His Little Angel: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance

by April Lust

“So. What have you been up to?” Gary said, continuing to smile warmly at her as the waitress returned to pour them both glasses of red wine.

  Jessica allowed herself to take a couple huge gulps of wine before answering. If there was ever a time when she needed some liquid courage, it was now. She almost preferred it when Gary was rough and mean. At least then she knew what to expect. But now she was so completely out of her depth, unsure of what to say or do to make this night go as smoothly as possible. “Um, just working a lot,” she said, hoping that would be the end of that discussion.

  “Oh, so your new job is going well, then?” Gary said in between little sips of wine. “That’s great! I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thank you,” she said stiffly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat and avoiding direct eye contact with her ex.

  “Is it a nice place?”

  “It’s nice enough,” Jessica said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s a bar. How nice can it really be?”

  “Well, I don’t know. There are dive bars, like Sully’s, and then there are more upscale places. You know, like in the city, when you have to pay a cover charge just to get in. Is your new place like that?”

  Jessica shook her head. “It’s a lot like Sully’s, only…. cleaner,” she said, laughing despite herself.

  “Good, that’s good,” Gary said, ripping off another edge of bread and dipping it in oil before placing it in his mouth. “And the crowds? Are they bad a lot of the time?”

  Jessica shrugged. “It really depends on the night. Like any other bar, I imagine. On weekends things are rough. They get really busy, but every other night it’s fine. Plus, I’ve got other people working with me who help me out, so it’s never a huge deal.”

  “Why kind of clientele do you tend to serve there?” Gary asked, returning to his glass of wine to wash down the bread.

  Jessica was about to answer when the waitress returned to take their food orders. After the waitress walked away again, she said, “Well, mostly it’s just nice people who want a drink, you know, like anywhere else. A couple of the girls who used to hang around the MC and lost interest with whoever they were dating over there show up now and again, and they recognize me, which is nice. But sometimes, well, there are guys who get creepy and weird.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry,” Gary said, his forehead wrinkling up in concern as he stared across at Jessica. “Are you safe?”

  Jessica nodded, and for a brief moment she felt a little bit warm inside, thinking that Gary still worried about her, and not even in a totally selfish way. Maybe there was a part of him that loved her, even if he was still a pretty fundamentally broken person deep inside. But within a few seconds she pushed those thoughts away, uncomfortable with the familiar part of her that always used to defend Gary and make excuses for him. That was the part of her that allowed her to be treated so badly for so many years, the part that allowed Gary to cheat on her and emotionally manipulate her and control her. Well, no more. She wasn’t going to let herself care about him, not after knowing what the consequences would inevitably be.

  “It’s fine, though. The crowds are nice. They tip well,” she said, trying to dismiss the topic. She would be more comfortable if they stopped talking about her. She was about to turn the conversation back around and ask some stuff about the MC, but Gary cut her off, suddenly firing off questions much faster than before.

  “Oh, yeah, the tips are good? Do you know what the turnover is for a place like that? Do you get to look at the books at all? I’d be so curious to know if stuff on that side of town is profitable, you know. Do you know?”

  Jessica shook her head, feeling a little bit dizzy from hunger and fear and uncertainty. Luckily, the waitress returned with their food, putting the lamb chops that Jessica ordered earlier down in front of her. Jessica immediately dug in, grateful for an excuse to focus on anything other than the questions that Gary asked her. What the hell did she know about the financial operations of a bar? She had never even been to college, for Christ’s sake. And why did Gary care, anyway? He was making more than enough money over on his side of town.

  “So who’s the owner? You know, who’s your boss?” Gary asked, twirling his spaghetti around his fork without actually putting the food into his mouth. There was a fire in his eyes, an intensity behind his words that made Jessica uncomfortable, freezing her in her tracks and preventing her from swallowing for a few seconds until she finally realized that he was waiting for a response.

  “Um, his name is Tom,” Jessica said, even though she regretted answering the question as soon as the words left her mouth. “Yeah, um, I don’t know him very well, though. He keeps to himself.”

  “Where’s he from? Is he new in town or does he have family here?” Gary asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jessica said slowly, stabbing her lamb with her fork and bringing a huge chunk of it to her mouth, chewing on it for a while to keep her mouth occupied and prevent more conversation. God, when will this night end? When will it be over? Jessica silently prayed to God or whoever else was listening in on her thoughts.

  But Gary didn’t let up, apparently still encouraged by the fact that she was acknowledging his questions at all. “Is he affiliated with anybody?”

  “What do you mean?” Jessica asked, even though she figured she already knew the answer to his question.

  Gary looked around the restaurant for a bit before leaning in over the table and dropping his voice to a low volume. “I mean, any other MC’s? Are the Eagles behind him?”

  “I don’t know!” Jessica said, even though she was pretty sure the answer was no. Still, she was beyond irritated at this point. Why the hell did Gary care so much? What was his game here?

  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Gary said, finally scooping up some of his pasta and transferring it to his mouth. He kept talking, his mouth full. “I’m sorry for pushing. I’m just so curious about what you’ve been up to, that’s all.”

