by Franca Storm
“Your actions with her fit right on in with your addiction to trouble and high-stakes situations.”
I blew out a frustrated sigh. I’d thought he might’ve decided to let it go, but I should’ve known better. Wraith was a determined motherfucker, he didn’t just let things slide. Nah, when he saw a problem, he tried with all his might to fix it.
“I told you that I didn’t know who she was at first.”
He watched me intently, as he asked, “So, this has nothing to do with that?”
I roughly jerked down the tee he’d lent me and stabbed a finger at the tat on my chest. “You think I would’ve finally gone ahead and got this if I was still that guy? I thought I was past all of that. I thought I could finally settle without the risk of ruining everything again and being cast out of my home!”
“Then why mess around with the Outlaws club princess?” he asked, coolly, not rising to the explosion of anger I was throwing out there.
“She’s special, all right?” I yelled. “I don’t get it. I didn’t want it, but I can’t shake it!”
Realization flashed in his eyes. “Well, shit.”
“What?”
“You’re in love with her.”
I jerked back, stunned.
“There’s a way to work this, but we have to tread carefully. The only way Python’s going to accept you taking his daughter as your Old Lady is—”
I held up my hand. “Whoa. Old Lady? Nah, that’s not—I can’t.”
“You’re either all in, or you’re out. Trust me, when it comes to club princesses, I’m the leading authority on how to lock it down. It’ll be harder for you, though, because Python’s got his whole no-bikers rule with her.”
“You had Spartan in your pocket. He wanted you and Ashley together. It couldn’t be more fucking different.”
“If you want her, I can help you.”
I shook my head. “I just need to stay away from her. Pull me off her protection detail.”
He thought on it for a moment. “If I do it suddenly without any reason, it’s gonna raise suspicion, but I can create a reason for you being needed back home.”
I nodded. “Yeah, okay. Good.”
“So, you’re gonna be able to handle just disappearing on her, leaving her behind?”
“What other choice is there?”
“I told you I can help you. But you’re clearly not ready to fight for her, are you?”
“I—”
“Hey, guys!” Hayley called out.
We both spun to see her climbing out of the Chevy wrapped up in the blanket Wraith had given her. She looked like a drowned rat and so fucking cute with it too.
“Can we get going now that the truck’s free? I have work to do.”
I couldn’t get my words out for the life of me. I couldn’t even look her in the eye right now.
“Yeah, we’re coming now,” Wraith answered for me.
She nodded and climbed back into the truck. Wraith gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze, then took off back to his truck with her.
As I settled myself into my truck, regret sliced through me.
There was an instant emptiness without her sitting in the passenger seat beside me. I usually enjoyed that emptiness from everybody. The space and the freedom of it. But not with her. I felt it every time we went our separate ways after a day of working together. I felt it even when there were other people around me. It didn’t matter that anybody else was there all the while she wasn’t, it still felt empty.
I didn’t want her in that truck with Wraith right now. I didn’t want her away from me. I wanted her with me, right beside me.
Jesus Christ. I wanted her. I wanted to make her mine.
And, despite the stakes and all the obstacles standing in our way, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold off.
I was in deep fucking shit.
Things really weren’t gonna end well for me.
10
~Hayley~
“THIS IS AWKWARD.”
Mom winced in agreement. “Just a little.”
The two of us were lounging back on a couple of Adirondacks, drinking fruity cocktails from the makeshift bar set up in our backyard.
We were watching Dad standing over by the south end of the yard talking with a certain someone.
Dad had spent most of the last hour talking with the big time President of the Iron Kings MC, Spartan, and his Old Lady, Daniella. They’d come up for today’s big get-together.
Every year, club members and their families came up here for a day of eating, drinking, and general PG-type fun. This year, my dad had invited Spartan and the Iron Kings members who were already here working with his club as a gesture meant to cement their new alliance.
For the last ten minutes, though, Dad had been having a beer with my sort-of ex. It felt weird calling Evan that, because we’d never really gotten off the ground. But we had technically been on two dates. Two incredibly awkward dates, one of which had culminated in a faceoff with one of the most badass enforcers I’d ever known.
I’d ended it right after my training session with Anarchy. Evan and I had nothing in common and I’d just been trying to force something that wasn’t there, all to cover up something that definitely was there between me and a certain somebody else. God, I’d been so hellbent on trying to deny it, to deny who I really was underneath it all, that I’d almost let Evan push me into something I really didn’t want. Not with him. It had been jarring, to say the least. I’d been feeling out of sorts and ill at ease ever since. Those few moments in the rainstorm with Anarchy had been the only reprieve from that.
That had only been fleeting, though, with Wraith unceremoniously showing up and catching us right on the cusp of… doing something.
And since then there hadn’t been any more moments like that.
After that day, Anarchy had been all business every time I’d seen him for our work together. During our fight training he’d been even worse. Distant. Standoffish. There’d been no small talk and no humor from him at all, just instructions. Then he’d started to bring Wraith into our sessions. With the two of them and Wraith’s high-level military background, it had basically turned into a bootcamp situation. At least I’d learned a ton about fighting. And that was supposed to be the whole point anyway.
