I pull out my phone and call Trident.
“Yo,” he says when he finally accepts my call.
“Can you get the tow truck up here?” I ask by way of greeting.
“Jesus fucking Christ, didn’t you say it was snowing?”
“Yeah it is. Got a situation that I don’t want to go into on the phone. There’s a car sitting off the road on the way to my granddad’s cabin. Literally on the way; you can’t miss it. Need it brought into the shop and gone over with a fine-tooth comb, brother. Doesn’t matter if it’s you, Atlas, or Reef. I know any one of y’all will check it over thoroughly.”
“Got it, Prez. Anything else?”
“I’ll be texting some info to Specks once I get back to the cabin. Need him to check into what I send him and get it back to me as soon as he possibly can.” I feel like I need it yesterday because whether she knows it or not, her ex has her in his sights and she’s not safe.
“I’ll pass it on. Can you put the keys somewhere?” Trident queries, pulling me from my thoughts.
I think about what I’ve got in the compartment that the snowmobile has for stowing things and remember putting some zip ties in just in case they were ever needed. I also have some small baggies in there as well. Strange shit, I know, but in my experience, that strange shit is often needed at the craziest times. “Gonna zip tie the keys underneath the front bumper.” There’s a small area that will let me do this without them being seen. I don’t expect the car to be messed with; the weather has gotten worse and this isn’t a heavily traveled road.
“Got it. I’ll be there when I get there, especially with this weather,” he says before disconnecting. That’s one thing about Trident; he says what he needs and hangs up. Can’t fault him; we all tend to do that very thing. I spend the next few minutes getting her stuff from the trunk, grinning when I see that she has it organized and neat. Once I have the keys where I told Trident I’d put them, I make sure the car is locked up and head back to the cabin. Even with the suit, I’ve gotten cold.
I’ve been back at the cabin for thirty minutes and for the past ten, I’ve watched Lilli pace the cabin, ranting and mumbling to herself. I’ve heard her mention castration, mutilation and something about feeding him to a hippopotamus. Shaking my head, I reach out on her next pass and pull her down onto my lap. “Shh, Lilli, I didn’t tell you that to get you all worked up,” I quietly state. “You need to calm that fine ass down, pretty girl.” I try soothing her by rubbing my hands up and down her back, but she’s having none of it and she jumps off my lap.
“I can’t believe he’s so damned despicable! And to think I thought I was in love with him. Ha! More like I was in shock or something from losing my parents and I let him buffalo me into everything.” I find myself hiding a grin because she looks like a tiny pixie ninja on a rampage, her hair flying all around and her fists clenched. It doesn’t hurt, either, that she isn’t in love with the prick.
“I’ve got you,” I repeat, standing and pulling her back into my arms. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll take care of it all.”
“We?” she questions.
“Poseidon’s Warriors, Lilli,” I reply. “And that’s all you need to know about that.” I keep my voice firm but once again, she surprises me by poking me in the chest.
“First of all, it’s not your concern. Second of all, I need to deal with Anson.” She’s riled up and it has my dick as hard as steel. She’s gonna be fun to get to know. The first time I incite club business, she’s liable to chop my balls off.
“It is my concern. I told you I’ve claimed you, woman. You need to get with the program. What that means is since you’re mine, I will deal with that fucktard.” He’s done enough to her and her things, that I don’t trust the weasel anywhere near her.
“There you go again with that claiming shit. We’ve known each other for less than a day, which defies even the fastest insta-love fiction book out there!”
Deciding that enough is enough, I claim her mouth with my own. Fuck, she tastes like cinnamon and something uniquely her. When she gasps, I slide my tongue into her mouth and begin exploring. I don’t miss the hitch in her breathing or the slight moan that she emits as she curls closer to me. Right now, I don’t give that first fuck that she’s still technically tied to another man. They’re not married and based on the fact that he’s trying to kill her, I think that makes her a free agent. Long moments pass as I kiss her and as I pull slightly back, I realize that what I told her was the absolute, motherfucking truth.
She’s mine.
Poseidon
We’ve been slowly getting to know one another over these past few days, and I discover that the more she shares with me, that she was born and meant for me. It’s as if God plucked the perfect woman from my mind and inserted her into my life when I needed her the most. Right now, she’s laying down on the bed, wrapped like a burrito in the comforter, as I bring in more firewood to keep the cabin warm. The snow hasn’t stopped coming down like sheets of white powder, it’s never ending, and there’s such a downfall of packed snow that I suspect we might be here longer than what I initially told her. Now that I’m back inside, I start to brew a pot of coffee and fix a mug for myself before I go check on her again. She looked a little flushed earlier and that concerns me considering how long she was exposed to the elements the day she arrived.
Leaning down, I notice that her cheeks are rosier than they were before, yet she’s violently shivering despite the heat in the room and the number of blankets on the bed. I can also hear a slight wheeze crackling from her chest every time she exhales. Reaching out, I place my hand over her forehead then instantly draw my hand back when I feel the blazing heat pouring off of her. Fuck. I’ve been worried about her getting sick and coming down with a fever, it seems that my previous concern and worry was just validated. She doesn’t wake up as I check her vitals, her pulse is faster than I’d like for it to be. Pain and illness can do that to an individual, so I go into the bathroom and grab the small first aid kit I keep up here. I don’t store anything in the cabinets that has an expiration date because I’m only here once a year; I bring those items with me when I come and put them in the kitchen, so I remember to take them back when I leave. The benefit of having a mom who is a traveling nurse is that I have more than a general knowledge of first aid. I need to know what all I’m dealing with before I give Trident a call for assistance. Grabbing the thermometer, I quickly clean it with an alcohol wipe then return to Lilli’s side. “Sweet girl, I need you to wake up for a minute, okay?”
It takes a few minutes for her to rouse and when she peeks up at me with those fever-glazed eyes, my heart clenches as my soul aches for her. “W-what’s going on, Poseidon?” Her voice is croaky sounding, almost as if it pains her to speak. I mentally remind myself to make her a cup of tea and add some honey to it in order to help soothe her throat.
“Need to take your temperature, you’re running a fever and I need to know how high it is,” I inform her, turning the thermometer on and placing it between her lips. “I think your outdoor shenanigans were too much for your body to deal with.” I watch as the number keeps climbing until it finally chimes. Fuck! “Lilli, I’m going to run you a tepid bath. We’ve got to get this fever down.” Yeah, we do because she’s running a temp of one hundred and two.