by A. J. Downey
Mr. Hunter chuckled, “Ever the scholar, Ms. Tracy.”
I blushed, “They’re good people; they just do things very differently to us. It’s simpler in some ways and vastly more complicated in others.”
Mr. Hunter chuckled, “You were so very adult long before you ever turned eighteen. I suppose no one should be surprised at an older partner, but a Sacred Heart?”
I laughed lightly and shifted a bit uncomfortably, “I suppose I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum.” I gripped Mr. Hunter’s hand subtly and gave it a squeeze, “Thank you for letting me have this… my prom, I mean… with Nox.”
Mr. Hunter smiled and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, “You’ve always been truthful with me; always been a stellar student despite this school’s inability to protect you. I didn’t mind going to bat for you for this. There’s nothing against school policy that dictates the age of your partner or where they come from… simply that they are here by invitation of a currently enrolled student. I simply reminded Mr. Barber of that.”
Mr. Barber was the school principal, and not exactly known for his patience, leniency, or forgiving nature. I nodded, and said, “Thank you anyways.”
“You’re welcome, Maren. Just whatever you do? Do well in life for me.”
“She will,” Nox said from behind me, drawing me back against him. “My Angel can do anything she puts her mind to.”
I leaned my head back against his shoulder and smiled, and he smiled down at me. Mr. Hunter gave a nod with a smile of his own, and spoke with Nox briefly, before shaking his hand and moving off. I turned and caught Lucas staring in our direction, his expression clearly unhappy. Oh, well.
Nox led me around and we spoke to a few classmates of mine that were mostly outcasts like me. Their curiosity evident, but their attitudes about it refreshingly cool. It didn’t hurt that Nox was gorgeous.
Chelsea Day had her nose in the air, but Nox laughed at her and her expression hardened in her best, glacial, ice princess fashion, but Nox wasn’t even phased. He put his lips near my ear and murmured, “If someone fucked her like I give it to you, you think she’d mellow out some?”
I smiled and tucked myself closer into his body and murmured, “She’d never have it so good, and I’d honestly feel sorry for the poor chump that had to stick his dick in her.”
Nox laughed and pulled me into his arms for a slow song on the dance floor. We skipped the faster-paced songs, opting for a little punch and light conversation with Hillary Womack and her boyfriend Jack Schilling. They were both extremely intelligent and honors students. We’d shared some of the honors classes together and had done some group projects.
“I’ll be back,” I murmured to Nox. “Restroom.”
“Okay, Baby. No problem.”
He let me go and continued to listen with genuine, as far as I could tell, interest to Jack’s theory about the latest sci-fi movie’s plot line. I slipped out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the nearest ladies room and freshened up a touch.
I slipped back out into the hallway and was stopped by a familiar voice asking, “Maren, can I talk to you?”
I looked up and bit my bottom lip, shaking my head, “Luke, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Please,” he said, taking a few more steps into the hall. “It’ll only take a minute. You have to know, I feel really bad…”
“Look,” I said holding up my hand with a sigh. For the last couple of months, the closer we got to the end of the year, the more his attempts at holding doors for me and more attempts at actual conversation, were being made. The problem was, I just wasn’t interested in anything Luke had to say…
Whatever apology he had that he wanted to make was all well and good, but it couldn’t and wouldn’t change things. As upset as I was about Nox doing whatever he did to scare Lucas into leaving me alone, I just couldn’t bring myself to feel all that bad about it. I had prayed so many times for the cruelty to stop, the hurtful words, the pranks, the rumors… just all of it to stop that when it was finally lessened by such a great degree? I was so relieved, I couldn’t bring myself to be angry about it. Not with Nox, no matter how bad it had been for Luke or his dad. It was Karma. I’d made peace with that.
“I’m really sorry, Luke, but nothing you could possibly say could fix things between us.”
“I know,” he said rushing up to me. I backed up out of habit and slid sideways, along the bathroom door until I was stuck, backed up against the side of the lockers; Luke invading my personal space.
