Ruined #5 (The MC Motorcycle Club Romance Series - Book #5)

by Taylor, Alycia

  “I’ll try not to,” I told him and we both laughed.

  When we got to the restaurant, I parked and he said, “Before we go in, I just wanted to clarify the rules of the date.”

  “There are rules?” I asked, amused.

  “Oh yeah, there are rules. First of all, this is a date. I am the man. I open doors, I pay for drinks and meals, and I lead on the dance floor. Second of all, no talking about any drama tonight.”

  I giggled and said, “So what will we talk about?”

  “I thought of that,” he said. “I made a mental list of things.”

  “They don’t all involve sex, do they?”

  “No, I can think of other things to talk about, thank you very much.”

  “Of course you can,” I told him. “Can we go in now, I’m hungry?”

  “Okay, but don’t touch that door, I’ll be right there.” I felt kind of silly sitting there waiting for him to open the door but it made him happy. He pulled it open and took my hand, making me feel like a VIP as he gently helped me step out. Then he closed it and held my hand on the way into the restaurant. He had thought to call ahead for reservations, so we were shown right to our table. When the waitress came to take our drink orders, she lit a candle in the middle of the table. It was really nice and it reminded me of old times, good times.

  After she brought our drinks Dax asked, “How was work today?”

  “It was good. My uncle wants me to start learning about mechanics and modifications.”

  Dax looked at me funny and asked, “Do you want to do that? Work on bikes?”

  I laughed. “No, I was actually thinking about being a nurse.”

  “Really? That would be cool. Have you checked on programs yet or anything?”

  “Well, I never got a chance to tell you when things got so crazy, but I’ve already been accepted for the fall semester. I got financial aid too.”

  “That’s fantastic,” he said. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “I’m relieved. We had just got each other back and I was afraid that you’d be upset with me. I’ll be around a lot less.”

  “I would never be upset with you for doing something to better yourself or your life. I’m so proud of you for taking that first step. I think you’d make an awesome nurse. Hell, I think you’d make an awesome doctor.”

  “Whoa there,” I said with a laugh, “I don’t think I want to look at ten years of school right now. Let’s start with nurse and see where that goes.”

  “Well, congratulations,” he said, sincerely. I was so glad I’d finally told him. His reaction just re-enforced why I loved him so much. He picked up his iced tea glass and held it up. “Onward and upward for us both from here on out,” he said.

  I clinked my glass with his and said, “Onward and upward.”

  The waitress came by and took our orders and then we just listened to the band quietly for a while. Making me giggle again he said, “I think we’ve ran out of safe topics. We’ll have to delve into my mental list.”

  “Okay, lets,” I said and laughed.

  “Okay, tell me the top three countries you want to visit. Keep in mind that your husband will be a tattoo artist and likely a very successful one, and you’ll be a successful nurse so money for these trips is no object.”

  My stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies when he said, your husband. We used to talk like that all the time, but it had been so long ago. I wondered if we’d ever get that back.

  I smiled and said, “Ireland, Italy and Egypt.”

  “Whew, you were going for all the I countries so there for a minute I thought you were going to say Iraq. But, good choices. Tell me why...”

  “Ireland, because I’ve always wanted to stay in a castle for the night where you could wake up and look out on rolling green hills. Italy, for the food and gelato of course and Egypt because…well, Egypt speaks for itself. Who doesn’t want to see giant pyramids and sphinx?”

  “I shudder to think there is such a person,” he said with a smile.

  “Are you making fun of me?”

  “Yeah, but just a little. They all sound great. I’m throwing my list away and going with yours.”

  “No, you have to tell me yours now,” I told him.

  “They sound pathetic next to yours,” he said. “But if you insist…Australia, Russia and Hong Kong.”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed.

  “Oh now look whose making fun,” he said.

  “I’m sorry, but Australia, I get. The other two I’ll need an explanation.”

  The waitress brought our food so he waited until she was gone to finish. “Well, Australia’s just cool. The men are all tough and the women are outdoorsy. Russia is old and harsh and I hear everyone drinks Vodka all day long, but only the coolest of the cool drive motorcycles and wear leather jackets and Hong Kong, come on they have even more history than Egypt. Plus, they have some of the hottest clubs in the Eastern hemisphere.”

  “Interesting,” I said. I wasn’t being facetious either. If I had picked countries for Dax, not one of those three would have been on the list. It was fun to discover that we didn’t really know everything about each other.

  “This steak is so good,” he said as he shoveled in half the cow in one bite.

  “Take it easy,” I told him. “You just got back on solids. I don’t want you to get sick.”

  “Yes, mother,” he said and grinned.

  My dinner was delicious too and after we finished eating, we both decided to splurge on dessert as well. I had a slice of the best cheesecake in the whole world. They made it fresh at Mel’s and I had tried to duplicate the recipe more than once at home. It never came out the same. It was thick and creamy and I wouldn’t tell Dax this but it was a close rival to sex.

