Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JACK
I rinse out my coffee mug before adding it to the dishwasher.
My stomach is fucking full after I delved into one of my mom’s typical breakfasts, so now I have to go to work at the porn studio with a heavy gut.
“Are you sure you ate enough, baby?” my mom calls from behind me.
She steps into the kitchen with her arms full of plates, so I rush to her to take them and place them on the countertop.
“I am good, Mom. Dom too. You know how much he loves your banana pancakes.” She beams from my praise.
Kara Masters, aka Risky, loves making her family happy through her cooking. She could cook for an army and not even break a sweat while doing it. My mom is the Queen around here, but if you ask her, she will tell you that all of the Ol’ Ladies make the club work; she never takes full credit for it.
“Good, good. I like my boys well fed. Who is taking Dom to school?”
“I am. I need to run some errands before a hunt comes in,” I explain.
“Might want to change that plan, brother.” I turn to see my twin standing at the door. “We need to talk.”
“Go,” Mom says. “Your father and I will take Dom to school. Go be big boys.” She winks.
I kiss her cheek and wait for Royal to do the same before I follow him out to the garage.
By the tense shoulders, my gut feeling is that I am not going to like what he is going to tell me, but I wait for him to speak. Leaning against a car, he rubs a hand over his face.
“Spoke to Tree,” is all he says.
“Well I should hope so, brother. She is your wife and mother to your son.” He flips me off.
“You need to stay fucking calm until I finish telling you what she told me.” He moans. “Fuck, she will kick my ass for telling you this, but I can’t not, Jack.”
“What is it, Royal?”
“Since the wedding, Lilith has been getting random calls at all hours of the day. Dead fish have been turning up at her house and at the store.”
My blood boils and my fists clench at my sides, needing to beat this fucker down. My nostrils flare as I press my lips together to try and rein in my control. The need to see this guy beat to a bloody pulp courses through me.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” I grind out through clenched teeth.
I begin to pace back and forth in front of him. He watches me, waiting for me to explode, because he knows that we both have a temper if we are pushed too far. Right now though, I need more information about what the hell Lilith has been going through.
Then I am going to go to her place to spank her ass for not coming to me.
“She is scared, Jack. The ex is a fucking cop. A pig-headed one at that; I have Mav looking into him.”
“She should have come to me. I can handle that fuckhead,” I snap.
Shaking his head, he speaks.
“My woman told me that Lilith is worried about what the fucker will do to you or the club if you step in. She seems to think that he will get bored and forget about her.” He sighs. “If you ask me, brother, this fucker hates that she has moved on, even though he stuck his dick in her cousin and married the bitch.”
I nod in agreement with him.
“Men like him hate being left behind. He fucking hates that Lilith has moved on without him, so he will escalate,” I growl, my short nails dig into my palm.
“I need to go to her.”
“Let her explain, brother. She is not like the other women in the club, she needs to be handled with care.” I nod and rush toward my bike.
For the whole ride to Lilith’s apartment, my mind races with shit that this fucker can do to her.
As a cop he thinks he is untouchable, but he is deadly wrong. He has never gone up against the Rugged Skulls MC; he may have the law on his side, but I have loyalty and a fucking army of bikers at my back, who will lay down their lives for me and my woman.
As I would for them.
Turning onto her street, my blood boils seeing what the fuck I am seeing with my own two eyes.
Four kids are outside her apartment as she lives on the first floor. Something that needs to fucking change.
Two are banging and hitting her windows and door while the other two are spray-painting her car and walls.
They are so engrossed in what they are doing that they do not hear my bike, so I have the drop on them, not that I can actually hit the little shits. Fucking protection laws and shit.
“Hey, you little fucks. Get the fuck out of here,” I growl, rushing them.
They laugh and scream, running in different directions so I can’t chase them, not that I will because I need to get inside to see Lilith.
Running toward her door, I try the handle, but it is locked. Knocking frantically, I call out to her.
“Lilith, baby, come and open the door.” My heart is racing at the thought that her ex got inside to hurt her while the punk kids caused damage to the outside.
I keep knocking but she doesn’t answer. Shit.
