Stella

 

Stella balanced two cups of steaming hot tea on a plate piled high with cookies, walking slowly over to her couch where Nicole waited for her. They had days like this at least once a month, where they just got together to drink tea and talk about their lives and maybe watch a movie or two to unwind. They were crucial for Stella’s mental health, especially now that things had gotten so chaotic at the Haven. She needed time with her best friend to heal, to relax, to feel like her life wasn’t a total flaming trashcan fire.

 

“So, then Wesley tried to fire me,” Stella said, returning to the story from the night before, when Cameron and his friends had come to Haven to intimidate her boss.

 

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Nicole said sympathetically, reaching forward for her cup of tea along with a few cookies to dunk. “Did he go through with it?”

 

“No, Mark stopped him,” Stella said with a sigh, curling her legs underneath her body for warmth.

 

“Hmm,” Nicole said as she took a sip of her tea.

 

“What does that mean?” Stella said, smiling teasingly at her best friend, who continued to make murmuring little “hmm” and “mm” noises under her breath.

 

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Nicole said with a mischievous grin. “Just that it seems like somebody likes you…” She dragged out the last two words before sticking her tongue out, waving it at Stella like they were two little girls in elementary school.

 

“No!” Stella scoffed, shaking her head before taking a drink of the tea herself. “No, you’re crazy. It’s not like that.”

 

“How many times have you fucked now?” Nicole asked, raising her eyebrows quizzically.

 

“A few times,” Stella admitted. “But, really, it’s not what you think, I swear.”

 

“Mm-hmm, sure,” Nicole said sarcastically, shaking her head at Stella like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Stella, girl, I know you’ve only dated one guy for, like, your whole life, but you really do not understand how men work, do you?”

 

Stella screwed up her face in disagreement, reaching forward for a few cookies to snack on while she told Nicole off. “It’s you who hasn’t been dating recently, since you and Ian are practically married by now. It’s disgusting, you know.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Nicole said, waving her hand to dismiss Stella’s words. “But seriously, honey. This guy is into you. I can always tell these things. Do you not feel the same way or something?”

 

Stella shifted uncomfortably on her couch, averting her eyes from Nicole’s piercing, investigating gaze. “No. I mean, not ‘no,’ exactly. I care about him a little bit and all, but it’s not like he’s my boyfriend or anything.”

 

“He sounds like he’s something,” Nicole said, dipping a cookie into her tea. “Look, don’t be embarrassed by it. I think it’s great that you have another man in your life. Just, you know, be careful.”

 

“Careful about what?” Stella asked, feeling her nerves go on edge, worried about the potential hidden meaning lurking behind Nicole’s advice.

 

“Well, I just mean, don’t get attached too quickly,” Nicole said, shrugging a little. “I mean, what do I know, right? I don’t want to tell you what to do. It’s just that we don’t know him, you know? He’s not in the MC. He didn’t grow up in town. Who knows what he could really be like, underneath all that muscle?” She laughed, clearly trying to cut the tension that had developed between them.

 

But Stella wasn’t having it. She put her plate down on the coffee table, scooting a little farther away from Nicole. “So, what, just because he’s not a biker that a thousand townie girls have fucked before, he’s not trustworthy?” she asked.

 

Nicole shook her head and waved her hand impatiently. “No, now, come on, you know that’s not what I meant.”

 

“Well, it kind of sounds like that’s what you’re saying,” Stella said defensively. She didn’t know why she felt so angry all of a sudden. Nicole had a point. She barely knew Mark. Nobody knew him, in fact, and she and Nicole had been friends for a decade. Why should she take Mark’s side?

 

But it didn’t matter what the logic inside Stella’s brain had to say. Her mind was going wild now, resisting any urge to accept Nicole’s opinion or just move on and agree to disagree.