“I know there’s nothing I could say or do to fix things. I was an asshole. I was trying to impress my dad, and it was wrong, but, Maren,” I yipped when I tried to side step him and he grabbed me by my shoulders to bring me back in line with his gaze.
“Maren, no, you have to listen to me!” he grated and gave me a rough shake.
All I could think was, oh my god, he’s lost it.
“Okay! Okay, Lucas, I’m listening.”
“Okay, okay, sorry, I’m sorry,” he said rubbing up and down my arms, but it hurt with the intensity of his grip. It wasn’t at all like when Nox touched me to comfort me.
“I’m listening,” I said, swallowing hard, afraid.
Luke leaned in and whispered harshly, “He’s bad news, Maren. He hurts people. His club hurts people and you need to get away from him.”
“Nox isn’t like that, Luke. I promise,” I stammered. When he’d breathed on me, I could smell it, the alcohol on his breath.
“He is like that, Maren!” he whisper-shouted. He placed his hands on the side of my neck, stroking my jawline with his thumbs. I’d used to love when he’d called me his girl, when he’d stroke along my jaw and pull me in for a kiss. Now I strained backward away from him.
“Luke, let me go, please, you’re starting to scare me.”
“He came to our house, him and two of his buddies; they hurt my dad; you have to believe me. You’d be much better off with me, you should come back.”
“I-I don’t think so, I can’t do that,” I said, tears slipping free. I took a deep breath to scream and he squeezed, my air was cut off and I felt my eyes go wide as he tried to get me to be quiet.
“Shh, shh, shh, I’m not going to hurt you, Maren. Not like you hurt me. You hurt me when you broke up with me, you know that right? It’s okay, though, I forgive you.”
I clawed at Luke’s hands and wrists, trying to get him to let me go, but he was too drunk to realize he was even hurting me. I choked and tried to get air, starbursts of color and light that wasn’t really there going off in my vision.
A blur of crimson and suddenly I could breathe, my hearing tuned into shouting. Hands on my shoulders propping me up; I screamed or tried to, but I was too busy sucking in much-needed air. I blinked and looked up to Mr. Hunter, and over to Nox, who was kneeing Lucas in the face, a good portion of the student body gathered in the doorway to the gym behind us.
Luke was down, Mrs. Cox leaning over him and shouting at the students to go back in the cafeteria while Mr. Hunter was trying to take me towards the offices. I reached for Nox who pulled me into his arms and away from Mr. Hunter and it was the only place I wanted to be.
I sobbed, and he held me; safety, warmth, and comfort wrapping around me tight. Nox made soothing sounds and put us in motion. We followed Mr. Hunter down the hall and left Lucas behind.
I hoped I would never see him again.
Chapter 35
Nox
I was pretty much hating every minute of this prom thing, but I’d promised Maren and she was so happy that it almost made it worth it. I had been talking to her geeky friends for a minute and was beginning to wonder what was up. She was taking way longer than was typical of her, and I was half worried one of the bitches that had kept it up with the bullying and bullshit had cornered her in the bathroom. After five minutes more, I decided to find out.
“Mr. Fisher, what seems to be the problem?” her vice principal, Hunter, fell into step beside m
e.
“Maren’s been in the restroom a little too long for my liking, I figured I’d go check on her.”
“Well, yes, I could understand your concern, but it being the ladies room,” he waved Ms. Cox over to us.
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
“Yeah, a big problem,” I said, filled with pure fucking rage at the flip of a switch.
Her fuck nugget ex-boy-toy had her up against the lockers and was choking the living shit out of her.
“Hey!” I shouted and reached in, pulling him off of her. Mr. Hunter went for Maren while Ms. Cox stood off to the side shrieking about god.
He wasn’t here, but I was pretty sure the devil himself was and he was in me. I slammed him up against the lockers and fed him a left hook right into his fucking mouth. I buried my other fist in his gut, and when he bent over, kneed him right in the fucking face. I hit him and he hit the floor, it was over that fast.
