by M J Marino
“Do I need to remind you that ‘leech’ is also responsible for ending my blacklist days?”
“He’s not the hero here, Jo. He may try to spin himself as one, but the only reason you were on that list to begin with was because of him.”
Jared has been my closest friend since moving to Colorado. It’s not uncommon for the two of us to go out drinking at the end of the week and bitch about our past partners—meaning Jared knows nearly as much about my relationship with Jacob as I do.
Eager to get on with it, I give Jared a sad smile, grab my cell in case Punk needs to get a hold of me, and go greet my ex.
Jacob is up and out of the car as soon as he sees me. I expected the happy-as-fuck smile on his face, but I wasn’t expecting him to be so damn grabby. He catches me by the shoulders and pulls me into a death grip against his lean body the second the car door closes.
Jacob presses his nose in my hair. “Damn, Jo. It’s good to see you,” he says, and kisses the top of my head, breathing me in.
He’s being way too chummy for my comfort. I firmly push away from him, but I control the revulsion on my face. “Glad you made the trip.” I look down at his shoes and shake my head.
Jacob is dressed like architectural engineers—dress shirt, dress slacks, and loafers. We are in the field, not the fucking office. I dress for the job—ripped up skinny jeans, black tank top, construction boots and pigtail braids are my normal on-site attire. I’m tempted to ask him if he wants to change his clothes first, but what the hell do I care.
“Let me show you what you’re walking into,” I say without emotion as I hand him a hard hat and wave for him to follow me around the build site.
Jacob is openly impressed with what my crew has accomplished in two weeks. I take him around and introduce him to my crew members. Maybe it’s Jacob’s uppity demeanor that is off-putting, but none of my workers appear receptive toward him, Jared especially. He turns and walks the other way when I try to introduce them. I expect the hostility from Jared since he’s aware of our history, but how the other members of the crew are behaving gives me pause. How will they respond to Jacob when I’m not on-site?
It probably doesn’t help Jacob’s case when I slap his hand away multiple times in front of my workers when he tries to take my hand. We’re no longer lovers—hell, we aren’t even friends. This is a business deal only. Why the fuck is Jacob acting like there’s more between us? It’s unnerving.
After a full tour of the project, I’m about to take him into the trailer—which Jared and I are using as our on-site office. I’m going to show him the plans I refused to until he was here—call me protective about my work all you want, I wasn’t going to give the asshole an opportunity to steal any more shit from me—when I hear the roar of a motorcycle pulling onto the property.
Expecting to see one of the MC members rolling in, I turn toward the approach. My heart completely stops as I take in the glorious figure on the bike.
Maceo rolls up to the trailer in black tactical clothing and aviator glasses, hiding his dark eyes, which I’m sure are glowering at me right now. His hair has grown as well as his beard, which is very full after being away for three weeks. He looks hot as hell as he climbs off his bike and stalks toward me like a lion approaching his prey. He rubs his massive chest with one of his hands as he makes his way, like his heart has been hurting as much as mine.
Well, boo-fucking-hoo. The alpha asshole stepped all over my heart first!
I hoped for one more week before he returned, like Punk originally told me. Alas, it looks like Maceo’s team was able to accomplish the mission early. He’s dressed like he wrapped up the job and immediately boarded a plane home without changing out of his gear.
My heart squeezes back to life, painfully, with each step he takes toward me. Time away from him has done absolutely nothing to steel me against his aura. A sinking feeling grows in the pit of my stomach. I’m nowhere near over him. Hell, is it a lost cause?
Maceo doesn’t stop until he’s standing over me. He pushes his sunglasses over his thick hair. “Pixie,” he purrs, making a fire to burn low in my body.
“Atlas,” I say evenly, hypnotized by his dark gaze.
Jacob looks between the two of us, as if finally realizing this giant man is the client. The one I told him I was having issues with. “Hi, Atlas,” he says with a cheery voice, holding out his hand. “Jacob Klein. Really excited to start working with you on this project.”
Maceo glares at Jacob like he’s an insect to squash. He looks down at Jacob’s hand, which he lets hang there. “Yes, I’m well aware of who you are.”
