20. LILY
As I hovered in front of the door to the bunkhouse I knew housed the women my brother and father had abused, a door I’d been trying to knock on for the past three damn days, I bit my lip over whether I should go in to help.
I got the feeling that Giulia, the woman Luke had attacked, was working to help them alone, and I wanted to assist.
My family had done this to them, after all. I should be one of the people to do something to make things right.
But I was nervous.
Really nervous.
I deserved their hatred, deserved to have shit thrown at me, and…
I blew out a breath as the roar of bikes suddenly drowned out even the noisiest of my thoughts.
When I twisted around to see where the racket was coming from, I saw about six bikes riding into the yard in front of the clubhouse.
I didn’t know any of them, but as I looked over the bikes and the helmets topping the guys’ heads, I had a pretty good idea which one was Link.
Whether it was the bike or just the fact that it was Link, my body started to overheat, and when the throb of the engine cut off abruptly, I was reminded of the fact that I really wanted to feel that buzz between my thighs one-on-one.
As the men climbed off their modern-day stallions, I leaned against the wall and watched them strip off their helmets, revealing exactly who they were to the world.
When I saw the same men who’d been around the council table the first day I’d come here, I had to figure they’d gone out to do something.
Exactly what, I wasn’t privy to, but I had to hope it included my father and his arrest.
Link punched Rex in the arm, which made Rex grab him by the head and give him a noogie.
The sight made me grin—Link was such a jackass sometimes. But I got it. Beneath the gruff exterior was a man who didn’t cut himself enough slack.
He was like Puck from A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Except, his mischief wasn’t meant to harm, but to distract.
I didn’t think even Link recognized how he acted the fool to make others feel better, but I liked that I was tying myself to a man who did that on the regular. Who thought of others and their feelings before he thought of himself.
What other kind of man would promise a woman no sex until she was ready at our ages?
I wasn’t a teenager. I was out of college, for God’s sake. And I didn’t know how old Link was—Christ, how terrible was that?—but I knew he had to be in his late thirties.
That kind of promise was selfless, and I appreciated him all the more for it.
Not because I wanted to take advantage of him and what he was giving me—safety—but because it made me want to give him the things I wasn’t sure I was ready to give yet.
I just knew when I was ready, he’d be the one I wanted. Just as he’d been that first time I texted him and asked him to come over to Tiff’s place.
The guys strode into the clubhouse, Nyx at their back like a storm cloud. His shoulders and arms were tensed, bunched up like he could throttle something?—
“Don’t worry about Nyx. He always looks like that.”
I jerked in surprise at the voice. Twisting around to find its source, I realized it came from the window to my left.
A beautiful woman of distinct Italian heritage was looking at me like she?—
My brow puckered. Like she, what?
I couldn’t really make it out. Was she angry with me? Distrustful? Disapproving?
Her face was a mixture of expressions, most of them negative enough to make me want to step back because I knew she knew who I was.
Licking my lips, I whispered, “I-I can go.”
“Go where?” The other woman sniffed. “Seems like you’re cornered.”
Was she talking here, now? Or just in life?
I wasn’t sure which option was better.
Fuck, I really was cornered. Hell, more than that, screwed.
“I’m Nyx’s woman. Giulia.” She pushed her hand through the window’s opening and thrust it at me.
Surprised by the gesture, I grabbed hers and shook it. I wanted to do so gingerly because the polite offering and gesture seemed too banal for this woman, but I made sure to give her a solid handshake. Like I’d give any of my father’s associates.
Only by exuding strength and confidence did you show no weakness to a potential foe.
“You’re Lily Lancaster.”
I could feel my face pucker as a whole, like I’d just chomped on a thousand Atomic Warheads.
Giulia laughed at that, surprising me. “No, we don’t like that surname around here either.”
I licked my lips. “I loathe everything my father gave me.”
Giulia arched a brow. “I wouldn’t loathe his millions.”
“Billions,” I corrected. “Each of them corrupt.”
“From what Nyx said, Link thinks you’re waiting on that money so it can’t be that corrupt.”
“I want my mother’s original fortune. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“You just gonna toss the rest away?” she countered.
“No, I have plans for it.” I tipped my chin up. “Not that I’ll get it now. They’ll probably freeze all his accounts once he’s arrested.”
“When they unfreeze them, what will happen?”
“I have no idea. His stakes go far beyond anything he informed me of. I was the useless daughter. He kept me in the dark about most things.”
Giulia pursed her lips. “You gonna hurt Link?”
My eyes flared wide. “No! That’s the last thing I want.”
“Seems to me you and him are pretty close, and it’s all very fortuitous on your side.”
I snorted, but I wasn’t offended. I could appreciate that she was looking out for Link even if, on this occasion, it wasn’t necessary.