Maren was sobbing, terrified and reaching for me and I took her off her vice principal and pulled her in tight against me.
“You saw that, right?”
“I most certainly did,” Mr. Hunter said and took me by the elbow leading me towards the front.
“Let’s go to my office.”
We went with him, through the office and into his, where he picked up the phone. I sat down on the couch he had against one wall and pulled Maren into my lap, moving her hair back from her throat, hissing at the bruises already coming up on her skin.
“You okay, Angel?”
She sniffed and opened her mouth and tried to speak, but wasn’t very effective at it, her voice coming at a hoarse squeak.
“Don’t let me go.”
“Never, Baby, never. I’ve got you.”
I looked over to Mr. Hunter who was saying, “Yes, I believe he is still unconscious. I was more concerned about his victim. Yes, two ambulances and police. The attack was unconscionable.”
He hung up the phone and Maren looked up at him like a deer in the headlights, her makeup streaked face heartbreaking.
“I don’t care what Mr. Barber says this time. There’s no denying what I just saw. Maren, I’m so sorry.”
“I need to get my coat, she’s shivering,” I said and she turned her attention back to me eyes too wide with panic.
“If you can trust me to get it for you, I will.”
I let him have the keys to Rev’s Chevelle and told him, “It’s in the trunk, don’t fuck me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said and went out. He returned moments later with my jacket and cut, which I wrapped around Maren’s shoulders. I tucked her head under my chin and rocked her, even as Mr. Hunter set my keys on the edge of his desk.
A minute or two later, we heard approaching sirens. This was going to be a fucking bitch.
***
“Tell me again, just what fuckin’ happened that you thought it would be a good idea to call these two in, first thing?” Dragon ordered, and didn’t look at all happy about it.
We’d ended up taking Maren to Doc’s ER, but Doc wasn’t on duty. She was sedated and resting in my room at the moment, Doc had come in and was hanging with her to watch for any problems. I guess near strangulation was a serious thing way beyond a raspy voice for a bit.
She’d filed charges on Luke, and with Mr. Hunter’s help, I’d managed to avoid any for the beat down I’d put on his drunk ass; despite the principal, Mr. Barber’s, bitching about that fact.
Still, didn’t mean we were out of the woods because he’d been awful vocal about our visit some months back when he’d come out of it. Now I was sitting down with Dragon, Dray, and Trig and coming clean before any LEO’s came knocking. Reaver and Cell had just come through the door, and everyone else was either in their room or the media room.
Cell and Reave exchanged a look and pulled out chairs, Cell asking, “What’s up?”
“You, going ‘own fucking program,’ again,” Dray said bitterly.
Dragon shook his head, “Jesus H. Christ, Nox. You had to know takin’ these two was like using a thermonuclear device to kill ants. That shit’s just sheer overkill.”
“I wanted to make my point clear,” I said flatly.
Trigger shook his head and said, “You were at my place, with me,” he said flatly to Reaver. “That was the night my Sunshine and Doll went out and had a ladies night, remember?”
“Yes, I do,” Reaver said with a shit eating grin.
“I was with my twin, out in his shop.”
“I was with Blue, watching TV.”
“And I was here and saw you and Nox both,” Dragon said with a sigh. “Weren’t the first time I would hafta lie to law enforcement. Probably won’t be the last, but just what the fuck was you thinkin’ pulling a stunt like that?” he demanded of Cell.
“I have a rule, you’re gonna threaten something, seems to me you ought to know exactly what it’s like, yeah?”
“This have anything to do with that waitress Blue’s hung up on?” Trig asked, and I leaned back, antsy, wanting to get back to Maren.
“Ask Blue,” Cell said with a shrug, but it was the first time I’d seen him look even remotely uncomfortable.
“You all put the club in trouble, and there needs to be some consequences for that. It’ll get discussed at the next church meeting. For now, get you gone motherfuckers. I don’t even want to look at you let alone think about what you done.” Dragon crossed his arms over his chest and I felt my heart bottom out.
