One thing did come of my kidnapping. The club decided to get out of guns, immediately. Cade had left the morning after I was taken to take a vote at the club. He came back with a black eye, but the vote had passed. Turns out he and Steg had disagreed over the idea and it turned physical. Steg had been forced to pass the vote, as the majority of members wanted to get out. Cade had told me the legit businesses were doing well enough, not to mention the garage itself. He had also mentioned they did some sort of security work but hadn’t elaborated much, which made me infinitely more curious. Amy and I had started a stealth campaign to find out, although we had been foiled at every turn. Turns out they were good at the security thing.
Nevertheless, things with Steg and Cade were tense. Although the last time I had been at the club with fading bruises, Steg had silently kissed my black eye. At this, Cade was so pissed he looked like his jaw was about to shatter. I, on the other hand felt differently. I was beginning to seriously doubt my first impressions of Steg, he was tender with Evie and the kids around the club. But he was also a hardass and I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something bad under the surface, but he seemed to love his family.
The club had overwhelmed me with their show of support the last month, the boys all stopping in on a regular basis. They came and had dinner, not disguising their fury at my injuries, nor their relief at the fact I was still breathing. I saw a lot of them, they were always stopping by the store or the house just to make sure I was handling things okay. The person I saw the most of was Bull. We seemed to have established some sort of connection. I think knowing he was able to save me from the same fate as Laurie healed him slightly. But he would always be broken. He wouldn’t say much, just come and sit with me if I was alone in the store, come for dinner when Cade had to be away. I enjoyed his company though and tried my hardest to make him laugh at my stupid jokes. He didn’t, but I would keep trying.
I had also found out (to my immense relief) the club wasn’t behind the explosion at the Spider’s clubhouse therefore not responsible for the murder of a whole gang. Cade had told me they had more than a few enemies, which included the mob (yes the legit Sopranos type…ekk) who were responsible. I know they were far from good men but I was still firm on my belief that two wrongs didn’t make a right. Which seemed to differ from the clubs version of justice.
Another thing that happened was I finally told everyone in my life about Cade. A thing I had putting off doing partly because I wanted to make sure things were solid with us before declaring my love for him to all my friends and family, but mostly because I was a wuss. It didn’t go exactly as I planned though as I discovered when I rang my mother a few days ago. I sat in my office working up my courage after I had been chatting to my mother about random things for about ten minutes.
“So did I tell you Nancy Goodwin, you know that girl Alice’s mother?” She didn’t wait for me to reply, like usual. “You know the girl you went to high school with? Quiet girl, nose always in a book, but a pretty wee thing?” Again my mother didn’t wait for me to confirm I knew who she was talking about.
“Well it turns out she has been having an affair with a thirty year old man and is now pregnant with twins.” She whispered the last part as if it were the codes to a radioactive bomb.
“Mum I’ve got a boyfriend.” I announced, not reacting to her earlier statement. Although I was shocked, Alice was only a couple of years younger than me, her mother was no spring chicken.
“Oh honey I’ve been waiting for you to tell me for weeks I’m so glad we can finally talk about him.” She gushed sounding excited.
“What do you mean ‘you’ve been waiting for me to tell you’?” I asked quietly.
“Oh darn.” My mother whispered quietly back and I knew something was afoot.
“Mum!” I demanded with one word.
“Oh its nothing, Amy just sent me a picture of you and your young man. He is smoking. I knew you might be hesitant to tell us, but I know what a man in love looks like and that boy is smitten. Not to mention Amy approves and I trust her judgment even though she did like that awful collection by Versace…”
“Mum!” I snapped, trying to erase hearing Mum calling Cade ‘smoking’ and plotting Amy’s murder at the same time.
“Lets go back to the part where Amy sent you a picture of me and Cade.”
“Cade and I darling.” I rolled my eyes at Mum’s correction of grammar. “Like I said, I approve, even if he is a bit rough around the edges, he is one fine male specimen.” I cringed at the thought of my mother checking out the ‘specimen.’
