Page 11 of Claimed By the Rebel

She takes a tentative step forward, then another, before she’s standing in front of me. “Thanks for the clothes. The pants were too big.”

“It’s okay, baby. Come sit down and let me look at that cut.” Aurora does as I say, though her movements are unsteady and jerky. “Hey,” I whisper, reaching out to tuck a few strands of loose hair behind her ear. Aurora hits me with those hazel eyes, a little more green than blue at the moment. She’s fidgeting and anxious, two things I don’t want her to be when she’s with me. “You’re safe here,” I remind her, not for the first time.

“I, well, I… I don’t think you know what you just got yourself into,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

"So, tell me." I try giving her my best smile, but it's pretty damn rusty. I probably look more deranged than anything else. I grab the first aid kit that I retrieved from the kitchen earlier, open it up, and pull out the appropriate supplies. I don't push her to talk, knowing she'll give me another part of her story when she's ready.

Kneeling in front of Aurora, I gently lift her left hand and remove the gauze I had wrapped around it earlier. I clean the wound out again and this time secure it with a proper bandage before assessing the other scratches. I notice an old, less-than-sanitary bandage pressed over her elbow, and I look up at Aurora with an eyebrow raised in question.

She darts her eyes away from me, a red blush creeping into her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess you should know I'm pretty clumsy. And accident-prone. I'm not…" Aurora sighs heavily, her shoulders dropping in defeat. I hate seeing her this way. "I'm not fun to be around. I'll just break your stuff, trip on something, or more likely, knock everything off tables and shelves with my giant hips."

My gaze immediately drops to her hips, and fuck me, I can’t wait to wrap my hands around them and hold her steady while I saw in and out of her sweet, tight little pussy. Clearing my throat, I shake my head and dispel my lustful thoughts. For now.

“Aurora, you’re not a burden for existing,” I tell her as I remove the old bandage on her elbow and sanitize the cut. She shrugs at my statement and I move on to cleaning up a cluster of cuts from the bushes she ran through earlier.

When I’m satisfied that my girl is all cleaned up and put back together, I take a seat next to her on the couch. Aurora looks up at me, her wide, round eyes brimming with tears. I slowly lift my hand to her face, not wanting to startle her. She lets me wipe her tears away with the pad of my thumb, her gaze never leaving mine.

“I’m not just clumsy,” she whispers, nibbling on her bottom lip. “I work for a… well, they’re not exactly a legit business,” she starts, though I know she’s choosing her words very carefully.

I don’t say anything, I simply lift my arm over the back of the couch, letting Aurora snuggle up against me. I hold her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. I love that she smells like me. My girl will tell me everything in time. And if she doesn’t, I have someone on the outside working to help me figure things out as well.

“Have you heard of the Serpents?” she asks. “They’re a motorcycle club.”

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from telling her that yes, I’m very aware of every Serpent in town. Instead, I nod. “Yeah, that sounds familiar,” I reply, trying to play it casual.

"I'm sure whatever you heard was only the tip of the iceberg. The awful things they do, the people they work with, not to mention the disgusting members themselves…" She trails off as if thinking about a particular incident. Possibly the one that happened tonight. "Now that I'm gone, I don't ever want to go back. I don't want anything to do with the MC life. "

My heart sinks at her words. It's understandable, considering she grew up in arguably the worst MC in the state. Still, I want Aurora to see that not every club is like that. We respect our community and are involved in local charity runs. Yeah, we skirt around the law sometimes, but we have a strict code of ethics. One of which is not running drugs. It's a constant battle to keep Maplewood clean, and now with the cartel trying to set up a trade route, the stakes are higher than ever.

“How did you find yourself working for them?” I ask as I stroke my fingers up and down her bare arm.

“My dad was a member back in the day. He and my mom were…” Aurora takes a deep breath and blows it out, making the few strands of hair framing her face fan out around her. “They were meth addicts. They cooked for the club and then kept a little on the side to feed their own habits.”

"I'm so sorry," I tell her truthfully. I can relate to strung-out and absent parents.

“It is what it is,” she says with another defeated shrug. I get the sense she’s had to repeat those words to herself hundreds of times over the years. No more. I vow to give Aurora the freedom she longs for. “Honestly, having my older brother there to protect me saved me from the worst of it. Well, until he joined the family business.”

“No,” I murmur, nuzzling into the side of her neck. My woman has been alone for so long, a true, rare gem hidden in a world of drugs, danger, and violence.

"My brother, Chad, used to take me out to the park or to the swimming pool when we were kids. I didn't realize until we were older that he was trying to keep me out of the trailer park while my parents were cooking meth." Aurora's lips pull into a surprisingly soft, nostalgic smile. "We would play hide and seek in the surrounding forest whenever Mom and Dad got into a bad fight. Chad really did try to protect me from the worst of it."

“What happened?” I ask softly. Obviously, Chad isn’t there anymore to protect her, otherwise she wouldn’t be in this position.

“At some point, he was no longer interested in playing with me or protecting me. My parents introduced him to the family business of cooking and running drugs for the Serpents, and that was that. He’s never been the same. When our trailer burned down with our parents trapped inside, Chad had full custody of me when he was just eighteen. We went to live with the Serpents, where my brother continued to cook. He tried forcing me to help, but I couldn’t. Even when…” Aurora cuts herself off as she tenses up, a shiver running down her spine. I hate that she has so many painful memories. “I just couldn’t,” she finishes.

“So instead of cooking meth, they had you cook food and be an all-around servant?”

Aurora nods, then melts against me, letting go of every damn thing now that she's poured out her soul to me. I know I need to tell her about me, about the Rebel Hearts, and how we're nothing like the MC she's experienced.

“I have to ask,” I say quietly. “Are any of the Serpents out looking for you?”

Aurora shakes her head. "Honestly, it's already after eight, which means everyone is too drunk and/or high to notice much. They probably won't even come to until noon tomorrow. I'm safe. For now."

“Forever,” I correct her. She gasps, nibbling on her bottom lip again. It’s too tempting, the way she’s looking up at me, those wide, vulnerable eyes filled with equal parts hope and doubt. She wants to be loved so desperately, but she doesn’t know how. I hardly know either, but I’ll figure it out.

I lean forward, lust and longing warring with decency and not wanting to pressure her or take advantage of her situation. Aurora tips her chin up, her long lashes framing those magical hazel eyes.

“Are we going to kiss?” she whispers. Her innocent question is almost my breaking point.

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