Storm (Devil's Hornets MC) (19 page)

Natalie had been on a few dates a couple of week ago, and they had all been pretty wonderful guys. Unfortunately, her measuring stick for fun, attractiveness, and sex appeal was set very high. She’d never had as much fun or been as sexually aware in her whole life. It wasn’t something she missed every moment, but she tried hard to push those memories deep into the back of her mind, but that didn’t mean they didn’t sprout up during odd times of the day and at night.

The shop was busy, so she would go around and ask if she could assist people in their purchases. She was tired of wishing her life away. It started in the morning when she wished she could stay with Jack in her dreams a few more minutes, and then she’d get to work and wish she could just get a glimpse of him when she looked for him through the large picture window. After work, she wished it was Jack taking her home instead of Billy. The worst was at night when she wished Jack had just used her body to bring them both pleasure. Day after day and night after night it was the same thing on repeat in her head. When the man who didn’t want her lingered in her mind and his name whispered out from between her lips like a prayer she wanted granted couldn’t be forgotten, she knew something had to happen. This had to stop. Maybe she should think of moving away. She knew that this was her mother’s legacy, and she didn’t want to be a chump and throw it all away. Did she want a rough time with a man who made her pull up her roots and leave the only place her mother and then her had ever owned? It wasn’t that she wanted that, but if putting on her track shoes was going to let her keep her sanity, then she’d do it. If that is what it took to keep her thoughts from driving her crazy and would let her think about something other than Jack every five minutes, she’d have to consider it.

There was nothing to do in the shop. She sometimes just felt a bit useless, and when she sat down to look at everything that Billy actually did, she realized that she’d just been in a funk for the last 2 and a half months. Everyone was helped, and there was nothing to do in the shop she loved so much, but she watched the people walk around looking at this and picking up that. Natalie waited at the register in case someone wanted to make a purchase. She didn’t feel like doing anything but daydreaming, but Billy was soon at her side.

“They’re ready,” he said. She looked at the arrangement and then his face and saw the pride there. Billy did a great job. It was funny because she took her time and placed each flower perfectly and her precision made a beautiful bouquet. He did something else with his bouquet as he placed a flower here and there, and he did it in record time. His always had an element of excitement, power, and grace. Had he been to floral school? Did he have a certificate? No. But somehow his arrangements held a little extra something.

“I see,” Natalie said and watched as he packaged them up like they were going out right now.

After he was done, he just watched her.

“What?” She asked when he didn’t appear to be moving, but he wasn’t saying anything either.

“I know this is kind of hard for you to do, but it will be much better if you don’t put it off. I brought my car, and it’s sitting out front. Take Ms. Storm the flowers and don’t forget to tell her that I said hello.” Billy orchestrated that like he was used to running weddings and events. There was no getting out of the sweet spot this man had backed her into. Yes, she’d thought that she wanted to get it out of the way, but now that the time was here, she was considering just doing it after lunch or before dinner or…. Never. That sounded like a perfect time. She’d made a promise, and Billy was standing there looking like an over eager puppy waiting for a snack.

It appeared she wasn’t hiding her anxiety very well as Billy had been able to see through her façade. He was probably right and figured she needed to get it over with so she could have some peace and say whatever she wanted to say. It just didn’t seem possible that this was going to go well.

Billy was not the most aggressive person in the world, but he had her packaged up and in the car before she could get a few good words in edgewise.

“Nothing is ever as bad as you think,” Billy told her. What was he, a philosopher?

“I hope you’re right, because I’m thinking this will be very, very bad.” She pulled away from the curb and wondered why she kept her driver’s license current in the first place. If she had let the damn thing go, she wouldn’t be in the predicament, and she wouldn’t be able to do the delivery.

She’d not been praying for anything for a while, but she did it on the way to the rehab. Heaven help her.

“Hello, Natalie,” Ms. Storm said in such a pleasant voice Natalie was encouraged that she wasn’t getting ready to be told off by this woman, but it was possible that the woman was just setting her up for the verbal beat down.

“Ms. Storm,” Natalie replied. “I’m so sorry you’ve been in the hospital for this long, and I haven’t stopped by.”

“I understand why you wouldn’t have wanted to come, and please call me Sarah. There is a lot going on with you and Jack.” Natalie didn’t know if the woman had talked to her son or had just figured it all out, but she wasn’t going to get too deep into this conversation. If Jack had wanted her to know something, Natalie was sure she would know.

“How are you doing?” Natalie wanted to pull the conversation away from her and Jack and put it somewhere else… anywhere else.

“Well I had a stroke, but at least my son was with me, so we got to the hospital very quickly.” The pride this woman had in her son shone from her eyes, and all at once Natalie missed her own mother.

“That’s good. I’ve heard you were here for a good while.” It was hard to keep this woman’s conversation away from her son, but Natalie knew that she wanted to say something to her, so she should probably just let her continue on.

