Page 41 of Protector

“How many times a day is he calling?” She prodded, earning herself a dramatic sigh. “What? You can’t avoid him forever, Celia.”

I’d talk to my father again, just as soon as hell froze over. I knew he meant well, but he’d enabled my mother’s behavior for far too long.

Initially, I’d seen their home as a safe place to hide out and heal. I slept in my old bedroom with Kate and Dakota on either side of me, protected from the world outside.

Then the cracks began to show. My mother made several comments regarding Dakota’s weight but backed off when I intervened. I stupidly thought that was the end of it, only to find out later from Kate that on the nights I worked, Dakota was being deprived of food.

Any chances of us talking through our issues ended when I overheard her telling Kate that tight shirts were for girls looking to get groped.

I knew if we stayed, the girls would grow up just like I had, thinking that their bodies were little more than something to be admired or used by a man.

We moved home that same day, but the effects had lingered for months after.

“Hello, earth to Celia.” Molly waved a hand in front of my face. “You in there?”

“I have nothing to say to him. Has Bear mentioned anything about the club or what they’re up to?” I asked, in dire need of a subject change.

She handed me a serving spoon to add to the sink before hopping up onto the countertop. “Are you asking about the club, or Grey?”

Even though a part of me had been dying to know how he was, I’d managed to avoid saying his name for the better part of three years.

Whenever I pushed for information on the whereabouts of the men who hurt me, I was given little more than vague responses. If anyone knew where Hawk had gone, I was certain that they were under strict orders from Jamie not to tell me.

As if I didn’t have a right to know.

I should’ve moved on; it was evident that what little affection remained between us had died that night on the back porch. Something held me back, though. I’d made a vow to love him until death; a promise that I was incapable of breaking.

Until I could look at our daughters and not feel as though my lungs were collapsing when I saw his smile on Kate’s face or his vivid blue eyes in Dakota’s, I wasn’t ready.

“The club, obviously.” I waved the dishrag flippantly before wiping down the stovetop. “I couldn’t care less about Grey.”

Molly’s eyes narrowed, and she brought a hand up to rest against her hip. “You sure about that? Because you can’t even say his name without blushing. It’s pretty disgusting.”

As if on cue, my cheeks heated. “Really? What if I told you I’d met someone?”

“Bullshit,” she coughed into her hand. “And to answer your question, Ol’ Ladies are still cut off from knowing jack shit about what the club’s doing or not doing.”

I nodded and tossed the rag back into the soapy water. “I figured as—”

“Doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways of getting information though,” Molly continued with a sly grin. “There was some type of altercation outside of a bar in Colorado Springs; pretty sure there were some Serpents on the wrong end of a barrel. I don’t know if any of them were yours though.”

Bile moved up into my throat, and I shook my head. “Don’t call them mine ever again. Does Bear know that you’ve infiltrated their inner circle?”

Her grin widened, and she blew on her lacquered nails before buffing them against the front of her shirt. “Who said Bear didn’t know?”

“See, now that’s disgusting.”

“What? This pussy is so tight it just squeezes the information right out of him,” she said, waggling her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

That’s a good girl. So fuckin’ tight.

I released a shuddered breath and stared around the kitchen in confusion while my brain worked to identify the threat.

“Are you okay?”

I ran a soapy hand over my forehead with a shaky nod. “Just got a little too warm. Feels like it’s mid-July, not November… whatever.”

“November nineteenth.”

---