CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The next morning, I wake in Teller’s room. We’d been so distracted last night I hadn’t looked around much.
By the way he’s kissing my neck and his hand’s gliding over my hip, I suspect we’re going to be distracted again.
“What’s with the shotgun on the wall?” I ask pointing to the gun anchored to the space above his bedroom door.
“It was my dad’s. Why?”
“You keep it there in case of a zombie apocalypse?”
He snorts out a laugh and sits up. “No. It’s the only thing he gave me, so—”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
My gaze lands on a photo next to the bed. Most of the pictures he has are of Heidi or the club. This one’s different. “Aw, is this a young Teller?” The framed photo of a young blond boy and an older man has to be Marcel and his father.
The corner of his mouth quirks.
“That’s my best memory of him. I had to have been ten or eleven when he finally let me go hunting with him. Heidi was a baby and my dad kept saying he wanted to get meat in the freezer, ya know?”
“Sure.” Heard that my whole life from the men in my family.
“Took my first deer that morning.”
“Wow, that’s awfully young.”
He lifts his shoulders as if it’s no big deal, then points to the corner of his eye. “Gun kicked like a bitch. I still have a small scar from it.”
I move in closer and plant a kiss near the spot he pointed to. He turns and catches me for a longer kiss.
“I used to ask my dad to take me hunting with him when I was younger.”
“Really?”
“He was going to…” I shake off the sadness threatening me. “After he died, I tried to get Uncle Chuck to take me, but he said that girls didn’t belong in the woods.”
He snorts. “That’s stupid.”
His answer surprises me. I expected him to agree. I’m not sure why. He keeps showing me over and over that he’s nothing like the men I grew up around.
He turns and flashes an impish smile. “I’ll take you.”
“Yeah? I don’t know if I could do it now.”
“Heidi never had any interest. She’ll eat it, but she doesn’t want to know where it comes from. She was a funny little kid.”
“I bet.”
Marcel nods at the photo. “After that, Dad said he felt better knowing I could take care of the family if something happened to him.”
“And?”
“And nothing. He split not that long after. Fucking idiot. A ten-year old getting off a lucky shot does not equal ready to take care of your mom and baby sister.”
He says it jokingly, but I can sense the pain under the words. I stroke my fingers over his shoulder and down his arm. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“I’m lucky. I’m not complaining. Met Rock not long after.” He snorts. “He’s been a better father to me than my own ever was.” He laughs again. “Even though he hates when we tell him that.”
“Why?”
“Makes him feel old I guess.”
“I can see that being annoying.” Something keeps fluttering at the edge of my tongue. “Your club…is different than the ones I’ve known. You’re more of a true family, not a business or a bunch of thugs who hang out drinking, fucking, and playing with their Harleys.”
“Why thanks, darlin’,” he says in a country-boy drawl, complete with cowboy grin.
“Don’t mock me, I’m serious.”
“I’m not.” He jerks his thumb toward the window. “You saw the garages out there, right?”
I shake my head, ignoring his teasing. “You don’t understand what it was like.”
His expression turns serious. “What don’t I understand?”
God, this is pathetic. I turn away from him. “I’ve never fit in anywhere.”
I expect laughter or some sort of disbelief, but instead he rolls me so I’m facing him. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t…I never fit in with the club side. Especially after I went to college. My uncle, he’d, you know, brag about me, but everyone else acted like I was too good to hang out with them now. It only got worse after I started law school.”
He squeezes my hand and waits for me to continue. “But in school, I never fit in with anyone either. Especially law school. Lots of them came from families full of other lawyers, some had parents who were judges, and here I was, this biker chick. No matter how hard I tried to fit into both worlds, I never belonged to either.” Of course after a while, I didn’t want to fit in with my uncle’s club and avoided it as much as possible.
“No one cares about that stuff here, Charlotte.”
I pick up my head and raise an eyebrow. “The club accepted Hope right away?”
“Okay, maybe not. Wrath definitely hazed her a little. But she gave it right back. More importantly, she showed Trinity respect. Took Heidi under her wing.” He glances at the door and mumbles, “Stood by her man when he needed her. That’s the shit that matters, Charlotte.”
“Tell me Wrath was meaner to Hope than he was to me.”
He snorts. “It’s not quite the same.” His fingers tangle in my hair, tilting my head back. “I was proud of you. You stood your ground. Wrath respects that. It’ll still take him time to really trust you.”
“I understand.” I look around, suddenly feeling skeeved. “So how many girls have been in this room?”
He rolls to his back and stares at the ceiling. “Surprised it took you this long.”
“Me too. Come on.”
“Enough.”
Another, worse thought, occurs to me. “Did I hang out with any of them last night?”
“You really want to do this?”
“Well, I know you didn’t sleep with Hope.”
He snorts like the idea’s ridiculous.
“Or Trinity.”
He looks away.
“Did you?”
His face turns to stone and he throws the covers back, rolling out of bed. “Don’t pull at this thread, Charlotte. It’s only going to hurt people.”