by Cora Black
Charlotte chewed on her bottom lip. “Are you sure I can’t—”
“Yes!” Ben interjected. “You’re not coming. End of story.”
She just nodded before leaning forward and taking his drink from his hand, bringing it up to her mouth to take a sizeable gulp. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before turning around to go back down the stairs.
Ben sighed deeply. Finally, he had a victory over her. She let something go. It was good to know she was capable of it.
***
Charlotte took her cell phone out of her purse on her way down the stairs, dialing a familiar number. “Hey, Mr. Brown, I’m afraid I have to cancel our appointment tomorrow. Would Friday morning work instead?”
Charlotte had another appointment in the morning, after all. Ben just didn’t know it yet.
Chapter Four
Ben stepped outside, his helmet in hand, early in the morning in preparation for the big meeting. He took a second to soak in the sunlight, shutting his eyes and reveling in how the heat felt on his skin. But when he opened his eyes again, he had to resist the urge to run back into the building.
Charlotte was standing next to his bike, a perfectly manicured hand balanced on the seat.
Goddammit!
Ben groaned as other MC members walked out of the lounge and saw her standing there. He really didn’t want to make a scene here. If he yelled at Charlotte to go, the other boys would probably get involved and maybe get too rough with her. If he tried to tell her to go politely, he would look weak. Maybe I should just act like it was planned all along. No, no, impossible. It was too dangerous. He’d have to find a quiet way to get her to fuck off.
“You just never take no as an answer, huh?” Ben whispered into Charlotte’s ear.
She grinned up at him, sliding goggles down over her glasses. “Nope, not really my style. So we going for a ride or what, boss?”
Ben battled internally between “yes” and “no.” If he rejected her, would she ever come back? Wait, wasn’t getting rid of her a good thing? But then he’d never get to fuck her again. But on the other hand, she’d be safe. Maybe the best way to go about it was just to show her what it was like, just once. That would scare her enough to keep her off the road, but not so much that she’d run away entirely.
“Okay,” he finally said after several seconds of deliberation. “You can come. Just this once.”
“Okay, just this once, that’s fine,” Charlotte agreed, but the mischievous glint in her smile told him otherwise.
“I’m only taking you to get you off my back, all right? So stop the nagging,” he said with as snarky a tone as he could manage. A moment later, he realized he just handed her a way to get whatever she wanted: Nag him to death until he gave in. Dammit.
“Got any tips for me on my first day?” she asked cheerily.
“Yeah. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t go annoying any of the boys or they’ll make problems for you. Myself included,” he said.
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Charlotte said. “Do I just get on the back?”
“Yep,” Ben said, gesturing behind him as he got on the bike. “Straddle me.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Charlotte said under her breath as she swung her leg over the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Ben felt heat flare up his spine and he thought about yesterday, how she looked spread underneath him, how her body bounced around with every single thrust. God, he couldn’t wait to get inside her again.
He switched on his bike and revved the engine, a sign to the other boys that he was impatient to get going. Ben noticed the strange looks that the other boys, Finn and Noah and Tom and fucking Axel, shot his way, bewildered at the sight of a strange woman on the back of his bike.
“Where we going first, boss?” Noah asked.
“The Lions’ Den,” Ben said, then lowered his voice to whisper to Charlotte. “Friendly club. We have a meeting to hash out the details of a deal.”
“Can I come in and watch? I’ll be quiet,” Charlotte asked as Ben started his bike, rolling along slowly until they hit the main road.
Ben laughed, loud enough that she could hear it over the bike’s engine. “Ha! No chance. You’ll sit outside.”
“You like bossing me around,” Charlotte said. It wasn’t a question, but Ben didn’t argue with her. He felt her lean forward onto his back, her arms tightening on his waist.
“You scared?” he asked. He wasn’t sure if he was asking if she was afraid of the bike, or of him bossing her around. Maybe both.
“No. Yes. Maybe,” she said. He felt something squeeze his arm hard, and he looked down for a half-second to see her immaculately painted nails digging into his jacket.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, trying to be as reassuring as possible without looking weak.
“I know,” she said, giving his arm another full-pressure squeeze. “I’m with you.”
Ben sped up, grinning at the small yelp he heard Charlotte emit behind him. The wind whipped past his face and the sun was shining down on his head. He loved this part: Riding fast and feeling the world slide away. He just wished he could do it without the entourage. It would be so nice, to close his eyes and rush forward on an empty road, just him and the wide-open sky and those little arms wrapped around his waist—
What the fuck? Ben shook his head, trying to dislodge the weird fantasy that cropped up in his mind. It’s not like it was ever going to happen anyway.
After a few minutes of blissful silence, Ben had to slow down his bike and slide into the parking lot of the Lions’ Den. Even this early in the morning, a few women in crop tops and short skirts sat on the bench in front of the bar, their legs splayed out in invitation as the bikers shut off their engines.
