Shattered & Scarred: The Sacred Hearts MC (6 page)

“You awake?” he asked softly voice husky.

“
Mmm.” Was all I could put out, I was awake but not enough to for coherent sentences.

“
Okay Babe.” He kissed my forehead, a soft brush of lips against my skin and I felt like it swept down my whole body. Like I lit up with a luminescence from the inside out. I drew in a long breath and let it out slowly and with my cheek resting against the swell of his chest, I fell into a much more fitful sleep. I woke again midmorning but Ethan was gone. A note was tucked into the corner of the television screen that read ‘Ashton’ on the front in flowing script. I blinked and plucked it down, opening it to read it.

Hey Sunshine,

Glad you’re up. You smell like orange blossoms and I fucking love it.
I smiled and continued to read.

Reaver
, Doc and Dragon filled me in when I got back last night. You don’t have anything to worry about. I’m here, he’s not. I’m out looking for a place and then I’m heading to work. Maybe you’ll be awake when I get back tonight, maybe you won’t, either way I’m glad you’re in my bed.

Relax.

You’re safe.

-Ethan.

The bottom of the note had an intricately drawn rose and stem that was so lifelike it took my breath away. I felt a stab of guilt for not having any breakfast ready for him before he went out. I got up and got ready for the day.

Showered and dressed I headed into the common area.
Dragon sat at the bar smoking a cigarette and I ghosted up beside him.

“Can I fix you some breakfast sir?” I asked and he jerked back as if I’d slapped him.

“You scared the shit out of me!” he said.

“I’m sorry.” I dropped my eyes to the floor and blushed.

“Don’t be, just make some fucking noise next time.” He put a hand over his heart and I bit my lip.

“What’s your story?” he asked.

“I’d better make some coffee.” I huffed and went into the kitchen. He leaned over so he could watch me.

“You
ain’t gotta tell me. Best you tell Trigger first, he’s the one that found you.” He settled himself again.

“
I did, the night of the party… Breakfast?” I asked.

“Got any eggs?” he asked.

“Of course.” I murmured, “How would you like them prepared?”

“Over
easy.” He grunted. I moved about the kitchen, I was growing comfortable in it. If anything, with Ethan gone, it was becoming my safe place. I knew what I was about in the kitchen. I could make my own decisions for the most part. Chadwick had only once gotten me about something I’d done wrong in the kitchen and I really hadn’t… he had been in a bad mood.

I had slaved preparing a beautiful
, no,
flawless
braised pork roast and had served it to him with pride. He’d demanded to know what it was that I had thought I was doing. Said he’d specifically requested the dish Chicken and Forty Cloves for that night and when I had disagreed, when I had tried to stand up for myself… Well I had to be corrected.

Hands gripped mine gently and I looked up into sorrowful dark eyes. I blinked, and the imposing mountain of a man thumbed a tear from my cheek.

“I can’t eat six eggs Chica.” He said gently. I looked down into the pan and burst into sobs, tears falling like rain.

“You got a lot going on in that head of yours yeah?” he asked
when I’d calmed down. I nodded.

“Want me to call Trigger?” I shook my head violently. I didn’t want him to have to come running back every time I had a little melt down.

“That’s the second time you’ve said no to that, wanna tell me why?” I sniffed and turned back to the stove.

“Scrambled is fine, not answering my question isn’t.” my shoulders slumped.

“He can’t save me all the time…” I murmured, “I have to learn to save myself too.” I was startled by a boom of laughter.

“Sorry, just you and Trig are
gonna make a pair.” He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Girl, you’re three days out of Hell and you’re acting like you should be just fine. Shit like that takes time. Trig was the same way when he came back from Afghanistan took him a few years to get back to any kind of normal. Helped me turn this club around.” He crossed his arms and it didn’t look completely right with how massive his arms were. I plated half the eggs and set about making some toast.

“I don’t know much about him.” I confessed.

“Give that a little time too.” He said. I plated his toast and went and got him butter and jam out of the fridge.

He sat at a table and I joined him with the rest of the eggs and some toast of my own. We ate in relative silence.

“What were you planning on doing today?” he asked.

“Laundry…” I answered softly.

“I’ll show you where the machines are at.” He said.

“Thank you.” I murmured.

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes and followed Dragon on a tour of the clubhouse, specifically where the laundry machines were, which was outside, out back on a covered porch. He left me back at Ethan’s room after showing me where he could be found should I need anything.

