Chapter Twenty-Six
Dominic (Mace)
Handlebar looks up from beneath the hood of a red Buick when I pull up to the house the next morning. I vaguely recall it being at the garage in Sussex. If he’s brought that here, he’s in for the long haul. With Cassie being here full time for the foreseeable, I guess it makes sense.
He wipes his hands on a rag as I climb off and walk over.
“Nice car.”
“1955 Buick super convertible,” he points out. “Working on restoring it for a buyer.”
I peer in the window at the back. “Looks fucked up.”
“That’s the way I like them.”
The street is quiet, people who live here are normal everyday folk, probably out at work. Not sure they’ll appreciate an old car being on the driveway. Since when do I care?
“How was last night?” I ask, trying to bite back what else I want to ask, like if she is still going to stab me in the eye if I get too close to her.
“It was not what I would call fun.”
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing in my position.” He looks at me with a frown. “I’m going to guess she didn’t give you the full details of that prick shouting at her and throwing a glass jug in her direction.”
His features contort from a confused frown to anger. “No.”
“I might have overreacted breaking his nose,” I duck my head. “I don’t regret it though.”
“Don’t say that to her.” He straightens up his tools and closes the hood of the Buick. “Your side of the story changes things.”
“What exactly did she say?”
“He got a bit annoyed, and you barged in and smashed him into a wall.”
“Typical lawyer,” I shake my head and he laughs, which surprises me.
“You’re gonna have to figure shit out because I’m not spending any amount of time with the two of you at each other’s throats.”
Running a hand through my hair I look up at the house. I need a shower and something to eat.
“I hear your brain procrastinating from here,” Handlebar grins.
“Get fucked,” I blow out a sigh. “I… Fuck I don’t know how to talk to her.”
“An apology will go a long way. A sincere apology.” He studies my expression. “It’s not hard Mace. Are you sorry?”
“Not for protecting her.”
“For getting her fired.”
“Shit, thanks for the reminder.”
“She is best off away from that asshole, and it’s not like she is out of work. If anything, I get the feeling she was looking for a way out.”
“How do you do that?” I ask. He looks confused. “Read her like that, how do you know what she’s thinking?”
“Body language, the things she says, how she looks. I’ve had years of practice watching people.”
I laugh. “That sounds creepy as fuck.”
“I study things, I like to understand them, that extends to people. It’s a good way to protect yourself.”
“That doesn’t come easy for me,” I admit.
“You spent a lot of time hiding shit.” Again he reads my expression, and I don’t particularly like his words.
“The whole shit show with Nytro, and Ranger almost being killed to get him out of the way. We all know what went down with the Kingsmen. You were trying not to give away what you felt about how they were running the club into the ground. You were loyal, and that is admirable but it has made it hard for you to get out of that state of mind.”
“I’ll never be like you,” I mutter.
“No one is like me,” he winks. “Now go in there and fix your shit.”
“Is she likely to get her job back?” I ask quietly.
“Like I said, I’m not sure she wants it, but she would have liked to leave on her terms.”
“Women. I don’t fucking understand them.”
“You don’t need to understand her, you need to appreciate her for who she is and recognize that people view the world differently, that doesn’t mean we have to butt heads.”
“That’s enough of this shit,” I grunt and walk away to the sound of him laughing.
This is weird as shit. A few weeks ago, I couldn’t stand to be around him. Now we’re giving each other advice about women… And practically having my dick in his mouth. Nope, not going there.
At the time, I didn’t question it but it’s not something to go any further. We can share her, but there will be nothing between him and me.
There is music playing when I enter the house. Cassie is sitting on the couch with her legs drawn up and a laptop balancing on her knees. She is so focused on it she doesn’t hear me come in, only looking up when I walk into her line of sight. Her face is unreadable.
It takes me a moment to figure out what to say.
“I fucked up.”
She tilts her head and a little line appears between her brows.
