“Okay, yeah,” her face lit up at the fact of getting twenty bucks.
I handed her the money and she handed me her phone. I called Kit. I was relieved that he answered his phone.
“Hey it’s me.”
“I’m glad you called. I’m coming there in two days.”
“You are?”
“Yes, can you meet me somewhere?”
“There’s a diner. I’m here now actually. It’s called the American Diner and it’s right in the middle of town.”
“Okay, I’ll wait there all day; Just get out of the house if you can.”
“Well I can but my driver will be with me and he’s the eyes and ears.”
“Okay so let’s act like we don’t know each other and we’ll figure out a way to talk.”
“Okay. I’m so happy.”
“Me too, I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
I hung up and handed the girl her phone. Then I walked out with a skip to my step. I felt a sense of relief.
The next two days were excruciating waiting for Wednesday to come. When it finally came I did the same thing as before. I popped my head in to my father’s office and said I was going into town to the diner with Fred. Once again he didn’t care. Then he yelled after me,
“Wait a minute Mary. Come back here!”
I froze in the hallway. Had I been caught? I knew I had to act like I hadn’t and be annoyed. I walked back to the doorway and said, “Yes, father,” with a sigh and roll of my eyes. I let my weight shift lazily against the door and I smacked my gum, as though I didn’t care anymore.
“I expect you to pick a new college next week. You’re not staying on the East Coast.”
“Yes, fine.” I said rolling my eyes.
“That’s all,” he said and dismissed me. That was it, I had got away in the clear. I sighed in relief. In minutes I was in the car on the way to the diner. I was nervous and couldn’t show it. Fred wasn’t intrusive or paid attention to me that much, but I didn’t want to make him think anything was different. Finally we arrived. Fred went in and sat at the counter. I walked slowly behind him scanning the room. Then I saw Kit in dark glasses and a hat in a booth. I restrained myself from running into his arms. Tears swelled up in my eyes. I sat in the booth next to his so that we could at least look at each other.
He smiled at me and I smiled back. It was torture to not touch him. I ordered and sat quietly eating pretending to read a book. I would look over at Fred now and again who was buried in his newspaper and facing away from me. Kit made a gesture with his face to the side. I nodded in agreement. He walked to the back of the diner down the hallway where the bathrooms were. I waited a minute or two and followed him. He was waiting outside the girl’s bathroom.
“Hold on,” I whispered.
I went in and looked to see if the bathroom was empty. It was and I called for him to come in. He walked in and I pulled him into a stall quickly and locked it. I had no words. I pressed my body against his and kissed him passionately. My entire body melted. I threw my arms around him and pulled him close. I had missed him so much. Then he pulled away and said, “We don’t have much time love.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. “Here it’s off now. Turn it on only once a day and hide it.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
We had to talk fast and keep this under five minutes or it would be too suspicious. He began talking rapidly.
“Now look I figured out a plan so we can be together. I don’t know if you’re going to like it.”
“You have a plan? What plan?”
“For you, for college.”
“Ugh,” I huffed.
“Just hear me out.”
“Fine,” I said crossing my arms.
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to be together and I think I have. That is if you’ll do it.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“I have an apartment in Paris. I’m there half the year. If you were to go to college in Paris you could live there. Live with me. It won’t be too suspicious I don’t think. You’re father will be happy that you are far away from me in Europe. Of course he won’t know that I’m there. You want to study French so it’s perfect.”
“Paris?”
“Yes, Paris.”
“I love Paris.”
“Would you want to live there? You would have to go to college, but I know you will like it. It’s different there. It’s not like Harvard. It’s very freeing and fun. What do you think?”
Excitement was welling up in me. This was it. It was perfect and it made sense. I could be with Kit.
“It’s perfect. Yes, I’ll do it.”
He sighed in relief. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he seemed genuinely relaxed for the first time in a long time.
“I’m so relieved. I can breathe again knowing we possibly have the opportunity to be together. Just think we could be together for four years, if you wanted of course.”
“Wait. Stop? What do you mean you have an apartment in Paris?”I looked at him completely confused. The excitement and forced rush of the conversation in the bathroom just had me going with whatever he said and agreeing with it.
“Look, there’s something I didn’t tell you. I don’t tell anyone. You see, you and I aren’t that much different. Our families aren’t that different. I come from money too. I have quite a lot of it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Contact
I stared at Kit in shock. His dark curls fell across his face and his dark eyes. His beard stubble was scruffy and I loved the way it looked on him. I took in all these details as my mind tried to process the outrageous claim that he had just told me. I don’t think my eyes blinked once for a full minute. So much had happened in the last few weeks and now there was suddenly a drastic change. Kit had just told me that he came from money. Not just money, but was a very wealthy guy from a wealthy family. It did not make any sense at all to me. It did not fit with everything that he had told me. I looked down at his forearm and the familiar wolf tattoo that let everyone know he was in a wolf pack biker gang and somewhat of a criminal. That branded tattoo did not fit in with a rich guy. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
The rebel bad boy that lived in a dump of a biker gang clubhouse was actually a rich guy in disguise? No, that did not make sense at all. He must only be talking about some sort of investment he has that could possibly make him some money, because I couldn’t get my head around the concept that he had the same background as me. If it were true than it would make me feel angry, relieved, and deceived all at the same time.