It was quickly made apparent to me that Dray was nothing like his father, which was a shame. I liked the older man. He was more like Ethan, having much the same vibe. I checked Ethan’s pockets and washed his clothes along with the few things I’d worn so far. I cracked one of Chandra’s romance novels while the clothes washed and was decently engrossed in it when I switched them over to the dryer.

I folded and put everything away and watched Les Mis all the way through from the beginning. I got up after that and went into the kitchen and prepared a meal, then went in search of Dragon. I knocked softly at the edge of his open door. He looked up from a book of his own and said,

“What’s up
Chica?”  I chewed my bottom lip.

“I would like to take Ethan some dinner. He didn’t come back and I think it’s safe to assume he’s at work.” I said.

“Yeah he should be.” He looked me over.

“Dress as warm as you can. Meet me out front.” He said and heaved himself up.

I was already in jeans and my sneakers I went and grabbed a sweater from the closet and then snatched one of Ethan’s hooded sweatshirts down. If Dragon said to dress warm I felt a motorcycle ride in my future.

I pulled it on and went out front. Dragon looked me over.

“It’ll have to do.” He said looking me over. I picked up the plastic grocery bag with Ethan’s dinner in it off the bar and looped my wrist through it.

“Come on.” We went outside and
he put a helmet on my head fastening the chinstrap all the while giving me instructions on what he expected out of a passenger.

I listened gravely to what he was saying.

“Last, but most importantly.” He said, putting a finger in my face and I listened, rapt. “Enjoy the ride Baby.” and I smiled. He grinned and got on. I got up on my own with a little trepidation and held on for dear life as he started the machine. I felt the vibrations in my tailbone go all the way up my spine and he stuffed my hands in his pockets.

“Since you don’t have gloves, keep ‘
em there!” he shouted. I nodded and we lurched forward. I bit down on a yip of surprise and tried not to stiffen up and to go with the flow.

My heart pounded the whole thirty minutes to where Ethan worked and I realized I had no idea what he did.
I was surprised when we pulled up outside a tattoo shop. Though after the artwork on his note that morning, I really shouldn’t have been. I just imagined him doing something more labor intensive I guess.

Shame on me for stereo typing.

Trig…

I laid some blue ink into the piece I was working on when I heard the door open. Chris, my counter man, didn’t say a word.
God damned lazy fuck. I shook my head and continued working. I caught sight of movement out of the corner of my eye in the entry way to my station and looked up. I pulled the gun away from my customer and killed the power by stepping off the pedal.

“Hey.” I said startled.

“Hi.” She said softly. She was wearing her jeans and sneakers but was wearing one of my sweatshirts.

“We cool for a break Donnie?” I asked my customer.

“Fuck yeah I need a smoke.” Donnie pushed up and staggered toward the front. I stripped off my latex gloves with a snap and tossed them.

“What’re you
doin’ here Babe? Everything all right?” I asked.

She nodded and held out a plastic grocery bag tied at the top.

“I made you dinner.” She said gently.

I blinked.

“You brought me dinner?” I asked. She nodded, eyes wide.

“Lasagna.” She murmured and looked like she was about to panic.

I stood up and she flinched and I probably should have been gentler but I pulled her into a hug.

“Thanks.” I whispered gruffly against her hair and breathed deep her orange blossom scent. Her small arms went around my waist after a moment and hugged me back. I smiled and let her go, taking the bag from her.

“How did you get here?” I asked.

“Sh
e asked me, Brother.” I looked up. Dragon stood, arms crossed in that ungainly way of his and I raised an eyebrow.

Ashton was blushing a delectable light pink and I smiled and before I realized what I was doing I asked her,

“You wanna stay?” her beautiful sad face broke into one of those rare but brilliant smiles and she nodded.

“You mind?” I asked Dragon.

“Naw man. I’ll see you two back at the club house, give me a chance to stop by Sugar’s.” He grinned. Sugar’s was the local tittie bar but Ashton didn’t need to know that. I nodded.

“I’ll leave her helme
t on the counter, you have fun Chica.” He winked at her and she gave him a smile and waved.

“There’s lasagna in the kitchen back at the house. It’s in the foil wrapped pan on the counter.” She murmured at him. He grinned.

“Thanks Baby Doll.” He said and turned around, I heard him whistling as he went out the door.  I put the food in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet.

“Why don’t you go on and have a seat up there.” I pointed to the dentist chair, raised and laid flat against one wall. I had Donnie sitting in the massage chair.

