Daddy Bikers Box Set

by Sadie Savage

  “Uh oh,” Blade mumbled. “That’s a lecture breath.”

  Michelle laughed again and slapped his shoulder playfully. “Stop it! I’m trying to be serious.”

  Blade raised his eyebrow and gestured for her to continue, and Michelle rolled her eyes at him. Why was it so much fun speaking to this girl? Shouldn’t they both be in their own rooms right now, stuck in an endless cycle of grief? It would almost make him feel better to be crying over Zeke right now as opposed to practically flirting with his best friend’s child. It was wrong.

  “I just kept listening for you to get up and, I don’t know, go teach Alan a lesson or something,” Michelle finally said miserably. She had washed all her makeup off sometime during the night, so her face, no matter how radiant, still looked battered. Just hearing Alan’s name made him furious all over again.

  “What’s wrong with teaching that piece of shit a lesson?” Blake growled.

  “I just don’t think I could live with myself if anything happened to you…on my account,” Michelle said quietly. “It was keeping me up all night, worrying that you were going to do something rash that might ruin your life or affect the MC.”

  “Trust me, sweetheart, I wouldn’t do anything to negatively impact the MC. Not even on your account.”

  Michelle seemed both relieved and maybe a little offended, and sighed. “Good. I don’t want you to confront Alan about this. He’s the chief of police, you know? It could go down badly for you if you tried to say or do anything.”

  “That stupid bastard is the chief?” Blade exclaimed. “What the hell?”

  Michelle laughed again and shook her head. “I know. It’s fucked up.”

  “It’s a little more than fucked up, kid. The more you tell me the harder it is for me to stay put!”

  When Blade saw Michelle’s face fall, he sighed heavily. “But don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything rash. I’m not as stupid as I look.”

  “You don’t look stupid,” Michelle said, her intoxicating eyes serious upon him.

  “That’s beside the point,” Blade laughed, trying to shake off the intensity of his attraction toward her. She was a young woman. Married to the chief of the pigs, no less. And his best friend’s daughter. How much more trouble could he ask for? He couldn’t find more if he was looking for it!

  “I’m serious though,” Michelle said. “I’m worried about you. I don’t think I could handle it if I lost another person in my life…except maybe Alan.”

  “Don’t worry about a thing, sweetheart. You just stay put here and nobody would dare touch you. Even if Alan knew right where you were, you know those chicken shit police aren’t going to do anything about it. They mind their own affairs and we keep to ourselves. It’s the way it is.”

  “I don’t know,” Michelle sighed. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”

  Blade put his hand over Michelle’s and smiled as soothingly as he could muster.

  “Nothing is going to happen to you, Michie. Not while I’m around.”

  Michelle searched his eyes and he grinned again. It would be easier to make her laugh than it would to acknowledge that she cared for him, even if it was just leftover care from childhood. In fact, that kind of made it worse. It reminded him that he could just as easily be her dad. This feeling he had was sick, really. He would have to be careful with it.

  Michelle shook her head and smiled.

  “All right,” she finally said. “I trust you.”

  Blade smiled painfully at her, secretly watching her as she got up from the stool and headed back upstairs to sleep. She trusted him. That meant that no matter what, he wouldn’t take advantage of that trust. He would treat her with nothing but the utmost respect and that would be the end of it.

  Chapter 5

  “Breakfast!”

  Michelle sat up groggily, her heart lurching. Had she overslept? Alan liked to have his breakfast at 5am sharp, before he left for work.

  But when she opened her eyes, the unfamiliar interior of what used to be Snake’s room jogged her memory. She hadn’t slept at home with Alan that night. She had stayed overnight at the MC, too terrified to go back home and face what would ultimately be the beating of her life.

  “Come on, Sleeping Beauty!”

  “I’m up,” Michelle called weakly. She was tired and a little bit embarrassed about facing the next day. Her father had been laid to rest and now, here she was, lingering in a club full of rowdy men and women. She wasn’t up for seeing too many people. But the MC had a shared kitchen and living space upstairs, and most of the usual patrons knew better than to disturb the VP in his quarters. It would probably be fine.

