Chapter 9

~ Declan ~

The moment Ever was out of sight Double-D slumped into a chair and buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shook, and I knew he was losing his shit, and trying desperately to not show it to everyone. His words were nothing more than echoed heartache. “What the hell have I done?”

“I told you to prepare yourself, because it was bad,” T-Bone explained quietly. My own father shook his head back and forth in disbelief as T-Bone spoke, because he honestly hadn’t let himself believe that his men – his brothers, his son, he himself – had been the cause of one little girl’s complete and total breakdown. When we sat the men down to discuss my plan, I hadn’t planned on telling them how bad things had gotten for Ever, but T-Bone didn’t want them spared the guilt he now carried on his own shoulders.

Everyone had been on the fence about following through, and Crow and PeeWee had flat out refused to take part in it at first until T-Bone described the scene only his mother had been witness to. When he confronted Lucy about it after Ever mentioned it to me, she broke down and told him everything. She didn’t spare the details either about how she had walked in after hearing Ever scream like death itself was chasing her, and then what she saw once she burst through the door. Pills scattered everywhere, Ever sitting in cold water, lips taking on a bluish tint, and screaming at some unknown enemy she was trying to fight. Only the unknown enemy hadn’t been unknown. It was us. It was our club. It was what these men had done to her, encouraged others to do. It was what wasn’t done, the failures that took place, the absolute lack of faith in her and failure to protect her that had become her enemies. We, Aces High MC, had all had our part in helping to destroy this beautiful, remarkable, angel of a girl. The girl who can’t even see our kutte without preparing for battle now, the girl who should have been comforted by the sight, was so broken by the men in our club that she feared it instead.

Once T-Bone told the men about how Lucy had found Ever that day, and got her into therapy, they all agreed to my plan. I don’t think PeeWee or Crow were going to be given much choice in the matter though, once Double-D heard the story he blew up. The man destroyed the room we used for our meetings. There were holes now adorning the walls where chairs were thrown into them, and he refused to allow them to be patched. Double-D made a firm stance that every one of the men in the club should have to look upon the scars on the walls of our most sacred area and remember that they were nothing compared to what they had all done to his baby girl.

“Hearing it second hand, and seeing that look on her face when she asked why we all hated her so much,” he started to say as he pulled his tear-stained face back out of his hands. “Jesus, what the hell kind of a father have I been all this time to not see how much she was hurting, or that we were the ones doing it? Fucking Lucy tried to tell me, and I didn’t want to…” he cut himself off, seeming to get lost in a memory as my dad sat beside him and clamped a hand down on his shoulder in support.

“We’ll make it right, brother.” My father’s promise was clear and concise. I only hoped he actually meant the words, because somewhere along the line he had been just as complacent, and had even been part of the problem. He never should have taken his son’s word, based on the word of some high school slut, and definitely never should have allowed his men to destroy a girl over it. Even if she had been guilty, she was still family, and she had been a fucking child in the big scheme of things.

I wasn’t certain how much time we should give Ever before she came back out here. Something inside me itched to go check on her, especially after seeing her break down in the arms of Kane Youngblood. I’d gone to school with that bastard and knew what kind of a ladies man he was. Besides, I had eyes, and I knew women found him very attractive. I also noted that he had started seeing Ever for the woman she had become as opposed to his little sister’s best friend. It probably didn’t hurt his attraction that she was a gifted fucking artist working right beside him day in and day out. The more I thought about their proximity, the angrier I became.

My own feelings for Ever were something I’d tucked away and hidden over the years. At first it was because she was definitely too young for me. There’s a point in life where that age gap means bad things. Then, there was my brother, and the fact that she was always googly-eyed around him. After that I was gone in the Army, but her letters, the way she opened up to me made me want to come home so many times and just wrap her up in my arms and keep her there. Hell, the couple pictures of herself that she sent didn’t go unnoticed by my buddies either. They didn’t ask about the kid sending me letters either. They asked who the hot chick was that I was hiding back home.

