14. Chapter 13
Knuckles
I slowly lick my bottom lip, the taste of my girl still having control of my senses as I quietly look through her sketch book despite knowing how private it is to her, and now I know why.
Other than sketches of Willow and some Paris skyline, this book is full of me and my bike, and fuck me, Kodi is talented.
I look at her for a moment and see she’s still knocked out, and I turn the next page only to suck in a breath.
The skull with Roses over my chest…
I look at my girl again with my heart in my throat because I know she’s seen the scars, I just fucking know it, and I don’t know how to feel about that, I really don’t, especially when she’s still here.
Swallowing thickly, I turn the page again to a sketch of Willow and me smiling, the little cutie in my arms wearing her flower girl dress, and my heart flutters with realization.
Kodi loves me, scars and all, giving me the green light to fight for her, for us and that is fucking terrifying.
Quickly but quietly tearing that page out, gently shutting the book I know I will probably look through again soon, I leave the pencil on the page of a sketch of me sitting on my Harley that she was working on last night, I put the book exactly where she left it while I gently fold the picture of Willow and me, knowing Trick will want it framed, and I look at my girl again.
Last night was fucking amazing.
From taking her ass twice to fucking her sweet pussy three times and eating her out like I was starved before she sucked me off while I finger fucked her. My cock twitches again despite being sore from all the fucking.
She was made for me, and I for her.
Taking a breath, I do something I have wanted for so fucking long, and I lean over my girl in bed and gently press my lips against hers before slowly pulling back to see a small smile on her lips as she dreams away, and I smile as I move her hair out of her face.
“I love you, fireball,” I murmur, knowing she can’t hear me, and I kiss her one more time before standing and ensuring the note is on the bedside table.
I take one last look at the woman who is slowly healing me, then walk out of the motel room, knowing I need to clean up the gym before opening after yesterday.
A Charger came in with a knife, adamant to stab any brother they could find, and Tray decided to tackle the fucker, getting stabbed himself in the shoulder.
Thankfully, the injury was only superficial, and after an hour of torturing, a whole fucking hour, causing me to be late to meet up with my girl who believes a fight broke out, the fucker admitted Cans wanted us distracted so he could burn the fucking gym down.
I killed him and then found another fucker with a gas can ready to light the gym up, waiting on his buddies word, but instead I lit that fucker up.
Sighing, I climb on the bike and start her up, and looking at the motel room one more time, I pull out from my spot and drive towards my gym, knowing it’s going to be a long fucking day.
***
“Okay, so the school changed her application to accepted again, but I’ve rechanged it and deleted all her numbers from the file,” Trick says as he walks into my gym an hour later, and I look up from where I’m scrubbing the floor to get the blood out, and I frown.
“How did they know it was a mistake?” I ask as I throw the cloth in the bucket, and Trick replies, “Fuckers called her.”
I groan as I stand just as Cage waltzes in and asks, “Fuckers called who?” and I roll my eyes at the raised brow. Trick gives me the Are you going to tell him, or am I, kind of look, knowing he’s doing some illegal shit for his wife and me.
I sigh, “Trick changed my girl's job offer in Boston from accepted to declined a few weeks ago, but the school called her, so he’s had to change it again and delete all her contact details,” and Cage freezes on the spot, his mouth dropping in shock.
Trick waves a hand in his face, and the man doesn’t blink. Instead, he stares at me like I’m some kind of alien, and I chuckle, “I think he’s broken.”
“To be fair, I felt the same way when I found out you got a girl and not just any girl, but the Chief’s daughter,” Trick replies, and I smirk as Cage gasps, “You and Kodi?!”
“Huh, not broken,” I say, and Trick grins and agrees, “Not broken…”
“I, you, I mean, Kodi, you…” Cage stutters and Trick retracts, “Okay, broken.”
“I’m not fucking broken,” Cage snaps as he slaps the back of Trick's head, and I laugh for the first time in a long time as happiness fills me around my brothers, and fuck me, that is a weird feeling to have, especially when I’m letting them in.
Guess I can thank my girl for that.
“How long?” he demands.
I answer, “Just under five months,” and he growls and confirms, “So the extra raids?”
I nod and admit, “Because of my relationship. The Chief is pissed because I won’t walk away from his daughter, and Kodi has informed me before every raid, which is how I knew.”
“What are you pissed about?” Trick asks him, seeing his anger, “That he didn’t tell you about their relationship because, yeah, I was pissed as well, or because he’s seeing the Chief’s daughter?”
Cage looks at me with hurt, and I wince as he grunts, “He didn’t tell me,” before he says, “We’re supposed to be brothers,” and frustration builds as I stupidly retort, “And I don’t trust the brotherhood and the only reason I’m still a part of it is because my dad threatened to take my gym from me. ”
Shit. Cage and Trick glare at me and I wince.
“You need to explain, and you need to explain right fucking now!” Cage demands, and I sigh as I lean against the ring and shake my head.
“I can’t,” I admit softly, causing his face to harden, and I state, “If I do, if I open all the old wounds, then I can promise you now, I will get on my bike and never return, I’ll hurt my girl by leaving.”
Both brothers look at me in shock, and Cage opens his mouth, but before words can come out, the gym door slams open as my mother, dressed like she should be in a strip club, storms in. I can see how red her face is from here.
“Your little girlfriend held a fucking gun to my head and threatened to bury me!” Mom accuses, and I raise a brow while Trick smirks and Cage tilts his head at her.
