I decide to ignore her. She plays games and she’s obviously going to try to play one with me, but I have news. I don’t play. I’ll just ignore her until she gets bored and moves on. I’m not over, nor am I forgiving her for the way she talked about me and to me last night.
“Hattie, can we see you in the office?” Julia calls out from the back.
I look up and gulp, nothing good ever happens out of back office conferences. The only time I’m okay with going back there is when we have our quarterly evaluations. I make my way toward the office. It feels like the death march, like nothing will be the same after the meeting is over.
It feels like dread.
“Please, have a seat,” Sharleen, the manager, says, pointing to the chair that is across from both her and Julia, who is sitting by her side.
“Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?” I ask.
“We like you very much as a person, Hattie. You’re a good employee, you’re a sweet girl, and the customers adore you. However,” Sharleen begins. Julia holds up her hand and speaks.
“We didn’t want to believe her. Willa came to us concerned; she said that you’d begun dating a very dangerous man. Then, this morning, we saw the two of you together. He’s a gang member, honey,” she says gently.
“So I’m in trouble for the man I’m dating?” I ask, feeling confused.
“Not necessarily trouble. But, we want to counsel you on your decision making skills. We also want to warn you that men like that will use naïve young women and manipulate them into committing crimes for them,” Sharleen continues.
“So you think that he’s going to ask me to steal from the bank for him, and that I’ll do it?” I ask dumbfounded.
“We really adore you, Hattie, but you’re young and this is the first time we’ve ever seen you with someone. His character is not trustworthy. Plus, how old is he?” Julia asks.
“Who I date isn’t anybody’s business but my own. In no way would it affect my ability to work, and in no way could anybody manipulate me into doing something morally or legally wrong.”
“We’re not firing you, but I don’t know if you’re going to be the right fit for our company anymore, Hattie,” Sharleen announces. I feel as though my stomach has dropped to the floor.
“Excuse me?” I breathe.
“Officially, we’re laying you off. You’ll be able to collect unemployment and we’ll give a positive reference to anyone who calls for a referral, but we can’t keep you here any longer,” Julia murmurs.
I look from Sharleen to Julia in shock for a minute. Then I gather my purse and stand, fishing my key and my alarm out of my bag before setting it down on their desk.
“You’re all cashed out from yesterday, so we’ll do a final count of your money just to make sure it’s all still the same, then you can leave,” Sharleen says before she stands and takes my key and alarm from the desktop.
I don’t say a word. I stay quiet as I follow Julia to my counter and watch her cash out my drawer. It balances to the penny, because I’m not a liar or a thief. Then I look between Julia, Sharleen, and Willa. All of them each wearing different expressions on their faces.
Sharleen is trying to look stern under her watchful gaze.
Julia looks like she’s about to explode into tears any minute.
Willa is full on smiling.
I don’t look at the other tellers before I leave. I hold my head up high and I walk right out the front door.
I have worked in that bank since the summer I graduated high school—over a year now, almost two. I have worked my way up from a part-time teller to the vault teller.
Not once have I ever been questioned for anything.
Not once have I been over twenty dollars off on my balance at the end of the night.
Now, now suddenly because of a man I’m dating, I’m no longer trustworthy.
I open my apartment door and sigh, closing it behind me before I lock it. I inhale and I can still smell Johnny everywhere around me. I walk into the bedroom and grin when I see my messy sheets.
Quickly, I strip out of my work clothes and climb into the bed that I abandoned only hours ago. I bury my face in the pillow that Johnny laid his head on all night and I inhale, like a freak. I smell him, and us, and I close my eyes.
DIRTY JOHNNY
I arrive at the clubhouse parking area with the urge to turn around immediately and pickup Hattie. Somehow, between last Saturday and today, I’ve become attached to her.
Feeling the need to see her Monday wasn’t anything I had ever encountered before. I’ve never wanted to see a woman that badly. I’ve wanted a fuck, but any body could do for that. I’ve never wanted a specific person.