“Are you happy Gwen?” My Mum asked, seriously now, with a bit of emotion in her voice.
I sighed. “Yeah Mum, I love him.” I told her quietly.
I heard silence over the phone then a sob. “Mum?”
“I’m fine dear just happy to hear you are happy. Oh no, the Stevenson’s have just turned up. They are here an hour early, seriously these people. I haven’t even changed out of my gardening clothes! I hate to cut this short Gwen, but I will have to talk to you later. I’ll call when your father is around. Love you sweetie pie, I am so happy for you.” Her voice broke slightly at the end.
“Love you too Mum.”
I rang off quietly seething at Amy, trying to think of ways to get away with her murder. I shelved that thought, deciding to cross someone else off the list.
“I am wearing fur underwear, I repeat fur underwear. What the fuck do these stylists think they are doing? I will do almost anything in the name of fashion, but the matching booties are where I draw the line.” Ryan answered the phone without a hello, launching into conversation like always. I giggled.
“Well hello to you too my darling friend.” I greeted sarcastically.
“Did you not hear me Gwennie? Fur underwear. It’s freaking 100 degrees out here, I am sweating my man parts off.” He complained.
“With great modeling prowess comes great responsibility.” I told him sagely.
I could almost see Ryan scowling down the phone.
“How’s the little town anyway? Been to any ho downs?” He quickly changed the subject, obviously over his tantrum.
“Ha ha Ryan, you do realize it is in California, by the beach right? Whatever. I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Oooh you’re finally getting a boob job?” He asked excitedly.
“No!” I exclaimed, looking down at my B cups self consciously. I actually had toyed with the idea of increasing my chest to a more substantial size, not Pamela Anderson, just more than a handful. But Cade had been showing me he more than appreciated my mere handful, I had been feeling good about them until now.
“Dammit.” He mumbled, “I was going to be your nursemaid, had the perfect outfit and everything.”
I scrunched up my nose at my gay friend nursing my boobs back to health.
“Well sorry Florence ain’t gonna happen.”
“Oh well I’ll find the use for it.” He replied mind obviously wandering.
“Ryan. Something to tell you, kind of important?” I probed.
“Oh go ahead girl tell me the news.” He said, sounding less interested.
“I have a boyfriend.” I blurted, deciding to dive straight in, hoping Amy hadn’t beat me to the punch on this one as well.
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Hello? Have I finally managed the mean feat of rendering Ryan Jackson speechless?” I asked sarcastically, hoping his response will be a happy one. I got my answer when I heard a squeal girlier than mine down the end of the phone. I held it away from my ear a second.
“Crap Ryan you promised you’d warn me when you do that, I don’t want to go prematurely deaf.” I whined, maybe understanding why people kept saying that to me.
“Oooo weee girl this is fantastic. You are finally back on the horse! You are back on the horse right? In the biblical sense? He better be hot, what am I saying you are in the middle of nowhere. Please don’t tell me his sister is also
his cousin.”
I rolled my eyes, Ryan was a snobby Manhattenite through and through with a flair for the dramatic.
“Seriously Ryan you need to stop with the comments, Amber is my home now. And I think you would eat your tongue if you saw the caliber of men down here.” I lectured, but Ryan was already cutting me off.
“Okay okay, whatever. Tell me more about him. How long have you been seeing him? Oooh what’s his name I’ll stalk him on Facebook.”
I chuckled. “He’s not really the kind of man that has Facebook Ry, and I’ve pretty much been seeing him since the first day I got here. Took him a week or so to crack me though.” I laughed again, thinking back to our first meetings.
There was silence on the phone again before a yell. “WHAT?”
I held the phone out again, oh boy Ryan sounded angry.
“You’ve been in Nowheresville for more than three fucking months! And you are telling me this now? This is bullshit, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“Ry there’s been a lot going on and things have been complicated…” I started to explain, feeling guilty.
