Ties Bonded by Blood: Troubled Fathoms MC Book 2

by Quinn, Vera

  “Thank you, Scout, but this is all Cage. He has been a joy to watch grow up.” I tell Scout how I always feel about the years I have had with Cage. Cage comes back over and kisses my cheek. Cage has shied away from showing affection since we have been here, and I’m glad he is feeling more comfortable so he can be himself. Cage and I have always been very affectionate with each other. We have only had each other, and we show our love to each other freely. Then Cage does something that shocks both Krill and me. Cage goes over and hugs Krill. He then goes over to the table that Maudi is sitting at and hugs Maudi. It’s not the first time, but it just seems so natural. I see the tears in Maudi’s eyes. “That boy is going to be the heart and future of this club. Cage and Lucas will be the next generation and that is something to embrace,” Scout says to us. That’s when I feel the tears in my own eyes. I feel the one slip out, but I wipe it away. Tears are not something I have ever had the luxury of. Rico said that tears showed weakness and Hinton’s didn’t have weaknesses and he showed me what happened when I showed it.

  “It seems we have an hour of time to talk if you’re up to it,” Krill says to me.

  “I think it needs to be done,” I tell Krill.

  “Your room or mine darlin’?” I think I just swooned, and I’m not even sure what a swoon is. The women in my romance novels describe it as a starry-eyed fainting feeling from pure emotion and that is just what I felt. Krill has an effortless sexual appeal and it is making me feel things that I have never felt before. “Well, which room?” Krill is forced to ask me again. I come out of my daze.

  “Your room will work,” I answer and I see that Krill has that sexy smile on his face. How am I supposed to have a serious conversation with this man when all I have on my mind is jumping his bones? I get up from my chair and Krill takes my hand. I hope my hand isn’t sweating like some inexperienced teenage girl.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Krill

  I don’t know what has Bethany so nervous. She has this little tick in the dimple on her face when she gets nervous. It’s the cutest thing I have ever seen.

  Bethany is wearing a tight t-shirt with a V-neck that shows off the cleavage that she has, but the tight jeans hugging that luscious ass on her is what I have a hard time keeping my eyes off of while we have been walking. She has been walking slightly ahead of me in the narrow hall. I had to release her hand to walk and I hated it until I caught a glimpse of her ass. She has a slight wiggle to her walk. Nothing fake or overdone like the club girls do but just more her natural sway as she walks. I notice she has that little indention, or as I call it, a lip from her legs to her ass and it is driving me crazy as her natural sway entices me. I just want to grab a handful. I keep reminding myself that I want Bethany and I to have a good relationship, and she might not appreciate me grabbing a handful of her ass like the damn horn dog I am. It has been a while since I have had a woman in my bed. My hand has been my companion for the last year. I have been so focused on trying to get visitation with my son that I neglected even my most carnal needs and desires. My hand was easier. Now I’m thinking I should have taken the edge off at least a few times in that year. My jeans have become way too tight and I feel like I am going to bust through my damn zipper. We make it to my room and I open the door. Bethany walks through the doorway first. I pause and try to adjust myself, then I follow Bethany into the room.

  Bethany has gone to sit in the only chair in my room and I sit on the edge of my bed.

  “You seem nervous, Bethany. There’s no need to be. I would never expect anything from you that you’re not comfortable with.” Bethany’s face goes red and she looks at the floor. I would love to be able to read her mind right now. What could have made her face turn so red?

  “Krill, I’m not very good at playing games. I have no experience with men,” Bethany tells me and she has me confused.

  “What games are you talking about? We’re not playing games. I am being as honest with you as I can, and I hope that is the way you are being. That’s the only way we can make this relationship work. You need to trust me, and I need to trust you.” This is my true way of thinking. Honesty is the only way to make any relationship work.

