My heart leapt to my throat as I sat back in the chair. I’d just told the man I’d get to his car that afternoon, so it would be a couple hours before I locked the door. But now, I had something to look forward to when I got back. I didn’t want to let my brain go there, but I realized I didn’t have any control over it.
I’m looking forward to it, too. I’ll be back in a few hours and maybe we can watch another movie or something
She answered almost immediately, her response driving me crazy with anticipation. I knew it was a bad idea, but I refused to listen, even to myself
I can’t wait
I put my phone in my pocket and got to work. She was excited to see me, she couldn’t wait, she’d say it herself. And the fact of the matter was – despite my wanting to deny it with all that I had in me – I couldn’t wait to see her, either.
Time couldn’t past fast enough.
16
Megan
Why can’t I ever master just a single line around my eye? It can’t be that hard, and Kate makes it look so easy!
I stared at myself in the mirror for a second, then I had a second thought quickly follow.
Do you think he’ll notice?
I paused. We were nearly to the end of my second week living in Ridgecrest, and though my brother promised there would be changes down in Barstow soon, it appeared that he was just blowing smoke up my ass to keep me off of his. But then, he didn’t realize how happy I was becoming spending time with Trip.
We’d settled into a bit of a routine, Trip and me. Some days I’d go with him to the shop to hang out and work on my projects on my laptop, then there were other days when I’d stay home. Those were the days that were hardest for me. They were filled with domesticity, and the kind that was just too perfect.
I’d always kept a clean home in Barstow, and though this wasn’t my apartment, I didn’t feel any different about how it should be kept. Trip wasn’t a dirty bachelor, but it was still obvious to me that he was a bachelor all the same. I never went into his room to clean, but I did make sure the rest of the place was as clean as it would have been if it was my own.
Now that I’d been gone from Barstow for a couple of weeks, I didn’t feel there was a lot I could do for my students over the internet. I was in contact with several through email but making sure they kept up with the forms I sent and the projects I outlined didn’t take much out of my day.
Not nearly enough to fill the day, anyway. So, I had more time than I wanted to do whatever I liked.
And often, I liked cleaning. Or cooking or doing the laundry. Hell, I’d do just about anything to make sure Trip came home to a place that was organized and maintained after he was at the shop all day. Not to mention it kept my brain focused and not on things that it shouldn’t be lingering on. Like my feelings for the man.
I’d no idea before how much he did to make sure the streets of Ridgecrest were safe. He hated drugs, and he wanted nothing to do with them – he didn’t want to even hear of them being in the city limits. He and all the other members of his club – at least the ones I knew so far – constantly kept their eyes open for men who were distributing or manufacturing substances.
When he’d come home with some story of how they’d gotten a bust or shut down an illegal operation, I’d feel myself growing aroused. It was just what I wanted for my own kids back home, but I hadn’t realized that there were clubs out there that weren’t just about making money no matter the cost.
The more I got to know Trip and his men, the more I realized it was my brother – not all clubs – who was in the wrong. It was embarrassing for me to admit that fact, and I was glad Trip never brought it up to me.
Now, as I stared at myself in the bathroom, I didn’t know how to feel about the thoughts I was having. I still wanted to go home – to my high school – to the kids who were waiting for me there. Cutter wasn’t giving me a lot of information about the details of what they were doing, or what it meant for the kids at the school. He knew some of them were involved and how deeply that affected me.
I wanted it all to be over so I could get back to my life. So I could tell the kids that if they were hell-bent on needing to find a group of people to “belong”, that they had more options than the Souls or the cartel. They had clubs like the Angels; clubs where they could fill the need to belong and still do good things. But until I got home, I worried about how many more kids I was losing to the streets. It went against school policy for me to ask them how things were going outside of their own academic work while I was on sabbatical, so I just had to be patient. And patience was not a virtue I had been abundantly blessed with.
It also didn’t help that I had the impression Trip was hiding something from me. He didn’t want me to know something about what was going on, and there was likely a good reason for it.
A reason that I’d approve of? Probably not, but still a good reason in his mind all the same.
Yet, even with the need to go home and make sure all my students were safe, I was growing more and more attached to Trip by the day. I wondered what he thought about how I dressed, I hoped he liked my makeup. I looked for his reactions to just about everything I did.
I thrived on any attention he gave me – even if it was something so insignificant as him noticing that I’d done my hair differently. He didn’t have to tell me that it looked good, noticing alone was enough to give me a good day and feel like I was on top of the world.
And it made me inwardly cringe. I was not that girl. I didn’t need anyone’s approval, especially a man’s. What the hell had gotten into me? The man throws me a little dick and I’m a puddle at his feet? I mean, the dick was anything but little, but still. I was an independent, grown-ass woman and I was acting like a lovesick teenager. I really needed to get my shit together and get back to my life before I became unrecognizable to myself. I shut off the light to the bathroom and headed out into the living room, trying to push all thoughts of Trip out of my mind. He was already gone to the shop for the day, and I was already missing him. It didn’t help that we’d taken to texting each other throughout the day about things that didn’t matter even.
