Bound by Steel: Mountain Misfits MC Book 3

by Voss, Deja

  I sit down next to her on the couch and put my arm around her. “No,” I assure her. “That was really hurtful of me. It’s only true in the sense that you don’t have a dick. You women are the glue that hold us together. Even before I was dating you, I wanted to do right by you. We do see a lot of dark shit, and having an old lady to love is what makes that easier.”

  “Okay,” she says with a shrug.

  “You want to talk? You want a beer? You want to go to bed?” I’ve never seen her so emotionless. She always has the right thing to say, and right now she’s just staring at the TV that isn’t even turned on.

  “I think I’m going to go to bed,” she says.

  “Olive, I am so fucking sorry,” I say. “Please tell me how to make it better.”

  “It’s fine.” She walks back into my bedroom and doesn’t even turn the light on.

  “Do you want me to come back there with you?” I ask from the doorway.

  “Whatever.”

  I stand in the doorway, feeling my heart break. I know I fucked up big time. I feel this queasiness in my stomach. I have no idea how to make it right. I know at the core I’m a good person, but I’m not acting like one right now. There’s no point in trying to talk about this tonight. I strip down to my boxers, going to throw my clothes in the hamper, and I notice it’s full of my clean clothes, neatly folded.

  She’s too good for me. She’s too good for all of this shit. She’s already asleep, and I go lay on the couch, turning on the TV to watch absolutely nothing before passing out.

  26

  Olive:

  Waking up alone when you’re used to having someone around all the time is weird. I know why I’m alone. It’s as much my fault as it is his. Sure, he said some mean things, but I poked. I jammed my fingers right into a sore spot, a spot I know he guards with everything he has, and I did it on purpose because I was hurting.

  We were both being ridiculous.

  And none of this would’ve been an issue if Red hadn’t set the tone for the evening.

  Seeing him out in the living room, all smushed up on the couch, makes me giggle a little at the ridiculousness of it, but mostly I feel guilty.

  I stroke his chest, then run my fingers through his beard until his eyes snap open. As soon as he comes around, he smiles.

  “What are you doing out here?” I ask. He sits up with a groan. “Come back to bed. You shouldn’t be sleeping out here.”

  He stands up and heads straight for the bathroom. I hear the water running as he brushes his teeth. “What time is it?” he stammers.

  “It’s four a.m. Come back to bed.” I take him by the hand to the bedroom and we slide under the covers together. He hugs me tight, and before I know it, he’s out cold once again. Maybe we don’t need to talk it out. Maybe we can just consider yesterday a bad day and move along with our lives. I press my lips to his shoulder, wanting to make sure he’s really here with me. To feel him. To smell him. To wrap my arms around him and never let him go again. I lay there unmoving, staring at the wall, until soon, I’m out cold again.

  ***

  “Stacy and I are trading shifts today,” I say, filling up his coffee cup before sitting down to breakfast with him. “I’ll be done by ten tonight. Maybe we can pick up some takeout and just be lazy?”

  By “be lazy” I really mean make up for the disaster that was yesterday. So much miscommunication and drama, all for no reason at all. Thinking about this in a calmer state of mind makes me realize I need to get things right with him before Red comes back tomorrow. Slay one dragon at a time.

  “That sounds good,” he says. “I have a lot of stuff to get done at the shop today. I’ll swing by afterwards and we can go from there. Maybe we can stop at my parents’ on the way home.”

  “Tank,” I say, “we really don’t have to.” I realize now that I’ve had some time to think that I love this man, I don’t care about anything else he has going on in his world. We can have everything, we can do the meet the parents thing, but I am happy with us right now. Things will happen exactly like they’re supposed to on their own time.

  “I feel like we do. I don’t like keeping secrets from them. I don’t like being shady with you. It’s not going to be fun, but they love me. They’ve always accepted my choices even if they didn’t exactly want them for me at first. They’ll get over it. It’s not their life to live.”

