Chapter 3
Delaney
“Girl, those men from the club are fucking hot,” Emerald announces as we watch Skyla climb off the back of Camo’s bike and kisses him.
Emmy fans her face, a smile in place. “I need me a biker.”
“Oh, believe me, they are not all good.” I shrug, then sip from my delicious coconut latte.
I have tried to hide my pain, but Emerald sees it, fucking feels it too. Apparently, owls can be quite attached to people’s emotions.
“Maybe Thorin is the only bad apple,” she adds.
“In this club. Yes. All the men in the club are great in their own right. I was so happy when Winger allowed me to become like a den mouse, instead of sleeping with the brothers to keep me a part of the club. It is why the club girls hated me. They believed that I was not earning my place within the club.”
“I wish he had pulled his head out of his sexy ass for you, babe.” She gives me a tight smile.
I laugh when she is both insulting and complementary when it comes to Thorin.
She is right though; he is sexy. He just has a head full of dark shit that stops him living his life to the fullest. He may not see it that way, but damn, I did.
I miss him; oh, do I miss him. When he was near me at the club, my body would come alive.
It made me sick to my stomach that there would be times when he was so turned on by the girls he was fucking that I would feel some of it and have to go to my room to finger myself to orgasm.
Then I would cry, feeling heartbroken all over again.
“What’s up, girlies?” Skyla’s cheery voice breaks through my thoughts, and I smile at her, albeit somewhat forced, but I am here to have some girly time with my besties, to catch up.
“Girl, that man ate you up good.” Emerald grins like a fool at Skyla.
“Oh, believe me, he likes to eat me up.” She winks, and the girls giggle.
I watch them interact, and I like seeing them being friends; it makes my heart happy that I am building a life for myself outside of the club.
I would never say that they held me back; I think that I did that myself in the hopes of getting Thorin to see me for who I am.
I never really did what I have always wanted to do— be a part of a girl crew, have friends to go on coffee dates with, or spend nights painting each other’s nails and doing face masks.
“Damn, I need an orgasm.” Emerald sighs.
“Same, girl. Same.”
“Speaking of getting laid...” Skyla turns her gaze toward me, and I hold my breath.
My stomach twists a little, as dread seeps into my bones thinking about what she is about to tell me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I wrap my hands around my mug, warming them up, while she sips on her coffee before answering and putting me out of my misery.
“So a little birdy, and by birdy, I mean my Ol’ Man, told me that Thorin has not slept with anyone at the clubhouse since the night you left.” My mouth pops open in shock, and my eyes widen, but I regain my composure.
My thoughts quickly turn to him feeding from someone. He needs to feed at least once a week, but I know that he likes to indulge, especially if they have had a very physical club run, or he has fucked hard and needs to replenish his strength.
“Has he fed?” Her eyes fill with joy at my question, making me frown.
What is that look for?
She shifts in her seat, her pink glossy lips showing a wide smile.
“I knew that you would still be worried about his welfare.”
I shrug. “I am over it, Sky. He can fuck or feed on anyone he wants,” I say, dismissing her statement.
If he is not feeding from the club girls, or anyone for that matter, he must be using the blood bank connections that he brought to the club when he joined. I know all about how Thorin used to seduce the young women who worked in the ER, so he could get blood if needed.
“I don’t think that you are, my friend,” she says, and I blink, looking at her. “I know that he hurt you, Del, but I think he is turning a corner when it comes to you.”
“Skyla, I know that you are getting your hopes up, but please don’t. Thorin will never claim me. He sees me as a weak human, and I can never change his mind.”
“Well, fuck him,” Emerald snaps.
“I would like to,” slips free before I can stop it.
Looking between my friends with wide eyes, they burst out laughing. Their giggles fill the air, gaining us attention.
I try to shush them but fail epically, which makes me laugh with them.
My stomach hurts with all the laughter, and my face aches, but I love it. Being at the club, I was safe and happy, but being away from them, I am happy and content.
I know I am safe; I will always be safe while linked to the Kings, because as their motto goes, ‘No one fucks with the Kings’ and rightfully so.
They are all mean motherfuckers when they need to be.
“Well, as I was saying,” Skyla says, while dabbing her eyes dry.
“Thorin has not fucked anyone at the club or fed from anyone that I know of. This has to mean something. He has not been the same since you left, honey. Maybe he is now seeing what a prick he has been to you, and now that you have moved out and he thinks that you have moved on, he is realizing what he has lost.”
I think over her words, and it brings a smile to my face when I think back to when Camo told me that he informed Thorin I was dating someone. Which I was at the time, but that failed when I found out he was just using me to make his ex-jealous.
Safe to say that I enjoyed pouring the beer pitcher over his head, but I did not like wasting said beer.
“I think that maybe guilt is rattling around in that big head of his and he misses what I did for the club. As to him missing me, I can’t get my hopes up on that fact. He has shown me time and time again, that he does not want me. It is time for me to move on, Sky.”
“Hear. Hear,” Emerald blurts out.
