Chapter 19 #2
“Then we turned twenty-one and all he ever wanted to do was drink. He’d be out at bars and clubs until all hours of the night.
The cops brought him home more than once.
He’d convinced me to move in with him, then he started spending all his time and money on booze.
I was struggling to keep everything going,” she admitted, her voice soft and filled with shame.
As if any of that was her fault. Sounded like she’d hooked up with a guy who decided it was more fun to sow his wild oats than maintain the commitment he’d made to his girlfriend.
I wouldn’t know shit about that. I’d been in the military so young, there hadn’t been sowing of much of anything until I joined the MC.
I had a feeling I knew at least a portion of what was coming next in her story.
“He started getting into fights. He wasn’t paying his portion of the bills.
I kept having to go pick him up from either the police station or bars in the middle of the night.
Then he started borrowing money from friends and family to fund his drinking.
They’d call me, trying to get back some of the money he’d blown. ”
“Fucking idiot.”
“That and more.”
“Him, not you.”
“Oh, I know.” Her gaze turned fierce. “He was the one who fucked up. I don’t blame myself. I know I didn’t do anything wrong, other than staying with him for too long.” She sighed again. “Can I have another?”
“Last one.” I shouldn’t even give her that.
She was already drunk, but I wasn’t planning on taking her anywhere else tonight.
She was safe up here in my room with me.
Not that my brothers would ever act inappropriately toward her if she did happen to wander downstairs, and they wouldn’t allow the friends Lock had invited to this party to do shit either.
They already knew she was off limits. I handed her the shot and took another for myself.
I wasn’t even feeling the buzz yet, but I wasn’t planning on getting wasted tonight.
A few shots before bed just helped me sleep better.
“I did do one thing wrong,” she admitted. The sad expression on her face was nearly unbearable.
I wanted to fix all her problems, erase all her worries.
Walking over to the bed, I got on it with my back resting against the wall, then dragged her onto my lap.
Arranging her so that her back was against my chest. My cock was digging into her ass, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. “Tell me.”
Her cheeks were pink from the realization that I was hard, but she settled back into my arms. “Dan called me one night to pick him up from the bar. It was still relatively early for him. I was having dinner with my family. Dad insisted on coming with me.” Her body shuddered against mine.
“When we walked in it was utter chaos. People were hitting each other. Some lady broke a bottle over a guy’s head.
” She looked over her shoulder at me. “I’ve never seen anything like it.
” Her lips twisted ruefully. “Granted I’ve never even been in a fight before.
Seeing an entire roomful of people going at it was crazy. ”
She turned back around, arching into my touch as I ran my hand up and down her thigh. It was meant to be a soothing gesture, but it did nothing to diminish my lust. If her breathing was any indication, it was having an effect on her, too.
“We made our way through the crowd, trying to find Dan. Dad wanted me to go back out to the car to wait, but I didn’t want to leave him in that place.
Thankfully, I didn’t listen because Dan came stumbling out from the area that had the pool tables.
Three men were chasing after him. Dad tried to reason with them, but they were drunk and said that Dan had ripped them off.
Dad even offered to pay them, just to smooth over the situation. ”
Anger was rolling off her in waves as she recounted the next part of the story. “Dad had managed to calm everything down. The guys were going to take some money and leave the situation alone.”
My eyes closed and I silently called Dan every name in the book.
I knew where this was headed. I’d gotten into far too many of my own fights not to know.
The difference was, I always won. Sounded like Dan picked fights he couldn’t finish, then expected his girlfriend and her father to de-escalate the situation. Fucking loser.
“He started smarting off to the guys. I tried to get him to stop, but the damage was done.” Her body shook as she recounted the next part, her voice thick with unshed tears.
“One of the men hit Dad with the pool cue he was holding. Broke it over his chest.” She reached down and grabbed my hand.
“I thought he was having a heart attack. That he was going to die in this shitty little bar on the outskirts of South Tucson. That I’d have to live with the fact that my piece of shit boyfriend had gotten my father killed. ”
Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her back tight into my embrace. I kissed the side of her face. “Then what?” She needed to get the rest of it out as much as I had to hear it. The need to comfort her while she did was too strong to resist.
“Thankfully, the force of the blow just knocked the wind out of him. Once he was able to breathe, I helped him up and drove him straight to the hospital. I spent the next six months apologizing every day.” I could see the smile on her profile as I looked over at her.
“My dad, being who he is, never accepted the apology because he said it wasn’t mine to make.
It was Dan’s. Not that I’d let him anywhere near my family after that.
After I dropped Dad at home, I went back to our apartment and packed up everything I could fit into my car. I’ve never been back.”
“What happened to Dan?”
“Last thing I saw, he was getting the crap beat out of him by those three.” She nibbled on her lip. “Sometimes I feel guilty for leaving him there-”
“Don’t. He deserves exactly what he got.”
“I know he lived because he tried calling. For months he left voicemails explaining his side of things. I never took his call. Eventually he gave up.” She heaved a breath, as though talking that out had released a heavy burden.
I hoped it did. She didn’t need to be carrying that around with her. “You did the right thing,” I reassured her. I didn’t go into my thoughts on starting shit you couldn’t finish; she didn’t need to hear that.
She turned in my arms, her knees on either side of my legs. My breath caught in my chest as she kissed me. Without even giving them the order, my hands were in her hair, positioning her head so I could take the kiss deeper.
I let the sensations roll over me as I enjoyed her taste. Her body crowded closer and I allowed one hand to free itself from her silky soft tresses to cup her ass and grind her against my dick. Fuck, I was so damn horny.
Her hands slid down over my chest, but it wasn’t until she was undoing my belt that reality returned like an ice cold bucket of water hitting me. I caught her wrist and stared into her deep green eyes. “What’re you doing, Sunshine?”
Her smile was hesitant. “Proving I still know how to have fun.”
My eyes narrowed on her face. God damn it, I wanted to let her prove that, all night long if she wanted.
But sober Jordan had wanted to take this slowly.
To have time to get to know me before she jumped into a relationship.
It made sense now. A kid she thought she knew, who she’d dated for years, had made a drastic change overnight.
And one of the people she loved most in this world had been injured because of it.
She didn’t need to verbalize the way she felt about her family.
It was there in her words for anyone to hear. She loved them more than anything else.
As much as I wanted to fuck her. To put my mark on her and prove to her that she belonged to me, I couldn’t.
Not like this. Not while she was drunk. And not before I told her who I really was and all the fucked up baggage that came along with me.
I wasn’t going to let her run from me, once I told her, but she deserved to know all the same.