Leader: Book Three (Princes of Prophecy 3) (2 page)

“Fuckin’ Casper used her to get back at me?” He’s pissed and I can’t blame him.

“Christian’s vision had you with Marty and a girl, Aubrey.” He sits Marty up and starts pacing. “Marty worked computers with you and Aubrey was taken while Jeremy was at the house in Rehoboth. It wasn’t Jacob, but Aubrey. What Casper did changed that.” He fucked their lives and I helped.

“What he did put her in the fuckin’ house, chained to a fuckin’ bed, being sold to fuckin’ pussies! All because I told him the truth!” All I can do is nod. I did nothing to stop that.

“Her thing with you is because of that. Somewhere in her, she knows you are her dad. Jeremy knew right away.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He growls at me and I know it’s just a matter of time before he hits me. I deserve it.

“Until Lily called me, I thought Marty was just Marty. Her name is Amber Martha Druid. As soon as I got the call it clicked. Lily remembers Casper being pissed and telling one of his guys about Marty. He had no intention of telling me he found her.” He looks away.

Lily looks at Marty with tears falling. I hold her hand tighter letting her know she’s not alone here. “He was already seeing someone else. He laughed about leaving you, saying the freak was wrong. Meaning Christian.”

“Jesus! You think she could live without that fuckin’ knowledge?” Geek yells pissed.

Pres signs for him to calm down. “She needs to know the truth. It was a Brother that brought her here. She needs to decide if another Brother can walk her through it.”

Geek nods. “Tell me there’s no more to this fuckin’ tale from the crypt.” That about sums it up too. How much worse can this get?

“Other than I’m sorry, there’s no more to it, no,” I tell him.

Uncle Danny hands him a shot. “Lily and Brenda have a sister they didn’t know about. They’re going to want to know her. That’s up to you and Marty to decide. Aubrey could use the support with the surgeries coming up.”

Lily is squeezing my hand hoping for a yes.

Geek looks at Marty. He’s thinking she lost everything because of Casper, but he hopes she’ll do this for Aubrey. He already loves her. Marty nods and he relaxes. “Of course,” he says to Uncle Danny.

Lily lets my hand go and hugs Geek telling him she didn’t know. “I can’t keep thinking of what happened and function normally. I’m fuckin’ pissed they went through what they did over something so stupid. You need to let it go Lily, Brenda too. Your dad was a good Brother. Made a fuckin’ tragic mistake, but a good Brother. Remember that.”

I stand and slap his back telling him I’m sorry. He throws me chin and I take Lily out. This is why she’s been pushing me away. Fuckin’ Casper showed her the old Brotherhood. A fuckin’ Brotherhood that no one was proud of. “I’ll be at your house tonight. We have some shit to go over.” I turn her so I can see her face.

“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

I’m pissed, but this is not the time. I just nod. “Brenda wants some time with you. Give her that. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

I lean down and she lifts her face toward me. I kiss her cheek feeling like I’m getting closer. She walks to Brenda’s car, but looks back at me. More progress. Thank fuck!

I pull up to the dorm and she’s sitting on the steps with some guy. I clench my jaw and shut the bike off. This guy feels something for her. Who the fuck is he? She smiles and stands. “Little Ben, this is Kelly, we have classes together.”

He watches me, not liking me much. I put my hand out to him and he ignores it. Douche. Lily looks at him then turns toward me. “Sorry. He’s usually not such a jerk.” I smile at her and take her hand leading her to my bike. The whole time I just want to kick the shit out of him. I’m not going to say a word about him. I have no fuckin’ idea when I decided that, but I did. This needs to be about her. It’s like Patches’ list.

It feels good having her wrapped around me again. She’s a good rider and knows how to move behind me. At the water I stop and walk her to the first bench. I wait until she looks at me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She looks away. “He was my father.” I wait for more. She sighs and her shoulders slump. “He was my hero for so long. I heard him talking and five minutes wiped it all away. I don’t know what to believe. My mother said he’s always been like that.” I see her tears fall and pull her closer laying her head against my chest. “He’s dead. I can’t even ask him. Then look at what he did. That’s not the man I knew. Everything was an act. He put on a show and I bought it.”

