Chapter Five

Annie

I felt like I was making one stupid decision after another… except maybe I wasn’t? Should I trust all these people I didn’t know right after leaving a hellish situation surrounded by people I did know and still hadn’t been able to trust? Probably not. And, honestly, the main reason I had trusted any of them in the first place was because of Venus. Piston came later, but my trust was with the scary woman who dressed in bright pink and rode a motorcycle to match. He'd told me she intended to ditch all the pink, but she'd had to put a club girl in the hospital when she'd come on to Piston thinking he was with someone other than Venus. Apparently, she looked vastly different without the pink.

Speaking of which, I now understood the difference between a bicycle and a bike. Sure, I’d seen Venus on hers, but I hadn’t ridden with her. Now, I sat behind Dominic as he rolled down the road with the wind in our hair. Well, his hair because someone had shoved a helmet on my head and I’d been a little top heavy. I also might have squealed and nearly toppled over the back. Only a slight exaggeration since Dom had tugged one of my arms around his waist and still had hold of my wrist when he took off. After that, I had a blast.

As we rolled through some very thick woodlands, I couldn’t help the surge of anxiety as reality hit me squarely in the face. Seriously. It was a bough from some kind of evergreen too close to the road and I hadn’t been paying attention. Thank God the visor had been partially down or I might have put an eye out.

The most pressing question I had for myself was really very simple. Had I just hitched a ride back into hell? Since Venus had brought me into the real world, I’d heard a phrase a couple of times that I was only now truly understanding. Too stupid to live . Yep. I got it now.

But then I thought about Dominic. He hadn’t really given me any reason not to trust him. In fact, hadn’t I been thinking of him as my hero? There was something in the way he spoke, a sort of gentleness hidden beneath that gruff exterior and the heavy responsibility he carried on his shoulders. He was a protector at heart, which made me feel safer, despite the whirlwind of doubts swirling inside me. It was stupid, but I kind of liked it when he called me girl. Mostly because when he did it now, he winked at me and it made me feel warm inside. Not icky and scared.

We pulled into the Grim Road compound, and it was nothing like what I’d expected. Instead of the ominous biker gang hideout I had pictured, it was more like a small, self-contained village. There were neat houses lined up with small gardens. A couple of children played in the area around a larger building, and people waved as Dominic drove past. It seemed normal, peaceful even. Kind of like the camp had looked from the outside. I pushed that thought hastily away. If I went down that rabbit hole, I’d never find my way out.

There were several bikes parked in front of the main building and raucous laughter and music coming from inside. A woman squealed and stumbled outside, followed by a big guy with a full beard. He wrapped his arms around her middle and picked her up. She let out another squeal before dissolving into laughter. He growled something, turning her in his arms and fusing his mouth to hers. She wrapped her limbs around him, kissing him back and the big guy stomped away from the building and into the shadows.

“Oh, wow,” I breathed in a sharp breath.

Dom’s deep chuckle vibrated through his chest. He patted my hand as he got off the bike before helping me off. He kept hold of my hand and led the way to a path that led deeper into their compound. I looked over my shoulder and saw a couple of guys closing a chain-link gate with foliage and some kind of camouflage drape to obscure the fence if someone was looking at it from a distance.

There were several houses and neatly kept paths and one small road going deeper into their territory. Some had bright flowers in front of them or in planters on the porch. Others were decorated for the upcoming New Year’s Eve party. And some were nearly as Spartan as the huts we lived in at the camp. These houses, though, looked sturdy and not leaky. The open areas mostly had a canopy of the same stuff covering the gate. It made paths through the small village that, even now, children ran through like they might a maze, giggling and chasing each other in fun. I smiled as I watched a group of two girls and a young teenaged boy ducking in and out of the canopies. They were so carefree. Not like the camp I grew up in. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to fully shove back the memories threatening to crack through that locked and sealed door in my head.

Dominic led me to his house, a modest, well-kept single-story with a front porch that housed a couple of rocking chairs. Nothing like what I’d live in at the camp. As we entered, a large brown dog came bounding toward us, followed by a sleek black cat that regarded me with curious green eyes.

“You two.” Dominic scowled at the pair. The dog whined, ducking his head and moving closer to me while the cat just gave the dog a disdainful look. “What have I told you about being on the porch? You’re not allowed. You get hair and muddy footprints everywhere.” He sounded appropriately angry, but neither animal scurried from him. Instead, the dog lay down right on top of my feet and looked up at me with a pitiful gaze. The cat licked a paw unconcernedly.

I bent down to pet the dog and he flopped over, his tail wagging between his legs and his paws spread wide. Obviously he wanted a belly rub. Who was I not to oblige?

The dog whined happily, his eyes sliding shut in bliss. The cat sauntered over to me and put her paw on top of the hand rubbing the dog’s tummy. She looked up at me and meowed.

“Jealous?” I have no idea why I was talking to the cat. If I’d done it at the camp, I’d have been punished. We weren’t allowed to have pets, let alone talk to them. Animals were for work or food. Not for affection.

The cat looked up at me and meowed again.

“Not cool, Peaches.” Dominic pointed at the dog, indicating he was talking to him. And I knew it was a him despite the feminine-sounding name. “Not fucking cool.”

I swear, the mutt grinned up at Dominic. The lolling tongue wasn’t so much the dog breathing as it was him genuinely sticking his tongue out at the big, gruff man. That’s how smug he looked.

