Lucien The Razorback MC book 1

5

JACKIE's POV:

Cami came home in a world wind, happy that she got to go to the sleepover. I let her look through her bag, and I watched Lucien take a couple calls. She kept talking to him and he would either ignore her or focus on her and ask the guy he was talking to, to repeat himself.

I stepped in and told her to go make sure she had all the things she would need for tonight. Coming back downstairs I saw Lucien off the phone, stirring the stew and I walked over and crossed my arms.

"What?" He asked and I shook my head slowly. "I skipped lunch." He shrugged and I just laughed lightly.

"Dad I am ready to go!" Cami shouted and I looked over to her and watched her bounce around slightly and had her little stuffed dog under her arm and the duffle with all her things over her shoulder.

"Alright, go hop in the car, I will drop you off- wait, you want to change out of the school clothes?" He asked looking at her fully now and licking his finger clean from the juices from the stew.

"Right." She took off, dropping all the things to the floor and her feet carried her up the stairs and I tried to remember the last time I was happy to go anywhere like she was happy.

My brother was supposed to come to dinner, and Lucien was looking forward to it, and I was starting to get nervous. I barely knew anything about him, and his life. I didn't know his best friend; I didn't know his middle name. I didn't know if Cami got to even see her mother. I didn't know where Lucien works, and sure he says he doesn't do anything illegal, but how could I know if I don't know anything about him.

I sat in the car once Cami was ready to go. I waited and watched how we got to the lady’s house, and I saw four moms just standing outside, watching us pull up. Lucien got out, waved to them before getting Cami out. He looked at me through the window as he walked her towards the door. He was let inside to put her bag down as Cami ran to talk to her friends.

I didn't notice the moms walking towards me, and I just rolled down the window since he left the car running. "Hi." I waved as they got closer.

"What is your name?" One asked and her eyes ran over my face and then looked down.

"Jaqueline. Yours?"

"Maggie. I am Heathers mom." She held out her hand and I nodded. "This is Emily, and Daisy. Their kids are Megan and Angela."

"Nice to meet you." I told them and besides the head b***h they seemed interested in me.

"How do I know you? I know I have seen your face around somewhere." Daisy asked me and I ticked her finger on her chin for a couple times before I realized she actually was a regular half the week.

"I own the café closest to the school the kids attend." I told her and her eyes lit up.

"Awesome! I love your hot expresso. And the lemon glaze poppy muffins!" She turned to the others and said that she had tried almost everything I baked personally at the café and I saw a couple interested glances before Lucien walked back towards the car.

"So next weekend you'll be around to take care of our girls at the slumber party at Lucien's home?" Emily asked, somewhat worried, but also interested.

"Yes, I used to go to a lot to make friends since I was a military brat." I told them and before they could ask Lucien called Cami over to say bye and he was saying thank you to Emily for hosting and moved around the car to get inside.

"Are you going to be picking her up at the same time as always?" She asked and Lucien nodded.

"11am on the dot." He told me, even though he was just confirming it for the women watching me.

"When is the café going to reopen? I would love to try the lemon poppy seed muffins." Maggie asked and I just paused.

"Monday. Should be opened back up by then." I told her and she nodded and looked over her shoulder to the kids.

"Well, I will be in to get a great coffee." She told me and I just smiled, and Lucien put the car into gear.

"Nice to meet you ladies." I told them and waved as Lucien took his foot off the break and we started to head off into the open road.

I waited a while before looking over at him. "What?"

"I know I said stuff this morning..." I told him and he glanced at me. 

"Do you not want to go to the patch in party?" He asked me and I just gulped.

"I don't think we should move too fast. I mean, yes we can date, and I will live with you... but once that guy is caught and stuff... maybe I should only visit... you know?" I asked him and he seemed really confused.

"Your house was shot up and the police never even contacted you about it." He told me and I just nodded. "The cops didn't even run the fingerprints through the military database. They wouldn't need your father if they did." He shook his head and I bit my lip.