“It wasn’t all an act Lily. He was a good man. He was human and made mistakes like the rest of us.”

She pulls away from me. “He put his daughter in that hell! He wasn’t a good man!” She needs to get it out so I let her. “She was sold, Little Ben. My father did that. He used Marty. What the fuck kind of man does that as revenge?” Since she doesn’t want answers right now I keep quiet. “The Club is good. We were taught good, but he wasn’t good. He was fake. Nothing was real. Aubrey, my sister, was chained...” She looks at the water. “She was sold and raped for years.” I pull her to me. “Casper—my father—did that.”

I hold her while she cries. I can’t say he didn’t, so I hold her thinking about the man I knew. I pull the handkerchief I took from my dad and hand it to her. She gives me a watery smile. “I got it from my dad knowing this isn’t going to be easy for you.” She takes it and wipes her nose. “I’ve been thinking about the man I knew. He was good, Lily. He didn’t believe in the visions, but he was basically a good man. He didn’t cheat on your mother. He didn’t run women in the Club. He ran Ops for as long as I can remember, then the PD. He helped keep drugs out of the town. I knew him to be a good Brother. Not all of them believe in the visions, that’s why we keep it close. He made a colossal mistake.”

She snorts and I keep the smile off my face. It’s cute to watch her do that. “He was a jerk.”

I nod. “He was. I’ve been called a jerk before. It doesn’t mean it defines me. It was a moment in my life. I work to make life good for my family and community. I hope I’m not remembered for the time I was a jerk, but for what I do to make life good for other people.” She’s watching me, maybe it will get through. “Think about your dad, Lily. Look at all he did that was good and decent. He was pissed your mom cheated on him. No, not just cheated, had
been
cheating – for years. Jerk is what came out. You said he was sleeping at the office for a week. That isn’t much time to get his head straight after being with your mom for so long.”

She nods. “But Aubrey.” Tears fall again.

“What happened to Aubrey isn’t something we should ever forget. Her life was changed in a moment of anger. It’s that moment that we need to remember. They’ll never get past being a victim if we don’t give them the support to move forward. They are moving forward.”

“That’s what Brenda says. My mother said so much; I have no idea what’s true.” She’s disgusted with herself for believing.

I take a minute to get it straight in my head. “Your mother was grieving Petey.” I get the snort again. “She was scared, hurt and angry. Whatever she said were just words. You have the memories of your father to fall back on. Look at them without her words warping those memories. Look at what you know as facts.”

She’s nodding and more relaxed. I slide her on my lap and hope to Christ I don’t get hard. “I know your dad loved you and Brenda more than anything in the world. He was there for riding lessons, he helped with Little Brothers, and he taught you how you should be treated by a man. Those are what you should be looking at. Throw out what your mom told you. Remember what he showed you.”

“You’re right. My mom isn’t innocent in all this.” I keep my mouth shut. She is nothing to me but the woman that took Lily away. “I have a lot to think about. Thanks for being you, Little Ben. Brenda is a little more graphic, but says basically the same thing.”

I stand and set her down. “You have an early class. I need to get you back.”

She smiles and I can just barely make it out. “I’m seeing my sister tomorrow. She’s so damn cute isn’t she?”

I laugh holding her hand. “Yeah, she is. She’s special like the others.” She doesn’t say anymore, but I catch her smile as she climbs on the bike.

At the dorm the douche is still sitting on the porch. “I forgot my key,” he says as I walk Lily up.

What the fuck? She looks at him for a minute. “The RA couldn’t let you in?”

“He’s your roommate?” I’ll kill him with my bare hands.

“Relax Badass Biker. You’re more my type than she is.”

The fuckin’ douche thinks he’s funny? I turn Lily around. “Is there a reason I don’t know this?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “He’s not dressed today, but most of the time he’s borrowing my clothes.”