“I’ve been her for about three weeks after spending one in the hospital. I am ready to go home, but I’m not sure I’m ready. I’m going to need a lot of care.” Sarah looked just as lovely as Natalie remembered from the first time she’d seen her a few months ago when she delivered the bouquet that fate used to bring her and Jack together. Natalie had to see where the stunning man who rocked her world, literally, on the back table of her floral shop and the opulence of the manor made her think she was way out of her league.

“I’m sure J… Jack will get you what you need.” It was hard even saying his name, but she was strong, and she’d get through all of this.

“He will, and I’d like to do the same for him.” The woman looked like she was trying to sit up in the bed, but when Natalie went over to help her, the woman held up her hand like a stop sign before she fixed herself. It took a few extra minutes, and it was hard for Natalie to watch and not help, but Sarah had done it. She reminded her a lot of her son because they were both as stubborn as they were charming. When she was done fixing herself in the bed, she looked over at Natalie who struggled to remember what they were talking about before the pause. Then it came to her.

“What?” Natalie was confused at what the woman was saying to her.

“I don’t know what happened between you and Jack, but I know that you two cared for each other. I stayed out of the way, but I know he left you in his house when he was gone.”

Natalie didn’t know what to say to that. If the woman didn’t know what happened, then she didn’t know that she’d been abducted. This sweet woman wouldn’t understand that one, she was sure, because Natalie herself didn’t understand it. There were a lot of reasons that Jack left her alone, and she knew that he’d say it was for her protection, but there was a little niggling voice that thought it was because she’d let her body find sexual release with another man. She was sure that was something he wouldn’t be able to forgive because she didn’t forgive herself for that.

“You don’t have to say anything, and let me talk.” Sarah waited until she got a nod from Natalie, then she started the dialog that she felt must be said. “Jack has never let anyone stay at his place for any amount of time, but night after night, there you were. Now you’re not there, and I’m a bit afraid for my son. He’s always taken care of me, and sometimes I’m ashamed of how much I’ve relied on that, but he’s not acting like he was. He’s drinking, fighting down at that damned club for money, and doing who knows what else.” The woman looked good for someone who’d had a stroke, but Natalie could tell there was a slight drooping on the left side of her face, even though she was able to talk quite well.

“Jack has said nothing but good things about you, and the love is in his voice and all over his face when he brings you up.” Natalie was trying to be reassuring, and she hoped this sweet woman who was hell bent on helping her son wouldn’t ask her to do anything more than move the flowers in a good spot and have a nice life.

“That’s my Jack,” Sarah said with a withering voice as she looked away. “Whatever has been going on for the last few months has made my son a different man, or should I say a reverted man. When he was young and looking for extra money, he used to fight down at the club. I’d never seen it, but I’ve heard he was pretty good; however, whatever these fighters get into isn’t light, and Jack is always beat up pretty good. I also think he is drinking and who knows what else. It’s like he’s depressed and either can’t or doesn’t want to find his way out of it.”

Natalie really didn’t want to hear any of this, because it made her want to go to him and fix him. Heaven knew that she was barely holding herself together. If he wanted them to work out, he would have to come to her because she begged and pleaded enough the last time she saw him. It hadn’t made one damned bit of difference, and he walked off without even a ‘fuck you.’ She’d thought they meant something to each other, but at the first problem… granted it was a doozy, he’d left her to fend for herself.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” That was all she could say to Sarah, and she meant it. She didn’t want to think of him drinking too much and fighting for sport, but she didn’t know what this woman wanted from her. Natalie hoped she didn’t look as worn down and broken as she felt, but as she stood in front of the woman who bore the man that broke her heart, it seemed like the woman could read her soul.

“I know you are, dear. When I brought you here, I fully planned to ask you to reach out to my Jack, but I can see the demons in your eyes as well. There are two sides to the story, and I don’t even have one full side.” Sarah reached for Natalie’s hand and waited until their hands were interlocked. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t want to bother you with it. You have to lead your own life.”

It was like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulder, and the breath she pulled from the air was like a burst from a refreshingly cool spring. “Thank you, Ms. Storm… I mean Sarah.”

“If I can ask you to move my daisies to the window, I’d appreciate it.” The woman pointed to the direction of the large clean window, and Natalie placed her arrangement there.

After Natalie set the flowers down, she noticed that Sarah’s bags were all packed up and ready to go. “You’re not going to take your flowers with you? Billy made them especially for you. He wanted to make sure I told you he said hello.” Natalie said to the woman who followed her around the room.

“I had the rest of my flowers taken home yesterday, and I wanted to leave a fresh arrangement for the nursing staff. Daisies are my favorite, so I wanted them to have something to remember me by. It’s also good advertisement for you.” Sarah watched Natalie intently but with a smile on her face. There was something going on, and Natalie felt like she was being set up somehow.

