by A. M. Myers
Chapter Five
Sawyer
The truck rumbles through the parking lot of the apartment complex and my gaze sweeps over each car, checking for a threat hidden from view despite the fact that there is no reason to be on the lookout for danger today. We are just here to help Sammy move into her new place but after seven and a half years with the Bayou Devils, I’ve trained myself to always be hyper-vigilant. I can’t help looking for trouble behind every tree or in every parked car. The guys like to give me hell for it but I can’t stop either. I’m always alert, always watching even after the threat is eliminated because the one thing I hate more than surprises is failing one of these girls, something that hasn’t happened often but each time it does, it’s like a punch to the gut. To be honest, it’s kind of exhausting to always be “on” but it’s also necessary to keep everyone safe and nothing is more important to me than that.
Fuzz pulls up in front of one of the buildings and whips the truck around so he can back into the space in front of Sammy’s door, allowing us to move boxes into her new apartment easily. I scan the second floor of the building adjacent to hers before turning to inspect the parking lot again. There is a fit older woman in pink spandex walking her yappy little dog along one of the walking trails between two other buildings and a man at the end of the building in front of us carrying his groceries up the stairs, his face contorted into a grimace as he struggles to cart a mountain of bags up in one trip. Scoffing, I watch him, mentally betting myself that he drops a gallon of milk before he makes it to his door.
“Twenty bucks says that milk ends up all over the stairs,” Fuzz says, his gaze locked on the man stumbling up the stairs with a smirk on his face. I scoff.
“Pretty sure that’s a bet you’re going to win.”
The man stumbles a few times before finally managing to make it to his apartment door without losing any of his food. I sigh and scan the parking lot again. Despite the fact that it seems like a large complex, it’s fairly quiet which will be good for a girl like Sammy after the hell she’s been through.
“Moose, give it a rest,” Fuzz says, sighing as he runs a hand through his dark hair and checks his phone. “Sammy is safe now.”
I nod, his words not quite sating my suspicion but I ignore it. “Nice place.”
“Yeah, Streak hooked her up and made sure it was safe. Plus, it’s close to the clubhouse so she can make it into the shop easily for work.”
After we got Sammy out of a shitty situation with her ex-boyfriend, she had nowhere to go and it had been years since she had been allowed to have a job so her prospects weren’t great. Thankfully, the club owns a couple of businesses and we so happened to be looking for a new receptionist at the auto shop where I work as a mechanic.
“Has she even agreed to work at the shop yet?”
Fuzz shakes his head. “Not yet but Blaze seems to think she’ll be on board.”
I nod as I stare out at the parking lot again. One of the first things that drew me into joining the Devils was the sense of brotherhood everyone always talked about but after being a prospect for only three months, I could see that wasn’t what I had gotten myself into. I was just about ready to call it quits when everything changed. We were all selling guns and drugs back then and in a twisted turn of events, Henn got himself arrested and sent to jail which led to Blaze getting shot. Before that, we were a real outlaw club but I guess his near death experience made him rethink things. A few days after he was released from the hospital, the first girl this club ever helped literally fell into his arms and Blaze took it as a sign from above. He became passionate about helping people who couldn’t protect themselves from all the bad in the world and when he brought it to the club, the ones who shared his vision stayed while the ones who liked the way things were, left. And we’ve been doing it ever since which is how we met Sammy.
Our first attempt to save Sammy was a while back. Her sister contacted us because Sammy was in big trouble and her crazy boyfriend rarely let her leave his sight. He kept her from her family and friends and didn’t even let her have a phone. We came up with a plan but just before we put it into motion, Sammy disappeared. We searched for months but couldn’t find her anywhere so we were surprised as hell when she contacted us a month ago to ask for our help again. This time, we didn’t waste any time and rushed to free her and we were successful. Now, we’re here to help her reclaim her life, starting with an apartment and a job.
“Come on,” Fuzz says, pulling me out of my thoughts as he nudges me. “Let’s get this shit done. I’m looking forward to an ice cold beer and my goddamn bed.”
“That’s right,” I call to him as we climb out of the truck. “You were playing bodyguard last night, weren’t you?”
His lip curls back in a snarl. “Don’t even get me started, man. Spoiled little brat snuck past me and I spent half the night combing the city for her and her dumbass friends.”
“You gotta tell Blaze we can’t be taking jobs watching over spoiled rich girls anymore. What we do is bigger than that,” I tell him as we meet at the back of the truck and he nods. One of the other businesses we run is a P.I. business and recently, our President, Blaze, has been thinking about adding security to that but the clientele we’ve gotten so far has been less than desirable.
“Yeah, but as Blaze reminded me when he heard me bitching about it this morning, the spoiled rich girls pay the way for the girls who really need our help.”
I sigh. “Well, shit…”
“Exactly.”
Fuzz drops the tailgate and I reach for the first box when my phone starts ringing. I offer him an apologetic look but he brushes it off as I step back and dig the phone out of my pocket. My gaze drops to the screen and I sigh.
Tawny.
