Lucien's War (17 page)

He
glanced at Lucien, watched as the other man stared off into the distance, and
knew that he was about to speak by the way his jaw clenched tightly.

“I
meant it when I said I won’t let her go.” Lucien looked at Kink then. “I’m in
love with her, so fucking gone for Callie that I can’t think straight,
see
straight, and know that no other woman will do it for me
ever again.” Lucien exhaled, looked down at the ground for a few seconds, and
when he looked at Kink again there was this honesty on the man’s face. “I’ve
never loved anyone the way I love her. She makes me see that not everything in
this world has a hard edge and needs to be put in its place. She’s made me see
that I am a better person because of
her
.”
The silence stretched out between them for a few seconds before Lucien started
speaking again. “I know you have to know what I mean, what I feel, because when
I see you look at Cookie, I know that is how I look a Callie. We look at them
as if there is nothing in this world that can bring us down as long as they are
by our sides.”

Lucien
faced forward again, and although Kink didn’t respond, didn’t know what to say,
he knew that Lucien was right.

“I’ll
say it again, because what I did was wrong on every level, and I deserved
everything you gave me. But I want you to understand that what I feel for your
daughter is real. I know you need time to process all of this, to understand it
even, and I can give you that time.” Lucien looked at him again. “I also
understand that you may never be okay with me being with her. But I can’t let
her go, Kink. I won’t let her go, because I am totally, madly fucking in love
with Callie.” They stared at each other for a moment, and then Lucien nodded
once and turned and left to head back into the clubhouse.

Kink
was left standing there alone, deciding whether he wanted to be okay with his
daughter being with Lucien, or say fuck it all and accept what was happening,
and that Callie was growing up and able to make her own decisions. But there
was a part of him, the father
part, that
wanted to
pack up his family, move away, and leave the club and everything else behind
because he wanted to protect her. Of course he could never leave his club,
because this was his life, his world, and his family was rooted here. He
couldn’t just run away from his problems because for the first time in his life
he felt lost and not in control. He looked at the clubhouse, felt the love he
had for those men inside, and knew this was one of the hardest things he’d ever
have to face in his life. This hit close to home, and therefore went straight
to his heart.

****

Three days later

“
Give him some time. I love you, and I swear that
this will work out. It has to work out. I am not letting you go, Callie. If
there was ever anything in this world is worth fighting for it is being with
you. I am here, no matter what, and will never leave you behind no matter
what.”

Callie
listened to the voicemail Lucien had left three days ago. After she had told
her dad about them, found out he had gone to the clubhouse again and attacked
Lucien, and then also found out that day that Lucien had just sat there and
taken it, she knew that all of this had gotten so far into a what-the-fuck
level that she couldn’t even comprehend it anymore. She loved Lucien. God did
she love him. It had been Lucien’s decision to spend a few days apart, to give
her dad some time to get used to the idea of them being together, and come to
understand how important being together really was. She still talked to Lucien
daily, yearned to have him close, to have the scent of him surround her, and
his big body holding her tight. He made her feel safe, protected, and that
wasn’t a feeing she wanted to get rid of.

But
she loved her father as well, and knowing that she had hurt him, done things
behind his back with a man that he was pretty much family with, hurt her on a
totally different level.

She
listened to the message once more, feeling this pang of hurt in her heart at
the sincerity in his voice. She didn’t want to spend time apart, but she sure
as hell wasn’t about to flaunt her relationship with Lucien in front of her
dad. But being away from Lucien was hard.
Really.
And
it wasn’t because they had only had sex that once. They actually spoke to each
other, maybe not deep, intellectual conversations, but things that were
important to them. And Lucien was different with her. She saw how he was with
the other members, how he kept this calm, cool, and hard composure that said he
wouldn’t put up with any shit. But with her he was softer in the way he spoke
to her, gentler in the way he stared at her. He was a definite hard-ass that
others feared, but all she felt from him was love and trust.

Tossing
her phone on the bed, she started putting her clothing in her duffle bag. She
was heading back out tomorrow evening to the university. She had declined
Lucien’s offer to take her when he had asked, not because she didn’t want him
to, but because she was hoping her dad would want to take her so they could
talk about all of this. She had cried more times in the last three days than
she had in her entire life. Although she was an adult, and she knew she had
every right to be with the man she loved, she had also done something that was
reprehensible in the MC community.

But
she refused to let go of Lucien, and she knew he would not let her leave him
either. She felt, for the first time in her life, that she had found the person
she was meant to be with. Who cared if she was so much younger than he was? Who
cared if for the last three months they had been going through this tug and
pull with each other? There was no doubt in her mind that people had talked
about the fact she was young and impressionable, even naive a little. Hell, her
dad had even said that Lucien had taken advantage of her. Of course that was a
load of shit, and she knew that he was aware of that fact, too. She was a
no-nonsense girl, and certainly didn’t let other people tell her what she
wanted or didn’t want.
 

Callie
knew what she wanted in her life, and for her future. And that was being happy
with Lucien, and having her family
be
okay with it.

She
turned and grabbed a small stack of jeans, and put them in her bag. Her dad and
Cookie were downstairs, and although the nonexistent conversations she had with
Kink were to be expected, she wished that he’d understand her side, too.
Sighing in an almost defeated tone, she looked around her room. There were a
few boxes left that held her things, and a couple downstairs that were ready to
be packed in the SUV. She obviously wouldn’t take anything that wasn’t of importance,
because she’d be sharing a dorm room with Meredith.

“You
nearly packed?” Her dad’s voice came from behind her, and her heart instantly
started pounding.