“I should apologize, and I am sorry about your job and how that went down. The thing with Roderick, I can’t be sorry about that. I regret being so heavy-handed but I’ve let someone get hurt before by not being there.”
I wasn’t expecting those words to come out of my mouth. Just looking at her makes me want to spill the truth.
“You mean Waverley?”
“She nearly died. And that was on me. So yeah, I had that in my head when I heard him shouting and then throwing that glass. It’s messed up, but it’s the way I am.”
“It’s not messed up.” She sets the laptop aside. “Circumstances were different, with different repercussions for me. No one was going to die.”
She’s right. “It’s the way I think. I always see the danger, the what if.” I take a step back and sit down, towering over her can be seen as intimidating. I don’t want her to think I’m trying to control her or force my opinion on her. Handlebar is right about that. Her posture shifts when I sit.
“You saved Waverley’s life, you got shot for it.”
Her eyes dip to my abdomen. She’s seen the scar, the amount of times she’s seen me naked. She’s made no comment about it. A loud sigh escapes her, and she drops her legs.
“Truth is, I’ve been looking for a way out.
I was scared to take the leap. And a lot of it did have to do with this case.
I’ve always been able to choose what I worked on, but I was forced into this because I’m a woman, and they wanted to show the judge, any potential jury and the world that he had a female supporting him. ”
“That’s why you did what you did, getting her a better lawyer.”
Cassie nods but doesn’t elaborate. Fair enough.
“I don’t like the way it happened. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it and it isn’t just what you did.
It’s what they did. Harry didn’t have a second thought about it.
He fired me, told me to get out. I’ve worked with him for years and he didn’t even blink.
Maybe, it was the wake up call I needed. ”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?”
“Not a chance, that’s your job. I might be listening to you right now but I’m still mad.”
I nod, that’s understandable.
“At least I understand it better,” she says, looking directly into my eyes.
Her meaning is clear, she gets why I’m the way I am.
I wish I could change it. Both of them are right, I’m stuck in the past, blaming myself for everything that went wrong, with my old club, with Ranger the Prez I respected, even with Zelda.
I haven’t talked to Ranger in over a year.
He was there for me through everything, even when I turned traitor on them, he warned me.
I’ve buried my head in the sand. Been determined to make my club my own and break away from King. When I don’t need to do that. He’s given me autonomy, he lets me make decisions and doesn’t meddle. I’ve seen it that way because that’s what I expect him to do.
“Are we good?”
“Give me a little time. But yeah, I’m still salty about losing my job. On the plus side, I don’t have to work for that jerk.”
“Which one?” I arch a brow.
She smirks back and admits, “both of them.”
A knock at the door startles us. We’re not expecting visitors.
It opens before either one of us can get up and Rosa walks in.
She stares at the two of us then walks to her daughter.
Cassie pulls in a deep breath but whatever she thought was going to happen, she’s surprised when Rosa drops on to the couch beside her and pulls her into a hug.
“Are you okay, kiddo?” She asks.
Cassie looks up at me as she pulls out of her mom’s grasp. She nods and somehow, I know it’s for me as well as Rosa.
I leave them alone and head upstairs, not before I hear Rosa asking her how deep she is in with me and Handlebar, the innuendo obvious in her voice, and Cassie hissing at her to shut up.
A few days have passed since Cassie’s firing and the shipment at the docks being successful enough that we strike up a deal to work together more.
I’ve spent time alternating between the house, with Cassie, and going to the club.
Handlebar has done the same. The three of us aren’t often all together.
When we are, there hasn’t been any rampant fucking, but we do sleep in the same bed, which is weird as fuck, but also becoming semi-normal. Cassie is still getting over everything that went down. She’s not withholding sex, she’s not ready for it.
I roll up to the house after holding a meeting back at the clubhouse. Shit goes on and we haven’t had Church for a while. My officers needed to be filled in on what we’re doing. The Buick is covered and Handlebar’s bike is parked up next to it. It’s dark out but the lights are on inside.
