“I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll feel me in your throat,” he growled in my ear and I got instantly wet. “Then I’m going to burn that fuckin’ DVD.”
The month after my kidnapping had been one of the happiest of my life. Which was weird, you’d think after getting kidnapped and beaten again it would drag me back to battle with some old demons and maybe force me to reconsider my life with Cade.
It had done quite the opposite.
Cade had hardly let me out of his sight the entire time, his protective instinct even more intense than normal, if that was humanly possible. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it, because we had been having a lot of sex.
I mean, a lot.
In the store, my bed, his bed, the beach, his bike. The club. At first he was reluctant, treating me like I was made of glass, especially since the bruising on my face got worse before it got better. For the week it took to fade, I would catch Cade staring at my face with a pained expression, knowing he was blaming himself. No matter how hard I tried to tell him otherwise, he was convinced it was his fault. There was no more talk of him leaving me, he just got down to business.
One thing did come of my kidnapping. The club decided to get out of guns, immediately. Cade had left the morning after I was taken to take a vote at the club. He came back with a black eye, but the vote had passed. Turns out he and Steg had disagreed over the idea and it turned physical. Steg had been forced to pass the vote, as the majority of members wanted to get out.
Cade had told me the legit businesses were doing well enough, not to mention the garage itself. He had also mentioned they did some sort of security work but hadn’t elaborated much, which made me infinitely more curious. Amy and I had started a stealth campaign to find out, although we had been foiled at every turn. Turned out they were good at the security thing.
Nevertheless, things with Steg and Cade were tense. Although the last time I had been at the club with fading bruises, Steg had silently kissed my black eye. At this, Cade was so pissed he looked like his jaw was about to shatter. I, on the other hand, felt differently. I was beginning to seriously doubt my first impressions of Steg, he was tender with Evie and the kids around the club. But he was also a hard ass and I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something bad under the surface, but he seemed to love his family.
The club had overwhelmed me with their show of support the last month, the boys all stopping in on a regular basis. They came and had dinner, not disguising their fury at my injuries, nor their relief at the fact I was still breathing. The person I saw the most of was Bull. We seemed to have established some sort of connection.
Knowing he was able to save me from the same fate as Laurie healed him slightly. But he would always be broken. He wouldn’t say much, just come and sit with me if I was alone in the store, come for dinner when Cade had to be away. I enjoyed his company, though and tried my hardest to make him laugh at my stupid jokes. He didn’t, but I would keep trying.
I had also found out – to my immense relief – the club wasn’t behind the explosion at the Spiders’ clubhouse and therefore not responsible for the murder of a whole gang. Cade had told me they had more than a few enemies, which included the mob –the legit Sopranos type – who were responsible. I knew they were far from good men, but I was still firm on my belief that two wrongs didn’t make a right. Which seemed to differ from the club’s version of justice.
Another thing that happened was I finally told everyone in my life about Cade. A thing I had been putting off doing, partly because I wanted to make sure things were solid with us before declaring my love for him to all my friends and family, but mostly because I was a wuss. It didn’t go exactly as I planned as I discovered when I rang my mother a few days ago.
I sat in my office working up my courage after I had been chatting to her about random things for about ten minutes.
“So did I tell you Nancy Goodwin, you know that girl Alice’s mother?”
She didn’t wait for me to reply, as usual.
“You know the girl you went to high school with? Quiet girl, nose always in a book, but a pretty wee thing?”
Again my mother didn’t wait for me to confirm I knew who she was talking about.
“Well, it turns out she has been having an affair with a thirty year old man and is now pregnant with twins.” She whispered the last part, as if it was the code to a radioactive bomb.
“Mum, I’ve got a boyfriend,” I announced, not reacting to her earlier statement. Although I was shocked, Alice was only a couple of years younger than me, her mother was no spring chicken.
“Oh, honey, I’ve been waiting for you to tell me for weeks, I’m so glad we can finally talk about him,” she gushed, sounding excited.
“What do you mean ‘you’ve been waiting for me to tell you’?” I asked quietly.
“Oh darn,” my mother whispered quietly back and I knew something was afoot.
“Mum!” I demanded with one word.
“Oh, it’s nothing, Amy just sent me a picture of you and your young man. He is smoking. I knew you might be hesitant to tell us, but I know what a man in love looks like and that boy is smitten. Not to mention Amy approves and I trust her judgment even though she did like that awful collection by Versace—”
“Mum!” I snapped, trying to erase hearing Mum calling Cade ‘smoking’ and plotting Amy’s murder at the same time. “Let’s go back to the part where Amy sent you a picture of me and Cade.”
“Like I said, I approve, even if he is a bit rough around the edges, he is one fine male specimen.”
I cringed at the thought of my mother checking out the ‘specimen.’
“Are you happy, Gwen?” my Mum asked, seriously now, with a bit of emotion in her voice.
I sighed. “Yeah, Mum, I love him.” I told her quietly. There was silence over the phone then a sob.
“Mum?”
“I’m fine, dear, just happy to hear you’re happy. Oh no, the Stevenson’s have just turned up. They’re here an hour early, seriously, these people. I haven’t even changed out of my gardening clothes! I hate to cut this short, Gwen, but I’ll have to talk to you later. I’ll call when your father is around. Love you, sweetie pie, I am so happy for you.” Her voice broke slightly at the end.
“Love you too, Mum.”
I rang off quietly seething at Amy, trying to think of ways to get away with her murder. I shelved that thought, deciding to cross someone else off the list.
“I am wearing fur underwear, I repeat, fur underwear. What the fuck do these stylists think they are doing? I will do almost anything in the name of fashion, but the matching booties are where I draw the line.” Ryan answered the phone without a hello, launching into conversation, like always. I giggled.
“Well, hello to you too, my darling friend,” I greeted sarcastically.
“Did you not hear me, Gwennie? Fur underwear. It’s freaking a thousand degrees out here. I’m sweating my man parts off,” he complained.
“With great modeling prowess comes great responsibility,” I told him sagely.
I could almost see Ryan scowling down the phone.
“How’s the little town anyway? Been to any hoedowns?” He quickly changed the subject, obviously over his tantrum.