  “I’m messing this up. I don’t mean games. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am so infatuated with you, and I am very sexually attracted to you. I have been trying to get the fantasies out of my head that I have about you but it’s not working, and I don’t want to do anything to embarrass myself so I get more embarrassed than I am right now. I am mortified with what I have just let come out of my mouth,” Bethany says with a very red face. I’m glad I’m not the only one having to fight a sexual attraction. I give Bethany my full smile. I get up from the bed and move to Bethany and take her by the hand and she stands up. I take her in my arms giving her plenty of space so she can pull back if this isn’t what she wants. I stop right before I kiss her and there is no resistance and then my lips melt into hers. I lick across her lips and she opens for me and the first taste of this woman has me wanting more. My hold tightens on her as I devour her mouth. Bethany is hesitant at first and then I hear her moan and that is all the go ahead I need to let our tongues savor and get to know each other. I am hard as nails and my cock is ready for more, but I know it’s time to slow this down and get a little bit of control. I enjoy the thrill for a second longer and then I pull back and stop the kiss. I hold Bethany in my arms as we both slow our breathing and compose ourselves. I kiss Bethany’s lips softly one more time before I step back from her.

  “That was the best kiss I have ever had in my life. Can we do that again?” I take another step back.

  “Darlin’, don’t tempt a starving man because I would love to feast on you, but that’s not the smart thing to do. Don’t think I don’t want you because my erection in my jeans can prove I do. It’s not just us we need to think about right now.” I take Bethany’s hand and sit her back in her chair, and I sit back on the edge of the bed. I needed a little distance from this gorgeous sexy woman.

  “I’m glad one of us is thinking with their brain instead of their libido.” Bethany laughs a little. She is too cute.

  “I have been waiting a year to have Cage just for a visitation. I never thought that he would be living under my roof so fast. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I feel like my life is getting some order to it. I love Cage and I know if I hurt you then I end up hurting my son and that is not acceptable for me. That being said, we are married, and we both seem to be attracted to each other. Who’s to say that this couldn’t be more than a marriage just on paper? I just want to take it slow, so we don’t screw everything up. We both respect each other, and we get along. I won’t throw a monkey wrench into that for a romp in bed. Sex isn’t the most important part of a relationship, trust and honesty are. I learned that from my mom and dad, and I have always wanted the type of relationship that they had for my ride-and-die trip through life.” I stop and look closely at Bethany. “Do you understand all that? You have a say in this too and I want to hear your opinions. We need to be careful that we protect what we have right now.”

  “Just wow! You sound like one of the heroes in my romance novels. I didn’t know a real man could be so darn attractive when they’re turning me down after I throw myself at them. I could fall in love with you easy and I don’t know how I even know that. I’ve never experienced a romantic love but right now if you told me to go jump off the roof of this building, I might consider it.” Bethany is looking at me with adoration in her eyes. The thing is, I think I could fall for Bethany too. I want to say the hell with it and jump into this, but I can’t. I need to put Cage first the way Bethany has all these years.

  “I promise I won’t tell you to jump off any roof.” I laugh.

  “Good.” Bethany laughs back.

  “When we make our decisions, we need to always bring Cage into the equation because neither one of us wants to hurt him. I have a meeting this afternoon with Rico’s club. The meeting is for Blade and I to come to an un
derstanding about you and Cage. You are my wife and it will stay that way. He can either accept it or we can go to war. War is never good for anyone. The meeting with Cassius went better than I thought it would. He is out of the equation now. That’s what he said anyway. I hope he is a man of his word. I am sharing this with you now to put your mind at ease and to let you know I am a man of my word. I am handling things so you and Cage are safe.” That’s important to me. This woman has worried about a lot of things for too long and I want to take some of that worry away. “I won’t always be able to share what I do with the club with you, but this is something that has very much to do with you., It would be wrong of me to keep it from you, but don’t let your guard down just yet.”

