by Ellie Messe
“You went out drinking and I told you to stay with him and you up and fucking disappeared.”
“Lynch was being a prick.” I tell him, sitting on the bar top. “So I left and came straight here. What’s the crime?”
"You’re not going to hook up with a member of this club.” Lynch the fucking snitch, Jesus. “When you're not here you’re with one of my guys or you tell me where you’re going, ya’ got me?"
"No, I don't got you. Let me make myself perfectly clear, I do what I want, when I want, with who I want. Don't like it? Fuck off."
“Emma.” He growls. “Stay away from my guys and stay away from the biker wanna be.”
I outright laugh. "I can't fuck around with a member and I can't fuck around with a nobody, that right?"
"That's right. You're too young to be fucking around."
"Bullshit! How old was the tart you had bent over this very bar last night? Pretty sure we were in daycare together."
"I'm not kidding, stay away from that kid.” He turns around heading for his trusty office, “And get your ass off my fucking bar."
“Why do you push him?” Moose asks, rubbing his temples.
“Why does he try to control me?” I answer, glaring at the back of my dad’s head.
“You’ve been gone for like nineteen years, he’s trying to find his place as a father, lighten up.”
“Kay, that’s not gonna happen.” I say jumping off the bar and coming to sit next to him at the card table.
He picks up the deck and starts dealing me a hand as he talks, “The men of this club aren’t looking for commitment, he doesn’t want you getting attached and then having to beat the piss out of a brother for hurtin’ his kid and that boy out there is the son of a club owner. He doesn’t want you mixed up in a life of partiers.”
Moving my hand around, I lay my discards on the table. “Who said I’m looking for commitment? And a life of a partier? Are you kidding me? You guys have had massive parties every weekend since I showed up. Explain how that’s not a double standard.”
“Raise you.” He throws chips into the center of the table, “Club life means drugs and I’m not talking about smoking weed every now and again I’m talking hard shit, cocaine, heroin, not to mention ecstasy and shit like rohypnol that’ll end with you getting raped or some shit. That party life is a far cry from ours.”
“Fold.” I lay my cards and stare at him while he collects his chips and slides the deck to me.
“Why go there if it’s like that then? A club seems like an odd place for a bunch of bikers anyways.”
I deal out the cards and arrange mine in my hand.
“The guys like to go because of the female population.”
I quirk my brow in understanding, “Makes sense, I guess.” A thunder of engines fill the clubhouse as the guys pull in. “Great, Sgt. Pissy’s arrived.”
Moose chuckles, throwing in his chips. “He’ll get over it. He doesn’t like being told what to do anymore than you do.”
“You’d think he’d let me do whatever I wanted just to get rid of me if that was a the case.”
“He’s a member of this club and a brother does everything in his power to protect what’s ours, even if the circumstances aren’t to our liking.”
“Well people need to get over this whole protection thing, I don’t need-“
“Where the fuck is she?” Lynch’s wrath interrupts me as the clubhouse door slams against the brick wall outside. Moose and I both turn to the noise. “You!” He points at me as he crosses the room, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I give him my back and throw in more chips.
“Don’t fucking ignore me, I’m talking to you!”
“And I don’t care what you have to say. Call.” I look at Moose who lays down his hand. With a smirk, I collect the chips from the middle of the table but Lynch’s hand falls over mine.
“Don’t you ever pull some shit like that again, you hear me?”
“Get your hand off me before I break your fucking fingers.”
“Go ahead.” He taunts.
Rule one. Taking Moose’s big ass mug, I slam it against his hand, beer spills everywhere as he recoils with a roar.
“You fucking bitch!”
“You said go ahead.” I shrug, righting the glass and pulling up the corners of the cards so the yellow suds run to the velvet.
“All this over me telling to you not to fuck around with Bruiser?”
“All of this for acting like an asshole.”
“What’s going on?” My dad asks, entering the main room. Shocked concern etched into his forehead.
“Your daughter’s a fucking psychopath!” Lynch yells, shaking out his hand.
“And your nephew’s an arrogant jackass.”
He looks to Moose who chuckles, “He told her to do it.”
“For real?” Lynch gapes in disbelief as his father sides with me. “She tried to break a fucking pint over my hand!”
“After I told you to get your hands off me. I gave ample warning, you chose not to listen.”
“You hurt?” My dad asks. Lynch shakes his head forming a fist. My father’s eyes glare at me, “Was that necessary?”
“Taught him not to man handle me.”
“I didn’t fucking man handle you, I grabbed your hand.”
“I told you to remove your hands, you didn’t listen, so I removed them for you. I’m a woman of my word.”
“You actually said you were going to break his fingers.” Bruiser says from his spot against the door.
“You.” My dad says to him with a pointed finger, “My office. And you,” He points to me then to the table, “Clean that shit up.”
Standing up, I walk past Lynch and lean over the bar grabbing a roll of paper towels, making sure to give Bruiser a good look at my ass when he passes. Righting myself Lynch takes them from my hand with a growl, “I saw that.”