"I am not saying I go back tonight or tomorrow. I said when he is caught. When I am safe. When you don't need to protect me anymore. We date, and I sleep over occasionally... but all in all I think we should take this all slow."

"How slow?"

"I don't even know your middle name." I laughed and he smirked at me.

"Marcus." He told me and I gulped.

"Where Cami's mother is, if she sees her... if she will want her back and won't want me around her child?" I asked and he took a deep breath.

"I had s*x with a stripper when I was 21. Unprotected... and thankfully the only thing I got out of that was a daughter. Her mother... the stripper, moved states to get out of parenting. She gave me a paper saying she signed away all rights to Camille. As far as I knew about Stephanie... she didn't have any siblings, no cousins, no parents. She was a foster kid who had a rough childhood and she didn't want kids. I tried to make it work with her while she was pregnant, and she did everything she could to ruin Cami... she drank and smoked while pregnant. I never once saw her take a folic acid or a pre-natal vitamin. I though Cami was going to come out half dead. But she came out... perfect." He looked over at me and I gulped hard. "She is gone, and thankfully she got her tubes tied so there is no chance for siblings from her mother’s side."

"She doesn't talk to Cami?" I asked and he shook his head once. "So, she has grown up with no mom... and she gets..."

"She gets me and my brothers at the club. There is Razors... Ryan's sister that used to babysit her when she was still in high school... that is probably the closest thing she had to a mother but she eventually went off the college and hasn't been back in town since. Cami sees her once in a blue moon when she calls Ryan, but I doubt Cami remembers her."

I tried to think about what Cami might have gone through, what she thinks in her mind about why she doesn't have a mom. I felt a couple tears rise but I knew that Cami was loved by everyone, including her dad. She didn't feel like a part of her was missing. She was very happy for that. 

I sat back and waited until we got back to Lucien's home. I sent my brother a text saying to come to the address for an early dinner because we were going to a party, and he responded that dad identified the man, but had no idea where he could be living since the kid had been dishonorably discharged for something or other. I rolled my eyes and reminded Avery not to bring dad along for dinner. 

"Babe, I am going to shower very quickly. I will be back down in 15 minutes at most, and then we can talk about this whole going slow thing you want." Lucien came closer, kissed my lips quick and turned to take the stairs two at a time.

"Going slow." I whispered and nodded. Trying to keep that in mind since I did bring it up. It had to be done. I couldn't get attached to him and his sweet little girl when I barely knew them. I didn't know if he liked to hit women or gamble or if he did hardcore drugs.

Not that there were any signs of any of that... but he could hide all of that from the house and bring it out at the MC.

What am I getting myself into?

LUCIEN's POV:

I got undressed and turned on the water in the shower. A colder warm shower and started to clean myself off. I got gunk from a lady’s oil tank that hadn't been changed in over two years. I had to scrape it clean and most of it needed just my fingers. I got the soap and made sure to clean everything, even behind my ears. 

I got out and walked from my bathroom to my bedroom and looked through my clothes. Grabbing my white T, my jeans and a pair of socks I dressed and walked back down the stairs. My hair needed a new cut, but I would worry about that some other time.

I walked into the kitchen and sat down as I watched Jackie get three bowls down, take out three spoons and I just watched her walk around the kitchen. She knew the place like the back of her hand already, and I had to wonder why all of a sudden, she wanted to take things slow.

"Come sit down... talk to me." I told her and she turned with everything in hand and sat beside me at the table. I took that as a good sign since she didn't sit all the way across the table from me.

"You don't know my middle name. You don't know if I want kids, or if I like them. You don't know if I would use you for money... or total your car. You don't know if I have another man on the side, you don't know..."

"I can tell a lot about you Jackie." I cut her off and shook my head slightly. "You don't like to drive, but you can. I can tell that by how you look into my mirror when I shift lanes and you are double checking that it's clear. I can tell you at least like kids with how you have treated my daughter. If you didn't you wouldn't have offered to help me host a slumber party. Why would you use me for money when you have a very good business? And as for another man... you would have called him as soon as something happened to you. Instead you let me take care of you." I paused all of her thoughts and she gulped and bit her lip. "However, ... I did tell you my middle name, so how about you tell me yours."

