CHAPTER 12
SNAKE
My phone rings just as I’m cleaning up my hands, more than ready for this day to be done.
It’s been hell trying to concentrate because my mind keeps wandering to how good it felt to have Graycie in my arms last night, the way her body pressed against my back as we rode along with the wind, and the taste of her moan as her body melted into me.
I can still almost feel the press of her lips against mine.
I’ve felt like a fucking addict all day just waiting for my next fix. And I’ve been kicking myself for not making plans with her last night before I let her slip back into her apartment. I should have. I fucking should have.
“Moron,” I berate myself under my breath, again, before I answer the phone when I see it’s Ryker calling me. “Prez, what’s up?”
“Uh,” Ryker’s voice is hesitant and quiet, two things which are not at all normal for the man in question. It has me on high alert. “You done for the day?”
“Yeah,” I grunt, “I was just about to clock out and head over to Graycie’s place. We didn’t make plans or anything, but I need to see her.”
I don’t give a fuck if I’m giving the man ammunition. I need to see her and I’m sure as fuck not going to apologize for it.
Why should I?
“About that,” he starts and the hair on the back of my neck stands on edge. “You should just head to the clubhouse first. Now,” there’s a plea in his voice and I think I hear what might be a sniffle in the background on the other end of the line.
“What the fuck is going on?” My words are a demand, and I don’t give a fuck whether I am talking to my MC president or not.
Something is wrong. I can feel it.
“About five minutes ago, your girl came up to the gate and was let into the compound. When she walked inside, she had tears in her eyes while looking around for you. I was at the bar when she came in, and I asked her what’s going on.
” His voice drops a little lower, “She won’t tell me why she’s freaked out, but I promised I would call you and let you know she’s here. ”
“I’m on my way,” I bark out the words a little too loudly considering Sidewinder looks up from where he’s bent over the rust bucket that finally arrived.
“I don’t know what to do with a crying woman,” he mutters, “even if she is trying to hold it all together.” There’s pride in his voice as he adds, “Your woman is strong.”
“I know,” I bite out the words, trying not to freak the fuck out because my woman needs me and I’m not there. “I’m coming.”
I storm into the reception area and Hank sits up straighter when he sees the look on my face. He opens his mouth, but I shake my head and snarl, “I’m headed out. My woman needs me.”
“If you need help with something, you let me know,” his voice is fierce. “I’ve met Graycie and she’s a peach. The whole town will rally if she needs something.”
Even though I’m raging inside and wishing I could just beam myself to the clubhouse, I take a second and give Hank a chin lift. “Appreciate it,” my words are gruff and on edge.
And then I’m out the door and stomping toward my bike. I don’t look back as I swing my leg over and roar out of the parking lot.
All I can think about the entire ride is that she needed me and she went looking for me at the clubhouse. It settles something in my chest, even as I’m plagued with fear over not knowing what is going on.
Maybe she’s learning that she can trust me. Maybe she believes that I’ll protect her.
I fucking hope so.
Everything is a blur until I’m parking my bike and storming into the clubhouse.
I shove the door open with far too much force, but that can’t be helped right now.
When I step into the main room, Graycie is sitting on one of the couches with Opal next to her.
My sister has an arm wrapped around my woman while her lips move with words of comfort which I’m too far away to hear.
When I meet Ryker’s eyes, he visibly relaxes while shooting a worried look toward Graycie. I’m glad he was here. Fuck, I’m glad my sister was here.
Graycie’s eyes come up and meet mine and I hate how her hazel eyes are shining this time because of unshed tears. My woman should only shed tears of happiness, not whatever this is.
Everything in me is screaming to go to her because she needs me and I don’t hesitate. I’m dropping to my knees in front of her before I even realize what I’m doing. My hands find her legs, needing to touch her and ground myself in this moment.
She needed help and she came to the clubhouse; she came to me.
I share a loaded look with Ryker and give him a chin lift. Opal kisses my woman’s cheek and gives her shoulder a squeeze before standing and going back to whatever it was that she was doing. Ryker has already faded away by the time I can tear my gaze away from her fear and pain filled hazel eyes.
“Angel,” I rasp the word like a prayer.
“I didn’t even think,” she mutters the words in a daze. “I got the card and then I was in the car and driving over here before I even realized what I was doing.”