  Michelle showered quickly and pulled on another fresh, white shirt pulled from the drawers at the MC. Snake had apparently left a lot of clothes behind when he’d moved, luckily for her. The idea of wearing the same dress every day was daunting. It was tied to the memories of her father’s funeral and to Alan. She’d just as soon burn it than wear it again.

  “About time, kid,” Blade mumbled when Michelle walked into the kitchen, where the smell of pancakes and eggs wafted tantalizingly in the air. She’d forgotten what it was like to have someone cook for her. It was nice. Really nice.

  “Come on then, don’t just stand there. Sit down and eat.”

  Blade stood and pulled a chair out for her and Michelle sat down, looking down at the table in awe. It was the same hand-crafted wooden table that she remembered watching her father and Blade build together when she was just a little girl. The seats were the same orange chairs that looked like they belonged in a different time, though now they were worn with age. Still, they’d been treated well, and as she sat down in the seat, she closed her eyes at the familiar feeling of the soft cushion. She was home.

  “So I thought today maybe we could go and get you some clothes, you know?” Blade said, striding to the refrigerator and bringing back a pitcher of orange juice. “That way you don’t have to keep wearing Snake’s old cast offs.”

  “I don’t mind the cast offs,” Michelle said with a small laugh.

  “Still, it would be better for you to have a few changes of clothes, you know?”

  “Yeah,” Michelle said, watching Blade’s strong hands as he poured her a glass of orange juice. She felt warm inside suddenly and all of the anxiety she’d been feeling the night before, and the worry about disappointing Alan when she woke up, had melted away. She was where she belonged and she felt fucking good there. How could she have stayed away for so long?

  “How did you sleep?” Blade asked, sitting down at the table across from her and digging into the food on his plate.

  “I don’t know,” Michelle admitted. “It was really strange to wake up here. I thought…”

  Blade stopped chewing for a moment and studied her closely. It made her feel nervous.

  “It’s not important,” Michelle said with a small laugh. “It’s just strange.”

  Blade nodded and resumed his meal. “It’s a big adjustment for sure,” he said. “It’s going to take some time for everybody. But I swear to god, the first guy who gets wise with you, you remember what your dad and I used to say.”

  Michelle laughed.

  “You told me to kick him in the dick and run,” she said. “But that never did me much good.”

  “Right, because you forgot the last part. We told you to kick him in the dick and run upstairs so your dad or I could take care of the rest. You left home and got with a shitty guy, too far away from us to protect you. It’s not your fault that this bad shit happened to you but from now on you’re going to have to shape up and start making smart choices about the way you spend your time.”

  Michelle looked sulkily down at her plate. It didn’t feel great to be lectured but she knew that Blade was right. She had to be better about looking out for herself from now on. It was important for everybody involved. If she didn’t and the MC had to risk its neck to protect her, then it could be seriously dangerous.

  “Anyway
, I have a bunch of business to tend to up here today, so I thought maybe you and Snake’s old lady could go to town together. She’s a tough broad, man. Keeps a switchblade up her sleeve. Don’t want to tick her off.”

  Blade chuckled and shook his head and Michelle felt a twinge of nervousness.

  “I thought you were going to come with me,” she said, her heart tremoring. Blade had promised to protect her. But how was he going to do that sitting all the way back at the MC while he had her run to town?

  “You can’t live with this kind of fear in your life, kid,” Blade said, shaking his head. “Besides, shopping is girl stuff. I’m not going to know what to do with myself in there! Spare me.”

  Michelle sighed nervously and Blade pursed his lips.

  “Look, if it makes you feel any better, Snake’s old lady doesn’t go anywhere Snake ain’t there to protect her, you know what I mean? We take care of our women here. He’ll probably be out in the truck smokin’ a cigarette the whole time. Can’t get much safer than an escort by the president of the MC, you know what I’m saying?”

