Nickel
Karmen’s body tightened in my arms, and the phone fell to the floor. “Baby?” I spun her around and examined her pale face.
Her fingers shakily touched her lips, and she shook her head. “It can’t be,” she whispered.
“What? What can’t be?”
“I don’t know how he found me. My number isn’t listed. I’ve moved since he last knew where I was. He’s not supposed to find me,” she rambled.
I brushed her hair out of her face. “Karmen, you need to tell me what the hell is going on, baby girl.”
She shook her head and slipped through my arms, dropping to the floor. “I need to turn my phone off. I need to get a new number. This can’t be happening.” She crawled on the floor, scrambling to find her phone.
I spotted it under the kitchen table and nabbed it before Karmen’s fingers grasped it. I scrolled through her call log and put her phone to my ear after connecting the call. “You have reached Winchester Prison after hours. To be connected to—” I hung up and shoved her phone in my pocket. “Who’s calling you from the prison, Karmen?” I was ninety percent sure I knew who it was, unless Karmen knew more than one person in prison.
She sat back on her ass and looked up at me. “I made him promise he would never contact me. I did everything I could to disappear. I should have left town, but I couldn’t leave the only place I’ve known.” Her eyes were bloodshot from crying so hard, and her cheeks were stained with tears. The woman who I had shared the best sex of my life with was gone and was replaced with a terrified girl.
I scooped her up in my arms and carried her back to the bedroom. “We need to talk, baby girl.”
She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. “I’d rather just sleep.”
I bumped the lights off with my elbow and laid her in the middle of the bed. “As soon as we talk, then you can sleep.”
She rolled over on her side and bunched up the pillow under her head. “Once we talk, you’re going to want to leave.”
I fell into bed next to her and pulled the pillow out from under her head.
“Hey,” she protested.
With the pillow folded in half under my head, I gathered her in my arms, and she rested her head on my shoulder. “Talk,” I ordered.
A small grunt came from her mouth, but she didn’t talk.
“Karmen, you can’t freak out the way you did in the kitchen and not think that I’m going to ask questions. Tell me who was on the phone,” I demanded.
“My father,” she mumbled.
“Your father in prison.”
A sigh escaped her lips, and she nodded against my shoulder. “Yes, we’ve already gone over my crappy childhood.”
This shit was going to be like pulling teeth with her. “You’re going to have to give me more.”
“I told you he killed someone, right? Well, his luck ran out on driving drunk, and he managed to smash into a mother and three kids.”
My arm flexed around her. “None of them made it?”
“Only one kid lived. His mom and siblings were gone in an instant because my father didn’t want to walk home in the rain. Killing three people was better than getting a little wet.” She sniffled and buried her face in my neck. “I haven’t talked to him since I was eighteen. I tried to forget everything he had done, but I couldn’t. I told him I never wanted to talk to him again. He was always good at making promises, but the man never kept one”
“So why is he calling you now?” I asked.
“He’s probably up for parole and is looking for me to help him get released early.”
“How long is he locked up for?”
“Thirty-five years. My hands sifted through hair. “Baby girl, that doesn’t make sense.” I had been around guys in and out of prison my whole life. Hell, I had done a stint in jail for six months when I had first joined the Fallen Lords. You didn’t get to make phone calls after midnight to ask your kid to come to a parole hearing. They sent letters in the mail for that shit.
“I’m not going to help that man get out of prison, Nickel. He deserves to be there.”
I pulled her up my side ‘til we were face to face and looked her in the eye. “I’m not disagreeing with you. What I’m saying is, he shouldn’t be calling you after midnight when he’s in prison. They have certain hours they can make calls at, and midnight is not one of them.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “Then how did he call me?”
“He must have pulled some strings, or he has someone in his pocket who was able to connect him to you after hours. He hasn’t tried to make contact with you at all in four years?” Something wasn’t adding up.
She shook her head. “No, I swear. And before that, it was three years.”
I sat up, pulled her over my body to straddle my waist, and leaned against the headboard. “Then there must be something that he needs to tell you if he is calling you after visiting hours.”
“But there isn’t anything he needs to tell me. Even if he had managed to get paroled early, he knows that I don’t want to talk to him. My dad messed up my life, and I know if I let him back in, he is just going to do the same thing again. I’m at least old enough this time to tell him no.”
“So what are you going to do if he calls again?”
She scoffed and rested her hands on my shoulders. “Not answer.”
I brushed her hair back from her face. “I don’t think that is going to help this go away.”
“Well, what is going to do the trick, then?”
“Let me help you. I’ll find out what is going on with your dad, and you won’t have to deal with him.”
She cradled my cheek with her hand, and her eyes watered. “Why are you so nice to me?”
“It's not nice. It’s called taking care of you.”
“No one has ever done that before.” Her voice was quiet, and her eyes were focused on me, but I could tell she was far away. “Even when I went to live with my grandma, she didn’t want me. She said I was old enough to take care of myself. Hell,” she laughed hollowly, “even my mom didn’t want me. She left before I could even remember her.”
My anger boiled knowing that Karmen had that in her life. “Right now, we’re dealing with your dad. Later, we’ll deal with what your messed up past has done to you.”
“Hey,” she protested, “I happen to think I’ve turned out pretty decent.”
“More than decent, baby girl. But it’s twisted the way you see things.”
She laid her head on my shoulder and curled up next to me. “I’m sorry,” fell from her lips.
What the hell did she have to be sorry for? Was it her fault she had a shit childhood with even shitter parents? Hell no. I ignored her unnecessary apology. She was fading fast on me. “I need to know his name.”
She looked up at me, her cheeks tear-stained. “What, why?”
“So I can find out what is going on. Just give me his name.” The phone call already told me what prison he was in, so his name was the last thing I needed.
“Fritz Handel. But what are you going to do, Nickel? I don’t want you to get into trouble for me.”
Karmen had no idea of the shit I was in with the Fallen Lords. Looking in on a deadbeat in prison was going to be a walk in the park. “Don’t worry about me. Your father isn’t going to hurt you or me.” I brushed her hair from her face and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I just got you, I’m not going to let you go anytime soon.”
She huffed and shook her head. “I think we might need to get your head checked.”
A grin spread across my lips. “And why would you say that?”
“Because you are in bed with one of the most boring people you will ever know.”
“Well, I know you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and tonight was one of the best nights I’ve had in a hell of a long time.”
She crawled into my lap and straddled my hips. “Oh my God, Nickel, I think we need to get you to the eye doctor immediately. I think you might be going blind.” Her hands cradled my face, and she had a sly smile on her face.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and flipped her over, my body covering her. “Then it’s a good thing you’re a nurse. I guess I’m going to need some personal care.”
Giggles bubbled from her lips as my hands ran over her body, and my lips blazed a trail of kisses up her neck. “Nickel, you’re so corny,” she gasped.
“You bring it out in me, Karmen. It’s all your fault.” It was all her fault. I would never act like this in front of the club. Hell, it was rare for me to even crack a smile when I was at the clubhouse anymore.
She wound her arms around my neck and pulled me closer. “I guess I can take the blame for that,” she whispered against my lips. “Thank you for helping with my dad.”
“You’re gonna find out there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you, baby girl.”
Her eyes closed, and she sighed deeply.
I meant it when I had told her nothing was going to touch her. Starting tomorrow, I was going to find out what her dad wanted and do my best to keep her safe.
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