Just the sight of her name has me feeling exhausted and irritable. Shaking my head, I silence it and grab a box out of the truck as Fuzz shoots me a look.
“You going to get that?”
I shake my head. “Absolutely not.”
“Everything okay?” he asks, his brow arching in question. I don’t even get a chance to answer before my phone starts ringing again and I grit my teeth as I roll my eyes.
Goddamn it.
“Dude, just answer your damn phone if you need to.”
“No,” I tell him as he grabs a box out of the back of the truck. “It’s just Tawny.”
He throws his head back and barks out a laugh as he turns away from the truck. “Pretty sure we all told you not to go there, brother.”
“Yeah, well, surprise surprise, I didn’t listen.”
“We got another Crazy Courtney situation on our hands with this one?” he asks as he knocks on Sammy’s door and I shudder at the memory that name invokes before shaking my head.
“Naw. I don’t think so.”
The door swings open and Sammy offers us a timid smile as she scans the parking lot before stepping back and allowing us to pass her. Good. It’s smart of her to not let her guard down. That is how she will stay safe. “Thanks for your help today, guys, and I’m sorry for the inconvenience. You can just set stuff down wherever you find room.”
“Don’t mention it, Darlin’,” Fuzz says as he sets his box down on top of two other boxes. “We’re happy to help. You decided about the job at the shop yet?”
She forces a smile to her face and grips the back of her neck as she shifts from one foot to the other. “Um… no, not yet. Do you need an answer right now?”
I shake my head. “No. Take all the time you need.”
“I… I want you to know how much I appreciate everything y’all have done for me and I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. I just don’t know…”
“Hey,” I say, cutting her off and taking a tentative step toward her. “Don’t worry about us, okay? Our only goal here is help you get back on your feet in whatever way we can.”
She nods, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as tears well up in her eyes. “I’ll never be able to thank y’all en
ough. You saved my life and I promise I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
I offer her a reassuring smile before glancing over at Fuzz as he claps his hands together to break up the subtle tension in the room.
“All right. Let’s get the rest of your stuff in here so we can get out of your hair.”
He heads toward the door and I nod in her direction as I follow behind him. She retreats further back into the apartment as we walk out and when we reach the truck, my phone starts ringing again. I brace my hands on the tailgate and let out a heavy sigh as Fuzz chuckles.
“Might as well just answer it, brother. Doesn’t seem like she’s going to stop.”
With another heavy sigh, I pull my phone out of my pocket and stare at the screen for a second before silencing it and shoving it back in my pocket. Whatever she wants, I don’t have the energy to deal with it right now. Fuzz laughs as he grabs a box out of the back of the truck.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that one, Moose.”
Before I can even respond, my phone starts ringing again and Fuzz’s laughter disappears into the apartment.
“For the love of God,” I growl as I dig the phone out of my pocket and think about how satisfying it would be to chuck it across the lot. If it was in a thousand damn pieces she wouldn’t be able to call me incessantly anymore. Sighing, I press the green button and press the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey there, stranger,” she purrs, trying her best to sound alluring and all it does is make the fantasy of smashing my phone even more appealing. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you.”
I nod as Fuzz walks up to the truck and grabs another box. “Yeah, I noticed.”
“Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“I’m kind of busy right now, Tawny,” I growl as I plop down on the back of the truck, trying not to sound like an asshole. From the time I learned to talk, my mama ingrained good manners into me but there’s no way in hell I’m apologizing to Tawny for ignoring her calls. Because one, I’m not really sorry and two, the last thing I need is Tawny getting any big ideas about the two of us. Before she and I started hooking up a few months ago, she tried her hand with most of the other guys in the club because Tawny’s number one goal in life, at least at the moment, is for one of us to make her our old lady. My brothers warned me to stay away, that she was more trouble than the easy lay was worth, but like an idiot, I didn’t listen and now I’m in a mess. She’s getting more attached each time I call her up for a late night booty call and as nice as she is, I’m bored to fucking tears every time I’m with her.
Fuck.
That makes me sound like a real asshole but it’s the God’s honest truth.
“Oh. Well, do you have any plans tonight? Maybe I could come over and we could get some dinner?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose as I take a deep breath and think it over. Do I really want to spend another night listening to her go on and on about whatever drama she and her friends have gotten into since I’ve seen her last? Absolutely not but it seems better than spending the night alone on my couch while I think about how fed up I am with almost every damn aspect of my life these days. Then again, it is time to end this thing between us and even the thought of getting her under me isn’t doing much for me anymore. In the beginning this was fun but now it’s more like a damn chore. “I already have plans tonight.”
“With who?” she asks and I don’t miss the note of jealousy in her voice.
Shit.
This has gone too far already.
“The club.”
“What about this weekend? There’s this new Thai place I really wanted to try.”
“I’ll be in Miami for the club.” Thank fuck, Blaze decided to assign this run to me. It’s the perfect excuse to get out of a weekend of torture.
“Oh, that sounds fun. I haven’t been to Florida in ages. Maybe I could go with you?”
I shake my head, relieved that I actually have a valid excuse for why she can’t go no matter how tempting she might look in a bikini. “Sorry. It’s club business.”
