Chapter 8
Casper
Looking at Mary walking through our new home, I can’t help but admire this beautiful, strong woman. She’s been through so much but continues to shine so brightly, never letting it get her down.
I am so done for her. I will make sure she never has to deal with that fucker ever again. No way is he getting close again now that we know he is out and looking to cause problems. He’ll be in our basement in no time. For now, I will make sure Mary has everything she needs.
She turns to me with tears in her eyes. They are shining with what I think is love. I hope so. I love her so much. She has become the very breath in my lungs.
And now I’m sounding like a pussy. Shit.
I reach for her, pull her close, and bring her face to mine.
“I will do anything for you. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. You may not be ready to hear this, but I love you. You are it for me, Mary.” I softly kiss her lips.
She leans up into me, returning my kiss.
Then she says the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.
“I love you too, Jameson. Thank you for bulldozing your way into my life. I didn’t realize at the time how much you were going to mean to me.”
“From the moment I saw you, I knew you were meant for me. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was letting you get away from me. Those assholes would have tried to take you in a heartbeat if I didn’t stake my claim when I did.”
I really do sound like a pussy. Fuck my life. I’ll never live this down if the guys hear me. What the fuck ever. This side of me is only for my Mary. And maybe Gemini. Oh shit. And Peter, too. Cheese and fucking rice! I’ll have to give up my man card at this rate!
“Are you OK, Jameson? You got a weird look on your face just now.”
“Just thinking of my man card.”
“What?”
“Never mind, baby. Just thinking out loud. Let’s get you settled, beautiful. I don’t want you hurting. How’s the pain right now?”
“The stitches are starting to pull a bit.”
“OK, so I will take that as you are hurting and don’t want to say how bad. Time to get you changed and into bed for now. I want you to rest as the doctor said.”
I lead her to the bed, then hand her one of my shirts to put on. While she is changing, I pull the covers back on the bed and wait for her to slide in.
I grab her pain pills and shake a couple out and give her the bottle of water I had on the side of the bed.
“Get some rest, baby. I will check on you in a bit.”
She closes her eyes, and I sit with her until her breathing evens out.
Heading out into the main room, I message Hydra to let him know Mary is settled and resting. He calls immediately.
“What’s up?” I say as I pick up on the first ring, not wanting to disturb Mary’s sleep.
“We are meeting here. I will have Gemini go over to sit there. Also, I will have Tommy inside with Finn and Gus outside to make sure they are fine. I’ll send them now.”
I wait for Gemini and the guys to show up before heading next door. I won’t be too far away until this is over.
Walking into the duplex next door, Hydra and Gemini’s, I take a seat. Everyone else is already here.
“What do we have?” I ask.
“Brain is still looking for him. We don’t think he has anyone left from his old life, but we are running down those relationships,” Hydra says.
Brain says, “I’m looking into whether he had anyone coming to visit while he was in prison.
That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
In the meantime, we’ve got this complex set up with cameras everywhere.
Every inch of the exterior is monitored, but we also put some inside each unit to make sure he doesn’t think he can slip in without notice.
If he can even get by all the other cameras and security detail. ”
“Thank you, guys. I appreciate the help.”
“She’s family, man. Of course we are here to help. Never need to ask that,” Roscoe says.
“We got your back, brother,” Chase says.
“We are all here for you. Mary is family. I will always be there to help,” Hydra says.
The other brothers make similar comments.
“Alright. Let’s get something for Casper to work with. Get out and make something happen.”
We all head out. I go back over to my side of the duplex. I know Mary will love it when she finds out that Hydra and Gemini will be right next door. She loves that girl to the moon and back.
Hydra is with me as we walk in. Mary is up and sitting with Gemini. Tommy is off to the side giving them their space.
Mary looks up when we come in, and I swear her eyes light up. Fucking love that. I see Gemini’s do the same for Hydra.
I lean down and give her a soft kiss. “Doing OK, baby?”
“I’m OK. I was worried when you weren’t here. Everything alright?”
“Yeah, baby. Had church next door. Just trying to find information right now. Did Gemini tell you the good news?”
She swings her head around to look at Gemini. “What good news?”
“Our place is right next door!” Gemini answers while doing a little dance in her seat.
We all laugh at her joy.
“That is so amazing! I am so excited to have you so close!”
Then suddenly, her face falls and she jumps up.
“Wait! NO! You need to go back to the clubhouse. You need to be safe, Gemini! Take her back!” Mary all but yells at us.
I pull Mary into my arms. “We are all here in this complex right now. You both are safe. There are cameras everywhere. All the brothers are taking a duplex to be nearby. We aren’t taking any chances with either of you, baby.
Everyone will be able to go back to the clubhouse once we are able to get Peter situated. ”
She looks like she wants to argue but thinks better of it. Finally, she slips out of my arms and sits back down.
Deciding I prefer her in my arms, I lift her up and sit back down with her in my lap. She doesn’t protest. Good. This is where she needs to be.
Hydra does much the same thing with Gemini.
Tommy goes outside to monitor the area with Gus and Finn, leaving us to enjoy a moment of privacy with our women.
Somehow, we laugh and joke with each other before the conversation comes around to our parties.
Gemini brought that up. And now Mary is curious. We haven’t really talked about that yet. Just a few comments here and there on that first night. Fuck. What do I tell her? Oh, wait. I don’t. Gemini is telling her all about them.
“So, these parties are like sex parties?” Mary asks. I can’t tell what she is thinking, though.
“Not necessarily sex parties, although sex does seem to happen at most of them,” I say, feeling my cheeks heat up some.