“What card?” My jaw is clenched so tight I can barely force the words past my teeth.
Her hands are shaky as she holds out a card, now wrinkled slightly from her clutching it so tightly. When I take it from her, my gut drops and I already know it’s going to be bad.
The front is beautiful, a simple card celebrating spring and renewal. But then I open it.
The sentences, only two of them, are written with slanted handwriting. They aren’t outwardly ominous, but I still feel the danger wrapping around every letter.
When I look back up at Graycie, she’s locked in on the card, on the words, on the threat which must mean something to her. There’s fear in her eyes and she’s pale.
“Graycie?” I fold the card and stick it in my back pocket. The moment it’s out of sight, her gaze lifts and meets mine. Then the first tear falls. “Oh, fuck,” I growl, hating her tears with a burning passion.
She launches herself into my arms and I catch her easily. Her tears are coming fast and hot now, the sound of her sobs shred my soul and make me want to track down whoever sent her this card. I’ll make him bleed out very fucking slowly.
It takes a little effort, but I manage to stand with her in my arms. I stride down the hallway toward Ryker’s office. While I might not know what her story is, I have a feeling he’s going to need to hear it just as much as I do.
Not only to keep the town safe.
Not only to keep the club safe.
But to help me keep my woman safe.
It’s moments like these when I’m thankful as fuck for the men I call brothers. They’ll have my back, but more importantly, they’ll have her back.
No questions asked.
No expectations or need to be paid back.
We look out for our own. And Graycie is mine.
“I’ve got you, Angel,” I coo as I shoulder my way into Ryker’s office, not at all surprised to see him sitting behind his desk.
His eyes soften as he looks at the woman in my arms. I’m able to pull the card out of my pocket and toss it on his desk before I sit on the couch and position my woman on my lap until she’s comfortable.
Graycie buries her face a little deeper into my neck and I can feel the collision of every tear as it falls against my skin. It makes me want to beat my chest and go on a killing spree.
The anguish in her sobs make my chest ache. This woman has the power to build me up, but her sadness is tearing me down at the moment.
When Ryker opens the card, his gaze snaps up to meet mine. I can see the violence there, the promise of pain, and the same questions I have.
“Angel,” I murmur, my lips skimming her temple, “tell me. I can’t protect you unless I know what we’re dealing with.”
“I was stupid,” her words are hoarse and she swallows hard while tugging at my clothing even more as if she wants to crawl inside of me. If only I could make that happen for her.
As much as I want to push her to talk, I need to let her set the pace. It’s her fears she’s facing which can’t be rushed.
She pulls back enough to look up into my eyes and study my face.
I don’t know what she sees there, but her body melts into mine as if she’s just too damn tired to hold herself together anymore.
Tears are still streaming down her face.
As gorgeous as she is right now, I don’t think she would appreciate me saying it.
When she glances over at Ryker, she gnaws on her bottom lip for a moment before letting out a shaky sigh.
“I used to have a flourishing career in marketing. I had a big friend group, some from college and some from before. Things were going so well,” her voice is wistful as she looks into a past that only she can see.
My gut is screaming at me to brace myself, but I’m sure it won’t be enough. Not with the haunted look on my woman’s face.
“My parents were never really around, and they always treated me like an inconvenience. I was raised by people they hired, some of whom never let me forget that they were only there to collect a paycheck.”
“Motherfuckers,” Ryker bites out under his breath.
I’m frozen, completely unable to say a damn thing. The idea of someone, anyone, not seeing what a treasure Graycie is feels like a knife twisting in my gut.
“As an adult, they loved to parade me around like a show pony.” Her lip curls up in disgust, her words venomous, “As if they had anything to do with how I turned out.” Her eyes slide closed and she shakes her head slightly before looking at me again.
“The fact that my parents introduced me to Sylvester should have been the only warning I needed.”
I think I might throw up.
But I swallow down the bile and hope the nod I give her is encouraging.
“Now I know that he was using the classic abuser playbook. He isolated me from my friends. He put down my job and my abilities until I questioned myself and could barely function. He would berate me and then tell me all the ways he was the only one who could ever see me and not be disgusted, or how he was the only one who could love me,” her voice cracks.
