Chapter 13
Jacie
I’d clung to Trident, refusing to release him from the moment he picked me up off that table until we were locked into a bathroom at the Losi Kahu MC clubhouse. Then I had no choice but to let go in order for us both to strip off. Once naked, Trident paused with a pained look on his face as he gently ran a fingertip over the hot mess of a tattoo Kenjiro had forced his man to ink on me. His head bodyguard was no tattoo artist, that’s for sure. He hadn’t appeared to like the idea much more than I had. But when Kenjiro had returned from wherever the fuck he went while I was being tied down, he had a kit with everything needed to ink up someone with black. When his goon had hesitated, he’d ordered him to ink his name on me, threatening to kill him if he didn’t do it.
At least it was in Japanese characters so no one would know what it said. Although, they didn’t have to put it right under my fucking collar bone. It looked like I’d be wearing a whole lot of high-neck shirts going forward, at least until I could talk to Silk. One of my brother’s closest friends, Eagle, was married to a woman who was an amazing artist, and owned her own tattoo shop in Bridgewater. I was sure she’d be able work out how to cover the thing.
“Can’t believe anyone would do this.”
I shrugged a shoulder, not wanting him to focus on it right now. I’d cried a river of tears already and I didn’t want to continue.
“Plenty of people get names tattooed on them, T. Nothing out of the ordinary really.”
He narrowed his gaze at me for a few seconds before he obviously saw in my eyes that I was trying to push past it, then his expression cleared and he leaned in and kissed me gently again.
“Well, they’re all fools. C’mon, Ula'ula M?'ī, let’s get cleaned up and into bed. I wanna sleep all night with you wrapped in my arms, where I know you’ll be safe.”
Pressing my palms against his pecs, I rose up on my toes to kiss him again. “Sounds perfect.”
Taking my hand in his, he led me over to the shower. Once he got the water sorted out, he stepped in and pulled me in against him. Holding me for a few moments before he reached for the soap and started methodically washing me while I traced the lines of his muscles, needing to keep touching him.
We didn’t linger under the water, he looked as tired as I was. He toweled me off, being so heartbreakingly gentle with me, so unlike the usual rough, gruff biker he was. This sweet side was nice though, and it was exactly what I needed after the day I’d had.
“I don’t know your real name.”
He paused toweling himself off to look at me with wide eyes. “Huh, guess it hasn’t come up. Legal name is Kupono Beles, but it’s been a bloody long time since anyone has called me that.”
“My name was Grace Milani, Taz and Mum called me Gracie. You know, before the fire and I went into witness protection. From then on, I was Jacie Lewis.”
He nodded as he tossed the towel aside and took my hand again, leading me into the bedroom.
“Who picked your new name?”
I shrugged a shoulder again. “Not sure exactly. Because I was so young, they went with a name that was similar so I’d remember to answer to it easier. And Lewis is my adoptive parents’ last name. What about Trident? How’d that come about?”
I’d heard some crazy stories on how men had got their road names, and if the way Trident’s cheeks just flushed red was any indication, his was going to be a good one.
Pulling back the sheets, he helped me in before he flipped on the bedside lamp and went to turn off the main light and check the door was looked. Then he came and joined me, lying on his side next to me.
“You sure you wanna know?”
I nodded, “Even more sure now that I see how nervous you are. C’mon, it can’t be that bad.”
Looking to the ceiling he blew out a breath and muttered something before focusing back on me.
“Not many know this story, and it needs to stay that way, we clear?”
I sat up, shifting so I faced him, more intrigued than ever. “Sure, it goes into my vault.”
He huffed again. “Fine. When I was young and dumb, in my late teens. I used to chew gum all the time.”
I nodded, “Trident brand, yeah?”
“That’s the one. Well, one night, at a party at a classmate’s house, me and a girl both had a little too much to drink and ended up in one of the bedrooms.” He paused, giving his beard a tug. “Are you sure you need to know this shit?”
I was grinning, my heart feeling light at learning this secret part of my man that he’d shared with so few.
“Oh, you know I do. C’mon, T, just spit it out.”
“Fine. I went down on her. But she didn’t shave, and I still had my fucking gum in my mouth.”
I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oh no. Are you telling me…”
He nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. “Yeah, my gum got stuck in her fucking pubic hair.”
I snorted a laugh when I tried to hold it in, not wanting to make him feel worse than he was.
“That’s, um, sorry, T. But that’s the funniest shit I’ve heard in a long time.”
Chuckling, he grinned back. “Yeah, wasn’t my finest moment.”
“How’d you get it out?”
“Peanut butter. And yes, I was a good boy and cleaned her up afterward. But she naturally told her friends about it, who told their friends and by the end of the school year everyone was calling me Trident. Yet another reason I had for wanting to go over to the mainland.”
I was so giving him peanut butter and Trident gum on every one of our anniversaries. That was gold.
He was still looking extremely uncomfortable so I forced my humor down deep and reached my arms out to him.
“I’m very grateful you’ve gotten better at going down on a women than that. And since I’m lasered, there’s no risk of it happening again. Now, come here and snuggle. I’m so bloody tired, I feel like I could sleep for a week.
Within seconds, he had me pressed up against him, my back to his front, his arms around me. One hand cupping my pussy, the other a breast. He nuzzled into my neck, his beard tickling before he pressed a kiss there.
“Night, Ula'ula M?'ī. Sweet dreams.”
“Hmmm, same to you, babe.”
I was nearly asleep before I finished speaking.
***
Trident
After waking a few times during the night to make love to my woman, we’d both slept in late the next morning. Would have stayed sleeping even longer if it wasn’t for some bastard pounding on the damn door.
