Whiskey smoke, p.3
Whiskey Smoke, page 3
“Put on some shoes,” I told her.
She walked over and slid her feet into a pair of Converse, then quickly bent down to tie them. A better man would have looked away, but I wasn’t a good guy. My eyes ate up her round ass. Those bottoms weren’t covering much. I wished we had time to get her dressed properly, but we didn’t. She stood back up, and I grabbed her hand to lead her through the house, ready to get the fuck away from this place.
When we reached my bike, I grabbed my helmet and put it on her head. “Hold on tight to me,” I told her.
She nodded, and I got on, then held out my hand to steady her as she climbed on behind me. Her body was trembling as she wrapped her arms around my waist. There wasn’t any time to ease her fear or say things to soothe her.
“When I lean, you lean. Got it?” I called back to her.
“Yes.” I barely heard her soft voice.
I wished I’d had driven my car tonight. The last thing she needed was to be thrown on the back of a bike in her pajamas after the shit she had just gone through.
I was taking her to the house. It was the only place I knew she’d be safe. There was no time for a fucking background check, and the guys could all get the fuck over it. She was young, alone, and had been traumatized. I also didn’t know who else would be coming for her or if the bastard had been telling the truth. He had said he hadn’t expected her to be there, but I wasn’t sure I could believe that, and there was no way I was gambling with Aspen’s life.
Whatever Kitty had hidden from the Vagos, she’d lost her life over it. She’d always been smarter than that. Never got addicted to drugs, although I knew she had used them on occasion. But she had made good decisions, normally.
Aspen’s arms tightened around me. I hadn’t been able to save Kitty, but I was going to fucking save her.
Five
Aspen
The smell of leather, whiskey, and smoke gave me an odd sense of comfort. The man was a stranger. Sure, I’d met him and watched him get a blow job, and he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, but he was still a stranger. Those weren’t any of the reasons I had gotten on his bike. He had saved me—that was why I’d left with him. I had been alone, and he had been there like a superhero, stepping in to end the horror that my night had become.
I shivered as fear prickled my spine. Pressing my face to his back, I took several deep breaths. I was safe. Levi made me feel safe. Even though I’d heard him, everything he’d said to that man tonight. Even though he had pulled the trigger on his gun and taken the shot that killed the horrible man.
Irish had said he was dangerous. Warned me to never talk to him or open the door to him. She’d been so adamant about me staying clear of Levi. Yet, tonight, he hadn’t been the one who was going to hurt me. He’d been the one who came in and saved me. I was struggling with believing Irish about him being dangerous.
Was it because he had a gun? Was that what scared her?
Then, my mind went to, How had he known?
How had he known I needed rescuing? That was the one thing that had been nagging me since I had been curled up under the bed. I had wanted to weep with relief when he appeared at my door. It was like I had known he wouldn’t let that man get me.
The bike slowed, and I lifted my face from his back to see a big iron gate open before he drove through it. We continued down a driveway. The house that came into view was a beautiful three-story home. The lights on inside made it feel welcoming.
Did he live here alone? In a house this big? Or had he brought me somewhere else? Where ever we were, it didn’t look dangerous. Quite the opposite.
One of many garage doors opened, and we slowly eased inside a spot beside two other bikes. Levi cut the engine and stood up, getting off the bike with ease before taking my hand and helping me. He lifted the helmet from my head, and his hazel eyes studied me with concern.
“Where are we?” I asked when he said nothing.
“My house.”
I looked at all the cars, trucks, and SUVs parked inside the longest garage I’d ever seen.
“I don’t live alone,” he added when he saw me looking at the other vehicles.
The man who had broken into Irish’s place yelled at me while he stomped through the house. He said that my sister had a bullet in her head. To keep from letting out a wail, I bit my bottom lip so hard that it bled. The longer I stayed under the bed, the more I convinced myself he was lying. He had been trying to make me go to him.
Irish couldn’t be dead. She was at work.
“I need to call Irish. I forgot my phone.” I’d left it by the sofa in the living room.
The troubled look that came over him caused my stomach to turn. I could see something in his eyes that I didn’t want to see. I shook my head and backed away.
Was that why he had come to find me? Why he had shown up to save me?
Oh God, no.
“Where’s Irish?” I asked, feeling the panic unraveling inside me.
“Sweetheart,” he said so gently and reached out a hand to touch my arm.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t say it.”
The pain in his expression as he looked at me said more than any words could. I grabbed my waist and doubled over as a sob broke free from my chest.
“NO!” I cried out again, not wanting to believe it.
“Come here.” Levi’s words almost sounded like a command.
He grabbed my shoulders, standing me back up, then pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around me. The safety that had come from him earlier was gone now. Sorrow engulfed me. All I had left in this world was gone.
How was it that I was alive when I should have gone before them all?
Irish had had a healthy heart. She had been promised a long life. It was me who had been born with the defect.
Levi murmured in my ear, “It’s okay,” and, “Easy, love,” and, “I’ve got you”—all things I knew he meant as comfort, but there was nothing that could comfort me.