"Marianne." She rolled her eyes, but I found it quite cute she was a little embarrassed.

"Now... tell me other things... reasons why this should go slow."

"Because you have a daughter that might not like me in two months." She told me and I clenched my jaw and sighed.

"Cami... she likes everyone. I haven't come across one person she doesn't like because they did something to her. A boy in her class last year, tied her shoelaces together and she fell, she told me last week she had a crush on him... I highly doubt she could not like you in two months." I explained and she blinked slowly before looking me in the eye.

"What if you don't like me in two months?" She asked and I winced inside myself knowing I should have seen that coming.

"Honey... I have been trying to learn your name for 6 months. I see you every day. I see how you treat your staff. I see you without makeup, I have seen you with makeup. I now have seen you in sweats, and in leggings and in jeans. Maybe in two months I find out that I don't like the way your floss your teeth or leave your hair in my comb... but that is something we can work through."

"What if I told you I usually don't last long in any relationship?" She asked and tilted her head.

"I would ask why." I told her and she nodded slowly and looked at her hands before up at me.

"My father. When I was young... I was never allowed to date, and when I did and he found out, I had to break up with him. I had to find a fault in the person I liked or loved or whatever... and ever since I went to college away from him and started my own life... whenever I find something I don't like in the man I am dating... it's like he is in my head, telling me that I am better than this... that I shouldn't settle for a man who doesn't clean out his car so it smells like last week’s sushi, or the fact that his cat likes to sleep on the pillow I sleep on when I sleep over... and that means I get a small couch pillow..."

"What kind of men have you been with?" I asked her disgusted a little bit myself.

"That was like college and right out of college. Two men who I loved or started to love, and one flaw and I had no more feelings. I didn't like them; I didn't want them around me. I didn't want to see them ever again." She explained and I gulped and looked around my house.

"You came into this house, saw Cami's mess and helped clean it. Is that what you think is going to start to annoy you and not want to be here?"

"No! She is a child, and I have dated men with kids before... mostly older men with tweens..." She shrugged and I waited. "The kids were never the problem. It was mostly the ex-wife’s or the way he would talk to them." She rolled her eyes at a memory and I had to wonder what it was like in her mind. What she would find in my life that she would hate.

"So, you already know what will bother you for me?" I asked and she shook her head. "Then why say that is going to happen at all?"

"Because I know myself. I don't want to get really close to Cami and fall in love with you and then have that happen. I just don't think we should rush into all of this. I need to date you, to find out what I like and might hate about you." She told me and I felt like it was a little weird that she already could tell she would hate something about me, but I just nodded and agreed with her.

"Fine... when you are safe, and you can go back home... we will date. And take things slow. You can help with the sleep overs and we can work our way up to living together." I told her and she sighed and had a small smile as she shook her head. "What?"

"What if you end up not liking something about me?" She asked and I smiled slightly.

"There is probably nothing about you I might not like." I told her and she just rolled her eyes.

"Maybe it will be your optimism that gets me." She told me and I leaned forward and set my lips on hers.

"My optimism is never wrong." I winked at her and she smiled even wider. Before she could respond my lips were back on hers and I reached out and set my hands on her hips, pulling her up and then onto my lap. Just when I was going to lean her onto the table, I heard the bell for the gate, and she gasped.

"That has to be my brother." She told me and I just nodded and let her stand up. "I am going to fix my lipstick, wipe your mouth." She reached to do it for me, and I just watched her panic for a moment before the bell rang again. "He is so impatient." She growled out and I had to admit that was sexy. She was sexy when she was angry.

She finished cleaning my face and got off my lap. I went to the front door and opened it to see her brother on the other side of my gate. "Hi." I nodded to him and he nodded back.

