“She was tortured.” A voice said from the darkness. I knew the voice, knew it as well as my own. Before he’d been my President, he’d been my friend. My best friend. More. We grew up in my Daddy’s Club. Had the MC life shoved down our throats until we were old enough to patch in. When my father died, Judas fought for the Presidency. Then Laura happened.
I growled in Judas’ direction and slugged down the booze. I was going to need it for this conversation.
Judas came around the bar, standing opposite me, the polished surface between us. “From what she was gasping about just now, he tied her up, cut her, and let the rats feast on her. Guess that’s why she doesn’t like being restrained.”
I wanted to fucking vomit. Then I wanted to peel the flesh from whoever this fucker was until I could piss on his corpse. I grunted and scowled. If he wanted a declaration of pity or empathy or some other fucking emotion, he was going to be waiting a long time. Apart from disgust, because rats were fucking gross, I had no soft emotions left in me.
“I can see you shutting down, G. But ask yourself this. If you care so little, if so much of your humanity is gone, why were you standing over her with a knife?”
I drank the dregs of the bottle, and I was swaying on my feet now. “To slit her pretty little throat, Pres.”
He huffed out a laugh, but it wasn’t a joyful sound. “Sure thing, G. You are many things, but you aren’t a fucking liar. Don’t start now, and least of all to yourself.”
With those fucking Yoda words of wisdom, he turned and left. I hated him right then, because he was forcing me to face something I didn’t want to see.
Screw it. Two more bottles of Jack and I wouldn’t see anything but the inside of a toilet bowl, and that was okay with me.
5
Solomon
While Cain was trying to beat the back teeth out of Goliath, I was through the door and on my knees beside Serendipity’s bed. She continued to thrash around, even though I didn’t know how she could still be asleep. Sleeping through the heavy thuds of flesh hitting flesh, and Cain’s goddamn roar, was nothing short of a miracle. Maybe she was sick?
I reached out and held my hand over her forehead like my mother used to do. She didn’t feel any hotter than normal. I expected her to flinch away, but instead she pushed her head into my hand as if she was clinging to the last lifeboat left on the Titanic. Her screams turned into whimpers, then moans. Not gonna lie, her moans made my dick hard. I chastised myself. She was moaning in fucking terror. That is not something to be hard about.
I kept my hand anchored to her forehead. “Serendipity. Sera,” I said softly, and she twisted more in her blankets as if she was searching for me in her dreams. I could almost spot the moment where she felt trapped by her sheets again. She opened her mouth in a silent scream, and I was on my feet, ripping the twisted bedclothes from her body.
Guess that explains what G was doing. I didn’t actually think he would hurt her. I have more faith in Goliath than he had in himself, despite the fact that he was a raging asshole. Hell, the same could be said for any man in this Club. You didn’t join an MC if you were the soft, cuddling type.
Free of her bonds, she let out a shuddering sigh of relief but still didn't wake. I touched her head again, Cain watching me like a hawk.
“Serendipity.” Fuck that was a mouthful. Sera didn’t really suit her either. “Dippy. Wake up, Woman. You are stressing Cain the fuck out.”
Cain sent me a half hearted fuck you, but his eyes were on the girl.
Judas growled for everyone to go back to bed. Her impossibly long eyelashes fluttered, and then she looked directly into my eyes and screamed bloody murder.
I fucking scrambled back on my ass, half from surprise at the noise, and half to make myself as non-threatening as possible.
“Sorry, sorry! You were having a nightmare,” I say quickly, my hands still raised. She shot up in bed, and her eyes took in the sheets, Judas in the doorway and Cain hovering near her ensuite. Thank fuck Goliath wasn’t still here. There would have been no way to convince her that he wasn’t a threat if she’d woken up with him standing over her with a knife like a psycho.
I could spot the moment everything came back to her, because although her shoulders didn’t relax, the terror receded from her eyes. “Sorry. He, uh, he used to tie me up and let rats-” she let out a full body shudder, and I edged closer.
“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to apologize.”
To contradict my words, Judas slammed his fist into the doorjamb with enough force to break bones, then left. Cain looked similarly pissed, but I gave him a look. The look said “It’s the middle of the fucking night and we are two fucking bikers in her room, calm the fuck down before you spook the shit out of her.” Or at least I hope it said that. It could have just said “Shut the fuck up” and that would have worked too. These guys had no idea how to act around women. Since Laura, they’d pulled into themselves, having little to do with women outside of fucking them. And in Cain’s case, saving them from a shit life. But he never got attached. He fed them and then fucked them off. Rehabilitate and release.
I had a feeling he wanted to keep this beauty for his very own though.
I put my hand on the bed, leaving it there, not making a move to reach for her. She looked like she was still fighting off the effects of the dreams, somewhere between asleep and awake, the demons of her nightmares still lingering at the edges of the darkness. Her sleep shirt had slid up her body, gathering under her breasts, and in the soft light of the ensuite, I could see the round globe of her stomach. Also, a good stretch of her smooth long legs. I was a perv; at least I owned it.
I didn’t stare though, looking back into those haunted purple eyes that seemed to shine even in the darkness. “Is there something we can get for you? A drink? A bath?”
She frowned toward her ensuite. “Is there a bath?”
I grinned at her. “Well, not in this room. Mine does. You are welcome to use it any time.” I didn’t even offer to wash her back for her. Seriously, I should get a gold star or something for good behaviour.
Cain snorted at me from where he stood, and I glared. She shook her head. “Not tonight. But maybe one day?” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m okay now.”
Because I was unable to stop myself, I reached over and covered her hand with mine. “Okay. I’m just down the stairs, we all are. If you need anything, just knock on any of the doors and someone will help you. You’re safe here, Dippy.”
She snorted out a laugh, her eyebrows raised. It was so much better than the look of sheer terror. “Dippy?”
I nodded sagely. “I like it. It suits you. Besides, it brought you out of your nightmare so subconsciously, you must like it too.” It was basically science.
She shook her head, grabbing the blankets and pulling them up her legs. “I don’t mind being Dippy. It’ll be nice not to be Sera for awhile.”
She plumped her pillow and I took it as my cue to leave, even though I kind of wanted to crawl beneath the blanket with her.
And sleep. Me. Just sleep in bed with a woman? Where the fuck had that urge came from? I kept my shock locked down tight, and strode toward the door.