Skyla looks at me, and I see hope in her eyes that one day I will have what she has, but unfortunately, I will not have that. Not with Thorin, anyway. Maybe with a man who loves me for me, and who sees me as a whole. Unlike Thorin, who sees me as a damaged, weak human.
Skyla places her hand over mine, her gaze soft as she looks at me.
“One day, you will find someone who will fucking worship you.”
“Hear. Hear.” Again, Emerald throws out her two cents.
Grinning at my friend, I see her grinning back at me. She winks, sipping from her mug. I take in her features; she is strikingly beautiful.
“Did you slip some rum in that coffee?”
She shrugs with a cat-ate-the-canary look. “Maybe.”
“Emmy. Damn, woman, it is not even noon.”
“What can I say? I like my rum coffee, but they do not make it here.”
Shaking my head at her, I drink some of my own coffee.
It is during times like this, sitting here with these girls, that I am grateful the club rescued me, pulling me from the pits of Hell. Before I was sold to pay off a debt, I never saw much violence.
Even with humans and supernaturals blending here in Salem, I never saw much. Sure, I heard a few things, but since it never touched me, I was naive to the fact that it was happening. We do say that out of sight is out of mind, and that statement is very true.
“How are things at the bar?” Skyla’s question has me pausing, and my gaze flicks to Emerald, her eyes locked on mine.
A silent conversation passes between us, because I never told Skyla or anyone outside of Starlight what happened the night I was almost taken by the incubus.
The air around us grows thick with tension, and Skyla, being the woman she is, knows something is up, picking up on what we are feeling.
“I feel like something happened?” Her gaze penetrates mine, seeking the answers she is demanding.
I cough, clearing my throat while shifting in my seat. Her gaze is piercing my soul, dragging any comfort I once had out of my body. How the hell does she do that?
Could it be the Blood Oath that she took with Camo once they mated? I know she has some of his powers, and can channel him through their minds now, but damn. Or am I overthinking the power she has over me?
“Delaney Soloman, you will fill me in right now on what happened. Were you hurt?”
Emerald sighs. “Tell her. I have no doubt it will get back to the club, you know, since they fucking rule everything around here.” She huffs, sinking back into her seat.
I wait a beat, looking at my new friend, knowing she is right, but fuck. It is not easy to admit that a fucking incubus got the better of you, that you fell for the shit that he pulled. Not that there was much chance to escape his hypnotic pull.
“Fine.” I sigh. “I was flirting with a guy, and it turned out he was a fucking incubus. He was trying to lure me away from the club. Not sure what his intentions were.” I shrug, waving it off like it meant nothing, when in fact it shook me a little.
When I got home that night, I triple checked the locks on my apartment, even though I knew the wards were in place.
“You need to tell Winger,” Skyla spits out, now sitting up straight, her gaze blazing with fury.
I’m shaking my head so fast it rattles my brain.
“I am doing no such fucking thing,” I blurt out so loud it makes the ladies at the table next to us gasp. “Sorry.” I wince.
“You have to. Del, the club will be pissed that something could have happened to you.”
“What happened to me has nothing to do with the club.” I lower my voice. “The incubus was removed from the bar, and I got over it. It is not like he hurt me.”
She sighs, shaking her head in disappointment, and it pisses me off.
“You will not tell Camo either. I understand that you are bonded and all that jazz, but with this, your loyalty should lie with me,” I snap.
I see the indecision in her eyes, but right now, I do not give a fuck. If I do not want the club involved, then I do not want them involved.
Licking her lips, Skyla nods her head, and her sigh guts me.
“I think you are wrong to keep this from the club, Delaney. You belong to them and you know it.”
I scoff. “I used to belong to them. Once I left, I was on my own.”
“You still have their protection.”
“I know.” Sighing, I sit back, folding my arms. “But they cannot protect me from every little thing that happens. If I had been hurt, then I would have reached out to Winger, or Tate.”
“I think Mr. Osbourne will get in touch with Winger just to let him know that someone broke the rules at the club,” Emerald speaks up.
“Fuck. Great.”
Neither of us says anything for a short time.
The vibe around us is tense and filled with many emotions, all linked to me and my stubbornness, but fuck it. If I went to the club for everything that happened to me, they would get pissed that I was wasting their time.
I need to change the vibe around us, as this was supposed to be a nice catch up with my girls.
“Right, no more Debbie Downers. Tell me what you both have been up to when you are not with me or working.”
Thank fuck they both agree to move on. Skyla tells me about some new classes that they have opened at the gym and how Aston is doing in school. I am so grateful for what she and Camo did for that boy. He is so sweet and deserves a good home.
Emerald informs me that her new sexy neighbor has a kid, and that makes me laugh so fucking hard, because Emerald hates kids. She finds them gross and germ infested—her words, not mine.
Once we got over the little transgression of my last shift, we had a great time talking about anything and everything. It was nice to finally catch up, since we all have busy lives, and even though I see Emerald at work, she still has a busy life away from Starlight.
Right now, I am loving life, but my heart knows that the missing piece will be lost for some time to come.