  After dessert, he asked me to dance. It was a slow song and when we got out to the floor, I tried to get into position to let him lead. Instead, he just wrapped both of his hands around behind my waist and held me like that. I slipped my arms around his neck and while we danced, I laid my head on his chest and closed my eyes and let myself revel in being happy. Every time Dax and I were alone together like this, I could completely imagine the life we both wanted that seemed to be eluding us for so long.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  DAX

  “Hey!” I woke up to my dad’s gravelly voice and his palm banging against my bedroom door.

  I started to get up but I moved too quickly and pulled on the muscles in my stomach that still hurt. Shit!

  “Yeah Dad, come in!” I asked. The door was pushed open and my dad stepped in.

  “Hey, get up and come on down to the club. Everyone will be there by noon.”

  I wasn’t quite awake yet so I thought I had misunderstood. A week had passed since we’d had our family talk, and none of us had mentioned it again.

  “You called the meeting?”

  “Yes, I said I would, didn’t I? Don’t go down there looking for a fight though. Say what you need to say and leave, you got that? If you get hurt again your mother is going to cut off my left nut.”

  “Ew, jeez, Dad. Why wouldn’t you just say, kick my ass or something?”

  “Not my words, son. I’m just repeating what she told me. It’s almost ten already, get your lazy ass up.” He closed the door behind him and I lay back down against the pillow. Not ten seconds later there was another knock, my mother’s knock this time.

  “Yeah, come in,” I told her.

  “Oh, your father said you were up. I wanted to change your dressings before you went out to the bar.”

  “Thanks Mom, but I haven’t showered yet.”

  “Okay, I have to go but I’ll leave them in the kitchen on the island counter. They will be ready to go and you’ll just need to stick it on.”

  “Okay, thanks Mom. Where are you off to?”

  “I just have some things to do,” she said. “You say what you need to say today, but make sure you stay safe, okay?”

  “I will, Mom.”
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  She kissed my cheek and said, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I told her.

  Once she was gone, I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. After the shower, I dried off and put on my shorts and went out to get my dressings. I was surprised to see my dad still sitting at the kitchen table. He was going through some kind of record book.

  “It’s alive,” he said, without looking up from his work.

  I couldn’t think of a snappy comeback, so I just let it slide. I picked up the first dressing and put it over the wound on my stomach. The stitches were dissolvable, but they still hadn’t dissolved. They were starting to itch like hell though, so I hoped they’d hurry. The other wound was in my back where the bullet came out. Finding and covering that one was going to be trickier. I turned to go back to the bedroom where I could use the mirror and my dad was looking at me.

  “You need some help?” he asked.

  I looked at the bandage in my hand and said, “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

  He took it from me and said, “Turn around.” I did, and I felt him put it on and even smooth out the corners. Who knew?

  “Thanks.”

  “Yep,” he said. “I’m taking off soon. It would probably be wise if you showed up right before you talk. I don’t want any of them to know what this is about until it happens or they’ll run.”

  “Okay, I’ll get there right at noon,” I told him.

  He went back to his work, and I went back to my room to finish getting dressed. I was nervous about the meeting, but I was also excited. I really hoped that something would come out of it besides me playing my only hand in front of the entire club.

  I hadn’t really gotten the okay from my doctor to ride the bike yet, but I thought I was ready. I didn’t get the go ahead yet for sex, but for that, I knew I was ready. I just had to convince Olivia I was.

  The ride to the bar felt both good and bad. It felt great to be back on the back of the bike. I felt free for the first time in over a week. It was bad every time I hit a bump or leaned too far into a turn. It hurt like a son of a bitch.

  When I drove up and saw all the bikes, I felt my hands shaking a bit. I’d like to say I went in feeling invincible and with no doubt in myself at all, but that would be a big, fat lie. I had just been shot a week ago. I was naturally anxious about how many of them were going to want to shoot me after I said what I had to say.

  When I walked into the bar it felt like all eyes were on me and a hush fell over the crowd. I knew my dad hadn’t told them what I was there to say, so it was either my imagination, or they were just curious about my gunshot. My eyes fell on the terrible trio then. Brock, Terrance and Blake sat together at a booth on the far side of the bar. They were all shooting daggers at me out of their eyes.

  When my dad saw me he stood up at the bar and said, “Alright, settle down.” He banged his gavel on the wooden bar. My dad loved his gavel; sometimes I thought he should have stepped over the other side of the line and become a judge instead of a criminal. “I want you to all listen up. My son has something that he needs to say.”

  There were mutterings through the crowd as I took my place next to my dad. I expected him to go sit down, but instead, he stayed by my side. I was sure he did that because he knew they wouldn’t dare shoot me while he was standing in the vicinity for fear of shooting him instead. I was grateful and touched.

  “Thank you all for coming,” I said. “I know this is a bit unorthodox as far as meetings go, but there’s something that’s been going on far too long and it needs to be addressed. Almost three years ago, I was arrested because there were drugs in my saddle bags. I didn’t put them there, I didn’t agree with anyone else putting them there and I didn’t even know they were there. I’ve been saying that all this time, and people either don’t believe me or they don’t care. Either way, I can’t take this any longer. I need my life back and the only way that’s going to happen is if I can prove I was set up. I’ve been working on it since I got out of prison and I’ve actually gotten a lot of good leads. There are three men in this room now. Two of them have admitted to me that they were involved in setting me up. The third has been implicated by the first two, but he has yet to have the balls to admit to anything. I’ve been around this club my whole life. I know how things work and I know that if he did this, there are more than two men who know about it. I’m asking…no, I’m begging for your help. Please, if any of you have any information you’d like to share, please come forward now.”

