Page 11 of Property of Baffle
“I’d love to meet her one day.”
“I wish you could.My parents had her arrested for kidnapping a minor.Even though I was a high school graduate, I wasn’t an adult yet.”I choked out a disgusted sound.“I was old enough and adult enough when they wanted to marry me off to a man just shy of my father’s age, though.”
“Those motherfuckers,” Rick growled low as he slid closer and turned on his side to face me.
“My aunt refused to tell anyone where I was.She died while in jail.They couldn’t make charges stick without proof, so they held her in contempt of court and claimed she was impeding an investigation into a missing child.She got pneumonia and I guess they didn’t get her proper treatment.I didn’t even know she went to jail until after it was too late to do anything about it.”
“She probably wanted it that way so you wouldn’t come try to save her and end up putting yourself back in that situation.”
“I know and it still burns me up inside that she sacrificed herself for me.I hate it so much.”
“Well, sweetheart, you’re making a really great case for me to go to Phoenix, or whatever little town you lived in, and mete out some justice for you.”
I smirked and glanced up at him through my lashes.“No need.As soon as I found out about my aunt, my parents’ lives were mine for the taking.”
“You killed them?”Rick asked, his eyes were so wide in surprise, it was almost comical.
“No, silly.Even better, I destroyed the illusion that they were the perfect, God-fearing people they claimed to be.I spent every bit of my hard-earned money to have fliers made up highlighting all the affairs my father had, including the one with the sheriffs wife - my old art teacher.I sent the sheriff one that detailed that affair along with the pictures I took that day.I also sent him the information that exonerated my aunt and gave him the name and everything else I knew about the man who my parents sold me to that day instead.”I laughed at Rick’s slack-jawed reaction before I continued.“I told him all about how I had to escape and how his wife and my dad had plans to do the same to his daughters.I don’t know if that was true, but I figured what the hell.In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say.”
“Holy shit, Nell.Remind me never to piss you off.”
“I also sent fliers to all the other couples whose wives might have had dirty dealings with my dad.But just in case the wrong spouse got that mail, I had them pasted all over town, too.The worst thing was that I sent all of it out to their entire church via their own newsletter because they never bothered to change passwords after I left.It caused maximum chaos and eventually my parents were forced to move.I don’t know what became of them after that, but I do know the little town where I grew up will never be the same.”
“Guess I didn’t give you enough credit when you said you could take care of yourself.”
My stomach clenched in fear as I wondered if Rick would use my petty justice story as a reason to get rid of me.I should have known better.There seemed to be some sort of invisible tether tying me to the man.He proved his intentions to keep me around immediately.
“Don’t want you thinking you can take on the Mojave Devils by yourself, though.They’re dangerous and will not hesitate to kill you except to do horrible shit to you first.”
“That’s a cheery thought.”
Rick nodded.“That’s why we need to get married.The sooner, the better.”He made that suggestion with a completely straight face.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You have to be family or claimed for my club to take you in.I’m claiming you.It will look more legit if we’re married.”
“A quick Vegas wedding to a woman you haven’t known for more than a couple days will legitimize that claim?”It was more of a question than anything else.
“I’m a biker, sweetheart.A quickie marriage, especially in Vegas, is not unheard of.”
“What if you get to know me and decide I’m not worth the effort.”
Rick scooted even closer and spun me around so that my back was to his front and he curled around me in big spoon fashion as he held on tight.“Haven’t discovered a single thing about you that would discourage me from following through.”
“How about the fact that I lost all my friends in one night while in Vegas?”
“Not your fault.They were shitty friends to start with.We’ll get you better ones.”
I grinned into my pillow and wiggled closer.“What about you?Don’t you have friends who will question this?”I felt him stiffen behind me for a brief second before relaxing again.
“My two oldest friends are Bigfoot and Roxy.We all grew up as club kids together.Bigfoot won’t question my choice.He’ll welcome you with open arms and I think his woman Sammy will, too.”
“Roxy?”I questioned before he could stall any longer on that front.“Obviously, she’ll have a problem with me based on your flinch and hesitation to mention it.I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’ve slept with her before.”
“Once, years ago, and it was nothing more than a drunken mistake on my part that I never cared to repeat.Rox has always had other ideas about us, though.”
“She wants you to claim her?”I asked to which Rick nodded.“But you don’t want to?”