  I lean across the table and give him a kiss. “Let’s just see how today goes. One step at a time.”

  “Have you heard from Red?” he asks. “I’m not really thrilled with how we left things off yesterday.”

  Neither am I, but when I tried to call him this morning, his phone was shut off. I figure he’s probably working out or in a meeting, and I don’t need to bother him. He’ll come around. He always does.

  “I haven’t. You don’t worry about him. You did nothing wrong. He was probably just anxious about being in Vegas all alone and was taking it out on you. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now. This could really mean some big changes for him.”

  It could mean some really big changes for all of us. I don’t want to admit that. Although a life on the road supporting my MMA fighter of a boyfriend, staying in fancy hotels and not having to worry about money sounds amazing, it’s unappealing to me. I like where I am. I don’t want to have to give that up for someone else’s dream, as selfish as that is.

  “You know he’s only acting like this because he cares about you so much,” he says with a sigh. “He’s said all along he wants to make sure you’re taken care of, no matter what happens.”

  “That’s a lot of responsibility to put on you, Tank,” I laugh. “You know I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself.

  “I do,” he says, getting up from the table and clearing our plates. “But I’m going to do my best to make sure you are, at the very least, happy and fed. Speaking of?”

  “That meatloaf was to die for.”

  “I know. You’re lucky you’re cute. If it were Red, I’d have probably smothered him in his sleep.”

  He kisses me on the forehead, lingering for a minute, playing with my hair, staring at me lovingly. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Everything is going to be ok.

  “I’m out of here,” he says. “Love you.”

  “I gotta go paint my face on and try to squeeze into some leather booty shorts, and I’ll be right behind you. It’s going to be no easy task after the meatloaf fiasco that was yesterday, though.”

  “Well tonight you don’t have to wear any shorts at all if you don’t want to,” he says with a wink. “I’ll swing by at eight or so?”

  “Sounds perfect,” I watch him through the living room window as he pulls out of the driveway on his bike, and as I see him drive off, I already miss him. I know for a fact that I never want to have another day like yesterday. I never want to be mad at him again. Now if I could just get the other party on board, life would be so much easier.

  ***

  Stacy comes in to relieve me at eight o’clock. For a Friday night, the place is surprisingly dead. The weather has been gorgeous all day today, and with summer coming to a close, a lot of our customers are using this time to take advantage of the final nice days of the season.

  Of course the Mountain Misfit crew is hanging around. I don’t mind. I like these guys. They crack me up, and I know I don’t have to worry about anything when they’re around. Tank walks through the door as I’m counting my tips, and my heart skips a beat. I am so happy to see him. I’ve been thinking about him all day, and I want nothing more than to take him home and make up to him all night long.

  I peck him on the lips.

  “I’ll be done in about five minutes,” I say. “I just have to go get some ice for Kelly.”

  “Oh come on,” Gavin says, “you better let your old man stay for at least one beer.”

  “He can do whatever he wants, but these shorts are coming off in the next hour, regardless of where I a
m at that point in time.” Gavin raises his eyebrows at me and I realize how bad that probably sounded. “It’s a meatloaf overdose thing. You wouldn’t get it.”

  “She literally spite ate seven pounds of ground beef last night,” I hear Tank telling the guys as I walk back to the kitchen to refill the ice buckets. I think he’s kind of impressed, and it makes me giggle.

  I catch a shadow out of the corner of my eye, and it makes me jump. I know the guys tend to free roam around here, and you never know what state of undress you’re going to find someone tucked into any of the crevices of this building, but I’ve been here all night, and as far as I know, the dirty birdies are having their monthly ladies night, so I don’t know who it could possibly be.

  “Hello!” I call out. “Is somebody back here?”

  I look around the tiny kitchen and convince myself it was nothing. As I scoop ice from the machine into the buckets, I feel a hand on my shoulder.

  “Holy shit!” I shout, spinning around quickly, holding the big metal ice scoop out in front of me.

  “Sorry,” Buzzy says.

