Chapter 20 Camile
CAMILE
After my shower, I dress quickly in a loose, short shirtdress, not wanting anything tight against my body. Everything feels too much right now, even restrictive clothes. Self-conscious and unsure what to do with myself, I tiptoe down the stairs, wondering if I should go find Jack or not.
I hit the bottom step and pause. Male voices drift out from the living room. Peering in, I see Jack on the couch and Ghost at the other end. Ghost is drinking a bottle of Coke and Jack a beer.
They fall into silence, and I’m about to walk in when Jack speaks again. “You two seemed comfortable together.”
Ghost turns his face to Jack, revealing his profile, and his features tighten. “She was fucking throwing up, Jack. Get a grip.”
I hold my breath. Won’t Jack punch Ghost’s lights out for saying that?
“You’re lucky I’m not in the mood for breaking bones tonight,” Jack grumbles.
Ghost picks at the neck of his bottle. “I think she needs some meds. Just for a night or two to get her through the worst of the first shock. Sleep is important for helping people process trauma, and she probably won’t get a lot without help.”
“What are you suggesting? We call a doctor?”
“I’m pretty sure we have some shit between us that can chill her out.” Ghost shrugs.
“Ghost, if we give her something without a prescription and she has an allergy or something, we could kill her.”
“Fine, call a doctor, then, but be ready to answer a fuck ton of questions.”
He has a point, and I don’t want meds. As bad as I feel, and it’s pretty bad, I don’t want to be out of control at this compound full of people I don’t know. The thought is terrifying.
Needing to add my part to the conversation, I walk into the room.
“Hey.” Both heads swivel my way immediately. “I overheard the end of your conversation, and I’d rather not take any meds.”
“You need to sleep,” Ghost says.
“I’d rather have a massive brandy. That would help me sleep.”
Ghost sighs. “Alcohol will make you even more anxious when it wears off.”
“No meds,” I repeat.
Jack shrugs. “The lady has spoken.”
He turns his gaze to assess me, and I want to shrink back under it but stop myself.
“I’ve called Church, so we will be gone for an hour or so. I’ve asked Ace to come sit with you.”
“Church?” They’ve never struck me as the God-fearing type.
“Oh, it’s a meeting for the club,” Ghost explains.
“Okay, but I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Yeah, you do.” Jack’s tone doesn’t allow for any arguments.
Ghost’s foot taps against the floor as he sips at his Coke, and I wonder if he still gets that anxious, wanting to rip off your own skin feeling, too.
A loud banging at the main door has my heart skipping a beat. God, I need to calm down, or I’ll end up giving myself a heart attack.
“Yeah?” Jack shouts. “It’s open.”
Footsteps travel down the hallway, and then Ace’s head pokes into the living space. His gaze flicks to me, and he throws me a wink.
“Good to see you back, Princess.”
Jack clears his throat. “You need to watch Camile for an hour or so.”
“I’m not invited to Church?” He raises his eyebrows.
“Someone needs to stay with Camile. If you’d prefer, I can ask Rook, though I don’t exactly trust him after last time.”
I want to stick up for Rook. I still feel bad that he got such a hard time when he was only trying to do something nice for me. It wasn’t his fault those other three guys were assholes.
“No, no,” Ace says quickly, holding up both hands. “I’d rather hang out with Camile.”
He throws me another grin, displaying those dimples, and I can’t help but smile back.
Okay, maybe Ace freaked me out by climbing into bed with me last night, but it seems he’s harmless.
Not that he looks harmless. He could melt a girl’s panties just by smiling at her, but he hasn’t been mean to me the way both Jack and Ghost have.
“Did you stay away from those three idiots?” Ghost asks.
I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“I saw Paulie, but he said he wasn’t sure where the other two went, so I guess it was their lucky day.”
“And does Paulie still have all his limbs, Ace?” Ghost asks this as if he’s talking to a child, his eyebrows raised questioningly.
“Yes, Ghost.” Ace uses the same tone, like Ghost is an idiot. “He has all his limbs, and all his digits. I may have held his hand down and shown him which finger I will take if he keeps fucking up, then asked him to pass the message on to his friends.”
Ghost rakes a hand through his hair and blows out a frustrated breath. “You’re fucking lucky we’ve got a meeting to prep for. I swear to God, Ace, you keep acting as if you’re the Sergeant at Arms, and it won’t be the Numbnuts who lose an appendage. It will be you, and I won’t just take a finger.”
Ace simply grins, as if Ghost hasn’t just threatened to cut his dick off.
