Chapter Thirty-Six
Mimic
I’d hoped King would have calmed down by the time we returned to the clubhouse. That hope was lost when, as soon as Indie and I had cleaned up, he yanked me into church and shoved me into a chair.
We were alone, only the two of us, as he sat in his seat and glared at me. I kept my mouth shut and waited for him to speak. I lost track of how long we’d sat there when Cash poked his head through the door.
“They’re here.”
King looked up and nodded. Standing, he walked to the door, and I assumed he was going to talk to whoever they were. Looking back at me, he snarled, “Don’t fucking move.” Then he left me alone.
Okay, maybe he was more than a little mad. King didn’t have a sister. He didn’t know what it felt like to know she was in trouble. I wouldn’t apologize for going after her. And there was no way in hell I would apologize for Indie killing that psycho bitch.
The doors opened, and Rose and Indie walked in, followed by Sam. I stood up, every muscle in my body tightening with panic.
“Where are the babies? Charlie?”
“Relax, they’re all fine. They’re at the house. King asked me to be here. For you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” Sam sat down next to me, and Rose sat on the other side of her. She held out her hands to both of us. Indie took the chair on my other side and reached for my other hand. Fuck, now I was really panicking.
The doors opened, and King and the officers walked in, followed by Bane, and a woman I hadn’t seen in over ten years.
“MOM!” Rose jumped from her chair and launched herself at our mother. Tears ran down both their faces as they clung to each other.
I felt nothing. No, that wasn’t true. I was angry. My blood was fucking boiling at the woman who left us. She held onto my sister as she stared at me.
She looked the same, only older. Thinner than I ever remembered seeing her.
“Mimic,” Sam whispered beside me. “Are you okay?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t voice what I was feeling right now. Indie squeezed my hand, scooting closer to me. She whispered in my ear, “She loves you, Mimic. She never stopped. He lied. Don’t let him win.”
I knew what she was doing. She wanted me to do what Rose had done. She wanted me to run to my mother and embrace her in my arms. That was what she would do if her mother were standing there.
“Thorne,” Rose called.
I shook my head, letting my eyes drop to the table. I couldn’t look at her. Couldn’t let my mind accept that she was here. She wasn’t real. She was gone. I had a new mom now. I didn’t need her anymore.
Sam pushed her chair back and stood. The next thing I knew, someone took her place. The scent of her perfume assaulted me. It was the same as when I was a kid. Vanilla. It was my favorite. A reminder of the cookies she used to bake, and the candles she burned every day.
Her hand reached out and settled over mine. “Thorne.” The sound of her voice stirred something inside me. A memory from deep within. One I’d buried, along with a thousand others as I tried to forget her.
“Baby, please look at me.”
I clung to Indie’s hand. She was my lifeline. The one thing that tethered me to this reality. My head swam in a whirlwind of memories clashing together like the tide. Memories I cherished, of a loving mother, contradicted by years of conditioning about a woman who no longer wanted me.
“I’ve missed you so much. Hope of finding you and your sister was the only thing that got me through all the shit they did.”
My head snapped up. My mother didn’t swear. She hated it. She didn’t use those fucking words that she forbade us from saying.
“It’s too fucking late.” I yanked my hand back. Standing abruptly as my chair slid back against the wall, I stormed toward the doors, when Bane caught my arm.
“She is your mother.”
“Fuck you.”
“August, let him go.” I turned to look at her. Dakota screamed in my head. She didn’t want you. She gave you to me. She’d had enough of you. Every vile thing he said about her overrode everything she once meant to me.
I wrenched my arm free and stormed out to my bike. The faint sound of Indie calling my name penetrated my brain enough to slow me down. She climbed on behind me, her arms wrapping around my waist, holding me tight. A promise that she had my back. That she wouldn’t let go.
The gates opened without question, and I roared through them. I had to get away. I had to clear my head. I rode out of town. My old lady at my back. I heard the pipes behind me. I didn’t look back to see who it was. I didn’t care.
I had to get away.
We rode for hours. At one point, I looked back and saw Johnny behind us. I knew King had sent him to watch over me. To make sure I didn’t do something stupid.
We stopped at a motel in Brady, about two and a half hours east of Diamond Creek. Johnny went inside and came back with two keys. He handed one to Indie, as I sat on my bike staring at nothing. The only reason I’d stopped was that Indie was getting tired.
I wasn’t ready to go home.
“I’ll call King and let him know we’ll be home tomorrow. Don’t go anywhere without me.”
“We won’t. Thank you, Johnny.”
Johnny hesitated before walking to his room.
“Come on, let’s go inside.”