Tears rolled down my face, and the anguish of loss consumed me. I realized I was clinging to him. My nails digging into his hard flesh. Nothing could ease this pain, but he was here. In this moment, I wasn’t alone.
What would I have done if he hadn’t come for me?
My entire life, I’d thought it would be my heart that would cause my death, but tonight, it had almost been cut short from something much more brutal.
“I’ll keep you safe until I can be sure it’s okay for you to return to your family,” he assured me.
I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He didn’t understand. He had no idea what this meant for me. The hollowness that came with the word family was a deep, dark void. I didn’t look up at him. My focus was centered on his chest and the round wet spot I’d made on his T-shirt with my tears.
“I don’t have one of those,” I whispered.
“What, sweetheart?” he asked softly.
My breath was ragged as I inhaled. “Family.”
Levi tensed, and I couldn’t look up at him. He’d gotten me out of there, brought me to his home, and now, I was telling him there was no family for me to return to.
“Kitty was all you had?”
“Yes.” The one word fell from my lips, wringing my soul as it did. “Our gran raised us. She died a couple of months ago, and I moved in with Irish … Kitty.”
“Jesus,” he muttered, pulling me back against his chest. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay, I swear.”
No, it wouldn’t be. Nothing would ever be okay again.
“I’ll figure this out. I swear I’ll figure something out.”
How could he swear that? He had no idea that wasn’t something he could do. There was no answer for this. No way to figure it out. I was alone now. For the first time in my life, I was truly alone.
Levi wrapped an arm around me and led me through the garage full of expensive vehicles. When we reached a door, he keyed in a code, then opened it. I paid no attention to my surroundings as he led me through a dark room, then into a large area with leather sofas, plush chairs, a massive fireplace, and settled in the middle of it all was a woman. A beautiful woman with dark brown hair and big brown eyes.
She lifted her gaze from the laptop she had been looking at to take in the two of us. Moving it off her lap, she stood up, her gaze now full of concern as she looked at me.
“Where’s Huck?” Levi asked.
“In the office. Should I get him?” the woman asked.
“I need to speak with him and Gage. Can you take Aspen to my room? Stay with her.”
The woman’s eyes shifted back to me. “Of course.” The compassion in her gaze made my eyes sting with tears again.
Levi’s hands moved to my shoulders and turned me to look at him. “Sweetheart, this is Trinity. She is a very good friend. She’ll stay with you while I go deal with some things.”
I nodded, wishing the idea of Levi leaving me didn’t cause me anxiety. It wasn’t like I was getting to keep him. I didn’t need to cling to this man for comfort.
He cupped the side of my face with his hand. “I swear you’re safe. I wouldn’t leave you with anyone I didn’t trust. Trinity lives here too. She’s the fiancée of one of my closest friends.”
“Okay,” I choked out, unable to explain that I wasn’t scared of her but that I just needed him.
He was all that kept me from falling apart. There was a strength that I seemed to draw from him.
Forcing myself to let him go, I turned to look at Trinity.
She held out a hand to me. “I promise to take you to Levi’s room and stay there with you. You’ll be safe with me, and he won’t be long.”
I stepped toward her, feeling the chill settle over me without his touch. Trying not to look back at him in desperation, I kept my eyes on Trinity. “Thank you.”
The worried expression on her face didn’t help the tears I was fighting back. Trinity hugged me.
“I don’t know what you’re going through, but I am so very sorry,” she whispered.
The tears broke free and rolled down my cheeks.
“I won’t be long,” Levi whispered against my ear.
When he walked away, I tucked my nose down into the leather jacket to inhale his scent that had calmed me before.
“Let’s go to Levi’s room,” Trinity said gently, then led me through an arched doorway, down a wide hallway, and into a foyer that had a stairwell worthy of a magazine photo shoot. She took my hand in hers as we climbed the stairs to the second floor.
We passed several doors until she stopped at a closed one and opened it. Then, she released my hand and stepped back for me to enter. I walked past her, and the familiar scent that I knew belonged to Levi lingered heavily in the air. Much stronger than the jacket I was wearing.
My eyes slowly took in the room. Tan walls, one large window overlooking what appeared to be the back side of the house. A king-size bed with a tall black headboard and gray bedding. More pillows than any one man would need. A black leather sofa sat along the far wall with a flat screen television over the long dresser. Two doors—one closed and the other open, where I could see a glimpse of the bathroom.
“Do you want to lie down?” Trinity asked me.
I shook my head, not wanting to disturb anything. I wasn’t sure how long I would be here. Levi might take me somewhere else. I doubted he planned to let me stay here in his home.
“The bathroom is right through there if you want to take a bath or shower. Or I could turn on the television for you if you’d like.”
I wiped at my face, trying to focus on the situation and not on the anguish. I was in a strange place with no one to call. Levi couldn’t be expected to keep me. He’d saved me, and he’d promised to keep me safe. Believing he would keep me here and take on the role as my protector wasn’t reality.
What would come of me tomorrow? Why hadn’t Irish let me get a job, make friends, find a life here?