I want Hattie.
Then I tasted her, and fuck, there was no denying I wanted more. Last night sealed the deal for me. Hattie is my woman. Not my Old Lady by any means, but she’s mine. For now. For as long as I keep her. For as long as I want her.
“Hey, baby,” Serina says as soon as I walk into the clubhouse.
“Not now,” I murmur, passing right by her and walking toward Fury’s office.
The door is open, and he’s inside, but I still knock on the door frame and wait for him to call me in. I close the door behind me before I sit down on the chair in front of his desk. He looks up at me and furrows his brow when he sees me.
“That run was good, no problems last weekend, right?” he asks, setting his pen down.
“Yeah, it was good,” I say. I don’t know why I’m here in his office, not really.
“This about the girl you rescued last weekend?” he asks. I look up before I nod.
“I’m going to give you advice, advice I would have never taken a decade ago. Claim her. She gets under your skin like no other woman has, then she’s yours and you claim her. Men like us, we don’t give a fuck about these bitches, so when one comes along that works her way under our skin, it’s a fuckin’ sign,” he informs me. I take in his words.
I nod.
I remember how he was with Kentlee. I remember what happened when he went away and the club wouldn’t back her because he hadn’t claimed her.
I would hate for something like that to happen with Hattie. Though her situation is different, our situation is different, I would hate to have her swingin’ in the wind if something happened to me.
“She’s only nineteen,” I murmur. Fury coughs.
“She’s a baby,” he laughs.
“She ain’t a baby when she’s takin’ my cock,” I grunt, which only makes him laugh harder.
“Well, if you feel any way toward her at all, you want her, you think about her, and you can’t imagine another dick inside of her, then you need to claim her; infant status and all. If I’ve learned anything, Dirty, it’s that time doesn’t fuckin’ stand still. You turn around and years have passed. You need to take life by the dick, and you can’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks or says.”
I stand and look at him again. Really look at him. He doesn’t look like he’s in his mid-forties, but he is. There’s a little grey at his temples and he’s got some extra wrinkles around the eyes that he didn’t have a few years ago.
He’s also got three little curtain crawlers running around his house and a younger wife who undoubtedly keeps him on his toes.
“If I could go back, I would have claimed Kentlee the second I saw her in her secretary getup walking down Main Street. I woulda thrown her on the back of my bike and fucked her until she couldn’t see straight, slapped my ink on her, and announced she was mine, right then and there,” he says, not looking up from his paperwork. “Our age difference is more than you and your girl’s. So, don’t sweat that shit at all.”
I turn and leave him in his office, letting his words roll around in my head.
I have never thought about a woman as much as I’ve thought about Hattie. I’ve never wanted to see a woman as much as I want to see her, either.
It’s only been a week. It’s so fucking ridiculous. Then I
laugh to myself. It’s been three years in the making.
Three long fucking years since the first taste of her innocent lips on mine. A memory that has never faded for me over time.
I never forgot her—not once in the past three years. I couldn’t if I tried. I have a feeling—now that I know what she feels like on my bare cock and what she tastes like—I’ll remember her until the day I die.
But I don’t want to just remember her, I want to keep her.
Fury’s right.
I need to claim her.
I need to mark her.
I need to breed her.
Hattie is mine, and she isn’t going anywhere.
I just need to figure out a way to get her to agree to move from Sagle to here. The one-hour distance thing ain’t gonna last long, and she doesn’t have a car.
I lie down on my bed and close my eyes, exhausted from the night before. Sleeping on her fucking bright as shit pink sheets.
I smirk, remembering how messy her room was. It was cute, but reminded me of a teenager’s room more than an adult’s.
It makes me wonder if she’s with me because I’m the bad boy she wants to fuck around with, or if she actually has any type of feelings for me.
