Page 64 of Cedar Edge
Joining him, I pull my jeans back on before dragging him into a hug. He stiffens, his body fighting against it until finally I feel him melt into my arms. We stand like that for a while, the world around us waking up to the day with birds chirping and the trees softly swaying.
“Talk to me.” I finally say, breaking the silence. It’s not a command, not really, but something adjacent.
Law pulls back from me, anger and regret burning in his eyes. “I feel like I’m going crazy.” He runs his hands through his hair. “We went from thinking she was gone for good to suddenly having her in our arms. I fucked up. I never should have allowed him to get close enough to do anything he’s done so far. I knew he wouldn’t just stop and yet…FUCK!”
“Law, this isn’t just on you. Logan and I were both here too. It’s not your job to protect her.” I try to keep calm but my heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest.
Law shakes his head. “IT IS MY JOB AND I’M FUCKING FAILING!” His voice echoes through the woods around us. He drags in a ragged breath as he paces back and forth. “I should have stopped you from joining The Fallen. I should have come home as soon as we suspected something was wrong with Thea. I should have done so many things that would have prevented all this and I didn’t fucking do it.”
His words are a shockwave through me. “Do you really think that?”
He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Of course! I’m shocked you and Logan even put up with me at this point.”
I’m moving to clear the distance between us, pulling his body into mine. “Rebel, you are not the only caretaker of this family. We all hold that title. And we all could have done things differently.” Pulling back from him I force his eyes to mine. “And you certainly weren’t in charge of my career choice. So don’t you ever take responsibility for it.”
Law doesn’t say anything more, remaining in my arms for a breath longer before he’s pulling away and heading back towards the house. Watching him go only puts another nail in the coffin that Royce has made for himself and serves as yet another reminder that this needs to end. Now.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“The toxins contained particularly in the nightshade family can also produce the sensation of turning into an animal.”
-Fez Inkwright,Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Secret Lives of Plants-
Thea
The soft hum of Logan’s tattoo, gun mixes, and melds with the heavy metal song playing over the speakers of the shop. The smell of the ink and cleaning supplies used permeate the air. I watch Logan as he loses himself in the intricate design he's doing for the man on his table. A calm seems to wash over him every time he picks up that gun, a calm that is eerily reminiscent of what I would feel sitting in my tree.
Since Ace had been pulled out onto a job I’d been spending more and more time here. Unable to be at home, alone. He had vanished, his haunting form suddenly gone from the house leaving me feeling off balance. Something about his presence alongside the other two made me feel… safe. Protected. And untouchable. And without him I was feeling far too exposed for my liking.
When I had casually asked Logan about it he grimaced and told me a fire started somewhere on the border of Oregon so Ace had left to fight it. It had been on the tip of my tongue to ask if that’s what he was really doing or if he was doing hisotherjob. But since the day he fucked me in his ‘secret lair’, as I’d come to call it, he hadn’t made mention of it nor had Law or Logan. So I hadn’t asked even though part of me was dying for him to take me again like he did that day.
“I like seeing that smile on your face, Tink.” Logan‘s voice floats above the rest of the shop sounds, and when I catch his gaze, his green eyes twinkle with mischief. “what you looking at over there?”
He goes back to wiping down the fresh tattoo, getting ready to put the second skin on it. I duck my head, my cheeks burning as I look at the book in my lap. Ever since Logan had asked if I would let him ink me the thought has grown bigger and bigger in my mind. And seeing Athena get tattooed? It only made me even more curious. I never imagined I would want someone to touch my skin and mark me in such a permanent way again, but the more I’ve watched Logan work and seen the way people heal under that needle the more I’ve been curious about my own healing.
So I had snagged a reference book out of the back office, one that was dedicated to flora and fauna. And had been looking at the different plants that would maybe inspire my own healing process to continue, and help keep those chains firmly locked on the closet.
“All right my man, you know the drill.” Logan says with humor in his voice. The older biker slowly eases himself up off the table, his body, a patchwork of different art styles from over the years. He rubs his left hand down his gray beard as he takes a look at his upper right arm. The newest ink decorating his aging body.
“You are one damn good artist kid.” He snorts. I study the design the best I can from this distance. Logan is beyond talented. His art has grown exponentially since we were kids, though I’ll never tell him this, but I still think the portrait he did of the four of us will always be my favorite. When I found it tucked away in storage I had stolen it out, keeping it hidden away in my bag.
The man's eyes catch mine in the mirror, and I flush embarrassed to be caught. But he offers me a warm smile. “It’s good to see you out, Ms. Montgomery.”
I blink rapidly, suddenly confused as to how this man knows me. Logan watches the whole interaction with a careful tension in his muscles. Sometimes I see darkness move over my little ray of sunshine. A darkness that I don’t even think Law or Ace realize he has. I’ve only noticed it a handful of times, and right now I can see it flash over his face.
“Thank you….” I trail off, embarrassed to have no idea who he is.
I watch as he pulls on his leather cut, the MC emblem obstructed from my view. He chuckles softly. “We never met but I knew your mama. And for what it’s worth, Thea, me and mine have always believed you.”
Years of tension suddenly wash from my body. Hearing those words from a damn near stranger is different than hearing it from the men that share my bed. For so long, I had thought nobody believed me about my mom. I thought her memory and reputation would be forever tarnished, and she would be remembered as something she wasn’t. Even knowing the truth of it all.
Blinking back the tears in my eyes I offer a slight incline of my head, unable to form words. But it’s enough he sends me a wink, a warm one that makes me feel like I could trust him in the future. Logan claps the man on his back breaking the spell loosethat seemed to have fallen over the shop. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and look down at the roses that decorate the page beneath me.
“Thea?” The man calls out to me just as he is about to the door. “You ever need anything, anything at all, you find me you hear? Or you find someone in my club.” He shifts enough that I can see the Pres patch stamped on his chest.
“Thank you sir.”
He lets out a barking laugh. “Names Axel, pretty sure your man here has no interest in you calling me sir.”
