Chapter Twenty-Nine
Carly
I’m drifting back to sleep when Chance’s arm snakes around my belly, pulling me back into his naked body and I hum, soaking up his warmth.
“Wake up, Princess,” he whispers against my ear, nipping at it and I moan, arching my back into him. It doesn’t matter that he had me up until two in the morning moaning his name, I need him again. His lips press against my cheek before slowly dragging down to my neck and kissing me there. He licks a path back up my throat and I suck in a breath, my mind going blank. “Roll over.”
I roll to my back and he wedges my knees apart, slipping between my thighs as he claims my lips, our tongues tangling together. His hand frames one side of my face and I grip his sides, lifting my hips off the bed. I feel his smirk against my lips, but he doesn’t give me anything more, content to just make out with me for a little bit longer.
“Chance,” I whine and he laughs.
“What were you saying the other day about you not being insatiable?”
I open my eyes just so he can see me roll them. “You always start it.”
“Of course, I start it, baby. I’m just a man and you have a body that would tempt a saint. It’s really not fair.”
“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?” I ask, the ache between my legs making me grumpy. He laughs again and leans down, trailing his nose down mine before kissing me again. I moan against his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck and he pinches my nipple between his thumb and finger before pulling away.
“Shit,” he whispers. “Don’t be mad at me but I’ve got to get going soon.”
My arms fall to the bed and I stare up at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why would you tease me like that if you have to leave?”
“I just can’t resist you, Darlin’.”
He presses one last kiss to my lips before pushing himself up and scooting to the side of the bed. As he grabs his jeans off the floor, I pull the sheet up around my chest and lean back against the headboard.
“What are you doing today?”
He glances back at me and one look from him is enough to make my heart skip a beat. God, I’m cheesy as hell all of the sudden.
“We’ve got a transfer to do. Hopefully, it won’t take too long. You gonna hang out with Ivy?”
I nod. We let her spend the rest of Saturday and yesterday settling into the clubhouse and relaxing but now it’s time to get some answers. I need to tell her everything we found, too.
“Yeah. I’m ready to figure out what is going on here and I want to know how she’s really doing.”
He stands and pulls his jeans up. “She seems good.”
“She does but I’m worried she’s just putting on a brave face. We need to talk about going to the police, too. I’m scared she’ll never be safe unless Julian is in jail.”
“Yeah,” he sighs. “I was worried about that, too.”
He buttons his jeans and my mouth goes dry at the sight of him. How is it legal for the man to look so good in just a pair of jeans?
“You’re gonna owe me for leaving me hanging this morning,” I tell him and he smirks, kneeling on the bed.
“Oh, baby, I always make good on that.”
“Promises, promises,” I whisper, wishing he would kiss me again. He does just that, pressing his lips to mine and I sigh, sinking into his gentle touch.
“I love you,” he states, flicking my lips with his tongue and I groan, my skin tingling with desire.
“I love you but I kind of hate you right now, too.”
“You can take it out on my body later.”
I hum, nodding. “I’m looking forward to that.”
“Me, too,” he agrees, kissing me again as someone pounds on the door and he groans.
“Time to go,” Smith calls and Chance glares at the closed door before standing and throwing a shirt on. He turns back to me and smiles.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay? Be careful and don’t go anywhere.”
I smile. “Go. We’ll be fine here.”
He leans down and kisses me one last time before grabbing his keys off the dresser and slipping out of the room. Sighing, I throw the sheet off me and climb out of bed. There’s no way I’m going to get back to sleep anytime soon with this need simmering in my body. I slip on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before grabbing my phone off the bedside table and heading downstairs. As soon as my foot hits the bottom step, my phone vibrates in my hand with a text.
Mercedes:
How’s your sister?
After Julian left the clubhouse on Saturday, I called Mercedes and asked her to come by. When she got here, I explained everything to her and after seeing Ivy, she was shocked and outraged. I’m pretty sure she would have beat Julian’s door down if I hadn’t asked her to stay out of it. She did, however, insist I take as much time as I needed off work. I’ve still been working on the page for the blog but she’s adamant we put it on the back burner for now so I can focus on Ivy. In the short time I’ve been working for Mercedes, I’ve realized how much she truly cares about the people that work for her and I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I was still working at the Times.
Me:
She’s good. Slowly getting adjusted.
“Mornin’,” Kodiak says, kicking a chair out for me and I sit down next to him as I glance down at my phone.
12:30 p.m.
“More like afternoon,” I comment and he nods.
“Yeah, you’re not gonna find a lot of morning people around here. Late nights and all that.”
I nod, leaning back in my chair. “Have you seen my sister yet?”
“She’s back in the TV room.”
