by Sophia Gray
“How’s it going?” Axel asked me, hours later. I had been watching the ongoing card game. I knew my guys well enough to know they could play all night.
“I’d feel better if I’d been able to give the family members a chance to get here,” I said. “But I don’t trust the Wolves to let civilians through.”
“Nah, man, you can’t trust them with anything.” I saw him look behind me, to where I knew Erica still sat. The camera was forgotten, sitting on the bar. I decided to give her a break on it, for now. She needed to cut loose a little.
“What do you think about her?” he asked. I didn’t need to question who he meant.
“What do you mean, what do I think?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Answering a question with a question. Textbook evasion, my friend.”
I laughed. “You sound like a therapist.”
“Yeah, well, when you’ve been through as much of it as I have…” he trailed off, and I felt like an ass. Sometimes I forgot about all the shit he went through when he was a kid. My childhood was bleak—dead Dad, Mom died a few years later when she couldn’t take it anymore, brothers and sisters split up among family members—but Axel had been through hell.
“What I think of her is she’s a pain in the ass. She’s not worth the trouble she brought on us.” I felt Axel’s eyes on me, and I took a long drink from my beer before I couldn’t take it anymore. “What?” I asked.
“Is that why you can’t look at her right now?” he asked. “You’re deliberately keeping your back turned to her. Is that why?”
“Because I can’t fucking stand her? Yes. Okay? Yes. She’s a pain in my ass, and I can’t wait until she’s out of here. I’m tired of having to look after her.”
“Who says you have to do that?”
“Are you fucking serious?” I glanced over my shoulder, to where she and Brett were getting good and drunk together. “She can’t handle herself. She was in the fucking badlands, taking pictures. Give me a break. Who does that?”
“Photographers.”
“Female ones? Alone? At night? She probably doesn’t even weigh more than a hundred pounds. Maybe a buck fifteen, tops. And she’s gonna defend herself?” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, so she’s naïve, and she took a risky chance.” Then he grinned. “But she’s cute as hell, isn’t she?”
I shrugged like it didn’t matter. “Lots of cute chicks in the world, my friend. More than enough to go around.”
“I don’t think Frankie agrees with you. He’s sure standing close to her right now.”
I whirled around, ready to tell Frankie to keep his fucking hands to himself. Of course, there was no Frankie. Just Erica and Brett. I couldn’t even look at Axel.
“Oh, sorry. I guess I was seeing things.” He walked over to the bar, shaking his head. I turned away. Damn smartass.
By three that morning, everyone was more or less ready to call it a night. The girls cleaned up the mess of bottles and glasses and ashtrays while my guys stumbled upstairs to claim an empty bed.
“Where’s Erica?” I realized I hadn’t seen her for at least two hours. My blood pressure shot up immediately. Did she sneak out when I wasn’t looking?
I walked into the office, where she was asleep on the floor. I didn’t know when she crawled off, but she was definitely out cold. I nudged her with my toe.
“Hey. Hey, Erica. Get up.”
She grumbled, pushing my foot away.
“I mean it. I can’t let you sleep on the floor all night.”
No response.
I looked down at her, and something about the way she looked as she slept stirred something in me. It was like I had never seen anything so beautiful before, and I didn’t know what to do with how I felt. It was like a tightening in my chest. I wanted to have her, to take her and make her mine. But I wanted to hold her and protect her and keep her safe from the world. She was so brave, and beautiful, and smart. And weak and fragile and naïve, like Axel said. She would keep walking into dangerous situations if I wasn’t there to warn her first.
I got down on one knee, sliding one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees. When I lifted, it felt like I was carrying a feather.
She was right there, her face right below mine. I wouldn’t have to lean far to kiss her. Just a little bit. Her mouth was pouty, begging to be kissed and sucked on.
But I wasn’t that guy. Not while she was passed out.
“You are too fucking tempting,” I muttered.
She mumbled something I couldn’t make out.
Instead of kissing her, I left the office with her in my arms. Brett was coming out of the poker room, and I saw a lot of things go across her face. Finally, she smiled.
“Taking her upstairs?” she asked.
I nodded. “Help me with her?” I asked. “I don’t think she’ll wanna wear this stuff tomorrow if she slept in it. There has to be something in my room she can wear.”
“Your room?” I heard the question under the question, and I nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll sleep somewhere else. Maybe down here.” I pretended not to see how relieved Brett looked. I would have to do something about that, about the way she felt. I didn’t have it in me at the moment.
I climbed the stairs with Erica and laid her across my bed. She was still out cold. I took off her shoes, and took a look under her sweatshirt to see whether she was wearing anything underneath. I saw a t-shirt, so I sat her up and helped her out of the hoodie. She looked much smaller without it.