 

“You know, there’s this stupid cult mentality in this town,” Stella said, not letting Nicole get a chance to speak even though the other woman opened her mouth to respond. “I’m not finished. I’ve lived here for over fifteen years, and you know what the people in this town have done for me? Nothing. Or practically nothing anyway. Everybody just stood by and watched while Cameron cheated on me and mistreated me and acted like I didn’t matter. Nobody stood up for me. Nobody.” The unspoken accusation was still clear, and Stella couldn’t soften her gaze even as Nicole visibly cringed.

 

“Honey, that’s not fair,” Nicole said. “The MC is a force for good, too. We’re just very loyal people, you know, so it’s hard to change things or stand up to Cameron, but it’s not like the club is just filled with a bunch of bad people who don’t care about you. The boys love you, Stel. Ian loves you. I love you, of course.”

 

Stella sighed deeply, feeling the sick sensation of regret start to build in her stomach, but before she could return Nicole’s words, there was a sudden sharp knock at her front door. “Oh, Jesus, who could it be at this hour?” Stella said as she got to her feet, crossing the living room area to the front door.

 

Out of habit, she opened the door without looking, revealing a grinning Cameron standing there waiting for her. “Hey, darling,” he said in a sugary sweet voice, his eyes gleaming with something that made Stella’s stomach turn. “Miss me?”

 

Stella tried to slam the door right in his face, but Cameron reached out with one hand and stopped it, pushing it forward so that Stella had to step back into her apartment to get out of the way. The next second, Cameron was in her apartment, standing there like he owned the place, surveying every inch with a smile like he was hunting for real estate.

 

“Oh, Nicole,” he said as soon as he saw her. “I didn’t know to expect you over here tonight. Don’t you want to spend time with Ian while he’s off of work?”

 

“I wanted to talk to Stella,” Nicole said stiffly. “Isn’t that still allowed?”

 

“Sure it is,” Cameron said in a friendly, sprightly tone of voice, walking over to the living room, passing Stella on the way without saying anything to her like she was a piece of furniture. “Anyway, do it at another time. I’m horny.”

 

Nicole stared up at him, confusion written across her face. “What?”

 

“I need to get some fucking in before I have to go back to work,” Cameron said, slowing down his voice in a mocking manner, as if Nicole was too stupid to understand things spoken at a normal pace. “Get the fuck out, Nicole. We’re busy.”

 

Nicole looked from Cameron to Stella, then back to Cameron again. She was clearly conflicted, and Stella tried as hard as she could to silently beg with Nicole to stay, to not abandon her like this. She couldn’t be left alone with him. She just couldn’t. She no longer trusted him to respect her boundaries, at all.

 

“Nicole…” Cameron said again, his voice dropping lower, losing its sugary sweetness. There was a threat within that single word, as short as it was, and both of the women seemed to flinch back from it. But then Nicole slowly got to her feet, putting her cup of tea down on the coffee table next to Stella’s.

 

She walked up to Cameron, and for one stretched-out, hopeful moment Stella thought that Nicole was about to yell in his face, to tell him to fuck off. But it didn’t happen that way.

 

“Okay,” Nicole whispered to Cameron before walking around him, stopping in front of Stella. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah, like hell,” Stella said, marching over to the door to see Nicole out. She had never felt this pissed before in her entire life. She was used to Cameron being a dick, demanding sex whenever and wherever he wanted. But one thing that she never expected was Nicole to betray her, to put her loyalty to the MC ahead of their friendship. Stella felt so sick and sad that she almost forgot to feel afraid. Almost.

 

“Why don’t you come sit next to me on the couch?” Cameron said as he walked over to take a seat, picking up one of the cookies off the plate and putting it in his mouth. Stella could tell that he was in a shitty mood. He always ate lots of sweet things and commanded her to fuck him whenever he was stressed out.

 

“I’m fine here,” Stella said stiffly, leaning back on the wall opposite the couch so she could keep looking at him. The door was a few feet away. If she absolutely had to, she could make a break for it, maybe run for one of the more major streets a few blocks away from her apartment and try to flag down a car. Maybe basic human decency still counted for something in this godforsaken town, at least enough to save her from fucking Cameron.