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I whispered.
I felt Trinity walk up beside me. “Levi will figure it out.” She sounded so sure.
I wished it were that simple.
I shook my head. “There is nothing to figure out. I’m alone. No one is left.”
Her hand covered mine again and squeezed it. “Then, you’ll stay here.”
I wanted to sob from her kindness, but I knew she misunderstood the situation.
“Levi saved me tonight, but … he doesn’t owe me anything. He doesn’t know me.”
“Right now, I see a woman who’s alone. Who is scared and who needs a friend. I was that woman once, and I understand that fear. You have me. No need for introductions.”
The raw cry that tore from my chest was one of pain, loss, and relief, all twisted together in a turmoil where there was no peace.
Six
Levi
Huck’s unease was clear as he glared at me. I’d brought Aspen here without asking, with no notice and no background check. I also didn’t give a fuck. If he thought I was intimidated by his size, I could show him just how little I cared.
Aspen’s trembling body and terrified expression would haunt me. She had no one. No family. Nothing.
“You brought her here, knowing her sister was mixed up with this shit?!” Huck roared.
“Should I have left her with the bastard who was threatening to rape her, then kill her while she hid under a fucking bed?” I asked.
Huck muttered a curse. “This is our home. You broke protocol, letting in someone who hadn’t been checked first.”
“I’m going to point out here that you did the same fucking thing with Trinity,” Gage said from the leather chair he had been sitting in when I arrived.
Huck swung his gaze to Gage, as if he’d said something ridiculous. “That’s Trinity we are talking about. My fiancée. Not some strange woman involved in God knows what!”
Gage looked surprised by his response. “When you brought Trinity here, it was because you had taken her from a fucking job. We had been ordered to clean the place, and instead of killing a witness, you took her. Sure, she’s your fiancée now, but the day you brought her into this house, she was a fucking stranger.”
“What the fuck? Are you taking his side? You might not live in this house anymore, but you live on this property with your woman. Who you want to keep safe. How can you even compare the two situations?”
Gage stood then and put the cigar he’d been smoking out. “Because I trust Levi. He knows the dangers. He’s the fucker who does our background checks. He knew what he was doing when he brought her inside the gate.”
Gage and I had a bond stronger than the one I had with Huck—even if it was Huck’s bloodline and mine that went back a hundred years with Blaise’s. Huck had lived with his grandparents through most of our teen years while Gage had become one of us. Our brotherhood had been founded then, and it was ironclad.
“She has no family. No one, Huck. She’s twenty goddamn years old, and she has no one. Kitty was it. She’s alone, and whatever Kitty was mixed up in has put her in danger.”
Huck paced in front of the desk. “We don’t know if she was involved too.”
“Just like we didn’t know if Trinity had a wire on her the first time you brought her here,” Gage pointed out.
Huck scowled as he turned for the door. “Chances that we are as lucky with this girl’s innocence as we were with Trinity’s are fuckin’ slim. I don’t want her up there with Trinity alone.” He started for the door.
I stood up. “Do you think I’d put Trinity in danger?” I asked him, feeling violent. I wouldn’t do anything to put Trinity in danger. He should fucking know that. “She’s a kid, Huck. Jesus!”
He jerked the door open and stalked out as if he hadn’t been in my situation once before. The difference was that even then, I thought he had known he’d end up with Trinity. That wasn’t my case. I wanted to protect a girl who was alone. She was damn vulnerable and weak. I couldn’t stand the idea of her having no one. But I wasn’t about to stick my dick in that. No way in hell did I want that kind of drama.
“Call me if you need me,” Gage called out as we headed for the stairs.
He knew this was me trying to help the girl out and nothing more. Gage understood me. Even when my decisions weren’t clear to everyone else. Huck was confused. I wasn’t thinking with my damn dick.
When Huck reached my bedroom door and he jerked it open with more force than necessary, I heard a small cry, and my blood boiled. Was the fucker trying to piss me off? I closed the distance, ready to unleash on him.
“HUCK! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Trinity’s stern tone made me pause.
“Checking on you,” he snarled.
“Someone is going to need to check on you if you don’t turn around and get out of this room with your angry scowl. That is not what she needs right now.”
I grinned. The fucker was getting corrected by his woman. I had known I could trust Trinity with Aspen. She was just proving me right.
“We don’t know her,” Huck snapped.
“Yes, I can see where we should be terrified of her.” Sarcasm was thick in her voice.
Then, Huck stumbled backward, and I stepped aside.
Trinity was pointing a finger at his chest, glaring up at him. “You need to back down right this minute. She does not need this.”
I stepped around them, giving Trinity an appreciative nod. I could see the relief in her eyes when she saw me.
“Thanks. I got this,” I assured her.
I didn’t wait to see what else Trinity said to Huck before closing the door. My gaze swung to Aspen, who sat on the sofa with her bare legs pulled up to her chest and her arms around them, her knees tucked under her chin. She still wore my jacket. She lifted her eyes, swollen from crying, to meet mine.
