Chapter Twelve
Prospect duty for once was a fucking relief. Rocket was on with me, and we were on the damn gate as usual, but there were more supplies arriving soon, and we’d be helping to unload them. Menial work was what I needed. Physical labour, so my body would tire my brain out. That was the hope anyway.
“How’s your girl doing?”
I kicked the ground, sending dust in his general direction. That’d teach him to sit his ass on the ground while I was standing.
“Prick. I’m being nice, man. How’s she doing? Nightmares and stuff? I bet she is. I mean, that’s how some people deal with stuff. Not me. I mean, I have, but…” he trailed off at my grin, “what? What’s that look?”
“You’re babbling. That’s usually my thing, but it’s cute on you.”
“Fuck off.”
I turned to lean on the gate, which was a temporary one they’d fitted because we’d had to widen the gateway for the big equipment to get in, and it was more like a farm gate.
I mean, you could probably climb over it, but at least there was a little temporary hut for prospects to sit in for nighttime security.
Maybe I should have volunteered for that.
The thought of leaving Glory alone at nights though, that didn’t sit well with me.
Was she having nightmares? I’d stayed away from her at nights, because I didn’t want to be tempted to climb in and hold her if she was struggling.
Besides, she actually did nearly break my nose for watching her sleep already.
“We’re here all day, man. Might as well talk or I’ll get all lonely over here. You know how it hurts me when you hold all your feelings in like that.”
“Dickhead. Look, I’m just… I’m struggling with her being there. Not because I don’t want her there, but because it feels so fucking right that she is.”
“Because you love her,” he pointed out, scrambling up from the dusty ground to lean beside me. The dumb fucker was covered in beige dust, but didn’t seem to care. He hadn’t brought the pup with him today, which was a shame, to be honest. She was way cuter than him.
“Where’s Nixie?”
Rocket laughed, shaking his head as he stared out at the empty road, probably wishing he was out there on his ride. I mean, that’s all we wanted out of life really. Open roads, two wheels, and fucking old ladies holding on to us. Fuck.
“Changing the subject, man. That’s what you do when you’re too afraid to admit the truth.”
“Fine. I fucking love her, okay? It doesn’t matter. It never mattered, and it matters even less right now. You want to hear what she wants?”
He shrugged, and I wanted to slap the back of his head.
“I guess. If you wanna be a chatty Cathy.”
Despite my frustration, the fucker got a laugh out of me, and that’s what he’d been aiming for. I was just trying not to be so easy.
“You’re a real class act, Rocket. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”
His grin was his only response.
“She wants to be used as bait.”
He shoved back from the gate as his breath practically choked out of him.
“WHAT?”
“My reaction exactly. FYI, it gets a man slapped when he cares about a woman being put in danger like that.” I was actually pretty proud of the slap.
I mean, at the time, sure, it hurt. Not in a physical way as such, more in a ‘she lashed out at me and not him’ kind of way.
Still it showed that she was still in there.
That strength of character, that fire, hadn’t been crushed completely.
It was such a relief, despite her intention to put herself in fucking danger.
“She’s not going anywhere near the cunt.”
See? That’s exactly what I thought he’d say, what any of my brothers would say. What any sane person would say, because putting her in his reach again? Unthinkable. Insane. Dangerous.
“She disagrees. She wants to face him and show him she’s strong, wants to hand him his ass.
I get it. I mean, I don’t get it, because I’m not in her situation, but I can understand that she wants him to see that he didn’t crush her completely.
She’s still in there, man. I can see traces of it, hell, when she slapped me, that was a pretty big sign. ”
Rocket chortled as he turned to lean his back against the gate.
“She used to hit you a lot?”
“No, never, but it was anger. It wasn’t fear, or sadness, or defeat. It was anger, and that’s good. Anger can fuel her until she feels strong enough, right?”
“I mean, you’re asking the man who’s dating the scariest woman you’ll ever meet. She hands me my ass daily, and it’s so fucking hot.” He was grinning to himself, and whatever the hell he was reminiscing over, I didn’t want to know.
The rumble of a vehicle in the distance alerted us to the fact that this gate was about to be needed, so we both straightened up again. If it was one of the large ones, we’d have to open both halves, but if not, then at least the one we’d been using as a leaning post.
“I’m just saying, I want her to get her revenge, of course I do. I just don’t want to have to watch her put herself at his fucking mercy first.”
“Lack of mercy,” he corrected as he reached for the latch, when two motorcycles came into view.
Not our delivery at all. Harley and his old lady Caroline, on their rides.
She could be a cautious little thing, but when she was astride that thing, she was in her element.
I idly wondered if Glory would like that.
She needed something to give her a reason to leave my house.
“What up, VP, Caroline,” Rocket said cheerily as they parked up and silenced their machines.
“Hey, man.”
“Hi Rocket, oh… where’s Nixie?” She pouted at him, and we all chuckled, because she was adorable, and I knew that she’d hit it off with Glory the one night she’d been at our place. Fuck me. Our place. It really was though, whether she realised it or not.
“Yeah, he’s been doing that all day. It’s kinda boring. Here I am, trying to keep him company, and he keeps ignoring me.”
I elbowed Rocket in the chest as I tuned back into the conversation happening around me.
“I was just thinking.”
“No shit, really? I didn’t realise.”
“Is he always such a jackass?” I asked Harley and Caroline, although we all knew the answer to that one. She giggled, but I caught that quick nod before she pretended to disagree.
“How’s Glory doing?” She asked next, and I shrugged.
