Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
PIPER
Ivy & Piper’s Guide to Life Rule Number Nine:
Don’t shrink yourself down for anyone.
I bolted upright in bed with a choked gasp, my face damp with tears. The room felt too small, the walls closing in, trapping me with the remnants of another nightmare that had felt all too real.
The dreams were different every time. Sometimes, I fought back and managed to escape, only to find myself trapped inside the bakery like a rat in a maze. In others, I stood paralyzed while each man took what he wanted from me.
My mind was caught in an endless loop of the robbery, leaving me barely able to focus on the most basic tasks. Everyday stressors, like Avery shrieking at something on TV, sent me into a fight or flight response.
This was what they’d turned me into. Someone who jumped at shadows and didn’t feel safe even in her own home.
But tonight’s? Tonight’s nightmare took the fucking cake.
Instead of a stranger, it was Dane holding the gun. His dark eyes were cold and clinical as he groped my body, his touch both familiar yet terrifyingly foreign. When I begged him to stop, he told me to be a good girl. And the worst part? My traitorous body responded to him, leaving me feeling sick and confused.
I reached across the bed for him, needing his warmth to thaw the ice in my veins and reassure me it was all in my head, but found only empty sheets.
Alone.
Of course, I was alone.
Dane had taken to spending his evenings in the makeshift command center he’d set up in the kitchen, poring over surveillance footage from businesses in the area while I wrestled with tangled sheets and nightmares.
With a shuddered breath, I reached over to flip on the lamp, wincing at the sudden brightness. A book Ivy brought over about the effect of trauma on the body lay untouched on the nightstand along with a prescription bottle of anxiety meds. I didn’t want any of it.
I just wanted things to go back to normal.
Knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell of falling back asleep, I reached for my phone to find it was close to two, almost time for my alarm to go off anyway.
My two-week-long reprieve from the bakery was over, and my first day back loomed ahead of me like a mountain I wasn’t sure I could climb.
But I couldn’t endure another second of being cooped up in this house, a prisoner of my own fear.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, my bare feet hitting the cold hardwood floor. The chill sent a shiver up my spine, but I welcomed the sensation. Anything to ground me in reality and shake off the nervous energy churning in my gut.
With trembling hands, I pulled on my black chef pants, sports bra, and tank top. Part of me was terrified to return to the scene of the crime, while another was eager to escape the suffocating atmosphere of my own home. I longed for my familiar routine, to feel like myself, even if it was only for a few hours.
My hopes of slipping out unnoticed were dashed as soon as I entered the hallway and heard low voices coming from the kitchen. I crept closer, straining to hear over the blood rushing in my ears.
Dane paced the kitchen like a lion in a cage, his muscular form taut with tension. His dark hair stood on end from running his hands through it, and dark circles shadowed his eyes.
But it was his eyes that stopped me cold. They were dark, almost black, filled with the same nothingness as the version of him I saw in my nightmare.
“ Please don’t do this ,” a voice cried out from his laptop.
My voice.
“ Shhh… Be a good girl, and I’ll let you go after .”
I clamped my hand over my mouth, resisting the urge to puke. Or cry. My cheeks flooded with heat, knowing there was video evidence of me at my most vulnerable. I didn’t want anyone seeing me like that, least of all him.
A floorboard creaked beneath my foot, giving me away. Dane’s head snapped up, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made me shiver. In an instant, he slammed the laptop shut, cutting off the haunting echo of my terror-filled voice.
“Christ, Piper,” he said, his jaw tightening as he took in my work clothes. “I forgot to tell you Derek’s putting you on paid leave until this is resolved.”
While thrilled they weren’t at each other’s throats and seemed to have come to some truce, I didn’t appreciate anyone making decisions on my behalf. I snagged my purse and keys off the counter, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from starting a fight.
“Did you not fucking hear me?”
I gritted my teeth. “I heard you just fine, but I’m going anyway. I need to get out of this house.”
In two long strides, he was in front of me. “You’re not going anywhere but back to bed.”
“No.” I planted my feet, refusing to give up what little independence I had left. “I’m going to work, Dane.”
“Wasn’t a request. Get your ass back in bed. Now.”
Anger flared in my chest, hot and bright, my voice deadly as I hissed, “I’m not a child you can order around.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re fucking acting like one right now.”
“And you’re acting like a dick!” I planted my hands on his chest, trying to shove him back, but it was like trying to move a building. A stupid, pig-headed building. “I’m done with you thinking you call all the shots around here. Now move.”