  “Are you sure?” Jessica asked, feeling her skin prickle with anxiety, her hairs standing up at attention like they were getting ready to jump off her body entirely.

  Gary nodded and finished chewing. “I just like to know that you’re okay, you know. That you’re safe. Protected.”

  That last word made Jessica’s stomach turn over, the lamb she’d just ingested threatening to make a comeback. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much, but for some reason it felt sinister coming out of Gary’s mouth, like it had an entirely different meaning, one that intended to hurt her rather than keep her safe. Jessica shoved her plate away, the idea of eating any more meat honestly repulsive to her at this point.

  “Are you okay?” Gary asked, his voice dripping with concern. Too much concern, honestly, like he knew exactly what kind of effect he was having on her.

  Jessica shook her head, breathing deeply to calm down. “I think I need to go home,” she said.

  “Okay, I’ll give you a ride on my bike,” Gary said, throwing a wad of twenty dollar bills down on the table and reaching for Jessica’s hand. “Come on. Come with me.”

  Jessica hesitated for a moment. “I think I’d rather walk, if that’s okay with you.” She inwardly berated herself for adding the last half of that sentence. It shouldn’t have to be okay with him, she told herself. I’m the boss of me now. I’m the boss. He doesn’t get a say in what I do or don’t do.

  But if that were true, Gary apparently still hadn’t gotten the memo, because he shook his head and scoffed at her. “Nonsense, it’s thirty degrees outside. It’ll take you half an hour to walk home from here. I’m taking you home. End of story. Now, come on.”

  Jessica slowly got to her feet, briefly considering bolting out of the restaurant and screaming for help. She wondered what would happen if she did that. Would anyone actually help her? Would anyone listen? Would everyone just let Gary carry her off anyway, knowing that he was the boss in this town?

  In any case, she didn’t attempt it, too nervous to do anything to piss Gary off while she was so
vulnerable. She wished she’d at least brought her kitchen knife with her. Even if she couldn’t really do any damage with it, it made her feel better, like she had a fighting chance to stand up against Gary if he tried something. But as it was, she was utterly weaponless, completely weak compared to him. There was nothing she could do.

  She slowly followed Gary out to the parking lot, where his bike was propped up against the outer wall of the restaurant. “Come on, get on the back,” Gary said as he straddled his bike, revving up the engine until Jessica did as instructed, shivering as she wrapped her arms around his waist. She used to feel so free doing this. She used to feel so rebellious and careless and wild, riding on the back of Gary’s bike. But now it was the opposite. She felt like she was in chains, tied to him no matter how hard she tried to break free.

  She breathed deeply, forcing her lungs to work like they were supposed to as Gary’s bike soared out onto the streets, revving past all the traffic to get on the backroads. This was Gary’s domain, his kingdom. He ruled these roads. The cops were too scared to patrol on them, knowing that Gary likely had boys camped out in the bushes, ready to fire their guns off at the first sign of trouble. Out here, nobody could hear her scream, and anybody who did certainly wouldn’t care. She was trapped. She was stuck. She was fucked.

  What’s he going to do me? Jessica wondered as Gary sped up, taking a sharp corner on a road that she barely even recognized. Is he going to kill me? Rape me? Take me back to the Nightwalkers’ compound and never let me go? Any of them seemed like viable options, honestly.

  But finally, he turned off of the backroad, suddenly arriving in Jessica’s neighborhood. She was taken aback by the sight of her own apartment as they rolled to a stop. She’d never taken that path before, but here she was, right on her own front lawn.

  As soon as Gary shut the engine off, Jessica jumped off the bike. “Thank you,” she said quickly. “For taking me home. Goodnight.”

  She turned quickly and headed toward the front door, her heart pounding in her throat as she heard Gary’s footsteps follow her. “Jessica! Wait up a second,” he said.

  Jessica shut her eyes and froze on the spot, praying silently that he wouldn’t force his way into her apartment. “I just wanted to give you a hug really quick,” Gary said as he came up behind her, turning her around before wrapping his arms around her shoulders, chastely brushing their bodies against each other. “Goodnight.”

  She couldn’t force herself to move for the longest time, screwed into place as she watched Gary get back on his bike and ride off into the dark night, far away from her.

  What the hell just happened? Gary acted like a gentleman the whole night, save for the brief period when he asked intrusive questions about the Gorge. What did he want from her? And what the hell was she supposed to do now?

  Chapter Nine

  Pax

  A couple days after Pax fucked Jessica, he realized that she’d stopped coming with him on his smoke breaks. Maybe that’s why they suddenly felt less tempting. As much as he hated to admit it, the cold night air was lonely without her jibber-jabber. He wondered if it was just because they fucked or if it was because he’d felt awkward around her afterward.

  It wasn’t like he was trying to be a dick, exactly, but he didn’t know what to say. He wished there was some clean, simple, easy way to tell her that they weren’t going to be a couple without cutting her out of his life entirely. She was a nice break from the tedium of the bar, entertaining him in ways that she probably didn’t even know about. It kind of pained Pax to think that he’d fucked that up just because he hadn’t really acknowledged her after they’d fucked.

