Page 29 of Gypsy's Lady
After Oz
Gypsy
Gypsy stood in the doorway to his darkened bedroom, watching as Kelsey stirred in her sleep, the blankets twisted around her legs. Restless and off-center, she’d been more withdrawn since landing in the US a week ago. Even with his reassurances on the quality of the work that went into crafting her identity, the anxiety she experienced had been palpableas they went through customs. Thank God the agents let them approach the booth together as a married couple. That was how Gypsy had Myron set her up. She was now Kelsey Cherilyn Tatum, wife of Douglas Sonny Tatum, which gave him every chance to keep her close to him. That’s exactly how he wanted it, her close to him.Always.
She didn’t have any idea what a departure this was for him. To Kelsey,the man she called Gypsy had burst into her world fully formed only a few weeks ago. No baggage, no history, no mystery to who he was. He simply was Gypsy to her. She hadn’t asked about his past, and he hadn’t offered. It might seem odd for a woman to be so invested in a man without knowing anything about him, but then Kelsey’s life hadn’t exactly been normal up to this point.
She sighed androlled to her side facing him, and he watched as in her sleep, Kelsey fitted her palms together and tucked them underneath her cheek. She looked like a sleeping angel, hands folded in unconscious prayer, and he allowed his gaze to skate along her cheek, move across her face, taking in every inch of her.
So damned beautiful.
Kelsey lay quietly for a few minutes, then her neck jerked, pullingher headbackwardson the pillow, dark hair shifting to spread across in a veil. One hand, then the other came out, fingers spread wide and then contracting, clutching at the sheets. One of the damn dreams was pursuing her again, and he couldn’t stand to see it. A beauty like her destroyed by a rancid son of a bitch now buried ina prisonback in Oz. “Bastard got off way too fucking easy,” Gypsymuttered, shoving away from the doorframe to walk towards the bed.
Stoke had promised Gypsy it was the worst punishment they could give the man, having made a mute out of him so he couldn’t talk, they’d branded Baxterachild molester. In Oz, as in the US, that was a prison death sentence. He might be dead even now, but his legacy lived on in Kelsey as Gypsy stood and watched her fight demonsin her sleep.
So damned broken.
Easing flat onto the mattress beside her, he reached out a hand and cupped her face, heat from her cheek warming his palm. He gave himself permission to trace along her cheekbone with the tip of his thumb once, then a second time, wanting to wake her as gently as possible. As she had since he helped rescue her, if near him when she woke, she seemed to instinctivelyknow he was there. Even before her eyes opened, her hands had lifted to grip his wrist in her tiny fingers, not able to encircle the diameter of hisarm,but holding on tightly nonetheless. Her eyes popped openandshe stared at him, the corners crinkling in a ghost of a smile. No anxiety marred her features in these moments, just a profound affection. She would be fearless for at least a fewseconds, secure in her gut-deep knowledge he would keep her safe, always. His presence seemed to give her that much peace, at least.
It didn’t last long. The familiar look of fear came onherswiftly, terror pooling tears in the corners of her eyes, a single droplet tracing across the bridge of her nose. Her mouth flattened, lips forming a hard line as she tried to control her emotions.
“Shhhh,”he crooned, pushing up to shove one hand under his head, propping himself on an elbow. “I’m here, Kelsey.”
“I—” Her breath hitched and broke, faltering in and out of her chest in a way that sounded painful. “I-I-I had a—” Her stuttering got the best of herandthe words stopped, her mouth closing as her features twisted in frustration.
“Dream, darlin’. I know. It’s okay.” He stared, mesmerizedas her lashes lifted and he looked into her bottomless blue eyes. “I’m here.”I’m always gonna be here, baby.
“It-it scares me.” She pushed the words out, and he thought he knew what she meant, opening his mouth to reassure her. Then she pulled the rug out from under whatever he’d been about to say, and he couldn’t for the life of him remember a word of what his brain had prepared. “H-how I feelaround you. H-howsa-safe I feel.” She stammered more when she was stressed, a clear barometer of her emotions. Her struggling so much with her words right now told him this conversation mattered. He settled into a slow rhythm of stroking across the apple of her cheek, giving her the steady dependability of his touch to ground her. “I-I wake up, and I’msa-safe. I-I know you’d walk through wallsto getto m-me.” Her voice softened, slipped to a whisper so quiet he had to strain to hear her. “I don’t dream about him or them. Not anymore.”Himmeant Baxter, andthemhad to be his henchmen. Her abusers.
Kelsey paused so long, Gypsy thought she was done talking, but he was stymied by what she’d said.I don’t understand. If she wasn’t dreaming about the bastard who tortured her, then whatscared her? He prompted, “What do you dream of, darlin’?” Fingers to her jaw, he trailed a soft touch across her cheek with his thumb and felt his lips curl into a smile when she nuzzled into his hand, like a kitten seeking comfort. “What gives you nightmares, if it’s not those bastards?”