Brett came in, and I stood. “She’s all yours,” I said. I took one more look at the girl on the bed and wished I was spending the night with her. Maybe if she hadn’t gotten bombed, it would have happened. Or maybe not. She might have slapped the shit out of me if I tried to touch her.
“Good night,” I said, prepared to go downstairs to sleep on the couch. Brett’s voice stopped me.
“Why don’t you go down the hall to my room? You can bunk with me tonight.”
Fuck. I hadn’t considered that. She was putting me on the spot. I turned to look at her.
“Don’t worry. I don’t expect anything,” she said. “I promise. I hate to think of you sleeping on the couch is all.” She turned her back. “I’ll be finished in a little while. I hope you’re there when I get there.”
I closed the door behind me to give them a little privacy, and looked down the hall. What the hell? I thought. Even if something did happen, it wasn’t like I was attached to anyone else.
I deserved a little relief after the week I’d had.
Chapter Nine
Erica
I woke up the next morning with a fuzzy head and a furry tongue. What the hell had I drunk? It could only be a hangover.
Wait—where the hell was I?
I sat straight up in the bed, and immediately regretted it as soon as it felt like my head was about to fall off. I winced, holding it in my hands for fear of it rolling across the floor.
What happened? Where was I?
I looked around the room. It was a bedroom, for sure, but one for a man. I couldn’t have explained exactly how I knew, but I did. This was a man’s room.
But the bed was empty, except for me. The other pillow hadn’t been slept on. I thanked God for that. The last thing I needed was to drunkenly hook up with…
…oh, sweet Jesus. A member of a biker gang.
Where was Vince? How had I ended up in this bed? Was I still in the clubhouse?
I swung my legs out of bed ever so carefully. I was afraid the slightest jar would shatter me in a million pieces. The sun was too bright, stabbing my brain. I felt dizzy. Was my drink spiked? No. I just drank way too much was all. I remembered Brett pouring me drink after drink at the bar.
But then what happened? I hadn’t gotten the camera open. I must have passed out. Terrific. Talk about asking for trouble. Passing out in the middle of a biker gang’s clubhouse.
I remembered what the girls said the night before, about Vince protect
ing me. Maybe he had protected me again.
I stepped into the hallway. There were rows of closed doors on either side. I must have been the first one awake, I guessed. I went to the bathroom, surprisingly clean considering where I was, and took the dangerous walk down the stairs. My head throbbed dangerously with every step. I would have to find some aspirin. Or maybe a sledgehammer to knock myself out until it was all over.
I heard noises coming from the office. Vince? My heartbeat quickened, and I asked myself why.
It wasn’t Vince, I discovered as I entered the room. It was Onyx.
“Good morning.” I felt embarrassed. The sight of his face was still a shock to me.
“Hey,” he said. Did he look guilty? I didn’t see why. It was his office, or practically. He then looked me up and down, and I realized I was only in an oversized t-shirt. It came down to my knees, so it covered more than some dresses, but it was fairly sheer. And I was braless.
He had the good manners to avert his eyes. “You tied one on pretty good last night. My buddy was worried about you.”
“Vince?”
“Who else?” He snickered. “He took you upstairs. I guess he didn’t sleep with you, though, or else you wouldn’t sound so surprised.”
“I was alone,” I said.
He snickered again. “That’s my boy. Mr. Nice Guy.” I couldn’t decide if he admired Vince for being a nice guy, or if he was making fun in a way. His tone was cryptic, as were his words. I was starting to think that was the sort of person he was. Hard to crack. Like his scars had scarred his heart, too. He had a very thick, protective layer around himself. No one could come in. Except for his best friend.
“It’s so quiet here,” I said. “So different from last night.”
“Yeah, you’ll see a lot of unhappy people around here this morning. That’s usually how it works. They party hard and regret it in the morning. Maybe not the best idea right now.”
“Do you guys go on lockdown often?”
He shook his head. “No, but it was bound to happen after the shit that went down last week. When we lost three of our men.”
I nodded gently, still cautious of my aching head. “I heard a little bit about that. Just that you lost members. I’m sorry to hear that.”
He nodded in response. “It’s been a rough week. Vince has a lot on his mind right now.” His words were so heavy, they nearly broke my back. He was telling me to stay away from Vince. As though there was anything happening between us. I wanted to protest and defend myself, but decided against it. That would make it look like he was right. Best to let it go, I thought.
“I understand,” I said, quiet.
“I hope you do.” He glanced at me again, for the first time since noticing my state of undress.
I decided it would be best to get the hell back upstairs and put some clothes on before the rest of the guys woke up and ogled me. I didn’t think they’d all have the class Onyx did.
