Storm (Devil's Hornets MC) (21 page)

“Now, please.” Natalie said moving toward the door.

“What’s going on?” Jack wanted to plead his case because he hadn’t gotten to anything he was supposed to say. What… the … fuck. He was so screwing up, but he hoped that there was still time to turn this around.

“I can’t do this. You came here just because you saw me at the rehab facility when you had the opportunity to call or text me anytime you wanted. You changed your number not me. Then you say we can’t be seen together like I’m one of your other floozies. I may have been before, but that’s over now. I won’t be hidden away like I’m some secret that you can deny whenever it suits you.”

“I didn’t even get a chance to talk to you. You came at me with sex from the door; this wasn’t my intention.” It was a weak argument, but it was true. He wasn’t going to bring up sex unless she did, but he knew in his heart that she wasn’t going to do that, but he was wrong and that was exactly what she’d done.

“I’m sure it wasn’t, but this is me letting you go. You make it seem so easy, but I guess I’m not made like you. It’s not going to stop me from letting you go. I’m sure you’re not going to sit around and mope like I did, but maybe I can get some closure from this.” She stood in front of him so bold and sure that he wanted nothing more but to give her a hug, but he knew she wasn’t going to go for that.

His mouth was still open when she finished her quiet tirade, and he turned to walk out the door.

“You may want to put your dick away, but that is entirely up to you,” she said as he walked by her.

Those were the last words he heard from her before she shut the door quietly. The way she’d done things let him know that she was beyond pissed. There was no screaming and crying… he thought he could probably break through that and get her to calm down. This was deep seated, simmering rage. He’d fix this too, but he would need a little more time.

Natalie couldn’t believe the way she’d acted with Jack. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve every minute of it, but she hated that her one time fuck you payback had left her without using him one last time. It had been one week, and she’d not seen hide or hair of him. It wasn’t surprising. You don’t tell a man that dynamic to leave and then slam the door on his ass while his dick was still swinging in the wind. She was going to have to be okay with what she’d done. It seemed like he was waffling. Sometimes he wanted to be with her and other times he wanted to hide her away. She had to take that decision away from him. She chose not to be treated like green flavored candy, because she was the pink lemonade flavored candy, but if she didn’t treat herself like that, no one else would either.

“Everything okay?” Billy asked as he set out new arrangements. The man had taken to this place like a chef at an outdoor barbeque and almost took over the shop. He’d learned everything there was about how it ran from the accounting to the ordering of flowers, and the man actually made floral arrangements.

“What could be wrong?” That was the answer she always gave him because he’d asked her if everything was okay every day since he’d asked her to visit Jack’s mother.

“I don’t know. Sometimes it seems like your mind isn’t here. I’m not one to tell my secrets to strangers, but maybe you should look into seeing a therapist. You went through a lot, and you still are. That abduction couldn’t have been easy to deal with.” Billy made sense, and she’d thought about going for counseling but the thing she needed to talk about would be more about Jack and less about the abduction. Plus she didn’t know if she wanted to go through all of that again. Going through what happened minute by minute. She didn’t get nightmares of the situation, just wet dreams of the man she’d lost.

“I’ll think about it, okay, that’s the best I can give you.” Natalie wasn’t going to lie to the man who was like her very best friend in the world right now, so she would give him her truth.

Billy seemed like he was good with that answer and moved on to something else. Too bad that only left her to sit and consider what she’d done the last time she was with Jack. He came over to talk and she’d not let him get a word in edgewise because she had decided to make him feel a bit of what she’d felt after he basically told her they still couldn’t be seen together. She had gone from excited that he was coming over to talk to pissed they had to hide. Fuck that; she’d be hidden no more. After all she’d gone through, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to sit back and be a prisoner to the thoughts and feelings of others, and she needed a man who was proud to walk out in the sunshine with her.

Her phone rang, and she didn’t recognize the phone number, so she didn’t answer it but just waited for it to go to voicemail. Whoever called didn’t leave one. Should she be worried? Hell no. She didn’t have time to sit back and be worried either. Maybe she should move out of town and start over. Get a new lease on life. Billy could take over the shop, and she could take another chance on a new life.

With that thought in her head, she went to the back to get on the computer. Now that she’d made her decision, she needed to figure out where she wanted to go and how fast she’d be able to get there.

The day had been a long but productive one. She’d talked to Billy about her plans to leave soon, and he was on board with everything so she considered that a win, but when he came back with a plan to buy into the shop and told her what he would send her monthly from her portion of the sales, she was ecstatic. Her mind didn’t even work like that. Billy had talked about his counter proposal as he drove her home, and they talked about how she’d have extra money for her new start. Natalie was on cloud nine.

