Lucien's War (6 page)

 
“I’m Meredith Jacobson.” The girl dropped
Callie’s hand and tossed her bag onto the free bed. She turned around with a
brow raised and stared at Callie. “Do you have a name or should I just call you
girl?" She was teasing. Callie could tell in her voice and see it in the
smile she offered.

“Callie Roberts.” She smiled at
Meredith. “I’m not usually this
spazzy
, I swear.”

Meredith laughed and lifted her hand as
if to brush her comment aside. “No worries. I was just giving you a hard time.”
She turned and started tossing her clothes out of her duffle. The sound of her
bangle brackets jingling on her wrists seemed to fill the room and kept Callie
in a kind of trance.

Callie sat back on the bed and grabbed a
sweater out of her bag. “Where are you from, Meredith?”

“Originally Utah, but we moved to
Colorado when I was I fourth grade. My parents are set up in Northglenn.” She
looked over her shoulder.
“You?”

“River
Run.”

“Dang, I think I’ve heard about that
place.” Meredith sat on the bed and knitted her brows. “Was that where that big
ass explosion happened, or where all those dead cult people bodies were found?”

“How sad is it that you know the town
from the news?” Callie chuckled, but it was dry and not very humorous. “But the
explosion was in Steel Corner, the town right beside River Run, which is where
the cult issues were at.”

“Damn,” Meredith said. “You’re not one
of those biker princesses, are you?”

Callie chuckled, and this time there was
amusement in the tone. “There really is no such thing as biker princesses, but
my dad is the VP of a club.”

“
Shiiiiit
,” Meredith said seriously. “You must be hardcore
then?”

“Um,
me?”
Callie shook her head and chuckled. “The most hardcore I ever got was getting
trashed at a party, and calling my then-boyfriend and the whore he had cheated
on me with a bunch of names.”

Meredith grinned wider. “Yeah, you are
totally my kind of roomie. So, what's your major?" Meredith turned back to
grab a few more things out of her bag.

“I don’t actually know, really.”

Meredith laughed. “Hey, you're entitled
to be undecided your first year. Just don't let it carry over after that or you
become one of
those
students.”

“One of
those students?”
Callie leaned back and rested her upper
body on her elbows again.

“Yeah, one of those students
that are
in college for like six years, but could have
graduated two years before that. One of those students that
enjoys
the college life way too much to actually grow up.” Meredith tossed her hair
over her shoulder and watched Callie intently.

“You have a major?” Callie asked.

“Holistic
Healing is my ultimate goal, but right now I am taking all the bullshit
classes: biology, chemistry, English Comp, stuff like that. Once I get the
first couple of years under my belt and have the pre-
req
stuff done I’ll get into meditation, some medical classes, and then some of the
more holistic courses.” Meredith sounded very passionate about her goals, and
Callie wished she were there in her life, too.

“So,
you got rid of the douchebag cheating ex, but another boyfriend in the
background?” Meredith asked, but she was looking at her phone now.

“Ugh,
no boyfriend in the woodwork.”

Meredith
stopped typing on her phone and glanced up. For a second she didn’t say
anything, and then she grinned.

“What?”
Callie asked and straightened.

“That
tone you just had, that totally means you got one on the side.” She grinned.
“Let me guess, because, girl, I am good at reading between the lines, and the
fact your face is red as hell tells me there is more to the story.”

Callie
felt her face heat and knew that even if she hadn’t gotten embarrassed Meredith
was clearly the type of person that could hear what wasn’t being said. But who
was Callie kidding? She had Lucien on the brain, and clearly that wasn’t hard
to pick up on.

“No,
there isn’t more to the story.” Callie cleared her throat. Meredith’s gaze was
unmoving, and she glanced away, needing to focus on something aside from this
girl she had just met, but who clearly knew more about her than she had told
anyone else.

“I’m
sorry. I’m known to be nosy and assume shit.” Meredith smiled, but it was soft
and apologetic.

