Page 3 of Outlawed Treat
Chapter One
Caliana
TODAY HAS BEEN thelongest day I’ve had in a very long time.If something could go wrong, it did.I’ve been thrown up on, peed on, and chased by a man the police brought in for a psych evaluation.My boss is also a huge asshole and once again tried to get me to go on a date with him by force.He believes that because he’s the head of the emergency department where I work as a nurse that everyone wants him and we can’t live without him in our lives.It’s bullshit and he’s the last man I’d ever go on a date with.Today not only did he try to use my children against me, but he shoved me in one of the storerooms where we keep all of our supplies to stock each room with and pushed himself on me.Thankfully I learned basic self-defense growing up around the Phantom Bastards MC.Each one of us girls knows the moves we need to use in order to protect ourselves in any scenario.
On top of everything at work, my thoughts have been consumed by my husband Darren today.We’re getting so close to the anniversary of his death and it’s weighing heavily on me.I loved my husband and I miss him every single day.But, I wasn’t in love with him.My love was more of what you’d feel for your best friend.Darren was one of my best friends and we were only together because he asked me to be with him.Then, I got pregnant and we married despite the protests of our family members.Kreed and Caleb were supportive of our decision.So were Sam and the rest of the Phantom Bastards MC family members.So, I’ve remained loyal to my husband and will continue to do so.Darren lost his life while on a mission and a huge part of me feels like I owe him my heart for the rest of my life because I couldn’t love him the way he needed me to when he was alive.
I could never love Darren the way I was supposed to because my heart belonged to another.The boy who saw me on my worst days and wiped my tears.Who saw me on my best days and cheered me on.The one who was my strength when I didn’t feel as if I could go on and who knew when I needed to stand on my own two feet.This person was the man who tried to put all of my broken pieces back together when I shattered.They never quite went back together the same and he never once cared.He’s the one who has filled my stomach with butterflies since I was barely a teenager.Back then, I never knew it was love I was feeling.I just thought it was some form of nervousness or something whenever he was around.I didn’t have anyone to talk to about what I was feeling.Sam was the closest person I had to go to for advice and she’s his mom so I couldn’t talk to her about it.So, I kept those feelings shut down tight and never realized until I was already married to Darren that I loved my best friend in the entire world.
Then my parents called.Well, I should say my father called.Once again he’s demanding money from me.I can’t tell you how long it’s been since the man who donated his sperm to create me worked an actual job.I gave up on knowing anything about my parents the day my father kicked me out of the house.That was my gift from him on my eighteenth birthday.Anyway, now I get a phone call every few weeks with demands of money and anything else he can think of.Today was the last straw though.My father actually had the balls to threaten my children.He tried telling me he’d take them from me and sell them off to the highest bidder.That’s when I lost my shit.
“You owe me for everything I had to pay for over the years, you little bitch,” my dad once again barks out the lie since my grandma paid for everything I had when I was growing up.“If you don’t give me the money you owe me, I’ll come take those little fucking brats.They’ll make me decent money.I have no problem selling them off to the highest bidder, Caliana.They’ll be used as slaves and treated like absolute shit.If you thought I was horrible to you growing up, that’s nothing compared to what your fucking brats will be put through.Especially that little girl.She’ll really get me a ton of money.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?You’re willing to sell your grandchildren to the highest bidder just because you’re a useless piece of shit.You don’t give a fuck if they’re abused and killed just as long as you get what you want.You’re a selfish, vile, piece of shit who never deserved to have children in the first place.Unlike my mother, I’ll protect my son and daughter from evil fuckers like you.There is no reason you can’t get off your damn ass and work a full time job.The only reason you refuse to is because you’re a lazy piece of shit who would rather bury himself in the bottom of the bottle every damn day and blame everyone else for the problems you’ve created in your life.I will never give you a penny of my money.And if you even think about coming near my children, I’ll gut you myself.You’re no father of mine and I won’t have you threatening my kids because you think that’s going to make me break and give you what you want,” I promise my dad, going off on him for one of the few times in my life.
I’ve always been so afraid of the man who helped create me that I never once stood up for myself.Instead, I’d hide in my room and cry tears of pain and frustration.Pain because my dad should be a man who loves me unconditionally and protects me from all the monsters wanting to hurt me.Instead, he’s the one causing me the most pain in my life and I can’t do anything to change it.Frustration because my fear of him beating the hell out of me overwhelmed my urge to stand up for myself and give the asshole a piece of my mind.
