SOLID GROUND: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK TWO) (9 page)

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"This used to be Ryder’s room,” Grace said, throwing open the door at the end of the hallway.  “After I moved in, we built a little cabin in a meadow just through the woods to the South of here.  We can hear you if you holler, we are that close.”

Grace was so sweet.  It was hard to imagine her as a cop.  It was also hard to imagine someone had gone through as much as she had and was still so kind and open-hearted.  I had closed my heart down a long time ago.  If it had ever even been open in the first place.

Barricades and brick walls.  Those were things I imagined every time the pain tried to creep in.  Nothing could get through, as long as I stacked the bricks high enough around my heart.  My mom, Monty, all those other men, they could do whatever they wanted to my body, but they were locked out of my heart.  After awhile, I found I had locked myself out, too.

Grace wasn’t like me. She still had access to her heart.

“If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask, okay?  The bathroom is stocked, feel free to use anything you find.”  She peered closer to my face, wincing as she saw the bruising. “He got you pretty good there.”

“Yeah,” I replied.  I imagined myself stacking my brick wall higher every time Monty’s face appeared in my head. “He got it worse.”

“Indeed he did,” Grace nodded. “And he got what he deserved.”  She looked into my eyes. “Lacey, I hope you don’t feel one ounce of remorse for what you did.  Monty was a monster, what he did to you was unforgivable.  You did the only thing you could to defend yourself.  If I thought it would be good for you, I’d even encourage you to go to the police with your story.  No jury in their right mind would convict you.  But, you need more than that.  If you had a family you cared about, maybe it would be a different story.  But I honestly think the best thing for you is a whole new story, a new life, a new you.  Away from the circus that this whole thing is going to stir up.”

I nodded.  

“You’re so right.  Thank you, Grace.”  She hugged me, her warmth once again doing what nobody else seemed to be able to - seeping under the bricks and soothing my soul like a calming stream.

“Just be patient, that’s the most important thing, sweetheart,” she whispered, as she held me in front of her.  “And believe you deserve a new start, Lacey.  Because you do.”

I nodded, trying hard to let her words sink into the space  behind those bricks, to let them touch my heart and heal it just a tiny little bit.

“You must be exhausted.”  She was right, I was.  “There’s a plate of fresh fruit, cheese and crackers there, and the bed is freshly made up and ready for you to crawl in it.  I’ll leave you alone now, you should rest.  You need it, trust me.  Make sure you eat just a little first, okay?  Like I said, dinner is a big event around here, but if you don’t feel like joining us, or you want to keep sleeping, that’s completely fine.  You just let us know.  It’s all up to you.”

It’s all up to me
, I thought.  Her words ran through my head over and over as I drifted off later, warm and safe under the thick quilts and soft sheets of the lumpiest bed I had ever slept in.  

I felt like a queen, and I slept like a baby.

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The Gods swarmed around Lacey like vultures.  Slade, especially, was pissing me off.  He wouldn’t quit.  I watched from the sidelines as he waited hand and foot on her during dinner.  

Since Grace and Ryder had moved into their new cabin, they made it a point to make a big deal out of dinner every night, in an attempt to maintain the sense of family that we were all used to.  It had worked.  In fact, it had made it us all closer.  

But tonight, it was irritating the fuck out of me.  I was afraid it might be too much for Lacey, but I had to admit, she was holding her own just fine.  She didn’t seem to be buying into Slade’s bullshit, and I was glad to see it.  

Slade’s bed was a revolving door, and if he thought Lacey was going to be another notch in his belt, then he was sorely mistaken.  I was going to have to take a personal interest in watching out for Lacey, I had already decided.  She wasn’t going to get too far out of my sight, not if I could help it.

I felt sorry for her, I did.  But not in a pathetic way -  in a way that made me want to keep her safe.  She didn’t deserve any more pain.  I was going to see to it that she didn’t get any.  Hell, it was going to be hard as fuck for her to deal with the dirty hand she had already been dealt.

She needed family. The fact that our mission was to send her out into the world as a whole new person with absolutely no family at all was not lost on me.  I hated it.  So far, I couldn’t see any other way.  Her mother must have been a fucking monster.

I watched with disgust as Slade touched her arm, towering over her while she tried to take in the scene around her.  So far, she had met Cherry and Tiff, the two chicks that had stuck around the God’s clubhouse longer than any others.  They had a knack for making themselves useful, and finding creative ways of making the various Gods happy.  Those ways not excluding sexual favors and cleaning.  They didn’t seem to mind, most days.  Every now and then, Cherry’s jealous side reared its head, but she mostly kept it in check.

Grace’s presence at the clubhouse had a way of settling everyone down, as much as that was possible for a bunch of misfit outlaws.  She did her best to keep out of our club business, and we kept her and the women she rescued safe.  It was an interesting arrangement for an ex-cop and a bunch of leather-clad criminals, but it worked.

When I saw Slade slide his hand along the small of Lacey’s back, I knew the time had come for me to talk to him.  It wasn’t that Slade was an asshole, not really.  He just didn’t know when to keep it in his pants.  He was like a dog.  He would have fucked anything that moved and had two legs, as long as he liked the way it smelled.