When I first came back to town and saw Ever I swear my heart twisted inside my chest, the ache was so real. She truly was a gorgeous creature, inside and out. It was also apparent that she had grown into herself, very well too. Her curves didn’t seem to stop, and I overheard more than one of the brothers talking about her phenomenal tits since I’d been back. They might have hated on her for their own personal reasons, but they still appreciated the way she looked. The bastards.

“She’s not going to come back out here,” Double-D stated solemnly. “Maybe we should just go. I’m starting to think this was a bad idea.”

“So, what? You leave and never speak to her again?”

“I think that’s what she wants at this point,” he explained in an emotion-roughened voice.

“Really? You honestly think that? Did you see the same girl I saw who just broke the fuck down from seeing you all in her space together?”

“Yeah, she broke down because she doesn’t want us here.”

“I never thought you were a coward,” I told Double-D knowing full well I had probably just earned myself a beat down by the man.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me. You walk out of here with your tail tucked between your legs before you set shit right with Ever and that is exactly what you are. Hell, it’s what you’ve been all this time anyway. What all of you have been, considering your target started out as nothing more than a little girl who fucking watched her mom die in front of her only to be thrown into a fucked up family who hated her for no fucking reason. You guys lave all your praise and love on Anna, who doesn’t even try to be in your good graces, and then there’s Ever who has broken herself trying to get the scraps anyone’s offered. The only difference is who their mom is, and neither of them can help that. The thing that SHOULD have mattered was who their father was, and that should have been everything for both of your girls. So, yeah, you heard me. If you walk out before resolving things with her, you can take my kutte with you, because I’m done being a part of an organization and a family who would destroy a girl because they’re too fucking stupid to see the amazing person standing in front of them all these years.”

I expected a retaliatory outburst from Double-D at best, but his eyes fixed on something beyond my shoulder instead, causing me to tense. I hadn’t wanted Ever to come back out and hear that I was arguing with her father to stay and see things through. That kind of defeated the whole purpose of this trip and them walking in on their own without a fucking gun held to their heads. Not that I hadn’t thought of getting them here in just that way.

“Um,” Ever started hesitantly, making me turn around and take in the rest of the shop again. She stood there looking slightly defeated with her arms wrapped around her own waist as Zeke stood tall behind her. I wasn’t sure what to make of Zeke, and his relationship with Ever. T-Bone had told me he was her mentor here, but I’d heard enough about his escapades to wonder if he had different motivations too. At least, I was happy to see that Kane hadn’t come back out with her still wrapped up in his arms. I wasn’t sure if I could handle seeing that again without getting a little violent.

“Can one of you please explain why you’re all here so we can get this over with. It’s not fair to have Zeke’s place closed up like this.”

“Take your time, Ever. I already told you it’s not a problem.”

“No, it’s my problem apparently, and it shouldn’t affect your business.”

Zeke just shook his head in the negative and smiled down at her. “Remember our little talk last week, girl? This is one of those times when a hand’s being extended. Just take it.” With those parting words Zeke turned and disappeared back around the corner to the employee lounge, no doubt. I didn’t think he was sliding out the back door with all of us still here with Ever.

“You sure do have these boys here wound up about you,” Crow huffed out indignantly. I turned and gave him a look that could damn near kill. He blustered a bit before tacking on, “Just saying, they seem pretty loyal to her is all.”

“Yeah, take a good look, so you remember what that looks like,” I told him before turning back to Ever. “I’m not sure where to start, but that’s what they’re all here for, a fresh start, and closure on the past. We have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?” She looked entirely reluctant to hear any more, and damn near confirmed this when she glanced over her shoulder, no doubt looking for one of the shop boys to come save her from whatever proposition we had.

“Ever,” Double-D stepped up then, but he choked out her name and then took a step back to collect himself again.

“Sis,” T-Bone stepped forward in his dad’s place. “Each one of us in this room has wronged you in some away, aside from Deck. I know that our club ceremony didn’t mean anything to you, and that not a whole lot of attitudes changed afterward which led you to believe it was a sham.” I watched as Ever just shrugged her slim shoulders at her brother. It was somewhat unfortunate that the gesture also made her tits rise, fall, and bounce in a way that made a certain part of me begin to stand up and take notice.