“Complicated? Well you’ve certainly had enough time to call and tell me you finally got off the wait list for your Birkin, and you couldn’t wait to call me and tell me Orlando and Miranda broke up.” He spat.
“Hey!” My voice was raised now too. “I’ve been on that wait list for like years, that was a big deal,” I stroked at my Birkin lovingly. “And you were over the moon about Miranda and Orlando, he’s on your celebrity boink list.”
“Enough.” He snapped. “I cannot believe Amy didn’t even tell me this shit.” He muttered.
“I swore Amy to secrecy Ry, this isn’t her fault.” I argued.
“Oh puh lease. Amy couldn’t keep a secret if it meant she could have Chanel’s entire fall line. She told me about Kyle Winters like the second after she found out.”
I gasped. “That bitch.” I whispered, mentally thinking up more ways to torture my big mouthed best friend.
“I simply cannot have this conversation with you right now Gwen, I am too mad. I will call you when I decide I am over it.” His voice was uppity, I knew he was pissed and hurt.
“Ry please…” I pleaded into the phone but he had already hung up.
“Fuck!” I yelled and grabbed my (beautiful) purse to head in search of Amy.
I screeched up to the clubhouse after hearing Amy was there picking up Rosie. I didn’t even want to wonder why she was showing up there. Things between her and Brock had been tense to say the least. I had already assembled my emergency kit for when WIII went down between them. It was red wine, chocolates and all the horror movies I could find of people in love getting murdered gruesomely.
I narrowed my eyes when I saw her walking towards me, laughing with Rosie, Lucky and Cade were milling by their bikes nearby.
I got out of the car and slammed my door. “You!” I shouted, pointing at Amy and stomping towards her, hearing my heels click on the concrete.
“Oh shit.” I heard Lucky’s curse from nearby.
Amy had the gall to look confused. “What Gwen?”
“You sent my mother a picture of Cade and I? How freaking dare you Abrams! That was not your place. And I can’t believe you told Ryan about Kyle Winters, you swore you would take that to your grave.” I was inches away from her face, yelling in it. I ignored the fact that Cade and Lucky had approached and we seemed to have more than a few spectators. Rosie was watching, half shocked, half smirking.
Amy’s expression turned from confusion into realization, she leaned into me.
“Well someone had to tell your mother, at the rate you’re going she would learn about it when she got your wedding invite.” She joked and I saw red.
I let out a scream of frustration, loud.
“Babe.” I heard Cade from behind me.
“Uh no brother, I suggest you stay out of this one. The Old Lady is looking wild, you don’t interrupt bitches with this shit.” Lucky sounded serious, I whirled to see a grin on the bastard’s face.
Cade had ignored him and was walking towards me. I held up a hand.
“Stay out of this. You have far too much testosterone to be involved in this conversation.” I told him, whirling back to Amy.
“I was going to tell Mum, in my own time, it’s only been three months. I don’t see you running to tell your parents about you and Brock, or you and Ian for that matter.”
Amy scowled. “This is different Gwen and you know it. You guys are the real deal, and you are in Bad Ass land, three months is like forever to these guys. Has Kirsten Ashley taught you nothing?”
I let out another little scream. “Are you fucking serious? I don’t even know what to say to you. You are looney tunes.” I made the universal crazy gesture. “And I am so pissed at you for telling Ryan about Kyle. I may never forgive you for that.” I glared at her.
“Who the fuck is Kyle?” I heard Cade snap from behind me and ignored him.
Amy’s glare turned into a smile, and she glanced at Cade.
“Oh come on. How could I not tell Ryan? It was hilarious. Seriously Gwen, he owned a comic book store.”
“So? There’s nothing wrong with that, he had a business.” I argued.
“He still lived with his mother.” She grinned.
“He was saving a deposit for an apartment.” I retorted.
“He had Star Wars sheets.” She continued.
I cringed.
“And tried to get you to dress up as Princess Laya.” She finished.
I heard Lucky’s choked laughter from behind me.
