Page 45 of The Other Princess

“Wait,” I called out loudly. “There’s one more before we’re finished here.” I saw the puzzled looks, because everyone knew I had only inked six of the brothers. I eased my dad back from me, and handed him his kutte before I removed my cardigan and passed it to Deck. As I turned around and showed the room my back I heard the gasps, and a couple cries of “oh my God,” ring out through the room. My tattoo was probably the most in your face of them all, as it should be, because it was my pain etched on my body for everyone to see. I had honestly thought about not doing any of the other six tattoos, and instead just let them just see mine, but then I figured it would be easier to overlook the message if they didn’t have to witness it on their own skin.

Across my upper back were the six men who I had tattooed. They all had their backs to the viewer and their kuttes were clearly visible, marking them as Aces High MC members. If people looked closely at the tattoo, they could pick out each individual member of the club who had just showed off their own tattoos. In the foreground, on my lower back was a little girl standing in a puddle that rippled out beyond her, ending at the booted feet of the men standing there. In the furthest ripple of water the words, ‘the other princess’ were written as if they had been a part of the water itself. The little girl’s face was in profile, showing that she was crying, and her tears had been the source of the puddle she was standing in. On the chest of her shirt that only showed in the reflection of the tear puddle was an Ace of Hearts playing card, but the hearts were melting off of it with the tears that drip down from the girl’s face.

“I don’t think I need to explain this one either,” I stated quietly. The room was so still that I almost could have sworn they could all hear my heart hammering away at my chest. Lucy ran up on the stage and pulled me into her arms. I wondered briefly where my sister had gone until I saw her standing at the back of the room with my brother’s arms wrapped around her. It was good that he was caring for her since Lucy had chosen to come hug me.

“Baby girl, what did I let them do to you?” She murmured in my ear and pulled me even tighter to her body until Deck moved in, taking his kutte off, and pulling his shirt over his head. Then he gently slid Lucy away from me so that he could cover me up with his shirt. Instead of sliding his kutte back on his body, like I thought he would, he handed it to me. Lucy stepped back, realizing this was a moment she shouldn’t be in the middle of. Deck just looked down at me as he held his kutte out.

“What are you doing?” I finally asked.

“I’m giving you the choice. You can take it, toss it aside, and I’ll be done here.” He paused, looking around the room full of people who had been his family since birth. “You can do that, and I will walk out the door with you, because you are the most important thing in my life.” I waited a moment for him to continue with the ‘or’ part of his speech. When he didn’t, I had to ask.

“Is there another option?” My fingers were twisted into the thick leather of his kutte that had been warmed by his body. The scent of leather and the sea wafted up to me as I pulled it closer to my body, to my heart. Deck nodded his head, and I knew what the other choice was. I thought of Zeke in that moment. I remembered the story of his mother, and how her inability to move forward cost her everything. It cost her family everything too. I glanced around at everyone in the clubhouse, many of whom where watching this scene play out. I saw no judgment in their eyes, for once. They would stand by whatever decision I made here tonight.

These were the people I had wanted to love me. These were the people who I was constantly trying to be a better person for. I knew we had a long way to go before I could trust them, but they already had my heart. I’d only been waiting for them to want me to have theirs in return. They had Deck, and it was obvious they all loved him. Maybe this time would be different, because he’d been there for me, making sure his club did right by me. That was what had been missing before. I didn’t have a club member in my corner telling them to act right, telling them I deserved respect. Now I did, and I could already see the change in the saddened faces around me. They finally understood. I finally had someone there to help make them understand. Deck had his family here, doing this because of their love for him. I couldn’t take that away from him. I couldn’t lose him either. So, I did what I had to do, and I held his kutte out toward him so that he could slip his arms back into the holes. So that he could put his family at his back where they belonged.

“Are you sure?” His words were spoken softly so they didn’t carry beyond the two of us. I just stepped closer to him, so that his kutte was touching his arms, and inviting him to wear it once more. “I’ll love you no matter what, Ever,” he stated while still not accepting the kutte back from me.

“You’ll love me better with them at your back,” I explained, and his arms wrapped around me then, pulling me into his body with his kutte sandwiched between us. He leaned in and whispered in my ear. “You are the most amazing person I’ve met in my life. I am proud to call you mine, and I am so fucking in love with you it hurts.” I smiled into his chest before planting a kiss right there over his heart.