“Hey, there, honey bunch,” Laila said as Ben hopped off his bike.
“Who’s that?” Charlotte asked in a lowered voice, hovering behind Ben.
Ben was half-tempted to pat her on the back or something, anything to get her to chill out, but then his inner voice intervened: You’re supposed to want her to get scared, remember? This is a good sign. She’ll get off your fucking back.
He waved over to Laila, giving her a half-smile, before turning around to face Charlotte. “She’s just a girl I know. Sells sex here.”
“Oh. Oh,” Charlotte said, her face flushed. Ben wondered if the wind had whipped her face raw on the bike or if she was embarrassed at being so obviously out of place, standing outside this rough bar with working girls surrounding her.
Laila got up and walked over to him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders. “Been a while, Benny.”
“Yep,” Ben said, half-heartedly returning her hug before shrugging her off his body. “Sorry about that.”
Laila stared at Charlotte, not saying anything for a long minute before Charlotte finally twitched in discomfort and offered a hand. “Hi. Sorry, I’m Charlotte. I’m with Ben.”
“Oh?” Laila’s face was unreadable for a second before a half-smile spread across her lips. “Good for you, Ben. ‘Bout time, darling.”
Ben felt his stomach drop at the implication. “Nah, no, not like that,” he rushed to say.
“Oh. Well still. Nice to meet you, hun,” Laila said before walking over to one of Ben’s men, rubbing up on his shoulder as a part of her sales pitch.
“Wait outside with the girls, okay?” Ben said to Charlotte, beginning to march toward the inside of the club before Charlotte stilled him with a hand on his elbow.
“Hey, just give me one minute, all right?” Ben clenched his jaw in frustration and stared at her expectantly. “Why did you freak out when that girl said I was with you?”
Ben dropped his voice to a whisper. “I fucking told you yesterday. We’re just messing around.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no, I get that. That’s not why I’m asking. Your entire body flushed. Why?”
“Can this wait?” Ben hissed, gesturing to the club. He had fucking business to do.
“Laila? Nobody. Just a girl.”
“She said it’d been a while. Were you fuck buddies or something?”
Ben laughed humorlessly, shaking his head. “Are you seriously jealous?”
“No, I’m seriously onto something, and I can feel it,” she replied. “Were you?”
He sighed and shook his head.
“So you used to see her… and now you don’t… and she said something about it being about time for you to be with someone. Is she connected to Danielle?”
Ben growled under his breath. “Yes, fine. Congratulations, Sherlock, you cracked the code. She was her friend. Big fucking deal. Will you let me go inside without making a fucking scene?”
Charlotte leaned back on her heels, clearly satisfied with herself. “Yeah, have fun.”
Ben grunted in response before turning and walking inside the club, greeting the Lions that came into the bar room to see him.
What the fuck does she know about me? Nothing. Just a lucky guess.
***
“Lucky girl,” a voice behind Charlotte said. She turned to see that girl, Laila, standing behind her with her hands in the pockets of her jean shorts.
“Oh, no, not really, we’re not—” Charlotte waved her hand around inarticulately, trying to get the point across. “A thing.”
Laila pursed her lips a little in thought. “Really? Looks like something to me.”
Charlotte felt tiny beads of sweat start to form on the back of her neck, hidden under her hair. “No, really. His uncle hired me for a job, that’s all.”
Laila’s face changed, her mouth falling open. “Oh. Oh. Gotcha. Huh,” she said, biting down on her bottom lip. “Well, that’s interesting. If Old Wally thought Ben needed it, I’m surprised he didn’t come to see some of the girls here or over at Pat’s House.”
“Oh! Oh, no!” Charlotte rushed to say, feeling herself blush deeply. “Not like that. A different kind of job.”
“Oh,” Laila said, gesturing for Charlotte to follow her over to the front bench and take a seat next to her. “So, what kinda job? Like accounting or—?”
Charlotte laughed. “No, no, I’m hopeless at math. It’s—” Charlotte looked around to make sure that nobody was listening in on their conversation. “If I let you in on the details, can you keep it between us?”
Laila nodded. “That’s basically half of my job, keeping my mouth shut.”
Charlotte leaned in, trying not to look obviously secretive in front of the rest of the girls. “So, um, I’m a parole officer and a counselor. Uncle Wally wants Ben to replace him at the head of the club, but Ben’s been fighting and causing shit, and I’m here to straighten him out.”
Laila cackled, clapping her hands together. “Oh, that’s so fucking rich. That’s great. Old Wally, man.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte said with a laugh. “Um, between you and me, I’m just trying to get him to open up and tell me how he’s feeling. That’s basically what I do, even with convicts. Get people to talk about their feelings.”
