Page 17 of Chains
“Nothing,” he said, but then added, “They care about you.Already.”
“I care about them too.”I smiled back at him before returning to my piping, adding little frosting cobwebs to the cupcakes.“I’ve never really had a family like this before.People who just, I don’t know, accept.Everyone.The way they are.”
“We’re all different, baby.We spent enough time in prison being forced away from our differences.You stick to your own kind in there if you want to survive.In here?”He shrugged.“All that matters is loyalty to each other.We’re a family.All of us, Ellie.With me or not, our family includes you now.And our differences make us stronger.”Chains reached out, brushing flour from my cheek with his thumb in a gesture so tender it made my breath catch.“Your difference is the joy you bring to all of us.Right along with all our women.You belong here, Ellie.”
Family.It could feel like this.It could feel like home.Maybe it already did.
The last batch of spider cookies came out of the oven just as the afternoon sun hit that perfect golden hour.Chains suggested we take a break outside, and I gratefully followed him through the compound’s camo-netting-covered pathways to a small garden tucked between two warehouses.The space was unexpectedly beautiful, with wrought-iron benches nestled among rust-colored mums and carved gourds.Fallen leaves crunched beneath our boots, and the air carried that distinct autumn crispness that always made me feel alive.
“I had no idea this was here,” I said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in.“Who maintains it?”
“Violet and Hannah, mostly,” Chains replied, brushing leaves off a bench before gesturing for me to sit.“Says she needs something pretty to look at besides all our ugly mugs.”
I laughed, settling onto the cool metal.Chains sat beside me, his large frame making the bench seem smaller.Our shoulders touched, and I didn’t move away.Neither did he.
“Thank you,” I said, nudging him slightly after a comfortable silence had stretched between us.“For helping with the baking.I know it’s not exactly typical biker activity.”
He shrugged, the leather of his cut creaking slightly.“Not the weirdest thing I’ve done.”
“Oh?”I turned to look at him, curiosity piqued.“What’s the weirdest thing, then?”
“Well, when Carrie first came here me and the guys helped her dissolve a body with sulfuric acid.”I started, my gaze snapping to his in what I knew had to be shock.“Don’t look at me, it was Carrie’s idea.Besides.We didn’t really do that.”He glanced down at the ground.
“Uh huh.That’s a guilty look if I ever saw one.”Yeah, the casual mention that one of my new best friends had suggested acid disposal of a body probably should have freaked me out, but, surprisingly, it didn’t.
“There actually were a couple of bodies, but we didn’t dissolve them.We got rid of them for her, though.”
“Did she know you or something?”I knew the answer to this.Not because anyone had told me, but I knew who these guys were now.They recognized their own.Usually on sight.
“Nah.But she chose Hawk pretty much the first time she saw him.”
“He didn’t object?”
“Oh, yeah.He objected all right.Just not very hard.And nobody believed his objections anyway.”
I couldn’t help it.I laughed until tears rolled down my cheeks.Chains grinned down at me.I found myself mesmerized by the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he gave me a genuine smile.The man was seriously good-looking.He might not smile much, but when he did, I wasn’t sure there was a woman in the whole state who could resist him.I knew I couldn’t and wasn’t really even sure I wanted to.
When I settled down to an occasional giggle as I wiped my eyes, Chains reached out to stroke the pad of his finger down my jaw, then his thumb over my lip.“Are you frightened of us now?Of me?”
“No, Chains.”I met his gaze with a steady one of my own, smiling up at him.I tried to let him see the truth of my words in my expression.Because I was telling him the truth.“I’m not afraid of anyone here.A person’s past doesn’t define them.I don’t believe anyone here would ever hurt someone for no reason.You’ve certainly shown me more kindness than anyone else in my life has for a very long time.Carrie got you guys to let me in and you helped me no questions asked.I refuse to repay your kindness with anything but genuine respect.”
“Christ, woman.”Chains put his arm around me and pulled me close, dropping a kiss on top of my head.He took a breath.“I’m going to tell you my story because I don’t like secrets.I also want you to know why I did what I did for them to put me away.”
I studied his profile, the strong line of his jaw, the slight crinkles at the corners of his eyes.“All right.Tell me.Why were you in prison?”
He was quiet for so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer.Then, “Kidnapping.”
My eyebrows shot up.“Kidnapping?”
“Yeah.CEO of an insurance company and CFO of a hospital.”His voice was flat, matter-of-fact.“Made them confess on video to withholding proven and effective lifesaving care from kids with cancers when they weren’t getting paid enough by the insurance companies, or when their lifetime care had maxed out, or if the kids weren’t insured.Including my niece.”
“Oh, Chains,” I whispered.
“Don’t need your pity,” he said, but without heat.“I knew what I was doing.Confessed.Paid the price and did my time like a man.”
“It’s not pity,” I insisted.“It’s understanding.You lost someone you loved, the system failed her, and you didn’t want it to happen to anyone else.”
“Why do you say that’s why I did it?‘Cause, I gotta tell ya, it felt a whole lot like revenge to me.”