Moose drains his mostly empty mug and hands it me, “Make it right.” He says so only I can hear before nodding to the rest of the guys. They all exit the main door leaving me and Lynch alone.
Grabbing the roll from the chair he placed it in, I pull a section off and start wiping beer off the chairs.
“You’re fucking crazy, you know that right?” He says without looking at me, his face is still angry but his tone is surprisingly casual.
“Guess I fit right in.”
He scoffs, sliding the chips to one side of the table. I can tell he’s still angry and even though I am too, guilt starts to gnaw at me. “Your hand alright?”
He laughs, “All because I told you to stop messin’ with Bruiser.” He shakes his head ignoring my question.
“No, because you demanded and yelled at me in front of people, then you decided to go for round two and put your hands on me.”
“So because your feelings got hurt, that justifies it?”
“You being a dick justified it.”
“So every time you’re a bitch, I can do the same thing?”
“I wouldn’t be a bitch if I wasn’t ordered around all the time.”
“Bruiser’s bad news, babe. He’s got a big mouth and he wouldn’t think twice before jumping ship when the next girl comes around. I’m just looking out for you.”
“Yelling and demanding isn’t the way to accomplish that.”
I unroll more paper towels and lay them so I can dry off the cards while he works on the chips.
“What do you want me do? Watch it happen and when your feelings are hurt come up and say, could have warned you, but oh well?”
“No. You could have pulled me aside and told me, given me the warning. At that point the balls in my court. I can either listen or get hurt. You don’t embarrass and belittle me into submitting to you.”
“That’s not what I was trying to do.” He says facing me dead on. Nothing but truth in his eyes.
“But that’s what you did.”
He stares at me a minute before sighing, “I’m sorry.”
>
Caught off guard, I gape at him. Lynch the Snitch just apologized.
“In the future I won’t take that approach, but I swear to God, if you ever pull a stunt like that again I’ll nail you so hard in the leg you won’t be able to walk for a week. We understood?”
“As long as you keep your hands to yourself we won’t have a problem.”
He gives me a weak smile, “We good?”
“Golden.” I return his smile.
With a nod, he throws the used towels to the table and exits to join the guys on the patio.
Rolling my eyes, I collect everything he just tossed down and throw it away, returning the paper towels to their proper place just as the office door opens.
Bruiser exits looking hella pissed and storms out of the clubhouse, my father appears at the door, watching me.
“What?” The Carolina Reaper holds nothing to the spice of my tone.
With a gentle shake of his head, he backs away, “Nothing.”
Chapter Fifteen
Drew
After dropping Parker at the airport, I decided to drive up to see Josh and Maria. The silence is seriously going to kill me.
Stepping inside my childhood home the smell of fried food invades my senses. Following that heavenly scent to the kitchen I find Maria, draining a pot into the sink.
“Hi, Mama Mia.”
“Hello my boy. How are you?” Putting the pot down, she wipes her hands on her apron before coming over to kiss my cheek. “You look tired my love.”
“I’m alright.” I kiss her back before stealing a piece of chicken off the cooling rack, jumping out of the way when she swats at me.
“Devil child.” She laughs returning to the pot.
“You mispronounced favorite.” She scoffs playfully, “It’s okay, you can say it. Parker’s not here.”
I give her my best boyish grin when she glares at me. “You’re my favorite youngest nephew, you know that.”
“Cheater!” I yell through a mouthful of awesome. Damn, this woman can cook! Add that to the list of requirements for a suitable wife. I almost laugh outright at my joke, a suitable wife? HA! No way in hell I’m giving up my lifestyle.
“Any word from Haley?” She asks setting up the blender.
“Nope, not since she called me on Tuesday.”
“I wish she would at least check in.” Poor Mama Mia, she loves Haley as much as the rest of us. If only she’d pull her head out of her ass long enough to see that, maybe she wouldn’t have left. “Any luck on the roommate search?”
“Meh, maybe. She doesn’t want to sleep with me so she’s still on the fence.”
A burst of laughter escapes from her chest, “What?!”
“Yeah, she said she didn’t want to have a one night stand with her roommate so she hasn’t made up her mind yet.”
“Is that a requirement?” She laughs. It’s odd how ‘Ladies man Josh’ frowns at my lifestyle whereas my darling aunt and number one gal fully supports it.
“No, but I’m not against it.” I wag my eyebrows at her.
“She should just sleep with you before moving in.”
“HA!” I snort, “That’s what I said!”
“And she didn’t go for that line?” She mock gasps.
“I’m just as surprised as you are.”
“I doubt that. You’ve got tricks my boy.” Her disapproving look does absolutely nothing, seeing as she was the one who suggested the line.
“She was in awe of the place, and me.”
“That arrogance is going to bite you in the ass one day.”
“I don’t mind being bit.” I shrug. “It’s kinda hot.”
“At least pretend not to be a whore.”
“Meh, you are what you eat.”
“Andrew Mason!” She laughs. “Come on now.”
I laugh while swiping another piece of chicken.
“I talked to your grandma last night.”
“Oh yeah? How’s she doing?”