It just sucked that Anarchy’s shift in attitude had crossed over into our security work as well. It had been brutal until I’d decided to ignore it, to stop taking it personally, and just focus on the tasks at hand. If his goal had been to make me hate being around him in any way, for any extended period of time, it had worked absolute wonders. Even the thought of him now left a bad taste in my mouth.
If that hadn’t been enough bullshit to face, now Evan had been invited up to our club barbecue. And Dad seemed enamored with him. I didn’t understand it. Whenever any man had even exhibited a slight interest in me before, Dad had jumped all over the guy and driven him away before anything had even been able to get started. Maybe Evan’s carefree, fun and chilled façade had infected him, as it had done to me at first, until Anarchy had been able to see right through it and warn me about what was really happening.
“Didn’t the Iron Kings enforcers log a complaint about him?” I asked Mom.
I’d heard something had happened after the incident that day, and Evan hadn’t even looked my way once since, keeping a good distance from me whenever I was on site to do my work at Veil. But, as usual, I was never privy to the details of these things, even when they involved me personally.
“Your dad and Grim didn’t put much stock in it.”
“Why not?”
“Because the enforcer involved is a known hothead, extra intense. He’s too on the ball, basically, verging on overreaction.”
That’s what they thought of Anarchy?
They didn’t get it, did they? He saw things most others couldn’t. It had nothing to do with overreaction.
“Oh,” was all I could say.
“Why didn’t anybody come direct
ly to me?”
“Apparently, Evan explained things to your dad.”
“And he took his word?”
She swung her head toward me, fixing me with an intense look. “Did something more happen than a misunderstanding then?”
I didn’t want to start a whole thing. In my world, that could very well result in me basically being responsible for somebody ending up in the ICU, or even dead. “Uh, no. It was a misunderstanding. It’s just frustrating that no one actually thought to ask me.”
“Your dad just doesn’t want to upset you.”
That got my back up. “I’m not fragile, Mom.”
She gave me one of her motherly, all-knowing looks. “I know that. But the men are a different story.” She laid her hand on my arm. “Just ignore Evan while he’s here and chalk it up to an experience. He wasn’t even close to being the one anyway.”
“Mom, I—”
She laid her hand on mine, that gentle, caring gaze of hers pulling me up short. “When you meet the right person, there is no real fear when it comes to the physical side of things. It’s just right.”
Her words triggered Anarchy’s from a few weeks ago.
“There’s a vibe between us, all right? Sometimes it doesn’t matter long you’ve known somebody, there’s just a connection. You can be with somebody for years and not feel that snap with them, not feel truly comfortable with them.”
I shook my head to myself. I couldn’t go there. “I guess I’ll find out one day then.”
She squeezed my hand. “I know you will. Just make sure you follow your heart. It sounds corny, I know. But, in reality, it’s the only way you’ll be happy.”
Her phone started buzzing on the table between us. She snatched it up, telling me, “The girls need my help with the food prep. Anabelle is home sick so they’re shorthanded. Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. Do you need me there too?”
“No. We’ve got this. Just enjoy yourself.”
She leaned down and kissed the top of my head in that sweet way of hers, then hurried through the yard into the house.
It was a little strange to continue chilling here drinking alone, so I got up from the lounger, deciding to head back into the house as well. It was getting too hot out here. I needed some air conditioning and some time to think on the heavy stuff we’d just gotten into.
As I started making my way up there, Evan jogged up to me out of nowhere.
“Hey,” he said, brightly.
Well, so much for ignoring him.
“Evan,” I returned stiffly.
He reached out and brushed his hand lightly over my hair. “I miss you.”
Startled, I blurted out, “Is that why you’re here?”
“Python invited me, because I’m the lead on his big business project. But seeing you was a nice bonus.” He grasped my hand.
Before I could catch my breath from the surprise of it, he pressed it to his chest, over his heart, making me cringe.
And that was when I saw him.
Anarchy.
He was leaning against the patio doors in the distance up at the house, looking our way.
No, not just looking. He was staring really intensely.
I looked away quickly, feeling my face reddening.
“I have to go,” I murmured, pulling my hand away.
“Wait. Let’s talk about it.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. There’s nothing between us, there never was.”
“Come on, Hayley, don’t you see? They love it. They love me with you.”
“Who?”
“Lone Outlaws. Your dad, especially. He thinks I’m good for you. I’m not just one of his bikers. I’ve got it made, got ambition, a load I can give you.”
Wow. What a piece of work.
A warning went off in my brain. A blaring frigging alarm.
I’d felt it before when he’d mentioned how much he loved the club and all of that. But I’d dismissed it, putting it down to him just trying to make conversation and trying to connect with me. But now I could see that it was definitely way more than that. “That’s why you want to be with me?”
He took my arm and eased me off to the side behind some foliage, away from the direct view of the others. “Hayley, relax. People use the connections they have to get ahead. It’s nothing bad. It’s just a part of life.”
