Chapter 11 #2
“Didn’t feel like staying to hang out,” she said wryly, glancing over at me. She was holding a phone with a purple case, wiggling it a little from one hand to the other.
“Don’t blame you.” I nodded toward the phone. “You turned it on?”
“Yep.” She showed me the screen. “I had a voicemail from Jesse’s school asking us to return her books and five voicemails from David that I haven’t listened to yet.”
“Why not?”
“I was giving myself a pep talk,” she said with a self-deprecating huff. “The morning has already been shit.”
“Yeah.” I leaned forward and braced my elbows on my knees. “Listen, I didn’t know what that was about before we went in there. I wouldn’t have let them ambush you if I’d known.”
Teddy shot me a small smile. “It’s not like you could do anything if they did. I might not know a lot about your club, but I do know that all those guys are higher-ranking than you. Right? It’s not like you could tell the president to fuck off, even if he is your grandpa.”
“Funny,” I replied. “Because that’s pretty much what I did.”
“What?”
“Told ’em you and the kids are mine, and the next time they’ve got questions, they can come to me.”
“Curtis, what the fuck?” she snapped, jumping to her feet. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I didn’t appreciate them fuckin’ interrogatin’ you,” I replied calmly, leaning up to look at her. “I was thinkin’ that you trusted me, and they fuckin’ implied that we’d leave you hangin’ if you’d worked for Granger, which isn’t even true.”
“They just needed to know what they were dealing with,” she replied in exasperation. “I’d want to know too if I were in their position. David’s a fucking menace.”
“Then they coulda come to you and fuckin’ asked instead of draggin’ you into church and tryin’ to intimidate you.”
“I wasn’t intimidated.”
“The fuck you weren’t.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Flat out, Teddy,” I said, rising. “You’re covered. You were covered even if you’d been in the middle of a job for Granger and skipped out. We owed your dad a marker, and he called it in. End of.”
“Then why did you feel the need to piss on me?”
“Because no matter how this shit plays out, they are never gonna do that to you again,” I roared.
“They knew from the moment we walked into the room how it was, and they still fuckin’ pulled that shit.
So I said it straight out so there was no misunderstandin’.
You are mine, and with that comes the protection of the club and protection from the fuckin’ club. ”
“We’ve been here a week!” She threw her hands in the air. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know that you include my kid in everythin’, even when he’s bein’ a whiny little asshole,” I countered.
“I know that you packed up your whole life in less than a day so you could get your kids safe. I know that you pay attention when Finn’s ramblin’ on about some random shit for twenty minutes, even when you’re busy and tryin’ to get shit done.
I know that Sunday is hair day, and yesterday you spent four fuckin’ hours braidin’ Jesse’s hair, and you didn’t say a word of complaint when your hands were killin’ you the rest of the night.
I know that the kids have got everything they could possibly need, but you’ve got only two bras and about five pairs of socks.
You all had the same number of boxes when you moved in, but by the way the kids have gone diggin’ in your boxes, my guess is that half of them are full of Jesse and Finn’s shit. ”
Teddy crossed her arms over her chest with a scoff.
“I know you kissed me back the first time, even though I was a fuckin’ stranger—at first because you weren’t sure what was going on and then because you fuckin’ forgot what planet you were on,” I continued.
“I know you like it when I put my hand on the small of your back, and you’ve got a sensitive spot on the right side of your neck where it meets your shoulder, and you shiver any time I kiss it.
I know you wear shorts and a tank top to bed every night with nothin’ on under ’em, and you move toward me in your sleep because you won’t admit it when you’re awake, but you wanna be close. ”
I reached out and slid my hand around the side of her neck, tilting her chin up with my thumb.
“I know you take my cock any way I wanna give it, and you get off on it. I know that you’ll stay put when I tell you to even though you’d rather wrap me up when I’m fucking you, but either way, you come hard and seriously fuckin’ wet every time.
Your nails are bitten down to the quick, but you can still dig those things into my back so hard I’m gonna end up with scars—”
“Enough,” she ordered hoarsely. “I get it.”
“We’re new as hell and shit started out seriously whacked,” I said, softening my voice. “But we got thrown into the deep end, and we’re treadin’ water just fine. This works. Me, you, the kids—it works.”
“It’s temporary,” she argued faintly, her hand coming up to grip my wrist. “That was the deal.”