“What made you come all the way out here to bring me dinner?” I asked when she was settled. She hugged her knees and a ghost of a smile flickered across her mouth.

“I think I missed you.” She said and that made me smile.

“I been meaning to ask you…” I searched her face, I had her attention; her expression was rapt.

“Isn’t there anyone I can call for you? Your folks or a brother or sister?” I almost regretted asking, grief clouded her expression for a moment and she hugged her knees.

“Folks are gone, I was an only child… I grew up in foster care from the time I was eleven.” She answered. Her eyes were affixed on her knees and she picked at one of the drawstrings for the hood of my sweatshirt.

“What happened?” I asked her.

“My mom got cancer, my dad skipped town… Too much I guess.” She shrugged one shoulder.

“You said you met your douche bag ex in college.” I said. “Don’t know many foster kids that go to college.” I commented. I snapped on another pair of gloves and started cleaning up my area some.

“Full academic scholarship.” She smiled triumphantly.

“You stay in touch with your foster parents?” I asked. Mostly to get the measure of how they’d treated her.

“At first. The Tuckers were really good to me. They had two boys but Mrs. Tucker had a lot of love to give and really wanted a girl around and so they took me in.” she was smiling faintly.

“She taught me how to cook.” She said.

“A damn fine job she did too.” I smiled at her and she lit right the fuck up like a thousand watt bulb under the praise and the sight was enough to thaw out a part of me I thought was long cold and dead.

Donnie returned and sat back down, eyes closed.

“Who’s the chick?” he asked.

“I’m Ashton.” She murmured and he cracked open one eyelid. I could tell it had cost her to speak up but she’d done it anyways, she was a fighter this one, in her own way.

“Donnie.” He grunted and I started back in on his shoulder.

“Pleased to meet you Donnie.” She could barely be heard over the buzz of my gun. Quiet as a damned mouse this one. If her eyes hadn’t already done me in with their burnished gold hue she pr
obably would have been tagged ‘Mouse’ rather than ‘Sunshine’ in my brain.

She stared transfixed at what I was doing.  Golden gaze locked, as I pretty mercilessly ground some blue ink around the image on Donnie’s shoulder. He was into MMA fighting and had requested an arctic fox on the swell of his left shoulder. The blue was going around the fox to bring it out more. Donnie Fox was his fighting name, hence the tattoo.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” she asked when I paused to reload on ink.

“What do you think P
rincess?” Donnie grunted and I wiped the area a little harder than was necessary. He cracked an eyelid in my direction. I shook my head and gave him a warning look. He frowned.

“I’ve never been in a place like this before.” Ashton murmured and looked around. Donnie and I both looked at her. Come to think of it, I’d seen her pretty much naked and she didn’t have any ink.

“How old are you anyways?” Donnie asked.

“Thirty.” Ashton murmured.

Donnie snorted. “Bull shit!”

Come to think of it, Chris had let her right on back here,
I
would have checked her ID and made sure she was eighteen… Fuck that lazy fucking fuck! Of course Dragon had been with her, so that would have pretty much put a stop to any questions. Chris knew better than to question the big man. Dragon my not be as tall but the fucker was built like a brick shit house and Chris, for a stoner, was a twig by comparison. Ripe for the snapping.

“Last December.” She affirmed. Donnie looked at her, and I mean really looked at her this time.

“What happened to your face?” he asked. Eyes narrowed. Ashton averted her eyes, staring up at a piece of stencil artwork I had framed up on the wall, the mat had several holes cut for photos of the piece alongside it, show casing four of the stages. Before, stencil, line and shading art and finally the finished colored piece.

I watched Ashton and wondered if she was going to answer.

“My ex-husband happened.” She said simply and I was proud of her. She’d said ex. Not ‘my husband happened’ but ‘my
ex
-husband.’ I wanted to cheer.

“You tune him up yet?” Donnie asked me.

“Naw.” I said and went back to work on him.

“Call me you want a hand.” He said. Ashton looked a mixture of awed and horrified but remained silent. Her golden eyes were haunted and I sighed. She was still afraid but hopefully given enough time that would fade.

I finished Donnie up, slathered his tat and bandaged it.

“Two hours, take off the bandage. If it’s stuck, soak it in water. If you shower, avoid getting it directly into the spray for a while. Keep it moist, make an appointment in three weeks for any touch ups.” I said.

“Thanks man.” Donnie got up and we clasped hands. He pulled me into a man hug and slapped my back.