She
turned around to see him standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame
with his arms crossed, and looking around her room. He wore a pair of jeans and
a plain t-shirt, and his feet were bare. Even when he was looking so casual,
she knew the real man Kink Roberts
was,
the biker that
was dangerous and intimidating, and stuck to his guns when he was being
pressured. But when he stared at her there was just a man that was looking at
his daughter, trying to get past the last three days of revelations, pain, and
anger.

Clearing
her throat, she nodded. This was the most he had said to her since he had
stormed out of the kitchen and gone back to fight Lucien. “Yeah, last bag.” She
pointed to the duffle bag on her bed.

He
nodded and pushed away from the frame. Kink walked into the room, and then sat
on the edge of her bed. After he pushed her bag away, he patted the mattress,
gesturing for her to sit beside him. She stared at him for a moment, took in
his short black hair that was styled in a faux hawk, looked into his bright
blue eyes that were the same color as hers, and knew that this man’s opinion
meant so much to her. Callie sat beside him and shifted her body so she was
facing him. For a second he just stared around her room again, taking
everything in apparently, or maybe he was gathering his thoughts, and then
looked at her.

“You
love him.” He stated it without any hatred, anger, or malice in his voice.

Callie
nodded. “I do, Dad.”

He
glanced down at his hands in his lap. “You understand why I got so angry?”

“Yeah,
I do, but we really didn’t mean to hurt or betray anyone intentionally.”

He
nodded again. “Yeah, I understand that, baby girl, and I didn’t mean to blow
the fuck up in front of you and Cookie, but I just kind of snapped.”

“I
know, but I wish you wouldn’t have gone after Lucien the way you did.” When she
noticed how hard his jaw went she regretted saying his name. “But can you
understand where I’m coming from?”

He
didn’t respond for several seconds, and then he nodded, grabbed her hand, and
gave it a squeeze. “Yeah, baby girl, I know where you’re coming from, and
although it’ll be hard for me to accept that my little girl is a woman now, and
can make her own decisions, I know you have a good head on your shoulders.” He
lifted his hand and brushed a stray piece of hair from her forehead. “But
you’re smart, tough, and don’t take shit from anyone.” He leaned in and kissed
her on the forehead. “I love you, sweetheart, and I want you to be happy. If
being with Lucien means that you smile, and that you never have a sad day, then
who am I to stand in the way of that?” He smiled down at her. “I also know that
if there was a man that I wanted you to be with, that would protect you as
fiercely as I would, that man would be Lucien.” He glanced down at his feet. “I
know that he loves you, too. I could see it in the way he looked at you, talked
about you, and wouldn’t fight me back. It’s hard for me to come to terms with
that, sweetheart.” He looked at her again. “It’s hard for me not to see the
little girl with the black ponytails, smiling up at me with a missing front
tooth, and those big beautiful blue eyes, and calling out my name because you
wanted to go faster on the swings.”

She
leaned into him, and he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her
shoulders. “I’ll always be your little girl, Daddy.” She tightened her hold on
his waist. “But I’m grown up now, and know what I want in life. I know I want
to get my business degree, and to be with the club afterwards.” She felt him
nod. “But I need you to be okay with it, because you are my world, and I can’t
stand the idea that you’re mad at me.”

“Oh,
baby girl.” He pulled her back and cupped her cheeks. “I’m not mad at you. I
could never be angry with you. I just worry.”

She
smiled. “You don’t have to worry so much.”

He
nodded and pulled her in for a hug again. “I am realizing that, sweetheart.”
They stayed silent for a moment, just holding each other, and she had missed
this with her father. “Just don’t put up with any shit from him.”

She
started chuckling. He was accepting this, or at least trying to, and that was a
start. That was all she could ask for.

****

“You’re
doing the right thing, Kink,” Cookie said from behind him. He stood at the
kitchen widow, and watched the taillights of Callie’s car disappear down the
street.

“I
hope you’re right.” He hated that his little girl wasn’t little anymore. She
might only be eighteen, but she was an adult, a young woman that knew what she
wanted in life, and didn’t take shit from anyone. Yes, it was really damn hard
to think that his daughter was with the President of his MC, but since finding
out he had done a lot of thinking. He had beaten the shit out of Lucien, torn
up the man that had been his family for longer than he could even remember.

“All
I can think about is Callie as a child and Lucien as this dirty old fucking man
that took advantage of my little girl.”

“You
know that’s not right,” Cookie said, and he turned around and stared at her.
“If that’s the case then you’re a dirty old man, too.” She grinned and walked
up to him. He hugged her, wrapped his arms around her body, pulled her close,
and kept her there.

“I
know that’s not the case, but that was my first thought and reaction. Now that
I’ve thought about it these last few days, realized that Callie has her own
life to lead, and that Lucien will take care of her with his life, I know that
I can’t stop this.”

Cookie
tilted her head back and stared at him. “I don’t know about the brotherhood
code of loyalty, or anything like that, but what I do know that if there was
one man on this world that you trusted to treat your daughter with respect, and
protect her with his life,
who
would it be?”

He
didn’t even need to think about it, didn’t need to picture his daughter with
anyone else. “Lucien. I would want her to be with a man like Lucien.”

Cookie
nodded and leaned into him again. “Age is just a number, but family is family,
and love is love, Kink. Aside from you, there isn’t a man on this planet that
will care, protect, or lay his life down for a woman like Lucien will for
Callie.”

She
was right, she was always right, and he knew that he needed to let Callie live
her life the way she wanted to.