The tension radiating off him was palpable. Like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point. “Not doing this with you right now,” he stated flatly, the muscle beneath his eye twitching wildly.
Having had enough of being pushed around by men to last a lifetime, I ducked under his arm and made a beeline for the front door. “Cool. Have fun being an asshole. I’m going to work.”
I made it three steps before his hand clamped around my wrist, yanking me back. “Like hell you are,” Dane growled, the muscles in his neck straining as he fought me for control. “I swear to Christ, Piper, I’ll handcuff you to the fucking bed if you don’t stop being such a brat.”
Fury and hurt ignited inside me like a lit match on gasoline. “A brat?” I exclaimed, struggling against him. “I’m not the one playing vigilante!”
“Those motherfuckers held a gun to your head—they laid hands on you! What the fuck did you expect me to do?” he snapped, releasing me to drag his hands through his hair in frustration.
“Let the cops handle it!”
Dane laughed—a low, menacing chuckle that raised the hairs on my arms. “I look like the kind of guy who’s gonna sit back and wait for the cops to handle it, sweetheart? Someone touched my Ol’ Lady?—”
“I’m not your Ol’ Lady,” I interjected, jabbing a finger into his chest. “I’m not some piece of property for you to defend. I’m a person. A person who’s trying to heal from a traumatic experience. You can’t pull your biker bullshit and call dibs on me like I’m the last slice of cake!”
His eyes flashed dangerously. Before I could blink, he had me up against the wall, his muscular body caging me in, radiating heat and barely contained fury.
“I don’t need your permission to do shit, sweetheart,” he growled, his breath hot against my ear. “It’s cute you think you get a say in the matter, but you’re mine. And I protect what’s mine.”
A shiver ran through me, equal parts fear and arousal. It didn’t matter whether I was awake or asleep, my body responded to him, even when I didn’t want it to. “By breaking the law?” I challenged, meeting his gaze defiantly. “How is that protecting me? ”
“In my world, we don’t wait around for the law. We are the law,” he said, his voice deadly calm.
I shook my head and squeezed the pads of my fingers into my palms, overwhelmed by the sheer stupidity of his statement. Was that what my mother had meant by club justice?
“Let me get this straight. You’re going to interfere with an active police investigation?”
“No. Told you already. I’m going to find the fuckers involved and make them pay,” he said.
Needing to put some distance between us before I did something foolish—like strangle him with my bare hands—I brushed past him.
“Where the hell are you going?” Dane caught me by the elbow, his grip like iron.
“Away from you,” I muttered, trying to wrench free.
He chuckled. “I see. You’re good with the softer sides of me, but the minute the not-so-nice parts come out, you’re ready to run.”
“Fuck yes, I am! Because I know how this story ends!” I had a little girl to worry about, and my number one priority was keeping her safe.
The cold look in his eyes returned. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“My father was a biker. He used to beat my mom. The last time, she ended up in the hospital, where she discovered she was pregnant with me. A nurse helped her contact my grandparents, and they drove up to Oklahoma to get us out.” My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard before adding, “If we’d stayed, we’d both be dead.”
Dane’s grip on my arm loosened, his expression shifting from anger to shock. “You think I could do that—that I could hurt either one of you?”
I glared up at him in stony silence, still tugging against his hold.
“Fucking talk to me, Piper.”
“What’s the point?” I looked down, angrily blinking back tears. “You’re going to do what you want even if it puts me and Avery in danger. Fuck what I need, right?”
“What you need is to feel safe,” he said, cupping my chin and forcing my eyes up to his. “Not spend the next few weeks, months, or years looking over your shoulder and jumping at every little noise.”
“But the police?— ”
“Are going to follow their law. That means the man who hurt you has the right to a fair trial, the right to a lawyer, and the right to confront you in a courtroom. Let’s say the jury manages to find him guilty. Then he’s looking at five to twenty-five years behind bars with the possibility of parole in five,” he said, stroking my jaw with his thumb.
“What happens when he’s back on the streets, Piper? You going to trust that legal system to keep him from coming after you or Avery?” His eyes burned into mine, dark and intense.
“So you’re—” I licked my dry lips, my pulse thrumming against his fingertips. “You’re good with killing…for me?”
Dane kept his eyes on mine, his grip on my chin tightening. “Darlin’, I’d burn the whole fucking world to the ground for you.”
The intensity in his voice sent a tremor down my spine. “That’s what scares me,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I don’t want what happened to turn you into something you’re not.”
The muscle in his jaw flexed. “I’m a monster, sweetheart. Have been since long before you came along.”