 

But the risk was too high. He wasn’t that far away from her, and he could probably catch her before she even left the apartment. Plus, who even knew what he was capable of doing if he got more pissed off than this? If she screamed for help or did anything else to possibly embarrass him, he might call the other boys and beat her up. He hadn’t gotten physical with her ever before, but she wouldn’t put it past him, especially given how some of the bikers around town treated their women.

 

“Okay, that’s fine,” Cameron said softly, apparently oblivious to her half-baked plan to flee using the front door. “I figured we would talk first anyway.”

 

“Talk about what?” Stella said sharply, her voice betraying her anger even though she knew it was the smarter thing to stay as calm as possible when dealing with Cameron. But she just couldn’t fight it. He was too much of a prick to be nice to, especially after he’d barged in without invitation. She had every right to be as much of an asshole to him as possible. “Talk about how you tried to get me fired from my job yesterday? Do you want to talk about that, huh?”

 

Cameron smirked for a second, the cruelty that Stella knew always lingered beneath the surface peeking through for a minute before he replaced his honest expression with a sadder, more contemplative one. “Did he try to fire you? I was just stopping by to say hi. You know, if your boss gets so angry at you over such a small thing, maybe it’s a hostile work environment. You know, maybe you shouldn’t work there in the first place. You always have a role back at Stormwatch if you want it. Just say the word, and you’ve got your old job back.”

 

“No thanks,” Stella said as snobbishly as she could. “I’ve moved up in the world.”

 

Anger flickered across Cameron’s face like a candle in the darkness, appearing for just one second before snuffing itself out. The next second, he nodded slowly, pressing his fingers together in a makeshift steeple as he pretended to be lost in thought. “Fair enough. You know, we had some good times back there, though, remember?”

 

Stella didn’t say anything, instead feeling her teeth grit together painfully hard within her mouth. Cameron could probably see how pissed she was just from the way her jaw looked, but she didn’t care. She was tired of performing for him, one way or another. It was exhausting, spending years pretending to be the girl too cool to care that her boyfriend was fucking other girls, pretending to be the girl that didn’t care if she got called misogynistic names whenever she disagreed with her boyfriend, the girl who didn’t care if all of the other bikers laughed at her. She was sick of it. It was like Mark said. It was time to fight back, even if that meant just being silent.

 

“Man, I miss having you around,” Cameron said, throwing his head back on the headrest at the back of the couch. “Remember that time you got totally smashed on fireballs and then we fucked in the stockroom? God, that was great.”

 

Stella rolled her eyes. She could barely remember that encounter, but from her perspective it’d been nothing special. She just shrugged in response to Cameron’s expectant look.

 

“Or what about the time that we went on the rollercoasters upstate, remember, the really big ones? I got you that teddy bear at the dart throwing table, the really fluffy white one. You used to love that bear.”

 

For a second, a horrible moment that felt like it lasted forever, Stella felt a flutter of affection, deep in her chest, for the man she used to love. The man who used to profess to love her, the man who was now sitting across from her.

 

But just as soon as she felt her own expression soften, she saw a flash of victory cross Cameron’s face, and her stomach turned over, the acids inside screaming in protest as she realized that she was being manipulated. Goddammit, this motherfucker, she thought, staring at the smiling asshole on her couch, chewing away at her cookies. He’s playing me. Just like he’s always played me. First for sex, and now for the Haven. He’ll never stop playing me.

 

Well, she was going to try to put a stop to it today, at least. “Okay, cut the crap, Cameron,” she said. “What did you really come here for?”

 

“I told you,” Cameron said, straightening up in his seat to address her. “I just miss you. Like, fuck, I wake up cold from not holding you.”