Callie
shrugged. “It’s nothing, but I don’t want to talk about it, if that makes
sense.”

Meredith
smiled. “It’s nothing, but you don’t want to talk about it means it is
something, but I feel
ya
, girl. Consider it dropped
unless you ever want to talk. Then I’m here.” Meredith fell back on the bed.
She closed her eyes and put her hands above her head.

“You
see the
hotties
that live down the hall?” Meredith
said but didn’t open her eyes or move. “I swear it is like a sausage factory on
our floor. We lucked out, Callie.” Meredith smiled widely, but still didn’t
look at Callie.

“I
actually didn’t have a lot of time to check anyone out, although I will say the
guy that showed me around and has a room right down the hall
was
really nice.”

Meredith
did sit up then, and she cocked a dark arched eyebrow.
“Yeah?
Sounds like I might need some help, and he could be the person to lend a hand.”

“He
invited me to a frat party tonight at eight.” Now it was Callie’s turn to lift
an eyebrow. “I told him I’d go, but honestly I probably would have bitched out
anyway. But if you go I’d check it out, meet some
people,
maybe even get familiar with the area.” Memories of her partying, drunken
encounter months ago, and Lucien coming to save the day, were still very much
fresh in her mind. She had agreed out of courtesy, told her dad even, but the
truth was she probably would have declined when the time came to go.

“Yeah?”
Meredith
flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Girl, I am there.”

“I
have to go to this freshman orientation thing at noon.” Callie wasn’t really
looking forward to being tied up all day with what would be boring statistics
of the university, the founders, and probably a lot of other administration
points, but she had come here to get acquainted with everything.

“I’m
all tied up, too, but I don’t think we are in the same group since mine starts
at two.” Meredith stood and took out her phone from her bag when it started
ringing. “Hey, it’s my mom, and if I don’t take it she’ll freak,” Meredith said
and gave her this sympathetic smile. “Hey Mom, hold on.” She pulled the phone
away and covered the mouthpiece. “I’m sorry.” She smiled. “But I am totally
here for the frat party. But we stick together, well, unless I hook it up,
girl,” Meredith said softly and winked. Callie couldn’t tell if she was being
serious. “I’ll be back at the dorm at like six-
ish
? I
have some paperwork to fill out for my financial aid.”

Callie
nodded, and Meredith turned and headed for the bathroom. Meredith started
speaking to her mother in a different language, and the sound of her bangle
bracelets jangled until she shut the bathroom door behind her. Callie turned
and focused on the window again, and then fell back on the bed, closed her
eyes, and then thought about the life she was about to lead, the journey she
would take, and the fact she could do this without having Lucien in her life
the way she wanted.

Things
didn’t always work out the way someone wanted, and if she thought about it
constantly she would be stuck, covered in her desires that would never be a
reality and she didn’t want to live that way. She could do this, could see
Lucien down the road and not have to feel this longing for him, and thinking
maybe one day things would work out for her. She could look at him and see the President
of The Brothers of Menace, and nothing more.

Looking up at the ceiling, she
knew that all of that was nothing but a load of bullshit.
   

Chapter Five

Lucien
stepped into the
clubhouse,
his hand busted up and
bandaged, his body achy from the workout he had done earlier in the day, and
the need to get a good buzz on riding him hard. He still had the flavor of
Callie on his lips even all these hours later, still had the tingle from their
kiss moving through his veins, and didn’t fucking like it because he felt off
balance and unstable. He had worked out so damn hard his muscles ached, he had
sweated so much he had gotten dehydrated, and then he had jerked off in the
shower thinking of Callie. But having his cock in his palm, his other hand
braced on the wall, and his head lowered with his eyes closed as he thought
about her, made him feel like a sick bastard. The things he had thought about,
pictured doing with
Callie,
had gotten him off so damn
quick.
Her naked before him, her lush body on full display,
her tits and pussy begging for his mouth and hands.
Yeah, he had come
hard enough that his legs had shaken from the force of it.

