Sophie Oak: Siren Beloved

“You’re welcome.” Jack took up his prior position behind Julian. He loomed over her like a really big hawk staring down at something he wanted to protect. She always felt so damn safe with Jack Barnes. It was precisely the reason she felt bad about letting the man down. When would she get her shit straight? She was twenty-six. It was way past time to know what she was doing in life. Most of her old friends were getting married and settling down. Lexi was just adrift.

“I’m terminating your rights in this club, Alexis.” Julian pronounced her sentence with what almost seemed like sympathy coming from him. His voice was softer than she ever remembered it sounding.

She’d expected it, but the decision hit her squarely in the gut. This was the place Lucas felt most at home, and now she couldn’t come here anymore. Fuck . She was going to lose Lucas. Her heart seized. She set the coffee back down on the desk untouched. She welcomed the physical pain her headache brought because it took her mind off the devastation Julian’s pronouncement brought her. And yet she knew begging wouldn’t work with Julian.

“All right. I understand.” She managed to stand, though her legs were a bit wobbly. She had one thought in her brain at this point. Get out with some semblance of dignity. “I appreciate it, Julian. Jack, please say hello to my mother. Tell her I can’t come down this weekend. I…I just can’t.”

“Lexi,” her stepfather said with a frown that told her just how tired he was. He must have driven here in the middle of the night. “Sit down. I don’t think Julian is done yet.”

“Oh, I think he’s done.” Lucas’s voice rang out through the room.

Lexi turned back, and he was standing there in the doorway looking tired and unkempt. His normally perfect clothes were wrinkled, and his handsome face was marred with worry and no small amount of indignation. She’d seen this look on Lucas’s face when he felt justice wasn’t being served. She wanted more than anything to run to him and fling herself against his strong body. She wanted to bury her head in Lucas’s shoulder and cry her eyes out. Lucas was her protector, her best friend, her whole stinking world, and now, as she sat looking at him, she wondered if she even deserved him.

“Lucas,” Julian said, that single eyebrow arching. “I was told you and Finn would be at least another day in Chicago.”

“Yeah, I bet you were,” Lucas said, stalking into the office. He made a direct line for her. “You want to explain to me why you have my sub in your office without the courtesy of a fucking phone call? I had to find out from Finn who found out from Dani.”

“Both of whom will get a stern talking to from me.” Julian had gone positively glacial. “I did not call you, Lucas, because she is not wearing your collar. I called her closest male relative. It’s what I do. Call me what you like, but I believe in the traditional ways. Jackson is her father. As she has no permanently contracted Dom, I called him in because she’s in trouble. Would you prefer I simply shoved her on the street? I don’t do that with family. Alexis, would you have preferred I called in your mother?”

Dear god, no . That would be so much worse. “I don’t suppose you could simply consider me an adult and just talk to me?”

“Heavens no, dear. After last night, I don’t consider you a functional adult at all.”

Well, she’d brought that one on herself.

Lucas’s hand reached down to grasp her own. “Come on, Lexi. We’re leaving. If Julian can’t honor my rights, we’ll find someplace else.”

Jack stepped forward. “You are not taking my daughter to another club, is that understood?”

Lucas’s jaw settled in a firm, stubborn line. “She’s mine, and I’ll do what I think is best with her. I’ve taken care of her for years, Jack. Fucking years. So you will back off. She belongs to me. And I quit. You can find another goddamn lawyer, brother.”

Whoa . Lexi pulled away from Lucas. What was wrong with him? He loved Jack. He practically worshipped the ground the man walked on, and he was willing to walk away from him? Lexi shook her head. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She’d already cost a man his job. She couldn’t cost Lucas his relationship with Jack.

She looked at Julian, well aware that she was practically begging. “Please, let me make this up to you. I’ll do anything. Don’t let this happen.”

Jack and Lucas were staring each other down. They looked like the same damn man, just at different stages of life. Jack had ten plus years on Lucas, but they had the same eyes and face, and the same stubborn glare.

“Well, I wasn’t allowed to finish,” Julian said with a sigh. The testosterone flowing around the room didn’t seem to bother him at all. “I was about to map out a plan that would give you access to The Club again.”

“She doesn’t need access to a place that doesn’t appreciate her,” Lucas snarled Julian’s way.

“Nor does she need someone who enables her every self-destructive tendency,” Jack snapped right back. “I love you, Lucas. You’re my blood, my brother. She’s my daughter in every sense but biology, but I’m starting to wonder if the two of you aren’t going to be the death of each other.”

“You stay out of my relationship with Lexi!”

She moved between the two men. “Stop, please. Can we just hear Julian out?”

Lucas looked like he was ready to continue the argument, but Jack took a step back. Lexi put a hand on Lucas’s chest and realized she’d brought him here. She’d brought him here with all the things she wasn’t willing to say to him. She’d never told him she loved him with all her heart. After that terrible day when Aidan had left her, she’d shut down and simply accepted Lucas’s love without really giving him much back. The time had come to move past what she’d lost. She needed to decide if she was brave enough to try a real life with Lucas and that included this club.

“Please sit with me.” She knew how to get to Lucas. She softened against him. She put her arms around him and let herself sag into his strength. Just like that, the fight went out of him, and his hands found her hair.

“All right, baby. I’ll listen, but I reserve the right to pick you up and walk out. We can find somewhere else.” His words were soft against her ear, and he settled into the chair next to her. He held her hand as they looked to Julian. As always, Lucas was the strong presence anchoring her. He’d been her best friend for the majority of her adult life. He’d stood beside her when he wasn’t even sure why she needed him. It was way past time to stand up and be brave, and that meant facing the music with Julian Lodge and her stepfather.

There wasn’t anywhere else. This was home. She wasn’t going to get kicked out of her home. “What do I need to do?”

Julian Lodge leaned forward and began to speak.

Lucas kept his eyes on the road in front of him, though every other cell of his being was intently thinking about the woman in the seat beside him.

Jack was right, damn him. Lexi was going to be the death of him. Why had he left Dallas? He’d known she’d been on edge the last week. Why had he thought he could waltz off to Chicago?

“It isn’t your fault, Lucas.” Lexi sounded tired.

“I wasn’t thinking it was,” he lied.

She laughed, but it held not an ounce of humor. “Yes, you were. I can tell from the way you’re holding the steering wheel. You’re wondering why you left me alone. Let me tell you why. You left because you have a job to do, and it isn’t babysitting a stubborn woman twenty-four-seven. I don’t want a babysitter. I want a friend, and I need to be one, too. I did the crime. I’ll do the time.”