“Put this on before we’re mobbed and tossed out,” I teased, shoving the kutte into his bare stomach with a little more force than necessary. I admit, I was just feeling up his abs, but no one could really blame me. They were sculpted perfection, and I needed something solid to ground me to this moment before I floated away. Deck took the kutte from my hands and slid it gracefully back on his body to a round of gleeful shouts and cheers from the crowd.

It hadn’t occurred to me to wonder why Deck had given me the shirt off his back until I noticed my father was clinging to the cardigan I’d been wearing, and using it to wipe the tears from his face. Deck put his hand in mine, walked us over to the bar, and ordered us both a shot. It wouldn’t matter tonight that I was underage. No one was going to dispute the fact that I had earned the shot I was about to take. I’d earned it in distrust, disloyalty, and abandonment by nearly every single person in the room. I’d always known it, but now they realized exactly what they had done too, and most of them weren’t too sure where to start with trying to repair the damage they’d done.

They didn’t realize that the healing had already started, and I didn’t really need them to say or do anything. My healing had started with the little girl’s tears that dripped down my back.

Chapter 18

~ Ever ~

There was a club barbecue the following weekend, to celebrate one of the prospects being patched over and a hang around being offered the chance to take his place as prospect. It was the first time I’d been invited to a club event by someone other than Deck or Lucy. Since the invitation was sent out straight from the prez himself, I couldn’t very well turn it down since we were all trying for that fresh new start.

The problem was that when I got there I was immediately swept away by Lucy and Tiger Lily. They took me up to one of the rooms on the second floor where Anna was waiting too. “What’s going on?” I asked the question as my nose crinkled at the smell of stale beer and questionable decisions that lingered in the room. “Whose room is this?”

Lucy glanced around in disdain too. “It’s just one of the open, random rooms. We probably should have chosen something else.” She wasn’t wrong, because I was pretty sure that was a condom trying to creep out from under the bed. I shivered at the thought before my sister’s pouting face turned completely around as she shouted at me.

“We bought you a dress to wear today!” Anna’s delightful squeal was only slightly off-putting, because while I was used to hearing it I had never had the potency of one of her excited squees directed at me before. Up close and personal, it wasn’t as easy to tune out.

I glanced down at my jeans and support t-shirt and rolled my eyes. “I think I’m dressed just fine for a barbecue,” I stated and got ready to turn around and leave.

“Not so fast, missy,” Lucy scolded me. “Your sister wanted to do something nice for you, and you’re going to let her.” Lucy had her momma-bear voice on, and I knew when I heard it there would be no getting out of this. I just had to hope that my sister hadn’t picked out some horrible contraption of a dress to embarrass me. She was the girliest of girly dreamer girls, if you get my drift. I could just imagine the hideous pink, rainbows and unicorn monstrosity of a dress she would pick too. Instead of me seeing it right away though Lucy draped a damn length of blue silk around my face effectively keeping me blind to whatever they were about to put me in.

“Is this really necessary?”

“Seriously, Ever? You just tried to bolt out the door when you heard the word ‘dress’ and we’re supposed to allow you to see the unfinished product?” Lucy scoffed at me, and then continued to help the other women in the room get me damn near naked, which was not something I was entirely okay with.

“This is really awkward for me,” I expressed through clenched teeth.

“Me too,” Lucy sighed, having realized I was wearing an itty bitty lace thong and a barely there strapless bra, which wasn’t doing a damn thing to hide my goods since my boobs were nearly falling out of the thing.

“Damn, I bet Deck will be happy to unwrap you later though!” My sister laughed as she delivered that bit of fun to the family that included both my mother and Deck’s.

“Anna!” My mother was laughing when she tried to reprimand my sister though, so I don’t think it did any good. I distinctly heard laughter from all the women present which was just mortifying on so many levels seeing as they were all speculating about my sex life. A still new to me sex life, at that.

“At least she’s already shaved, or waxed, or whatever,” my sister pointed out.

“What the?” I started to say, but someone smacked my ass and then tapped my left ankle.

“Lift your foot.” I felt a silky fabric being pulled up and over my leg and then my other ankle was tapped in the same way making me lift that foot too. The cool, smooth fabric was pulled up my body, and then my arms were each maneuvered so that my hands could be placed through what I assumed were sleeves, armholes, or whatever. I was made aware that it had been spaghetti straps when they were situated just so on my shoulders. I supposed it was a good thing I’d worn the slightly too small strapless bra today then. “Good thing I had to do laundry, huh?” I asked.

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