Oak, Sophie - Siren Beloved [Texas Sirens 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (13 page)

“What?”

There was a momentary pause. “Well, ain’t that typical. You leave me with all the work and then act like I’m the one in trouble.”

And it was just like his brother to try to turn everything around. “Look, Bo, I’ve already talked to Dwight. He said you were busy causing trouble.”

“What? Motherfucker. He ain’t even here, Aidan. He left the ranch early this afternoon.”

That wasn’t what Dwight had said. Bo wasn’t exactly known for his honesty. “And just where did he take off to?”

His brother huffed over the phone. “I don’t know. It’s not like he tells me anything. He’s a fucking asshole.”

Bo pretty much thought everyone was a fucking asshole. Aidan felt unaccountably tired. “Was there something you wanted, Bo?”

“There are a lot of things I want, brother, but I’m not getting them, am I? I called because I thought you should know something, but now I think you deserve everything you have coming your way. Go to hell.”

The connection was cut with a brutal click. Aidan let the phone fall from his hands, not caring when it fell to the floor. It didn’t matter. If it rang again, it would just be one more person who wanted to tell him what a failure he was.

Aidan closed his eyes and shut out the world. Music, sad and sweet, flowed through his brain. Just because he couldn’t play anymore didn’t mean he didn’t write in his head. He heard a single guitar, plucking gently, the sound as lonely as he felt.

He could see the song in his head, but none of it mattered since the people he’d wanted to play for were gone.

“How about some water, Bill? I think I can handle this particular confrontation without liquor.”

Aidan’s eyes flew open because he knew the sound of that voice, deep and always with a hint of sarcasm, like the owner never took the world too seriously. It was deceptive, that voice, because Aidan happened to know that Lucas Cameron took everything he loved with an almost worshipful reverence. Lucas Cameron knew how to love.

But Aidan had the distinct feeling he might find out Lucas Cameron didn’t love him anymore.

He took a long drink. Lucas might not need liquid courage, but Aidan sure as hell did.

“Why?” Lucas asked the question without inflection, as though the actual answer was meaningless to him.

Lucas didn’t look at him. He kept his expression bland as he faced forward, but Aidan couldn’t help but stare. Lucas was lovely to him now. He’d fought the attraction before because it had seemed the final nail in the coffin of some perfect, vanilla life he had planned. Now Aidan just let himself stare. Lucas was a testament to masculine beauty. His pitch black hair fell over his forehead, tumbling almost over his eyes. In the past, Lucas had kept it shorter, but Lexi had always begged him to let it grow out. It looked damn good on him. Aidan wanted to reach out, but he had some explaining to do first.

“Why am I here?”

Lucas sighed softly. “We can start there.”

“I came back because I love you and Lexi. I came back because I need you so fucking much.”

“And you decided this when?” There it was, that sarcastic edge. Lucas was good at putting on fronts.

Aidan needed to get past the mask. Honesty was his only weapon. “The day I almost lost my legs.”

Lucas turned, and his eyes flared with shock. Aidan was almost certain he saw concern there. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Aidan said quietly. “It’s all a jumble. I was with my squad. We were on a security detail. We started taking some heavy fire. I know this from the report that was filed by a friend of mine. We were the only ones who survived. I woke up in a field hospital, and they told me I wouldn’t walk again. And I realized as I was lying in that bed that it wasn’t the worst day of my life.”

Those emerald eyes of Lucas’s shimmered slightly with unshed tears. “Don’t you fucking say it.”

“The worst day of my life was the day I walked out on you and Lexi.”

Lucas slammed off the stool. “Fuck you, Aidan.”

Aidan watched as Lucas stormed off. He was patient. If Lucas wanted to fume for a while, that was perfectly acceptable because at least he was having an emotion. He’d seen it in Lucas’s eyes. He’d been moved, and it wasn’t all anger. Julian and Leo had spent hours and hours the last several months teaching Aidan how to read body language. Lucas’s entire body was bunched up. He was one huge ball of emotion. Aidan could see it plainly. Anger was at the forefront, but there was more there.

Lucas made it to the door that led back to the hotel section of The Club before turning on his heels and stalking back.

“You think you can waltz back in here and give me some sob story, and I’ll just fall down on my knees and be grateful you’re back?”

“No.” Let him get it all out. Aidan knew he deserved it. “I know I have a lot to make up for.”

“You can’t make up for it. You can’t. You left us. You’re the one who turned away. You joined the Army? What is wrong with you? I respect anyone who wants to serve this country, but you’re not a soldier, Aidan. You’re a fucking musician.”

Aidan held his hand up. “Not anymore.”

Lucas swallowed whatever he was about to say. He reached out and grabbed Aidan’s hand. It was his left hand. It was missing two fingers, but only his middle finger and thumb still had any real agility. He’d joked with the doctors that at least he could hitch a ride and flip someone off, but he would never play guitar again. The muscles in his hand still worked, but they were far too stiff to play with any accuracy or real rhythm.

“Was it worth it? Did it make you forget what happened?”

Aidan forced himself to smile. Arguing with Lucas would get him nowhere. “No. Like I said, I woke up in that bed, and all I wanted was the two of you. I called.”

Lucas’s face went white. “I know. You think I’m not feeling that right now? You called, and I hung up on you.”