  “I understand and thank you for letting me know what you can. I know club business isn’t my business. I have lived with that rule my entire life. I would never ask you to share anything that could hurt your club if it got out,” Bethany says quietly. I know Bethany understands how things in the club life works even if she wasn’t in the thick of the club growing up. Trick kept her away from the club life growing up as much as he could. Then she was kept separate by Rico so she could raise Cage. I think that was more to keep Cage’s existence quiet and I wouldn’t find out about him nor would my family and club find out.

  “When this whole situation is settled, I would like to take you first on a date and then I want a celebration of our wedding here at the clubhouse if you’re alright with that.” Bethany smiles again. She’s doing that a lot more.

  “I would like that. I am going to need to go shopping because we only brought a few things with us. I have a little bit of money but after this does die down, I need a job to support Cage and myself,” Bethany tells me. Bethany is worried over something I should have made clear to her earlier.

  “I take care of my family. I have plenty of money, money is never an issue. I will have Coralyn get Cage’s and your sizes and she can get you everything you need until this is handled. Afterward, I will take you and Cage shopping. Give her your sizes and brand of things you want, and she can pick it up and don’t go cheap. You need things, Cage needs things, and I want you both to have them. Get all the personal things that you need too, for your personal hygiene and Cage’s. I know it will be weird getting someone else to shop for you, especially someone you don’t know, but I won’t take the chance with your safety to let you out of the clubhouse. You are precious to me and I won’t let anyone get the chance to hurt you.” I can tell by the way that Bethany is looking that she is not on board with this. “If you need anything immediately for the next couple of days then let Coralyn pick it up. I will give you my credit card and you can shop online and have it express-shipped here. I have a computer in my office and that way you get to pick everything.” Bethany looks a little more relaxed with that idea.

  “I have never shopped online or used a credit card. Rico always gave me cash. I’ve never even had a bank account,” Bethany says, and I know she’s embarrassed about it.

  “See all the firsts that you can share with me.” Her eyes come up and look at me. “I’ll get Maudi to help you. She’s the one that orders everything for the clubhouse that we use in the kitchen and our cleaning supplies. I think she has even taken over ordering the linens we have. Isn’t she the one that handled getting Cage’s homeschool supplies and getting him enrolled?”

  “No, Bandy did all that. That is the reason everything was done so fast. He filled everything out online and Cage’s school materials were delivered a couple of hours later. I thought it would take a couple of weeks, but Bandy had it done in hours.” Bethany seems amazed by Bandy’s computer skills and knowledge.

  “Bandy has mad computer skills and he knows people to get things done. He’s your man to go to for anything done on the computer but I am sure you won’t want him help you to pick out your panties and bras.” I laugh but Bethany blushes again. I love the way Bethany is so modest.

  “Is Coralyn your woman at the clubhouse?” That surprises me. I think my Bethany may be a bit jealous and I don’t know why that makes me so happy. I won’t bring it up. I don’t want Bethany to feel uncomfortable about it, but I do like it.

  “I don’t have a woman here at the clubhouse. I won’t say I haven’t had sex with all of them because that would be a lie. There were three regular club girls that are here all the time—Coralyn, Kim, and Tinker. I have been with Coralyn and Tinker. Kim came in about the time I found out about Cage, and I wasn’t at the clubhouse as much because I was in Boulder for extended periods of time for court and lawyer meetings. I have been no saint and I don’t portray myself as one, but I have never had a regular woman in this clubhouse. There have been hangarounds that I would see and there have been a few women that I dated outside the club. I told you that after Jen, I didn’t want that. The one-on-one relationship never worked for me after her. It’s not that I was holding Jen in my heart, it was I never wanted that pain again. Jen was my first love and I won’t lie about that but that was nine years ago. I just hung on to the memories if that makes sense.” I stop so I don’t make it a strung-out explanation. “No woman has had a claim on me after Jen until you. We are married and I won’t cheat on you for any reason, and I expect the same from you.”