I spin around, trying to figure out where the hell that might be. “Y’all have a TV room?”
“Yeah.” Kodiak laughs. “It’s on the other side of the stairs.”
He nods to a door just past the staircase.
“Thanks.”
“No problem, Darlin’. I’m off.” He shoves out of his chair and waves in a sort of mock salute before walking out of the clubhouse. It’s quiet here today and I assume most of the guys must be out working or home. As I stand up, my phone buzzes again.
Mercedes:
Good. Keep me updated.
Me:
I will. Thanks again.
I shove my phone into my back pocket and go in search of my sister, finding her lying on a couch in the “TV room”, which is actually like a small movie theatre. A massive screen covers the back wall with three rows of couches filling the room.
“What are you watching?” I ask. Before she can even answer, I recognize the movie on the screen and wrinkle my nose. “Titanic? Really, Vi?”
“Hey,” she quips, hugging her knees to her chest as I sit down next to her. “Don’t diss my favorite movie.”
“Where the hell did you find Titanic in a biker clubhouse?” I ask, imagining Smith in here with a bowl of popcorn in his lap as he watches it and I can’t help but laugh. Ivy blushes.
“I may have sweet talked Moose into getting it for me.”
Of course, she did. I laugh and point to the screen.
“Well, I was hoping we could talk so you think you could pause your favorite movie?”
She nods, grabbing the remote and pausing it just as Jack steps up behind Rose on the bow of the boat. “Yes, let’s talk because I’ve been dying to ask you about Chance.”
I want to object but don’t. My relationship with Chance is probably a pretty good way to start this conversation. I don’t want to just dive right into the heavy stuff and upset her.
“Okay, what do you want to know?”
Her eyes widen. “Everything. When did you meet him?”
“Um… you remember when we had lunch like six weeks ago – when you first told me about Julian?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“I met him the day before that.”
“And?” she questions, desperate for more. I laugh.
“And nothing. I was not interested in anything more than hooking up…”
“As usual,” she grumbles, rolling her eyes.
“Shut up,” I say, shoving her playfully. “Anyway, that’s what we started out as, but Chance wasn’t really having that. He kept pushing me and knocking down all my walls.”
“Brute force,” she muses. “I like it.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth, her face changes and she almost seems to shrink in on herself. I suck in a breath as tears sting my eyes.
“What happened to you over there, Vi?”
She shakes her head as a single tear streaks down her cheek. “It was hell, Car.”
My heart aches as I reach over and pull her into my arms, hugging her tightly as she cries into my shirt.
“It didn’t start like that, you know?” she asks, her voice shaking and I nod.
“I know, sweetie.”
Pulling back, she wipes her eyes and wraps her arms around her knees again.
“In the beginning, I was so happy. I thought I had fallen in love with the perfect guy but somewhere along the way, it had changed. I didn’t even realize it then, but he was breaking away pieces of me. They seemed so small, you know? But by the time I realized what was happening, I was too broken to do anything.”
“You’re not broken, Vi. I know it feels like that now but believe me when I say that you’re not.”
She meets my eyes and the pain in her gaze makes my heart wrench as my blood boils.
“Yes, I am. He played me for a fool and when I saw the real him, it almost destroyed me. You of all people should know I’ll never be the same.”
“You’re right,” I whisper, grabbing her hand. “You will never be the same, but it doesn’t mean you’re broken. Please believe me because it’s something that took me a really long time to learn.”
“I don’t know if I can believe it.”
I nod. “That’s okay. We take this one day at a time and any time you forget, I’ll be here to remind you.”
“I really thought I was going to die in that house,” she admits, her voice cracking again and my breath stutters. I shake my head and pull her into my arms.
“I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
We sit in silence for a few moments, staring at the frozen screen, before she sucks in a breath.
“I have to go to the police, don’t I?”
I nod. “Yeah, Vi, you do.”
“Does Mom know I’m here?” she asks, sitting up and turning to look at me. I shake my head. How can I possibly tell my baby sister that our mother didn’t care?
“Anything I could tell you about Mom would only upset you more.”
She sighs, turning to look at the screen. “She didn’t care, did she?”
“No, she didn’t. She said Julian was a good man and I should be happy for you.”
“Figures,” she bites.
“Dottie’s been worried sick about you, though. I’m sure she’ll want to come see you as soon as you’re feeling up to it.”
She wipes away a tear, turning back to me. “I wish I had listened to her. She was right about everything.”
“Vi,” I start, unsure if I should even ask this question but I have to know. “Why didn’t you come to me earlier? I would have done anything to help you. Didn’t you know that?”
“Of course, I did. Julian… after we moved in together and I realized I was in trouble, he told me that if I didn’t do exactly what he said, he’d go after you.”
