11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
I sit on the end of the bed with Sissy across from Daisy as she pushes the same forkful of eggs around her plate, quietly.
“I understand you don’t want to talk about it, but you should talk to someone.” She glances at me but remains silent. “I went through something similar. Not as bad as what you’ve endured. When I was around twenty-one, I moved to Las Vegas with my boyfriend at the time. I thought he was Mr. Wonderful at first. He made everything sound like a fairytale. At first, things started off with my dancing to help pay the rent while he looked for a job. Then he began hosting private parties because it meant more money under the table. And when I would be nervous, he’d fix me a drink to loosen me up. I trusted him and had no idea that he was drugging me and that he’d let men pay to sleep with me. I’d wake up tired and sore and didn’t know why until I started paying attention to him putting something in my drinks.”
I swipe at the stray tear rolling down my cheek and Sissy gives my other hand a squeeze.
“When I confronted him. He laughed at me. Said no one would ever believe me and then he hit me and pushed me down the outdoor stairs at our apartment. I woke up in the hospital and was told that I had suffered a miscarriage. I knew then I had to get out or he would kill me. I called a friend, and she picked me up from the hospital and I moved back home with her until I got on my feet again. I’m telling you this because I want you to know that you can move forward and build a good life. Whatever ugly was done to you doesn’t define you.”
“Maybe,” her voice comes out in a crack.
“I know so, Daisy. I’m proof that it will happen. Especially when you least expect it. Someone is going to come into your life, and they will make you believe in good again.”
Doc Stevens, a friend of Big Daddy’s, shows up to check on Daisy. Sissy took off chasing after Hero and Lucie. Now I’m in search of my man so I can get a ride home.
I find him down the hall in his office, sitting behind his desk, smoking a blunt.
“How’s she doing?”
“All right, considering her situation.”
“And you? How are you?”
“You were listening?”
His expression darkens. “Want a name, Gwynee.”
“You don’t need his name. Scotty passed away. The part of my story you didn’t hear is that he ran from the police and took them on a high-speed chase. One that ended with the truck he stole crashed into a cement wall. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and his head went through the windshield. He died on impact.”
“Good,” he grumbles, looking pissed that Scotty had died before he could get his hands on him.
“Can we talk about something else?” I sit on the edge of the desk, and he offers the blunt to me. I shake my head. I’ve never been a fan of drugs and the way they impair people, but especially after what was done to me. “You’re doing a nice thing with Daisy.”
“Best thing for her is to get her sober and ship her off to a club on the East Coast.”
“But?” I ask, anticipating his answer.
“Lunatic might follow after her and I’d hate to lose one of my best guys to another chapter.”
“Who or what is she running from?”
“I’d like to tell you, but now’s not the time to get into it.”
“Why?”
“It’s club business. Some shit I’m not going to be able to share with you and even when I can share, I don’t need you gossiping about it with Cecilia at the salon. Not saying you would, but places like that make women’s mouths move.”
“I don’t like that, but I understand.”
“If you’re going to be with me, there’s a lot you won’t like.”
“Like what?”
“There’s going to be times when you won’t hear from me for a day or three. Questions that you can’t ask. Answers you won’t like. But you can be assured that when I say you’re mine that I won’t step out. Not on the road. Not behind your back. I’ll treat you good. Spoil your ass. Dick you down, but you need to know that I will never marry again. And I don’t want kids. Been there and done that. Not looking to go down that road again. Think you can handle that?”
“I don’t want to live with you. I’ve got my own life and I’m not ready to mold my life around another man. I’m not ready for kids and currently don’t want a ring on my finger.”
“Still want you in my bed at night, but we’ll discuss that more later.” He takes another hit of his blunt, cracks a smile at me, then stubs it out in the ashtray on his desk.
“I’ve got to get home soon. Need to do my laundry.”
“I can have a prospect do it for you.”“You want your prospect washing my unmentionables?”
“Guess not.” He goes to his feet, standing in front of where I’m still perched at the edge of the desk. “Give me that mouth.”
I press a hand to his chest. “Not with smoke on your breath.”
He chuckles. “You don’t like me smoking?” He crowds me, placing his palms down on either side of me, caging me in his warmth.
“I don’t mind it, but I don’t want to kiss you when you do it.”
“All right.” He straightens and holds out a hand to help me off the desk.
His arms go around me, and I lean into his hard, muscled embrace. He holds one hand at my hip, and the other at the base of my spine, before sliding it down to squeeze my ass. My pulse races as he stares down at me. The chemistry between us is undeniable, and despite what I said, I do want to kiss him right now. I’m simply too stubborn to admit it.
His other hand slides up inside my shirt, softly caressing the skin beneath my breasts. Goosebumps pebble across my skin, but I’m anything but cold.
