“You aren’t nobody and this doesn’t happen here. I’ll handle it. You did the right thing,” I tell her.
Evie giggles but when I look over at her she sucks her lips between her teeth. Little shit. Drake smirks but I ignore them both and focus on Cheryl. Her face is a mess and I see a bruise on her chest. Taking her hand in mine, I help her up and lead her down the hall to my room and inside. Closing the door behind us I motion for her to sit on the bed before I head into the bathroom and collect what I need to clean her up.
I return to the bed with a wet rag and slowly begin to clean up what Evie hadn’t gotten to. Her face is bruised and I can see the lump on her forehead. Yet I do something so out of character for me. I lean in and press my lips to hers. I kiss her. Not like I usually kiss either. This kiss is softer, easier.
“What was that?” she asks when she pulls back and looks at me, a look of confusion playing across her face.
I don’t have an answer for her. I don’t know what that was. Cheryl messes with my head and when I’m around her. I don’t want to hurt her. I want to kiss her, hold her. I want to tell her things will be okay because I’ll make them okay. Shaking my head, I shove off the bed and pace the floor.
“Tell me who did it.”
“No.”
“Why not? I can make them disappear,” I growl. That’s all I really want to do too. Make them disappear and I don’t know fucking know why.
“I’m not a snitch.”
“You spread your legs for every club member and you’re not a snitch?” Hurt flashes in front of her eyes and there’s a pinch in my chest. Why did I just say that to her? What the hell is happening to me? I shouldn’t have said that and now seeing the look on her face, I know I hurt her. Fuck what did I do? Why am I trying to hurt her?
Chapter Nine
I shouldn’t have been hurt by his words but I was. Don’t ask me why either because I have no idea. They stung though, just like the cut on my lip does.
He’s asleep in his bed and I’m in the spare bed. I can hear him tossing and turning. It’s been hours. Hours of him groaning and moving to the point I can’t sleep either. I sigh and roll over when he calls out to me.
“Kitten. Come over here,” he says groggily. Tossing the blanket off my body, I climb out of bed and walk slowly over to his. My head is throbbing from the assault earlier as I stand next to his bed. “Get in.” He holds the blanket up for me to climb in and I do slowly. I’m unsure of all this. Of what he wants, but as soon as I lie down, he has me wrapped in his arms, his nose nuzzling into my hair.
“What is this?” I whisper not understanding what he wants from me.
“This is us sleepin’. I’m dead tired, Kitten. Dreams, faces, places. They all haunt me at night.”
“Is that why you toss and turn?” I ask softly.
“It is. I just can’t seem to find a middle ground. Nothin’ I try works. Drinkin’, fuckin’, pills. It all seems to bust through them and into my mind. You ever have that happen?” he asks, his warm breath dancing over my skin. I nod my head and curl into the warm cocoon he created for me. His hard cock is at my ass but he doesn’t make a move to try anything with me. He just…holds me.
“They seem so real at the time,” I whisper.
“They do. And you can’t stop them. They keep comin’ back.”
“I’m broken, Demon.”
“So am I. Unbreak me, Kitten.”
I don’t respond because I don’t know what to say. What is he asking me? What does he think I can do to help him? I can’t do anything. I’m screwed up from a past that I can’t seem to outrun. I’m messed up in the head and there’s no way to fix that.
His breathing evens out and I know he’s asleep. I slip out of his hold and sit on the edge of the bed glaring at him. He’s gorgeous. Long dark hair splayed over his pillow. His large tattooed hand resting on the pillow near his face. Nothing that beautiful should have the name Demon. His past made him but I don’t know his past. And he doesn’t know mine and I will make sure he never finds out the horrible things I’ve done. I will make sure he never has to hear those words.
Slipping out of his bed, I sneak back over to the spare bed and climb under the blankets. Lying on my side, I can watch him sleep peacefully while I stay awake. I don’t want the dreams to come back. I don’t want to be reminded of all the terrible things I’ve done.
As the hours march on, I toss and turn for much of the night when I feel him. He slips into the bed behind me, wrapping me in his arms like he did earlier in the night.
“Sleep, Kitten. I’ll keep them away,” he whispers.
“You can’t. No one can.”
“You kept mine away,” he says through a yawn. He can’t mean that. I didn’t do anything.
“You shouldn’t want me, Demon.”
“And yet I do.”
“I’m not the girl you need,” I whisper.
“You’re the girl I want. And I get what I want, Kitten. I don’t care about your past.”
“You should. The things I’ve done are disgusting,” I tell him although I won’t go any further.
“Just sleep. Now isn’t the time to talk about this. I have you right now and that’s it. You aren’t runnin’ from me,” he says in a tone that tells me not to argue with him. I close my eyes and sigh, Demon pulling me closer.
Just like he said, he kept them away. I didn’t dream about him or what he did to me. I didn’t dream about what he made me do. I was just sleeping. Happy and peaceful and when I wake up in the morning, Demon isn’t in the bed anymore and I find I miss his warmth. I miss his touch. But most of all, I miss the way he calmed the storms inside of me.
Chapter Ten
“The system isn’t workin’!” I growl into the line.
“No shit. That’s what we’re here for,” Venom, the Iowa Royal Bastards Prez, says.
“There’s three that slipped from the fuckin’ court system. Not guilty. Hell, we’re in fuckin’ Savannah and I have the goddamn proof in front of me. Figured I’d pass it along since you’re up there,” I tell him. I hate pedophiles. If there was one thing I enjoy it’s killing them. Children are a hard line for me. You cross that line and you cross me and my club. Most of the other Royal Bastards are the same, which is why when I heard about this shit, I called Venom.
“Send me what you got, brother. I’ll make sure I handle that shit in a timely manner. We don’t let shit like that fly around here,” Venom adds.
“I’ll get it to you now. You fuckers headin’ to the rally?”
“Not this time. We got too much shit on our plates to head that way. Catch you next round,” he says.
“Heard that.” I hang up and run my thumb across my chin thinking about shit. I don’t like knowing there are pedophiles out there but you will never get rid of them all. But fuck if we won’t try!
The rally is in a few days and I’m excited to get there early. We do this every year and the underground fight ring is where you’ll find me most of the time. I love the fight. I love the pain and the adrenaline. I just hope my new kitten feels the same. She’s going with me whether she likes it or not.