Chapter Six

 

 

 

 

Nights like this one always put Pretty Boy on edge. He’d been tasked with checking on a few things over at their tattoo shop which had taken longer than he’d intended. Leaving him miles from home at three in the morning trying to melt the distance between him and his woman with speed. He hated taking these runs, but most of his brothers had kids now. That didn’t make his old lady any less important, but with small kids Pretty Boy knew that taking these runs gave his brothers the ability to help look after their kids. Doing runs for the club now meant when he needed to stay close to home they’d be sure to work with him. Soon he might be having to ask his brothers to take care of things without him so he could stay near Gabi. She was likely to have a hard time with building a relationship with him in the very near future.

Not that he was worried about it. She loved him. He could already see it and even knowing that her road wasn’t going to be an easy one, he knew he’d get them there. Hell, he’d already waited two years for her to be ready. Why she thought her hesitation or fear would cause him to walk away now was beyond him.

He felt his guts clench when he thought of the miles between them. He had Log checking on her tonight, but he knew that Gabi never really let anyone take care of her anymore. He was the sole exception to that rule. Not that he minded much because no other fucker should be near her, but he didn’t like the thought that she was upset, with no one there that could calm her down.

He’d checked his phone before he’d left the tattoo parlor and stuffed it in the pocket he’d had sewn into his cut soon after she’d left his bed. It was right against his heart and he knew he’d feel the vibrations of a call even if he was riding full out like he was currently. He never wanted her to need him and him not be available.

What Log had told Tick the other day wasn’t a lie. Pretty Boy knew that when he wasn’t around, Gabriella was not herself. He hadn’t known how true that was until about four months ago when he had to be away from her for nearly ten days. He’d been gone for three nights when Log called him. He’d barely gotten out his greeting when the man had commanded him to call Gabriella and hung up. Confused and more than a little worried he’d dialed his girls number.

Waiting impatiently for her to pick up. When he’d heard her wobbly voice and the fear that had taken hold of her he’d nearly called Bone and told him he could have another fucking asshole come take his place. The only reason he hadn’t done it was because she’d calmed down after talking to him for over four hours and finally fallen into an exhausted sleep. It had taken everything he had to keep his ass where his Prez had sent him instead of on his bike headed back to his woman. He’d called her twice a day every day he was gone after that night, but it had still nearly killed him to stay where he needed to be instead of going home to Gabriella.

After that run, he’d told Bone that he wouldn’t leave for more than three days unless the situation was beyond dire. Bone hadn’t argued. Likely because he understood. He had a sweet little baby girl and his old lady to look after, which meant he didn’t like the longer runs either. Bone couldn’t always keep Pretty Boy close to home, but he’d never sent him on a long run again. The club was solid and there were a lot of men who didn’t have a family to worry about and Bone tended to lean on them more for the longer jobs now. Tank and his old lady weren’t ready for kids and the two of them took a lot of the longer runs anyway. Most of his brothers didn’t mind because they knew that when they found their old ladies and started having kids Bone would do the same for them.

Some of the men who’d wanted to keep the families out of the club weren’t too happy about the changes and tried to use it to undermine Bone. Mostly that kind of bullshit came from Snapper and Bliss’s group of malcontents. Revving his engine, he pushed the bike harder trying to get home to his sweet girl. He’d moved her back into his cabin three days ago after they’d had their chat about her being his. Pretty Boy knew that he needed to give her some time to settle into staying with him, get her comfortable before they started trying to move towards a sexual relationship. He was well aware that getting to the place they both wanted to be would take time. For now, he was content with her being in his bed every night again so he could hold her to him and know that she was his.

That had been the hardest part of her leaving him all those months ago. Not being able to hold her at night had practically made him insane. It had pushed him nearly to his limit and if he hadn’t been afraid he’d scare her he would have gone to that damned cabin Bone had given her and carried her sweet ass right back to his bed, where she belonged. His hands tightened on the handle bars as hatred for the men who’d hurt his sweet Gabriella ripped through him. They were the reason he needed to be careful with her and they were the reason he had to hold tightly to his temper and his libido. Those bastard Jackals had taken a fiery sweet woman and turned her into a frightened, scared little bird. If he could he’d revive every one of those assholes just so he could kill them all again. Slowly, with lots of pain before they died screaming. A grim smile curled his lips and his teeth clenched as his bike ate up the miles between him and Gabi.

Not that Gabi had let them break her. No, they’d only made her stronger. Those first few days he’d thought they had destroyed her, but then she’d showed up at his cabin, and he’d known. She wasn’t shattered, she was just sealing up the cracks they’d made with their cruel treatment of her. She was amazing and her recovery was nothing short of a miracle. What had happened to her could have tainted the rest of her life, but she’d refused to allow that. Her first two months of silence hadn’t been about withdrawing from the world like everyone, except him had assumed. Nope, they’d been about getting her head on right so she could move on with her life. It was a thing of beauty, and he’d never been so proud to call a woman his own.