I clench my jaw. I am not doing this in front of him, but she isn’t sleeping in the same room as the douche. He’s still got a dick. I bend and kiss her cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow in the yard.” Since she moves for me I’m taking it as another good sign. I don’t even look at the douche, but turn and walk to my bike. I need to get her away from here and into the yard.

I watch her playing with Aubrey. They have a similar look to them. Whereas Aubrey is open and trusting, when she should be the least trusting person I know, Lily is still working through what her mother told her. Thank fuck she’s on the compound and has the family to support her.

“She let you in yet?” Jessie asks sitting beside me.

I shake my head no. How the fuck did taking an old lady get so hard? Everyone around me just claims them and they’ve lived through more horrors than Lily ever will. “Jeremy thinks it’s when she’s done with school.”

“Fuck. Mary is lucky she moved away.” He’s thinking Kate would love to punch her in the face.

Whatever the fuck her mother did messed her head up. Brenda keeps telling me to be patient. I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do here.

“Is she doing the online?”

“No. She’s got more than two years with the Security specialty.” He’s thinking that’s fucked up, but doesn’t say anything.

Darren sits. ‘At least you got her on the compound.’ How he follows shit is a mystery to me. I nod. It took fuckin’ forever, but I did without it looking like I did.

I’m at KC and Sheila calls. “I thought she knew we were moving. She’s headed your way Brother and she’s pissed.” Fuck. I don’t have to ask who. I know.

I clear my desk and call down telling them to let her through then watch the feeds. She’s wiping her eyes as she gets closer to my door. I drop the feed down and go open it for her. “You’re leaving!” she yells before she’s even in.

“Not leaving, moving an hour and a half away. Twenty minutes by chopper,” I say softly hoping she takes the hint.

Her hands go to her hips. “I wasn’t important enough for you to tell me?”

She’s hurt, it’s radiating off her. “You’re the most important person in my life. You just went through hell, just getting to where you trust me. I wasn’t hiding it. I was waiting to tell you when I got definite plans made. I’m still here Lily. Nothing changes between us.”

Her mouth falls open. “Nothing changes? You’re leaving! You didn’t even tell me you’re leaving you were just going to go.” I hate fuckin’ tears.

“I was telling you. This was all a shock to me too. I had no fuckin’ clue this was coming. It’s been one thing after another with the merge. Aubrey, Jeremy, you and my fuckin’ job. It isn’t like I had years to plan all this shit. I’m hit with shit daily and doing my best to keep ahead of it.” I’m not getting through so I stop.

“Take me off your list. That will give you more time to stay ahead of the
SHIT
that’s hitting you!” She spins around, but I hold the door above her head so she can’t open it.

“You are mine. You have always been mine.” With my free hand I pull the hair away from my face. “I’m opening a Chapter in the new town and plan on making it a replica of this one. We will shelter women just like here. That is for you. You are always part of my plans Lily. You just started trusting me and I was afraid you’d react just like this.” I wait for her to turn or look at me or something. Fuck! I move my hand off the door.

She doesn’t turn. “You keep telling me that I’m yours, Little Ben. When do you become mine? When do you share your life with me? Maybe we need to grow up a little more and learn how to be that for each other. I know nothing about your life aside from what you deem necessary for me to know, when you feel I should know it. That’s not the life I want. That’s not the man I want to be with.” She walks out. Fuck!

I lean on the door. Why did I not see this coming? She’s pissed, she’s hurt and she’s right. All the fuckin’ shit in my head and I can’t seem to get my own fuckin’ life straight.

I walk out of the patio and head for my house. I’m planning a party when it’s the last thing I want to do. We’re a year in and surpassed all we thought we would. I can’t complain about how the Club is growing.

I think about Lily as I get on my bike. Uncle Danny says I need to talk to her. Pres says I need to keep shit separate and she needs to understand that I can’t talk about everything with her. I’ve been going up and talking about the struggles we’ve had. I don’t get up as much as I’d like, but she’s not giving me anything to say she wants to see me more. So I see Shelly. Not really, I’m always behind her so I don’t have to see her. This is not the life I pictured here. It’s lonely as fuck and I can’t do anything to change it right now. According to Jeremy and Dakota we have more shit coming.