Page 55 of Clean Hack
Derrick.
I couldn’t believe that I finally knew his name. I pushed away all the thoughts of how we’d gotten to this point and basked in the fact that I was in his arms. Which…sounded a little creepy. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d envisioned this moment for years or anything. Or ever, really. I didn’t have some sort of weird, twisted, sick obsession with the man. It was only recently that I’d come to have the feels.Veryrecently. Like the moment I laid eyes on him, recently.
“Hey, Luce, you’re safe,” he said and shit, it warmed my heart.
I knew I was safe, even if at first I didn’t know where I was. There was something in his scent that got to me on a different level. It whispered words of warmth and comfort. Safety and protection. Hope and life.
“I don’t want to wake up because I don’t want to get out of this bed,” I said honestly.
His body shook as though he was laughing. There was a low, almost inaudible rumble in his chest that vibrated through my ear sending a shiver down my spine.
“Sweetness, I love that, and I couldn’t agree more. We can stay here as long as you want to.”
“Really?” I said sounding like a hopeful kid. My eyes opened and I was met with his deep, brown eyes already staring down into mine.
“I have nowhere I’d rather be,” he said as he scooted down to my level, got right in my face, and brushed his nose against mine. It was welcomed, that was for sure. My eyes fluttered but I refused to let them close again. “How are you feeling?”
I took a long moment to not only get lost in his eyes, but think of his question. I wanted to answer as honestly as possible because I felt he deserved it. He’d earned it. Above all the noise in my head, I felt it in my heart that I could trust him.
“Confused, mostly,” I finally said. When his brows pinched tight with worry and an unspoken need for me to elaborate, I tried to explain. “Right now, I kind of feel like I’m in a bubble with you. I don’t want to leave it and I don’t know how to explain it. I want to be here. It’s like my heart is calling out for you, but I feel like I should fight it. But then, I just want to give in to it more than anything. Like maybe I don’t really need an explanation for how I feel.”
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” he asked and I could tell he could feel it too. This pull between us was strong and I started to believe it was futile to fight it.
“I know there are things…” My voice trailed off as it hit me how shitty I’d been.
While I had thought of Allison and even talked about her, I hadn’t made a move to try and get in touch with her. I searched for a reason why but couldn’t come up with one. Maybe I was still in shock or didn’t believe that this was real. Maybe I was being selfish, which I hated to think. Was it really enough to know that she was free and safe?Wasshe safe? I mean, Savage was dead, I’d seen it with my own eyes. Well, not the actual part where he was shot in the head. And as much as I had tried to keep my eyes off of the things around me in that warehouse, I couldn’t help but to get one good, long glimpse at him after it was over, just to make sure it was real and all.
That wasn’t the only thing I had noticed that night. I saw how she had someone that wanted nothing more than to protect her. Axe, his name was. I only knew his club name because for some reason there wasn’t much I could find on him. Really, I didn’t know a damn thing other than he seemed to have a relationship with the President of the head chapter of the Steel Paragons that seemed more like it was father and son. I knew enough to know that they weren’t related. From what I’d gathered, the President had taken Axe in as a boy. I felt like there was some real darkness there, but I was never able to find out what it was. I’d also seen enough to pick up on his on-again-off-again relationship with one of the club girls. But even I could tell that it had ended for good months ago.
I started to fall down into a dark hole where the hatred of myself wanted to consume me. I was a shitty person. I’d spent years wanting to save her and here I was keeping myself in this little bubble now that I’d found her.
“Hey, come back to me. Tell me what’s going on in that head?” His soothing voice pulled me back from the darkness.
“I need to call Allison.”
“Okay,” he said lightly and it was like the weight of the world lifted off of my chest. It was like he had all the answers to everything. “Let me up so I can grab my phone and I’ll make a call.”
So I did. Even though I wasn’t ready to release him yet. He rolled over and snatched up his phone from the bedside table. Then as quickly as I’d lost his warmth, I had it back again.
“Hey,” he said with his phone pressed against his ear and his eyes on me. “Things calm down? Are your girls safe?”
I was close enough to hear the deep voice on the other end. I could hear it so clearly, I could tell that it was tired and worn out.
“Yeah. Most of us made it home a few hours ago. My girls are good and safe.”
“And the girl? Allison?”
“I shouldn’t be surprised you’re calling me about that. What, you finally met you’re little psychic?”
Derrick chuckled into the phone.
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes and features softening a bit. “Yeah, I did.”
“That’s weird as fuck.”
“What?” he said, his face clouded with confusion.
“Hearing that strange wistfulness in your tone. Looks like you got it too.”