Some of his fellow Devils didn’t understand why he’d want a broken bird like Gabi, but to him she was perfect. It didn’t matter that other men had forced her to do things that still haunted her. No, all that mattered was that she soothed him in a way no other person on this earth ever could. When she let him pull her against him every night and press his cock to her ass with his arms tightly wrapped around her, everything in his world was right where it should be. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He didn’t care if they were never able to fully have sex, just having her close was enough. He had a fucking hand and it had been doing just fine getting him off for over two years now.

Some club whore’s pussy wasn’t going to be any better than his hand because they weren’t her. They weren’t his Gabi and they never could be. He was a man who knew what he wanted. He wasn’t going to screw up the only thing in his life that mattered. He’d learned that lesson from his father. He’d kicked his mother out one night when Pretty Boy was ten, resulting in her getting shot. Pretty Boy had never discovered why his father had kicked her out, but he knew that his father had lived the rest of his life filled with regret drowning in a bottle. His father had died five years after he’d joined the Red Devils at seventeen.

Pretty Boy focused on the road again and saw the sign rushing by him with a relieved feeling swirling inside him because it meant that he was only fifteen miles from Gabriella. He laid on the speed making the twenty-minute trip in less than ten, pulling up to his cabin he noted that the lights were off. He shut off the bike and noticed Log sitting on his front step. Climbing off his ride he set the stand and walked towards him.

“Damn am I glad you’re home. She’s been up four times and her pacing is driving me nuts. How can you stand it brother? I barely know her and it kills me to see her like this. I can’t even imagine how it would feel if she was mine.” Log didn’t bother to hide the worry he’d been feeling.

Pretty Boy glanced at the window seeing that the lights were still off and he knew she must have gone to lay down again. She was waiting on him because she couldn’t sleep without him and he damned well knew it. Shit, he was going to have to talk to Bone again. His Gabi didn’t need to be staying up all hours because he wasn’t here for her. He had hoped to wait a bit longer to ask for help from his Prez. He didn’t doubt that Bone would give him the time he needed to settle Gabi’s fears, but he hated asking when things were heating up in their war against the Jackals again.

“It isn’t easy, but every day it gets easier for both myself and her. She’s doing so much better.”

“If you say so brother. I can’t see it. When you’re not here it’s like she can’t settle.” Log muttered, glancing at the house as he stood walking down the steps.

“Yeah, it’s hard for her at night. Most of the attacks she suffered were at night.” Pretty Boy knew that because she’d told him six weeks after they’d rescued her. His fists clenched as he said the words, his mind cast back to the night he’d learned those facts.

It had been late one night after the nightmares had woke her. It was dark in the room and she’d been trapped under his arm which had freaked her out. She’d had a panic attack that had taken him over an hour to calm. When she’d finally felt safe again she’d told him about how four of them had held her down and raped her the first night. After that there had been at least one rape a night for over a week before they’d gotten tired of her and left her alone for the most part. Only occasionally coming in to beat or rape her after that. He’d held her while she cried for nearly two hours, her body shaking as she’d tried to push back the memories.

“Fuck, she told you that?” Log asked, sounding as pissed as he felt.

“She’s told me about it all.”

“Damn, how are you not a fucking mess. She’s not my old lady and I want to rip the world apart thinking about that shit. How are you still sane?” Log asked, his hand resting on Pretty Boy’s shoulder with his eyes serious.

“I have to be sane. For her. She needs me and that’s what keeps me rational. You know when I would call you at night and ask you to meet me at the gym? I know you remember.” Pretty Boy asked, his eyes seeking the windows again to assure himself that his Gabi was still tucked up safe in his bed.

“Yeah. Right, I remember you being a fucking animal those nights.” Log said, suddenly putting two and two together. “Those were the times when she talked weren’t they? Fuck, for nearly two months I dreaded those calls,” Log squeezed his shoulder and let go shaking his head. “You weren’t much better during the day unless Gabriella was close. The whole club was worried you were about to go off the deep end. Most of them didn’t know that Gabriella was living with you. I’m glad she could talk to you, but fuck man how did you listen to that shit?”

“It wasn’t fucking easy. Most days I was hanging on by a thread. Sparring with you helped, and I could take some of that rage out on the Jackals we were cleaning up at the time.” Pretty Boy rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he shifted, trying not to let his anger over those memories explode. He had to keep his shit together for Gabi. She needed him to stay steady and he’d be damned if he’d ever let her down. She’d had enough bad shit happen in her life. She didn’t need to add disappointment to the list.

“Damn, brother. I don’t know how you can be okay with this shit.”

“I’ve never been okay with what happened to her Log, but she needs me to be steady and I will give her everything she needs for the rest of her life because she’s mine. You know that.”

“I know, but if you ever need to spar again just let me know. I’m here if you need me.” Log didn’t wait for him to respond, he just walked towards his bike and climbed on.

“I will, but as long as she’s okay, I am too. It’s when she’s upset that shit hits me like a ton of lead. Those days are going to be coming around again once we start trying to take this to the next level.” Pretty Boy felt a sense of unease coat him as he watched his friend nod grimly before he kicked his ride into gear and roared away leaving him standing on his front lawn with his mind on the trails to come. Fuck, when was the last time he’d felt like this? Likely the day he was told his mother had died. He could only hope that the outcome from this would be better than that day. Maybe they’d strike a balance and they’d end up in the place they both needed to be without it ripping them both to shreds.