  It was dead silent for a full five minutes before I heard my brother yell out, “Looks like you’re out of luck little brother. I hope your mommy is out there waiting for you still. You’ll need her to walk you back across the street.”

  The place exploded in laughter. I glanced over at my dad, and he wasn’t laughing. He sauntered back up front and after rapping his gavel a few times, he said, “Any of you bone heads got anything else funny to say?”

  They instantly became silent. Once again, I wondered about my dad’s history. How did a man half my size command that kind of respect and compliance from such a motley group?

  “Alright, I guess we’re done then,” he said.

  “No, wait!” I didn’t know I was going to say that until I heard the words come out of my mouth. My dad was giving me a warning look, but I was really past the point of caring. The three men I was accusing knew it. I figured the rest of them had a right to know too.

  “Blake, your illustrious Vice President gave the order to set me up, Brock, my brother sent that order to Terrance, my best friend. Terrance carried the order out and put the drugs on my bike. Blake is your V.P. and Brock is acting as a President for many of you that ride with him,” I said, waving my hand at the nomad group. “Just sit and wonder next time they’re pissed off at you for something…in this case, something you had no control over. They got away with setting me up, what’s to stop them from doing the same to you?”

  “Fuck you!” shouted Terrance, my former best friend.

  The chatter started as a low rumble and then it grew almost deafeningly loud. Some people looked shocked by what I said, and some looked scared. After several seconds, my dad banged the gavel again. It took a lot for him to get them under control this time. When they were, he said again, “Anybody got anything to say?” After waiting in silence for over two minutes he said, “Alright then, go home…or wherever.”

  He started to walk past me and I grabbed his arm.

  “Wait, Dad. Is that it?”

  “What else can we do?” he asked. “This was a bad idea from the start.”

  “Fuck!”

  My dad was only inches away from me and although I was yelling out in frustration, he thought I was yelling out at him.

  “Watch yourself boy,” he said.

  “I’m just so fucking pissed! I’m so fucking tired!”

  “Then go home,” he said, and continued past me. I looked out on the crowd and Blake was still staring me down. I wanted to go over and have it out with him once and for all. I knew he wouldn’t be averse to a sucker punch or two though and I wasn’t in good enough physical shape yet after my surgery to handle it.

  I followed my dad’s instruction and I went home, pissed, as usual.

  CHAPTER NINE

  OLIVIA

  The last couple of weeks following the meeting at the bar, Dax hadn’t been himself. I could tell that he was trying, but I think he really had it in his head that getting them all together was going to somehow make someone crack and solve his problems once and for all. He wasn’t mean or snappy towards me. He wasn’t even distant. He was just not his normal funny, sweet self. He was flat, like he was depressed and it broke my heart.

  I actually felt bad for being so excited about my first day of school, but I still was. It at least felt like I wasn’t still just sitting around and waiting for my life to begin. I was being pro-active. I was taking my life by the reigns and leading it where I wanted it to go. I still had faith that Dax wou
ld be able to do the same. He hadn’t really left the house much in the last two weeks. He blamed it on the pain from the gunshot and surgery, but all I had to do to debunk that is to remember the night we went out only a day after he was released from the hospital. I knew what the difference was, it was hope.

  He had missed his Health and Safety class because of being in the hospital too. He said the next one was in a month and I think that also had a lot to do with his mood. He felt like everything was going wrong and he definitely didn’t feel like he was in control of where his life was going any longer. I felt so helpless sometimes. I would have done anything I could to help him, but I had no idea what that might be.

  So I continued to do what I needed to do for me, still hoping that it would all lead to what I needed to do for us. I put on my new school clothes like an excited teenager, put my books and paper tabs in my backpack and headed out for my first class on Monday morning. When I pulled open the front door, I nearly had a heart attack. There was a man standing and holding a bouquet of white roses.

  “Oh, you scared me,” he said. “I was about to knock.”

  “You scared me too,” I said. “Are those for me?”

  “Are you Olivia?” he asked.

  “That’s me.”

  “Then you are the lucky recipient,” he said. He handed them to me and said, “Have a nice day.”

  I took them back into the house and sat the vase on the counter. I pulled off the card and opened it. It said, “Carpe Diem, I love you! Dax.” My eyes watered and I felt like I couldn’t breathe again. God, I loved him. He was so depressed over what was going on in his life, yet he still took the time to do this for me.

  Before I left, I texted Dax and thanked him for the flowers and told him I loved him too. He texted back a smiley face and I started my day with a smile of my own.

  I had to fight for a parking spot when I got there and then walk all the way to the other side of campus for my first class. It’s so funny how your thoughts about things changed depending on where you’re at in your life. In the past that would have either pissed me off, or stressed me out. That day, I just didn’t care. I would have walked from home just to be there. Luckily, I made it to my class with two minutes to spare.