“And what did you say to her in order to pull a gun out on you?” he asks just as my phone beeps and Mom tenses as I grab it out of my cut and she glares at it.
Hmm…
Unlocking the screen, I press on the text thread with my girl, who is obviously awake.
My Fireball:
I forgot to tell you, I pulled a gun on your mom after she confronted me at work yesterday with a knife and threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave you alone, so I threatened to bury her. Hope you have a good day, because I know I’m going to be feeling you x
I smirk at her words and lock my phone without messaging her back, the kiss at the end sending my nerves haywire, that and what I saw in her sketch book, and I answer Cage, “Threatened her at work with a knife,” and I raise a brow at my mother, who clears her throat.
I know the real reason she held the gun to her, and it isn’t the knife. I’m not stupid, she’s felt my scars. She saw them while I was sleeping and added two and two together, making four.
She wanted to shoot my mother on my behalf, and fuck, I just…
She saw my scars, and I can feel myself stepping back for a moment knowing I need to get my head right.
“It doesn’t matter what I did, you are my son, and you need to fix this, end her!” she snaps, and I chuckle darkly and remind her, “And Kodi is my girl, and it’s a shame she didn’t shoot you, now fuck off.”
Her mouth drops open in shock before outrage takes over her features, and she opens her mouth ready to probably berate me like normal, but she freezes when Cage sneers, “Barbie, get your ass back to the clubhouse right fucking now and do what I pay you for or pack your shit and get out!”
The man is angry and ready for murder.
Mom tenses as she looks at Cage, then Trick, before her eyes come my way, more towards my chest, and I know she’s nervous.
I smirk, and fear enters her eyes before she turns on her heels and storms out, seeing we won’t be on her side with this, ensuring she bangs the door, and I roll my eyes before looking at a pissed-off Cage.
Shit.
“I need a fucking explanation,” he growls, “because we both know, Kodi wouldn’t just pull a gun on your mother because she had a knife, she’d disarm her.”
I look at Trick to see his face hard, and I sigh.
“Why would you want to leave if you open old wounds, and what old wounds, brother?” Trick demands, and I look between them.
“I don’t trust the brotherhood, fuck, I don’t even think I want to be a brother, and if I tell you this, my first instinct is going to be to leave,” I inform them, hoping they’ll leave it, but Cage shakes his head.
“We won’t let you leave, and if I have to, I’ll call Kodi now to talk to us,” he demands, and I know I can’t convince them to leave it so instead I open my mouth and confess, “For as long as I can remember, not only have the brothers treated me like an outsider because I could have been theirs, and my father didn’t want to know me, but I was abused. ”
***
“Momma, momma,” I whisper as I shake my momma, trying to wake her while I shiver from the cold.
I know she’ll be mad, but that man was trying to break into my window, her friend, and I’m scared.
“Momma,” I try again as a few tears fall and she stirs, “What?”
“Momma, your friend is-is try…. Ah!”
My words fall off, and I cry out as Momma backhands me and my face snaps to the side as she shouts, “What have I told you about waking me?!”
“B-But Mom –”
My words are cut off again, and she shoves me onto the cold, dirty floor and landing with a thump making me cry again.
She grips the belt near my neck, and I try to move, to run, but I’m not quick enough.
Momma whips the belt onto my bare chest, the sides hitting my skin hard, and I scream with so much pain, and I try to block the belt when it comes back at me, but it just makes her madder.
“Momma, stop!” I cry out as another whip lands half on my face and half on my chest, and I feel wetness dripping down and I roll over sobbing, dizziness hitting me.
I cry as I hear the belt plop down next to me before she grabs my arm and digs her nails into my skin before she dragging me out of her room.
She drags me towards the small cabinet she shoved me into yesterday while her friend was over and I plead, “No, Momma, no please, not again,” but she ignores me as she opens the door then shoves me inside making me cry out as she drags her nails down my arm.
Sneering, she snaps, “You can stay in here until tomorrow night when your dad picks you up!” Then she slams the door, and I curl up into a ball, crying at the pain as wetness touches my bare knees.
Both brothers look at me in pure shock, and I blink, then blink again as my body itches, and I choke, “I was five that time, but for as long as I could remember, I wasn’t allowed clothes during the night, and I nearly suffocated that night because she forgot to open the air hatch.”
I look at both brothers, and I state, “For years, I was abused, and the brothers didn’t even notice.
If I was at the clubhouse, I was invisible, and Dad, well, he just wanted me to continue his legacy within the club.
He didn’t give a shit what I was being put through with Mom.
Just like when I was at his, he was never home, and I had to fend for myself. ”
I clench my jaw hard, and I lift up my shirt, showing them the scars my girl has felt and seen through my tattoos showing them the proof just in case they don’t believe me, and Trick turns away, linking his fingers behind his head.
I ignore both of them and turn and head towards the ring without another word.
My phone rings, and I check it to see a picture of my girl on my bike, and I silence the call before dropping the phone on the edge of the ring, and I climb in, ready to kick the shit outta the bag.
I have the need to run, to get on my bike and never fucking come back, but then that means leaving Kodi, and I don’t think I’ll survive without her.
So instead, I’m going to have a few days of space from her before I speak to her about my scars.
I’m going to kick the shit outta the bag until the fights start tonight hoping the pain from an opponent will help keep me grounded.