There wasn’t any movement downstairs, so I didn’t think my mom had even gotten out of bed. Now that everything had calmed down, and the funeral was over, everyone went back to their lives doing whatever it was they normally did. And my mom was alone.
There wouldn’t be anything to keep my mom busy and she would finally really grieve. It made me sad to think about it. I should probably be spending time with her instead of running off with Pike.
I wondered if she had even gotten out of bed. The house was so quiet that I started to worry about her. Even though it was probably going to be a mistake, I went to check on her.
I knocked softly on her door, “Mom?” She didn’t answer, so I knocked again.
“What is it?”
“Is everything OK?”
“Just tired…,” she said, her voice sounding weak.
“Can I get you anything? Do you want to talk?”
“Not now, maybe later. I just need more rest. Thanks dear.”
I let out a soft sigh and touched the door, “Hmm… OK. Let me know if you need anything.”
I stepped back out into the living room and looked up the stairs. Jake was probably still asleep and my dad was probably working in his office.
It didn’t feel great to leave the house. I was worried about her, but she could call if she needed me. And Jake and my dad would be here.
I checked my hair in the mirror one more time. My hair was fine, but the worried expression was something I couldn’t do anything about.
It felt weird that I didn’t have to sneak out of the house. I opened the front door and stepped out onto the front porch quietly closing the door behind me.
When I was about ten steps away from the house, I almost expected someone to open the door and shout at me to come back. But no one did. Maybe they wouldn’t even notice I was gone.
I took a deep breath and walked down the rest of the yard and onto the sidewalk. It was a beautiful sunny day with a light, cool breeze and it put a smile on my face. Or maybe it was the fact that I would see Pike soon that made me smile.
At the end of the block, I saw Mr. Jenkins watering his flowers. We’d been neighbors all our lives.
“Morning,” I said with a small wave and a smile as I walked by. He looked at me and barely raised his head for a nod. It seemed strange but maybe he just hadn’t remembered me.
I shook off the strangeness of it and kept walking. It felt as though Pike lived miles away. Even though I was walking, it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. It was like walking on a treadmill.
I was excited to see him again, more than I thought I’d be, but I’d be leaving soon. Seeing him again was only going to make everything harder. I’d have to go back home to my life. I had to do everything I could to make sure old feelings didn’t resurface any more than they already had.
My phone buzzed. I assumed it was going to be my mom asking me where I’d gone and telling me to come back. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Pike’s name pop up on my phone display. I both loved and hated how I felt like a silly love-struck teenager again.
“Hello?” I said sounding as though it was a question even though I’d already known it was him on the other end.
“You awake?”
“Yeah.”
He cleared his throat, “You didn’t forget your promise did you?”
“Of course not.”
“When can you stop by?”
“I’m actually on my way right now,” I said looking for a street sign so I could tell him where I was. “Crossing Park Street right now in fact.”
“You’re like two blocks from your house. It’s going to take you forever,” he said sounding disappointed.
“More like four blocks.”
“I’ll come pick you up,” he said in a deep voice. It sounded like he was trying to put on his jacket while holding the phone to his ear.
I waved my hand into the air even though he couldn’t see me, “No, you don’t have to go to any trouble. I’ll be there in a blink of an eye.”
“You’ll be here in an hour. I don’t want to wait an hour. I’m coming.”
I was about to argue, but he must have hung up. The line was dead.
It wasn’t more than ten minutes when I heard the rumble of his motorcycle in the distance. I wondered how fast he had driven to get here.
He pulled up to the curb and nodded at me wearing his sexiest half-smile. I took the helmet from him and fastened it as I climbed on the back. The second my arms were around him he sped down the road.
“Need a coffee?” he shouted over his shoulder at the stop sign.
“I definitely wouldn’t say no to one,” I said wrapping my arms around his hard, muscular middle. My body reacted when I remembered what he had looked like and felt like without his clothes on.
When he pulled up to the coffee shop, he cut the engine and got off his bike. He took my hand as he led me inside and walked right up to the counter.
“What do you want?” he said looking at me and then at the barista.
“Just a coffee… black. Please,” I said with a smile. Mrs. Olsen smiled back at me and then flashed Pike the same knowing smile. It made me feel a little uncomfortable and I worried that my cheeks were beet red.
I almost wanted to explain to her that I’d be leaving tomorrow and it wasn’t what she thought. But I decided against it. It wasn’t any of her business anyway.
I turned around and looked out the window as I waited for my coffee. There was a couple that was about to walk in, but it looked as though they changed their mind when they saw Pike.
The man grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her away from the door while shaking his head. She looked confused at first but then when she looked at us, it looked as though they couldn’t get away fast enough.
Once they turned around, I nudged Pike, “Do you know either of them?”
He ducked his head slightly to get a better look and squinted at the couple. He shook his head, “Hmm… no. Why?”