“You bitch.” I whispered, unable to believe she just said that in front of my super hot boyfriend and his equally hot friends. It wasn’t my fault I was blinded by the nerdy cute thing he had going on.
“I am so getting you back for that.” I shot at her, feeling a blush creep up my cheeks.
“Sorry Gwennie, never fucked any creepy nerds in my time.” She snorted, inspecting her nails.
I sneered back at her. “Remember the time you had to cancel on me last minute for that dinner in that random place in Brooklyn after you had that bad facial?”
She scowled. “How can I forget, I couldn’t go out for like three days after what that witch did.”
“Well I was already halfway there and decided to still go cause I heard their pasta was to die for.” I continued and she looked bored. “Anyway when I got there, I ran into The Rock, and we talked for like ten minutes.”
I smirked as her face paled. “You’re lying.”
“Nope, didn’t tell you cause I knew you’d be gutted. He even asked me to have a drink with him, gave me his number and everything.”
Amy looked like I just shot her puppy. “No he didn’t.”
I rifled through my purse, grabbing my phone.
“I’ll prove it.” I said, pressing some buttons. I still had the number, because even though I was with The Prick at the time and blinded by stupidity, you’re not not going to save Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s number. I just prayed he hadn’t changed it. Shit he was a celebrity, he’d probably changed it like three times over. I realized this as the phone was ringing on speaker. This could be embarrassing. There was silence as the phone clicked onto answering machine, I held my breath until I heard the distinct voice of Amy’s all time celebrity crush. Her face fell as she heard it too. I hung up triumphantly.
“We are even now, though that doesn’t even equal what you did to me with my mother. I am not speaking to you for the rest of the day. No make that the rest of the century.” I decided.
I started back towards my car before turning, “Oh and email me that picture of Cade and me, I don’t know when you took it if my mum approves it must be good.”
That was Tuesday. It was now Friday and I had basically forgiven her, it helped that the photo of Cade and me was like awesome. We were at a club party and I was sitting on his knee, head turned talking to someone beside me. Cade had a hand to m
y neck, stroking it and looking at me with a look full of awe and tenderness it made my heart melt just a little. I had gotten it printed as soon as possible and put it beside my bed. Cade had seen it, gotten a copy and kept it in his wallet. He didn’t say a word to me, I had found it yesterday when I was paying for pizza. I put it back without a word, but my heart had felt like it was going to explode with the amount of love I had in it.
“Babe?” Cade said, bringing me back to the present. He had just fucked me as hard as promised, I was tucked into the crook of his arm, my whole body jelly.
“Umm I don’t know if I will be able to regain coherent thought for at least an hour.” I whispered dreamily, “I’m pretty sure you just fucked my brains out.”
I felt Cade’s body rumble underneath mine and his chuckle vibrate in my ear.
“Yes well I needed to erase the images of certain Hollywood actors my woman seems infatuated with.” He replied, half joking.
I put my hand on his chest and stared up to him to see a slight hardness to his otherwise tender post sex stare. I couldn’t help but giggle just a little. This didn’t help as Cade’s arms tightened around me and his stare threatened to turn into a full blown frown. I leaned down and kissed one of his (hard, tattooed, did I mention delicious?) pecs.
“You can’t seriously be jealous of fictional characters, can you Mr Big and Scary Biker Man?” I teased.
Cade’s frown deepened and he moved me to lie on top of him fully. I struggled not to squirm as my down there area was more than a little sensitive.
“I am not jealous, seeing as I am the one who just had his cock inside you and its my cum currently leaking out of your sweet pussy.” He growled, and I felt said area tingle. “But I do want you to delete that number.” He continued, sliding his hands down my spine gently.
“Seriously? You can’t tell me delete ‘The Rocks’ number.” I replied, smiling at him playfully.
Cade obviously was not amused. “Yes I fucking can. I can tell you to delete any man’s number that wants in here.” He stated, putting his hands between us and sliding a finger through my wetness.