Kink's Way (22 page)

“You’re mine,
Cookie,” Kink said softly. “And I’m not letting you go.”

“I don’t want you to
let me go.” And she meant that with every part of her body.

****

Cookie sat around
the small kitchen table with Kink on one side and Callie on the other. Molly
had dropped her off about an hour ago, and it was when she walked through the
front door and saw them standing there, that she felt like she was accepted and
actually part of something more. They had finished eating a little bit ago, and
the comfortable, warm silence that moved among them had her smiling.

“Callie, have you
been putting anymore applications in?” Cookie asked, trying to bring the
conversation to something that the young woman might look forward to. Although
she put on a brave front, there were times when Callie looked like she had
broken everything inside of her, and didn’t know how to put the pieces back.

She shrugged. “A
few, but honestly I haven’t been giving college much thought. I don’t know if I
want to go or not.”

 
“What?” Kink asked and lifted his bottle of
beer to his mouth. He was staring at his daughter as he drank, and the
frustration on his face was clear.

“Kink,” Cookie said softly,
and when he finally looked at her she gave him this hard expression that meant,
“don’t push.” Cookie understood that he wanted what was best for Callie, but
despite the problems Callie had with her mother she had still lost the person
who had given birth to her.

“No,
it’s
okay, Cookie.” Callie looked at Kink. “I don’t know if
I want to go to college right now, Dad. I know I do some day, but I don’t know
if right after graduation is the step I want to take.”

Kink swallowed
loudly, set his beer down, and then exhaled. “I know. I just don’t want you to
hold yourself back.”

Callie shook her
head, grabbed her plate, and then stood. “Dad, just please. I have so much on
my plate now. Graduation, college, Mom dying, and…” She was the one to swallow
now, and when she looked between Kink and Cookie, there was this strange almost
detachment and sadness that covered her face. “Just please.” And then she
turned and left, and Cookie knew that she was going to cry.

“I should go talk to
her, tell her I didn’t mean to seem like I’m pushing,” Kink said and went to
stand, but Cookie reached out and placed her hand on his.

“Kink, just let her
go this one time. She’s dealing with stuff, and sometimes people just need to
grieve by themselves.” She smiled and ran her fingers over his warm skin.

Kink rested back on
his chair and looked over at the stairs where Callie had ascended. “I feel like
I wasn’t really there for her,” he said but still stared at the stairs. “I left
her with Sarah, because I thought that was the best option for her.” He looked
at Cookie. “But it wasn’t, and now Sarah is gone. Callie is suffering through
this, and so much more, and I feel like I’m lost.”

“She’s a teenager
that just lost a woman that she might not have gotten along with, but that she
called ‘Mom’. She’s the only mother she had, and now that Sarah is gone, you’re
what she has. Give her time, and she’ll come around.” Cookie didn’t know
anything about families and what should and shouldn’t happen in them. She
didn’t have that kind of family life growing up, but what she did know was that
even when someone had a support system and people that loved them solitude was
sometimes the best option for them.

The sound of Callie
coming back down the stairs had them both looking in her direction. She stopped
in the dining room with her coat on and her purse slung over her bag. “Do you
care if I head out for a few hours?”

“Where are you
going?” Kink asked.

“Honestly?
Nowhere.
I just want to drive around and clear my head.
Maybe I’ll meet up with Ian for some coffee or a movie. I don’t know.” Callie
seemed tired, but not n the exhausted, needing sleep kind of way.

Cookie squeezed his
hand again, and he breathed out.

“Be home by
midnight, okay?” he said as if it took a lot to let her leave. When Callie
walked over to him and hugged him, there was this moment where all they did was
hold each other.

“I love you, Dad.”
Callie pulled away, and Kink pushed a piece f her hair behind her ear.

“I love you, too,
and please
be
careful.”

Callie nodded.

“And please, if you
plan on getting drunk give me a call and I’ll come pick you up.”

For a second Callie
just stood there, her cheeks turning red, and her eyes widening slightly.

“You okay?” Kink
asked her.

She licked her lips
and nodded. “I’m fine.” She lifted her hand and waved at Cookie. “Bye.” When
the front door shut behind her Cookie exhaled and held Kink’s hand again.