  “I will never cheat on you and thank you for letting me know straight up that that’s how our relationship will be. I didn’t know how to bring the subject up. My mind has a way of making a mountain out of nothing,” Bethany says and I can see the relief in her eyes.

  “Now what do you think about this phone thing for Cage’s birthday?” I ask.

  “I never had a problem with Cage having a phone after he learned some responsibility. Rico wouldn’t pay for it or even think about it. When Cage is away from me, I would feel better if he had a phone to contact me. I just had no way to get the phone. There would need to be rules and restrictions for the first year. I think he would learn not to abuse the privilege of having a phone within that time. Cage is like any other child. He pushes the limits when he first gets something new or gets a new privilege.” Bethany stops talking, but then goes on, “Before I approached Rico about the phone, I did some calling around and found out that you can program a phone so it can only get calls and call certain numbers that are programed in by the parent or whoever buys the phone. The exception is 911, that can always be contacted. That, along with a time for the phone to be off should be enough restrictions. Also, a restriction for homework, family, and dinner times. No social media at all, he’s too young.” I see that Bethany has thought it out and what she has gone over are all within reason. “I also think if he doesn’t complete his chores then he loses the friend numbers.” Bethany is strict with Cage.

  “Cage has chores? What are they and how long has he had them?” Bethany raises her eyebrow at me.

  “They are simple household things. He and I shared a bedroom. Well, I slept on the sofa, so the bedroom was his, but my clothes were in there. He had to keep his room picked up at the end of the day. Our space was limited so everything had a place to go and he had to put the things back up. We had a laundry basket and his dirty clothes needed to be put in there instead of on the floor beside the basket. His towels needed to be hung so they would dry after his shower and the bathroom sink had to be washed out after he brushed his teeth. In other words, if you make a mess then clean the mess. House rule. He also helped me bag up the garbage so I could take it downstairs. Do you find anything wrong with that?” I laugh. Bethany doesn’t seem amused.

  “I’m sorry. You dote on Cage so much, I thought you would have him spoiled. There’s nothing wrong with a nine-year-old having to clean up after themselves. I have no complaints of the way you have raised Cage, He is very well mannered, very well behaved, and a complete joy to be around. You haven’t made a crybaby out of him, and he isn’t afraid of everything. He isn’t clingy to you. He is very well-rounded, and I couldn’t think of a better woman that I would want to raise my son. You have done an excellent job.” I co
nfirm to Bethany she has done a fantastic job being Cage’s mom. That is what she has been, his mom.

  “Thank you, I’m sorry. I am used to everyone judging me. It’s going to take a little bit to let my guard down.” I intend to break down every wall Bethany has up. “Our hour is about up. Cage will be looking for us.” I look at my watch and she’s right. I can’t help myself; I get up and walk to Bethany and take her hand. As she stands up, I hug her to me. I look down to her and she is looking up at me. I bend down and kiss her slowly. I don’t deepen the kiss because I only have so much control. I pull back.

  “One day, darlin’, I am going to claim what I want. You’re mine and I’m not going to let you get away. Next week you are going to be tattooed with my name and my leather for your back is already ordered. I’m making you my ol’ lady. Can you accept that?” I wait for her answer and she doesn’t leave me hanging.

  “I would like that.” Bethany’s words are what I need to know all my decisions have been the right ones.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Krill

  Brass’s contact in the Spirit of Arms MC gave Brass inside information on the club when he gave him a call. Rico is gone on the run from Cassius. Blade made a power move and he and Nutz are trying to strong-arm their way in to take over the club. The club was fed up with Rico’s irrational underhanded ways, but most of the members aren’t happy with the way Blade is moving in to take the club over. The Spirit of Arms MC is falling apart from the inside. Before things are over with, they may just disband.

  Blade thinks we’re going into the meet blind, but we are ready for whatever move he is ready to make. The contact says he is still hell-bent on making Bethany his ol’ lady.