Jacob’s swallow is audible.
Maceo turns his fierce gaze on me. “What the fuck is this?” he says nodding toward Jacob.
“Atlas—” I begin, but I’m cut off.
“I’ve fucking told you that you, only you, call me Maceo,” he spits through his teeth.
“Mr. Atlas, please, let me explain. Jo asked me here to help with—” Jacob tries to clarify his presence using his most confident voice, sensing I’m in the crossfire of Maceo’s rage.
But Maceo interrupts by raising his hand and unleashing his fury on him. “Was I fucking speaking to you?”
Jacob’s mouth clamps shut instantly. This kind of hostility from clients is brand-spanking-new for him.
Maceo’s upright hand forms into a fist before he extends his index finger and shakes it, warning Jacob to stay silent. The cords in his thick neck are strained, and Maceo tries to control his rage. “Excuse us a moment, Jake,” Maceo says in a condescending tone.
“Oh, it’s Jacob,” Jacob corrects.
Maceo takes me firmly, but not painfully, by the elbow and leads me a good fifty feet away. He rips off his sunglasses from his head and hangs them on his shirt, then leans into my personal space, practically engulfing me with his frame. “Care to explain why your fucking ex is here on my property?”
I inhale through my nose, squaring my shoulders and looking up at him. “I’ve asked him here to consult on this project in my absence.”
Maceo does a double take. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Given the current circumstances between us, I believe it is in the best interest of the project to bring in a third party as acting engineer to avoid further confrontation. He will be present from now ‘till completion of the build,” I say.
“Over my dead body!” He seethes, making me nearly jump out of my construction boots. “I didn’t hire that loafer-dick. I signed a contract with you. You, Josephine! If I wanted a different engineer, I would have hired a different one. I gave this to you. You don’t get to make the call of passing it on to someone else now.”
“I’m well within my rights of the contract to bring in anyone I want to help consult on this build,” I say, in a slightly louder voice.
He runs a shaky hand through his hair, panic taking over his face. “Did he sign a deal with you? How long has he been here?”
“No. We haven’t done any formalities yet because he only showed up today, but this is happening,” I yell back. To hell with professionalism right now. I’m too livid to give a shit.
“Nope, not going to happen. I will fucking pull the plug on this whole operation, if that—” he shouts while pointing a thick finger over my head at Jacob. “—fucker stays on this job. It’s you or nothing. This is not negotiable, Josephine. Send the prick back to San-fucking-Diego or I will personally take him there myself.”
Fear washes over me. Maceo’s within his rights to back out of the deal as long as he pays for material and services rendered. If it was just me I would tell him to go ahead, but I have a general contractor and two different crews relying on this job. I can’t do this to them.
“Are you seriously threatening me right now? You know my crew needs this job. Take your anger out on me all you want but leave them the hell out of it. You’re being fucking unreasonable,” I scream at him.
“I’m being unreasonable? How the fuck shou
ld I react after not hearing back from you for two fucking weeks? Rolling up to my land to see that prick hanging all over you? Eye-fucking you like you’re still his when you’re damn well mine. Tell me what man would fucking sit back and allow that shit to fly. I’m not fucking threatening. I’m making a damn promise. It’s either him or the build, you choose,” he snarls.
I’m literally shaking with fury. The nerve of him to call me his, claiming me like a fucking cave-man, pisses me off like nothing else. He fucking had me and threw me away.
“I was fucking worried sick about you for five days. I barely slept, hardly ate, and then I find out you were ignoring me. You deserved the silent treatment. Ugh! You’re such a hypocritical asshole!”
“You’re goddamn right I am! Now send the fucker on his way or God help me, Josephine, I will throw his ass out and you know I will,” he thunders. “Nobody, and I mean nobody, can have what’s mine. And that’s you, Pixie!”
Blood rushes to my head. That’s it! “I’m not a fucking possession, Maceo!”
Maceo anger slips and he looks regretful. “Of course, you’re not a possession, but did you give me your heart or not?”