“Thinks she’s ready to take on the world, but I dunno. Kinda wish she’d get back into doing things she loved before that fucker ruined her life.”
“Like what?”
Fuck me, that’s when it hit me.
Glory
Nate, I mean Henley, called to warn me that we’d have dinner guests, so I followed his instructions, which were ‘do nothing’.
He said he was taking care of everything, so I figured I’d focus on watching the videos Lenore sent me.
We had our weekly call today, and she was definitely on board with me learning self-defence, or as she called it, ‘break their balls training’.
Because she didn’t live near me, she’d sent me some instructional videos she’d put together, where she mostly showed us how to take down men as huge as that guy she was with.
I knew he was more than capable of breaking a person in half, but she showed how to use his size against him, and it honestly looked like he wasn’t holding back as much as you’d hope from a woman’s other half.
I think it’s because she was just that good that he had to give more than he’d want to.
“We’re here!” I closed the laptop and set it on the low table, heading up the stairs to the secret door. I’d taken to hiding down here in the man cave, because even though N… Henley said I didn’t need to worry about Sean finding me, I figured this was a good backup option in case he did.
“We who?”
I recognised Caroline and the woman they called ‘V’, and behind them, Harley and Rocket. In Caroline’s arms was the tiny pup from before, Nixie. She was wriggling with excitement, whipping her tail against Caroline’s arm as she giggled.
“Hi.”
The men were setting down bags of takeaway food, while Nate, dammit, Henley, grabbed plates and things.
“We thought you might fancy a takeaway rather than his cooking,” V said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the kitchen.
“I heard that!”
“We brought Chinese food, I hope that’s okay.”
I nodded to Caroline, and leaned closer to check out the pup.
“Look who it is, Nixie, you remember Glory,” she murmured as I offered my fingers again for a lick.
I’d seen the pup that night they all came over, but Caroline had been hugging her like she needed the comfort, so I hadn’t tried petting her too much.
I hadn’t been around dogs in so long that even though the little thing couldn’t be much of a threat, I still opted for giving her the choice of whether I touched her.
“Honestly she’s fine with women. It’s men she hates,” Rocket said, grinning as Harley made a harrumph sound.
“She hates him for sure. And Micro.”
Micro? I think I’d heard that name before, but there were so many people to meet lately. Their names were all so weird, but they all took it in their stride, so I didn’t speak up.
“I love Chinese,” I said, answering the earlier question.
I tentatively lowered a finger to the pup’s nose again, letting her sniff me before I risked touching her, and she responded with a flick of her little tongue.
I felt something inside me melt at that, and didn’t protest when Caroline handed her to me.
She was so small I could easily hug her to my chest, giggling when she stretched up and licked my chin.
She was so wriggly that I struggled to keep her contained, and that’s why dogs are amazing, because it’s impossible not to smile or laugh at their antics.
“Oh my god, she’s adorable.”
“That’s my baby,” Rocket said, hastily backing up as V turned to glare at him, “What? I didn’t say it’s her fucking name, woman, but she IS my baby!”
Even though he sounded borderline aggressive, she merely grinned at him, and his own grin widened right back at her.
“Don’t mind them. This is some foreplay thing they do, because they’re messed up.”
Rocket laughed. “It’s like she knows us, baby.”
“Alright you lot, let’s get stuck in,” Harley said as the food started getting passed around, and we settled around the table. The pup got passed around until she was back with her daddy, and then we began to eat.
“No, Rocket. She can’t have any of that!”
We all watched V telling him off, and Caroline leaned closer to me.
“She’s a vet. She’s not just being bossy.”
“Yeah, she is. It’s hot.”
Harley groaned. “They’re barely house trained themselves. How are you settling in, Glory? Nice place he’s got here, especially with that little bonus downstairs.”
I nodded, putting my focus on my chopsticks and every bite of yumminess they delivered to my mouth.
My god, I hadn’t had Chinese in so long.
Not since… ice water flooded my veins and suddenly I couldn’t stomach another bite.
I set the container aside, with my chopsticks tucked in, and reached for my glass of water instead.
“Glory?” I shook my head at Henley. It still felt weird to call him that, out loud or inside my head, but it was what he wanted.
I didn’t realise he’d been blaming himself for my situation, but then, had things been in reverse, I’d have been doing the same.
Not that he’d be dumb enough to end up with an abusive partner. No. That was all me.
“Do you want some of this instead?” Caroline offered, holding up a tub of rice, literally plain rice.
“Is that all you’re having?”
She grinned, pointing to the other container in front of her, chicken and something, I honestly couldn’t tell with all the smells filling the air around us, and that’s when my stomach growled, and the temporary silence in the room let it be heard loud and proud.
“Get him out of your head, Glory. You’re beautiful, but you need to eat. Enjoy the things you once loved. You never needed to cut these things out.”
“Will you shush!? This is nobody’s business!”
V cleared her throat then, and Rocket groaned.
“Oh god, woman. That means you too. Probably specifically you.” A second later he jerked in his seat and hissed at her, “fucking psycho!”
I didn’t understand it. He was almost aggressive with her, but it seemed like she liked him that way, fed into it even. How the hell wasn’t she afraid? A guy that big? He could do so much damage to her.
“Okay, men, grab your food and fuck off down to that boring attempt at a red room downstairs. We girls need to talk.”
“Red room?”
“Don’t ask, brother. She’s all kinky and whatnot.”
They didn’t argue with her, they just left the room, and that made me wonder just how much of this was premeditated.