“You listen here, Caliana,” my father begins once again, his words slurring even more as he gets riled up because I’m not giving into his demands.
“No!I’ve said what I have to say and there’s no reason to continue this conversation when I’m just going to keep yelling at you while I’m at work.I’m not a lowlife douche canoe like you and I have dignity.I refuse to sink to your level any longer.This is the last time you’ll be able to contact me with your threats.Rot in fucking hell and do something for yourself for the first time in your miserable life,” I yell, tears of anger filling my eyes as I try to hold them back.This asshole doesn’t deserve my tears in any form including anger and frustration.He’s done enough damage over the years and I won’t let him continue to win.He won’t control me any longer.
Closing my eyes, I remain in the driver’s seat of my SUV and listen toBrokenby Jonah Kagen.I’m broken in so many ways and there will never be a way to put all the pieces back together again.Right now, I simply need a few minutes to myself without anyone else around.No co-workers or patients who need my attention.I don’t want any bosses who think they’re entitled to do what they want because of a title at the end of their name.And I can’t face my children until I get my head back on straight and can think rationally.Every single second of my time will be focused on them once I walk in the door of our small home.They need to be the center of my universe and no one will ever take that away from them.I won’t allow anyone to take pieces of me from my children because they deserve no less than my full attention.
As the song ends, I finally shut the engine off and gather my belongings to take inside and wash before going to work tomorrow morning.Thankfully I’m on days this week and not working nights again.I hate night shifts and it’s hard to find child care for those.More often than not I end up having to call Kreed or Caleb to stay with the kids while I work.If it weren’t for the two of them, I don’t know what I’d do.They’ve saved me countless ways over the years and nothing I do will ever be good enough to start repaying them.
With everything in hand, I make my way out of my SUV and head to the front porch of my home.With my keys in hand, I prepare to unlock the door but something catches my eye.Scattered all over the porch are pictures.They detail my life from the time I moved to Benton Falls until now.Pictures of my children, Caleb, Kreed, people from Caleb’s family, and time spent at the beach when we were growing up.Bending down after setting my bags and everything on the porch, I pick a few of the pictures up.There are drops of what looks like blood splattered on some of them.What truly has my heart start racing and my breathing stall in my chest is the ones of Caleb.There’s a giant red X across his face.I’ve only seen that in movies when someone is threatening to eliminate the subject in the picture.
What the hell is going on here?
Who left these damn pictures?
I drop the photos back to the porch and quickly gather my stuff.Running the short distance to the door, I unlock it and rush inside.The sound of my son, Bryce, playing fills the house I’ve tried my hardest to turn into our home.From the noises he’s making, he’s playing with his motorcycles.Caleb and Kreed have bought him a million of the things over the years and they’re his most treasured possessions.He plays with them daily.I don’t hear my daughter, Rory, but that’s not surprising considering she’s only five months old.She’s more than likely napping and will be up soon to eat.
“Caliana, are you okay?”Tiffany asks me, panic in her voice as I startle and look up at her.
I place my hand on my chest as my heartrate kicks up even more and I start to feel dizzy.I’m not usually so jumpy, but today hasn’t been a normal day.It’s been rough and I need to go to bed and reset myself.I’ve got hours until I can go to bed though.
“No, I’m not.Did you hear anyone on the porch today?Did you take the kids out of the house?”I question her, my voice coming out in panted gasps as I try to catch my breath.Each breath I take feels harder than the last one and I know I’m on the verge of having one of my worst panic attacks.
“I haven’t heard anyone at all.The kids and I stayed inside all day.We didn’t even go out back for Bryce to play.It rained earlier and I didn’t want to get them sick with the chill in the air,” Tiffany answers me, her voice hesitant as she looks me up and down to figure out what’s going on with me.“Did something happen?”
“The porch is covered in pictures from my life.Can you stay in here for a few minutes so I can get the mess cleaned up?”I ask her, already thinking of what I have to do to clean this shit up because there’s no point in calling the police when they won’t do anything.I’ve seen it happen too many times to count where a woman calls about things like this happening and nothing gets done about it.
I’ve called them myself in the past about my father and the police believed his lies that nothing was wrong and I was just pissed off at him because he wouldn’t let me go out to turn into a whore.The police left without doing anything about my father screaming in my face and grabbing my arm so hard I had bruises left behind.They heard him shouting at me when they walked up to the house and still did nothing.I don’t trust the police and would rather go to Caleb and Kreed for help.I know the Feral Dragons MC, the club they started when they got out of the military, will help me find out what’s going on and who’s leaving this on my porch.