Gemini and Hydra laugh at my discomfort.
Gemini says, “Mom, they are sex parties. All the guys in the club like to have sex in the open. They love being able to watch each other have sex or be seen by others while having sex, whether it’s with a club girl or Ol’ Lady.”
Mary turns to look at me with an unreadable expression. Her eyes, though. They have curiosity in them. She studies me for a bit too long.
“Do you participate in these parties, Jameson?”
“Not since I met you, baby. I’m not interested in anyone but you,” I tell her truthfully.
“Good answer,” she tells me.
Then she cocks her head to the side while still looking at me.
“Is that something I’m expected to do? Something you want me to do?”
“Umm, well, hmmm.” I am making a total ass of myself right now. This is not something we’ve talked about.
Looking over at Gemini and Hydra, I see them trying to hold their laughter in. The assholes.
Glaring at them, I turn back to Mary. I get the feeling she is enjoying my discomfort.
“Honestly, I would like for you to see one before making any decisions on whether you can do it, want to watch, want to participate, or not at all. We have plenty of time. No rush. I want you to be completely healed before we participate in anything like that,” I say, hoping to get some brownie points for my consideration.
Mary smirks at me. Gemini starts to laugh. Then Hydra joins in. Soon they are all laughing at me, and I don’t get it.
Mary decides to clue me in. “Gemini told me about these parties before and was surprised you haven’t really said anything about them yet. She was instigating.”
Narrowing my gaze, I look over at Gemini. She is trying to look all sweet and innocent, but I know the truth. The little shit.
“Hydra needs to paddle your ass, sweetheart.”
“What?” Gemini gasps
Hydra’s evil chuckle says it just might happen. I grin at her. Now who’s in the hot seat? I give her a smug look. We all laugh.
Mary’s eyes are drooping again. I carry her into the room and lay her down.
“Baby, you need some more rest. I will worry about getting dinner for us later. Rest, and I will get you when it’s time.”
“I guess I am a little tired. I love you, honey.”
“I love you too, baby.”
I watch as she closes her eyes and her breathing evens out immediately. She’s pushing herself. I will be here to make sure she takes it easy. Otherwise, she is going to end up with a sore ass once she’s healed.
* Mary *
Waking up, I lay here taking stock of my body. I’m sore all over. The stitches pull, and my lower abdomen is getting painful.
Deciding on a shower, I swing my legs to the side of the bed. Sitting there and letting the pain dissipate, I slowly rise and make my way to the bathroom.
I love that there is a bench seat in the shower and a handle to the shower head, allowing me to shower while sitting down.
Taking off my clothes, I finally get the first look at myself.
My eyes roam from knife wound to knife wound, not noticing the tears falling. They are red and angry, stitches zigzagging throughout. These are going to leave horrible scars. Will Jameson even want me after this?
After looking them over one more time, I climb into the shower. I carefully clean each one before replacing the handle.
I stand under the spray, rinsing off before I start to spiral. Sobbing, I sink to the bottom. I don’t know how long I am there before Jameson comes in.
He shuts off the water and lifts me up. Wrapping a towel around me, he sits on the toilet and holds me.
“I got you, baby.”
My tears slow, then stop altogether.
Jameson continues rubbing my back, never letting me go. He’s anchoring me so I can calm down. I love how he just lets me gather myself.
“Good, baby?” There is so much tenderness in his voice. I get a little teary again. But this time I force it back.
Looking up at him, I see the compassion in his eyes.
“This was the first time I looked in the mirror at all the damage George caused. It overwhelmed me. Made me question things,” I tell him.
“Like what? What type of questions? Because I know you aren’t questioning my feelings for you. Right?”
Looking down, I shake my head no.
He uses his thumb and forefinger to lift my face up to him.
I give him the verbal answer. “No, I don’t question your feelings.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t really want to say.”
He just looks at me, patiently waiting.
“I really, really don’t want to say.”
Still, he just watches me carefully, patiently waiting for me to break down and tell him.
Sighing, I say, “I was just thinking that these are going to leave horrible scars. I wasn’t sure if you’d be attracted to me anymore.” I stop speaking when he growls low in his throat.
“I know you don’t believe that, right? I am so attracted to you that I can’t keep my dick out of your way. Every time we sleep together, it’s everything I can do not to make you uncomfortable with how hard I am for you.”
“That seems like so long ago, Jameson.” I shake my head. I know he doesn’t care about the scarring, that it’s all me. But I can’t help but think it.
“Baby, I will love your body with or without the scars. The only thing I’m concerned with is how you came by those scars, how they almost took you from me.
Once you are healed, I will show you how much I love your body.
You are gorgeous, and those scars only show me how strong and fierce you are. Okay?”
“I’m sorry. It was just a shock seeing them.”
“Don’t apologize to me. You never need to do that. Especially, not for this. You are everything to me and one day I will make sure you know it,” he whispers to me.
We sit like that for a while longer before he carries me into the bedroom. Setting me on the bed, he moves to the dresser and grabs one of his shirts.
Once he helps me into it, he gets me settled back against the headboard with the blanket pulled up over my legs.
Then he’s off gathering our dinner. Looks like dinner in bed tonight. It’s alright. I’m still tired, even though I was so ready to get out of the hospital.
Once dinner is done, I slide down to get more comfortable.
Jameson cleans up before coming to bed. He gets me another pain pill before turning off the light. Rolling to his side, he carefully pulls me close.
I enjoy feeling Jameson surround me as I slowly drift off to sleep.