“There’s more, Pop. It’s the reason why I haven’t called before now to tell you about her.”
“Go on,” he urged.
So I told him everything I knew at that point. Everything except where she was. We were talking on a secured line, but I still wasn’t risking her location being discovered. “This leads to the other reason I called. What do you know about that dairy farm? Anything that might help me find out what is going on there and put a stop to it?”
Pop sighed, “Phoenix, you better take a big swallow of whiskey and sit down. Now it’s my turn to tell you a story.” Oh shit.
I did as he said and braced myself for whatever he was about to tell me.
CHAPTER 20
Ember
We had been at the cabin for a week and, surprisingly, it had been a very busy week. Each day we went over the various plans in place, practiced target shooting with various guns, and walked the grounds. That was my favorite time of the day, walking hand in hand with Dash through the mountain forest surrounding the cabin. Sometimes we would silently enjoy each other’s company, but most of the time we shared stories from our pasts and things about ourselves.
After just one week, I felt like I knew so much more about Dash, like his real name. Reed Lawson was 27 years old. He grew up in Devil Springs. Like most of the other Blackwings members, he joined the military after high school. He didn’t stay in as long as some of the others did, but he was deployed twice before coming back to Devil Springs. Once home, he planned to prospect for Blackwings, but Phoenix had moved the club to Croftridge. He happily moved, too, leaving his mother and younger sister behind in Devil Springs. He didn’t say as much, but I got the feeling that he didn’t have a good relationship with either one of them.
After our walks and talks, I would make dinner for all of us while Dash, Jamie, and Pete checked weapons and secured the cabin for the night. After dinner, we would climb into bed together and fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. This was usually preceded by a lot of kissing and roaming hands. Well, Dash’s hands roamed. He would hardly let me touch him. We hadn’t done much more than what we did in the canoe. He had touched me down there, but not on the inside. He would just rub my clit in circles until he made me have an orgasm. Then, he would get up and take a shower. I knew what he was doing in the shower, because I watched him one night. It made me want him to play with my clit all over again. I didn’t know if he was waiting for my stitches to come out before he went any further or if he thought I wasn’t ready yet. Either way, it didn’t matter. I got Jamie to help me take my stitches out on our sixth night at the cabin while Dash was in the shower. I had no stitches and I was ready for the next step. Really ready. I just didn’t know how to tell him.
I stretched and looked over to Dash. He was softly snoring beside me. I took a minute to just look at him. He really was a handsome man, but looking at him in that moment, seeing how peaceful he looked while sleeping, made me realize how much tension he had been carrying around with him every day. I gently ran my hand down the side of his face and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead.
I got out of bed and made my way downstairs to make breakfast for everyone. I was doing it at the clubhouse, so I continued to make meals for the guys that were here. I had discovered wireless headphones and an amazing stereo the first day we were at the cabin. I used them every morning while cooking breakfast. Sometimes for the other meals, too, if the guys were outside, but I left them off if they were inside so we could easily talk.
I had gotten to know the prospects better, too, or one of them anyway. Jamie was the same age as me and very friendly. He liked to joke around and keep things upbeat. He had also attended Croftridge High and, surprisingly, went to prom with none other than Reese Walker.
Pete was probably a little older than me, but I wouldn’t know because he didn’t talk much. He kept to himself most of the time and never smiled. I got the feeling he didn’t like being at the cabin very much. I also got the feeling that he didn’t like me, but I couldn’t really say why. He hadn’t said or done anything to me; it was just the way he looked at me sometimes. I figured I was probably just being paranoid. If he was really acting strange, Dash or Jamie would have noticed it. It was hard to maintain your sanity when you didn’t know what was going on back home other than someone was out to get you while you were hidden away in the mountains.
I grabbed my trusty headphones, cranked up the volume, hit play, and got to work. I was dancing around the kitchen while cooking, like I did every morning. Every other morning, I finished making the food and had time to go back upstairs and change clothes before anyone else woke up. That morning was different. I was standing at the stove, shaking my butt and finishing the last of the eggs when I was grabbed from behind. My muscles moved from memory, no input from my brain required. I threw my left elbow back until it made contact, leaned right, and swung my right fist until I hit what felt like a cheek. My attacker hit the ground with a thud. I quickly grabbed the large knife I was using to chop vegetables.
In the fray, the headphones must have been knocked off my ears because I heard Jamie yelling, “Ember? What the fuck? Dash?”
Dash? Huh? I looked down. Oh, crappity crap. Dash was on the ground looking every bit like a pit viper ready to strike.
I dropped the knife on the counter and took a step back. “Dash, I’m so sorry. I didn’t hear you come up behind me and it scared me.” I looked up to see Jamie holding a gun pointed at Dash, but looking back and forth between the two of us. Prospect Pete also had his gun drawn, but it was pointed at me, yet again!
Jamie looked unsure of what to do. “Dash?”
“Put the guns down. Both of you and turn the fuck around,” Dash barked.
Both prospects turned and put their guns away. Dash quickly jumped to his feet. He was spitting mad. “Ember,” he growled, “upstairs, now.”
“L-let me just take the eggs off the…” I started.
He cut me off repeating the same order, “Now! The prospects can take care of the eggs. Upstairs! Go!”
I had never seen him so mad. I really wasn’t sure what I had done, so to prevent matters from getting worse, I did as he said and scurried upstairs to our bedroom. My hopes for a brief reprieve to gather my thoughts were dashed when he came through the bedroom door right behind me.
I turned to face him. “Why are you so mad at me? I’m sorry I hit you. I really didn’t know it was you.”
Through gritted teeth, he said, “I’m not mad about that.” Before I could ask what he was mad about he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the bathroom. He flipped the bathroom light on and pointed toward the mirror. That was when I saw it.
I gasped and covered my face with both of my hands. “I had no idea. I’m so embarrassed.”
“You may not have known about the shirt, but you should have had some ‘idea’ about the shorts.” He made little quotation marks with his hands.
I shook my head. “I really didn’t. See.” I proceeded to unroll the waistband of my shorts, which lengthened them several inches. “I’ve never worn these before and they were too big. They kept sliding down my hips, so I rolled the waistband to make them stay up until I finished cooking. I was going to come back up and change as soon as I was done.”
He was still breathing a little heavy and his face was still red. “Stay here.” Then he turned and left. I heard him descend the stairs. There I was, standing in the bathroom because he told me to, just like the obedient women from the farm. Just do as you’re told and don’t worry about the reasoning behind it. Only, this time, it felt different. I didn’t mean to upset him with my see-through top and my indecently short shorts, but I had. I didn’t want to upset him any further. Not because I was afraid of him, I wasn’t, but because I wanted to please him by doing what he asked. Was that normal? At that very moment, I realized that I didn’t care if it was considered normal or not. It felt right to me and that’s what I was going to do.