I looked up at Indie. I hadn’t said a word since we left the clubhouse. There was nothing to say. I swung my leg over the bike, and Indie held out her hand.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t give me that look. You would have left without me and I’d be freaking out with everyone else. Give me the fucking key.”
“No.”
I snatched the room key from her hand and walked in the same direction as Johnny. Looking at the number on the plastic key chain, I walked over to the door with a ten on it and unlocked it.
Tossing the key onto the dresser, I went straight to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. My hands braced the sink as I hung my head.
The front door slammed shut, and I knew Indie was pissed. God, I loved her angry. I looked up at my reflection in the mirror. I was an asshole. I hadn’t even listened to her. What could she possibly say to explain why she never came back?
Why she never told us about our father? We could have looked for him. We could have gone to him when she disappeared. Now he was dead, and we’d never get to know him. Never know what kind of man he was.
I hid in the bathroom as long as I could, until Indie knocked on the door. “Johnny dropped off some food. Come out here and eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Bullshit. Get your ass out here before I knock the fucking door down. You know I can do it.”
I smiled despite the mood I was in.
Another glance in the mirror told me I was a pussy. I should have stayed and asked her questions. Asked her about all the shit that Dakota said. She would only lie. She’d swear she’d never said those things. How could I believe a woman who kept so many secrets?
Opening the door, I stepped into the main part of the room. It was a fleabag motel, but it got the job done.
“Johnny got burgers. Here.” She held one out until I took it. I wasn’t hungry, but I opened it and took a bite anyway, knowing she’d give me shit if I didn’t eat.
“Let me know when you’re ready to talk.” Indie sat back on the couch and turned on the TV.
“I don’t want to talk about her.”
“We don’t have to.” I watched her flip through the channels until she landed on Friends.
“How can you watch this shit?” I asked, sitting beside her on the couch.
“Because it’s the farthest thing from reality to me. It’s something mindless I can get lost in when I need to escape.” She turned her head to look at me. “She loves you.”
“Please don’t.”
“She won’t go away. You can ignore her all you want, but she won’t go away because she loves you. Moms don’t leave because they want to.”
I tossed the burger onto the coffee table and laid my head in her lap. She ran her fingers through my hair, and we watched a show about six friends who thought their lives were hard. They had no idea what real life was about.
The sound of the door closing woke me, and I sat up on the couch. There was nothing but darkness outside the window.
“Johnny ran out and got us a few things. So we can shower before we go home in the morning.”
“I don’t want to go home.”
Indie let out a frustrated sigh. “You’re acting like a child.”
“How the hell would you know? You had less of a childhood than I did.” Her face didn’t change. There was no shock, or anger, not even shame at what I’d said, and that was worse than seeing the hurt I knew she was feeling because of my outburst. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes, you did. And you’re right. But I know, because you’re acting just like Charlie when she doesn’t get her way. You’re a grown man, Mimic. Fucking act like it.”
“I don’t want you mad at me.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she huffed out a groan. “I’m not mad at you. I’m disappointed.”
“’Cause that’s so much better.”
“You need to talk about this. If you won’t talk to me, and you won’t talk to her. What about Haizley? Or Sam? Or your sister? If anyone knows what you’re feeling it would be Kytten.”
“Kytten wouldn’t understand. She’s always believed in her. Always believed she was innocent.”
“Maybe she is.”
I looked up at the ceiling. Maybe she was. Maybe everything Dakota and George said was a lie. Or maybe she was the liar. Maybe I couldn’t believe anything she said. The problem was, there was no way to be sure.
“Come to bed, Mimic.”
I removed my clothes and climbed in behind Indie. My hand went between her legs and she opened for me.
“I need you, Indie.”
“I’m right here.” She twisted around until she was facing me.
Cradling my face in her hands, she promised, “I’m not going anywhere.
I love you. I want you to talk to her. I want you to hear her side of things, and I want you to forgive her.
You have a second chance to have your mother in your life. I don’t want you to waste that.”
She leaned forward and kissed me. Her mouth opened for me, letting me swirl my tongue around inside her, tasting her, before she pulled back.
“But if you don’t want to do any of that, I’ll still be here. You come first. Always.”
It was exactly what I needed to hear. I needed to know my relationship with Indie wouldn’t be contingent on my relationship with my mother. I needed to know that I was important to someone. That what I needed was a priority.
“I love you, Indigo Cambridge.”
“I love you too. Make love to me,” she whispered.
Immediately, I covered her body with mine, and without any foreplay, any conditioning, I lined up the head of my cock with her pussy and pushed in with ease.
This was home. Indie was my peace. My shelter in the storm. No matter what happened when we got back to the clubhouse, I knew she’d be right beside me.
Where she belonged.