Sleeping
for a few hours hadn’t cleared his head, and he was right back where he had
been before he had grown exhausted. Now he was at the clubhouse, ready to get
his drink on, smoke some pot, too, and he hoped get through this bump in his
life.

He
saw Cookie and Kink at the bar and knew he shouldn’t go by the VP because he
was feeling like a bastard, but then Kink waved him over.

“Hey,
man,” Kink said when Lucien came closer.

“Hey.”
Lucien tapped on the bar and ordered a beer from the prospect.

“
You doing
okay?” Kink asked.

Lucien
glanced at the other man, and saw the flash of what he had done with his VP’s
daughter just earlier that day, and shook his head to clear it. “I’m good,
brother. You doing
good
? You look like you’re on top
of the world.”

Kink
grinned and pulled Cookie close to him. “I am, brother.”

Lucien
took the beer from the prospect, and turned around to lean back on the bar.
“I’m glad through all the shit that had gone down with the club that something
good came out of it.” He stared at the scene before him, of his guys having a
good time, getting drunk, smoking weed to unwind, and enjoying the women that
were grinding on them like they were trying to get the members’ cocks to tear
through their jeans. And from past experience Lucien knew the club pussy women
could get a cock harder than granite—well, they used to be able to get his cock
that hard. Now the damn fucker stayed limp unless it was Callie on his mind.

“Yeah,
just goes to show you that some happiness can come to a bastard like me,” Kink
said and started chuckling. “We just came by so Cookie could drop off some
paperwork for Tatum, but then all these assholes started coming up and talking
to us, and then we started drinking,” Kink looked at Cookie and smiled.
“Anyway, things are getting wild here, and I want to be alone with my woman.”
Kink looked back at Lucien. “If I don’t occupy myself with something I’ll just
be worrying about Callie all damn weekend.”

Lucien
strained and faced Kink. “Why?
Everything okay with her?”
He felt on edge even more now at the thought of Callie in trouble, but then he
told himself that she was safe in the dorm room, and that Kink’s worrying was
what a devoted father did.

Kink
waved off his questions. “She’s good, just left for that orientation thing at
the university. She’ll be back tomorrow evening, but still, stresses the fuck
out of me.”

Lucien
relaxed. “She leave already, huh?” he said, his voice a bit strained, and for
the first time in his life he felt pretty fucking uncomfortable in front of one
of his members. Yeah, he knew Callie had left, because he had kissed her right
before he told her to leave.

Kink
nodded. “I swear I’ll be worrying about her so fucking much I’m liable to age a
decade by the time she comes home for a break.”

Cookie
started chuckling. “Kink, she’ll be fine. It’s only for a few days, and then
she’ll be back where you can be the overprotective papa bear.”

Kink
scoffed. “Baby, she will still have to go back in a couple of fucking weeks.”
Kink scrubbed a hand over his face and breathed out. “Lucien, man, be glad you
don’t have a daughter that is going to college, hanging out at those fucking
frat parties, and probably having assholes sniff around her.”

Lucien
straightened at the mention of a frat party. “She’s going to parties already?”

Kink
shrugged. “She mentioned going to one of them tonight. She’s a good girl, and I
trust her to take care of herself, but man, thinking of all those pricks
hanging around her.” Kink shook his head. “They are the ones I don’t trust.

Yeah,
Lucien didn’t trust those little assholes either, because he had been one years
ago, knew how they thought, and knew that all they had on their minds was
getting their dicks wet. All Lucien could think about was the shit that had
almost happened to her all those months ago when she had gone to a party. What
if one of those motherfuckers drugged her drink, tried something on her, and he
wasn’t able to take care of her like last time? Why in the hell would she put
herself in that situation again? He was starting to get pissed, visualizing all
the fucking shit that could go wrong, and feeling like an asshole for pushing
her aside. But when he looked at Kink he saw the other man watching him
curiously.