 

“Oh, I’m so sure,” Stella said mockingly. “You expect me to believe that you aren’t fucking seventeen girls every day that I’m gone? Oh, oh, what, I’m supposed to believe that you’ve ‘changed’?” She put finger-quotes around the last word, laughing bitterly and shaking her head, even as Cameron’s expression fell from his face.

 

“You left me, remember?” Cameron said, getting to his feet and brushing the cookie crumbs off his hands. His shoulders seemed to stiffen, like he was trying to grow to his full height. In the past, that would have intimidated her. Hell, maybe it still should have intimidated her now. But she was too angry to feel afraid right now, too consumed by bitterness to grant him any ground, even emotionally.

 

“I left you after you cheated on me with every girl that walked into Stormwatch!” Stella shot back.

 

“So, you’re saying, if I stop fucking the girls, you’ll come back?” Cameron asked, stepping a little closer to Stella.

 

“Oh, come off it!” Stella said, not believing the words she was hearing. How could this motherfucker be so cocky, after everything? How could he still honestly believe that he owned her? “I’m not going back to you, Cameron! Ever!”

 

Cameron smirked and shook his head, stepping forward a little bit more, just enough to cause Stella to back up until her body was flush against the wall behind her again. “You say that now, but you’ve always said that, every time we’ve broken up. What’s supposed to make me believe that this time is any different?”

 

“I mean it,” Stella said harshly, putting as much force behind the words as she could muster. “I’m done with you, Cameron. I’m done with you, I’m done with Stormwatch, I’m done with the goddamned MC, all of it! You’re not going to run my life anymore!”

 

Cameron walked a bit faster, crossing the room until only about a foot of space separated them. “You think I’m just going to let you go, Stella? You think I’m going to give up that easily? You don’t do that to people that you love.”

 

“You don’t hurt people you love! You don’t stalk people you love!” Stella argued back, stepping a bit closer until she was yelling in his face. But she didn’t care. Even as it became clearer and clearer that his breathing was coming out harder and faster, his face going red with the exertion of holding back his anger, she didn’t give a single fuck. Inwardly, she said to him, Hit me. Come on, go ahead, hit me. Do it. It’s what you’ve always wanted to do. You’ve always wanted to control me. You’ve always wanted to have power over me. Just be honest and fucking do it.

 

Stella looked down to see Cameron’s hands clenched into fists, his knuckles shining white with the force of his anger thrumming under his skin. Stella backed up until she was up against the wall, inhaling deeply to steady herself. No matter what, no matter how hard he hit her, she was going to be okay. At least, that’s what she silently promised to herself, watching as Cameron’s eyes grew narrower and narrower, staring at her with as much hate as she’d ever seen in them.

 

Knock, knock, knock. Somebody lightly rapped on the door, causing both of them to tear their eyes away from each other and look to the source of the sound. When neither of them moved to answer it right away, the knocking resumed again, a bit louder this time.

 

“You stay fucking still,” Cameron said in between clenched teeth before walking over to the door, opening it wide to reveal…Mark, standing there with a shocked look on his face as he saw Cameron. “The fuck are you doing here?”

 

“I could ask the same thing of you,” Mark said, craning his head to see behind Cameron, a wave of relief visibly crashing over him when he spotted Stella.

 

Stella stepped forward and wrapped her hand around Cameron’s arm, suddenly emboldened by Mark’s presence. There was no way Cameron was able to hurt her now. Mark was here. She felt safe and strong and capable, like she could do anything. And right now, the only thing she wanted to do was kick Cameron out of her life, as far away as possible. “Cameron. Come on. It’s time to go.”

 

Cameron’s face screwed up in anger and confusion as he turned his head to look at Stella. “What the fuck? You’re kicking me out? You should be telling him to go!”

 

“No,” Stella said, shaking her head. “No, I’m not doing that. Please go, Cameron. Before things get ugly, okay? I don’t want to fight you.”

 

Cameron snarled and turned back to face Mark head on. “You’re going to pay for this. You know that, right? You might not know exactly who I am, but believe me—you’re going to figure it out sooner or later. And if you keep stepping in between me and my woman, it’s going to be a lot sooner than you think.”