I feel something warm and wet envelop my cock and I can’t help but thrust into the sensation. I moan, unable to open my eyes. I feel a tongue swirl around, and the warm mouth takes me in deep again.
I imagine Hattie on her knees between my legs, her caramel colored hair around her face as she takes my cock, her green eyes focused on mine.
I thrust harder and faster into her mouth and come down her throat before I crack an eye open with a small smile on my lips.
“Fuck, Dirty Johnny, you almost choked me with that giant cock of yours,” a voice giggles.
My eyes open wide and my heart starts to race at the sight of Serina between my legs.
“The fuck, Serina?” I bark, pushing her off of me and standing as I pull my boxers up my hips.
“It’s been so long, and I knew you’d need me. I was right,” she pouts.
“I don’t need shit, bitch. Get the fuck out of my room before you regret it,” I yell, unable to control my shit. I’m two seconds from knocking this bitch to the ground.
“That little girl isn’t gonna do it for you for very long. You need someone who knows how to handle all you need. You need a woman,” she tries to purr.
“A few years ago, a whore tried to get in between a brother and his woman. Any guesses what happened and who won out?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.
“No,” she says, shaking her head and at least looking a little afraid.
“After I fucked her ass for a few hours off and on, I dropped the cunt off at another club,” I chuckle. “No whore messes with a brother and his woman, you better watch yourself,” I warn.
“She’s not your Old Lady. I’m not overstepping my boundaries. I know the rules,” Serina announces.
I charge at her, wrapping my hand around her throat and pushing her up against the wall, causing her head to hit sickeningly hard against the sheetrock. I bend my neck and make sure she’s looking directly into my eyes before I speak again.
“You don’t know what Hattie is or isn’t to me. Stay away from her and stay away from me or I’ll put you down,” I growl. “Do you understand me?”
Serina nods but doesn’t say anything else. I let her go and watch her scramble out of the room. I leave my room shortly after to wash her smell off of my body. I wash with scalding hot water, hoping that it’ll remove the feeling of her lips around my cock. I can’t stop the guilt that creeps in. I didn’t do anything wrong, I was asleep, but I came.
I came down a whore’s throat when the only woman I want is Hattie.
My woman.
Once I’m dressed, I head down to the bar.
I still have a few hours before I can go get Hattie from Sagle, so I decide to see what my brothers are up to. The party tonight will be big.
Fury’s pops, MadDog, is coming along with a whole group from his club. They’re the original charter and have business to discuss, probably business involving the Russians we’ve been dealing with the past year. Possibly news of the Bastards, a club we thought was extinct.
So much shit and so many rumors swirling around.
It’s never fucking ending in this life.
“What’s up, Dirty Johnny?” MadDog asks as I enter the bar.
“Not much, old man,” I laugh as a prospect hands me a beer.
Chapter Nine
HATTIE
I’ve slept and cried all of the tears I have inside of me. Now I’m sitting on my sofa, my overnight bag packed, wearing one of my cutest outfits.
I’ve been sitting here for three hours—waiting. I realized when I woke up from my nap that Johnny never mentioned what time he would be picking me up for the party.
Now, it’s ten o’clock at night and I’ve been waiting for over three hours for him to arrive. I also don’t have his phone number, so I can’t even call him.
A knock sounds on my door and I hurry to answer it. I suck in a breath in response to who I find on the other side. I expected Johnny, maybe even Andy, but instead, it’s Steve—my ex-boyfriend. A guy I haven’t seen in over a year. He’s standing in front of me wearing a light blue polo shirt and a pair of khaki pants.
I stare at him for longer than I should, making it awkward, but I don’t know what to say. He left me. He left me for a girl who had, a much better head on her shoulders, and was much more serious about her schooling. He broke up with me via text message, since he was away at college and I was home.
“Hey, Hattie,” he murmurs almost shyly as he shoves his hands deep inside of his pockets.
“Steve, what are you doing here?” I blurt out.