I wondered what gave him the idea about Vince and me. We had barely spoken to each other in his presence. Then I remembered the way the two of them went into the office and closed the door. I was deep into my third vodka by that point, but I knew they were in there for a long time. The fourth vodka was being polished off by the time they came back out. What had Vince been saying about me?
I stood at the top of the stairs again, looking down the hall. Which room was his? Who was he with?
I groaned at myself. It didn’t matter who he was with, because he didn’t matter that way. He had helped me, was still helping me. He had even protected me the night before when I was passed out. I couldn’t overlook that. I appreciated him. But that was where it ended, for the both of us. I was more of a nuisance to him than anything else now. I was already throwing things into disarray, causing the lockdown.
I went into the bedroom and found my clothes, folded neatly on a chair. I smiled, wondering who had done that for me. Oh, jeez! Who undressed me? I prayed it was only Brett or one of the other girls. I felt very exposed all of a sudden.
Sliding into my jeans and putting on a bra made me feel a little freer of knowing looks. I heard noise from the hall and knew it meant people were waking up. Good—the clubhouse was like a morgue when it was quiet like that. I felt creepy walking around when everyone else was sleeping.
I took my time getting back downstairs and found Tyler and Sam in the kitchen. They were cooking up bacon and eggs, pancakes and coffee. “Let me help,” I said.
“No! You go hang out somewhere else. You’re our guest,” Sam said.
“Besides,” Tyler added, “you still have that camera to figure out. I think Brett’s idea about the knife was a pretty good one.”
“I’m starting to agree with you,” I admitted.
“Good thing you didn’t try last night,” Sam smirked. “You were in no condition, young lady!” They both laughed, and I blushed a deep red.
“All right, all right. I got a little drunk.” They kept snickering, so I left them to it and walked back into the lounge. I hoped I hadn’t said or done anything to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I got the impression they would have told me if I had. They weren’t the sort of girls to bite their tongues.
I wondered where the camera had ended up. I remembered having it at the bar, but it wasn’t there. I looked behind the bar, on the shelves. Nothing. I guessed somebody had to put it somewhere for safe keeping.
Just then, I saw Vince coming downstairs. My heart gave a little flutter, and I cursed myself. There was absolutely no future for the two of us. He saw me as a pain in the ass. What good would it do to catch feelings for him now?
Then, I saw Brett coming down behind him. My heart sank. Damn it, I thought. I should have known. The taste of bile came up into my mouth, but it wasn’t nausea that caused it. It was jealousy. I was crazy jealous of that sweet girl, all because she had slept with Vince, not me.
“Good morning!” she chirped. “Looks like you survived the night.”
“I did.” I managed to smile. “I guess I owe my change of clothes to you?”
She grinned. “Well, it’s not my shirt, but I helped you get dressed.”
“Thank you,” I said with a genuine smile this time. “I was hoping it was you and not one of the guys.”
She laughed. “Yeah, like that would work out well.” She smiled at Vince, then went into the kitchen. This left just the two of us, face to face, with the bar between our bodies.
I cut to the chase. “Do you know what happened to the camera? I don’t remember where I left it.”
He smirked. “Probably because you were blackout drunk.” He didn’t sound snide, though. He sounded gentle. Friendly.
I wasn’t feeling so friendly. “Where is it, then?” I had to get those pictures off and get the hell out of this place. I was starting to question my sanity.
He frowned, jerking a thumb toward the office. “I put it in the desk drawer for safe keeping. Calm down.”
“I’m perfectly calm. I just wanted to get back to work on what I came here to do.” Now there were more people walking into the room from upstairs, and I had to keep my voice down to avoid eavesdroppers. My eyes bored holes into Vince’s skull.
“By all means,” he said. “Don’t let me stop you.”
I turned in a huff, marching to the office. I heard his footsteps behind me, and he shut the door.
“What’s your problem today?” he asked, following me to the desk.
“Oh, let’s see. For starters, I was almost killed last night. I’ve been stuck here for over twelve hours with no end in sight. I have no idea how to get this damned camera open. I’m worried about my family. I’m worried about myself. And everyone here is in danger because of what I saw.” I smiled tightly at him, pulling the camera from the desk drawer as I did. “Think I missed anything?”
He softened, his shoulders falling from where they were—up around his ears. He looked calmer now. “Listen. You don’t have to be worried. The lockdown was just a precaution, nothin
g more. We’ve done it before.”
“Not recently,” I pointed out, feeling stubborn. I wanted to be in a bad mood, by God.
“How would you know?”
“Onyx told me.”
“Onyx talks too much.” His face hardened. “He needs to mind his own damned business sometimes.”
“All he said was that this doesn’t happen often. That’s all. I’m the one who asked.”