“Nothing was fortuitous about any of this. It was all bad luck and good timing.”
Giulia frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It all started unfolding when Luke set his eyes on you.” My mouth tightened. “You weren’t the first, but I’m glad you were the last.”
“You don’t have a problem with me taking out your bro? Your daddy sure did.”
“He isn’t my ‘daddy.’ He was barely my sperm donor, and even then, sperm donors don’t do to their daughters what he did to me.” Something flashed in her eyes at my words, and I held her gaze, refusing to relent. “My brother was the spawn of Satan. Evil and twisted.
“I’m glad you put him down, and I’m glad that I helped get these women out of the hell he put them into.
“Now, I’d like to help them. Even if it’s just, I don’t know, sitting with them.”
“They’re not that big on communicating, Lily,” Giulia warned with a wince. “They’re mostly on the road to healing now.
“Of course they’re fucked up, but most of them are internalizing their shit. I think they’re going to need therapy to get them on the right road. Physical healing is only one side of the struggle.”
“True. I know where to find a therapist.”
Giulia tilted her head to the side. “You do?”
“Yeah. She’s my friend. She’ll help.”
“You trust her?”
“With my life.” Tiffany was probably the only person I’d ever trusted throughout my childhood, even if I hadn’t been able to share the worst aspects of my life with her.
Giulia hummed. “Let me talk it over with Nyx first. He’ll take it up with the council.”
“Fine. Whatever. But Tiffany is solid. She’ll want to help. Especially when everything comes out.”
“You sound excited about that,” Giulia mused, her eyes drifting over my face.
“I am. I want to be free of him.”
“Maybe you should unchain yourself from that name of yours.”
I blinked. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Usually am.”
My lips twitched. “Good to know.”
“What’s your mom’s maiden name?”
“Lindenbourg.”
As I’d expected, her eyes widened at that. “Holy shit. You’re a Lindenbourg?” Her mouth gaped as she thought about exactly who the Lindenbourgs were. “No wonder you want your mother’s stake back.”
“I have plans.”
“What kind of plans? To buy an island?” she scoffed, then her brow furrowed and I figured she was thinking about Link.
“To protect myself and any other women like me.” I jerked my chin up. “I’ve been chattel all my life. My mom was too. I refuse to be that anymore.”
“Hell yeah,” Giulia agreed. “Fucking men.”
Despite the thoughts flushing through me, and the rage and annoyance they brought, I had to laugh at that. “Yeah. Fucking men.”
“What did we do now?”
Giulia grumbled, “For big motherfuckers, you’re sneaky as shit.”
“All the better for hunting you,” Nyx retorted, but he looked smug.
Link just looked confused.
Hell, how had they both approached us without us noticing?
I shot him a shaky smile, and though it took more courage than he probably knew, I held out my hand for him.
He eyed it, then me, then took a step forward.
When our hands were clasped, something inside me sighed, and I twisted my arm under his so I was touching his side.
“You giving Lily shit?” Nyx asked Giulia as he leaned against the bunkhouse wall.
“Just vetting her. Making sure she’s good enough for our Link.”
“What did you decide? Can Link bone her with your permission?” Nyx drawled.
My cheeks flushed with heat at his crudeness, and Link groused, “Fuck off, man. Don’t talk shit like that about my woman.”
Nyx’s brows arched. “It’s like that, huh?”
Link grunted. “Yeah. It fucking is. And you already fucking know it. Stop picking fights you ain’t got a chance of winning.”
Giulia held out a hand. “You owe me a Benjamin Franklin, Nyxy-poo.”
The nickname had me curling my lips inward to hold back a smile. Nyx just grunted, even as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
When he slapped a note on Giulia’s still outstretched palm, he looked at me and said, “You’ve helped the club and I thank you for that. But if you hurt Link, I will end you.”
He said it so easily, so casually, that I knew he meant it. And when he said ‘end,’ I knew he meant a whole other verb.
“Well, that really scared the shit out of her. Jesus, Nyx. You need to work on your bedside manner,” Giulia complained, even as she pocketed the money she’d evidently won in a bet.
On us.
What on Earth?
“She’s going to hurt me, and I’m going to hurt her. But I’m also going to make her happy and she’ll make me happy too,” Link rumbled. “Ain’t that what happens in a relationship? Ain’t there good times and bad times too?”
Giulia’s smile was soft, then it turned wicked when she looked at Nyx. “Yeah, babe, ain’t that how shit rolls when you’re in wuv?” Nyx pulled a face, but before he could reply, Giulia continued, “Lily says she knows someone who’s a therapist who might be able to help the girls.”
Link turned to me, but it was kind of awkward because I didn’t release my odd clasp on his hand. “Who?”