“No reason I guess,” I said as Mrs. Olsen set down my coffee. I smiled and thanked her. No one made coffee like Mrs. Olsen’s back in the city and I probably paid twice as much for it.
“Have a great day now you hear?” she said glancing at the door as if she had noticed the couple too. Her smile slightly weakened as she wiped the counter with a damp cloth.
“You want to sit down?” Pike said gesturing towards a small table in the back corner.
“Sure. I don’t think I could drink hot coffee on a motorcycle anyway.”
“Let’s not find out,” he said as he looked at the wispy puffs of steam streaming out of the lid on my to-go cup.
He pulled out my chair and I couldn’t stop smiling. Pike was always such a gentleman, well, at least to me he had been. Others who weren’t in the club might not agree with that statement.
Pike reached across the table and took my hand into his. He asked me about my life in the city. What my day would be like. I didn’t think he really wanted to hear about my boring life but I told him anyway. Most of my time was spent at work, I didn’t go out very often because I kept myself busy. I made sure to constantly be working because that was easier for me.
When there was a lull in the conversation I asked him the one thing I probably shouldn’t have asked about. There were probably rules against asking about it. I asked him about prison.
“Can you tell me about it?”
He narrowed his eyes, “Tell you about what?”
“What you did… prison.”
“You hadn’t heard?”
I shook my head, “A few rumors I guess, but I don’t really know what happened.”
“Does it even matter?”
“Not really. Not to me anyway. I know you.”
He looked down at the table, “Not as well as you think you do I guess. After you left I did some things I’m not really proud of.” I watched as he swallowed down a hard lump. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say more, but if he was, he chang
ed his mind.
I leaned forward and whispered, “Did you kill someone?”
“No,” he said not even sounding the least bit offended by such a question. “You shouldn’t ask people that.”
“Sorry. I don’t know the proper etiquette for this stuff. Don’t know many people who’ve gone to prison,” I said lowering my eyes.
“Do you really want to know what happened?”
“No, you’re right. It doesn’t matter.”
He coughed softly and lowered his voice, “I was with the club… we had been roughing someone up for some info. I had my gun… and… well,”
“You said you didn’t kill anyone.”
He looked at me with wide eyes, “I didn’t, but it might have looked as though I was going to.”
“I see, but how did you get caught?”
He shook his head, “The Goddamn entire police force showed up. It was a setup. And there I was holding my gun to his head.”
It seemed as though maybe there was more to the story, but he wasn’t going to get into more of the details. And I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him to. I was sure he had his reasons for keeping it short.
“How come just you? Were you there alone?”
“No, but it was either just me, or the whole club. And I was the one holding the gun.”
I shook my head not sure how they got out of it. It probably helped that half of the force was getting paid off by the Brother’s.
“I told them they all tried to stop me.”
“Pike!”
“They got off, and they threw everything they could at me. Pres got me a good lawyer though and with good behavior… anyway I did the right thing for the club.”
I rolled my eyes. They just let him take the fall. It pissed me off, and I was pretty sure Pike could tell.
“It made sense. I helped them. That’s what we do.”
“Yeah well they should have helped you then,” I said under my breath.
I crossed my arms and shook my head. It was strange to me that he’d do that for them. What had they ever done for him?
Even though I didn’t really know any of the details, I knew that I didn’t like what I had heard. It only verified that leaving all of this behind had been the right call.
I wouldn’t be able to live with something like that. If I was with him, I’d be waiting for him to come to me and he wouldn’t because he’d have sacrificed his freedom for the club. He’d be off on his way to prison again taking the fall for the rest of them.
“Can we not talk about this anymore,” I said sipping from my coffee cup. The club would always be his number one priority and that wasn’t something I could deal with.
He nodded, but it seemed as though he wanted to explain it to me. Help me understand, but there were no words that would convince me that he’d done the right thing. Maybe he knew that.
Pike was quiet as he looked towards the door. It seemed as though he was lost in his thoughts. Maybe he was thinking about prison, or maybe he was thinking about me and him. Not that there was a me and him, but maybe he was realizing that all along my parents had been right to try to keep us apart.
“Hungry?” I asked trying to get things back on track. We had a limited amount of time together and I wanted to enjoy it.
After today we probably wouldn’t ever see each other again. I didn’t see any reason why we shouldn’t have fun while we were together.
Even though we couldn’t be together in a different way, we could be happy with the short time we did have. After all, I’d never felt this way about anyone else and I probably never would again.
If we spent the time we had now, knowing that it would come to an end, we’d be OK. No one would get hurt. We’d accept the outcome. At least that’s what I told myself.
“Yeah. Can I make you something?”
For a second I wondered if it was because he wanted to get me back to his place, but when his eyes shifted around the empty room, the real reason hit me. It was because he didn’t want to deal with the stares and judgmental looks from people. He probably didn’t like feeling as though he was driving people away from someone’s business just because he wore a Brother’s Rebellion patch.
