“Shadow, I’m so sorry you’ve spent your whole life fighting,” she whispers.
“It was worth it,” I say, equally as soft. “It brought me to you, right?”
Mika’s eyes widen at my confession, but I don’t back down. I don’t go any further than that; I just let my words sit between us. Hopefully, she gets more comfortable with the fact that I’m never letting her go, and everything I endured up until now doesn’t matter as long as I get to sleep with her in my arms every night.
Jesus, reel it in, buddy, I tell myself.
Mika lets out a yawn and stretches her arms above her head. I open my arm and invite her to lay her head on my chest. My girl gives me the sweetest smile and curls up against me as I cover her up with her blanket once more. “Close your eyes,” I whisper as I grab the book she was reading from the side table.
I open the special edition of Fellowship of the Ring and begin reading out loud. My woman snuggles even deeper against me, a contented sigh falling from her lips as her eyelids flutter closed. Moments later, her soft snores reach my ears. I tighten the blanket around her and continue reading to my precious girl while she sleeps.
5
MIKA
“Wait, Cindy, I have a good reason,” I plead with my manager at the diner. “I missed Friday’s shift because I was… sick.” It’s a lie, but not in the way she’s thinking. I was certainly incapacitated, but it’s not like I’m going to tell this woman I was kidnapped, drugged, and almost trafficked. The ironic thing is, she’d never believe me.
“Yeah? Why didn’t you call? Or try to find a replacement?” The middle-aged woman with a bleached blonde perm and tired brown eyes lets out a heavy breath. I can almost see her taking off her black cat-eye glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I know I messed up, but I need this job.”
“Look, if you had missed one shift, I might have been able to smooth it over with the owner. But did you forget you had a double shift yesterday?”
“Oh. I…” Is today Sunday? When was I at the auction? How long have I been at Shadow’s? Time has been a bit elusive as of late. It’s somehow moving both impossibly fast and sluggishly slow since I was first thrown in the back of Grant’s car.
“Sorry. Three strikes, you’re out. House rule, hon.”
“But–”
“You can pick up your last check in a few days.” With that, my manager of three years hangs up, leaving me unemployed.
I hang up the prepaid cellphone Shadow got for me this morning, along with some clothes from Lynx, one of the MC guys’ girlfriends. I must admit, she has good taste. If I stick around long enough, I’d like to meet her and thank her in person. As it is, I don’t exactly have a plan.
Shadow and I didn’t discuss my spending the night again; it just kind of happened. After our conversation in the library, I fell asleep curled up in his lap. How could I not? Shadow’s warmth, the deep, smooth sound of his voice, and his light touches lulled me into a peace and safety I’ve never experienced before.
He left about an hour ago to run some errands for the club. I still don’t know a ton about Wicked Riders, but if they’re destroying the people who organized the auction, we’re on the same side.
I look around the house, noting the dirty dishes in the sink and the full garbage can. If there’s one thing I’m good for, it’s cleaning. I went through almost a dozen foster parents during my eighteen years in the system, and one thing remained the same: everyone likes a kid who can clean. Okay, maybe “like” is too generous for some of the homes I lived in, but at the very least, I was tolerated.
I get lost in the almost meditative state of cleaning. What started out as dishes and trash turned into wiping down the counters, sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming. The front door opens right as I finish putting the cleaning supplies away. Wow, I must have spent more time cleaning than I realized.
Shadow steps into the living room, his eyes searching for me. I love that he’s just as eager as I am to spend time together. I’m sure he’s just being nice to someone going through a rough time, but a girl can dream about someone like Shadow wanting them for real.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says, smiling at me. God. Swoon. Did he just call me beautiful? Me?
“Hi.” I take a step closer, and then two more, until I’m standing right in front of him. Shadow opens his arms, and I practically leap into them. He laughs, the rich, hearty sound traveling through me.
When Shadow sets me down, he looks around the house with surprise. “Did you clean?”
I nod. “I wanted to show you I can do more than sleep and snoop around in your library,” I tease. Shadow furrows his thick, dark eyebrows, but I press on. “Of course, if I put any dishes in the wrong place or anything, I can reorganize. I used the last of the floor cleaner while scrubbing the guest bathroom, but I’ll replace it when I pick up my last paycheck.”
“Whoa, hey there, slow down,” Shadow says calmly. I didn’t realize how shallow my breath had become in my rambling answer to his simple question of whether I cleaned. One hand cups my face while the other loops around my wrist, bringing my hand to his chest. I spread my fingers out over his heart, letting the steady beating against my palm bring me back to center.
“I just wanted to thank you. I’ve taken up a lot of your time and space lately,” I whisper.
Understanding washes over his features, and he slides his hands down my back, pulling me closer to him. I flatten my palms over his chest for support, and then slowly slide them up to loop around his neck. Shadow rubs his nose up and down mine, making me shiver from his tender touch.
“You don’t have to earn your right to take up space, Mika,” he murmurs before placing a light kiss on the corner of my mouth. “You deserve to be safe, happy, and taken care of, simply because of who you are.” His words sink into the depths of my tattered soul, but I don’t know if I can trust them. I’ve spentmy whole life placating the foster parents in each of the homes growing up. Could it really be that easy to just… be accepted?
