Meant To Be (Heaven Hill Series) (29 page)

Tyler put his hand on his friend’s back. “Something tells me that Denise understood this. She saw what Meredith looked like. I think she’s okay with it, and if she’s not then the two of you work on it. A relationship is about checks and balances. It’s about coming to terms with what makes it work for both parties, not just one. I think she’ll surprise you.”

“Guess we’ll find out won’t we?”

Denise lay in Liam’s dorm room, waiting for him to come back. She wondered what they would say to each other, if things would be different. The brutality he had used to attack Richard’s body hadn’t surprised her, but it had made her think of him as a different kind of man. Now she thought of him the way she did Tyler. It wasn’t bad – just different.

The door opened quietly, and she knew by the footfalls that it was Liam. Quickly, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and raced to him. He caught her in his arms and held her tightly to his body, inhaling deeply and moving his hands to her hair, caressing her head and neck softly. The softness of the hands holding her reminded her just how different he was when they were alone and when it was about them.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered, holding him tightly against her, snaking her arms around his neck.

“I’m okay? Hell, you took fifteen years off my life when I came back and realized you weren’t here,” his voice hoarse with emotion. That was how she knew he was the man she thought he was. Someone callous couldn’t care about her so much it made his voice crack. That wasn’t faked emotion. That was as real as it got.

With strong hands he picked her up, carrying her over to the bed and sitting her down. Kneeling in front of her, he ran his hands along her body, checking to make sure everything was there and accounted for. Tenderly, he ran the back of his hand along the bruise that had already formed on her cheek. Then he carefully touched the spot where her lip had split from the impact with the gun.

“I’m good as long as you’re good,” she whispered to him.

“I’m so far from good right now, but it’s because of what was done to you. This could have ended up so much differently. You could be where Meredith is right now.” His eyes were red with emotion, and he tried valiantly not to let that emotion spill over.

“I’m not, thanks to you. You got to me in time. I knew you would. I never doubted that. I had complete faith in you and your ability to
not
let me end up like Meredith.”

“Thank God for that,” he breathed, bringing his hand up to the back of her head and holding her tightly against him.

Quietly, she asked the question he had been dreading. “Did you kill him?”

“I had to. He disrespected you, and he disrespected the club. There’s certain protocol that has to be followed. He’s lucky I didn’t castrate him before all was said and done. I’ve never felt that kind of anger or rage before,” he told her, moving back so that she could see his eyes. “I’ve always been able to stop myself before I got too far, but seeing him there with you, the blood on your face and knowing that he had done that to you. I couldn’t stop myself.”

She put her hands up. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands too. I don’t think he’s the one that raped Meredith, but I still think he had something to do with it. I really wanted to at least get that out of him, but he wouldn’t answer me when I asked more questions. I’ll always regret that.”

“Jesus Christ. You asked him about it? Were you trying to get yourself killed?” His heart beat rapidly as he realized for a second time just how close he had been to losing her. Richard wasn’t a patient man, and he had obviously showed great restraint when it came to her questions.

She tilted her chin up in defiance. “I was just trying to help a friend. I know she would have done the same for me. We need to know who did this. She shouldn’t have to live in fear. If I can do anything for her, I will. Don’t take away the backbone I seem to have found.”

“I won’t,” he bit his lip, bringing his hands up to her face. “I love it about you.”

Her heart stopped and she grinned. “I love you too, Liam.”

“This may not ever be conventional,” he warned. In fact he never expected it to be, but he still had to warn her.

“I know, and I’m not expecting it to be. I’ve known that since the beginning.”

He framed her face with his large hands, bringing their lips together in a kiss meant to ignite every part of her body. He bent to pick her up off the bed, and she wrapped her legs around his body, allowing his hands to support her weight. She brought her hands to his cut and began to remove it when a knock sounded.

“Fuck,” he swore. “What?”

Tyler’s deep voice came through the door. “We need our VP to go over the information we just found out about Richard.”

“Really?” he mumbled. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She giggled as he buried his face in her neck and sighed, using his tongue to lick a path around to her lips. The hot breath tickled where her hair moved.

“You go do what you gotta do. I’ll still be here,” she promised.

“Hopefully this won’t take very long. Besides, before we even get to taking our clothes off we need showers. I’ve got blood all over me and so do you.”