Pulling out my cell, I call her, but she doesn’t answer so I slide it back into my pocket.
Fuck it.
Stepping back, I raise my foot and kick the door in. The wood splinters.
Stepping inside, my heart calms seeing nothing out of place, but I don’t see my girl.
“LILITH!” I call out to her but get no reply.
I go searching for her: the bedroom is empty, but I hear a whimper coming from her attached bathroom.
Pushing the door open, I find Lilith shaking and crying in the bathtub.
“Fuck. Baby, it’s Jack. I’m here.” My heart aches seeing her like this.
She flinches when I get closer, and I grit my teeth to stop myself from lashing out and hunting Christopher down.
I send a quick text to Royal and my father, before inching closer to her again.
“Red, baby. Lilith, look at me.” She slowly lowers her hands, and I brush the hair away from her face.
Her eyes are rimmed red, tears soaking her creamy cheeks, and it makes my blood heat again.
“Jack.”
I smile. “Yeah, baby. They are gone. So it is time for me and you to have a talk.”
She looks me in the eyes for a time, and I can see her working through what just happened and what I can do for her. Her shoulders slump in defeat because she finally sees that I can help her, and so will my club.
“Okay,” is all she says albeit quietly.
I help her out of the tub, then hook my arm under her knees and carry her to the living room bridal style. Her arms go around my neck, holding on for dear life, and I have to admit I am liking her seeking me for comfort. Her body shakes against mine and her crying slows.
I will do whatever the hell I need to do to keep her safe from this prick.
Her warm breath against my neck makes my dick hard, and now is not the time to get fucking turned on when she is shaking with fear.
Stepping to her sofa, I sit, keeping her against my body, her ass on my crotch. I know she can feel my hardening dick, but she says nothing, just clings to me.
“Baby, I know that you are scared right now, but you are safe with me. I will not let anything happen to you. You know that, right?” She nods.
“Yes.” Her voice is barely a whisper, but I hear her.
“Royal told me everything that has been happening. Why didn’t you come to me?”
She sniffles, then wipes her face with the sleeve of her top. With her head still tucked into the crook of my neck, she explains.
“My ex is a cop, Jack. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if he caused you or the club any trouble and I think he would; he has this big ego and believes that nothing can touch him. He also has cops who will do his bidding for him. You have Dominic to think about.”
I sigh, holding her tighter.
“I love that you think of Dominic, but, baby, I can handle this guy. He may carry a badge but that does not make him invincible. He does not know what he is up against with the club. We take care of our own, Lil, and you belong to the club. To me.”
That last part makes her gasp; pulling back, she looks me in the eyes.
Her gaze bounces between my eyes, like she is trying to get a read on me but I just smirk at her.
“You got that last part, yeah?” She nods, her lips parted in shock, so I take the chance to lean in and kiss her.
I taste her salty tears, her lips plump from her biting them. The kiss lasts not nearly long enough before the sound of motorcycles rumbles through her apartment.
“The club is here,” I say against her lips.
“I cannot have you in trouble for me, Jack. Please. Let me handle this,” she pleads, but I tap her on the nose, making it scrunch up in a cute way.
“Nope. You are mine, baby. No one stand alone in the Rugged Skulls.”
A knock sounds on the door, and I call out for them to come in.
Boots thunder across the floor as the members of the club fill the room, with my father at the helm. He looks pissed, as do the rest of the men who I call my family. I nod to them in a thanks for coming and showing that they have my back, even though I never have to doubt that, and neither should Lilith.
Pres comes further into the room. Perching on the white coffee table that sits in front of us, he reaches out, touching Lilith’s knee.
“Lilith, sweets, you doing okay?” She looks at my father and nods.
“I am okay now. They scared me, but they didn’t come inside.” She sits up and tries to climb off my lap, but I hold her firm, not letting her move.
My father’s lips twitch at the act, before he looks back to my girl.
“Maverick is tracking them down and passing information off to Cal, so they can be dealt with by the cops; they will pay for damages. Now as for your ex-cuntface. The club has your back; Royal has filled us in about what this fucker has been doing. He won’t get away with this, the club can handle little pissants like him,” he informs her.