“He threatened me?”
She nods. “And I believed him. For some reason, he decided he wanted me and nothing was going to get in his way.”
“Yeah,” I sigh, not wanting to tell her this next part. “About that…”
“What?”
“When you sent Rosie to my apartment with that note, one of the guys, Streak, started looking into Julian and it got kind of weird. We’re still not one hundred percent sure what was going on.”
Her eyes widen and she studies my face for a second. “What do you mean you don’t know what’s going on?”
“So, he first saw you at the New Year’s Eve event, right?”
She nods. “Yeah, he asked to buy me a drink and I blew him off.”
“But, I thought… didn’t he say he didn’t talk to you that night?”
Her head bobs up and down as she pulls her knees closer. “Yeah. I don’t know why he said that and when I asked him, he slapped me.”
“In the street… we saw that.”
“I told him you and Dottie would be watching. He didn’t care.” She stares at the screen again and I can only imagine how much her mind is racing right now. It’s so much information to process and I hate not having answers for her. “Was there more?”
“Yeah… after the event, he hired a private investigator to follow you around. This guy had everything on you, Vi. Even your medical records. After that, Julian started inserting himself into your life wherever he could.”
“I thought it was fate,” she whispers, more tears falling from her haunted eyes.
“I think that’s exactly what he wanted you to think. He orchestrated this whole thing to lure you in.”
She stands up and paces back and forth in front of me, chewing on her lip. “I’m so stupid.”
“No,” I shoot back, standing up. “You’re not stupid.”
“How could I believe in something like fate? God, it’s like I lost my mind when I met him.”
Not so long ago, I was exactly where she is, but I can’t say the same anymore. Not since meeting Chance.
“Vi, he manipulated you and you can’t blame yourself for that. Do you remember what you said to me after Austin hurt me?”
She looks up and nods, a smile teasing her lips. “We don’t make excuses for shitheads.”
“Exactly.”
“Is there more?” she asks, sighing as she stumbles back over to the couch and sinks into it.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
She pats the seat next to her and as I sit down, she reaches for my hand. “Let’s hear it.”
I explain the rest to her – the money transfers and burner phones – and when I finish, she scowls.
“And you think it’s all connected?”
“I think it’s too coincidental to not be connected but I have absolutely no idea how it all fits together.”
She nods, rubbing her temples with her fingers.
“Hey, what do you say I go grab us some junk food and we spend the day watching movies?”
A rush of air leaves her lips and she nods. “Yeah, that sounds really good, actually.”
“’Kay,” I say, jumping up. “You stay here and I’ll go grab supplies.”
She salutes me as she grabs the remote and presses play. The movie begins to play and I watch her for a moment before standing up and going back up to the room to grab my shoes. Once I’m ready, I grab Chance’s truck keys off the dresser and head outside. I know he told me to stay put but there’s a gas station just a couple of blocks down with a Redbox outside. I can be in and out in ten minutes and he’ll never even know I left.
Sexy Drug by Falling in Reverse starts playing as soon as I turn the truck on and I smile as I back out of the parking space. All things considered, my talk with Ivy went better than expected and I have faith that with a little time and heaps of support from Dottie, the club, and I, Ivy will be just fine. I know better than anyone she’ll always have scars no one else can see but, deep down, my sassy little sister is still in there.
As I pull into the gas station parking lot a few blocks down, I pull my phone out and smile at the text from Chance.
Chance:
Fuck, I’m so horny.
I laugh out loud and type my reply back to him.
Me:
And whose fault is that?
Tucking my phone back into my pocket, I climb out of the truck with a huge smile on my face. Everything seems to be falling into place and for the first time in a really long time, I’m excited to see where the future will take me. My phone buzzes repeatedly as I open the gas station door. I slip down the first aisle as I pull it out of my pocket.
Chance:
Yours.
Chance:
You better be waiting for me when I get back.
Chance:
I love you.
Nothing in the world could wipe this damn smile off my face. Before I met Chance, I didn’t even realize this level of happiness existed and somehow, I fell into it without even trying.
Me:
I will. And I love you too.
Slipping my phone back in my pocket, I grab a basket and hook it on my arm as I start wandering down the aisles, grabbing our favorite snacks, before I go up to the counter. The cashier smiles at me and I return the gesture as he rings up my items. He reads out my total and I hand him the money, telling him to keep the change.
“Hey, thanks. Have a great day.” He hands me my bags and I nod.
“You, too.”
The sun blinds me as I walk outside and I kind of wish I had remembered to bring my sunglasses. At the truck, I pull the keys out and as I try to unlock it, I feel a prick at the base of my neck, like a bee sting. I reach back to swat the little bug away and my world spins before descending into darkness.