Luckily, for me, T-Bone was her brother and didn’t notice shit like that so he kept right on going which kept everyone’s attention rapt on either him or Ever. “The thing is, you were right about that. I think only a few of us took it seriously, and because you noticed that, none of us got the second chance that some of us wanted so badly.” His eyes were pleading with hers then. “I do, Ev. I want the relationship we used to have before everything went down. I know I fucked up – big time. I tried to make up for it, but I know it was too little too late then. I can’t stand to think that I didn’t have your back when you needed me most, Evie. It kills me inside every time I want to pick up the phone and call you, to share things about my life, or to fucking know what’s going in yours and then to realize I can’t, because you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Toby,” Ever stated quietly, and I saw the hope swell in his eyes right before she deflated it again with her next words. “I just don’t trust you anymore.”

“I deserve that,” T-Bone told her as he ducked his head and went to take a seat, the stench of defeat coming off of him in almost palpable waves.

“We all want you to make us a tattoo,” my idiot brother finally blurted out after watching his best friend strike out.

“You what?” Ever asked, voice raised and incredulous.

My father moved behind J-Bird and slapped his hand across the back of Jay’s neck. “Idiot!” Instead of continuing to admonish his son, Merc turned to Ever and held his hands out, palm down, as if she were a rabid animal he was attempting to calm. “My son is an idiot, and we all learned that lesson the incredibly hard way already, so I don’t know why the hell he thought it was his turn to speak. What the dumbass was trying to say is that we would all like to wear our sins on our skin as penance to you, and as our way of letting you know how committed we all are to really making things right this time.” Merc set weary eyes on me for a moment before looking back at Ever. “My other son has a good head on his shoulders and some fine ass ink on his arm, that you are apparently responsible for. Those two things combined to come up with the idea.”

“What idea, exactly?” Ever asked once more.

“We want you to draw a tattoo for each of us. Something that symbolizes how you feel, or I suppose more to the point, how we’ve made you feel over the years. We want you to ink that tattoo on our skins, and once they’re healed we want you to tell us all about them in a family meeting. The other brother’s will know our shame, and that we wear it for the rest of our lives.”

I was actually proud of my dad for that last line, because he was finally acknowledging the fault they all shared in destroying Ever. Ever seemed to be contemplating what her response should be. “You want me to draw a tattoo for each of you and put them on your bodies?” She asked, seemingly in a daze.

“Yeah, Ever. We’re not even going to look at them until we all get up in front of the rest of the club and you explain what each one means. You get to pick, and we don’t even need to know ahead of time what they are. Just, if I could request one thing, no giant dicks.” I knew T-Bone was trying for levity with his request, but I could have kicked him, because I told them no requesting anything from her other than she does this thing to help everyone heal.

“No giant dicks,” she parroted while nodding her head and glancing down at her shoes. “Hmm,” the sound clearly meant she was thinking, but I wish I could know what was going through her head in that moment. “After this is said and done, if I ask that you all stay out of my life, you’ll do it?”

A choking sound came from my left, where I knew Ever’s dad was, but I couldn’t look away from her. My dad was the one to answer her. “If that’s what you truly want, I will make it a club decree, if need be.” When Ever didn’t respond he asked the hardest question I think my dad has ever had to ask anyone, because the answer was something no one in this room was ever going to be ready for. “Is that what you want, Ever?”

She only offered a quick shrug of her shoulders again before answering. “I’m not sure just yet. I guess I’ll wait and see how this plays out first.”

“You have my word that our intentions are genuine this time.”

She made a noise that sounded like she was attempting to laugh, but couldn’t follow through with the sentiment for whatever reason. “Your word means nothing to me.” She turned her back on all the men in the room and started walking to the back hallway that branched off to the right and left. I knew the left would take her to Zeke in the lounge and the right would take her to her apartment. She glanced back over her shoulder before she chose which way she was going to go. “I’ll let you know what I decide.” Then she turned left to go to Zeke, and my stomach dipped before knotting up with anxiety all over again. For the first time since I set out to right everyone else’s wrongs I wondered if I had done the right thing by bringing them here and demanding even more from her.