  “Fine,” Michelle mumbled. Still, she was disappointed somehow. The idea of shopping with Blade had somehow gotten her hopes up. Spending the day with him, doing something as innocent as clothes shopping…it was adorably domestic in a way.

  “Look, it’s going to be fine,” Blade assured her, smiling in that charming way he had that made her want to forget her troubles and laugh despite herself. “Jo is really good with that knife. And I think the two of you will get along pretty nicely.”

  “All right,” Michelle sighed. She was done being irritated about it. “But I don’t have any money.”

  Blade laughed heartily at the declaration and Michelle frowned.

  “What?” she asked. “What’s so funny?”

  “The thing about being a Python is you don’t need much money,” Blade said, stressing the sentence meaningfully. “The club’s got you. Jo will tell them how it is.”

  “You mean we’re stealing?” Michelle asked, a little nauseated by the thought.

  “Fuck no we’re not stealing,” Blade exclaimed, looking at her as if she were stupid. “It’s an exchange, princess. We take care of the riffraff coming through here that the cops ignore. You know, the real sleazebags. Organized crime lords trying to get all the little rebellious babies hooked on hard drugs. We get rid of them and the people in town take care of us. It’s an arrangement.”

  Michelle considered this briefly. It was true. She had heard Alan speaking to his friends on several occasions about the money they received from the crime lords to overlook their shady activities in the area. He spoke in front of her about all kinds of horrible things, knowing that even if she tried to report him, he would be able to discredit her with a single word. It was infuriating. If the police couldn’t be counted on to protect the vulnerable people in the community, then the MC could. It gave her a sudden surge of pride and she smiled at Blade.

  “When are we leaving?” she asked.

  “As soon as you’re done with your damn breakfast,” Blade said. “Jo and Snake are waiting outside.”

  Chapter 6

  Blade watched Michelle leave and sighed heavily. It had been hard to see her so disappointed, but the last thing he wanted to do was go shopping for clothes when he had so much work to do. The dues were being collected that day and it was his job to make sure that every member of the MC paid and contributed their paperwork. It was just easier that way.

  The work was tedious but it gave his mind a good escape from the haunting thoughts of Zeke and the frustrating attraction he felt toward his best friend’s daughter. It was probably just his grief creeping up on him. It was probably some sick game his mind was playing. He missed his buddy, and was trying to get close to him in any way he could. It would make sense why he would have such agonizing dreams about the girl. It didn’t have to mean anything.

  Blade shook his head and sighed. He wasn’t going to let it get to him. There were more important things to worry about. He submerged himself in his work until Jackal poked his head into Blade’s office, gritting his teeth apologetically.

  “Blade man, there’s someone on the phone. Says he’s looking for Michelle. I thought I’d ask you what the fuck to do about that.”

  Blade groaned. “Send the call to me. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Right,” Jackal said with a nod. When the office phone rang, Blade picked it up.

  “Is this Alan?” he asked tersely.

  “Yes, actually, it is Alan Waters, chief of the Glendale police department. To whom am I speaking, please?”

  Blade grinned. “That doesn’t matter too much, little buddy.”

  Alan laughed, an unpleasant, on-the-brink-of-insanity kind of sound, and Blade raised his eyebrow. He was dealing with a nutter.

  “This is concerning my wife, so I think I have the right to know who I’m speaking to!”

  “Actually, no woman, whether your wife or not, belongs to you. Your rights in this case are pretty limited, I would say.”

  “If you don’t want to deal with the legal repercussions of withholding information from a police officer, by god, I’ll- “

  “You’re not going to do anything, slick. You and your little sideshow aren’t going to step foot on Python turf, and you and I both know it.”

  “Where the hell is Michelle?!” Alan demanded. “I have a right to know where my wife is at all times! She’s -”

  “Listen boy,” Blade said. He’d had just about enough of listening to the piece of shit speaking. “All you need to know is that Michelle is safe and sound right where she belongs. Much safer than she would ever be with someone like you. They ought to lock you up and throw away the key.”