  But one night, after most of the patrons left, she came up to him holding a beer, brandishing it in his face until he finally accepted it from her. “What’s up?” he asked as he cracked it open and took a long drag of the thick, bitter alcohol within.

  “Um,” Jessica said, sighing deeply before sitting down on the floor next to Pax. “I had a weird night last night, and I’m not sure who else I can talk to about it. Is it cool if I, like, ramble a bit?”

  Pax shrugged in response, but inwardly he felt a little bit warmer, and not just from the beer. He was relieved to hear that Jessica’s rambling days weren’t behind her. There was just something so charming and relaxing about it, hearing words leave her mouth like water pouring into the ocean.

  “Well, so I’ve got this ex,” Jessica said, reaching over to take Pax’s beer from his hand so she could take a long sip, too. “Um, and he’s kind of a big deal.”

  Pax sputtered out a laugh, his stomach almost hurting with the unfamiliar effort involved. He hadn’t laughed in a very long time.

  “Yeah, I know, it sounds douchey,” Jessica said before handing him his beer back. “But believe me, the reality of it is so much worse than you could even imagine. This guy is the head of the MC that runs this town. I mentioned him before…”

  “Gary?” Pax suggested, remembering the name from the rant that Jessica gave a few seconds before they first kissed and fucked.

  “Right,” Jessica said, clearly surprised that he’d remembered the name. “Anyway, he kind of conned me into having dinner with him last night and things got…weird.”

  “Did he try to pull something on you or something?” Pax said, straightening up so that his spine was stiff, his body suddenly totally alert, prepared for action. He was ready to stomp some skulls if Jessica told him that she had some creep bothering her outside of work, even if he didn’t get paid for it.

  “No, no, it’s not like that,” Jessica said, keeping her voice low as the last patron of the night finally walked by them on his way out of the bar. She sighed and held her head in her hands. “I mean, that’s kind of the problem. If he was just being creepy and weird, like every other random fucker I see in here every night of the week, I’d be able to handle it, you know? But he’s being…strange.”

  “How so?” Pax asked, his curiosity officially piqued.

  “He started asking me all of these questions about this place, the Gorge. He wanted to know who the owner was, if he was affiliated with any of the other MCs in the area, you know, shit like that.”

  “Huh,” Pax said, considering her words carefully. “It sounds like he wants to take this place for his own.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, too,” Jessica admitted softly. “And you know, I shouldn’t care, right? It’s like you said before. This is just a stupid job. It’s just a stupid bar. But…I don’t know, it felt nice, you know? Having just one place that Gary didn’t get his stupid, filthy hands on. But I feel like soon that’s all going to change.”

  Pax watched as Jessica pulled the beer out of his hands again, tipping the bottle up to the ceiling as she drained the last drops, gasping for air after she swallowed. Her face crinkled up in pain. She was obviously crushed by the idea of losing this place, as weird as that might have seemed. But it didn’t seem weird to Pax, actually. He felt like he understood what she meant. As much as Tom got on his nerves, Pax didn’t mind working here, and that was more than he could say for literally any other job he’d had over the past several years, including all the shit he did while he was in the Army. Even just thinking about some megalomaniacal prick coming in and taking it over, turning it into his own personal playground like the rest of this crappy town, was enough to get Pax’s blood pumping harder through his veins, feeling anger simmer up from the bottom of his belly.

  “He sounds like a bully,” Pax commented, getting to his feet to walk over to the bar to grab them another beer. He’d pay for it later to make sure that the books were accounted for, just so Tom wouldn’t hassle him again. Pax was getting better that way, trying to avoid conflict whenever possible. He might have talked a big game, but he really didn’t want to lose this job any more than Jessica did.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s the best word for him, really,” Jessica said, accepting the beer from Pax as soon as he walked back over to the wall where she was sitting. “He al
ways used to boss me around, you know. And I guess in a way he’s still doing it, only now he does it while pretending to be nice so that I can’t even yell at him. Do you know how frustrating that is?”

  Pax thought back on his days in Iraq, when his superior officer would give the men abhorrent orders, telling them to do absolutely inhuman things, and then he nodded slowly at Jessica. “Yeah, I think I get it.”

  “So, that’s the news of the day,” Jessica said in a forced cheery tone before cradling her head in her hands. “Fuck my fucking life.”

  Pax popped open his beer and began to sip at it thoughtfully, staring at Jessica through the corner of his eye. She seemed to shrink in on herself, wrapping her arms around her body in some futile attempt to protect herself. It made something inside Pax snap, seeing her look so weak. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much, but it almost physically hurt, seeing her like this. “It’s not over yet,” he said before taking another gulp of beer.

  Jessica scoffed a little and shook her head. “Gary gets what Gary wants. That’s like, the rule of the Nightwalkers. Nobody steps to him. Nobody stops him. It was over before it started, as soon as he decided he wanted this place. We’ll both be working for him in less than a month.”