  “What are you doing back here?” I ask. I haven’t seen him yet tonight, but his breath smells like stale alcohol and his eyes are bloodshot.

  “The front door is locked. I came in the back.”

  I just watched Tank walk through the front door. Maybe he’s just too drunk to pull it open.

  “Well you shouldn’t be back here,” I say. “This is employees only.”

  “Yeah, employees and the scumbag bikers they fuck.” He’s chuckling like a creep, and I just roll my eyes at him. If I wanted to, I could probably end his life with this ice scoop. I’m sure Kelly will see how drunk he is and send him on his way.

  “Whatever, Buzz. Get out of here.” I push him towards the doorway that leads to the bar room and he stumbles off. I don’t know why I don’t just let the guys handle him. I guess it’s because he seems like the kind of person who would go out of his way to make our lives miserable. Who knows what he’s seen and heard just hanging around?

  I finish filling my ice buckets and carry them behind the bar. I damn near drop them to the floor when I see Red standing there. He looks hot as ever, a shit-eating grin across his face, his teeth white and sparkly, and his arms flexed as he leans over the bar.

  I run over to him, kissing him on the lips from across the bar.

  “You’re home early!” I cheer.

  “I really didn’t expect you to be so happy to see me,” he says. “I’m sorry about last night.”

  “We’ll talk about that later. Right now I just want to hear about how your trip went.”

  “Well will you look at that,” Buzzy shouts from the corner of the bar. “Little miss hot pants has a boyfriend. Does your other boyfriend know about this? He must. I mean he’s just standing over there with his hands in his pockets, watching you slut yourself around.”

  “Dude,” I shout at him, “shut the hell up or go home.”

  “I bet neither one of them know about what you actually do to men, though, do they, Ollie?”

  Fuck, I think. I knew there was more to this guy than just someone who liked to irritate me. Maybe he’s just talking out his ass.

  “I think you have me mistaken for someone who cares.” I shrug. I can feel the tension start to rise in the room, everyone’s stare directed right at this short little guy with the loud mouth.

  “Come on, Red. Tell me how your trip went. Did you find an agent?”

  He’s staring down the guy who seems to have lost interest in the conversation and is, instead, busying himself with a beer and football highlights on the TV overhead.

  “Who is that guy?” he growls.

  “He’s just some random asshole. He’s harmless. More of an irritant than anything, babe. You know how people get when they drink. I think he just hangs out here because it’s the closest place to his house.”

  Tank comes over and slaps Red on the back. “Got any good news?” he asks. Stacy hands Red a beer, and he drinks it down in two long chugs.

  “Probably going to have to lay off the alcohol for a few months starting Monday,” he says with a smirk. “I got a fight lined up in Vegas Thanksgiving Eve.”

  “I’m so happy for you!” I squeal. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going pro, babe. It means I made it.”

  My pride for this man burns through my entire body. I am so happy I could cry. We can worry about things like logistics and all the changes this is going to bring to our lives tomorrow. Tonight, I just want to be happy for his accomplishments.

  I run around the bar and throw my arms around him.

  “I guess we need to get some celebrating in tonight if you’re going to have to clean your act up,” Brooks says. “Can we get a round, Stacy?”

  She lines up enough shot glasses on the bar for everyone in the room, Buzzy and herself included, and fills them with moonshine. As we slam them down, everyone cheers.

  The creepy old man clears his throat and we all turn and look at him.

  “So what’s your game plan, Olive? It’s not like this one is going to be easy to blackmail. You can’t just threaten to send pictures of you sucking his dick to his wife. Or do you have something worse on him? There’s gotta be a reason why you’ve been hanging around this place for so long.” Buzzy starts laughing, and everyone’s attention turns to me.

  “So there is a reason why you’ve been irritating me for the last six months,” I say. “You think you know something about me. Who sent you here?”

  “Olive, what is he talking about?” Tank asks.

