“Meg? You still there?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I guess I wasn’t holding my phone close enough to my mouth.”
“Oh, dummy,” she laughed. “Anyway, as I was saying--”
Her voice drawled on, but my mind slowly drifted back to thinking about Trip. Hell, I was independent, but I’d never been much of a risk taker.
He was full of risk, and he clearly didn’t mind taking them. It was one of the many things I found irresistible about him, and the thought of me going along for the ride sent shivers down my spine.
What if I were to just go for it? What was the worst that could happen? What if for the first time in my life I let go?
What if I’m falling for him?
15
Trip
“Is everything alright, Prez?” Odie asked. “You don’t seem to be yourself.”
“Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind after talking to Cutter earlier this week. Things aren’t going so hot down there, and I’m thinking about calling Church again with the boys to make sure we are all on high alert.”
“You don’t think they’re going to come all the way up to Ridgecrest, do you?” Odie asked. It was rare for me to be so candid with the kid, or anyone else who was new in the club. I would often wait until a man showed his merit before I would be so open with him about the concerns I had, but today, my mind was on other things.
“Look, Kid,” I said. “I was an Army Ranger. I learned that you can’t really pinpoint where the enemy is going to stop, or where they are going to stay. When it comes to those who really don’t give a damn about the law, we need to be really careful. You should know this from your time in too.”
He nodded. “They’re clearly making their way up from Barstow,” Odie said.
“And I doubt they’re going to stop there,” Axle and Brutus walked in through the door, but Brutus was the one who spoke. “Javi let me know this morning he thought he saw a truck with a few men he recognized in it around the diner where you and the girl were shot at.”
“When?” I asked quickly.
“Early this morning. I came up here as soon as I could get away from my dad to let you know,” he said.
“There’s such a thing as cell phones,” I said with an exasperated shake of my head.
“Except there are some of us who don’t have them,” Brutus replied dryly.
“How do you not have a cell phone in the twenty-first century?” Axle asked as he looked at his comrade with wide eyes.
“I don’t need all you assholes being able to find me whenever the hell you feel like it,” he replied. “How’s that?”
“I know you have a phone, or I wouldn’t be able to get a hold of you,” I said. “You’ve answered it more than once.”
“Alright, let me rephrase. I don’t have it on me when I’m at work, because who the fuck else is calling me? When I got back to my place, I figured I may as well get up here and tell you in person, happy?” Brutus snapped.
“Aw, he just wanted to see your pretty face,” Axle said, pressing Brutus’s buttons.
“Your face isn’t going to be half so pretty if you want to keep it up, flyboy!” he snapped.
“Easy, easy, break it up,” I said as I looked from one to the other. “If that’s the case, then we’re going to have to really buckle down and make sure this town stays tight.”
“Where’s Megan now?” Axle asked. “If they’re going to be in town, I’d hate to think of what would happen if they found her alone.”
“She’s at my place. I moved her there the other night after the attack. I had a feeling they were going to keep on the move, and I thought the same thing,” I nodded toward Axle, but the look that he gave Brutus didn’t escape me.
“Alright, it’s not like that,” I said. “This is Cutter’s sister we’re talking about.”
“So? You see those tits! Damn, I’d hit that in a heartbeat if I could get away with it,” Brutus said. “Wouldn’t you?”
Axle chuckled, but the look on his face reminded me that he knew exactly what had happened between Megan and I that night. I wanted to punch them both in the face, but I had to keep my cool. I didn’t want it getting out into the rest of the club that we’d slept together. Not with everything else that was going on. I knew Axle would keep his mouth shut until I gave him the go ahead not to.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my guys. Hell, they were my brothers, I’d trust them with anything and everything, but I didn’t want that to circulate through them. Not to mention, if word were to get back to Meg that I’d told what we’d done, I knew it would ruin my chances of ever having anything real with her.
Wait a fucking second. Did you just consider having something more with Megan? That is the worst thought you’ve ever had, and you better never let your brain go that way again. This is Cutter’s sister!
“Brutus, I want you and Javi to keep a close eye on what goes on in your neck of the woods. If one of the cartel members so much as sneezes, I want to know about it, okay?” I said, bringing my mind back to the present. He nodded.
“I’ll let him know as soon as I get back,” he replied.
“Good, and I want you, Axle, to take Gunner and do a patrol around the south side of town both in the morning and in late afternoon. I’m sure if they were going to strike, they would wait for the cover of darkness, but they’d have to be scoping out the area first. I want to catch them in the act if they end up trying to be that stupid,” I said.
“Texting Gunner now,” he replied.
“What do you want me to do?” Odie asked. He was used to being left out of these kinds of orders, and he had been pressing to be included more and more. I didn’t mind his help, but there were some things I still hesitated to give him. We couldn’t afford any mistakes, here, and even if he didn’t mean to make one, a mistake was a mistake, and it could be deadly. Military man or not, Odie was still new to club business.
“I want you to get in touch with as many of the men as you can through text. Put them all on high alert, not just in Ridgecrest, but all over our turf. If there is any activity, I want to know about it as soon as it happens. Fuck, I want to know about it before it happens!” I said.
Odie nodded. I knew he’d take the job seriously, though it wasn’t one that I couldn’t do myself. Then again, giving it to him to do enabled me to focus on other things that I’d rather be thinking about.
Like Megan.
“Okay, Boys. I’m going to keep the doors open a while longer, but right now, this is priority. Forget about working for the rest of the day and get to it. This is our fucking town, and no one is going to bring their shit back to our streets,” I said.
They were pumped up and excited as they headed through the door with enthusiasm. I was glad to see such vigor to carry out the assignments I gave them. I knew they were glad for the peace that we had in town, but they were ex-military, and they liked the tactical side of what we did as well.
Hell, there was a part of me that hoped the war would come close enough for us to join. I didn’t want Megan to be in any kind of danger, and I would do everything in my power to make sure she was safe. But I also didn’t mind getting my hands dirty if I needed to.
I drummed my fingers on the desk. I had every intention of shutting down the shop and heading back to the apartment as soon as I could, but I knew I wasn’t being entirely honest with myself in the process.
For as much as I wanted to tell myself that I had no feelings for Meg, I knew that wasn’t true. The longer she lived in my apartment, and the more time she and I spent together, the more I was falling for her.
Hell, I knew from the moment I first saw her that I liked her. The fact she hit me over the head with that bottle in the bar told me all I needed to know about her personality, and I wanted to know her more. I’d been disappointed that I hadn’t had the chance to talk with her then, but I was making up for that now.
I pulled out my phone, all the common
sense in my body screaming at me to put it back in my pocket. There was no reason to text her. She hadn’t contacted me, and I told her to if she needed anything.
Then again, we hadn’t texted each other at all, and I wondered if she was waiting for me to break the ice. I thought back and forth for a moment when suddenly someone pulled up out front. I was going to be stuck at the shop for a while longer now, and I didn’t want to wait until I got home to talk to her.
On a sudden impulse, I shot her a text, hitting send before I allowed myself to talk me out of it.
Just checking in, hoping you’re doing okay on your own
I put the phone on the counter and helped check in the man’s vehicle. Most of the people participating in the upcoming car show had come and gone, and we were getting back to normal services. I saw the screen of my phone light up out of the corner of my eye, and I couldn’t get through the transaction fast enough.
It’s fine but boring. I’m actually looking forward to you getting back so I have someone to talk to
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 couldn’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.
Protecting Her: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 9