“I guess that’s a good idea. It’s almost like an advertisement.” Natalie was into listening to her intuition, so her plan was to move the flowers and get the hell out of there. Something about this whole thing wasn’t right. She gave a small hug to the woman in the bed and turned to leave. “I’m glad you’re feeling better and are getting ready to go home.”

“Me too,” Sarah said with a real smile on her face. It would probably be great to be in her own bed, and she was hopeful the woman would fully recover.

The anxiety in her stomach died down by the time Natalie got to the elevator, and she wondered why she was so spooked in the first place. Then the elevator opened, and it felt like the oxygen had been sucked out of the air. There stood Jack looking like the hottest, sexiest hard-ass that ever walked the planet, and when he walked toward her she wondered if he’d stop or keep going. He had on jeans and a shirt, but that’s not what made him look so wild. It looked like he had a black eye, and there were different scratches and different colored bruises on his skin.

She didn’t know how long they stood there looking at each other, but the elevator had closed, and all the people in the hallway were gone.

“Hello Natalie,” he said like they’d just been together a few hours ago instead of a few months, and the lid on her anger started a slow simmer.

Taking a deep breath she remembered this was the man she cried about for weeks until she could get herself together. She was going to have to remember how he’d treated her and do the same to him. There was no way she was going to have a running into each other’s arms moment when if the fates hadn’t put them in the exact same place at the exact same time, he would still be ignoring her.

She walked around him and put her hand out to push the down button, but before she could make contact, her hand was stopped. He’d always been so warm, and that hadn’t changed. The heat in his touch seemed to scurry along her nerve endings and collect in her breasts and clit. She was tingling like he’d touched her happy places, and Natalie was disgusted with herself. Maybe there was something wrong with her that she could get sexually aroused when she wasn’t supposed to.

“Don’t touch me,” she told him with her voice low. She wasn’t going to make a scene, especially when she had her company’s sign in her hand. It was how they got free parking and a place in the delivery section.

He moved his hand like he’d been burned, and she was hoping the effect of his touch would go away, but it didn’t. If it did, it was moving at a turtle’s pace because the touch lingered long after it should have.

“Did you come to see my mother?” Jack’s voice was gruff and undeniably sexy. Why did he have to affect her like this? There was so much he’d done to her, but her body didn’t seem to care; it wanted what it wanted. She knew what it wanted. This tall dark haired man with beautiful eyes of all colors who knew how to play her body like a harp. He knew which strings to pull and which to tug and when. It wasn’t even possible to get the same music out of her body that Jack could evoke.

She hit the down button quickly because she didn’t want him to see her cry, but she was fast on her way. This was such bullshit. Natalie didn’t cry much, and she allowed herself to do it in the privacy of her own home, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of watching her break down in front of him.

“That was a stupid question. I’m sorry,” Jack said looking like he was trying to say whatever he could to get her to talk. He smelled good too, and that musky scent seemed to wrap around her like a hug. A soft sexy hug that she couldn’t afford to be wrapped up in.

She stood there looking up at the green indicator of what floor the elevator was on. Natalie would do almost anything to not have to look at the delicious man who was now trying to get her attention. The damned thing was on the third floor and they stood on the tenth. Never in her life had she wished for something more than she did to make the elevator come faster.

“Do you think we could talk?” The hesitation in his voice and the dumbness of his question made her turn to look at him.

“About what, Jack? I’ve been at the same store every day and living in the same place. You’ve always known exactly where I was, and I was always available for any conversation you’ve wanted to have. I’ve been waiting to hear from you since that day you turned and walked away from me, but now I’m not sure if I want to hear what you have to say.” She turned to look at the indicator to find out where the damned elevator was. The elevator was on level five.
Shit
.

“I know you are mad at me, and you have good cause, but you’ve been on my mind the whole time, and just this morning I thought of a few things I wanted to run by you.” He was standing behind her, and she didn’t think it would be a good idea to face him. She could feel the anger rising in her like a tidal wave, and she was almost afraid of what was going to come out of her mouth.

“All this time we’ve been apart, and today of all days is the one you choose to have an epiphany? Nice try, Jack, but I don’t have time for the crap you’re putting down.” Natalie was pretty proud of herself. She’d told him off, and now they both knew where they stood. Alone. She wasn’t able to keep her promise to herself and not look at him. He drew her like a moth toward a flame, and it was just as deadly.

“It’s been a little while, so I knew there was a chance you’d not hear me out.” Jack didn’t look like the same fun loving guy he’d been when they were together, and although it looked like he’d been working out, he didn’t look healthy. He could see his mother had been right about the fighting as well. Jack had different colored bruises on his face, arms, and hands that made him look more rugged than raggedy in her opinion.