“She’ll come to you
when she’d ready.” She squeezed his hand.

He nodded.

“How about getting
me something strong to drink?” Cookie said.

Kink looked at her
and smiled. “If you get drunk I am going to make you stay here for the night.”

She leaned forward
and said, “I was planning on it anyway.” She wanted to be here for Kink, but
she also wanted to be here for Callie. How strange, but wonderful, that in such
a short time frame she could come to care about these two people so damn much.

Chapter
Seventeen

One
week later

Kink, Malice, and Lucien all sat around the card
table, beers in front of them and a pile of cash in the center of the table.
Lucien was still recovering, and staying at the club where everyone could look
after him and help him if he needed anything seemed like the best thing. Right
now the club was quiet, with most of the guys out for the evening, either at
their places, getting drunk at one of the local bars, or even watching over the
girls at the cabin. Cookie was at home, going over online classes she wanted to
take in the fall. Kink was proud of her for taking that step, and glad that she
was finishing something to help keep her busy. Although he didn’t want to tell
her what to do or keep her locked up because he wanted to keep her safe, this
was her life, and she had had enough people holding her back. Because she was
thinking about going to school she was working less at the club, and honestly
he was thankful for that. No fucking way did he want his old lady here seeing
all the raunchy shit these guys
did.

“I’ll raise ten,” Malice said and tossed the money
in the center.

“I fold,” Lucien said and tossed his cards down.
“How’s Adrianna doing?” Lucien asked.

Malice leaned back and grinned. “She’s good, real
good actually.” Malice tossed his cards down, face-up, and his grin widened.
“She actually kicked me out of the house so
her
and
Dakota can have a movie, popcorn, and pizza date.”

Kink started chuckling. “It takes a strong woman to
handle your ass, Malice.”

Lucien started laughing, and then groaned.

“Easy, sir-laugh-a-lot,” Malice said, and Kink burst
out laughing.

“You got one strong woman, too, Kink,” Lucien said,
and reached out for his beer. He tossed the rest of the alcohol back.

The front doors burst open, and they turned and
stared at Cain. But Cain wasn’t alone, and the man that he dragged in, half
dead, busted and bruised, and spilling blood on the club floor.

They stood in unison, looked at each other, and then
looked at Cain again.

“Brother, what the fuck is going on?” Lucien asked,
but Kink already knew what was happening.

Cain lifted the groaning man high enough that they
got a look at his fucked-up face, and then he tossed him onto the floor. The
guy’s head cracked against the ground, and Cain walked over his body. From the
distance Kink could see the busted up knuckles Cain was sporting as he reached
across the bar for a bottle of tequila. He drank a good portion of it before slamming
the bottle back on the bar, and then turned around and faced them.
“That motherfucker right there.”
He tipped his chin toward
the guy on the ground.

“Is the one that messed with
Fallina
.
” Kink finished
Cain’s sentence, and the other club member nodded.

“What the hell are you doing bringing him here?”
Malice asked and moved over to the guy, pushed him onto his back with a boot,
and stared down at him.

“I am kind of low on places I can torture a prick
that tried to rape my daughter,” Cain said and looked at Lucien. “I need a
place to store him until I’m done.”

“Done doing what?” Kink pretty much knew what Cain
wanted to do, and he didn’t blame the man. If it was reversed and some asshole
had tried touching his kid he would have torn their limbs off and sat there to
watch them die.

“Getting vengeance for all the pain my daughter has
had to live with because of this bastard.” Cain grabbed the bottle again and
drank more, his stare trained on the man on the floor.

The three of them moved over to Cain, stared at the
man who was like their family, and watched as the emotions played across his
face.

“I want to watch him hurt, want to see the pain on
his face, and want to have him realize that he’ll die at my hands., Cain
gritted out. “And I didn’t know where else to go, so once I found out where the
asshole was
,
this was the first place I thought of.”

Lucien grabbed his shoulder, and Kink could see him
squeezing it lightly. “He hurt your daughter, and that means he messed with
this whole fucking club.” Lucien moved a step back. “Let’s take him to the
garage. The cement floor is coated so the blood won’t stain.”

And then they were hauling the man out that was
about to live the last moments of his life out in agony.

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