“He’s so sweet. Don’t be mean to him.” I decided to test the waters. See just exactly what I’d stepped into. Immediately the dog whined and looked pitiful again.

“He’s the one bein’ mean to me. Makin’ you think I’m mean to the bastard.” On cue, the dog let out a small, sharp yelp, as if remembering a pain. “See? I’m not a monster. I don’t kick puppies.” The cat reared up on her back legs, putting both her paws on my knee where I was squatted down, clearly wanting my attention again.

“And you, you little shit.” Dom pointed at the cat. “I never said I didn’t kick cats. Only dogs.”

The cat hissed casually over her shoulder before hopping up to stand on my knee. I had to use both hands to keep her from falling which was obviously what the ball of black, silky fur had planned all along.

I stood, cat in my arms, and regarded the big man. There was a glint of humor in his eyes. Obviously, he wasn’t as irritated as he sounded. In fact, I’d say he very much loved these animals. When the dog jumped up from where he was still on his back begging for tummy rubs, he went straight to Dom, tail wagging rapidly and leaned against his leg. Dom ruffled the dog’s ears, then the creature moved back to me.

Dom opened the door and the dog immediately bounded inside.

The cat, still cradled in my arms, seemed to decide it was her turn for exploration and leaped gracefully from my hold to follow the dog into the house. I hesitated at the threshold, watching Dominic as he moved about, flipping on lights.

“Come on in. Don’t be shy. This is your home for the foreseeable future so you need to be comfortable.”

His words were unexpected, warming yet also causing a flutter of nerves in my stomach. Home. That was a concept so foreign to me yet so desperately desired. On a small table in the corner of the room some framed pictures were displayed, a mix of family photos and candid shots of people laughing, riding motorcycles, a few of them with Dominic right at the heart. He didn’t really seem like the sentimental type so this surprised me. Then again, I’d known him all of two or three hours.

Dominic caught me looking at one photo in particular. It was a younger version of him without the beard, his arm around a woman with a vivacious smile.

“That’s Tina,” he said softly, following my gaze and pointing to the picture in question.

“She’s beautiful.” A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. This woman was special to him, though it was the only picture on the display with her in it. Next to the photo of him and Tina was another woman who looked remarkably like Tina, but had Dominic’s eyes.

“She was.” There was sadness in his voice. Regret?

“What happened?” Immediately, Dominic stiffened, then stepped away from me, and I knew I’d asked the wrong question.

“Fear and misunderstanding. I was too young back then. Neither of us really knew what love was, and I had a dangerous job. She’s gone, but I have my daughter now. That’s the only part that matters.”

My heart ached for Dominic. I could feel how much he was hurting. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

He took a breath, then his gaze softened when he looked at me once more. “You’re not. I haven’t talked about Tina to anyone other than my daughter. We’ve only recently been reunited.” He reached out a hand for me. “Come on. I’ll show you to your room.”

Taking his offered hand, I followed him down a short hallway. The hallway opened into a cozy living area with a large window overlooking the backyard where the afternoon sunlight streamed in, dancing on the wooden floor. Though the place was pretty sparse, it had some rugs on the floor and a big, inviting fireplace. Dominic led me past this room to another door which was slightly ajar.

“This space is all yours,” he said, pushing the door open fully. Inside, the room was simple yet welcoming, painted in soft blues with a comfortable-looking bed covered in a quilt that looked handmade, and good work by the look of it. A small desk sat beneath a window that offered a view of the tall trees bordering the property, and a love seat sat along the opposite wall.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmured, more to myself than to Dominic.

He smiled briefly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Glad you like it. You can change anything you want. Just let me or one of the girls know and we’ll make it happen.”

“No need to change anything.” I smiled up at him, though I felt the distance between us now. “It’s perfect. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have asked about something not my business.”

“It’s human nature to be curious. If I’d minded you asking, I wouldn’t have left the pictures out where you could see them.”

“But you didn’t know I was coming.”

“No,” he conceded. “But my daughter would have been happy to remove them for me. Suffice it to say I’ve had to come to terms with the past I missed out on. At least, I missed being part of it. Tina made sure I got pictures of Calista as often as she could send them.”

“Calista is your daughter?”

“Yes. She came to me when her stepfather tried to sell her to pay off some debts.” Dom looked me directly in the eyes and held my gaze with his steely one. For the first time, I began to truly see how dangerous this man really was. “We protect our own, Annie. I don’t know what you went through or what Venus pulled you out of, but you’re safe here.”

I swallowed, unsure how to proceed. “There’s something I need to know. I mean, it’s not like I’ve got much of a choice, but I’d just like to know going forward how things work.”

“What’s your question?”

“Why are you helping me? What do you expect to get from me?”

He gave me a startled look. “Girl, I don’t want to get anything from you.”

“I don’t have any money, but you’re welcome to my next paycheck if you want it.”

“Jesus,” he snarled at me. Then, the oddest thing happened. Dominic moved the distance separating us and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to his body and holding me tightly.

I was stunned. What was he doing? I stiffened, intending to push him away, but, after the initial confusion, I registered the warmth of his body seeping through my skin to warm something inside me I hadn’t known existed.

I sucked in a breath. Then let it out. When I did, I relaxed into his embrace. It was instinctual and felt more right than anything I’d ever felt in my life. It was like, after a lifetime of lies, I’d finally found the truth. And the truth was, no matter how stupid it might seem or how unrealistic the chances were, I never wanted to leave Dominic’s arms.