“C’mon, Trident! Get your woman and yourself outta bed already. You got visitors waiting on you.”
That had me sitting up, jolting Jacie awake, and making her moan before she rolled over.
“What the fuck you mean I got visitors, Toa?”
His dark chuckle came through the closed door. “Oh, I ain’t ruining their fun. You’ll need to both come out here to see for yourselves. Just hurry up about it, braddah.”
Muttering under my breath, I turned to roll Jacie over onto her back, covering her body with mine, kissing her awake. My cock was hard and throbbed against her soft pussy, and what I wouldn’t give to slide in and fuck her again. But unfortunately I had to resist.
“C’mon, babe. We gotta get up and go see what the fuck Toa is on about with us having visitors.”
With a hum, she wrapped her arms around my neck to pull back in for another kiss.
“It’s probably my brother, with a bunch of Charons. Maybe my Dad.”
Freezing I had a horrible thought: what if it was my family out there. I wasn’t sure how they would have known I was here, and I was sure they’d never stepped foot in an MC club house before. But suddenly I was sure that’s who was out there.”
I pulled on what I’d worn yesterday while Jacie shrugged into a flowing dress one of the other club women had gone out and bought her yesterday. Her hand went over the tattoo, covering it as she looked down at herself. I went to her, pulling her in for a hug.
“No one will judge you for that war wound, babe. We can stick a bandage over it if you’d like. We can look into getting it lasered or covered up once we get back home, yeah?”
She nodded. “A bandage would be good. I don’t want to see it, or have anyone else see it. And I’d already planned on getting it covered up. You know Eagle’s old lady works and owns Silky Ink, right?”
I hadn’t known that; it wasn’t like I’d spent a heap of time studying all the Charon MC members. That was something I’d only done with Jacie.
“I’m sure she’ll take good care of you. Let me check the bathroom for that bandage, then we’ll go see who’s out there.”
Thankfully, the cabinet was well stocked and I had no trouble finding a plaster big enough to fully cover her ink. Once I helped her put it on, and gave her another kiss, I took her hand and opened the door. As soon as we hit the hallway, I realized we were both right. It sounded like a l ū? au was going on in the main room.
Jacie cursed under her breath. “Did Toa invite the whole damn island? I have not had enough sleep for this kind of socializing.”
I chuckled, nerves having me gripping her hand tight as we passed from the hallway out into the room that went silent on our arrival.
Nevaeh, Mirabelle and Sparrow all ran towards us, crash hugging Jacie, pulling her away from me and her hand out of mine. But I didn’t fight it, just smiled as I watched her girl crew love on her.
“Jacie! Omg!! I was about to go back and drag you outta bed. I am soo sorry! If I hadn’t been teasing you, you wouldn’t have snuck out by yourself and—”
“Nevaeh, enough. My uncle was set on getting me. He wouldn’t have stopped until he grabbed me. If not yesterday, it would have been some other time. It’s not your fault. If I hadn’t been a mega bitch lashing out at everyone instead of processing my damn emotions like a grown arse adult, I wouldn’t have been alone that morning either.” Her eyes widened then turned to me. “What happened to Animal?”
Narrowing my gaze, I growled out the words. “He survived the surgery, but hasn’t woken up yet so he’s yet to answer for the part he played.”
She detangled herself from the girls and returned to me. “He’s not himself. He needs help, not punishment. Wait, surgery? What happened to him?”
“After he knocked you out, your uncle shot him in the shoulder. He’s lucky Stone was following him and got to him in time to put pressure on the wound, or he would have bled out.” Which might have been a mercy compared to what he was gonna get once he was out of the hospital.
She shook her head again. “Look, Animal will never be my favorite person, but you guessed right. He’s addicted to some sort of pills. He was seriously strung out when he came into the cafe, and before he knocked me out, my uncle told him if he wanted his magic pills he needed to finish the job. Also, when my uncle asked him if he’d taken my phone, he lied. Told him he’d tossed it in the trash inside. It’s because of Animal that I was able to message y’all to come get me.”
Maverick spoke as he came toward us. “We’ll take that into consideration when we decide the price he should pay, but you don’t need to worry about him anymore, yeah? It’s club business now.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. Then two people came toward us that had me stiffening.
“Hey Makuahine, Makuakāne.”
Jacie slipped her hand back in mine and I gripped it tightly. I wasn’t sure what else to say to my parents. They’d obviously aged in the decades since I’d last seen them, but they were achingly familiar. Fuck, I’d missed them so damn much. Tears stung my eyes as I waited to hear what they had to say.
“Keiki, did you read any of our letters?”
I shook my head at my father’s question. “No. I was still angry and needed to stay focused on what I was doing on deployment.”
He nodded, a grim look on his face. “I thought as much. I wish you had. You would have received our apologies a lot sooner and we wouldn’t have lost so many years.” He held my gaze with his own watery one. Damn, my dad was crying? “I’m sorry, keiki. I should have supported you. And I am very proud of all you’ve done, and the man you have become. I hope you can forgive us and allow us to get to know your woman and any grandkids you might give us in the future.”
I had to clear my throat before I could respond. “Of course I forgive you. And I’m sorry for being such a damn hot head. I said things I shouldn’t have too.”
Before I could say more, Mum pounced on me, sobbing and wrapping her arms around me. Releasing Jacie, I embraced my mother, rubbing her back as she wet my shoulder with her tears.
Damn, who would have thought this was how this trip was going to end? I got my family back, claimed the perfect woman as my own, and reconnected with Toa.
The future was looking pretty damn bright all the sudden.