Chapter Thirty-One
I lay in bed awake for thirty minutes before I finally decided to get up. I really wanted to see Mason, I feel like I haven't spent any time with him for the last couple of days, and I miss him.
It's early, but the clubhouse is already busy, with brothers and club girls milling around. Mason is sat next to me, ignoring me, drawing as usual, and I'm trying to get him to engage in conversation, which he really isn't interested in.
I wrap my hands around the hot cup of tea, as Candy asks me what I want for breakfast. I've already told her that I wasn't hungry, but she keeps telling me that I need to eat.
"Candy, will you stop mothering her? The girl already said she wasn't hungry," Georgia-Rae, one of the girls, calls across the table. Georgia isn't a club girl, she is Ice’s little sister. I don’t know much about him, but I do know that his dad is a member who doesn’t really come around much. I don’t think that Georgia lives here, but she is here a lot.
It's so hard to keep track of everyone and trying to tell them all apart, but Candy explained that club girls are easy to spot, they are usually wearing very little and hanging off one of the brothers.
I smile and then shake my head a little. “Thanks,” I say to them both. “It’s nice to have someone care, I appreciate it, but I’m really not hungry right now.”
"I am,” Mason pipes up, and we all laugh. “Can I please have something else?” he asks, looking at me.
“Of course.” I nod. “What would you like?” I ask.
“Just a little fruit, please,” he says quietly, his eyes dropping to the table.
We’re not given that much food at home, and we’re never allowed to ask for more.
Mason did once and my aunt got in his face and screamed at him about how ungrateful he was and how much it costs them to feed us.
She was so angry we thought she was going to hit him.
I pushed her away from him and she fell to the floor, I hadn’t meant to push her so hard, but I was so scared for him and I wanted her out of his face.
My uncle walked in at that moment; he picked her off the floor and then rounded on me.
He punched me in the stomach and then grabbed me by the tops of my arms. I yelled for Mason to go to his room; he barely made it out of the room before my uncle threw me to the floor.
Him and my aunt took turns laying into me.
I curled into a ball while they lay kick after kick on my body.
By the time I made it back upstairs to my room, Mason was beside himself with worry. He felt so guilty, blaming himself for the attack. I tried to tell him it wasn’t on him, but he just wouldn’t believe me. Kept saying that if he hadn’t of asked for more then they wouldn’t have attacked me.
He barely spoke for months after that, and he never asked for food again.
"Are you sure that's all you want?" I ask, knowing that there will be plenty of food left in the kitchen if he wanted more.
"Yes please, I'm sure," he says. I give him a smile and ruffle the top of his hair before getting up and heading into the kitchen.
I grab a banana and some strawberries, placing them on a plate and grabbing him another bottle of water. As I turn around, I see Georgia standing in the doorway. "Hi,” I say, a little surprised to see her.
She smiles and then steps beside me. "How are you?" she asks, and I'm grateful that she's looking at the food laid out on the counter and not directly at me.
I swallow and blow out a breath. "I'm okay, thank you."
"My brother seems to be quite taken with you," she says, and I stop to look at her. I don't know where this is going but I think we should at least look at one another while we have this conversation.
"I'm sorry." She holds up her hands in defence. "I didn't mean anything by it, I was just wondering how you feel? You've had a lot going on." I sigh and shake my head, placing the plate on the bench before looking back at her.
"Honestly, he makes me feel safe. Mason and I have never really felt comfortable anywhere.
But I watch him here and he's like himself, he interacts with everyone here, he talks to people.
He hardly ever spoke when we were at home.
" My mouth feels a little dry, I grab the bottle of water I picked up for Mason and take a small sip as she watches me.
"I get it, you both feel safe. You are safe here, I promise you.
But is it just that you feel safe with my brother?
Or is there something more? Because he's never been this way with a woman before, he's like the rest of the guys, a man whore.
But I've not seen him look at another woman since he met you.
" She watches me, looking for a reaction, I think, but I don't know what kind of reaction I'm meant to have.
I lick my lips and bite the inside of my cheek. "It's more than just feeling safe with him. I do like him. I don't want to cause any trouble, Georgia, and I certainly don't want to upset anyone. I can stay away from him, if you want me to?"
"Woah, hold on, that is not what I meant," she rushes out.
I cut her off. "Everyone has been so nice to me here, and I'm so grateful that they want to protect me.
I don't want to cause trouble for anyone, and I would hate to think that I had upset anyone. If I had never crashed that car, I would never have met you guys, and you wouldn’t be questioning me right now.
" The thought that I might upset anyone at this club makes me feel sick.
She steps up to me and places a hand on my arm.
"Nova, take a breath. You haven't upset anyone. I just see how my brother is with you, and I wanted to know how you felt about him, that’s all.
I kind of wanted to play match maker. Nothing else.
" She rolls her lips like she's trying to hold back a smile.
"Oh," I breathe out.
"Look, why don't we go take Mason that plate of food and then we can take him to the park?" I flinch and step back at her question, shaking my head.
"I can't. If we leave, then I'd really like it to be at night, I'd rather not risk anyone seeing me." I panic.
"Hey, the park is on the grounds. It's behind the main building; you're not leaving here, and we can go out the back door, straight up to it. Nobody outside of the compound will see you," she says with a smile, grabbing herself a drink.
"Oh. That would be nice. If we can tear Mason away from his drawing book." I smile at her.
As we take a seat back at the table, I notice that some of the men have left, and when I turn around, I see Tongue closing the door to Church.
I know the rules, what happens behind that door has nothing to do with me or any of the women and I have no right to ask, but I find myself wondering if Ice is in there.