Chapter Ten #2
Wait, what? She immediately dropped her gaze to his towel. He was clearly still in the mood. She parted her lips without any thought to what she’d say. Wraith didn’t give her the chance. He cupped her jaw, forcing her to look at him. His thumb slid over her cheek.
“I want to take you somewhere.”
Her eyes widened. “But I have to work.”
Wraith dropped his hand to his side. There was something in his paused silence that she couldn’t quite read.
“The motel is closed. Doing some renovations so we shut it down for a while.”
“Oh.” How come no one had told her? It usually wasn’t her place to ask but… “Since when?”
“Since now.” Wraith lifted his chin to the door. “Go.”
This topic was clearly not up for discussion.
“Okay.” Cleo watched him walk to the bathroom and close the door. She dropped her feet to the floor and stood. It was odd how his calm demeanor gave her no insight. But the last thing she wanted was to start an argument with him. She straightened her dress and walked to the door.
They were both consenting adults with nothing to hide. Still, she cracked the door open, peeking down the hall. It was empty. Thank God. She slipped out of his room and headed toward the stairs. She was only a few feet away when Gent rounded the corner.
Shit.
Cleo dropped her chin to her chest, staying laser focused on the floor. Unfortunately he stepped in front of her before she made it to the stairs.
“Hey, darlin’.” He paused, but she refused to look up. “You get a chance to talk to Wraith?”
Dammit.
She nodded and mumbled, “Uh-huh.”
“Good.” Gent stepped aside, and she inched closer to the stairs, but froze when she felt his arm brush against hers. “You know, I’m usually partial to a woman screaming out my name, but there is something to be said about the sweet moan of pleasure.” He tauntingly hummed. “I like it.”
Her body temperature rose twenty degrees.
“See you later, darlin’.”
Fucking Gent!
****
Wraith had no intention of telling Cleo the real reason why they’d shut down the motel. Until things could be verified, it would remain club business. Still, it was her job and he expected to field more questions once they arrived at the large park.
Thankfully, she’d become distracted almost immediately. She pulled the helmet off, shook out her hair, and looked up with a huge smile.
“I’ve never been here before.”
It didn’t surprise him. Aside from a few adventures with Knox, it was rare Cleo ever left Killcreek or the neighboring towns. It was all done in the name of her safety, but he was seeing the true effects of being denied freedom.
This was all new territory for him. Wraith didn’t date. He never had. One or two nights with random women was how he liked it. No connection, no commitment. Until Cleo.
She scanned the park and he could feel her excitement radiating. “Do you come here a lot?”
He’d driven by a few times but hadn’t stopped. He never had a reason until today.
“Figured we’d check it out together.”
Her eyes softened, and it was clear she liked that response.
They walked in silence for a good bit. The park was bigger than he’d expected, with walking trails in the back.
Oddly, there weren’t many people hanging around.
Of the few, they steered clear of them. It had more to do with him than Cleo but she didn’t seem to notice.
Cleo passed him, rushing forward near the edge of the rocks. The view wasn’t anything spectacular, but she seemed at ease and taking it all in.
“We used to have a park near my house. Nothing like this but it was pretty. Quiet too.”
Cleo didn’t talk about her past. At least not to him. In fairness, he’d never really given her the opportunity. In his effort to keep her safe and protected, he’d wasted time not getting to know her on a deeper level. He was going to change that.
“You go there a lot?”
“Yep,” she whispered, losing her smile. She dropped to her ass, taking a seat on a rock with her feet dangling off the cliff.
It wasn’t a huge drop, but Wraith wouldn’t take any chances. Never with Cleo. He sat next to her, leaving a small gap, and looked out over the land. She’d opened up the subject, though he figured she had no intention of continuing.
“You ever miss home?”
She stilled and slowly looked over. The corner of her mouth pulled down into a severe frown.
She’d lost the glimmer in her eyes that had shone when they’d arrived at the park.
Wraith knew her past, none of it good. But he’d always gotten it secondhand from Knox, or what he’d witnessed himself.
Cleo never talked about it. When she’d talked about her neighbor and childhood friend at the bar, it was the first time she’d ever brought up her past.
“No.”
Wraith should’ve let it go. “How come you never left?”
The corner of her mouth curled, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“What?” he asked.
“Knox told you?”
He’d shared a lot with the club. Cleo’s life had been a daily ritual of physical, verbal, and mental abuse at the hands of her mother and stepfather.
And it had been an ongoing cycle for years.
Knox only exposed her personal trauma to prove he had a good enough reason to bring Cleo to Killcreek.
They’d always had strict rules about non-members staying at the clubhouse.
It had never happened, especially a woman for an extended period of time.
The exception was made only after Knox broke it all down for the club.
“Told me a little.”
It was a lie. I know everything.
She angled her head, scanning his face, and her gaze softened. “You must think I’m really stupid and weak right?”
“Don’t put words in my mouth.” It came out harsher than he intended, but her question, or accusation, couldn’t have been further from the truth.