  It wasn’t one of the proudest moments of my life, but at the time, it seemed like the best option. Still, if I have to rip open old wounds, these would be the people I’d do it in front of. I’m really not ashamed of where I came from, because I’m not that person anymore.

  “I made some poor life choices as a teenager.” I shrug. “I fell into the wrong crowd, and me and one of my girlfriends might have blackmailed some less than loyal husbands out of a lot of money.”

  “You make it sound a lot cuter than it actually was,” Buzzy growls. “What she actually did was ruin men’s lives for her own personal gain.”

  “I was seventeen years old and came from a severely broken home. Nobody ever got hurt. If anything, those scumbags got exactly what they deserved. So what exactly are you bringing this up now for? It’s been over fifteen years. Did someone send you here to get revenge? If they did, tell them that having to deal with your obnoxious ass has been worse than any punishment I could imagine.”

  All he does is laugh, sipping his beer. Red puts his arm around my shoulder and Tank squeezes my hand. I know they’re on my side and I have nothing to worry about. I know nobody in this room is going to judge me for something so insignificant.

  “I think it’s probably time for you to go,” Brooks says to him, taking his bottle of beer from his hand. “We don’t need any problems here. You got to speak your mind, now get out of here. We’ve been more than gracious with you.”

  “I’m not leaving until she admits what she did.”

  “She doesn’t owe you anything, dude,” Gavin says, grabbing him by the arm. “I don’t want to see you around here anymore.”

  I feel Red’s grip around my shoulder tighten, and his heart is beating faster by the second, his chest pressed into my back.

  “It’s ok,” Buzzy says. He walks over to me, sneering at me with his beady eyes, spit forming at the corners of his mouth. “I know where she lives. Her mother sold her out for a stamp bag. I just can’t believe she doesn’t remember my dick inside her. What’s that say about your body count, Olive?”

  “I honestly do not recognize you,” I say. “Why would I lie?”

  “I remember you,” he says. “Back before you had those big old bolt-on tits.”

  I feel Red’s grip loosen from my shoulder and he shoves me off to the side, his fist connecting to Buzzy’s face with a crunch.

  “S
top it right now,” I yell. “There’s no sense. He can say whatever he wants about me; it doesn’t hurt me.”

  It’s too late though, he’s gone into wild animal mode. Buzzy’s on the floor, his hands up to his face as Red towers over him.

  “It’s not worth it,” Tank growls. “You learned your lesson, didn’t you?” he asks Buzzy.

  “Please,” he pleads, fear in his eyes, blood running from his nose.

  Red hauls back with his boot and kicks him square in the gut. I swear I hear his ribs crunching, and it instantly makes me gag. I go into panic mode, trying to pull him off, but I’m swept up in a wave of bikers. Goob pulls me behind the bar with Stacy, and I watch through my fingers as the guys try and separate this one-sided fight.

  “Jesus Christ, Red,” Gavin shouts, pulling him away from Buzzy as he continues to kick him with his boot. “Knock it off. He’s down.”

  “This fucker,” he shouts, his eyes crazed and his jaw quivering. “How long have you guys let this go on? How long has he been harassing you, Olive?”

  “It’s no big deal!” I cry out. “I just thought he was some drunk asshole, Red. It’s what you deal with in this business. He seemed harmless. I said I can handle it myself.”

  The way Buzzy is writhing on the floor, blood spewing from the corners of his mouth, is a sure sign things aren’t looking good for him. It takes Austin and Clutch both to pin Red down, the look of rage on his face unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, even when I’ve seen him fighting in the ring. This is different. This is personal.

  “Who is this fucking guy, anyway?” Brooks asks. “Are you sure you don’t know him?”

  “I swear, Brooks,” I plead, “I’ve never seen him before until he started coming here. I have no reason to lie to you guys.”

  “I know,” Brooks says. “We believe you. Just trying to make some sense out of this.”

  Gavin pulls Buzzy’s wallet from his pocket, and immediately drops it to the ground, kicking it across the room to Red’s feet.