Legions (Georgia Smoke #7)

Seven

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Is it so bad that I will do anything to protect you?”

Thatcher

I took the last pull from the cigarette clamped between my teeth before dropping it to the ground and placing my boot over it. My eyes not leaving the back doors of the church from where I leaned against an oak in the woods. She wouldn’t walk out the front. My little doll would be afraid someone would see her.

Clark Jewel had walked inside two hours ago just as the sun rose. He would have found her inside there by now. I scowled as I thought about what he might say to her. He needed to tread carefully. His life might not be in danger due to the fact he was Capri’s father, but the lie he lived could easily be exposed.

I’d kept it to myself. Never used it to punish him or his wife for how they had treated Capri, but it hadn’t been for their sake. It had been for hers. It was always about her. Every fucking breath I took was about her. Yet, my little doll had run. She’d seen too much. It had shaken her.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out, not bothering to look at the screen.

“King,” I said his name, knowing it was either him or my brother. Sebastian wouldn’t be up this early.

“Where are you?” he asked.

I pulled out another cigarette. “Oh, you know here and there,” I drawled.

“Thatch,” he said my name with a sigh. “Don’t do shit that causes problems. None of us want to face Blaise again. Especially so fucking soon.”

I smirked and lit the cigarette. Blaise Hughes, the boss of the southern mafia, didn’t concern me. Besides, this didn’t involve him. This was about what was mine. He took care of what was his. He’d understand.

“The leverage we have on Clark Jewel has its limits,” King went on. “We already know what he is willing to do to protect his daughter.”

I inhaled deeply, slowly letting smoke out through my nose. “You let me worry about Clark Jewel,” I told him.

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t ease my concern.”

I chuckled as the doorknob began to turn. “It’s under control,” I told him, then ended the call and shoved my phone into my back pocket. The door opened slowly, and I took another pull from the cigarette. Waiting. When my reason for living stepped outside, I took my first deep breath before my gaze locked on her face. Throwing the cigarette down, I put it out and silently moved closer to her. Something was wrong.

What had that motherfucker said to her? I’d be paying him a visit. But right now, I had my doll to take care of. She needed me to put her world back in order. Erase the bad that took her smile away. After a night of watching over her and hours out here alone, I’d had time to think. Consider what it was she needed from me.

Sanity or a form of it was clearly important. I could do that for her. It would take work, but I wouldn’t survive another night without her in my bed. Whatever she required me to do, I would do it.

She continued toward me, not even looking up. Her gaze locked on the ground with each step she took. When she crossed her arms over her chest protectively, it took all my willpower not to go wrap her in mine. This was the kind of shit that made it difficult for me not to react in ways she couldn’t accept. Because when she wasn’t fucking smiling, happy, those gray eyes weren’t twinkling, then I became unsettled.

Five more feet and she’d run right into my chest. Her thoughts were deep. She wasn’t aware of anything around her. I was about to clear my throat to keep her from being too startled when her head snapped up, and her eyes met mine. They didn’t widen in fear. They didn’t show anger or frustration. They just looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

“Morning, little doll,” my voice deep and raspy from the sheer emotion she stirred in me.

She blinked as if coming out of a trance, and her arms tightened around her. “I’m that easy to find,” she said, then blew out a breath.

“For me. I’m sure others would have been thrown off by the grocery store parking lot,” I assured her, my voice teasing in an attempt to get her to soften. Or hell, something.

“How… how long have you been here?” she asked me.

I shrugged. “A while.”

Her face finally gave some kind of reaction. Those eyes flashing at me as if she knew better. “How long?” she repeated.

I took a step toward her. “All night.”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then let it out. “You killed Beauden Redd.”

He’d actually told her. That motherfucker had the balls to tell her. As if I didn’t have enough shit to atone for with her. Clark Jewel had to go and tell her about something he’d been paid well for to keep quiet.

“I did,” I replied.

She opened her eyes and looked at me. “Why? You didn’t know me, did you? I mean, I was a kid. You wouldn’t have been… stalking me.” She said the last words with caution.

Truth. She needed truth. The part of me I didn’t want her to see had been laid bare already.

“I was walking back to my truck. I’d stopped to pick up some things at the pharmacy. I heard a noise. Turned and saw Beauden Redd holding a girl much younger than him against a dumpster. She was fighting against him, and he had her mouth covered, muffling it. It wasn’t my fucking business, yet I stood there watching, not sure if I should stop it or move on. Then you turned your head, and those gray eyes met mine. The terror there was something I recognized. I’d seen that in many sets of eyes. But yours… it hit me like a fucking bolt to my chest. I don’t think I was in control much after that moment. I told him to let you go, I told you to run on home. And you went. I could have left then. It was over.

“Beauden began walking away. I followed him. Not sure why, but unable to stop. Your eyes kept flashing in my head. He stopped at his car. I believe he realized I was behind him because he spun around then. Staring at me. His eyes now held the terror. I wondered then if he could see it. The evil inside me. But it was a fleeting thought because I then reached up and snapped his neck.”

