Chapter 15

Trix

Eventually I get tired of pacing and curl up on the sofa with a cozy throw. I try to calm down by scrolling on my cell phone. I wish I knew how my brothers were doing. I could text Tracker and Hark, but I'm worried that my grandfather has bugged their phones. At the moment it's best I stay incommunicado. I do know from what Vapor told me, that my grandfather never suspected my younger brother had anything to do with my escape. Mal, the guy who kept an eye on the cells had a tendency to be sloppy with the key, on one previous occasion he'd left it in the lock. That time he'd gotten a bullwhipping—this time he'd died in the raid at the Savage Legion clubhouse, so that was that.

The hours track by, and I just can't seem to pay attention to anything I read. I keep thinking Vapor will call or text, but he never does.

Regardless of what I told Vapor's brother, I am worried about him being angry with me. Even though I know we can't possibly have a future together, that doesn't mean I want to give up one single minute with him in the meanwhile. I keep hoping that he will come back, forgive me for coming here and hold me in his arms.

As the evening wears on, I pick at some of the food his brother brought for me. I eat more out of boredom and anxiety than hunger. There are several bottles of iced coffee in the minibar, and they really hit the spot.

As it nears midnight, I'm rewarded for my waiting. Vapor comes through the door carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and two wine glasses in the other. I jump to my feet so quickly that I almost trip and fall. I steady myself by placing one hand on the arm of the sofa, embarrassed but unhurt.

This man that I'm growing so fond of, no longer seems annoyed with me. "You want to talk this out or do you want me to leave?"

I flash him a nervous smile. "Since you brought wine, you can stay."

"Which would be exactly why I arrived bearing gifts." The teasing quality of his voice tells me that he's just joking around.

I sit back down on the sofa, and he sits beside me. He uses the coffee table for a staging area, opens the wine and fills our glasses.

"So, why don't I start," I offer as he hands me a glass.

"Whatever you want. I'll be happy to go first if you want."

I smile at him over my glass. "I messed up first it's only fair that I apologize first. I should have trusted you."

He sets the bottle of wine on the coffee table and picks up his glass. "I thought everything was going well. I'm shocked that it fell apart so quickly for us."

"I don't think it did fall apart. My anxiety just got the better of me. If the Hellfire Hounds had someone in lock up for days, they would be giving them a good beat down on the regular. Thoughts of Jamus suffering a beating is more than I can handle."

"You really like that old dude, don't you?"

I nod, "Yeah I didn't realize how much until now."

"Siege was able to work out a deal, but I don't think you're going to like it."

"Tell me. I'd love to be able to put this whole situation behind me," I say.

"Our club offered to release the Hounds we have in lock up, formally forfeit all the territory outside of Salinas County, and pay fifty grand to your grandfather in exchange for allowing you to become my old lady—"

"Wait, what?" I say, my brain frantically trying to sort through the words he just said. Maybe I'm asleep and just had the most bizarre dream ever. Because I could swear that Vapor just asked me to marry him. Well, not exactly asked, he said I would be his old lady.

I remember on the night I escaped saying I wished I could have married him, but they were just idle words. This was crazy!

"Of course, the marriage wouldn't have to be real, or maybe we don't have to get married and can just say we did. It's the only way we could come up with that would ensure that you stayed safe and out of the Hounds and the Diggers grasp."

I swallow down the last mouthful from my glass, then top it up again, my heart was still hammering as I considered his words. On the one hand, being married to a man as wonderful and caring as Vapor, sounded like an answer to my prayers. On the other… well, I couldn't see any drawbacks, other than the fact that I doubted my grandfather would honor those terms. "I don't want you getting yourself involved in my dysfunctional family affairs."

When Vapor speaks, his voice is earnest. "I think I'm already involved. But you know I wouldn't ever do anything that you didn't want. I've proven that to you over and over again, so if you don't wanna do this, we can try and find another way."

I move closer to him, taking his glass from his hand and setting it aside. "I know. You've always been good to me. It's part of your charm."

"I didn't know I had any charm," he says with a lopsided smile.

"I have to admit the solution your club came up with covers all the bases, including getting me out of an unwanted marriage with Decker or his crazy brother."

"That was the most difficult part of the plan, that's why it took so long to work out."

"This is what you were trying to come up with?" I ask.

Vapor nods, "When I first brought the idea to church three days ago, Siege shot it down in flames. But after a few more meetings he started to come around. When you turned up this morning, the club officers were trying to smooth out the details. Obviously, you didn't have to agree, but they wanted it all in place before the proposition was made."

"You know my grandfather's never going to stick to that plan, right? I wouldn't put it past him to stab you in the back the very first chance he gets."

"That's what Siege said as well. We came up with a contingency plan for how to handle another attack. The Hounds got their asses handed to them the last time. If they attack us again, someone you care about is likely to get hurt. What are you gonna to do if that someone is your grandfather or brother?"

