by Kasey Krane
I gulped, my throat was dry. I had no choice but to follow him. Where else was I supposed to go?
Maybe if I’d kept my eyes open and hadn’t got so lost in enjoying the experience of riding with him, I could have nipped this idea in the bud. Why on earth did he think I would want to come to a place like this?
Did they even serve food? What kind of breakfast would be available here? I had so many questions!
I was right behind him when he pushed through the double salon doors that made me feel like I was in some cowboy Western.
“Spike! It’s so great to see you!” A big tattooed man fell on Spike and they exchanged a quick hug, grinning from ear to ear. “How is the injury?”
Injury? What injury?
I stood by the door while Spike talked to the man who was wearing a similar leather jacket as Spike’s. The bar wasn’t busy, which I was expecting it to be, given the thumping music playing in the place. I expected to be greeted by a big party.
There were just a few other people, all of whom had turned to stare at me. Spike didn’t seem to notice the attention I was getting. I had never been in a place like this before.
I didn’t even know what they were called. Just bars?
“Hey hon, do you want to sit down? They will probably be a while.” I heard a female voice beside me and I turned to stare. I wasn’t expecting anyone to speak to me either.
The woman who had come up to me was dressed extremely provocatively. Fishnet stockings. Very high heeled-boots that reached right up to her thighs. She was in a short skirt and a top that was as good as a bra. The color of her hair was a bright dyed red. She had a load of tattoos too.
I didn’t want to stereotype but my first impression of her was that she was a stripper.
“Umm, I think I’ll wait,” I said in a meek voice. She smiled and glanced sheepishly at Spike.
“You the girl he’s keeping an eye on?”
I nodded. So other people knew. This wasn’t some kind of covert mission, then?
“Don’t worry, hon, you have nothing to be afraid of. Spike will make sure nothin’ happens to you.” She smiled wide at me and for a moment, I thought she was going to give me a hug but she walked away from me instead.
I had no idea what to think. The music was still loud but it kinda blended into the background now. Spike finished talking to the other guy and he turned to me.
“Didn’t Sophie show you to a table yet?” he asked.
I looked over at the woman with the red hair. Was she Sophie?
“I…uhh…wanted to wait for you.”
It looked like he was about to grin but he changed his mind and started walking. I followed him to a corner booth that had a table between us. I felt self-conscious and out of place as I slipped into the seat. Spike was watching me. I tried to focus on my nails, painted in a shimmery copper color. I wondered what Sophie thought of me. She was obviously judging me the way I had judged her.
“Are you okay?” Spike asked, forcing me to look up at him. Was I fooling myself in thinking there was genuine concern in his voice?
“Yes, I think so, I’ve just never been in a place like this before,” I confessed. He smiled now, an actual smile.
“Yeah, I figured this would be an adventure for you.”
I blushed at that. So, was he trying to tell me he wanted to give me an adventure? He wanted me to enjoy myself? Was that why he brought me here?
“Either way, I wanted to bring you to a place where I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about your safety. Nothing will happen to you here,” he answered. It was as if he’d read my mind.
Sophie came up to our table, and she looked at me with a warm smile. When she turned to Spike, there was a glow in her eyes. She was totally checking him out. Spike ran a hand through his hair. I noticed the way his biceps bulged. How thick and hard they were. Looked like Sophie noticed it too.
“So, hon, what can I get you?” she asked, turning to me. It was as if she had to snap herself out of it. Spike was just too sexy.
“Umm…I’m not sure. Can I have a look at your menu?”
Sophie stared at me for a second and then turned to Spike who smiled at her.
“Why don’t you tell Sophie what you want to eat and she’ll see if she can arrange it for you.”
I sat with my fingers weaved together in my lap. I was hungry but didn’t know what I wanted. I felt lost.
“I guess, I don’t know, I’ll have a Caesar Salad. I know it’s not a breakfast thing, but it would be great if you could arrange it.” I was trying to be as polite as possible.
“A salad?” Sophie looked shocked. She then turned to Spike as if she needed an explanation. I couldn’t understand what I had said wrong.
“Is that it? You just want a Caesar Salad?” Spike asked. Sophie still looked like she was in disbelief.