Maria went into easy conversation filling me in on all the latest gossip from her side of the family. I haven’t seen them since I was a kid but we get birthday cards and a few phone calls throughout the year.
Close to five my phone buzzed me awake. I hadn’t realized I passed out on the couch. Sitting up, I look around at the dark room and smirk at the blanket Maria no doubt laid on me.
Grabbing my phone I see a missed call from an unknown number. With my heart in my throat I redial.
“Hello.”
“Hales?”
“No, it’s Emma. The girl who came by to look at your house?”
Oh fuck, biker chick. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Is the room still available?”
Fucking score! “Sure is.”
“Cool. I thought maybe we could talk about me moving in. Are you available to meet up sometime?”
“Sure, when and where?”
“Are you going to be home tonight?”
“I’ll be there in about half an hour.”
“Okay, can I come by?”
“Absolutely. Naked if you’re taking suggestions.”
I hear her annoyed sigh before she speaks, “That’s gotta stop, you know that right?”
“Part of my charm, Angel. See you tonight.”
Folding the blanket I leave it on the arm of the couch before hunting Maria down. After a hug and tote full of food, I was on my way.
I was a little surprised to see Emma climb off the back of a bike that didn’t belong to a mountain man. Meeting her at the door I waved her inside.
“Hi.” She pushes a lock of hair behind her ear and it’s about the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
I give her a smile and lead her into the kitchen where I finish putting containers of homemade love into the fridge. Emma plants herself at the breakfast bar, laying a blue folder on the counter.
“What’s that?” I nod to the folder.
“Oh, I had my dad draw up a roommate agreement.”
I definitely didn’t see that coming.
“Alright.” I laugh, “Let’s hear it.”
I come around to sit on the stool next to her. She shifts uncomfortably, opening the folder to reveal printed papers.
“Okay, so since you didn’t have one I went with the most basic one, things like, what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine and no one can claim the others in a dispute etcetera, etcetera.” She hands me a copy, pointing to each bulletin as she speaks but I’m not listening. I can see straight down her top and her perfume is making my dick twitch. If she were to breathe just a little heavier her rack would touch my arm.
“…no sex.”
“Whoa, what?” I snap to attention.
“Huh?” She pulls back, staring at me looking slightly alarmed.
“I heard no sex, what are you saying?”
Her brow pinches, “Well right here it says that we agree to keep our relationship strictly platonic so no sex.”
“Sweetheart.” I give her the side eye, “You really think I’m gonna sign that?”
“Why not?” She deflates.
“Have you looked in a mirror?”
“I’m serious.” Her spine straightens as she stares at me. Her eyes are so green they almost look fake.
“You push your tits out when you sit like that by the way.” She huffs, slouching a little. “And now I have a perfect shot of your cleavage.”
“This was pointless.” She slides the folder back and snaps it shut.
I lay my hand over it when she goes to stand, “Calm down, sweetheart. I’m fucking with you.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Sure you do.” I give her a smirk as I slide the folder back in front of me. “Alright, not gonna lie I was checking out your chest the first time you went over this.”
She gives me a nasty glare that just makes her prettier if that’s possible.
“I’m honest.” I shrug, “and I’m not sorry.”
Going over the agreement I learn
ed that this entire thing was created for that one line. Everything else is just bullshit.
She pushes the pen to me. I stare it for a moment before meeting her eyes, “Stay with me tonight.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Stay with me tonight and I’ll sign this in the morning.”
“No.”
“Why not.”
“Defeats the purpose.”
“Looking for love?”
“Absolutely not.” There isn’t a trace of remorse found for that sentence, interesting.
“So why won’t you stay the night?”
“My motto is get off and get out. I can’t get out if I live here now can I?”
“That’s a stellar motto and I’m pretty fucking bummed I didn’t think of it first. Also, I’m not ignoring the fact you just admitted I’d have no difficulty getting you off but to answer your question you don’t live here yet.”
“But I will and that would be awkward.”
“How so? It won’t be awkward for me, not my fault you’ll want seconds.”
“Well, it’s not gonna happen, Tiger. I’m looking for a place to live not a fuck buddy.”
“How long is this valid for?”
“It’s a six month contract. At that time we’ll know the other pretty well and can add to it.”
“What about removing?”
“Again, not gonna happen.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll see.” Grabbing the pen I sign the dotted line.
“Andrew Hayes.” She says reading over my signature.
“Drew. Only my aunt calls me Andrew and that’s reserved for when she’s mad or appalled.”
She gives me a little smile, “When can I move in?”
“Whenever you want. Is the bed set staying or leaving?”
“Staying as long as you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” I tell her getting up and moving over to the fridge, swiping the key off the top. “There you go, roomie.”
“I guess I’ll start bringing my stuff over tomorrow then.”
“Do you need help? I can get a trailer if you need.”
She laughs, “I definitely don’t need that. I have a backpack and this hat box thing.”
My eyebrows raise, “That’s it?”
“That’s it.” Her tone is a little somber and I can’t help but feel bothered by that.