  “If you don’t tell me where she is, you piece of shit, I’m coming over there myself!” Alan cried, his voice on the verge of hysteria.

  “Whoo, I’d like to see you try. You’d be doing me a favor. See, I promised the little lady I’d go easy on you. Maybe delay justice a little bit longer and hope that karma does its job with you since she’d feel too upset if I did anything to get myself in harm’s way. But damn, you just solved both of our problems! When can I expect you?”

  “Grah!” Alan growled. The phone slammed down and Blade chuckled. Some men just didn’t have it in them to fight and that was the sad truth. Those were the kinds of men who took their power in other ways. Like hitting innocent women and acting like the world wasn’t fair simply because they weren’t able to suck on their mama’s tit anymore.

  Real men didn’t need coddling, and if Alan was telling the truth and he was going to try to come up to the MC to claim what he thought was his, then he was going to have another thing coming. And Blade would have the time of his life giving it to him.

  ***

  “Blade!”

  Michelle’s voice tore Blade out of the drab accounting booklets on his desk and he raised an eyebrow at her.

  “What do you think?” Jo asked, following in the office behind Michelle. Jo held her arms out like a girl from a gameshow and presented Michelle in one of her new outfits. Michelle twirled and laughed, the most care-free he had seen her act since she’d arrived. He’d known sending her out with Jo would be a good idea. The old girl may have been about Blade’s age, but she knew how to have fun.

  “It looks nice,” Blade said, smiling at Michelle. He looked back down at his papers quickly, practically able to feel the disappointment rolling from Michelle’s direction. He was nothing but a big let-down that day. But if he stared too long at her, then everybody in the room would know exactly what he was thinking. Michelle looked fucking incredible. The shirt she’d chosen was clinging to the lean muscles of her young body, awakening desires in him he’d thought had been long gone, dead and buried in fact. So why were they coming back now, of all times?

  “Did you have fun?” Blade asked, before either of the women had a chance to confront him about his opinion.

  Michelle’s face brightened a
gain.

  “Yeah, it was great! I haven’t had a day like that in a long time. No men, no rules…it was really amazing. Thank you, Jo!”

  Michelle turned to Jo, who beamed and embraced her tightly.

  “It’s no problem at all, honey. Any time you want to hang out with me, you just give me a call. It was great to finally meet you. Zeke talked about you like you were heaven on Earth.”

  Michelle smiled sadly and left the room, carrying two huge shopping bags of clothes to put away.

  “What the hell was that about?” Jo demanded.

  Blade sighed.

  “Here we go,” he mumbled.

  “Damn right, here we go! That girl looked incredible! And here you are, all fatherly and polite, like, ‘that looks nice.’ The hell has gotten into you?”

  Blade glared at Jo and her face suddenly broke out into a big smile.

  “I get it!” She exclaimed. “I see what’s going on here! God, it’s so obvious!”

  “Jo,” Blade warned. But the woman was already on the scent and he knew there was no way he would be able to get her off it again.

  “You like her,” she said in a hushed whisper. Blade cringed and shook his head emphatically.

  “She’s my best friend’s kid! That’s wicked wrong!” he growled.

  “Blade, it’s perfectly normal! Nothing to be ashamed of. Human nature, after all. Your protective instincts kicking in, a sexy young woman all up in your business. Don’t be embarrassed!”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Blade snapped. He was holding onto his temper by a thread. The only reason he didn’t tear her a new one was because if he did, there was a chance Michelle might overhear.

  “Whatever you say, man,” Jo said, chuckling to herself. “I’ll keep your secret. For now. But you mark my words, there will come a time for you to be honest with yourself. And when that day comes, you should know now that you have my blessing. She’s a sweet girl.”

  Blade’s hands trembled with rage. He could have strangled Jo, speaking of things that weren’t her business to speak of.