She flattened her lips and mumbled, “Sorry.”
Fuck. The last thing he wanted was for her to shut down.
He grabbed her hand, resting it on his thigh. “I don’t think you’re stupid. And I sure as fuck don’t think you’re weak. I think you got dealt a really shitty hand, but you won’t get any judgement from me. Alright?”
She smiled, though he could read through her mask. She didn’t believe him. Why would she? It was probably how Cleo viewed herself.
“You ever try to leave?”
She nodded, but didn’t expand, and then simply stared out over the ridge.
“When?”
Her throat bobbed, and her hand tightened around his. It must’ve been a reflex since her hand immediately went limp. Wraith tightened his hold and pulled her arm, forcing her to jerk closer, bumping her arm into his bicep.
“Closer.” He growled, and her cheeks flushed. For a second, he thought she might back away, but she inched closer until her thigh lay against his leg.
“You trust me?” He asked and her eyes widened.
“Yes,” she muttered.
Good.
“Then tell me when.”
She swallowed. “Um, the first time was right after I graduated. I worked full time in the summer, and I was hoping to save enough for the security and first month’s rent on an apartment. It was just a studio, and not in the best section of town, but it still would’ve been mine.”
Mine. Wraith was getting a new insight into why she’d been so adamant about her flowers. They’re mine. Of course she would cling tight to her gifts and possessions when she had so very few of anything that was all hers.
“What happened?”
“I came home one night from the pizzeria, and my mother had emptied my bank account. She’d been on it since I was little, and I didn’t think to remove her because” —Cleo laughed without a trace of humor— “who steals their kids’ money, right?
When I told her I was going to take her off my account, she said if she wasn’t on it then I couldn’t live there.
She had taken all I had saved, and I had nowhere else to live so… ” Her voice trailed off.
Fucking cunt.
“She keep stealing your money?”
Cleo shook her head, staring down at their hands.
“No, but she started charging me rent, which made saving a longer process. I only deposited a certain amount and kept the rest in cash hidden in my bedroom. I still had a plan to leave but I knew it would take a while.” She sighed.
“And my mom and stepdad didn’t work so I was the only one bringing money in. They didn’t want to give that up.”
Just the mention of her stepfather heated his blood.
“When did he start knocking you around?”
Wraith clenched his jaw when her face paled. That was a topic he should’ve eased into with Cleo. He allowed his anger to take the reins.
“Knox told you everything?”
He didn’t have to. In time, when she was ready, Wraith would be honest and share what he knew. Now, was not that time.
He raised his brows. “I got eyes, Cleo. I was there when Knox brought you back to Killcreek.”
“Right.” She cocked her head, and her face completely transformed with her smile which seemed like strange timing considering the subject.
“The day after Knox picked me up, you came to the hotel with Ghost, Cypher, and Jekyll. I remember Knox telling me that morning when I woke up that you were coming. I was so excited to finally meet you.” Her cheeks pinkened.
“You know, after writing for so long.” She inched closer. “Do you remember that?”
I remember everything.
“Yeah.”
But his memory was very different from hers.
Wraith had always suspected that Cleo remembered very little, if anything, from the night they went to her house.
And she just confirmed it. After they’d gotten her out, Knox took her to a hotel while they all stayed at another.
Knox wanted to gauge what she remembered before moving forward.
The next morning, the brothers were given strict instructions to meet Cleo as if it was the first time.
He lifted his chin. “Your stepdad.”
“Um” —She bit her bottom lip— “He wasn’t so bad at the beginning. He’d only knock into me or push me out of the way. But then it got progressively worse. My mom hit me a lot. I guess he just followed in her footsteps.”
“He ever do anything else?”
She dropped her gaze, swinging her legs. “Like what?”
You know what.
“Mess with you.”
There was a lingering silence, but she slowly shook her head.
She brushed the hair from her cheek, looping it around her ear, and whispered.
“No.” She sighed. “I mean, I don’t think so.
I’ve gotten really good at blocking my past from my memories.
It’s probably not a healthy way to be but,” she cleared her throat.
“I just want to focus on all the good things I have because for a long time, I didn’t have any. ”
Wraith had never been empathetic. Everyone had hardships and struggles. No one got away unscathed. But Cleo’s pain was gnawing at his heart.
There was a long stretch of silence until Cleo chuckled.
“I know most people would think I should go to therapy or something…”
“Who gives a fuck what anyone thinks? You know yourself better than anyone. You do what you think is right.”
Her mouth spread in a small smile, and she nodded, seemingly in a daze.
“I wish we were making out instead of talking about all this.”
His lips twitched as he stared at her profile. So fucking beautiful. And smart. And strong.
And mine.
“Then let’s get out of here.” He tightened his hold on her hand and stood.
She tugged her arm but didn’t release his hand. “Do we have to go back already?”
“Not taking you to the clubhouse.”
Wraith had other plans, which had them together alone and all night.