“See you around, pay Chris on your way out.” I said.

“Will do.” He picked up his hat and put it on backwards over his closely shaved head.

I cleaned up quietly while Ashton looked on.

“Uhm dude, I think your counterman is passed out.” I looked up, Donnie was standing at the entry way to my space and he didn’t look happy. I scowled and got up, stripping off my gloves. I cursed, low and heated and saw Ashton flinch out of the corner of my eye. I put a lid on my growing anger fast and stalked out front.

Sure enough Chris was leaned back as far as his chair would go, eyes closed, mouth open, drooling on himself. I kicked his converse all-stars out from under him and he crashed backwards.

“What the fuck man!” he spluttered.

“What the fuc
k is right douche bag!” I growled at him, “I’m tryin’ to run a fuckin’ business here!”

“Dude, chill out. It’s not that serious bro.” he picked himself and the chair off the floor. Ashton ghosted up along the wall, I caught her out of the corner of my eye. I resisted the urge to beat the fuck out of the little prick.

“Dude, you’re fucking fired.” I grated. “Get your shit and get the fuck out.” I crossed my arms and glowered.

“Seriously!?” Chris laughed, the fucker actually laughed.

“I would do what he says.” Ashton said gently. “I know that look.” I grimaced inwardly.

Chris looked at her, probably for the first time that night and he backed down immediately.

“Sure, yeah, what the fuck ever man.” He got his coat and slammed out the front door. Donnie looked at Ashton like she’d done an interesting trick. She was blushing.

“What?” I asked.

“Dude, she’s smart.” Donnie said with respect.

“I know that but I’m missing something here.” I frowned.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t very nice of me to do after all you’ve done for me.” Ashton looked stricken.

“What’d you do?” I asked.

“She let dimwit think you did that to her face.” Donnie grimaced.

I blinked with surprise and rewound the entire exchange in my brain. I started laughing.

“Yeah, he obviously doesn’t know me very well. C’mere Sweetheart.” I crooked a finger in her direction and she pushed off the wall.

I sat her down in the vacant office chair.

“How you paying man?” I asked.

“Plastic.” Donnie handed me his debit card.

“Okay, this is how you do this…” I showed her how to run the credit card and how to do all the paperwork involved, at least the bare bones of it.

She quailed at first but picked it up pretty quickly. Donnie left and I smiled at
her. This might work actually. I’d have to put some more thought into it.

“Come on S
unshine. I’m starving.” I went back to my station and showed her where the break room was. She sat with me and I shared my food with her. The woman could cook.

“Are you the only one who works here?” she asked.

“Naw. The rest of the guys are doing a show at the convention center this week. I own half of this pace with a buddy of mine.” Her eyes widened.

“Oh.” She took another small bite of her food.

“Found an apartment today.” I said and she looked up sharply, I was graced with two smiles in one night.

“Where at?” she asked.

“Not far from the clubhouse or the shop so it’s pretty ideal.” I said.

“It’s a two bedroom so you’ll have a room of your own.”
She leaned back in her seat and I tilted my head, looking at her.

“What’s the matter B
abe?” I asked.

“I really don’t have the words to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
She murmured.

“Just live.” I told her. She cocked her head and looked at me curiously.

“Get away from him, get a divorce, just live a life.” I put my hand on the small table between us. She looked at it plaintively.

“I’m scared. I’m his property, he’s not going to let me go without some kind of fight
and he’s cold, calculating, he doesn’t fight fair.” Her voice was toneless, desolate and saturated with too much of her ugly reality for my tastes.

“T
hen we fight, and we fight dirtier.” I said. Her hand crept up over the edge of the table and she put it within touching distance of my own.

“I’m not very good at fighting.” She said, shifting in her seat.

“I think you’re better at it than you realize.” I said, thinking back on what she’d told me… full ride scholarships as a foster kid weren’t easy to come by. Living under her monster ex’s roof for over eight years as his punching bag wasn’t a walk in the park either.

I went the last bit of distance and covered her hand with my own.

“You got people in your corner now Babe. Think about it.” I gave her hand a squeeze and heard the door chime out front. I got up and left her in the break room. It was my next customer. Some chick wanting a butterfly on her hip. I told her to come on back and asked Ashton to watch the front. She slipped into the desk chair Chris had been in not an hour before and I took my client and her guy back to my work space.

Ashton rang them up like a pro after having only been shown how to do it once and when they left she turned to me, golden gaze far too serious.