Chapter 8 Camile
CAMILE
The little food I ate sits congealing in my stomach as I think about my future. There’s a guy at my college who tried to fricking shoot me, and I don’t know if he’s still gunning for me, literally, or not.
My parents want me to marry a stranger, and the closer I get to that reality, the more it makes me want to scream.
Worst of all, I have no idea what is going to happen to me when I get back to Verona Falls University.
Rook glances up, and his eyebrows draw together, just as a shadow falls over me. I sense him even before I turn around. The scent of leather and something like faint engine oil, along with a warm, spicy vanilla wraps around me. It’s delicious, and it takes all I have not to moan.
“Have you finished eating?”
I twist in my seat to look up at Jack, my heart already hammering at his proximity, and nod.
“Come, walk with me.” He steps back and jerks his chin toward the door.
Not sure if he’s talking about just me, or including Ace and Rook in the invite, and not wanting to seem rude, I flick my gaze to them, but Ace just nods, as if giving me permission. Smiling at him, I push the bench back and stand.
“You too, Ace,” Jack rumbles.
Ace grins at Rook and stands too, ruffling Rook’s hair one more time and getting an annoyed smack on the hand for his trouble.
“Lead the way, Prez,” Ace says easily as he falls in alongside us when we round the table.
All too aware of the interested gazes on me, I try to swallow down my self-consciousness.
I don’t dress like the other people here, and many of the women have big hair, teased and colored, whereas mine is simple and my natural shade.
They have full faces of makeup, even at this time in the morning, and I’m still wearing last night’s.
My heels clicking against the floor don’t help me feel any less on display, and I try to focus on not falling over or wobbling around as I follow the men out of the room.
When we get outside, I shiver a little as the cool air hits. Although I’m mostly dreading returning to Verona Falls, a part of me is looking forward to getting changed and taking a shower.
“I have talked to the dean,” Jack says as soon as we are a few feet away from the building.
Oh, crap. My heart lurches up my throat. “You have?”
“Of course.”
“You told him what happened?” A sense of betrayal bites at me. It’s stupid, but I feel hurt that he talked to the dean without including me in the conversation.
“I had to. My daughter is at that college. Plus, I wanted to know what he’s going to do about that piece of shit who hurt you.”
We’ve reached an area where there are a couple of wooden benches facing some of the fields, and Jack indicates for me to take a seat.
I do, then wait until he sits on one side of me and Ace the other. Oh, wow, it feels weird being hemmed in on both sides by two such big men, and I kind of like it a little too much. I shiver again, but this time from something other than the slight chill I’m feeling.
Today is a little cooler than it was yesterday, and I wish I had a sweater with me.
“I can’t, in all conscience, let you go back there if I think you could be hurt.
” Jack turns to me and scratches his cheek.
“The dean assures me that Ledger isn’t back at the college, and he has his security on high alert looking out for him.
The trouble is that even if he doesn’t turn up, he could still be lurking around, looking for an opportunity.
It’s why I’d like you to stay here, for one more night at least.”
My stomach does an uneasy flip at his words, and I’m a little bit excited at the prospect but also nervous as hell.
“I’ve got some of my men looking to see if they can track the bastard who attacked you.” He glances past me to Ace. “Ghost is on it.”
Ace gives a small rumble of agreement. “Makes sense.”
“So, if you’ll agree, you can stay here, in the room you’re in, and we will make sure it’s always watched. It just gives us the chance to try to find him or at least track where he went.”
“How can you track him?” I ask.
“All sorts of ways. Ghost is good at it. He’ll trace his footsteps back, and I doubt the kid chasing you knew how to cover his tracks.
Ghost can hopefully tell if he went back to his truck, and if he did, which direction the truck drove in.
If he knows where he was headed, we can hack into the security and road cameras around the area, see which direction he took. ”
“You can do that?” I feel my eyes widen.
“Yes, we can.” Jack nods once. “So, will you stay for tonight? I swear as Vani’s father that you’ll be safe.”
His words do give me comfort, but they only remind me how much I wish he wasn’t her father in so many ways. I bet he just sees me as his little girl’s friend and nothing more. I’m sitting here with a head full of fantasies, while he views me as a problem he must take care of.
What choice do I have, though? The thought of going back when Ledger might still be after me is scary. If I do as Jack says, it gives everyone some time to figure out where he went.
I nod. “I’ll stay, so long as I’m not in the way. I’d also appreciate it if I could maybe take a shower. Brush my teeth and the rest?” I feel gross. “Although I don’t have any clothes.”
“One of the ol’ ladies can get you some,” Ace suggests. “There will be someone who is a similar size.”
“Yeah, agreed.” Jack scratches his cheek again, and I wonder if he’s in some way uncomfortable with all this. Am I just a burden on him? “Give me twenty minutes. I’ll go grab some supplies then come find you, okay?”
I bite my lower lip. “Thanks,” I say softly.
His expression is hard to read, but he holds my gaze for a beat, and my insides turn liquid. Yep, not over my crush yet.
“Right.” Jack slaps his hands against his thighs then stands. “I’ll see you at your room in twenty, with some clothes and… other women’s shit.”
Women’s shit? I laugh a little at that.
He strides off toward the clubhouse, and I can’t help but watch him go, admiring the broad muscles of his shoulders moving beneath his t-shirt and leather cut, the confident swagger to his step. I sense Ace’s gaze on me, so I force myself to focus on the ground.
I bounce my knee up and down, unsure what to do now. “I guess I’ll go and wait for Jack in my room.”
Ace cocks his head to one side and drags his hand through his curls. “Or… I can show you those pussies I was playing with.”
Eeew. I fix him with what I hope is a hard glare. “Ace, I don’t want to see a sex show between you and some women.”