“I—” I try to deny it and can’t.
Maceo sees me hesitate and his ebony eyes fill with relief. “You see? You’re my woman and that dipshit is trying to weasel his way into your life again. I fucking refuse it.”
“Everything alright here, Keebler?” Jacob says with a bounce in his step as he approaches us, acting completely oblivious to whole situation.
Maceo’s eyes narrow and his nostrils flare. He turns his whole body to face Jacob, forcing me behind him. Yeah, this isn’t going to be pretty. Now I’m the one grabbing onto his elbow, suddenly panicked with how Maceo will respond to Jacob.
Maceo’s fists clench at his sides. “What the fuck did you call her?” I yank helplessly on him, anything to shake him out of his rage. But Maceo doesn’t budge.
Jacob’s eyes widen and his hands go up in surrender. “Man, take it easy. It’s only a nickname,” he says in a slightly higher voice, and lets out a nervous laugh.
“Well, it fucking sucks. Does she look like an ugly cartoon to you? Don’t call her that again. It’s fucking disrespectful. She’s Jo to you, and only Jo,” he snaps, shaking his head angrily.
Jacob looks at me with wide eyes. “O-kay.”
“You alright, boss?” one of my crew members calls out.
My attention was completely focused on keeping Maceo from strangling Jacob. I didn’t notice the little militia of my construction workers forming around us, ready to swoop in and help me. Over half my crew members have stopped working and are slowly easing their way toward us, tools in hand. Jared is among them with a hammer in tow.
I need to do damage control, stat.
“It’s all good gentlemen, just a misunderstanding. Please, return to your duties. I’ll be around shortly to go over details and answer questions about the project,” I say diplomatically.
My crew doesn’t move on, not until I give them all a little nod of reassurance. Jared is the only one to keep pushing toward us till he’s standing beside me. With how tense the current situation is, I’m grateful for his presence.
“Name’s Jared,” he says nodding to Maceo and Jacob. “I’m Jo’s general contractor. Wanted to make sure we’re all on board going forward.”
“Hi, Jared. I’m Jacob, the consulting engineer,” Jacob says, leaning forward to shake hands.
“The fuck you are,” Maceo growls at him.
Jacob looks up in surprise at Maceo. He eyes up Maceo, suspiciously.
Jared looks between the two men then down at me, giving me a shrug. “You’re the boss,” Jared says to me with a sympathetic look before looking up at Maceo. “But Atlas is the client, and if he’s not happy with the arrangement then we can’t move forward.”
I all but bare my teeth at Jared. Traitorous bastard!
I should have known Jared would pull something like this. In his eyes we got what we needed out of Jacob when the blackball was lifted. He wasn’t on board with bringing on Jacob in the first place, but he doesn’t know the full story behind Maceo and I either.
I fold my arms over my chest and roll my eyes skyward before looking back at the three men in front of me.
Maceo has relaxed and is grinning at Jared like he found a new best friend. Jared tries to hide his obvious relief, kicking Jacob off the project, but he doesn’t conceal his smile well. And Jacob looks to be in shock. This is probably the first project he’s been fired from, and he hadn’t even started.
Jacob turns his stunned face to me. “I guess since my services are no longer needed, I’ll be on my way,” he says. “Jo, can I have a word?” He walks ahead not waiting for me to follow.
Fuck. I glare at both Maceo and Jared. Seeing Jared and Maceo acting all chummy together, I’m sure Jared’s figured out something sexual happened between us. He’s mentioned many times I needed to get back on the horse and find a new man—well, apparently Maceo is that man.
Turning on my heels to follow Jacob to his rental car, I can still hear the two of them talking.
“What’s your poison?” Maceo asks.
“Scotch,” Jared replies.
“I owe you a case.”
“You don’t owe me shit. I was happy to get rid of the fucker. He doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near our Jo. But please don’t fucking set her off anymore today. I’m trying to make her take off for the weekend. We all need a rest. Seal me the weekend off for all of us, and we’re square,” he says.
“Done,” Maceo states.
My jaw ticks with annoyance.
