Chapter Seven #2
I found Ellie exactly where I’d left her, huddled on a lounge chair in the Oasis with Hannah’s arm around her shoulders.
Carrie and Pippa sat across from them, their faces tight with concern.
All three cats had somehow escaped her apartment and found their way to her, circling the couch like furry sentinels.
Even Lucifer, who normally kept his distance, pressed against Ellie’s leg as if sensing her distress.
Her fingers absently stroked his sleek black fur, but her eyes remained distant, focused on something none of us could see.
The moment I stepped into the room, her gaze snapped to mine, questioning. I gave her a small nod, and the women fell silent, understanding passing between them without words. Hannah squeezed Ellie’s shoulder once before rising.
“We’ll give you two some privacy,” she said softly, motioning for Carrie and Pippa to follow. As they passed me, Hannah touched my arm briefly. “Take care of her,” she whispered, her eyes serious. I nodded, grateful for her concern and her trust.
Once they were gone, I crossed to Ellie and sat beside her. Binx immediately jumped into my lap, purring loudly, while Salem watched from her perch on the arm of the couch. Lucifer remained at Ellie’s feet, his yellow eyes fixed on me with suspicious intensity.
“What did they say?” Ellie asked, her voice small but steady.
I covered her hand with mine, feeling the slight tremble in her fingers. “Knuckles agreed to let him stay,” I told her. “Two nights, no more.”
She exhaled slowly, relief and anxiety mingling in her expression. “Two nights,” she repeated. “That’s… that’s good. Thank you.”
“There are conditions,” I continued, needing her to understand the limits we’d set. “He stays in the guest quarters on the other side of the compound, not near your apartment. And he’ll have two guards on him the entire time he’s here. He won’t even be in his apartment alone.”
Ellie nodded, a small furrow appearing between her brows. “He won’t like that.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he likes,” I said, the words coming out harsher than intended. I softened my tone. “Sorry. But this is our home, our rules. If he doesn’t like it, he can find somewhere else.”
“He’ll use those two days,” she said, her voice hollow. “He’ll try to manipulate everyone, make them feel sorry for him, charm his way into staying longer.”
“He can try,” I said, squeezing her hand. “But Knuckles knows exactly who and what kind of man he is. We all do. No one’s falling for his bullshit, Ellie.”
She looked up at me, her dark eyes searching mine. “How can you be so sure?”
“Honey, we were all in the prison system. We can manipulate with the best of them. Added to the fact that the Butcher did time in Terre Haute, every man here knows every fuckin’ word out of his mouth is a Goddamned lie.
” I brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
“The only reason we don’t kill him the second he sets foot outside this gate is because of you.
If nothing else any of us has done earned your trust, this act of kindness toward your father is the ultimate offering.
He was in solitary for a reason, and it wasn’t because he was too dangerous for men like us.
” I shook my head. “It was for his own protection. Frankly, I’m amazed he made it out without having a nasty accident. ”
“He probably managed to pay someone off,” she muttered. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Yeah? Well, no one here will accept his money, Ellie. I promise you. He has no idea what he’s walking into, or I guarantee you he would run in the opposite direction as hard as he could.”
The cats grew more agitated as we talked, sensing the tension. Salem paced along the back of the couch, tail lashing, while Binx jumped from my lap only to rub against our ankles restlessly. Lucifer pressed himself harder against Ellie’s leg, eyes never leaving my face.
“Let’s go back to your place,” I suggested. “These three are wound up, and you could use some quiet.”
She nodded, gathering Lucifer in her arms -- who, surprisingly, allowed it -- as she stood.
Salem leapt gracefully to the floor, and Binx moved away from my legs so I didn’t step on them.
We walked in silence through the compound, the cats trailing behind us like a small, furry procession.
The afternoon sun slanted through the windows, casting long shadows across our path.
When we reached her apartment, Ellie fumbled with the keys, her hands still unsteady.
I took them gently from her fingers and unlocked the door, pushing it open for her to enter.
The space inside was warm and lived in, scattered with Halloween decorations and the small touches that made it uniquely hers even in the short time she’d been here.