"My sister said I didn't have to bring anything, but I brought her favorite." He handed over a bottle of Jameson and I smiled slightly and waved him in. "Lucien... is there a nickname I can call you?"

"Luke." I offered out and he held out his hand for me again. I shook it and this time he didn't squeeze too tight, or rather at all.

"This is a nice place, high in rent?" He asked me and I shook my head.

"It was my mother’s home before she died, left it to me." I told him and he whistled as he got inside a bit more and saw Barbie's and my daughters backpack.

"Got a kid huh?" He asked nodding to it and I nodded.

"A daughter. She had a sleepover tonight. She's already there." I told him and he nodded and looked around.

"I am guessing my sister cleaned up." He laughed lightly and I nodded. "Yeah... my room used to look like this after I had a soccer game and she stayed home." He looked around and saw the movies she had finished putting back. s**t, she did a better job than I ever had. "She probably put them in order and classified them into little categories. Like comedy, romcom, scary, and paranormal." He told me and I just smiled.

"For her safety, I asked her to stay in the house yesterday, and I came home to this." I told him and he laughed.

"I told her to go into something like housecleaning... it calms her down and she is always so good-"

"Stop talking." I looked back and saw Jackie walking towards her brother with a glare. She had a pair of jeans over her curvy hips, her shirt was modest, but I could still tell how big her t**s were and the fact she was wearing a lacey bra. I wanted to know how I didn't see her pack that when we were at her house the other day.

"What? We were just talking about how you clean." Avery laughed and looked at me before looking towards her.

"You were being mean." She told him and moved into give him a hug before sighing.

"So, what happened with your pops and the cops?" I asked hoping something had progressed.

"They told him that all viable fingerprints before a 'thug'," He used air quotes and sighed, "were now smudged, they didn't get yours fully either." He told them and I cursed under my breathe before shaking my head. No wonder they hadn't f*****g contacted us about a military ID to come look at. It should have been fast. f*****g cops should have told us that earlier.

"But dad told them his name from the sketches, right?" I looked at Jackie and saw that she was hoping what she said was true.

"Nope. Said he could not confirm a simple sketch, he asked to see the video." Avery crossed his arms and I remembered right away that Jackie told the cops that there wasn't one damn camera in the place.

"I don't have any surveillance."

"Guess what's going to f*****g change very soon?" She set her eyes on me and glared.

"I don't need-"

"If an asshole can come into your shop and point a gun at you... I am pretty f*****g sure you need a f*****g camera." I told her and her eyes narrowed even more. I raised my voice, letting her know there would be no f*****g argument about this.

"You are so -"

"Right." Avery butted in and she looked from both of us and I smirked, happy, just a little bit, that he was agreeing with me. She couldn't really argue with both of us, right?

"Let's just eat." She shook her head and turned, her hips swaying and her painted on jeans giving me nothing left to imagine underneath except what her panties might look like.

She looked over her shoulder and caught me and just shook her head. A man like me could only handle so much sass, and it could only be made up for by a great ass. And Jackie's ass.... it could make up for a lot. Just not anymore lip about her protection.

I looked over to her brother when he cleared his throat and I shrugged and followed my chick into my kitchen and sat at the table. She sat on my left and Avery moved to sit across from her. 

"So... how is dad supposed to identify the man?" Jackie asked and I saw it on Avery's face before he could even say it.

"He is going to be waiting around here until he gets a glimpse of the kid himself."

"He can't be serious." Jackie ground her teeth and I saw Avery give her a look and then he looked at me like he wasn't sure of something.

"You know dad... he needs to be sure." He moved his shoulders around before he looked at me. 

"Needs to be sure my ass." Jackie said before standing and waving her hand at her brother. I watched her dish his before she got my bowl and pour the stew inside before dishing herself.

My lady needed fun. She should not be serving us; she should not be cleaning my house... she should be relaxing and dancing and drinking. I was going to show her a f*****g good time at the patch in party in an hour.