She looked down, realizing he was speaking the truth. For the first time she felt like his equal, not someone that he had to take care of. She had done a damn good job of taking care of herself until he could come rescue her. The knowledge that she could stand on her own two feet and be strong after everything that had happened to her was the best gift anyone would have given her, and she had Liam to thank for that.

“Show me what ya got,” William commanded Steele and Jagger Stone as they sat around their large table.

Steele pulled out a binder full of paper and spread the sheets out in front of him. “It looks like the business that Richard wanted to discuss with us was running guns. He apparently has a contact from Louisville, and they’re running guns down south to the Mexican Cartel.”

Liam whistled between his teeth. “That’s some big time shit. Is that really something we wanna get involved in? We get caught and that’s Federal time. I’m all for protection runs, but I don’t want our fingerprints on this.”

“Maybe it’s time to diversify,” Tyler shrugged from where he sat next to Liam.

“Drugs aren’t what they used to be,” William put his thoughts out there. “Any redneck with an empty double-wide and a package of cold medicine can make meth. We don’t have the monopoly on drugs the way we used to anyway. Hard times are coming, and we need to make sure we can stay solvent.”

“So what do we do?” Liam asked. “Just tell these people that we killed Richard, and now we want in on it?”

“Why not?” Jagger asked. He was young and reminded Liam of Meredith because when he wanted something, he went after it without thinking of consequences.

“He’s got a point,” Steele shrugged. “I mean obviously they need to move this product. There could be some big money in it. Big enough that we could completely move out of drugs.”

“So we can
really
become one percenter’s then?”

“Times are what they are,” William argued. “Let’s put it up for a vote. All in favor of seeing what we can do with these guns?”

Everyone raised their hands quickly except for Liam. After glancing around at the table, he knew he had to back his brothers on this. Regardless of what he thought, they still had to earn, and they had to do that any way that they could.

William banged his gavel. “That passed, so we’ll look into it and let you know what’s going on. Steele and Jagger, you two get this off the ground. If you need help, let me or Liam know.”

This was a bad idea. Liam knew it, but there was nothing he could do about it. It would have to play out however it would play out. The club was changing, and he guessed he would just have to change with it. The mark of a good leader was rolling with punches, and he was beginning to learn to do just that.

Chapter Thirty-One

A
fter the meeting adjourned, Liam was trying to make his way back to his dorm room, only to be stopped by the one person he didn’t want to see. Lauren. He averted his eyes, hoping it would show her just how much he
didn’t
want to talk to her.

“Liam, I would really love the chance to be able to sit down and talk to you,” she told him softly, reaching out to touch his elbow lightly.

He pulled his elbow back, almost like her touch burned him. “Right now is
not
the time,” he bit out as coldly as he could.

“There’s never a good time for you,” she argued. “All I want is a chance to explain my side of things. There are always two sides to every story, Liam. I think you owe me that much.”

He finally looked at her, really looked at her, and he felt remorse for the way he was treating the woman had given birth to him. After dealing with Richard, he knew that he could change things in his life. He didn’t have to be a bastard to everyone. He didn’t
want
to be a bastard to everyone. Maybe this was his chance to alter the way their relationship had been for so long. Being with Denise had changed everything. He would never allow Drew to talk to his mother the way he talked to Lauren. Purposely, he softened his voice.

“Look, right now seriously isn’t a good time.” Did he tell his mom he was in a hurry to get back to his dorm and get laid? He needed to be with Denise more than he could breathe at this moment, he needed to prove to himself that everything was okay and they were going to make it. “But how about tomorrow or even later on tonight. I promise you, I will make time. We
will
talk.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. You can even have that woman you care for so much with you, if you want. If she’s the reason for your change of heart, then I want her there. You’ve changed, and it’s for the better,” she told him, her blue eyes the mirror image of his.

“We’ll see,” he relented. “I’ll come find you. I promise, Mom.”

Tears came to her eyes. He hadn’t called her Mom since she’d left. Even as a six-year-old, he’d called her Lauren. “I’ll hold you to that.”

He took a minute to put his hand in hers and give it a gentle squeeze. Not for false hope, but because he actually did have hope this time. Maybe things would change and they could move on.