“Sounds perfect.”
I quickly finished my coffee and threw out the empty cup. Pike walked to the door and held it open for me. As I walked out, Mrs. Olsen told us to have a good day.
“You too ma’am. And sorry about scaring away your business,” Pike said with a small frown.
“Don’t you dare give it a second thought. You’re welcome here anytime,” she said with a wave before she returned to her sweeping.
“Thanks,” Pike said with a polite nod.
“She’s so nice,” I said with a little wave through the glass door. “And she makes some excellent coffee.”
“Yeah,” Pike said as he got on his bike and started it up. “Let’s get out of here, babe.”
I smiled and climbed on behind him. It almost started to feel as though it were my spot on the back of his bike. I tried not to think of the countless other women who had probably been sitting in the same place on his seat. It wasn’t like he had just sat around waiting for me.
I let out a big breath and forced the thought out of my head. I didn’t have any claim on him.
He pulled away from the curb and drove down the road back towards his place. It wasn’t long before I started smiling again.
I loved the wind against my face. I loved wrapping my arms around his warm, hard body. Being on the back of his bike just made me feel… like I was home.
Chapter 13
Pike moved around his kitchen as if it had been the first time he’d cooked anything inside of it. It seemed as though he had no idea where any of his things were.
I smiled as he moved around preparing whatever it was he was going to surprise me with. It didn’t matter what it was… I was going to love it either way.
While I waited, I looked around his plain house. It looked as though it was all random furniture he’d collected from garage sales, or that maybe had been given to him. The dining room chair I was sitting on was wobbly, and I was afraid if I moved too much it would break underneath me.
His house was small. The kitchen and dining room were one room, then he had a living room and a short hallway that led to the bathroom and the next door over was probably his bedroom.
It wasn’t much, but he lived simply. He probably didn’t have the money to do more and maybe he didn’t even want to do anything more.
“Can I help with anything?” I said when he pulled his hand back quickly away from the frying pan.
“Nope. I got it under control, don’t worry,” he said without turning around.
“Just let me know if there is anything I can do to help,” I said crossing my legs. There was a flyer for a home improvement store on the other side of the table. I slid it closer and started flipping through it.
After about ten minutes or so Pike set a plate down on the table in front of me. “Here,” he grunted as though he wasn’t happy with what he was serving me.
“Looks great,” I said picking up the fork and digging into the fried eggs. I picked up the dark brown toast and dunked it into the yolk. “Mmm,” I said as I took a bite. It was actually pretty good.
“Sure,” he said placing a second plate on the table. He pushed the chair back and dropped his weight down hard. The chair wobbled a little, but stayed together.
He seemed frustrated, but the food was good. I ate slowly savoring every bite, but he inhaled his meal. When he finished he leaned back in his chair and waited for me to finish.
The second I set my fork down he reached for my plate, but I put my hand on his and shook my head. “Let me. I’ll clean.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Come on, Hyde. It’s the least I can do. You cooked, so I’ll clean,” I said but he grabbed my plate away and stood up. He dropped them both into the kitchen sink
“It can wait,” he said rea
ching out his hand to me. “Come.”
I took his hand and followed him to the living room. The small clock on the wall showed that it was only a little after noon. I was happy that it seemed as though time was moving slowly.
His cell phone rang just as I was about to ask him what we were going to do. He looked at it and swiped across the screen to answer.
“Yeah?” he said in a low voice. There was a long pause as if he was listening before he glanced at me. He held up his finger and turned his back to me. “Can’t do it,” he said with a cough. “At least not today, man.”
I could hear whoever it was on the other end talking quickly. It sounded as if it was something urgent. They also didn’t sound as though they were very happy.
“Get Stone to do it. I’m sick,” he said and pressed a button before looking at his phone. For a second he looked like he might actually get sick but then he set the phone down and turned back to me with a smile on his face.
It must not have been too important or he would have gone. If it had been the club’s president calling, he probably wouldn’t have even had a choice in the matter.
“Something important?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“Not really. Someone else will take care of it.” He clicked the remote and turned on the TV. I could tell he was a little agitated but whatever it was, he was trying not to let it get to him.
“You know… I can go. We can just meet up again later. It’s not a big deal,” I said taking a step towards the door. He quickly reached out and grabbed my hand stopping me in my tracks.
“No. Don’t go,” he said looking at me with those eyes. The ones I wasn’t even sure I could say no to. “I can’t let you go when there is still time that we can be together. I can make it up to them, but you’ll be gone tomorrow. Sit with me.”
I let out a small sigh and sat next to him on the sofa. He held my hand as he stared at the screen.
Even though we hadn’t really done much of anything, the day so far had been as close to perfect as it could be. I didn’t take much to make me feel happy. It felt good to just be with him.
“Want to go out for a ride? It’s a nice day,” he said leaning forward slightly.
Revenge - A Second Chance, First Time Romance Page 23