Black and White (Storm's Soldiers MC Book 1) (9 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Meagan

All I wanted was to get home at a decent hour, so I could have an early morning free to study for my midterms. Oh I’d had plenty of fun the past days, but much as it had reminded me of the good things that came from working at a bar, that wasn’t a life plan.

Unfortunately, Marissa and Kiara just would not let me be after I let slip that I’d been with Vaughn again.

“
Vaughn,
” Kiara said as we were all clustered around the bar. She said it again like she were casting a spell. “Vaughn.”

“I love those short hard names,” Teresa said. “‘Fuck me Vaughn.’ It’s so easy to scream out.”

“Hey, easy,” I said.

“Chill, baby. I’m not gonna steal him. Just giving you advice.”

The advice continued after we closed down. I negotiated down from drinks to a diner and as we sat waiting for midnight toast and pancakes, they took turns grilling me.

“Was he big down south as his muscles were?”

“Did he ride you like a bike?”

“What did he call you while you were fucking?”

“Did he like to slap you around?”

I must have shouted out my “No,” to the last one, cause they stopped in their tracks and we kinda stared dazed at each other across the booth. A second later, I realized she’d just meant it a sex thing.

“Sorry,” I said. “It’s a…”

It was too late. Their eyes were lit up, all intent. We hung out often, but I’d never shared too much of my past with them. I sighed and decided that this might as well be how they learned about the most recent dark bit of it.

“It’s a trigger,” I sighed.

“A trigger?” Kiara looked confused, but new awareness shone on Marissa’s face.

“Yeah, when you said slap – what I really saw was a clenched fist hitting me. Over and over and again.”

They leaned in and I told them the truth about why I had left Rico.

We had been lounging on the couch as usual, me bored, just watching him play one of his football video games. Ever since he’d started med school, it’s all he liked to do after coming from work, sometimes even while we ate. He called it practicing finger-work to be a surgeon, but I’d done the research. No one needed three hours of practice each day. Still, I could abide the boredom, even tolerate his growls when I suggested watching a movie together or something. But that day I nestled in a bit too deep and hit the remote. The power went off right as the fake audience on TV roared from some intense play.

Soon there was another roar in my ears. Rico screamed like I had murdered his family. He turned on me with rage, saw the sheepish apology on my face, then without warning, started punching my gut over and over, as if it was some sort of pillow.

Kiara clasped her hands over her mouth. “Oh sweetie,” she whispered.

“Fucking asshole,” Marissa spit at the floor. “Let me guess. He was a fucking Latino macho man before this too?”

I shook my head quickly. “No, he was quiet when he met. He changed after he started med school. I guess he had a lot more stress, and he couldn’t handle it.”

“Don’t make excuses for him,” Kiara demanded. “Did you stay? Tell me you didn’t stay.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t. I coughed a little, and then the pain hit. I started crying and he started crying. He said he didn’t even see me - as if that were better. I remembered the devil look on him though. He could see me alright. I just called my brother and walked out.”

“Yes,” Marissa said, stern and nodding. “Perfect, baby. Perfect.”

“Did you brother do anything to him?” Kiara asked.

“I never told him the truth. He might have killed the boy. There were no bruises visible so I just told him we got in a fight, not that it was physical or one-sided. Later we went back to get my stuff, and Rico didn’t say a god damn word.”

“He didn’t apologize?”

“I blocked all his texts. I didn’t want to give him a chance. I struggled to get where I was and the last thing I needed was a man kicking me down. I wasn’t gonna risk throwing my life away for him.”

The girls beamed in solidarity. They offered up their own stories of abuse. None were so bad as mine, but it made me feel better.

Of course, my story hadn’t had that clean an ending. I’d fallen into a depression, dropped out of school and barely slithered along for a while. But hey life wasn’t over yet, was it? I was here now, at least, and there were worse places to be than in Little 5 with decent company.

“So that’s why you going the opposite way with your new man,” Marissa said, as we sat over our empty plates, mouths sticky with syrup. “I get it.”

“I’m not going anywhere with any man,” I said, even then smiling at the memories. “It’s just a fun little thing.”

“Yeah, whatever you wanna call it baby. You got the nice boy who turned out to be a bad guy. Now you trying out a bad boy who knows how to treat you good.”

My mouth opened, but my brain had no words to occupy it. Was she right? She wasn’t wrong. I had been drawn to him at the first sight of leather and ink. What did it matter? He wasn’t my man, just a friend to fool around with. Hell, friend was really pushing it. Other than sex and a little flirting, all he’d done with me was watch me play piano – maybe not even on purpose.

Careful girl,
his silky voice rolled through my head.
You don’t know me.

“You’re right,” I said. “He’s the opposite of Rico, but what I’ve got with him is the opposite of what I had with Rico too. It’s no relationship. We’re not going anywhere.”

“I’ve tried things like that,” Kiara said. “They never last.”

“They aren’t supposed to.”

“OK, so when do you want to stop seeing him?” She peeked in at me, her light eyes like a laser point on my brain.

“When it’s not working anymore?”

She wagged her head, disappointed. “So it’s over when it’s over? Yeah, expect trouble.”

“Whatever, girl.”

Her words lingered as I lay in bed that night though. Of course he was trouble. I’d seen that the moment he walked in. So why would I be sad to let him go later?

Then again, the thought that came immediately after was the memory of him lying here in the moonlight with me. I remembered the practiced graze of his finger up my damp stomach and the soft warmth of him at my side. It hadn’t felt wrong with the two of us lying there, doing nothing. It didn’t seem like such a bad thing that the memory made me ache for it again.