Her arms had loosened, and her breathing was less short and fast as she stared at me.

“It was five years before I sought you out. Went to see you. Maybe I could figure out why I’d done it. What about you that had triggered me that day. You were older. Still fucking tiny but no longer a child.”

“The church parking lot,” she said the words, her voice just above a whisper.

I nodded my head once. “And after that day, I found that the need to check on you, watch over you had taken root. I couldn’t fucking stop it. I wasn’t settled until I saw you. Knew you were okay. That you didn’t need me.”

“You’ve… you did that… you’ve been doing that for almost ten years?” her tone was a mixture of amazement and concern.

“Not exactly. For two years, it was regularly, but my violence only escalated the more I watched you. You had become my sole concern. I forced myself to step back. I stopped checking on you daily, and I weened myself, so to speak. Until it was once every few weeks. I did a quick check on you and made sure you were smiling and happy. Had what you needed, wanted.”

She shook her head as her arms fell to her side. “What do you mean? What I wanted? Cookies?”

I chuckled and had to clench my fists to keep from reaching for her. I needed to touch her so fucking bad. Have her pressed against me. “Sure, the cookies.”

“The house. I wanted somewhere to live, and you supplied Maeme and the house. What else,” she pushed.

“Tim Markson. I sent him to Nashville to watch you in that rodeo. I had seen you in several, and I knew you had the potential to be an excellent jockey.”

Her nostrils flared as she inhaled and let out a small laugh. “I had guessed that already. And Shepard’s Ranch. They offered me a job because of you.”

I nodded.

“Is that it?” she asked. “Because I need to know it all. I told myself I didn’t need to know. That the things you’d done were in the past, and I wanted to just live in bliss. Loving you. Happy. I lied to myself. I need to know the things you have done for me.”

I let my gaze travel down her body. The one that belonged to me. And only me. “Your virginity,” I said.

“What does that mean?” she asked me, her eyes narrowing as mine met hers again.

“I asked you if you were a virgin, but I already knew the answer. I had kept boys from ever getting too close. Held back men who thought they had a chance of touching you. They weren’t worthy, and I protected you,” I paused a moment, the memory of the first time I’d sunk my dick into her tight, untouched cunt. “Until you wrapped those sweet fingers around my cock in the shower and asked to lick it. No man was worthy of your innocence, but I took it and made that cunt mine.”

I saw her breathing hitch, and my dick jerked in my pants, hardening from her flushed cheeks. Two more steps, and I could go to my knees and bury my nose in her pussy and smell. She’d be wet.

“Is that it?” her voice gave away her thoughts. My words, the memory of us fucking in the cabin I’d taken her to was making my little doll hot.

I took another step, and when she didn’t move, I closed the space and gripped her chin in my hand, tilting her head back. “Is that pussy wet?” I asked.

She tried to look stern, but the color of her face only grew a shade darker. Then she turned her head as if to break free of my hold. She was gonna make my cock explode with the feisty shit. My trigger was close. I felt the darkness creeping in, excited by her reaction to me. The willfulness that her red cheeks couldn’t mask.

“The boys that came into the ice cream shop,” she asked me then. Those eyes daring me to answer her truthfully. As if the truth would matter.

I tilted my head, my eyes dropping to her mouth. “He grabbed you. Scared you.”

“Yes,” she breathed out. I was fascinated with those lips. I ran my thumb over the bottom one, and my little doll shivered.

“They drove their car off a bridge,” I repeated what I knew she’d heard on the news all those years ago.

Her warm breath heated my skin.

“Did they?” she asked.

I smiled. “Yes, little doll. But they had some help.”

Her eyes closed, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

“Is it so bad that I will do anything to protect you?” I slid a hand between her legs and rubbed at her crotch, finding it damp. That’s right. That’s my girl.

“Thatcher, you can’t. I, the things you did, ah. “ Her hands grabbed my arms and held onto me as she continued. “Please, that’s not. I, you did things. People are hurt, dead.” The words were all pants.

“Mmmhmmm,” I agreed, bending down to nibble on her earlobe. “My demons, little doll. Not yours. Nothing is your fault,” I assured her, having to wrap an arm around her waist to keep her from falling. “Just mine. All mine. I’ll be better. If you’re with me. I’ll be better.” That could very well be a fucking lie, but I was willing to try. If it made her happy.

“The others,” she breathed.

“The past,” I said, slipping my palm down inside the front of her jeans until my middle finger brushed her clit.

“Oh god,” she moaned, leaning into me.

“That’s my sweet girl,” I praised her.

“Thatcher,” my name was a moan on her lips.

I lifted my eyes the moment I felt it. The prickling that we weren’t alone. My eyes locked on her father’s. His jaw tight, body rigid.

Smirking, I slid my hand out of her jeans, sucked my fingers clean, then bent down and scooped her up in my arms, careful to keep him from her line of sight, before walking into the woods with what belonged to me.

Clark Jewel had crossed a line. I had promised Capri I’d be good. And I would be if he kept his distance. If he said one more word to her, then I would make sure that the pastor’s sins found him out.