I was still trembling from how close I’d come. They’d been talking, in the back of the van, about how they’d hand me over to Volos. But not before they’d taken their frustrations out on me for escaping. They’d planned to take me back to their clubhouse, throw me down on the pool table and—
I squeezed my eyes closed and tightened my arms around Carrick’s hard body.
Pulling into the compound felt different, this time. The fences felt good—safe. Even the clubhouse felt solid and secure, not claustrophobic. Carrick and the others marched straight to the carved wooden doors of the meeting room and pushed them open. I caught a glimpse of a huge table surrounded by chairs.
“Wait out here,” Carrick told me over his shoulder. And then the doors closed behind them and I was alone in the main room, standing in sudden silence.
I knew it was some sort of private meeting but I figured they must be talking about me. I crept closer but the doors were thick, heavy wood. I could hear the rumble of deep male voices but no words.
I crouched in front of the doors and pressed my ear to the wood. That was better. I could make out Carrick’s Irish-tinged voice and just the sound of it made me go weak. He sounded so mad, so utterly determined to protect me. He was telling the others what happened the night of the auction—
A hand grabbed my shoulder, hauled me to my feet and spun me around.
I was suddenly face-to-face with a woman in her sixties, with long silver hair that fell almost to her ass. She was wearing blue jeans, a soft plaid shirt and she looked pissed. “What in God’s name’s going through your head, girl?” she asked in a fierce whisper. “You can’t listen to that!”
She hauled me across the room to the bar to put some distance between us and the door. Then she let me go and I stumbled to a stop. The woman let out an exasperated breath and glared at me, but then her eyes softened a little. “What goes on in that room is damn near sacred,” she explained.#p#分页标题#e#
I nodded quickly. “Sorry.” Then I realized something. “You’re....Mom.”
She smiled. “And you must be the one Carrick brought back from Teston.” She looked me up and down. “Yeah, now I see why.”
I flushed. What was that supposed to mean? I glanced at the door to the meeting room. “I don’t want to cause them trouble,” I mumbled. “I feel like I’ve dragged them into this. That’s why I was listening.”
Mom raised an eyebrow. “Girl, if those boys have decided they’re going to protect you, you’d better thank your lucky stars and accept it, ‘cause you ain’t gonna change their minds.” She paused. “Carrick, especially. Once that one sets his sights on something….” She trailed off but kept staring at me and I flushed again. Then she jerked her head towards the main doors. “Come outside. You look like you could use some tea.”
Moments later, we were sitting in the double wide trailer Carrick had shown me. At least half of it was filled by a huge kitchen, with eight propane-fueled gas burners and enough counter space to plate up a meal for twenty. There was a snug little bedroom, a bathroom and the rest was the living area. I sat facing Mom on an old, very comfortable purple couch. Mom caught me frowning at it. “You’re not crazy,” she told me. “It is too big to get through the door. The boys took the whole side of the trailer off for me, slid it in and then bolted the place back together.”
It had been worth it. It was the sort of couch you disappeared into. I could feel myself relaxing...and then it got even better. A gorgeous gray cat leaped up onto the seat next to me, padded onto my lap and curled up there, claiming it for his own. His collar read Mr. Fluffy.
I put my hand on his back: he had the softest fur I’d ever felt. Stroking him was addictive and rewarded by purrs. I felt myself relaxing even more...and I suddenly got the feeling that a lot of people had sat there before me, telling Mom their problems. “Carrick said you look after them?” I asked.
“I feed ‘em, fix their clothes, hear their woes. Tell them what to do when they fall for the wrong one, or get her pregnant. Most of these boys ain’t got much in the way of family.”
I frowned. “But how did you wind up here?”
She grinned and leaned close. “I’m Ox’s mom,” she whispered. “But the big lunk doesn’t like to be reminded of it.”
I blinked. Ox? That walking wall of muscle?
She handed me a cup of honey-sweetened tea. As I sipped, she said, “Carrick’s quite a catch.”
I coughed and spluttered tea everywhere, then flushed beet-red. “I don’t think I’ve...um…caught—”