Once at the car, I find myself eating crow. “I apologize, Jacob. I didn’t expect this big of a backlash. I’ll reimburse you for travel expenses and your time.”
“Don’t worry about reimbursement. I’ll stop at the Denver project in the next few days and write it off as a business expense. But I see why you called in for some help. I totally get your communication issue with the dude. He seems fucking violent. Are you sure you’re okay doing this solo? I don’t want to leave you here if you’re unsafe,” Jacob asks, with an edge of hostility, or maybe concern, in his voice.
I shake my head. “I’m fine, Jacob. Yes, he can be an asshole, but I’ve dealt with assholes before. Trust me, he’s harmless.”
Yeah, he’s only ripped out my heart after he told me he wouldn’t—completely harmless otherwise.
“I don’t know, Jo. The way he looks at you and yells…it seemed pretty possessive,” he says with an icy tone as he glares over my head at Maceo.
You have no idea. “Atlas is very particular on what he wants and who works for him. I’m sorry this didn’t work out,” I try to pacify.
Jacob’s cold blue eyes focus back on me before softening. He takes one of my hands in his. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out either. I was looking forward to being on a team with you again. You know, you can always come back. After how you helped me and the firm out the past week, they wouldn’t fight me if I said I wanted you on my team again.”
“Not needed, but thank you, Jacob. I’m right where I need to be.” There’s no way in hell I would return to the company and work under you.
Still holding my hand, Jacob gives me a crooked smile. This smile would have had my stomach fluttering only a year ago. It does nothing for me now.
“I’m staying at the Hilton. Maybe we can see each other before I head back out, catch up and maybe talk out some of our issues,” he suggests.
I cringe inwardly. Hard pass. “I can’t, Jacob, and you know why.”
His brows furrow, but he nods once. Before he releases me, he bends down to kiss me. I turn my head and his lips brush my cheek instead. Jacob backs away with an angry grimace, but he says nothing else as he climbs in his rental and circles out of the build site.
When I turn around to give Maceo another tongue-lashing, he’s already striding toward me. He hauls me over his shoulder like a Neanderthal. My
hard hat hits the ground with a thud, and I’m instantly kicking and punching him.
“Goddamnit, Maceo! Put me the fuck down.”
There’s a loud slap, and my ass is burning.
Oh! Why did something painful like him spanking me make my lady-bits tremble? I shelf my arousal and focus on my anger.
“Ow! How dare you fucking spank me, you dickhead!”
Another slap follows, stinging. I squeal in protest. “Fuck you, Atlas!” Christ, my panties are soaked.
Suddenly, I’m back on my feet in front of Maceo and his bike. He swings himself over the seat, pointing for me to get on.
Defiant as always, I turn on my heels to walk away, but he grabs me before I can take my first step and hauls me over the back of his bike. I barely have time to grab hold of him before he’s revving the engine and speeding away.
I have no idea where he’s taking me and I don’t even care, because as mad as I’ve been with him over the last three weeks, I can’t deny the fact my heart is too fucking happy, pressed against his back.
Maybe Maceo plans to make the past three weeks up to me. Maybe—and it’s a big fucking maybe—I’ll let him.
Chapter Seven
Maceo
Goddamnit, this woman infuriates me like no one else. I can barely contain my anger to control the speed of my bike, racing away with Josephine at my back where she belongs.
I admit it. I fucked up when I left on my mission. I was working on autopilot like I always do when on an assignment. I had every intention of spending the night with Josephine before Gauge’s text came through.
Gauge wasn’t exaggerating when he texted SOS. We reserve that message for the worst of the worst missions. It means grab your shit and go. You find out the details as you head to the destination.
In my head, I thought I explained it well enough to her, but I forgot she wasn’t accustomed to the ways of the MC. There’s no explaining needed for other MC members. We all know the drill.
I’ve never had to explain the who, what, when, where, and how of the itinerary to a woman. Telling her I had to bounce and giving her a kiss goodbye without explaining what was happening was a complete failure on my part. I should have taken a minute to fill her in. I was leaving for a serious job where I would be unable to contact her.