I take a deep breath before I utter the words that have been going around my head for the past couple of weeks, "I've never told anyone this, but my grandfather killed my mother when I was a child."

"Fucking hell, Are you sure about that?"

"King is my paternal grandfather. He always hated my mom because she didn't want to bring up kids around the Hellfire Hounds MC. She knew they ran drugs, trafficked women and did all manner of illegal things. I was there the night it happened, and I heard it all. I don't know if it was intentional or an accident, I must have blocked it out. I still don't know everything, but that is one thing I am certain of."

The next thing I know, I'm sitting in Vapor's lap with his arms wrapped around me.

"Look sweetheart, I can't imagine how traumatizing that was for you as a child. You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."

"I feel like I should explain so you can understand our family dynamic. When my parents divorced, somehow my dad ended up with custody of my brothers and my mom with me. My father tried to bully her into giving up custody of me as well. She kept telling him over and over again that the clubhouse was no place for a little girl."

"Well, your mother was so right about that. The Hellfire Hounds clubhouse it's no place for a child much less a little girl."

"I can see that now but at the time all I knew was that the yelling and screaming terrified me. Every time it started, I would crawl under my bed and hide. On the night my mother died, she had a visitor. At the time I didn't know who he was as she'd kept me away from the club. My grandfather tried to take me. I fought him and so did my mother, she got cut with a glass. I don't know if it was deliberate or not. She managed to call the paramedics, when he heard the sirens, he made a run for it. Unfortunately, my mom didn't survive that night and I got sent to live with my maternal grandfather. I must have been around four or five because I wasn't even in school then."

"I hope your maternal grandfather was a better man than King," Vapor murmurs quietly.

"He was a good man, who took care of me, I guess I put the trauma to the back of my mind. He ended up dying of cancer when I was fourteen."

"Let me guess." Vapor says in an in a disgruntled tone, "that's when your father ended up with custody of you, right?"

I shake my head, "No he died of a gunshot wound in a shootout with some rival club a year or so earlier."

"I hope it wasn't our club," he counters almost immediately.

"I don't think it was. I remember everyone saying it was the Mexicans."

Vapor nods thoughtfully.

"Anyway, since King was my only living relative, he ended up with custody of me. It turned out to be every bit as horrible as my mother feared. Every time I did something wrong, he would lock me in the basement of the clubhouse for a few days. He said it was to contemplate on what I had done wrong."

"And all this time you knew he killed your mom?" Vapor asks.

I shake my head, "I must have blanked it out. I was told it was related to drugs, my nice grandfather explained how my mom had problems when she was younger, but they thought she'd straightened out once she left my father and got away from the Hounds. It upset him to talk about it, so I didn't ask. My asshole grandfather said she was a junkie whore who got what she deserved."

"I hate King already, but I'm really starting to hate him more. Just thought you ought to know."

"I hate him as well, but other than my brothers, he's the only family I have left. Truthfully, Jamus was the only person who made a good faith effort to help me learn. He was like the father I never knew, he hated how King treated me, but he was powerless to stop him."

"I can now see why you risked everything to come here today."

"How about yourself? What was your family like?"

"Haze and I have awesome parents. They had us later in life, but. they're still pretty active, they're planning on buying an RV and doing a coast-to-coast trip next year."

"They sound like spirited people," I say.

"They are. My mom invites us to dinner every other week. It's a Sunday ritual."

"Your mother sounds amazing. Maybe I'll get to meet her sometime."

"Maybe I'll have to invite you for our next monopoly Monday." Vapor offers with a smile.

"That sounds fun, I bet your folks are proud of how you turned out. I sometimes wonder what my mom would think of me, whether she'd be disappointed in my life choices."

"I think she would be proud of the woman you've become, despite the hard start in life. Jamus would be proud of you as well if he knew everything you went through today to free him," Vapor reaches out and takes my hand in his.

"We both know you weren't very thrilled that I showed up here."

"I admired your courage and your loyalty. Maybe I would have preferred it if you'd trusted me and been a bit more patient. But I love your fight."

I look down at our joined hands. I remember how cherished I felt when he kissed my hands when we made love the first time.

"I hope you didn't get into too much trouble with your club because you're seeing someone so closely associated with the Hellfire Hounds MC."

"No. My club brothers were just worried that King might target me because of it. How do you feel about that now that you've had a minute to think it over? From what Siege said, he's near as given his blessing to us."

I really do like this man and I'm developing serious feelings for him. I would have preferred it if we could have taken things slowly—and part of me is worried that now the situation has been forced, things will change. I sigh, "I know this is just a means to an end for both clubs, but that doesn't mean I'm not falling for you."

"Same here, sweetness. I don't think I've ever been as taken with a woman as I am with you. I don't care that King is your grandfather, because you're so much more than an associate of the Hellfire Hounds MC."

"I'm glad you see that. Some club brothers can be very narrow-minded at times."