I got up without a word after the rest of the guys left out and Dragon said to my back, “I get what you was trying to do, but takin’ Cell was a mistake. Don’t make it again. You feel me?”
I nodded, and said, “Trust me, I wasn’t keen on it and I was there.” I shuddered, but it wasn’t for effect. What’d been done that night had seriously disturbed me.
“Get back to yer ol’ lady. Shit ain’t deep,” he said and I nodded and went to my room. Doc looked up from the book he was reading when I came through the door. He leaned forward and put his forearms on his knees, looking at me plainly over his half-moon specs.
“She’s gonna sleep like the dead. Ain’t nothin’ broken according to her x-rays, but she’s gonna be bruised, prolly be raspy for a while, and it’s gonna hurt to swallow. She’ll need to take it easy for a bit.”
I nodded, “Thanks, Doc.”
“It’s good you got to her when you did.”
“Yeah,” I murmured.
“Hold her tight,” he suggested dragging himself to his feet. He clapped me on the shoulder a couple of times and left out of my room.
I stripped down and got into bed with my woman, pulling her into the curve of my body and closing my eyes, just listening to her breathe.
Chapter 36
Maren
I wanted to skip my graduation, but the club wouldn’t let me. They’d gone with me, had filled up two entire rows and had spilled into a third in the gallery, waiting for my name to be called and for me to walk across the stage and accept my diploma. Sage was with them, had been inseparable from me ever since he’d seen the bruises. I traced a finger along the fading, but still very much so visible marks as Mr. Barber called out, “Maren Tracy.”
A loud cheer went up behind me as I made my march, stepping up onto the stage and crossing. I took my diploma from Mr. Barber, looked him right in the eye and said, “You’re despicable,” refused to shake his hand, and went on to Mr. Hunter whose hand I did shake.
The cheers behind me got loud and louder when I passed him up. He had tried to stop me from pressing charges against Lucas, had told me it wasn’t worth ruining a boy’s life over a misunderstanding; that I was being dramatic.
It had taken everything in me not to hit him. When I’d told Nox what had happened, he did hit something… a door, which Rush had then had to come and replace. I had no regrets about it. It was just a door, and knowing how much Nox loved me was hardly something to get angry about.
I reached the end of the stage and bega
n my descent down the other staircase. Nox was waiting for me with a dozen red roses, which he handed me. He kissed me long and deep to more cheers from the club and even quite a few from the student body. He held my hand all the way back to our seats. I refused to go back to my seat with the rest of the student body. I wasn’t one of them anymore. I hadn’t been since that night, and I never would be again.
I was okay with that, glad for it, and overjoyed to belong here with Nox, Rush, Archer and Mel and their family and the extended chosen family that was The Sacred Hearts MC.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, fidgeting between Sage and Nox until Nox had enough. He stood up and took my hand, and the rest of the club followed suit. We left, as they were still calling out names, and I felt slightly bad for ruining some of the student’s moments, but not bad enough to actually stay in my seat.
Out in the parking lot, I unpinned my graduation cap off my hair and dropped it on the ground after saving the tassel. I unzipped and left the gown in a heap next to it. Nox shook out my jacket and his rag, and I slid into them, relief settling on my shoulders with it. I hugged Sage who hugged me back and jogged over to Sunshine’s Jeep to ride with her, Hayden and Connor.
“Go for a ride?” Nox asked, and I nodded.
“Wind therapy sounds really good right now.”
“Hey, D!” he called out. I wasn’t really listening, my mind whirling and twisting over all of the events that led up to nearly being strangled to death, instead.
I stuffed the tassel from my cap into my pocket while Nox stowed my diploma in one of his saddlebags. Climbing on behind him instantly made me feel better, the thrum of the bike stripping more anxiety away, and then we were moving…
Becoming one with man and machine as we took corners in sweeps and curves, riding just for the sake of riding, just the two of us, taking the long route back to the club… it was like a balm to my wounded soul. I wrapped arms and legs around Nox and cuddled against his back. I heard him laugh, and he took us on the highway for wind and speed.