It makes no sense that he would want to try to kill me or torture me with snakes. It’s not exactly his style.”
“Men who want something special, want something precious and they know deep down that they never gonna get it, do shit that ain’t got nothing to do with style. Beyond that, this fucker is bad. I see that in him. No matter what kind of suit he wears or car he drives. Even if he didn’t do that shit, he put his hands on my Old Lady. He’s going to fucking pay.”
I wasn’t surprised by this. This came with the life. Though many people on the outside thought that Old Ladies were thought of as property, possessions, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The men in the Sons of Templar cherished their women. Treasured them. Worshipped them. They took it as their personal responsibility to keep them safe. Happy. Unharmed. So when shit happened to put them in danger, hurt them, these men took it as a personal failure.
Losing Laurie had nearly killed Bull.
What happened to Bex had broken Lucky in a way that meant he’d never shine or smile quite the same.
Same with everything that had happened to Gwen, Amy, Lauren, Lily and Mia.
These men took the hits like they’d landed directly on them.
It was part of the MC code. Anyone who touched or harmed an Old Lady had to pay. I’d decided it was just the heat of the moment, Kace calling me that. That was something I could not handle right now.
“He will pay,” I promised. “Eventually. You can go and threaten him, punch him once if you must, and do whatever you gotta do. But right now, I need you to say here. With me. With the kids. We’ve had enough violence and hurt to last us for a long while. So how about we just try our best not to go and seek more out? It’ll find us soon enough.”
Kace did not look happy about this, all of his alpha instincts screaming at him right now. There was anger in him that needed to be released.
I led Kace to the couch, and he thankfully let himself be led. I moved to climb on him, straddling him. “For now, I’m sure you’ve got some energy you need to release, and I suggest you direct it at me.” I moved, grinding myself against him.
He hissed, his hands settling on my hips. Then his lips were on mine. And we channeled his anger into three orgasms.
Chapter 18
The kids came home after dinner. Kace was in my bedroom taking a shower when they arrived. Lucky, too, since Olive came in to chat, and I was not ready for her to meet him or know that he was in my life. The guilt of my deception settled heavily on my shoulders.
I didn’t tell her about the snakes. Instead, I thanked her, hugged her and made plans for dinner the following week.
Luckily, both kids were tired from the food and the activities with their grandmother, so they were ready to go straight to bed.
Kace was reading Lily a story, Jack was indulging in his allotted one hour of TV time in bed, and I was outside, trying to decompress.
“What you doing out here?”
Something draped around my shoulders, despite there only being the faintest hint of winter in the air. I liked the chill. Something creeping into my bones, reminding me that I was alive.
But then there was the man who liked me, the one who wanted to protect me from even the slightest chill in the air, despite him knowing that I’d survived well below zero in my past.
Kace sat down beside me, handing me a mug. It felt warm in my palms.
I glanced to him. “You made tea?”
He shrugged, his own mug in his hand.
Something warm moved over me, and it had nothing to do with the tea. “Bex is going to love that,” I murmured.
Kace chuckled but didn’t say anything else. He’d asked his question, giving me the option of answering or sitting in silence. It seemed to me he was over his earlier fury toward me.
I sipped my tea. “I like to sit out here sometimes,” I answered finally. “Listening to the sounds of the neighbors. The crickets. The birds. Watching the sky. Listening in on people living normal, carefree lives. Even though I can’t see them. I don’t want to see them. I just like to hear them, be an audial voyeur for a while.