We stood staring at each other in the ladies room of the diner in the small village. We didn’t have much time. Soon we would have to get out of here. Yet, none of that mattered to me right now in this moment.
“What do you mean?” I asked again in my stunned state.
“I’m sorry Mary. It’s not like I lied to you about it. I just didn’t tell you. There wasn’t a need for it. I never live like I have money and so far it has been freeing.”
“But I don’t understand…”
“There’s a lot to it. A lot more that I could explain but we don’t have much time for that. Right now I only want to say this…”
He leaned in and kissed me hard and passionately. In that moment I forgot everything that was happening around us. I forgot where I was. The only thing in this moment was him and his full lips on mine. The only thing in this moment was the two of us touching and kissing. We were locked together in something. The fact that we couldn’t be together only made it stronger. Our love was forbidden because I was a rich girl and he was a rebel motorcycle guy without money, only that had changed just seconds ago. I felt light headed and faint from that information and from kissing.
His hands slid down my back slowly and I felt chills go up my spine. I melted into his strong chest. I reached up and pushed my fingers through his tangle of dark curls. I didn’t want this moment to end.
&n
bsp; “This is torture,” he whispered between kisses.
I sucked on his lower lip lightly as we kissed. He moaned in my mouth. It was getting hot and intense and I didn’t think I would be able to stop. Then there was a noise that broke the spell.
Just then the door to the ladies room opened. We both froze inside the stall and were quiet. Kit put his finger up to his lips gesturing for me to not move and to stay quiet. We waited until we heard the other stall door close and then we snuck out of the bathroom. Once we were in the hallway it was too dangerous. We would get caught. We had to end our meeting and my heart hurt knowing that fact. Especially because I didn’t have any answers to that nagging question about Kit’s wealth. Kit leaned in close and whispered.
“Just call me later on the phone I gave you when you can lock yourself in your room. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
“Go ahead and go first. I’ll go wait in the men’s room until you leave the diner,” he said motioning for me to go.
“I hate this sneaking around. It’s so stupid.”
I gave him a really quick squeeze and then walked back out to the main room of the diner. Fred, the driver still sat reading the paper and drinking coffee. He didn’t even look up when I walked out.
“I’m ready,” I told him then walked out to the car.
On the way back to the Connecticut compound my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. First of all Kit was not who I thought he was and that changed things for me. I felt a sense of relief because his financial situation opened up so many doors. We could run away to Paris together. It didn’t matter if my father disowned me and cut me off from family money because now Kit could take care of me. I could continue to go to school. Maybe my father would even accept Kit as a real suitor for me if he knew he had money. I don’t know how much he was talking about but it seemed substantial. However, there was something in the back of my mind that was nagging me. Kit was not the guy I fell in love with. The guy I fell for was a rebel bad boy that grew up on a ranch and was rough. Now, that had all changed. That wasn’t him at all. It was only a new identity he had taken on and I didn’t know why.
So much had happened to me in the last few months since starting school at Harvard. I knew that I really didn’t fit in with the Harvard crowd, but I didn’t know that my boredom would lead me to finding the love of my life. I didn’t know how intense a connection I would have with him and that we would be kept apart. Since then I had gone on a journey that could only exist in a soap opera. I had been attacked at a biker bar. I had been assaulted and put in the hospital by Kit’s crazy ex-girlfriend. I had fallen in love with a dirty rebel that rode a motorcycle and was tough with a sensitive side. I had been yanked out of school by my father and forced me to come back home to Connecticut. It was a complex mess of absolute craziness that had my heart going on emotional rollercoaster rides.
The car pulled into the driveway. I looked at the massive house. Suddenly it didn’t seem so ominous like a prison. It had changed because now I had hope. It was no longer a place that held me back, now it was simply my home again. That made me feel good. I sighed in relief as I opened the door.
I stepped out of the car and into the house. I walked past my father’s office and heard, “Mary Elizabeth!”
I stopped in my tracks. I was terrified that we had been caught. I walked slowly into the large den that served as his office.
“Yes, father?”
Have you thought about what we talked about? School? I would need to know soon.
“Yes, I have. I was doing well and love French. I was thinking my path could be international business as a translator based in Paris.”
He was silent and didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure why. He was always quiet and never really said what he was thinking. So I continued.
“I think it would be good for me to go to school abroad, in Paris. Get away from my mistakes,” I said quietly.
His face seemed to lighten up. I think he liked that I was thinking of Kit and the whole Harvard disaster as a mistake. In this way I was admitting that he was right and I was wrong. I was one hundred percent sure that he liked that and encouraged that.
“Very well. Do your research and let me know which school and then start the transfer process from Harvard.”