I shook my head, tears spilling onto my cheeks. “No. No, you’re not. The Dane I know is kind and gentle. He takes our daughter to the park almost every afternoon and buys me flowers just because. That’s the man I—” I caught myself before I could say it. I couldn’t think of a worse time to admit I loved him, especially when I still wasn’t convinced I hadn’t been dreaming the night I heard him say it. “That’s the man I know.”
Something flickered in his eyes—a hint of the warmth I was used to seeing. But it was quickly swallowed by cold darkness.
“That man can’t protect you,” he growled. “He can’t make sure those fuckers never lay a hand on you again.”
“And this version of you can?” I challenged, finding a shred of backbone. “By what, torturing them? Killing them? How is that going to help me feel safe?”
His nostrils flared on a sharp inhale, and for a moment, I thought he might lash out. Instead, he scraped a hand over his face as if trying to wash away any trace of emotion before taking a step back.
“You think I don’t see how you flinch whenever someone touches you? How you can barely sleep through the night without waking up screaming?” he asked, his voice strained. “It’s killing me to see how this is tearing you apart. And knowing that bastard’s still out there…”
Dane’s shoulders sagged, and he leaned against the wall, suddenly looking exhausted. “You want to know why I can’t let this go—why I have to handle it myself?”
I nodded, hardly daring to breathe.
“Because I can’t lose you too,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
The raw grief reflected in his eyes gutted me. I reached out, wanting to comfort him, but the anger still pulsing off him in waves held me back.
“What happened with Levi wasn’t your fault,” I said, lowering my arm back to my side.
He huffed out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “People keep saying that, but I could have done a hundred things differently, and he’d still be here. My brother wouldn’t have gotten divorced and fucked off to Colorado.” He absently ran his knuckles along his jawline.
“Way I see it, I can sit back and watch you suffer, or I can do what needs to be done. You may not like it, but this is who I am, Piper. The parts of me you’ve seen before? That was just the surface. This—this is the real me.”
“The real you,” I repeated. “And what exactly does that entail? Because I need to know what I’m getting into here, Dane. No more secrets.”
He closed the distance between us. “It means I’ll tear the entire fucking metroplex apart and break every single law to find the man responsible for hurting you,” he said, his hand coming up to rest against the base of my throat. “And when I find him, I’m gonna make him suffer in ways that’ll have him begging for death long before I’m done.”
“How?” I asked, leaning into his touch as an involuntary shiver worked through my body.
Dane cocked his head to the side, clearly caught off guard by my response. “Well, I’ve always been partial to slow slicing. Slip the tip of the blade just beneath the surface of their skin, carving off bits of flesh a little at a time .
“From there, you move onto the limbs. I’ll probably start with his hands, removing every finger that touched you, joint by joint. Since there’s no way to know which fingers touched you and which ones didn’t, I’ll have to take them all,” he said, watching me closely. “When it comes time for the final cut, I’ll go for the head, making sure mine is the last face he sees while he chokes to death on his own blood.”
The cold certainty in his voice should have terrified me, but instead, a perverse sense of excitement coursed through my veins. The idea that this man—this dangerous, powerful man—would go to such lengths to protect me and our daughter called to something dark inside me. A wave of heat spread up my throat, and I clutched at his kutte, wanting to erase the remaining distance between us.
Dane’s eyes darkened as he took in my flushed cheeks and heaving chest.
“That turn you on, baby?” he murmured, applying just enough pressure to the sides of my throat to make my pulse race. “Knowing what I’m willing to do for you?”
I swallowed hard, unable to deny the heat pooling low in my belly. “It shouldn’t,” I whispered, even as I pressed closer to him.
“But it does,” he growled. His muscular thigh slipped between my legs, and I ground against him, seeking the friction from the denim. “Tell me, Piper. Tell me how it makes you feel.”
My breath hitched as his free hand skimmed down my side, coming to rest on the curve of my hip. “Powerful,” I admitted, my voice barely audible. “Safe.”
A predatory smile curved his lips. “It’s in our nature. The need to protect…to possess,” he said, his open mouth trailing over my jaw and down the column of my throat. “To punish anyone stupid enough to touch what’s ours. And make no mistake, baby. You’re mine.”
Dane’s teeth grazed my pulse point, sending goosebumps spreading across my skin. His words should have angered me, should have made me want to push him away and remind him I wasn’t something he could claim for himself.
Instead, I tipped my head back and bared my throat to his mouth before whispering, “Prove it.”