Chapter Sixteen
It feels strange being in the clubhouse.
I don't know any of these people, I don't know why they would let us stay here and it makes me nervous.
I'm on edge all of the time, like I'm waiting for something to happen, someone to realise who we are, who my uncle is.
Like I'm waiting for them to hand us over to him.
Every time the door goes, I jump, half expecting it to be him.
Wrath's girlfriend has been spending a lot of time here, a lot of time with me. I like her, but they think I'm stupid. While she might not have asked me any questions, I know that she's just trying get me to trust her to tell her what they want to know.
I like her, but I'll never trust her or anyone enough to tell them.
I won't risk Mason's safety. I watch him as he sits at the table in the corner.
There aren't any other kids around here, or none that I've seen anyway, so he's alone most of the time.
Although, Wrath does spend quite a bit of time with him, drawing.
From the minute Mase found out that Wrath was a tattoo artist in his spare time, he's been drawing trying to impress him, telling anyone who will listen that he wants to be one when he's older. I may be on edge here, but Mase isn't. He's taken an instant like to almost everyone here.
He told me last night as he was falling asleep that he trusts everyone here and that he wishes he could stay here forever.
I wish I could give him that, I really want him to be happy, but my main priority is to make sure he's safe, and I don't know that we are.
It's not just about not trusting the men and women here, if my uncle gets so much as a whiff of where we might be, he'll be here kicking the door down in a heartbeat.
Us being here would cause trouble for the club.
I haven't seen much of Ice since he brought me here a few days ago. I did ask Marissa where he was, but she said that he's working on some club business that only certain brothers are privy too.
I think she thought there might have been more to my question, but I had asked about Doc a few minutes later. Those were the only people that I knew, or at least knew the names of, and had spent more than sixty seconds with, other than Nitro, but that man was intimidating.
"Hey, are you okay?" Marissa asks me as she hands me a hot cup of tea then curls her legs under her on the sofa next to me.
I nod, taking a sip and promptly burning my lips. "Ouch. Yeah, I'm good."
"You sure? Because you look a little pale, and you seem a little, I don't know… off?" she tells me.
I curl my hands around the cup, letting the heat seep into my hands. "I just have a bit of a headache, that’s all."
She tilts her head to the side a little and considers me, her eyes flicking back and forth between mine. "Headache from the concussion, or headache from the lack of sleep and nightmares?"
Panic sets in and I slowly lift my head to face her. "I... wait… how do you know?" I ask.
"Your room is three doors down from mine, the walls aren't made of steel, babe. We can hear you cry out every night, then we hear you get up and go downstairs." She places a hand on my leg, giving it a gentle squeeze.
My hands shake as I grip my cup tighter. I didn't think anyone knew about the nightmares; I hadn't even realised I cry out. "I'm sorry, Marissa, I hadn't realised I was so vocal, I hadn't realised that I was keeping people awake."
"Hey, you don't need to apologise, I know better than anyone what it's like to have nightmares that you can't control, nightmares that consume you and make you afraid to close your eyes.
Maybe one day I'll tell you about them, but right now I will tell you that the men and women in this club, they are what got me through it, they are what make the nights bearable.
And Wrath, his patience and love are what saved me from the darkness.
" She takes the cup from my hands and places it on the table, then pulls me into a hug.
"I'm here when you're ready to talk, anytime. Even if that’s the middle of the night. Okay?" she asks, and I nod, because I don't think I can say anything without crying. I'm so embarrassed, I'm so afraid.
We both jump as the door slams, and I scramble to my feet, knocking the table, causing the cup to fall and shatter on the floor.
"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do it, I'll clean it up," I rush out in a panic. As I fumble about with the broken shards of the cup, Marissa kneels down, grabbing my hands, trying to stop me.
"Nova, it's okay, I got it. Let me do it," she tells me.
I shake my head. "No, I made the mess, I'll do it." A shadow falls over me, and I glance up to see Wrath, Ice, Nitro and a couple of the other guys heading over. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to knock it off. I’m gonna clean it up," I rush out in a panic again.
"I got the kid," I hear Wrath tell someone, and I quickly look over to see Mason climbing off his chair to head over, but Wrath is on him before he has a chance to make it over here, telling him something that seems to calm him, and a second later he and Wrath are back at the table.
I go back to trying to grab at the cup shard. "Oh," I whisper out, yanking my hand back as one of the shards slices through my palm.
"Hey, Dragonfly, stop." Ice grabs my wrists, lifting my hands and turning my palm up so he can take a look at my cut.
I try to pull my hand away and shake my head, but he grips me tighter.
"Stop, come on, let’s get you upstairs." He pulls me up and to him, guiding me toward the stairs, and I have no idea why I'm letting him.
"I need to clean up my mess," I try to tell him, but he just pulls me to him tighter.
"No, you don't. I'll take care of it in a little bit."
"No, we can't leave it, Mason—"
"It’s fine. He's with Wrath and nowhere near the broken cup. It will get sorted, please don't worry," he tells me in a gentle voice. I relax into him and let him lead me back to my room.