“Not gonna lie to you, hun, still sounds a lot like my job,” Laila said with a laugh.
Charlotte laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, well, it feels like that somedays.” She smiled at Laila, feeling inappropriately close to this woman she’d just met. Maybe that was the magic of sex workers: They could build bridges faster than any architect. Hell, Charlotte had spent months of her life convincing young female offenders not to slide into sex work, but she’d never really thought of the women who’d already made that leap. Looking across at Laila, she felt warm, almost fuzzy, the way she always felt when she made new friends.
“So, um, what can you tell me about Ben that other people might not know?”
“Hmm,” Laila murmured, chewing on her nails. “I think the only person who doesn’t know everything about Ben is Ben.”
“Except for me,” Charlotte said.
“Well, you’ll catch up,” Laila said. “Give it a week.”
“Come on, just one hint? One thing about him that he wouldn’t tell me?” Charlotte begged.
Laila smirked. “Okay. One working girl to another. I’ll tell you an open secret.”
Charlotte looked at Laila in silent question.
“Something we all know but don’t talk about. It’s like… almost dirty. It’d be sinful to discuss it, you know.”
Charlotte nodded, even though she didn’t quite understand. What could be so bad?
Laila leaned in even further, until her lips were just about to touch Charlotte’s ear. “Ben’s dad? Wally got rid of him.”
“Got rid of?” Charlotte repeated, not comprehending the meaning of it at first. Then, it hit her all at once, shocking her like she’d just been hit with like ice-water. “Oh. Oh, fuck.”
“Yep,” Laila said as she stuck a cigarette in her mouth and lit up. “That about sums it up.”
“What—Why?”
Laila shrugged. “I mean, obviously I wasn’t around back then. But I get the sense he was handsy, you know? Got too handsy with the girls, with Ben’s mom, with little Ben. So Wally dealt with it.”
“Jesus,” Charlotte sighed, leaning back against the brick wall of the club.
Laila blew out a perfectly symmetrical cloud of smoke, aiming it away from Charlotte’s face. “Wally’s a good guy. He shows up for his family.”
Charlotte tapped her fingers along her kneecap in thought. “And… Ben doesn’t?”
Laila gave a sad smile. “Not anymore. Not since… well, I guess I’ve spilled too much for one day, already,” she said.
“No, no, I think I get it,” Charlotte said. “Thank you, Laila.”
She slipped the cigarette out of her mouth and offered the end of it to Charlotte, who shook her head. “Never smoked?”
“Well, here and there,” she admitted.
Laila grinned. “You’re here, the cig’s there,” she said, a sing-song cadence to her voice. “Come on, pretty lady, take it. One puff won’t kill ya.”
Charlotte smiled weakly and took the cigarette, her hand shaking. She’d never smoked in the light of day before. Sealing her lips around the end of the cig, it felt like the first time she’d ever done it in her life, and she had to talk herself through inhaling steadily so she wouldn’t choke.
“Atta girl,” Laila said as Charlotte blew out a ring of smoke, the insides of her lungs burning gently. It felt good. It felt familiar, like in a past life she was a bad girl hanging out on the bleachers with her best friend.
“All right, good talk, guys,” came Ben’s voice from the other side of the club’s front door. “Thanks for making time for us, man.”
Charlotte handed the cigarette back to Laila and quickly stood up, somewhat fearful that Ben was going to forget about her and leave her behind. “Thank you, Laila,” she whispered. “For everything.”
Laila smiled at her and waved goodbye before returning to the group of girls.
“Productive meeting?” Charlotte asked as she approached Ben.
“Yeah, well, good enough,” Ben grunted. “Get on.”
She was a little miffed at the tone of voice he took with her, but she did as instructed, sliding onto the back of his bike again and holding on as he rocketed down the road.
About two minutes later, Charlotte had an idea. It was probably too soon in the day to be trying this, especially when she hoped to glean so much more information out of the people in his life, but she almost couldn’t stop herself. It was like an involuntary impulse, a muscle reaction that had to be obeyed. She leaned forward to yell in Ben’s ear over the roar of the engine. “I can see why Laila was friends with her.”
“What?” Ben said, probably unable to hear her over the sound of the wind rushing past both of their ears.
“I said,” Charlotte replied, “I can understand why Laila was good friends with her. You know.” She was afraid to say Danielle’s name,
like it was somehow a sacrilegious act, speaking the name of the dead. But goddammit, she was a therapist, and a good one, to boot. She knew when to prod and when to hold back, and Ben needed to be prodded. “With Danielle.”
She felt Ben’s muscles tense up underneath her hands, and she almost spiraled into apologies, backtracking over everything related to Danielle. But after a second he relaxed into her grip, although he said nothing. Charlotte second-guessed herself still, wondering if she had stepped over some boundary.