“Hey, brother, you got a minute to talk?”  I said, sidling up to him. He was leaning over Lacey and whispering in her ear.  He ignored me.  I nudged him with my leather boot.  He ignored me again.  I kicked him in the shin.

“Ow! What the fuck, dude?”

“I said, you got a minute to talk,
brother
?”  I glared at him.

“Yeah, yeah, okay…” he mumbled, shuffling out the front door.  I followed him, looking back at Lacey briefly.  Her eyes trailed after us curiously.

When we got outside, the darkness enveloped us.  

“What’s so important?” Slade asked, as he lit a cigarette, his eyes squinting at me.

“Look, man,  you gotta knock that shit off with Lacey,” I said, getting straight to the point.

“What shit?” he asked.  I groaned, having no patience for his act of innocence.

“Brother, you know what I’m talking about.  All that touching, waiting on her, flirting with her.”

Slade took a deep draw off his cigarette before he replied.  The smoke and his words escaped from his mouth at the same time, ribboning in the air between us.

“I’m not flirting. I was just being hospitable, brother.”

“Yeah, right. I know you, you horny bastard. Just don’t get any ideas. Lacey needs her space.”

He nodded again, squinting his eyes again as he studied me.

“Maybe you’ve got a hard on for her yourself, huh?”

I bristled, a sudden surge of anger bubbling up through my chest.  

“Shut the fuck up, Slade! I’m just looking out for her, that’s all.”

A knowing grin spread across his face.  I wanted to knock it right off.  I clenched my fists at my side, summoning the strength to control myself.

“Lucky girl. She’s got both of us looking out for her,” he said slyly, winking at me.

I shook my head, and walked back in the clubhouse before I laid him out right there.

I wasn’t sure what pissed me off more.  The fact that he wasn’t taking me seriously, or his accusations of my own intentions.

I stopped in my tracks when my eyes fell on Lacey.  She was in the corner of the kitchen, surrounded by Grace, Tiff and Cherry and she was laughing with them.  Her eyes were lit up, and the smile across her face was breathtaking.  She was so fucking beautiful it hurt.  A lump formed in my throat as I watched her.  She looked so youthful.  I hadn’t really seen her smile before, and she appeared as if the worry was falling from her features, revealing the true beauty that was inside of her.  

I hadn’t realized that I had stopped, or that I was rudely staring at them, my mouth dropped open like an idiot, until all three of them stopped talking and turned my way.  I jumped and turned away.   

Way to go, Romeo
, I thought to myself.  

Maybe Slade was right.

Fuck.

“We need to dye your hair tonight, Lacey,” I heard Grace say as I walked past them and into the living room.

“Let’s do it now,” Tiff said.  “It’ll be fun!”

“Oh. O-o-okay…I’ve never had anything but blonde hair,” Lacey replied.

“Black.  Definitely black,” Cherry said, as they all disappeared into Lacey’s room.

I sat on the couch, trying to think of anything else except the fact that my cock was beginning to throb and come to life in my jeans.  Once again, my body was betraying my good intentions.

Hours later, I sat in front of the television, ignoring it, while I was still lost in thought, thinking of boxing, motorcycles, anything at all that could distract me from imagining what Lacey’s breasts looked like, when I felt a soft touch on my shoulder.  I looked up and there were those beautiful green eyes, gently staring down at me.

“Hey,” she said softly.  “Can I sit here?”

“Of course,” I replied, scooting over.  She sat next to me, her body looking so tiny so close to mine.

“Wow,” her hair was dyed jet black, blown dry, and hanging in soft, wispy curls around her beautiful face.  She was even more stunning than before, if that was even possible. The darkness of her hair brought out her the brightness of her green eyes.  “What a big difference!”

“Do you like it?” she asked, her voice shy and quiet.  

“It looks great,” I said. “It really brings out your eyes, you look…,” I paused, my cock coming to life once again, pissing me off… “you look really beautiful.”

Her eyes widened, and she smiled.

“Thank you,” she replied, her fingers running through her curls.

“Did you get some rest?” I asked.  

“Yes, I did. I guess I needed it,” she replied.

“Yeah, I bet.”

One beat. Two. Three. I hated awkward silences. I was terrible at making conversation. I was more of a show person than a tell person. Four beats. Five. Six.

“You want to go for a walk?” The words fell out of my mouth before I could catch them. I suppressed a groan when she nodded and stood up silently.

“Okay, cool,” I said, standing up and following her outside.  I didn’t have to see them to know that every eye in the clubhouse followed us out that door.

Lacey stood on the porch, staring off into the surrounding woods.  It was dark, the only light being the moonlight and the light spilling outside from the clubhouse.  

“I’ve never seen so many stars before,” Lacey said, looking up at the clear, black sky.

“Yeah, the deeper you get into the woods, the more you can see. Come on, let’s go explore a little,” I said, grabbing a flash light from the porch railing.

We walked side by side down the road, the dirt and gravel crunching under our feet, our footsteps echoing up into the towering pine trees overhead.  A slight breeze in the air caused them to sway, the soft sound of leaves brushing together whooshing through the air.

“This is so beautiful.  You must love living out here.”