Walking up the stairs to her apartment, she saw a large figure waiting for her by her door and she froze. Where she didn’t think the abduction had affected her that much, here where the rubber met the road, she would have to disagree. She wasn’t going to live her life like this. The decision to be a woman that a man had to be proud of also meant she couldn’t sit in a corner and cower. She had a knife, a small caliber pistol, and mace in her bag that she wasn’t afraid and was trained to use.

“Can I help you?” Natalie called from down the hallway. She was prepared to do damage, but she also wanted to live another day. If that meant being cautious, cautious she would be.

“Natalie, it’s me.”

The whoosh of breath that left her almost hurt, it was expelled so quickly. She didn’t think she’d ever been that happy to see Jack, but happy she was. Not that she wanted him to know about it though. Picking up her stride, she was at her door in seconds, and since she had her key in hand in case she had to use it to claw out someone’s eyes, it was very handy.

She unlocked the door and went in the house, leaving the door open behind her. He could either come in or not; she wasn’t going to worry about it. Also she was so proud of herself for not turning to leave when she’d felt threatened; she was going to be fine when she moved.

Drinking down her second water bottle, she could feel Jack come up behind her.

“I didn’t think about how it would feel to come home and find someone waiting for you. You’ve been through a lot when you were abducted and looking at you now, I know I scared you. That wasn’t my intent.” Jack turned her so she was looking into his sincere eyes, and she wished she weren’t.

How was she supposed to hold her own if he was going to come around trying to be all sweet, looking sexy and smelling delicious? She could only shrug out an answer because if she were to be honest, she had been more terrified after she found out she was alright and it was just Jack. It was like the dam broke and she felt shaky inside.

“I called you earlier to set up a time to talk to you. A talk where words were used,” he smiled when he referred to their last encounter, and she was shocked at how well he was taking it, “but you didn’t answer.”

“Why didn’t you leave a message?” She should have been happy; it wasn’t someone else who had bad intentions, but it irked her somehow that he didn’t call back or leave a message.

“I wasn’t sure how I’d be received so I thought I’d take my chances, pick up a meal, and come over to see you.”

“I don’t see any food.” Natalie was just feeling bitchy since he was trying to be all nice and he’d just scared the shit out of her.

“It’s on the table. I know you like Mexican from that place around the corner so I picked it up on my way. I know if we are sitting with a table between us, I should be able to get out what I really want to say.” Damn him and his sexy seeking eyes. What was she going to do, throw him out a second time? She didn’t know how she’d done it the first time, but there was no way there was going to be a repeat.

“Fine,” Natalie said as she walked to the dining room table. True enough, he had bags from El Taco that were filled with delicious smelling food. How did she not even see the bags when she was in the hallway? “I actually have something to tell you, too.”

“I can’t wait to hear it.” Jack’s voice was sexy, and Natalie missed the growl he normally had when they were together, but she knew that he was trying to actually talk this time. Everything she wanted to say sounded seductive, so she just kept her thoughts and her words to herself.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they sorted out the boxes and got drinks. Sitting across from him and watching him watch her was making her lose her appetite. He would tell her what he wanted to say, and she would tell him that she was moving away.

“How about you go first? What did you want to tell me?” Jack started when they were about halfway through their meal.

“No. I stole your thunder last time we were together, so I’ll let you tell me what you want to say first.”

“Is that what people are calling that now? Stealing thunder?” He was being cute… and she wanted to scream that he shouldn’t do that.

Natalie looked up and found a cute smirk on Jack’s face. This is how it used to be: fun and sweet. She needed to know what he wanted her to know so she could stop having illusions about him.

“I heard what you said last time about being hidden away, and I’m sorry you took it that way. You were there when Smith was less than subtle when he threatened your life, but you didn’t hear what he’d said when we were alone. I wanted to be with you, but I didn’t want to fuck up your life any more than I already had.” He had his hand on the table, and it was stretched out like he wanted her to put her hand in his. No damned way was she doing that. It was a trap that she still couldn’t get her leg out of; there was no way she was going to do that again.

“I had some control in the situation. You act like you were in it all alone. I wanted to be with you.” Natalie didn’t want him taking the blame all alone for that, but he was totally at blame for giving them up.

“I didn’t think I would’ve gotten so wrapped up in you, but from the first time you shyly invited me up to your place, I knew you were different. The Reapers are a smaller club and said they wouldn’t cause any beef with us about their past president’s actions, but the stipulation was The Devil’s Hornets had to cut ties with you. That wasn’t going to happen, but I said that I would leave you alone. That was good enough for them.”

“Never occurred to you to let me know that?” She asked calmly. Natalie was proud of how she sounded because inside she was screaming like a two year old having a tantrum.