My hands tighten on her as if it’ll be enough to keep her shattered pieces in place. I know it won’t be.
“It was verbal at first, the abuse,” her voice is so small I have to strain to hear her.
“Did he put his hands on you?” Ryker snarls the question and when we look toward him, his teeth are bared and something primal, something protective flashes in his eyes so fiercely that I almost feel bad for this Sylvester guy.
Almost.
Graycie swallows hard and it’s really all the confirmation we need.
“It was a slap here and there at first,” she admits.
Her eyes close and she reaches for the hem of her shirt before twisting just enough to allow us to see her back as she pulls it up.
The raised scars that crisscross her back have me sucking in a sharp breath.
Ryker wheezes from behind his desk. “It didn’t stay that way.
Sylvester loved the sound of the whip as it flew through the air and the moment right before it hit. ”
“Angel,” I choke on the word, wishing this was all a bad dream while knowing it’s very real. “Never again,” I vow.
Her hazel eyes are sad when she looks up at me and then back to the card still sitting on my President’s desk. “Seems like he found me. I probably should have kept moving, but when I found Dogwood Ridge, I didn’t want to leave. It feels like home here.”
“You are home here,” I insist.
Her shoulder slump, her words filled with a deep sorrow, “I don’t want to bring this kind of danger to my home, to the one place where I’ve felt accepted and safe. I won’t.”
“Yes,” Ryker drawls, “you will.”
“Because we can and will protect our own. You’re mine, Graycie-girl,” I tell her, my voice fierce. “That makes you part of this club. That makes you family. We will always protect our family with everything in us.”
Ryker is nodding while the threat of violence and retribution dance in his eyes.
Before she can refuse my words, before she can talk herself out of it, I lock eyes with her and implore her, “Do you trust me?”
Her bottom lip wobbles as a few more tears spill down over her cheeks, the tracks left are a reminder and a call for the spilling of blood.
“Yes,” the word is broken, but it’s strong.
I press my forehead against hers and let out a shaky breath. “That’s all that matters. Everything else we’ll figure out. Let me protect you,” there’s a plea in my voice I know she can hear.
“You don’t think I’m weak?”
Her words hit me right in the chest and I rear back like she’s slapped me. I blink at her a few times before shaking my head and glancing at Ryker to see confusion written all over his face.
“Never,” I snarl the words. “The very last thing you are is weak, Graycie. You got out. You escaped a hell most people can’t even fathom.” My fingers skim along a long scar and I ache to kiss each one of them to remind her just how strong she is.
Later.
I’ll map her scars later.
Right now, we need more information.
I share a look with my Prez over my woman’s head, and he gives a nod before pulling out his phone. “I’m getting Whiskey in here; he needs to be filled in and then let loose to find out everything we can about the dead man walking.”
Graycie blinks and then looks between the two of us. But there’s no fear in her eyes, even after my Prez all but admitted that we’ll be killing the bastard who dared to hurt my angel.
When Whiskey strolls through the door, he takes one look at the scene, and his entire demeanor shifts into serious mode. We tell him what we know so far and then Graycie fills us all in on the details she glossed over.
The man is a defense attorney who thinks his connection to bad people with deep pockets is enough to keep him safe. It’s not.
By the time we’re done in Ryker’s office, my woman’s head is lolling against my shoulder, and she can barely keep her eyes open. I stand, done with this whole thing and needing to feel my woman in my arms without the audience.
“We have plenty to get started on,” Ryker drawls with an easy, knowing smile on his face.
Without saying a damn thing, I stride out of the room. Graycie, my sweet woman, calls out over my shoulder as she clings to me, “Thank you.”
I swear I hear both men chuckle, but I don’t bother slowing down until the door to my room in the clubhouse swings shut behind us. Unable to put her down right away and needing her in my arms, I sit on the edge of my bed and look down at her tearstained face.
“You came to me,” I rasp the words and her eyebrows pull together. “You got the card and knew you needed protection and you came to me.”
Her small hands cup my jaw while her delicate fingers move along the stubble there. “Where else would I go?”
Something breaks inside of me and I’m taking her mouth in a kiss which is brutal in its intensity but carries all the sweetness and softness my woman makes me feel. I should pull back, I should make sure she’s okay, but I can’t seem to put any distance between us.
Not now.
Not ever.