I have no clue what the exchange was about, but I’m slowly learning how the land lies between these men and the fragile hierarchy that keeps everything running smoothly.
The other two men get to their feet. Jack grabs his leather cut from where he’s flung it over the back of the chair and puts it on.
He frowns at me. “You sure you’re gonna be all right?”
His concern warms me. “I’m a big girl, Jack. I’ll be fine.”
Ghost gives me a final nod, and they leave us here alone, the front door slamming in their wake.
Ace rubs his hands together. “Do you want to come help me feed Marmalade?”
I stare at him. “Who?”
“Mama Kitty,” he prompts. “With the kittens, you remember?”
I let out a sigh. “Ace, I don’t want to feed the cat.”
“I think you do. And the kittens have just started opening their eyes—they’re stronger already. Come on.”
“I can’t. I’m too tired.”
“You’re not tired. You’ve been sleeping for half the day. You’re sad, which is why you need to come with me. Everything feels better after you’ve buried your face in a mountain of fur.”
I close my eyes briefly, as though to demonstrate how utterly exhausted I am. “Really, Ace, I don’t want to go.”
“Come on, Princess. You can’t stay in the house all day.”
I give a sad, snorting laugh at that. “I’m no one’s princess, Ace. I’m nothing, just the daughter of a brought-down mafia family.”
He gives me a kind smile. “You’ll always be a princess to me.”
Something in my heart melts at that. “Okay. Let’s go and see the kittens.”
He fist-pumps the air. “Whoop.”
Ace takes my hand, linking his fingers with mine.
The action is kind of intimate, but it feels nice.
He has good hands, strong and warm. He pulls me up and slings his arm around my shoulders in a stance that feels both protective and possessive.
Strangely, I like how it feels, and I find myself leaning into him, closing the space between us.
He was wrong about me not feeling tired—I’m exhausted right down to the bone—but perhaps it’s from all the emotion.
“Let’s go see what Jack has in his refrigerator that Marmalade might like.”
“We’re going to raid Jack’s fridge?”
“Definitely.”
We slip apart as we enter the kitchen, and Ace goes to open the large double refrigerator. It is well stocked, so I’m sure Jack won’t miss whatever we take.
“Aah, I think she’ll love this,” Ace declares, producing a pound of ground steak. “I bet she could do with the iron.”
I’m already thinking of excuses we can give Jack about the missing meat, perhaps telling him I was super hungry and needed a pound of raw beef, but if I was to cook, I’d cook for Jack as well. I’m not so selfish that I’d only make food for myself when I’m living under his roof.
I hope Jack’s not going to get mad when he notices the missing beef, but then I think fuck it. Jack is always mad, no matter what’s going on, so we might as well take it for the cat.
I decide to let Ace be the one to deal with it. I’ll deny all knowledge if asked.
Ace snatches up my hand again and pulls me from the house.
We move at a fast trot toward the barn, both of us perhaps being aware that we don’t want Jack to see us.
We arrive, and the familiar sweet, mellow scent of the hayloft fills my nose.
I find myself relaxing a fraction. I realize there are parts of this place which no longer seem so strange and alien to me. The barn is almost comforting, somehow.
“You first,” Ace says, nodding at the ladder.
I place my hands on the rungs, pull myself up, and start to climb. It’s only when I get halfway up that I remember I’m wearing a loose shirt style dress, and I’ve made no effort to hold it down as I’ve climbed. If Ace is directly beneath me, he’s getting a great view of my panty-clad ass.
Darting a look over my shoulder and down, I catch Ace as he whips his head away to look over his own shoulder.
“Ace!” I protest.
“What? It was right there—like the moon.”
I risk losing my balance to kick a sneakered foot down at him. “Oh, my God. Stop it. Don’t look.” I need my hands to climb, so I can’t even hold the back of my dress down if I’d wanted.
“Okay, okay. I’ll climb with my eyes shut.”
I look down again, and sure to his word, his eyes are firmly squeezed shut. I make a pretend move, testing him, and he fails epically, his eyes pinging open.
“Ace!”
He chuckles and throws me a wink before closing them again.
“Next time,” I mutter, “you can go first.”
I reach the top of the ladder and climb into the hayloft. Mama cat knows we’re there, as she comes slinking out of her little hay nest, and, to my delight, several kittens follow.
Ace joins me.
“Look, their eyes are open already,” I exclaim about the kittens. “Oh, my God, they’re so cute.” They let out little mewls as they follow their mother on wobbly little legs. “I can’t believe they change so fast.”
“Give it another couple of weeks, and they’ll be chasing each other all over this place.”
“Hey, Mama” he greets Marmalade.