We chatted, we joked, he’d tell me about a difficult customer he had, and I’d tell him about something I saw online. Our relationship was shifting from just protector and protected, to one that was way more familiar and personal.
We’d not had sex again since that night, but it was constantly in the back of my mind – something I hoped for when the two of us were at home alone at night. But I refused to seduce him. No, if he wanted me, he’d have to make the first move.
I sighed. I was quickly realizing that it was futile to try and deny my feelings for Trip, even to myself. In a very short period of time, I’d learn to rely on certain things where he was concerned. I relied on him making me feel safe. I relied on him making me feel appreciated. And I relied on him making me feel wanted even if he wasn’t acting on it for whatever his noble reasons were.
And I almost thought that I’d go back home because it was what I should do, not because it was what I wanted to do.
The morning passed slowly, as always, but today, I had a hard time focusing on my work. My mind kept drifting to Trip, wondering what he was doing, wishing I was with him, my heart racing every time I got a text. Then, I was surprised when he came in on lunch.
“Decide to go with the home cooked today?” I asked with a smile.
“Actually, I thought I’d take you down to the diner to grab a sandwich,” he replied.
“Really?” I asked. “In the middle of the work day?”
“Do you have better things to do?” he asked with a crooked grin.
I shook my head, and he motioned for me to follow. So, I grabbed my purse and soon found myself on the back of his bike. It had been a while since I’d ridden a motorcycle, and it felt good having the wind blow through my hair. But we rode right past the diner and kept heading up the street, confusing me.
Being on the bike, I coul
dn’t talk to him very well as he drove. The wind was too loud, so I just had to wait for us to arrive wherever he was taking me. We went past several other restaurants and didn’t stop until we reached the battered women’s’ shelter.
“What’re we doing here?” I asked, slightly suspicious.
“Come on, you’ll see,” Trip replied. We headed inside, and a tall woman with silver-blonde hair walked to meet us.
“This is the woman I was telling you about,” Trip said. “Megan Ward.”
“Miss Ward, my name is Amanda Runner, and it’s good to meet you,” the woman held her hand out to me, and I shook it.
“It’s very nice to meet you as well, but I’m a little confused. What’s going on?” I asked as I looked from one to the other, letting my confusion show.
“Trip tells me that you’ve been doing extensive work down in Barstow taking preventative measures for young boys and girls, keeping them off the streets,” Amanda said. I nodded, and she continued. “There really isn’t an opportunity for you to do that kind of work up here, but we could use some help down here at the shelter. Trip thought you would be perfect for the job.”
I beamed inside. My heart raced, and I wanted to jump for joy. This was exactly the sort of work that I enjoyed doing, and it would be perfect to get me out of the house and be active again.
“I’ll give you a ride here before work in the morning and pick you up when I get off in the afternoon,” Trip said. “You can get a ride from Amanda, too, if we need.”
“Trip tells me that it’s best if you stay off the street, but trust me, we have more than enough experience with that here,” Amanda winked at me. “What do you think?”
“I’d love to!” I said happily. “Oh my gosh, thank you!”
“Great,” Trip said. “When can she start?”
“Tomorrow would be great,” Amanda said. “I’ll get some paperwork together and we can get you signed in. This is volunteer work, but it seems like it’s going to be a good fit.”
“I don’t mind that at all,” I said quickly. “Really, I don’t. I can’t wait!”
“Good, I love the enthusiasm,” Amanda smiled. She shook my hand again before Trip and I left, but I couldn’t stop smiling all the way to the diner.
“How did you know?” I asked when we got off his bike. “How did you know that I’d like that?”
“You were pretty upset when you had to leave your students back in Barstow. I thought you might like being able to still help people up here,” Trip said with a shrug, as if it were no big deal. “Now let’s eat. I’m starving.”
I grinned as I walked next to him toward the diner, fighting the urge to take his hand in mine. He might notice my outfits or my makeup, but those things paled in comparison to how I felt now that he’d done something like this.
This showed that he not only could see what was important to me in my life, but that he wanted to make me happy. He cared. And that meant more to me than any other compliment he could give me.
I was thrilled at the prospect of rolling up my sleeves and doing important work again. I really missed doing something that mattered. I’d throw myself into this work just as I had when I was at the school back home. It was extremely evident how personal that particular work was to Trip and it made me proud that he thought I would be a good fit. Whether he was doing it intentionally or not, Trip was letting me into his life a little bit at a time with each gesture.
And I’d die before I let him down.
17
Trip
I couldn’t quit smiling as I took Megan back to the apartment after lunch. She’d been happy and talkative overall for the past few days, minus the few times she’d revert back to her sassy mouth. But over our meal, I’d seen a whole new side to the woman.
It had really been a stroke of luck, the way things had unfolded with Amanda. I knew her through my work with the women who wanted to take their exes to court. Many of them had ended up going to the shelter when they didn’t have family or friends they could turn to, so myself or one of my men would go there to pick them up for the court dates.