“Tiffany.”
His brows lifted. “She’s a therapist?”
“Good one.” They didn’t need to know she wasn’t fully qualified. When Tiff got her ass in gear, she’d be the best. So I hedged, “But she doesn’t have to do it, so she doesn’t.”
“Why doesn’t she have to do it?” Giulia questioned.
“She’s a Farquar,” I answered with a shrug. “In our circle, the daughters go to college, but it’s not really to get a job.”
Giulia made a fake puking sound. “It’s to find a husband? Jesus Christ. What is this? 1820?”
“Pretty much.” I shrugged. “Not for me now though. I guess not her either, not with everything that’s happened.”
“No,” Link concurred, his hand squeezing mine. “We spoke with the sheriff. Showed him the footage you found. Things are in motion even as we speak.”
A shaky smile crossed my lips. “Good.”
Giulia’s gaze softened on mine once more, then she murmured, “Come back tomorrow. I’ll tell the girls about you. If there’s a problem, I’ll tell them to get over it, but it’s good to give them some time to gel with things, you know? They still jump whenever one of the guys comes inside.”
“Ghost is stronger than most,” Link argued.
“Yeah. True. Plus she’s sweet on Mav.”
“Still can’t get over the fact he’s come out to visit with her,” Nyx muttered, shaking his head.
Link tugged on my hand. “Come on, babe. Got something to show you.”
Giulia snorted. “Don’t trust his ‘show and tell,’ Lily.”
Link flipped her the bird, then hauled me along the path back to the bunkhouse I’d been in since the afternoon he, Rex, and Nyx had brought me here.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I queried, breathless at the pace he was setting.
“Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all.”
I wasn’t sure whether he was speaking truthfully or not, but I figured I’d find out the second I was inside.
The exterior of the bunkhouse was painted a soft cream, and the door and the shutters were a maroon red that gave the place a cozy charm which seemed discordant with their locale.
Still, I wasn’t sure why an MC needed little cottages like this on their land, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know either. If only the inside looked as quaint as the outside—hippies would be well at home once they crossed the threshold.
When Link burst into the bunkhouse and slammed the door closed, I wondered what on Earth was the matter, then I found myself pressed against the still vibrating door and Link pressed against me in turn.
Before my heart could leap in surprise, his mouth was on mine and his tongue was between my lips.
Maybe, with another man, I’d have tensed up, maybe I’d have been scared. But this was Link. And I trusted him.
So, with my body in full recognition of who was rubbing up against it, I proceeded to melt into him.
God, my legs almost turned to mush as he took my mouth like he was taking all of me. Like he was absorbing me into him or something.
I’d been kissed before. I wasn’t totally hopeless. But this was a kiss. All the others had been posers.
Dear God.
My hands came up to grab a hold of his hair to keep him in place, but he gripped one of them and pinned it over head.
My fingers interlocked with his, and I knew my nails were digging into his knuckles, but he didn’t seem to mind as he thrust his tongue against mine, making me think about what it would feel like for his dick to be inside me.
I’d only ever associated sex with pain, and even then, I’d done my damnedest to dissociate myself from most things sexual.
If I was frigid, so be it.
That was my survival technique and, if I did say so myself, I’d done a damn fine job of surviving over the years.
This kiss, however, decimated me.
Tore me down, and snatched all of the teachings that had been forced upon me until he was kissing Lily.
The true me.
I moaned into his mouth as he rocked his dick against my stomach.
When I lifted my leg, hooking it against his hip, he took advantage and moved closer, not stopping until his hardness was pushing into my softness.
The feeling was exquisite.
I didn’t have room for fear, didn’t have time to tense up. I just felt. And it was simultaneously liberating and mind-blowing.
Not for the first time, I scented sweat and engine oil on him. Scents that came from a day of honest work, and God, it just added to the moment.
Something about the thought of him doing that stuff, of working hard, of getting his hands dirty, made the feel of him against me all the more raw. All the more overwhelming.
I was used to gentle hands, soft, manicured nails. Muscles that were earned solely in a gym. Skin that was tanned from a spray… Link was none of those things, and he was all the more perfect for it.
He rocked his hips, not stopping until every inch of his dick was rubbing down the length of me.
He nudged my clit, prodded at the softness of my opening through my slacks, and made me long to feel him without any of the trappings between us.
When I came, it exploded through me. Bursting into a shower of light I had never anticipated, because who the hell came from just a kiss?
But this wasn’t just any kiss. This was Link and me, and when we were together, we made fireworks happen.
The second I screamed into his mouth, he pulled back, and his lips retreated to my throat.
He went to the side, where my neck connected to my torso, and he sucked down hard, nipping until he bit as he rocked his hips harder, faster, grinding into me until he came too.