Aidan finally did what he’d wanted to do for years. He cupped Lucas’s face and let himself feel that skin against his hand. “I deserved it. I would have hung up on me, too.”

Lucas pulled away, but not after his eyes had closed slightly as though he reveled in the contact. He took a step back, those emerald eyes hooding as he looked down. Aidan had put a shirt on, but he knew Lucas was remembering the scars on his body.

“I should have…it doesn’t matter now, Aidan. I need to understand why you’re here and what you want. I need to know why you didn’t just talk to me. That whole deception out there in the dungeon doesn’t help your case.”

Aidan eased back onto his barstool. “I think it does. Look Lucas, I know the lifestyle you’ve always wanted. You want a ménage, and you want a Dom.”

A bitter little huff came out of Lucas’s mouth. “Yes, I believe I mentioned that before. That conversation didn’t go well.”

“I know. I was an ass. I didn’t really get it. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed our night together. God, the word enjoy cheapens it. I loved it. It was the closest I’ve ever felt to anyone, but it was counter to everything I’d been taught. I understand more now. I get it.”

“Just like that?” Lucas held his hands out, obviously waiting for a much better explanation.

“Fuck, no. Not just like that. I had to go through a lot to get here, but I did it, and I’m standing and walking because I love you and Lexi. I’m not going anywhere, Lucas. I’ll be here at this club every day until you listen to me. I’ll let everything else go, the ranch, my brother, my friends, none of it matters if I can’t prove to you and Lexi that I am the man for you.”

“It’s going to take something more than you lying to me.”

Aidan sat forward, unwilling to take on that sin. “I didn’t lie. I followed every rule and code of conduct this club has. I trained and was approved by both the Dom in residence and the owner. I’ve spent countless hours training.”

“I bet you did. That must have been fun.”

That little lurid huff in his voice got Aidan’s back up. “No, sub, it wasn’t fun. You will respect me while we’re in this club. Or have you forgotten the contract you signed?”

“I signed that contract under false pretenses. I would never have signed a contract with you, Aidan.”

“Nevertheless, you signed it, and you owe me the respect you would give any Dom. As for having fun, I suspect you’re accusing me of cheating on you and Lexi. I haven’t put my dick in anyone the entire time we’ve been apart. Can you say the same?”

Lucas’s eyes came up. “Are you kidding me?”

“I have been utterly faithful, even when I was walking away.”

“I don’t understand you.” Lucas scrubbed a hand through his hair, his frustration easy to read.

“You will. Just give me a chance.”

Lucas’s cell phone trilled. He pulled it out. “Lexi.” He turned away, leaving Aidan feeling left out. When he finally turned back there was a stricken look on his face. “Lexi was supposed to go up to our suite.”

Aidan knew exactly what was coming. Lexi had always been a hellcat. She’d never taken anything lying down. “She left, I take it?”

Lucas nodded. “She went home, but someone broke in. She says it’s bad.”

Aidan popped off the barstool. This he could handle. “Then we should go get her and bring her back to where she’s supposed to be.”

Lucas sighed. “It’s not that easy with Lexi.”

Aidan felt his blood start to pump again. Lucas was the one he had to play slow and easy. Lexi was a different type altogether. They had always been fiery. Lexi liked to yell and fight, and submit as sweet as a kitten when he’d finally won the battle. “That’s what I like about it, Lucas. And she will do what I say in the end. I promise you.”

Aidan could have sworn Lucas breathed a sigh of relief as they started for the parking garage.

* * * *

Lexi kicked at her sofa. It was in utter ruins. It was the perfectly awful end to a perfectly awful day. And now her damn head was pounding.
Fuck.
She shouldn’t have called Lucas, but it had been instinctive. Something bad had happened, and she pulled Lucas in.

Lucas was going to kill her. She went into the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. She’d only had three shots of tequila. She’d been so pissed off at her stepfather and Aidan and Julian. Even Leo had been in on it. She’d meant to go up to the suite, but she just hadn’t been able to force herself inside. Aidan was obviously staying in The Club, and he probably had the damn key to the place. He seemed to have taken over everything else. The last thing she’d wanted was another confrontation with him. She’d gotten dressed and walked out of The Club. Her anger had been brewing, simmering just below the surface. Her stepfather’s accusations had really pissed her off. She’d decided to show him. She was an adult, not some kid. If she wanted a drink, she could have one. So she’d stopped at a bar across the street from The Club before hopping on the Blue Line and heading home.

Then she’d walked up to her apartment only to find someone had kicked the door in and trashed the place. They’d taken a knife to her couch and smashed her TV. The mirror in the entryway was smashed and her plants were all over the floor. She hadn’t thought at all. She’d just called Lucas. Maybe she should have called the cops and left Lucas out of it.

Her hands were shaking. All of Jack’s words were coming back to her now. Was she really so self-destructive? She looked in the mirror. There were dark smudges under her eyes. She hadn’t even bothered to clean herself up. When had she let everything go? Lexi quickly washed her face, trying to forget. She knew the day it had happened. It was burned in her brain, but knowing didn’t seem to stop her. Maybe she did need rehab.

“What the hell? Lexi?” Lucas’s voice rang out. Lexi could hear his panic.