Amanda had been thrilled to hear what good it did the women when they had the support of one of the Angels in the courtroom with them, so she worked extensively with us to help the process as much as she could. She was part of the reason we had been connected to so many cases in the community, even going so far as to reach out to other shelters and let them know about what we did, and assure them they could have the help, too.
But she was getting overwhelmed with all the work that had to be done. With the sudden battle that was raging between the cartel and the Souls in the south, she was having a difficult time reaching the women who were in that area.
The trouble being, those women were often more targeted with the gang and domestic violence than what we were dealing with, largely because we didn’t have nearly the same influence down there as we did further north.
So, when I heard her talking to another director for a shelter in a nearby town, I volunteered Megan for the job. Hell, I figured she was already used to fighting the lifestyle, and she loved to help people.
She didn’t have much to do with her days, and I’d noticed how clean the apartment was night after night as I came home. I didn’t bring her to Ridgecrest to be a maid. Her brother and I had uprooted her entire life and she was basically stuck in a shit situation. I felt it was the least I could do. There was no way for us to know how long it would take for Cutter to get his shit together, and I didn’t want her to end up stuck in my apartment or my shop day in and day out for months. Hell, I knew I’d go crazy if that was me, so I decided to do what I could to get her out of there.
It all came together perfectly, and I was thrilled to see how much it meant to her. She clearly didn’t know what to do with herself, already talking about how she was going to help, what she was going to do, and any ideas she was going to present to Amanda to help the place run more smoothly.
“I’m sure she’s got a lot of it figured out already, but I’m going to see what I can put together and show her. You know, there are times when a fresh set of eyes is all it takes to make a real breakthrough that really helps everyone involved. And I’m sure she’s tired with all the work she’s had to do,” she rambled.
“You’re talking a hundred miles an hour,” I chuckled. “Slow down.”
She laughed. “Sorry. I’m just so excited.”
She was still sitting on the back of my bike, her arms wrapped around my waist. We were parked next to the curb outside my apartment, and I had to get back to the shop. But I didn’t want her to go. I almost took her right to work with me that afternoon, but she didn’t have her computer or anything with her, and I didn’t want her to be bored and annoying the guys with her incessant chatter. Just because I found it endearing, didn’t mean they appreciated it.
“Well, you get in there and plan then, we’re going to head to the shelter first thing in the morning, so you don’t have too much time on your hands,” I eased the bike slightly to the side so she could climb off, and she handed me back the helmet.
I only had the one, so when we rode together, I let her wear it. Now, I buckled it under my chin as she stood on the sidewalk and shook her head slightly, a smile on her face.
“What?” I asked.
“You just surprise me, that’s all,” she said with a shake of her head. “I really didn’t have the right idea about you at all.”
“Is that a good thing?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows at her. The look on her face already told me it was, but I liked to hear the compliments from her. And that in itself, scared the shit out of me.
Never before had I cared about making a woman happy in that way. Sure, I wanted to take care of the women who were trying to better their lives, and I wanted to keep the streets safe for the kids in town – as well as their parents – but when it came down to pleasing a woman just for the sake of it, outside the bedroom, I’d never really given it much thought.
Mercedes had been the only other woman in my life I’d genuinely cared about making happy because she was my sister and I loved her. It had been that way since we were kids, and though our time in adulthood together had been brief before she was murdered, I still loved her dearly.
“It’s a very good thing,” Megan said with her hands in her back pockets, her toe twisting on the pavement. Her chest stood out as she stood that way, with the curves of her hips catching my attention as well. There was a part of me that got the impression she was doing it on purpose, and I knew I’d not be able to resist for long.
“I’ve got to get going,” I said, shaking the images of her naked and writhing underneath me out of my head. “There’s a shit ton of work down at the shop we’ve got to get to this afternoon.”
“Okay. I’ll be here when you get back,” she said. I nodded and stood the bike, but she took another step forward before I left.
“Just one more thing,” she said. She didn’t hesitate, and with a single, sweeping motion, she planted a kiss right on my cheek.
“I’ll see you later,” she smiled.
“Have a good afternoon,” I said, trying hard to control my suddenly bucking heart. She gave me a light wave and headed back inside the complex, leaving me on the street. I sped off, but adrenaline was now pumping through my veins. The kiss she had just given me was electrifying, and I felt like going as fast as I could, speeding down the freeway to clear my head.
I tried to tell myself that the kiss what just a friendly gesture, a thank you for getting her the gig at the shelter. But I knew better. The moment her lips had brushed my cheek, I’d heard the hitch in her breath and I knew she’d felt the lightning too. I was fucked. Totally and completely fucked.
I took the long way back to the shop, pressing over ninety miles per hour when I cut onto the freeway. I needed the speed, the deafening sound of the wind in my ears to help return my thoughts and heart rate back to normal. I pulled up outside my shop and adjusted myself as I got off of my bike, my balls aching with the need to fill her up again.
Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set Page 54