The long, loud groan was offset by the flesh he had between his teeth and even though it hurt—God, it hurt so badly—it was wonderful.
I rocked my head back against the door, feeling windswept and dazed and, hell, dazzled in the aftermath.
He was a heavy weight against me, but I could have dealt with that weight on top of me for the rest of my life.
Fuck.
The words resonated with me in a way that nothing else ever had.
I twisted my head to the side so I could press a kiss to his jaw. “Link?”
He mumbled under his breath, something I translated as, “Whassup, sugar tits?”
“I-I?—”
I stared ahead at the shitty bunkhouse that a Lancaster wouldn’t be seen dead in.
The dowdy wallpaper, the crappy furniture, all on a compound that was manned by nothing more than modern-day highwaymen. And, Lord help me, my heart squeezed so tight in my chest, I felt certain it would burst.
“Ya okay?” he mumbled again, part of my neck still against his damn lips.
Could I say it?
Could I even begin to enunciate what he made me feel? What he brought out in me?
My mouth trembled as my eyes burned, and I knew I had to say it, I knew it—even if it made things weird. Even if it changed things and made him not want to protect me anymore, though, I did feel certain that that wouldn’t happen.
Link wasn’t like any other man I’d ever known.
Sure, he had his ways, but he was selfless. He was a protector.
My protector.
I released a shaky breath and whispered, “I love you, Link.”
He didn’t tense up, didn’t even sigh.
If anything, he rocked his head up and back so he could look at me, square in the eye, and with a rueful grin, muttered, “Really glad you feel that way, sugar tits, because if this ain’t love, then I don’t know what the fuck it is.”
My lips curved into a wry smile. “That’s how you’re going to tell me you love me for the first time?”
His grin widened. “I like to do things a certain way.”
“I noticed.” I rocked my hips up so I dragged my softness against him. “That was incredible.”
“I’d take a bow but my knees might blow out. Hate to admit it, babe, but you do shit to me that no—” He hesitated. “I don’t mean sex. Just this. We feel right, sugar.”
I’d wanted to pull his hair out for daring to mention other women, but I got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about women, but everyone. Maybe even his family. His brothers.
So I nodded. “I understand, Link.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth. “Barely know you. Not in the real scheme of things, but I feel like something in me knew you right from the start.
“Saw you walk into the bar that night, all fancy like. Reminded me of ‘Uptown Girl,’ and I always fucking hated Billy Joel.
“But shit, you got my back up. Especially when you got all cozy with Cody.” He cringed. “Wanted to ram his nose into his skull when you leaned into him like that. Then, he sent Storm a message?—”
“Storm? I thought he texted you?” I quibbled.
“Nah. Storm’s VP. He was there, like he is most nights, getting wasted until he comes back here and gets wasted some more.” He reached up and tapped my bottom lip. “You need to meet Keira. I think you’d like her.”
I knew her name and the state of her marriage but I hadn’t realized they were close.
“She’s a friend of yours?” When he nodded, I murmured, “Then she’s a friend of mine.”
His eyes lit up at that, but he joked, “Got some bad friends, babe, not sure you want to know all of them.”
“Can’t be any worse than the sharks I’ve known all my life, Link.”
“No, I guess not,” he groused. “But Storm showed us the text, and I said I’d deal with it because he was hammered. So I did, I went to you, and I saw you in the hallway.
“You looked like you were gonna have a heart attack or something. Reminded me of my ma, back when she couldn’t afford her asthma meds. Used to wheeze and shit.”
I swallowed, thickly. “You were?—”
“Poor? Dirt poor, babe.” His smile was wry. “Not anymore, but I’m still not good enough for you. Better than fucking Fieri though. Fucking scum.”
“Don’t you think I should get a say in who’s good enough for me?” I ran my hands through his hair, letting my nails drag along his scalp, smiling when he groaned at that, tilting his head back so I could scrape all over the curve of his skull. “Everyone has been making decisions for me since I was a baby. I’ve made my decision. I want you. I love you.”
“Done bad stuff in my time,” he stated softly. “Weird stuff too. I’ve got a rep.”
“You mentioned that before. What kind of rep?”
He blew out a breath. “Like ass play.”
That had me blinking, then cringing. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” Another gusty breath. “Not just on you, but on me too.”
“On you?” I whispered, unaware that my eyes had dilated at the prospect, but Link, as usual, saw everything.
“Yeah. On me.” He grunted. “Fuck, you like the idea of that, don’t you? Knew you were a dirty fox the second I laid eyes on you, sugar tits.”
A smile crested my lips at his statement. “Your dirty fox?”
“Mine,” he rumbled. “Always, Lily. Always mine.”
And, Lord help me, I liked the sound of that.