“Fuck the deal and fuck temporary,” I shot back. “Why the hell would you wanna give this up? Who cares how it started? This works, baby. You know it does. Me, you, the kids. Why don’t we grab hold and see where this goes?”
“Seeing how this goes isn’t the same as claiming me at the club,” she argued. “That’s different. That’s permanent shit. Even I know that.”
“It is,” I agreed, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “Doesn’t matter what the hell happens with us. As long as I’m alive, you and the kids have my protection. Always, Teddy.”
She held my gaze for a long moment. Then her shoulders sagged, and she toppled against my chest with a sigh, pressing her forehead against my collarbone.
“You may come to regret that,” she mumbled against my shirt.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“We don’t even know what’s on the voicemails yet.”
“Eh. Fuck that guy,” I muttered, making her chuckle.
“I can’t believe you threw down for me.”
“Believe it.”
“We started having sex two days ago. Let me guess. You’re a serial monogamist.”
“Not even close.” I laughed. “I’ve never lived with a woman.”
“What?” she exclaimed, jerking back to look at me. “Never?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Came close with Dylan’s mother, but that was casual to begin with, and even though Dyl was on the way, neither of us thought it was a good idea to start shacking up when we knew it wouldn’t work.”
“Well, that was mature of you. And, by the way, I’m just giving you shit,” she said, pulling out of my arms. “I’ve never lived with anyone either.”
“Not even Granger?”
“Oh, god no.” She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure he was screwing other people when we were seeing each other. Thankfully, he bailed as soon as the little plus sign popped up on the pee stick.”
“Motherfucker,” I muttered.
“You have no idea.” She took a deep breath and shook out her arms. “The kids were still in the bonus room?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I need to listen to these,” she said, gesturing with the phone.
“Put it on speaker.”
She nodded and pushed a few buttons. Seconds later, a man’s voice came through the phone.
“Teddy. I hear you moved out of your townhouse. Let me know your new address so I can send Finn a little gift for his new room.”
“That was the first one,” Teddy informed me. “Not so bad.”
“Play the next one,” I replied, sitting back down on the bed. I pulled her onto my knee.
“Teddy, David again. I haven’t heard from you, so I’ll assume you didn’t get my last message. Call me back and let me know where you’ve moved.”
“That one was three hours after the first,” she said, frowning.
“Teddy, it sounds like you moved out of your townhouse without giving notice.” He made a chastising sound. “Barry was very disappointed. He didn’t even have the time to advertise it, and now it’s sitting empty. Call me back.”
Teddy inhaled sharply.
“Who’s Barry?” I asked, sliding my hand under her T-shirt so I could press my palm to her skin.
“He’s the property manager,” Teddy replied. “That’s against privacy laws, isn’t it? He can’t just give out information like that?”
“Don’t think so, no.”
She nodded.
“Teddy, if you don’t call me back, I’ll be forced to look for you, which will not make me happy. Reach out today, or I’ll find other means of tracking you down.”
The civility from his previous messages was completely absent. The man was pissed.
“That was on Wednesday,” Teddy said. She paused with her finger over the phone.
“It’s just a voicemail,” I reminded her. She pressed play.
“You stupid cunt,” he hissed. “You took my grandson to Oregon to play house with some white trash dick in a motorcycle club? Bring him back to Sacramento, or I’ll be forced to come get him, and you won’t enjoy the outcome. This ends now.”
Teddy let out a shuddery breath and tossed her phone onto the bed. “Can I turn that thing back off?”
“We’ll get you a new number,” I promised, kissing her hair.
She was taut as a bowstring as she messed with the silver cuff around her wrist, sliding it up and then back down toward her hand over and over.
“Erase those messages. David Granger gets within two hundred miles, we’ll know about it.
He’s pissed because he knows he can’t fuck with the club without stepping into knee-deep shit. ”
“He’s sneaky,” she replied, turning to rest her chin on my shoulder and wrap her arm around my neck. “Slime. Even when you think you’ve locked all the doors, he finds a way to slither in.”
“Not this time.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“We need to talk to the kids,” I told her, smoothing a hand down her braid. “The door was unlocked when I got home today.”
“That was probably me,” she confessed. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Start,” I ordered. “When we’re in the house, the doors are locked, yeah?”
“Yeah.”