I eyed my phone. No texts from anyone. I flicked to the most recent call, and hovered over the number, consigning it to memory.

‘New Text to this number?’ my phone suggested on screen.

Expect trouble.

I slammed the phone down and rolled over to sleep.

******

School passed slow as molasses the next day. Even after I hid my phone screen, I had phantom vibrations from it in my purse. There were a couple of girls I was kinda getting cozy with in classes, but at lunch I was too antsy to do more than listen to them talk.

“You waiting for test results or something?” Faith asked finally.

“What test?” I murmured, not quite looking up. “We’re in the same classes.”

She and Aubrey cracked up. “I was gonna say lab results, but now I’m thinking you have no reason to get checked out.”

“Haha,” I said – and then before I could catch myself. “For you information, this
is
about a guy.”

They clustered in, waiting for the gossip, but thankfully, the clock rang noon and we hustled to class.

My school day ended at four, and I’d just sulked out, debating between spaghetti or Campbell’s for dinner, when my purse started to rattle. I yanked out my phone.

It was just Darryl.

“Hey, Meg,” he said, when I picked up. “What’s happening?”

“Nothing special.” It was odd, him checking up on me again so soon. Maybe his surrogate dad-instincts were kicking in.

“You’re still downtown right? Wanna eat before you head back out?”

“Can’t say no to that.” It did solve at least one of my problems.

We met up at the Waffle House right by the MARTA station. Darryl had already found a seat. He still had on clothes from the gym - track pants and a well-worn white tee.

“Phe-ew, you stink,” I said, making a show as I sat down.

“It’s called giving back to the community.”

“The community is not in need of that odor.”

A waitress rushed by and dropped off a coffee and a glass of apple juice for me, my absolute favorite drink. I grinned at him as I sipped it. Truth be told, I shoved the dad label on him as much as he took it. He might be the only family I had, but no girl could ask for anyone better.

“I’m just teasing.” I said. “How are the kids today?”

“They’re good. One piece of advice though, don’t call em no kids if you come visit the gym. That’s the second to last thing that a teenage boy wants to be called.”

“What’s the first?”

“Virgin.”

I rolled my eyes. Darryl taught middle-schoolers only and no thirteen year old needed to get laid that bad. He tried to get to them before the drugs and gangs had their way. The school district paid him some money – effectively deputizing him - once they realized that the kids actually respected him. He was someone the boys wanted to be. His real work happened at night, as an amateur fighter in the Atlanta circles. It was how he’d kept us fed and sheltered after our parents died.

“Classes going better?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m wrapping up my history credits. I don’t know how much of it Emory will accept, but it’ll convince them I’m ready to come back.”

He nodded once. He’d only finished his GED and that was long after he turned 21. He didn’t understand credits or coursework – but he didn’t pretend to either. He just accepted I wouldn’t lie to him, because, well, I would never want to disappoint him. The day I told him I’d flunked out of Emory was almost worse than the one Rico hit me.

The food showed up hot, fresh and greasy. The chit chat stayed light, focused on work and classes and TV. He kept circling back to the bar and asking if anyone was bothering me there. His sixth sense must be tingling hard, but I just denied it. Vaughn was nothing for him to worry about - for now anyways. He was my trouble.

I tried to pay the bill, but Darryl’s massive palm edged mine away like a sheet of paper.

“Once you get that professor money, then you can cover me,” he said.

“That’s a long time away.”

“I’ll be around.”

“You better be.”

We hugged outside, and I watched him walk to the MARTA station. I tried to imagine his reaction to learning about Vaughn. In a way, they weren’t unalike. At least on the surface, both were rough and tattooed. That was something at least they could talk about. Then again, I was sure Vaughn wasn’t helping school kids during the day.

Wait, why was I even thinking about this situation? There was no reason for my brother to get acquainted with my fuckbudy, even as an idle thought. Kiara’s words echoed painfully in my ear. I’d never thought about this stuff while Vaughn was next to me. The lack of him was doing crazy things to my head. I hustled back to my car as if speed would drive other thoughts from my brain.

I had the night off from work, so I drove straight back home. Even with the lights off, our little house was a relief to return to. A night to study – finally. I hustled up the porch and fumbled for my house keys.

“Well, hello there, honey.”

I shrieked and dropped my keys. A shadow rose from the porch bench. It moved towards me tall and lean and all I could do was stand there shaking. Finally it stepped into the moonlight. A sharp white face smiled wickedly at me.

“Vaughn?” I asked, then smacked him with my purse. “Vaughn, what the fuck?”

He took the blow to the shoulder and edged in closer. His voice sank over me like steam in a shower. “Just thought I’d surprise you.”

“Well, mission fucking accomplished.” I tried to hit him again, but he was too close and my hand just smacked against his waist. He trapped it there.

“Glad you didn’t make me wait,” he whispered, harsh in the crisp cool air.

“Why did you wait? How did you even know I’d be coming home?”

“I stopped by the bar and one of your little friends let me know you had time off.”

His eyes had not left mine. I could feel myself twist little knots of pleasure inside. Just that piercing look was enough to make me unhinged. My body remembered what would follow it.

“How about you invite me in?” His hand nestled in the small of my back.

“You didn’t text.” I could barely whisper. “I have stuff to do. I don’t know.”

“Yes you do.”

His fingers edged under my skirt. He leaned in just enough for his sharp nose to graze mine, enough for me to breathe in the hot exhalation from his lungs.

He was right. I’d have to study sometime else.

I got my keys, opened the door, and let him press me inside.