“I didn’t want you to think you were causing any problem for one, and for the other, I didn’t know how I was going to look into your beautiful face and tell you we were done.”

“So you tell the world I mean nothing to you and you go on with your life?”

“I can see how you would think that. It is the way I wanted it to look, but I started following up on you… you know, just to make sure you were safe.”

“When?”

“Since the beginning. How do you think I knew when that guy who was on the tape came into the shop? I was there in a flash because I’d been watching you and your shop. You looked so vulnerable, and although Billy has been there to help you, I still wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“How often do you check on me?” Natalie didn’t even know why this was a question of hers. What difference did that make? It made her feel a little better that he hadn’t just thrown her away with the harsh words she knew he’d had to say.

“Sometimes it was daily, but most of the time it was a few times a day.”

“Well thank you for checking up on me,” she said honestly. It made her feel good to know that he cared enough to check on her. “How’s your mother doing?”

“She’s getting better, but she had some decreased feeling on her left side and she’s learning how to walk again.”

“I knew she had some slight facial drooping, but her mind seems very sharp.”

“She’s sharp alright,” Jack said with a chuckle, “she wanted to talk to you and had been hinting very strongly before her stroke that I should talk to you, but she didn’t know all that happened. The old bird found a way to get you to come to her.”

“I think The Hornets bought almost all my flowers for her. I didn’t know she was in the hospital or rehab when she was there, but I knew there was someone who was receiving a large amount of flowers daily from different people. It’s nice that your group is so supportive.” If they could keep this conversation light and casual, they may just make it through the whole conversation with no problems.

“Which brings me to the next thing I wanted to talk about.” Jack sat a little taller in his seat, and Natalie knew that whatever he was going to say was serious. As they talked a bit and the tension eased a bit, she’d started eating more, but now that he was gearing up to tell her what he had to say, the food felt like it was a ball of cement in her stomach.

“What is it?” She set down her fork and waited.

“The other thing I heard you saying was you were tired of hiding, but I’m not tired of either of us living. I’d like us to do it together, but we can’t do it in this town. You have a family flower shop that you are tied to, so I’ll understand if you say you have to pass on this, but I want you to think about it.”

“Sounds serious.” Natalie picked up her water and drank down a large mouthful as her mouth was getting dry just listening to the buildup of his question.

“I talked to Benny, we call him Kahuna, he’s the president of the Devil’s Hornets and discussed branching out into another area a good distance from here. I was thinking, maybe, one of the Carolinas. I could take my mother with me and set up shop with a few of the fellas I’m closest with.”

“You’re telling me you’re moving?” Natalie was trying to be happy for him, and she actually had the same news for him, but she wasn’t happy at all.

“Yes. I’d like to move, and I’d like to take you with me. You can open another branch of your flower shop or you could start a new one. There would be no hiding what we have or what we do.”

“So you think you can deny we have a relationship, not talk to me for 10 weeks, only think of me when you see me at your mother’s rehabilitation hospital, and now run off with you into the sunset? I’m a sweet woman, I know you know that, but do you think I’m a fool?” She stared at him, and she wondered what he would say was the answer to that.

Jack was up out of his seat faster than she could blink; he moved to her side of the table and had her up and in his arms before she had the last word out of her mouth.

“I guess the talk is over?” Natalie said with a smile on her face because she needed him sexually as much as he seemed to need her.

His eyes looked heavy, and he was breathing deeply.

“I know how things can look after you’ve dissected them, but I want you to remember who we are dealing with. The Reapers had already abducted you even though I went out of my way to hide our association. I didn’t do that because I was ashamed of you.” He ran his fingers through her hair and damned if she didn’t feel adored. “I was having a great time with you, and I was concerned if people knew that a sweet woman like you was messing with me, they’d bother you… and that’s exactly what happened. Do you understand that?”

There were times when she could tell that he was the one in charge because he had no problem putting on that hat when they were together. He had so many different sides to him, and she wanted to know them all.

“Yes,” she answered when she saw the smile creep on to his face.

“That’s my daydreaming Natalie. One day, I want to know all the things that go on in your head.”

“I don’t know if you could handle it.”

“You’ll have to try me and see, but for now I want to take a quick break from talking because the last time I left, you weren’t taken care of. I’m going to remedy that before we go much further.”

Natalie wasn’t going to fight him on that one because she’d been wearing out her vibrator and thought she may have to look for extra jobs to support how many batteries she was going through.

Jack kissed her like she was the best treat, a million dollar prize, and his best day rolled up in one. He growled and groaned, and her body responded to the sound. She’d worn a shirt with tiny buttons from the top to the bottom to work and was happy she’d chosen this today, because it would slow down this activity that she’d been waiting so long for. Or so she thought.