He bursts out laughing. “Nah, that’s not what it is. Trust me. Come on.”
Standing, he offers me his hand.
I stare at it skeptically, then finally take it. “Okay, but I swear to God, if you take me to some sex club, I’ll tell Jack.”
“There’s no sex club,” he says as if the clubhouse itself wasn’t debauchery when I looked in.
It’s strange to be walking through the compound holding Ace’s hand, but it’s also nice. His hand is big and warm, and it feels protective. He strolls toward the big barn, and when we get there, he glances at my feet.
“Yeah, be careful in those, okay?”
I nod as I look around at all the old bikes, cars, and other vehicles. There’s the smell of oil, and leather again, and I wonder if Jack spends a lot of time here.
“It’s up the ladder.” He jerks his chin toward it. “You go first.”
I frown at him and look up into the hayloft above. “Up there?”
“Yeah. If you want to see.”
I’m not sure I do. “Why me first?”
“So I can make sure you don’t fall. Be careful on the ladder in those shoes.”
Unsure of this, but curious, I grab the ladder with both hands and place my heels carefully on the first rung.
I’m fine with the first five steps, but then my heel slips.
I let out a small squeak and cling to the ladder, my foot swinging in the air, my shoe barely staying in place.
A hand grabs my ankle, holding me steady, and I freeze.
“I’ve got you,” Ace says.
He holds me as he carefully positions my foot on the rung, and I climb again. It’s only when I get to the top and clamber onto the hay that I realize he had a view of my ass the entire time.
Thank God I wore jeans for my date, and not a dress.
I shuffle up so he can join me, and he hauls himself over the top of the ladder with ease and crawls to the back of the area, which is covered in a scattering of hay.
I go to follow him, then pause, listening. I hear a snuffling and then a high-pitched meow. Realizing what the noise is, I grin. Ace moves to one side so I can see the stripey orange cat with the nest she’s made for herself and her babies.
Kittens! Of course. He’d asked if I liked kittens, and then all the talk of pussies. It hadn’t been what I’d assumed.
“You’re incorrigible,” I say softly, not wanting to scare them. “Que lindos son.”
Ace looks at me quizzically.
“Sorry.” I correct myself into English. “They’re so cute.”
“They’re so tiny, aren’t they?” He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and takes out some chicken which he gives to the mother before wiping his hands on the napkin and crumpling it up. “Not sure what else she can eat,” he says.
“Tuna?” I recall we sometimes used to give the cats on the compound canned fish. “Maybe get her some cat food?”
“Yeah, I’m going to. She only had them recently, and it’s been a bit crazy around here. Plus, if I buy cat food, and other people see it, then they’ll know about her. I kind of want to give her some peace and quiet for a while.”
“What have you called her?”
“Marmalade, ’cause of the orange stripes.” He strokes her gently, and she butts her head up into his hand, clearly enjoying the attention. Would I do the same if Ace tried to stroke me?
“Like the breakfast condiment?”
“Yeah. I normally go for more aggressive names, but it suited her.”
“You rescue a lot of cats?”
His warm green gaze meets mine, and my pulse speeds up a little. God, Ace really is a handsome man, and I realize with a jolt that I’m attracted to him.
No, I can’t be. Jack’s the one for me. I can’t go getting ideas of more than one man just because my friends are all happily shacked up with three men each.
In fact, I tell myself sternly, I can’t get ideas about having any men, as I’m going to be married after I graduate, and the one date I tried was a disaster.
“Hey, what’s that?” He leans closer and gently tips my chin up with two fingers.
The air escapes my lungs at his touch. It’s so gentle—careful, even—and very different from the way Ledger manhandled me.
“What?” I say on an exhaled breath.
“The sadness that crossed your face. What gives?”
Nibbling my lip, I debate whether to tell him. Screw it. I need to be able to talk to someone.
I blow out a breath and look back at him as he drops his hand but cocks his head to one side slightly.
“I finish my time at college soon, and that means my family, my father in particular, will expect me to get married. It’s what happens to the girls in our world, and just the way it is.”
I wonder if Jack knows about the direction my future is heading. It’s not a conversation we’ve had, but would Vani have told him? I doubt she’ll have willingly brought up my name to her father, though. How would he feel about it?
Ace’s eyebrows draw down into a frown. “Who will you marry?”
The laugh that bursts out of me isn’t one of mirth but rather bitterness. “I have no idea, Ace. That’s for Father to decide.”
“Fuck. What if you don’t like him?”
“It’s kind of beside the point. The marriage is to cement power and territory between families.”
“Jesus, that’s bad. People say some shit about us and the way we live, but we’d never force any woman to marry someone or even be with someone.”
I pull off my heels, one by one, and shift my position, so my legs dangle off the edge of the hayloft as I swing my bare feet. “Well, I saw some racy stuff last night when I was outside the clubhouse.”
Ace shuffles so he’s sitting by me, his feet also dangling. “Doesn’t matter, though, right, so long as it’s consensual.”
What he says is correct, and I know it is, but it’s hard to get rid of years of conditioning that good girls don’t behave in such a way.
And I believe my friends are good people and I don’t judge them, so why am I judging women I don’t know?
It’s hypocritical of me, but it’s hard to overcome what I’ve been taught for so long.
“Hey, Ace?”
Jack’s voice booms from outside, and Ace jerks his head up.
“Come on,” he says to me. “The Prez calls. He’s probably got you those supplies.”
We climb down the ladder, Ace going first and helping me down, holding one arm. I put my shoes back on before we step out of the barn into bright daylight.
I shield my eyes and squint, and as they become accustomed to the light, I realize Jack is pissed.