“No, that’s not—I’m not okay with that.”
He scoffed. “That’s funny, considering your situation.”
“What situation?”
“You’re just out of college and for your first job ever you walk straight into a security overhaul position at Veil and wherever else the club is redoing things. Come on.”
I was briefly aware of the crunch of heavy footsteps behind me.
In the next second, a familiar voice boomed, “You come on, fucker. I told you before, she’s a goddamn prodigy, a real talent. And if you’d bothered to get to know her even a little bit, you’d know this isn’t her first job in her field. She worked for two firms as part of her program. If she hadn’t picked up the gig at Veil, she could’ve landed a position anywhere, you judgmental fucker.”
Oh my God.
I turned to see Anarchy standing beside me, his fierce expression trained on Evan.
“You’re both blowing this out of proportion,” Evan said, holding up his hands sarcastically in mock-surrender.
Anarchy stepped up to him, getting right in his face. He dropped his voice to a low growl, as he told Evan, “You might have them all fooled, but not me. I know guys like you. Going after the princess to get an in with the club. Using people to get ahead. Your first mistake was getting impatient and making a move on her that she didn’t want that day. Your next one was letting your bitterness rule you, and reacting by trying to tear her down.” I jolted as Anarchy suddenly thrust his hand out and fisted it in Evan’s shirt. “Get the fuck out of here. Keep away from her. You don’t and I’ll damn well bury you. Do you understand me, you shit?”
Tension flared as they both just stood glaring at one another heatedly.
Time stretched.
And then Evan cursed, pulled out of Anarchy’s grip, and turned tail, storming away.
Standing there stunned by the entire thing, it took me a few moments to realize Anarchy was talking to me. I blinked and looked up at him. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you’re okay.”
“I…”
I didn’t know what to say.
And even if I’d had a clue, I was sure I wouldn’t have been able to voice it with the way he was looking at me.
After being so closed off and empty with me lately, it was more than just a slight shock to the system to see so much from him now.
Concern.
Sympathy.
Kindness.
Gentleness.
And… what I was sure seemed like pity, too.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. No, I couldn’t deal with it.
I bolted without a word.
I hurried up to the house, trying my best to keep the hurt off my face and the urgency burning in every cell of my body to get the hell away from everyone and everything. That would only set the guys’ radars off and then I’d be surrounded by a bunch of them all trying to find out what had upset me so much.
I turned briefly and breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t see Anarchy coming up behind me anywhere. It looked like he hadn’t followed me. He was no longer where we’d been standing either. Good. He’d probably gone to mingle.
As I stepped through the patio doors, I smiled politely at the people gathered inside our dining room laughing, talking, drinking and eating the BBQ food that a bunch of the guys were taking turns to cook on the three grills we had fired up in the backyard. Bow was on one. Grim was on another. And my dad was on the third.
I passed through the dining room and through the adjoining kitchen and made my way down the hall toward the stairs that led up to the second floor.
I just wanted to get to my bedroom and be alone.
But I spotted a bunch of people hanging out on the stairs, fawning over the photos lining the stairwell walls. All Lone Outlaws photos from special occasions, notable runs, club events and ceremonies. Basically, my dad’s shrine to his MC brothers.
Way too close to my room. I’d just made it through a swarm of people. I couldn’t handle more. And it would be worse. When it came to photos, people just loved to tell endless stories. I’d be roped into hours-long conversations that I couldn’t handle right now.
I spun quickly before anyone noticed me hesitating. I took a sharp turn onto the small hallway that led to the interior access door to the garage.
Throwing open the door and kicking it shut behind me, I slumped against a nearby workbench and brought my hands to my face.
Everything was a mess.
I’d completely missed—or ignored—all of Evan’s red flags. I’d wanted so much to move forward in the boyfriend department, in exploring my sexuality and all the stuff that I’d missed out on when I was younger because of my insanely overprotective MC family, that I’d latched onto the first dateable guy I’d literally walked into. A guy I’d barely liked beyond politeness and a cool tattoo.
From what he’d said, I now knew my fear of everyone thinking I wasn’t qualified for the job I had was a reality. To them all, I was just the club princess being handed everything by her almighty President daddy. It didn’t matter that I knew I was damned good at what I did, that the work I’d done so far had already displayed that.
And then there was that lingering thing with Anarchy. Hot and cold. Then, ice. I couldn’t blame him either. I’d messed that up too. He’d been right. Being who I was, I should have checked who he was and warned him before we’d… done what we had.
A large thud had me bringing my hands away from my face and spinning around, my heart hammering wildly.
Anarchy was storming into the garage.
What the crap?
He kicked the door shut, then turned the lock.
“What are you thinking, coming in—”
He cut me off, “What the hell were you thinking? That’s the better fucking question.”
“What?”
He started pacing wildly, tugging at his hair, looking at me, then his gaze darting away in the next second. He was in a real state about something. What had gotten up his ass in the ten minutes since I’d last seen him?