Cassie has been to Sussex and out with her mom and Waverley a few times. Each time someone is with her and she hasn’t complained. Rosa has made some comments to both of us, winking behind Cassie’s back when she’s said something that riles her daughter up.
As much as I hate to say it, she’s growing on me.
Handlebar is washing dishes when I come in. I’m not a messy person but he likes order. I’m more than happy to let him do the cooking and cleaning. Cassie isn’t much of a cook either. We’ve kind of slipped into these roles without thinking about it.
Talon has asked more than once what is going on. He’s a perceptive fucker. What little detail I did go into, he was warned to keep his opinions to himself. I greet Handlebar then head upstairs to get washed up. The shower is running when I go into the bedroom.
I smirk to myself, if Talon’s sister knew what was going on in her bedroom, she’d lose her shit. Taking off my clothes I head into the bathroom. The glass is steamed up but her silhouette is clear. I’ve respected that we weren’t in a place to be fucking but that ends now.
Cassie yelps when I slide the door open but the shock fades and her gaze lowers down my body as the spray hits my skin. She doesn’t hide how I’m affecting her. Nor does my cock.
I grab onto the wet hair at the back of her head and touch her throat with my other hand, slowly wrapping my fingers around her neck. I don’t squeeze, I’m not into pain with pleasure, just enough to let her know I own her now.
A small whimper leaves her, and she arches her back, her nipples pebble to hard points and I pull her into me as I dip my head and kiss her.
Fuck I’ve missed her mouth. She grabs onto my hips, then runs her hands up my back and grips my shoulders as I lower my hand and tease her nipple, then her whole breast before lowering it over her stomach and through her folds.
It doesn’t take much to get Cassie wet and I groan as my fingers slide in with ease.
She kisses me hard, pushing her fingers up through my hair and holding me to her.
I’ve never really been much for shower sex, so I reach behind her and shut off the water, making her frown, until I cup her ass and lift her, so her legs go around my hips, trapping my cock between us.
I walk to the counter and set her down, turning her so she can see herself in the mirror. She looks fucking stunning. Using my foot, I tap her ankle, spreading her legs, then hold on to her ass and spread her cheeks. She gasps when I stroke a finger over her asshole.
“You like that?” I ask.
She nods.
“One day, soon, I’m gonna be in your ass while Eli is in your pussy.”
She moans and closes her eyes.
“You want that Cassie? You want to take us both at the same time?” I rub my thumb around the hole, then push two fingers in her pussy all the way to the knuckle.
She goes up on her toes and cries out. “I’ll take that as a yes,” I grin.
But not yet. Right now I just want inside her and we have nothing to prep her, it would take too long.
She leans down and presses her forehead to the surface when I push inside her with a grunt. It’s been too long. If a week can be called that. I want to be inside her all the time. I want to fuck her as often as I can. With him, without him, I need to own her.
I take hold of her neck and lift so she is upright, pressed tight against me, then thrust my hips fast, fucking into her enough that her hip bones are bashing into the counter.
She takes my hand and pulls it up to her neck again and I oblige her, wrapping my fingers around her throat.
We watch each other in the mirror as I fuck her harder, both of us needing it like this right now.
When she comes, I pull out, pick her up and turn her to face me, sitting on the counter, then push back inside and press into her thrusting a few times before I come too, dropping my forehead to her shoulder.
After a moment, Cassie touches my jaw, forcing me to look up at her. Our eyes flick back and forth on one another. Handlebar is right about learning to read people. We’re both scared but neither one of us wants to walk away. I brush her hair back and kiss her, putting all of myself into it.
Handlebar doesn’t come up until we’re in bed with the lights off. I don’t know what he is thinking, but he gets in behind her without a word.
It might be unconventional, but it works. No one is more surprised than me. This is what I want. Both of them. The way it is right now. I’m not fucking a man. But I can live with him being a part of this.
It’s insane that Cassie was so closed off to everyone but now she is opening up to two men. And we’re only too willing to be there for her, giving her what she needs in whichever way she needs it.