“What the hell? I really need to talk to you, Moose.”
I grit my teeth. I’ve asked her more times than I can count to use my real name but she continues to call me by my road name despite the fact that we’ve been sleeping together for months. “About what?”
“Well, I was hoping to talk to you in person…”
“Then, it’s going to have to wait until after I get back,” I tell her as Fuzz comes to retrieve the last two boxes. God dammit. Now I feel like an asshole for not helping him like I should have been.
“I don’t want to do that either. Maybe you could get out of your thing tonight and meet up with me?” she whines and my phone smashing fantasy resumes. “Please. It’s really important.”
“Jesus Christ, woman. Just tell me now.”
She sighs. “Okay… It’s about us…”
“Tawny,” I growl, the last band on my patience threatening to snap.
“No, just listen. I know when we started sleeping together, it was just fun but I’ve developed feelings for you and I think you and I could be really good together. I want you to give us a chance.”
Fuzz walks back out to the truck with a questioning look on his face and I let him know it’ll be another minute. He nods and slips behind the wheel to give me a little privacy.
“I’m sorry, Tawny, but I’m not on the same page as you.”
“Oh,” she whispers. “Well, maybe just take the weekend to think about it and then we can talk when you get back.”
Fuck.
Am I really about to break up with this girl over the damn phone? My ma would skin my damn hide if she ever found out but then again, what choice do I have? I either do it now, over the phone, or I string her along for a few more days and do it in person which sucks just as much. I go back and forth in my mind, trying to decide which option is less cruel before sighing.
“No, I think it’s best if we just call it quits now. My mind isn’t gonna change in three days. You’re a nice girl but we’ve run our course.”
Silence greets me on the other end of the line, stretching on for so long that I pull the phone away from my ear to make sure she didn’t hang up on me.
“Tawny?”
“Fuck you, Sawyer Michelson,” she snaps and I can hear the tears in her voice. “You’re going to fucking regret this.”
The line goes dead and I sigh as I stand up and slip my phone back in my pocket before closing the tailgate and rounding the back of the truck.
“That sounded like it went well,” Fuzz says, a grin on his face, as I climb in the truck and I shoot him a glare.
“Yeah, it was great. Her parting words were “You’re going to fucking regret this” so I’m really looking forward to finding out what the fuck that means.”
He barks out a laugh as he starts the truck. “Jesus, dude. You have the worst luck with women but don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out for psycho blondes and tranquilizer darts.”
“Fuck you, dude,” I growl, remembering the disaster of a relationship that gave me my road name.
Shit.
Now that I think about it, I really do have an awful track record when it comes to women. For whatever reason, the ones I pick always turn out to be fucking crazy and they fuck up my life time and time again but I never seem to learn. As we pull out of the parking lot, I shake my head and promise myself that I’m done with girls all together until I can get my shit together and pick one that isn’t absolutely insane.
Chapter Six
Juliette
Leaning back against the headboard, I stare out at the water as the sun begins creeping over the horizon, casting pastel shades of blue and pink across the sky. Gavin was right. The view from these windows in the morning is reason enough to buy the place. It’s magical - even if I don’t recognize a single thing in the expansive three thousand square feet of the apartment. My eyelids start to droop and I yawn as I wipe
the sleep from them. After tucking my box of memories under the bed last night, I tossed and turned for hours before falling into a restless sleep. Confusing dreams of faceless people and vague places haunted me all night long and I feel like I barely slept. Yawning again, I throw the covers off my legs and swing them over to the side of the bed with a sigh. As much as I want to get some more sleep, I’m afraid it would just be more of the same.
My gaze flicks back to the water for a moment before I push myself off the bed and grab the blue satin robe hanging on the foot of the bed. It feels luxurious as I slip it onto my skin and I can’t help thinking about how much my life has changed in the five years I’ve lost. When I was living with Mercedes, I liked the finer things but I was still in college and I was concerned with making my trust fund last as long as I could so they were occasional splurges but as I look around this apartment, luxury and money is all I see. A dull throbbing pierces the back of my head and I sigh as I cinch the belt as I wander out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
“Morning,” Gavin says, looking up from his tablet as I stumble into the kitchen, yawning. He’s all dressed up in a dark blue suit that makes his eyes pop like crazy and his hair is combed back again, that reckless bad boy look giving way to a devastating man. He commands all my attention and I stop short next to the island, unable to take my eyes off of him. Even with no knowledge of him or our relationship, I have to admit there’s something about him that intrigues me.
“Morning.” I turn away to hide my blush and scan the countertop for a pot of coffee. The clean, minimalistic look carries into the kitchen and I can’t spot a single appliance in this place except for the refrigerator. “Is there coffee?”
I glance over my shoulder. Smirking, he points to a second cup sitting on the island next to him, steam rising from the rim and I sigh in relief before flashing him a thankful smile. He turns back to his tablet as I round the island and sit next to him. Warmth seeps into my skin as I wrap my hands around it and bring it to my lips, breathing in its rich aroma with a hum.