“You ready for me to drive you home so you can wash your undies,” he teases, staring at my lips.
“Yeah,” I lie, debating going back on what I said about staying here with him. I push up off the balls of my feet, angling for him to meet me halfway for a kiss.
“Thought you didn’t want to kiss me because I’ve been smoking?” He grins at me.
“A girl can change her mind.”
“This mean you’re going to sleep in my bed tonight?”
“No.”
“Hmm.” he grunts, but then his lips find mine and electricity crackles between us. His hand continues to move under my shirt. His palm splayed against my ribs as those rough fingers I love trace a fiery trail along the underwire of my bra. A tantalizing shiver whispers up my spine. I arch further into his touch, wanting more. Desperate for him to kiss me again. To do anything to me.
Like he can read my mind, he kisses me again, full of intent, holding every promise I’m too scared to ask him for. I grip the ends of his leather cut and gasp into his mouth as his hand dives into the back of my jeans and into my underwear. His large rough fingers knead the skin of my ass.
I’m addicted to him. His touch is like a drug. He drives me wild. Our kiss deepens, growing urgent. I moan into his mouth, ready for him to throw me down on his desk and have his way with me.
Heavy boots thumping down the hallway break us apart.
Big Daddy looks at me wistfully and says, “You’re going to be the death of me, woman.”
Lunatic bursts into the room. “We’ve got a problem, Prez.”
“What would that be?” The lines around his eyes etch deeper, full of concern.
“It’s Daisy. I can’t find her.”
“Fuck,” Big Daddy grumbles. “Stay here.”
“No. I can help look for her.”
“Fine, but you keep close to me. Her state of mind. If we find her. Who knows what shape she will be in?”
The three of us discuss where each of us will search. I don’t know my way around his house or the property. In the end, Big Daddy recruits Sissy to help me search the upstairs rooms. Hardcore and Tyrant have the downstairs. Big Daddy and Kidd are searching outside with Hero and Lucie.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Sissy asks me as we check the room Daisy was in just in case she came back.
“I hope so.”
“I thought Doc Stevens was with her,” she mutters as she goes down on her knees to peek under the bed.
“Me too.” I glance around the bedroom. “I don’t think she’s in the house. Shall we go help your father?”
“Yeah. Gwynee?”
“Hmm,” I muse, my mind racing, trying to figure out where Daisy would have taken off to.
“You really like my dad, don’t you?”
“I do.” I smile at her.
“Just don’t like hurt him or use him for money.”
“I have no intention of it.”
“Good, because he deserves someone to be good to him.”
“You and Lucie are very protective of him, and I admire that.”
She seems to chew on my words and the way she looks at me makes me believe that she’s accepting of me in her father’s life. Lucie will be harder to win over. Not that I need her approval, but I don’t want to always be at odds with her. Not if I’m going to be spending a lot of my time here. Which, if Big Daddy has his way, I will be.
We cross paths with Doc Stevens as we pass through the kitchen to go out back by the pool. “Have you seen Daisy?”
“I just came down to get her some water so I can give her a sedative.”
“You left her alone.” I know my tone sounds accusatory, but as a doctor, you’d think the man would know better. With the fragile mental state of her, anyway.
“Has she gone missing?”
“Yes,” I hiss. “Everyone is looking for her now.”
He caps a palm over his bald head and rubs it thoughtfully. “I thought she’d be okay for a few minutes. I didn’t think,” he trails off.
“No, you didn’t,” I snap, but it’s not truly his fault.
“I’ll find her.”
“You better,” Sissy calls after him as he goes out the back door. Sissy and I follow after him and I see Big Daddy and Lunatic deep in conversation by the guesthouse where Hero lives.
They look up as we approach them with Doc Stevens.
“We can’t find her. We’ll need to split up and go deeper into the woods,” my man announces.
Sissy goes one direction with Doc Stevens, Lunatic goes off alone and I go in the opposite direction with Big Daddy.
She’s got to be okay. I chant repeatedly in my thoughts as we traverse over the uneven ground.
“Daisy,” I scream out her name, hearing the others doing the same off in the distance.
Big Daddy is about thirty feet in front of me when he takes off in a mad dash, sliding down an embankment. I rush after him, and what I see below breaks my heart.
My big and strong biker is on his knees in the pine needles and dirt, cradling Daisy in his arms and she isn’t moving.
“Oh no,” I whisper, touching my hand to my mouth.
My man goes to his feet, carrying her in his arms like a sleeping child. “Need to get her back to the house. Fast. Find Doc.”
“Okay.”
As he stomps past me, I notice the blood flowing down her arms.
“Damn it, Daisy,” I say under my breath, then I’m running and yelling for Doc.