the laughter and conversation that had felt so friendly and warm earlier was actually people laughing at and talking about her. If the ground could open up and swallow her, that would be great. Train's silence was as loud as a scream. “I'm sorry,” she whispered the words. Still, he said nothing. He just stared at her as if he were staring at paint drying.
“Hey, Train.” Ace ambled over. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Train shook his head.
“Not now,” he growled. Meg trembled as he reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Keep an eye on Leo, would you?”
“Sure, no problem,” Ace replied.
Meg moved when Train did, otherwise she thought that he might just pull her arm right out of the socket. He led her to an exit in the back of the room, out into the cold night air. “You're hurting my wrist,” she said as the door slammed shut behind him. He released her immediately. “If you want me to go...”
“I didn't say that, did I?” He remained a few steps back from her. He watched her with a suspicious look.
“You didn't say anything.” Meg looked anywhere but at him. The look on his face had actually hurt her; it was the only way to explain the searing hole in her chest.
“Why'd you say you were sorry?” he asked after silence hung between them.
“What?” Meg looked over at him. He smiled at her and took a step closer to her. His hand reached out. She felt tears burn the back of her eyes as he gripped her chin. She blinked frantically to stop the tide of tears.
“You said you loved me, and then you said you were sorry, why?”
“It was obviously not what you wanted to hear.” Each word came out shakier than the last. Meg blinked again, dug her nails into her palms. “I don't know why I said it.” She swallowed hard, blinked back the tears, even though she knew it wouldn't last forever.
“Did you mean it?”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
“Then that's why you said it,” he moved even closer to her. “Say it again.”
“Why?” Meg demanded. He was confusing her. He was so close to her, she could smell the scent of him. His hands were on her in a way that was comforting and intimate for them, but he still had the trapped animal look in his eyes.
“I want to hear you say it again.” He leaned in so that their foreheads touched.
“I love you,” Meg whispered. “Even if you don't...” She didn't manage to finish the words or the thought because his mouth was on hers, hungry and hot. At first she couldn't respond because she didn't understand why he was kissing her. His hands slid down her body, gripped her ass and held on as he turned her around. Meg's back hit the wall and she gasped. He still hadn't said a word, and she'd laid herself out bare to him.
“I do love you,” he said as he pulled back from her.
“You don't have to say that,” Meg wanted to hear those words more than anything, but not if they weren't from his heart.
“I've told you plenty of times, I say what I mean. I love you.” His voice was rough and so were his hands as he gripped her hips. “Don't piss on me saying it by asking if I'm sure.”
“I won't,” Meg leaned her head against his chest.
“Good girl,” he pressed his lips to her hair. “What do you say we go check out that supply closet?”
“Everyone's going to know what we're doing.”
“What do you think that they think we're doing right now?” He let out a laugh as Meg blushed. “If it were a little warmer, they'd be right, because hearing you say you love me gets my dick really hard. Come on.”
Meg followed him back into the room. He pulled her close once he shut the door. She looked around and saw Leo was with Ace and Jillian. Ace noticed her, grinned widely and waved. Leo looked happy enough that she just waved back and felt no guilt about sneaking towards the other side of the room.
“Train!” Buster called out. “Where are you going? Get over here.”
“Five minutes,” Train told her. “What's going on, Boss?” He held her hand as they walked over to where Buster stood with a beer in his hand.
“On the Oak Street job, what did that fat fuck Dennis tell you about the pipes?” Buster asked.
Once it became clear that the conversation was going to be about work, Meg let herself zone out. She jolted when someone touched her arm. “Hey.” Caroline smiled. “My advise is to ignore them, those two will go on for hours. Did you have something to eat? A drink?”
“I'm good for now,” Meg answered as she clung to the hope that the conversation would just last five minutes and then they could keep on their way.
“You should make sure that you grab somet
hing, because if you don't, these guys will eat every last bite of it. Trust me, I've seen it happen. It's not pretty.”
“If they eat like Train, I'm surprised that you bothered to have them bring out silverware.” Meg grinned as Caroline started to laugh.
“I heard that,” Train said which only made Caroline laugh harder. Meg started to laugh, too. The ease she'd felt when she'd walked in the room earlier was back; no one was looking at her or laughing at her. They were laughing with her.
Meg caught sight of a couple walking through the door. She recognized the man, it was Info, a Nightshade prospect and asshole in her opinion. She'd never seen the woman before, though the longer she looked, the more she realized that calling her a woman was a stretch. She was just a girl, even if she was trying hard to age herself up. The red dress she wore had less material than Meg's shirt, and she'd gone heavily enough on the makeup to make Tammy Fay Bakker jealous. “Who is that with Info?”
Caroline looked over, frowned. “I don't know. I didn't think that he had a kid. What the hell is he doing letting her leave the house dressed like that?”
“I don't think that's his kid,” Meg replied as Info smacked the girl on the ass. She looked over at Caroline, saw the woman was just as shocked as she was.
“Jesus Christ. Buster, didn't you say that Info was going to bring his old lady tonight?” Caroline asked.
“Yeah, her name is Peaches. Why?”
“He tell you anything else about Peaches?” Caroline turned to face her husband. “Like maybe the fact that Peaches isn't old enough to get into an R-rated movie on her own?” She sounded pissed, and Meg couldn't blame her.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Buster demanded. He walked over, Train right at his side. “Maybe that's his daughter.”
“He just had his hand up her dress, or what there is of her dress.” Meg felt like she was going to be sick.
“She's a kid.” Train stated the obvious. Meg heard the underlying anger in his voice, felt the tension in his body as he draped his arm over her shoulders. “You know about this, Boss?”