“No, Magnum, please do not get involved. You can’t get into trouble for me. We don’t know what he will do,” she tries, but I know it is falling on deaf ears.
“We do not give a fuck what he will do, honey. No man threatens a woman and gets away with it, especially when said woman belongs to the Rugged Skulls,” Opal states truthfully.
“But I don’t be?—”
“Do not finish that fucking sentence, Lil,” I growl, making her jump a little.
I sigh, feeling like crap for scaring her, but no way was I having her say that she doesn’t belong to me.
Her gaze connects with mine, and I lean in, kissing her swollen lips gently, making sure that she feels what I am saying through this one kiss. She is mine.
“Even if Jack hadn’t made this claim known, you are a part of the club, Lilith. We protect our own.” This comes from Sarge in his deep gravelly voice that leaves no room for argument.
Fuck, I love my club and family.
“We will be having a prospect on you at all times, even at Wicked Sugar,” Pres informs her. “When these punks are found, they will clean up the graffiti they made and pay for any damages.”
Looking at my father, I hold his gaze.
“I want her to stay at my place. I am not having her here with those little fucks still out there, and knowing that her ex can get to her. Even with a prospect on her, I need her closer.” He nods to me, just as Lilith sits up in my lap, and I smirk at the glare she is tossing my way.
“I am not moving in with you, Jack. Think of Dominic.”
“She calls him by his full name. No one does that,” I hear Slide mutter, but I don’t take my eyes off her.
He is right, no one calls him Dominic unless he is in trouble; he is always Dom, or Kid.
“Dom will be safe at my place. So will you. Thanks to Tank and the guys from the Phoenix charter, I have top-of-the-line security. He will not touch you, baby. Do this for me, please,” I urge her to do as I say.
I am doing this for her not only for me. I need her safe, and I need her close. If I am on the right track, this ex of hers will do worse than he already has, because he will not like losing, even though he married someone else.
“Okay, but the second something puts Dominic in danger, I am leaving. I will go somewhere he won’t find me until he gets bored.” Her voice sounds so broken, and it fucking guts me.
“Nothing will happen.” I kiss her again and tap her thigh. “Go pack some things for a week or so.”
With a nod she climbs off my lap and leaves, scurrying down the short hallway to her bedroom.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, sinking into the seat more, running my hands over my head, before gripping the back of my neck.
“You are doing the right thing, Son. This fucker will escalate, we have seen it before. He will hate that he lost.”
“If he had kept his cock in his pocket he wouldn’t have lost her, would he?” Rookie snaps.
“But then our boy wouldn’t have her, would he? She will be protected, Jack,” Edge confirms. I nod to the men I see as my uncles.
“I will post a prospect with her at the shop, he goes wherever she does,” Sarge says. “She will be well guarded, brother.”
“We can pay a visit to her through the day, there is plenty of us, Jack,” Travis adds, and I see the guys nod to me.
“Thanks.”
“How do you think Dom will react to her staying with you?” Slade asks from his place in the kitchen.
He is chowing down on a banana; that man never stops eating.
I laugh. “He fucking loves her, man. Lil brings him new candies to try, and she offered to show him how to make some one day.”
I love how they are when she is around. Lilith listens to every word he says, she doesn’t get bored like most women do when listening to a kid that is not theirs. It proves to me that she adores my son, and I fucking love that. No woman would be welcomed into my life if they did not want to take on Dom also.
We are a package deal, and Lilith knows that.
When she comes back into the room, she is pulling a suitcase behind her with an overnight bag hooked over her shoulder. I rush to take them from her, then Royal is there taking them from me.
“Prospect has the truck; we will meet you at your place.” I nod and the men follow him out, leaving me alone with my girl for a moment.
Cupping her face, I make sure she is looking at me before I speak.
“I will not let anything happen to you, okay? You are safe with me.” I kiss her lips gently, before walking her to my bike.
Once she has my helmet on her head, I take off, loving the feel of her body wrapped around mine, clinging to me like I am her lifeline.
This is not how I wanted her on my bike for the first time, so I need to make sure that we have a more pleasurable time on the next ride.