“Okay, thank you,” I walked out of the room and to my bedroom. I felt an extreme amount of relief. It was working. Kit’s plan for us to live together in Paris away from my father’s eyes, was working. I had to admit I was excited about the school part of it as well. Yet, a part of me felt scared as though it was not going to work out. Then there was the whole thing about Kit being wealthy. I couldn’t even begin to understand that without knowing the facts. I needed to talk to him. I would wait until late and give him a call.
I locked my bedroom door and pulled out the phone he gave me from my purse. I turned it on. In worked. I turned it off and hid it in my purse again. Since the maids cleaned my room my purse really was the only safe place.
I pulled out my laptop and begin the long process of finding a school in Paris. The University of Paris was one of the oldest in the world and I often dreamed of going to school there. I filled out the paperwork and then I drifted off to sleep.
A few hours later I woke up. I looked at the clock. It was midnight. I stretched out of bed and forced myself to wake up. I went to the window to look out. It was cold and a small amount of snow drifted in the wind. I went to my door and made sure it was locked. I was ready to call Kit. I pulled out the phone and turned it on. His phone number was the only number programmed in the phone. I laughed a little. I called and waited.
“Mary?” he answered.
I sighed in relief, “Yes it’s me.”
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Well, I told him about Paris and he seemed to go for out. I spent the night applying to a few schools, getting my transcripts from Harvard and such. I think it will work.”
“Good,” he said.
Then we were both silent on the phone. I knew he understood what that silence meant. So I just spoke up.
“Kit, you have to tell me what’s going on. I don’t understand the whole money thing. It’s been driving me crazy. I don’t even know who you are. It’s very disconcerting for me. Who are you, really?”
There was a long silence. Then he began to tell me his story.
“My father is a well known Boston millionaire. I grew up the same way you did. Country clubs and lame society rules of the elite, and it drove me crazy. I hated every second of it. Eventually I left that all behind. I opted out of that lifestyle. Just the way you are trying to do with your father. Only my family didn’t mind it. They understood. Some people backpack in Europe to find themselves, I dove into living a different lifestyle. The wolf pack and biker life style that you see now and it really became a part of me. I liked it. It made me experience real life and it made me tough and strong. None of those kids know about my real background of course. They wouldn’t accept me if they knew.”
I was silent processing everything that he was saying.
“And the ranch?” I asked.
“It’s sort of a family getaway spot. They only go there a few times a year. It’s always been in the family for a generation.”
“I see. So you’re a millionaire?” I asked.
He laughed, “I don’t like being called that, but yes I am. That’s my worth.”
“You’re willing to leave the wolf pack and all that behind to be with me in Paris?” I asked in almost a whisper. My voice was shaking.
“Yes, I would Mary. The wolf thing was just an exploration of myself. I needed that experience, but nothing is better than the experience of love, and I love you.”
“I love you too Kit, it’s just that…”
“What? What is it?”
“In a way you were untruthful to me. You deceived me. I know you didn’t mean to and everything, but I’m having a hard time getting past it. If you can keep something like that a secret f
rom me, than what other secrets will you keep.” I said.
He was silent. None of us spoke for a good half a minute. It was just silence. I did want to be with Kit and it hurt me to not be with him, but I couldn’t get the fact that I really didn’t know him out of my mind. So I had to say something. I owed it to myself to be honest.
Finally he spoke up. “I understand Mary. I can see how it might make you mistrust me. I hate myself for that. I don’t really know how to respond or what to say that can take that feeling away from you.”
It was not what I wanted to hear, but it was a truthful response. I needed time to think.
“I should go now. I just need some time,” I said.
“Okay, but know that I love you and being with out you has been the worst torment,” he said with a genuine sincere tone to his voice. It melted my heart.
I hung up the phone and lay sleepless in bed. I couldn’t stop all these thoughts from going through my head. I needed a better plan. I was a planning person and a good solid plan would make me feel better. I wouldn’t think about it now, I would think about it tomorrow.
CHAPTER NINE
In Motion
Over the next two days I didn’t talk to Kit again. I left the phone off and I never called him. To my surprise I spent a lot of time with my father. He talked to me like I was a business associate as we discussed my Paris plans.
I was sitting in the conservatory enjoying the natural light since it was too cold to sit outside. I was having hot coffee with cinnamon and pastries when he came in.
“I’ll have a cup too,” he said.
I looked at him confused for a second and then poured him a cup. He sat down and stared off in the distance.
“Mary Elizabeth. I’m doing this for your own good. I know it seems like I’m cold and maybe I am, but since your mother left us, I don’t know how to do this. Raising a daughter that is.”
I stared at him wide eyed. My father had never had a heart to heart talk with me since I was nine years old and my mother left us. She left us for another man. A richer man with who owned a small island in the Caribbean. My father used to say it was the cold that drove her away. I assumed he meant the cold New England weather but as I got older and understood love, I realized he meant the coldness of his heart. I had little to know contact with her. It was something I had gotten used to.
MOTORCYCLE CLUB: Rebel Riders (Billionaire MC Romance) (Biker With A Cause Book 1) Page 6