Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
CJ
Waking up to quiet muttering, I sit up in the bed and glance around the room. I find myself alone and bite my lip nervously.
Where did Axe go?
Fear starts to set in, but I shake it away.
I can hear the voices from somewhere else in the house.
I’m not alone. Getting out of bed, I go to the bathroom to freshen up and slip on a pair of shorts under Axe’s t-shirt.
When I’d gotten dressed earlier after the shower with him, where he cleaned me up and made me feel like the most special woman in the world, I put a sports bra and panties on under the shirt.
Taking a deep breath, I open the door and walk slowly down the hall. The voices become clearer, and it sounds like several men are here.
Someone must see me because all talking stops.
“Hey, Sunbeam,” Axe says. Coming to me, he pulls me into his arms. “For those of you who hadn’t met my ol’ lady yet, this is CJ. She’s also the bartender at Devil’s Bar and the reason we’ve been packed.
Glancing around the room, I recognize most of the men in the room. There’s a few I don’t, but they all nod in greeting.
“Shit, we need to get her back in there soon before we lose the momentum and those customers decide to go somewhere else. Sage isn’t as good of a bartender,” Rogue mutters.
“Agreed, I don’t like being behind the bar with her,” Carbine grumbles, drawing a giggle out of me.
Everyone’s attention comes back to me. I swallow and step even closer to Axe.
He places a kiss on the top of my head and squeezes my arm. “You’re safe, baby. Promise you. No one here will hurt you.”
Nodding, I relax somewhat.
“CJ, we need to talk to you about something,” Hammer proclaims from where he’s sitting backward on a kitchen chair that had been brought into the great room.
Axe’s house had a great room or den, if you will, a living room, dining room, kitchen with a bay window area for a small table, and four bedrooms. All of them bare except the room beside his bedroom.
It’s where he stores whatever he needs to.
The living room, he doesn’t have much in there, but the great room is large with a homey feeling to it. One I hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Um, okay,” I say apprehensively, biting my bottom lip.
“It’s okay, Citrus,” Axe whispers reassuringly.
“Don’t be mad, baby, but to protect you, I needed to talk to my brothers and let them in on what you told me.
” I stiffen at his admission. He’d told someone.
Not just someone but several someones. “I didn’t plan on it until you told me, and I realize how fucked up this world is. ”
What does he mean by that?
“CJ, what my brother is trying to say is we know more than most about ‘The Delivers’,” Hammer announces.
“How?” I blurt out and my body starts trembling.
“Casimir, your uncle’s brother is the man who killed my brother a long time ago and took my family away from me.” My eyes widen as I remember my uncle and Casimir. I remember years ago another girl coming with Casimir. A girl, I never learned her name. Is she Hammer’s family? Is she okay?
My head feels light, and my knees give out under my weight.
Oh, God.
Tears well in my eyes and a sob escapes.
“Shh, Sunbeam. It’s okay. You’re fine,” Axe murmurs soothingly, lifting me into his arms and cradles me to his chest. He moves through the room and takes a seat with me still in his arms. “Calm down, baby. We need to know more about your uncle.”
Getting control of my emotions, I swipe at my cheeks and lift my head to look at Hammer. “There was a girl maybe five years older than me, she used to come with Casimir, is she . . . do you . . . do you know if . . .”
“Are you talking about Ally?” Hammer questions brows furrowed.
“I didn’t know her name,” I whisper.
“Ally is my niece and the ol’ lady of a brother at one of our other clubs.” The news she’s alive and escaped the hell she lived in makes it easier to breathe. Even marginally. “Did they do to you what they did to her?” I stiffen at the question; I don’t want to answer.
“Citrus,” Axe murmurs my name.
“They didn’t do to me what they did to her, but it wasn’t far off. I’ve been bitten by more snakes than I can count, taken the beatings of the whip, and had the blades sunk into my skin more than once,” I whisper, keeping my eyes diverted to the ground.
I tell them what they want to hear and I hope that when I’m done, I won’t have to face their pity.
After finishing, I can hear the sound of my beating heart in my ears with how quiet the room had gone. Tension nearly swallows me whole.
“CJ, you don’t have to worry about them getting to you. You’re in the safest place you can be with us. Even if you weren’t Axe’s, we’d protect you. Those motherfuckers have caused enough of a headache,” Hammer murmurs.
“We need to tell Scorpion what’s up. He’ll need to know in order to protect Apricot,” Malice states, and I start to tremble again. What if he finds out and hates me?
“It’s okay, baby,” Axe whispers in my ear, tightening his hold on me.
I nod, trusting him. I lean my head against his shoulder and listen to them talk. With Axe’s arms around me, I feel safe. Safer than I’ve ever felt, and I know without a doubt I can trust him. Him and these men.
How?
I’m not sure.
Everyone starts to pile out of the house shortly after they finish talking and it’s once again just Axe and me alone in the house.
Standing, Axe takes me back to the bedroom and lays me in the middle of the bed, still enclosed within his embrace.
Lifting my head, I meet his gaze. “Will you have sex with me again?” I ask, nervous about him rejecting me.
Axe pulls back to study my expression. “You sure?”
“Yes.” I nod.
“Are you sore from earlier?”
Was I?
“No, I want you, Andrew. Show me what it means to be yours,” I whisper.
Axe doesn’t hesitate. Leaning into me, he claims my lips with his, cupping the back of my head, wrapping his fingers in my hair.
He then proceeds to do just as I asked of him.
All night.
And well into the earlier hours of the next day.