“Can we talk in the bedroom?” she asked, setting Lucifer down. “I just… I need somewhere quiet and… enclosed? I feel too exposed out here.”
I nodded, following her down the short hallway to her room. The cats tried to follow, but Ellie gently blocked them with her foot. “Not now, babies,” she murmured. “Mama needs some space.”
Lucifer yowled in protest as she closed the door in their faces, but she ignored him, turning to face me in the dim light of her bedroom. The space was smaller than the living room, dominated by a queen-size bed covered in a dark purple comforter.
“Come here,” I said, opening my arms to her.
She stepped into my embrace without hesitation, her body melting against mine as if she belonged there.
I wrapped my arms around her, feeling the tension in her shoulders, the rapid beat of her heart against my chest. We stood like that for a long moment, neither speaking, just breathing together in the quiet of her room.
“I’m sorry,” she finally whispered against my shirt.
I pulled back enough to look down at her face. “For what?”
“For bringing this mess into your life. Into the club.”
“Already been through this,” I said firmly. “You have nothing to apologize for. Not one Goddamned thing.”
Her hands fisted in my cut, clutching the leather as if it might anchor her. “I feel so stupid. Part of me still wants his approval, still wants him to be the father I remember from before everything fell apart. How fucked up is that?”
“It’s not fucked up,” I told her, brushing my thumb across her cheek. “He’s your father. That shit runs deep, no matter what he’s done.”
“I’m afraid,” she admitted, her voice barely audible. “Afraid of seeing him again, afraid of what he might do or say and that I’ll fold and let him manipulate me like he always did.”
“I won’t let that happen,” I promised. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time. We all will.”
She looked up at me then, her eyes clearing slightly. “Why are you doing this? Why are you all helping me? You barely know me.”
The question caught me off guard, not because I didn’t know the answer, but because the answer seemed so obvious to me.
“Because you’re one of us,” I said simply.
“Mine. Because from the moment you stood in that hallway with your three black cats and told me off, something in me recognized something in you. And because I care about you, Ellie. More than I’ve cared about anyone in a long fuckin’ time. ”
Her breath caught, and I watched something shift in her expression, fear giving way to determination. She rose on her tiptoes, her hands sliding up my chest to curl around the back of my neck.
“Show me,” she whispered, her lips a breath away from mine.
I hesitated, searching her face for any sign of doubt. “Ellie, you don’t have to --”
“I want to,” she interrupted, her fingers threading through my hair. “I need to feel something good right now, something real. And this, what’s between us, feels more real than anything has in years.”
Her words broke something loose inside me, a dam I’d built against feeling anything too deeply since Larissa died.
I lowered my head, capturing her mouth with mine in a kiss that started gentle but quickly blazed into something fierce and hungry.
She made a small sound against my lips, pressing her body closer to mine, her curves fitting perfectly against the hard planes of my chest.
I walked her backward until her legs hit the edge of the bed, my mouth fused to hers.
I needed to touch her everywhere, but I needed her in the Goddamned bed more.
When we tumbled onto the mattress, I braced myself above her, not wanting to crush her with my weight.
Her hair spread across the purple comforter like spilled ink, her eyes dark with desire as she looked up at me.
“You’re sure?” I asked, needing to hear it one more time.
In answer, she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head in one fluid motion.
The sight of her pale skin against black lace stole my breath.
She was beautiful, ethereal in the dim light filtering through her curtains, and the fact that she wanted me, trusted me enough to be vulnerable with me, hit me like a physical blow.
“I’m sure,” she said, reaching for me.
I lowered myself to her, my mouth finding hers again as I explored the soft curves of her body with my rough hands. She arched beneath me, tugging at my shirt, pulling it over my head with shaking hands. When my skin met hers, we both gasped at the contact, electric and perfect.
“Chains,” she breathed against my neck, my name a prayer on her lips.
I wanted to take my time, to learn her body with reverent touches and kisses and watch her face as pleasure bloomed across her features. But there was no possible way I could wait. Not this first time.