“I’m in town visiting my parents and I ran into Andy. He told me that you need help, that you’ve started running around with the Notorious Devils? Is that true, Hattie? You’re not that kind of girl. I don’t want to see you get mixed up in something like that group,” he announces. My eyes widen in surprise.
Andy. Fucking Andy.
That asshole.
“I’m not running around with the Notorious Devils, Steve,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You aren’t? Why would Andy tell me that? It scared me, Hattie, you’re such a good girl,” he murmurs.
It makes my heart break just a little bit, because that’s what Johnny calls me. Even though I’m upset with him, I still want him here. I want to tell him about my horrible day and just be with him.
“I’m dating a member of the Devils, I’m not running around with them,” I say softly.
Not because I’m afraid to tell Steve, but because I’m not sure if I’m really dating Johnny or not.
“Dating? Don’t be naïve. Those guys don’t date. They fuck, and you’re just someone this guy wants to fuck on the side. He’s your man, right? Then where is he? It’s Friday night and you’re home alone,” he says.
I bite my bottom lip as my eyes well up with tears again. He’s right. He’s saying everything I’ve been thinking, and I hate him for it.
I hate him for being right about what I am to Johnny; a piece he can come to when he feels like it. He’s saying he’s my man, but I’m not stupid. I know what we are, and I know what we aren’t.
“He’s right here,” a deep, raspy voice says from the stairway.
I watch as Steve’s eyes go wide and he gulps before he turns his neck and looks at Johnny, who is now walking up behind him. Then he passes by him and comes to my side, wrapping his hand around my neck and looking down at me, completely ignoring Steve.
“Sorry I’m late, princess. Some friends showed up and I got caught up talking with them. They’re waitin’ to meet you. Got your shit?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I say back, watching as his mouth breaks out into a grin—a gorgeous grin.
“Hattie?” Steve almost shouts.
“Dirty John
ny,” Johnny announces.
He doesn’t offer his hand to Steve; rather, he takes a cigarette out of his pack and places it between his lips before he lights it.
“I’m Steve. I was talking to Hattie. I’d like to finish our conversation,” he says, putting his hands on his hips.
Johnny looks him up and down, slowly, then turns to me, cocking an eyebrow.
“You date this tool?” he asks. It makes me smile.
“Yeah, about a year ago,” I shrug.
“You ain’t finishing shit,” Johnny begins. “Take your polo shirt wearin’ punk ass the fuck outta here. I see you sniffin’ around Hattie again and I’ll beat your ass black and blue.”
“Excuse me?” Steve sputters.
“Go get your shit, yeah?” Johnny murmurs without looking toward me. I turn and go to get my bag, straining to hear every word.
“I’m assuming, since you’re here, you want back in my girl’s panties?” Johnny says. I almost choke on a cough as I pick up my overnight bag.
“You won’t be there long. I’m not worried about gutter trash like you,” Steve says. His confidence that used to be such a turn on for me seems pompous now.
“Maybe I’m gutter trash, maybe I’m not. But what I am is Hattie’s man. She ain’t goin’ nowhere, either. So, take your punk ass home to mama, ‘cause no way in fuck would my woman want your pencil dick after she’s had me in her tight pussy,” Johnny says as he lights his cigarette, like he didn’t just say what he just said.
“Trash, fucking trash,” Steve mutters before he moves his head and speaks directly to me. “Make sure you get tested regularly, Hattie. This is the kind of man who is going to give you a disease.” With that, Steve leaves.
Johnny turns to me and I see nothing but rage in his eyes. Pure, unadulterated rage, and it’s focused completely on me.
“Let’s go,” he growls as he snatches my bag from my hand and takes off down the stairs.
We don’t say another word to each other the entire hour-long drive to Bonners Ferry. Johnny’s grip is white knuckled on the steering wheel, and I’m too upset to even speak.
Notorious Devils MC Complete Collection: BoxSet Page 64