“Know about what?” Ace asked as he came over to them.
“Go and shut the doors, Ace. No one in. No one out,” Buster replied. “Info!” He called out for the prospect.
Train shifted so that he was in front of Meg; she stepped to the side for a better view. The closer that the girl got to them, the more obvious it was that she was no older than sixteen; that might have even been generous.
“Hey Brothers, what's going on?” Info was a nice enough looking guy, tall with blonde hair and really pretty blue eyes. His attitude had made him ugly to Meg from the start, but now he was hideous. The girl was standing a step behind him, her head down.
Now that the girl was close, it wasn't only her age that was revealed. She had hickeys all over her neck and most of her exposed chest. There were faint bruises on her arms, finger-shaped bruises.
“Who is this?” Buster's voice boomed through the now quiet room. “Aren't you going to introduce us?” Ace had shut the doors as requested. The members of Nightshade had come from all sides of the room so that Info and Peaches were effectively surrounded. Meg realized that the other women had moved away from the group. Maybe she should step back, but she didn't think she could move if she tried. All she could do was stare at the girl; she still hadn't lifted her gaze up from the floor.
“This is Peaches. Come here, babe, say hello to my president.” Info was either seriously stupid or overly confident. Either way, it seemed like this was going to end really badly for him.
“Hi. Nice to meet you,” Peaches parroted. She looked up from the floor for a split second and then back down again.
“Hi, Peaches,” Buster's voice was low and gentle. “It's a real pleasure to meet you. You want to go and have a seat with Caroline? She's my old lady.”
“She's good right where she is,” Info answered for her.
“Have her go and sit down with Caroline, Prospect.” There was no kindness left in Buster's eyes, and that was the thing Meg liked about him the most. “We've got something to discuss.”
“Go. Sit.” Info actually snapped his fingers to punctuate the words. Peaches scurried away, and Train moved forward. His fist landed directly in the middle of Info's face. The smaller man went down. Bones and Monroe surged forward, contained Train and pulled him back. Meg took a step towards him, but he shook his head.
“You might want to go outside with Amelia and Leo,” Danny spoke from behind her. Meg jumped because she hadn't heard him approach. “This isn't going to be pretty.”
Meg was sure that it wasn't going to be pretty and that was all the more reason that she wasn't going anywhere. She wanted to see Info get his ass beat because whatever he'd done to that girl had changed her for life. She'd never be the person she was before again. “I'm good here.” She waited for him to tell her to leave again, but he didn't.
“What the hell was that for?” Info demanded when he finally got done spitting out blood and several teeth.
“What do you think it was for?” Buster spoke before anyone else could. “You just walked in here, to something that's about our families, with a child as your old lady? Are you fucking serious?”
“She's eighteen,” Info protested. “She had a birthday last week.” Someone groaned. Meg was pretty sure that it was Ace. “So you all need to back up out of my shit. She's my old lady and that's the end of it.”
“It is the end,” Buster answered, “the end of your prospect period. You can hand over your cut, or we can take it off of you.”
“You can't boot me because you don't like my old lady,” Info protested.
Meg decided right then and there that not only was Info an asshole, he was genuinely stupid. Even she knew that a prospect period could end for any reason.
“She's not an old lady. She's a girl, a fucking child!” Buster exploded. All of the calm and composure he'd had earlier were gone. His face was contorted so much with rage that Meg could barely recognize him. Rage was the theme of the moment with Nightshade.
“She's old enough to know her own mind. Shit, in certain parts of the world she'd be considered a fucking spinster by now.” Info continued to dig himself into a deeper hole.
“Not in Detroit,” Train spoke up. “In Detroit, sticking your dick in a young girl is a good way to get that dick cut off and shoved straight up your ass.”
“Fuck you.” Info flipped his middle finger. “And fuck the cut. Fuck this club.” Meg was suddenly very glad that Leo was outside because everything went to hell. Info pulled off the cut, threw the leather to the floor, which was very disrespectful. Train had explained the importance of the cuts that they wore once when she'd asked why sometimes he didn't wear it. The leather was an extension of them, of the club and the bond that they shared.
It looked like Info was going to try to piss all over that, literally, when he reached to undo his fly. He didn't get the chance, Buster was on him. And then it seemed that they all were. Meg took several steps back; she didn't want to get caught in the fray.
“Meg!' She looked over when Caroline called her name. As the fight had started, she'd made her way over to where Peaches sat. Even from the distance it was obvious that the woman was shaking. “Help me get her out of here. She doesn't need to see this.”
Meg hurried over to help. The girl wouldn't even stand up. She was trembling so hard that it almost looked like she was having a seizure. “Please, don't let them kill me. Please. Please.”
What the hell had Info been telling this poor girl? “No one is going to hurt you. What's happening here is your chance to get away from him. Can you go home?”
“He'll just find me.” Peaches cleared her throat. “I won't tell if they kill him. I swear I won't. I'd have killed him myself already if I had the chance.”
Meg didn't know what the girl had endured. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know. She had to look away before she started to cry. The fight was still going on, but i
t wasn't really a fight. It was a beating. Info really shouldn't have thrown the cut the way he did. It was impossible not to realize that they might indeed kill the man. What did it say about her that she wasn't even disturbed by it?
“Stop!” The cry came from Cane. He'd been involved in the beating so Meg was surprised he'd stop it now. “I didn't know about the girl. I swear to Christ, I didn't know about the girl, but don't kill him. I'll take him away, away from here and away from her. He saved my life when we were in the sandbox. I owe him.”
All That Matters (Nightshade MC Book 3) Page 13