Page 12 of Spider
One moment, I’d been in Spider’s lap, still rattled but not as nervous as I’d been before I’d interrupted his meeting.The next thing I remembered was a man reaching for me, making a suggestion I sleep with him, a man who looked like one of my tormentors, and then… nothing.Not until now.I slowly blinked and looked up at Spider.The water from the showerhead beat down on my back, and his arms were wrapped around me.My naked body was pressed against his, but I saw only concern in his gaze and not lust.
“What happened?”I asked.
“You zoned out.I think when my VP opened his big mouth, you freaked or had some sort of episode.I’d be willing to bet you have PTSD.”
“And you thought a hot shower would help?”I asked, gazing up at him in curiosity.
“I was trying to think outside the box.Holding you and trying to talk you through it didn’t seem to be helping,” Spider said.
I rested my forehead against his chest, then sucked in a deep breath.“Violeta.”
“She’s with Rocket, and she’s fine.What happened, Luciana?What scared you enough that you came to find me?”
“A man came in.We didn’t recognize him.Young.Almost too pretty.He stopped and stared, wouldn’t take his eyes off us, and Violeta got scared.I was a little worried too.”
“Did he have a Prospect patch on his cut?”Spider asked.
“Cut?”
He chuckled a little.“Violeta was confused by that one too.The black vest with all the patches.It’s called a cut.”
I thought about it a moment.“Yes.It said Prospect.”
“Young like you, or younger than you?”he asked.
“I think younger than me.Not the same one that brought us here, though.He was different.”
Spider nodded.“Teller.He was probably as scared of you as you were of him.Kid has a traumatic past, but he’s got a good soul.Raised in the system until he went to juvie.I found him on the streets and brought him here.”
“System?”I asked, not understanding what he meant.
“When a kid in this country doesn’t have parents or a legal guardian, they’re placed in something called foster care and passed around to people who get paid to take care of them.In Teller’s case, they didn’t do such a great job.Hurt him pretty bad.He got caught stealing cars and went to juvie, which is jail for someone underage,” Spider explained.“No one ever gave him a fair shot.I decided to change that.He’s been here for a little over a year.Dropped out of high school and we helped him disappear until he was too old for the state to shove him back into another home.”
I looked up at what I figured had to be kindest man I’d ever met.He thought he was bad, but he wasn’t.Even if he did break the law, it didn’t make him evil, not like my father and the other men I’d known.Spider was a caretaker, even if he didn’t realize it.A protector.I’d even go so far as to call him a hero, though I had no doubt he’d scoff and say he was no such thing.But to me, and likely to Teller, that’s what he was.
“You’re a good man, Spider.”
“Call me Trent.At least when the club isn’t around.If it’s just you and me, you don’t have to use the name Spider.”
“Trent?”It didn’t seem to quite fit him, but if he wanted me to use his given name, then I would.
“Trent Storme.”He smiled a little.“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Luciana Gomez.”
I dropped my gaze, hating that name.I didn’t want a single tie to my father.Spider lifted my chin and gazed down at me with worry in his eyes.
“What did I say?”he asked.
“It’s nothing.”
His lips twitched like he was fighting back a smile.“Honey, I’ve been around long enough to know that when a woman says ‘it’s nothing,’ then it’s definitely something.I’m old.Not dumb.”
I snorted.“You’re not old.And it’s just that I hate my name.”
“Luciana?”
“I guess my first name is fine.But I don’t like being a Gomez.I don’t want a tie to my father.It’s bad enough I’m of his blood, but sharing his name seems wrong.I would completely erase him from my life if I were able.”
Spider held me, but didn’t say anything for a while.The water started to cool and he shut it off, then wrapped me in a fluffy towel.He used brisk strokes to dry me, then gave me a nudge out of the room while he dried himself.I looked around, realizing for the first time that I’d been in his bathroom.My surroundings hadn’t really been in focus until now.The episode I’d had must have been worse than I’d thought.