“I-I…” She trailed off intosilence, then took a breath, seeming to fortify herself with the air fillingher lungs. “I dream you leave.”
“That’s not happening.” His forceful answer was immediate, even as bright pain shattered him, slicing through his chest. He knew why she didn’t believe himyet,because everything in her life had been turned on its head over the past year.
If only her beauty hadn’t gotten her caught up in Baxter’s schemes. She’d spent months in captivity, serving the sadisticwhims of a man who had so little in common with humankind it would have been unbelievable. Week after week of living moment to moment, cast intoan overwhelmingdarkness of the soul, Kelsey had survived in spite of pain delivered daily by a brutal bastard. Gypsy knew while they’d made her go days or weeks without food or physical comfort, she’d also been naked and afraid. Of course, she wouldn’tbelieve her luck had turned. Not yet.
I’ll get her to the place where she believes, he vowed again, probably the thousandth time so far. “I’m here, darlin’. There ain’t no expire date on me bein’ here. I know I told you that I was here as long as you needed me.” Maybe the idea was one of the things keeping the splinter of doubt alive in her head, her thinking those words were him giving himselfan out. Maybefearof him leaving was keeping her from getting better and moving past everything. As long as she needed him, he’d be there. Was she making it so she’d always need him?I ain’t giving up on you, Kels. Time to make his intentions clear. Or clearer. He could leverage her fears and build a rock-steady house for her emotions no amount of huffing and puffing would blow down. “But that’sa patent lie. I’m going to make itsoyou always need me. Always want me around. That way there’s no reason for you to turn me away down the road. I’m here. Plain and simple, honey,I’m here, which is where I want to be. Beside you, every step of the way.”
He turned to his back, looped an arm around her shoulders by shoving it underneath her neck, and pulled her close. As she always did, shecame to him without argument, her bodypliant. But, unlike the previous times where it had been a passive acceptance of him positioning her, this was different. One hand lifted and hesitated before it settled palm-down in the center of his chest, covering his heart. Her other arm stretched between them, working down along his side, and her fingers wrapped around his belt, holding tight. Then herhead hit his chest, cheek to the hollow by his shoulder. This was Kelsey taking ownership of her place at his side.Fuck, yeah.She’s mine, he thought, tucking his chin to place a soft kissonthe top of her head.
Over the next few days, there had been moments where he could see Kelsey had retreated back into herself, away from the world and him, but those came less and less. Gypsy pulled ina relieved breath when he realized Kelsey was folding herself into his life. Even though it came with aneffort, it felt much more precious when he could see what it cost her to make it happen.
And at the end of each day, when he lay next to her and pulled her to his side, she owned her place a little more. So sweet and charming, innocently sensual in every movement, having her heat and formtucked in beside him was a form of sweet torture. He’d gone to sleep more than once with his cock straining at the zipper of his jeans, weeping precome until in the morning his again-hard dick would be stuck to the skin of his hip, glued there by adeniedpassion for her.
Gypsy found his waking thoughts were constantly on her, focused on keeping her safe and sane, and finding ways to give herthe security she so desperately neededtoheal. He decided his case of blue balls could be solved with a quick tug in the morning shower, but Kelsey’s confidence needed more careful handling.
***
Gypsy glanced at the screen and answered the phone quickly, hoping the ringing of his cell hadn’t woken Kelsey. She’d had a restless night, and he wanted her to sleep in as long as she could. “Boss.’Sup, man?”
Jase Spencer laughed in his ear.The businessmanager of the Fort Wayne businesses for the Rebels, he was technically Gypsy’s boss, given his position as manager of the bar, Marie’s, but it wasn’t a title he sought out. “Damn, Gypsy. I called wondering if you got a minute for me. But right now,I thinkI like the sound ofboss. Say it again. Boss. Put some groove on it. Boooossss.”
“Fuck you.” Now Gypsy was the one laughing. “Whatcha need, Captain?”
“I need the inventory counts from last night. I want to coordinate orders for the bar and the club. I’ve got DeeDee’sreports,but didn’t see the ones from Marie’s in my inbox. Do you know if Tequila had anything for me?” The club was a reference to the strip club the bikers owned up on the north side of town. DeeDee, now Jase’soldlady,was still manager of that property. While Marie’s was technically still Gypsy’s responsibility, Tequila had continued to manage the day-to-day processes while Gypsy was getting Kelsey settled.
Gypsy groaned. “Shit. I bet he totally forgot to run an inventory sheet.” The register did most of the work, but running an inventory still meant heading to the back to do a quick count of thestock, just to verify everything was correct. “He’s probably still sleeping, but I could head in and do a quick…fuck. I don’t have anyone to stay with Kelsey.”