 

Cameron’s words settled deep in Stella’s stomach, twisting around inside of her like they were rearranging her organs, but Mark didn’t even flinch. His eyes were blank and empty, completely unaffected by Cameron’s overt threat. Mark stepped aside, giving Cameron room to walk past him out of the apartment.

 

Cameron turned to give one last look at Stella, scoffing a little as he turned back to face Mark. “If she weren’t here, you’d be in pieces on the floor by now, brother. Believe that,” Cameron said as he stormed out of the apartment.

 

Mark stepped in as soon as Cameron was out of the apartment, shutting the door behind him and quickly setting the locks. “What was he doing here?”

 

“He just showed up. I didn’t invite him,” Stella said a little defensively, wrapping her arms across her chest.

 

“That fucker,” Mark muttered under his breath, going to the windows by the door and checking to make sure they were locked and secured.

 

Stella slowly stepped forward until her body was flush with Mark’s back, letting herself lean her head between his shoulder blades. She didn’t know why she was acting this way, but she needed to be touched. She needed to be held.

 

Mark didn’t flinch the way she was expecting him to, slowly turning around instead and looking her directly in the eyes. She half expected him to shove her away, to tell her to stop acting all mushy and pathetic, to remind her that they were in the middle of a battle and they couldn’t afford to be weak.

 

Instead, he reached down and cupped her face in his hands, his eyes flicking back and forth between each of hers like they were searching for an answer that only she knew. “You had a hard day, huh?”

 

“Hard couple of days,” Stella admitted before laughing and shaking her head. “More like hard couple of years.”

 

Mark nodded and slowly rubbed the side of her face, reaching up to her temples, where she kept most of her tension. It was weird that he seemed to know her body so intimately already. But Stella didn’t question it. She let herself sink further into his touch, her eyes sliding shut as his thumbs worked magic on the sides of her head.

 

“You need to relax,” Mark said softly, one of his hands reaching up to smooth over her hair, scratching up against her scalp in the process.

 

Stella shook her head back and forth a little bit, careful not to dislodge herself from Mark’s grasp. “No, we’ve got to make a plan. About Cameron. He’s just going to keep getting more and more insistent and pushy about the Haven unless we do something to stop him.”

 

“All right,” Mark said, his tone showing that he wasn’t going to engage in an argument with her. “But not tonight. Tonight, you need to rest. Tomorrow, we can worry about him, okay? Tonight, just relax.”

 

Stella sighed out deeply, half in exhaustion, half in resignation that she’d never be able to do what Mark wanted, at least not tonight. She was way too wound-up, far too anxious about the whole Cameron thing, especially since he just barged into her place looking to fuck her. How could she possibly relax, even for a second, knowing that he was out there, plotting the demise of her new life without him?

 

But Mark’s fingers worked magic over her skin, the heat from his fingertips sinking into her face, spreading out to the rest of her body slowly but surely. “You’re good at this,” she murmured softly, letting her neck go limp, her head rocking forward so that it nestled underneath Mark’s, resting on the top of his firm chest.

 

“Come on, let’s go to bed,” Mark said, right before dropping a soft kiss at the top of Stella’s head.

 

The next second, Mark’s hand reached down to find hers, his fingers intertwining with hers, pulling lightly as he led her over to the bed. Stella felt her heart start beating faster within her chest, her fingers tingling where they brushed up against Mark’s. They were holding hands. Stella had never felt so safe and so scared at the same time before.

 

But as they approached the bed, Mark suddenly pulled away, leaving her feeling cold and abandoned, confused as to what she could have possibly done wrong. The next second, however, he wrapped his arm around her waist, sweeping her entire body into his arms with ease.

 

Whatever happened, tonight Mark was going to call the shots. He was going to take care of her. Stella didn’t know why Mark was acting this way, but she needed it, as much as she needed air to breathe.