“Yeah!”
“Get us a few hamburgers, will ya?” He turned to Sophie, who nodded as if she was relieved.
“Beers?” she asked and Spike shrugged as though he didn’t care.
Sophie smiled at him in that purposely seductive way of hers. How much time did he spend together in this place? What exactly was the relationship between the two of them? I had so many questions but no right to ask them.
“Burgers and beers for breakfast?” I asked, shocked. Spike was still grinning.
“What’s wrong with that? Who said you have to eat pancakes for breakfast every day?”
“But beer?” I exclaimed.
“I’ll need something to wash down the burgers,” he replied casually.
I was staring at him and he stared back as though he was challenging me to say more. But I had no more to say. I had never experienced anything like this. One thing was clear to me now—Spike did what he wanted to do.
So I just started laughing.
Sophie returned with burgers and beers and plonked them on the table between us. Spike had been busy talking to people who walked past our table. It seemed as if everyone knew him and they were all happy to see him. It sounded like they hadn’t seen him in a while. Was this about the injury the other man was talking about?
Was Spike injured recently? What happened? Was he in pain now?
Why did I care?
I’d pulled out my phone to scroll through my screen, just to keep myself distracted and my mind off thinking about Spike. I was face-to-face with a side of his world that I was completely unfamiliar with. This was where he hung out. Which, in comparison to the Parisian cafés I was hanging out in a few days ago, were two different worlds.
Then I saw Sophie again, and the way she stood with her hips jutting out, exposed between her top and skirt. She was confident in what she wore, didn’t care about who was looking. She was definitely the kind of girl who wasn’t shy about herself or her body.
I glanced at Spike and the way he was speaking to her. He looked more at ease with her than with me, more relaxed. Whatever walls he built up around himself when he spoke to me, were now pulled down.
I felt a pang of jealousy and bitterness. So, this was the kind of girl he liked? This was the reason why he didn’t make any moves on me? I wasn’t his type. I was far from his type. But why did I feel that attraction toward him? Why did I convince myself we had a connection? A physical connection.
This felt like a repeat of Brett. Just like I had fooled myself into thinking he was going to help me change my life.
My cheeks were burning red. I picked up a beer and drank it hurriedly. It burned my throat and made me cough. I had to put the bottle down, cover my mouth with the back of my hand.
“You okay there, hon?” Sophie asked. I saw they were both looking at me. Was it concern I saw on Spike’s face?
No. I was fooling myself again. He wasn’t concerned about me. He was just doing his job.
“Yeah, I’m okay, just hungry,” I said and grabbed one of the burgers.
I had to admit, it smelled good. I bit into one and smiled at Sophie and nodded.
“This is great, thanks!” The smile on my face was forced and fake. I didn’t want either of them noticing what I was feeling. Embarrassment, jealousy, frustration.
“Okay, I’ll leave you folks to it,” Sophie said and walked away, smiling and shaking her head lightly. I was worried she had figured me out.
Spike sat there watching me as I took another bite of the burger. He popped open his bottle of beer and drank from it.
“You alright?” he asked. He wasn’t convinced by my fake smile. I had to try a different distraction.
“Are you injured?” I asked.
7
Spike
“Yeah, I was involved in an incident,” I replied to her. Sabrina’s eyes grew wide and she looked me over, as if she was trying to figure out where I was hurt.
I decided to show her. She needed to see exactly what being in my world involved.
I lifted up my shirt without warning and her eyes were glued to the bandaged area around the side of my torso. She couldn’t see a scar or anything gory, but at least she would know how serious the wound was. Maybe that way, she would take my job more seriously.
When I pulled my shirt back down, Sabrina looked up to meet my eyes. She looked a little afraid.
“How…what happened?”
“You don’t need to know the details.”
“But I want to know,” she insisted.
“I was looking for someone and when I found him, he did his best to get away. It shouldn’t have happened. I should have been doing a better job, but he tried to kill me and he got away.”
She was staring at me with her big dark eyes. They took up half her face. She gulped as if her throat was dry.
“Are you in pain?”
“No,” I replied.
“You had to have been in pain before when you got hurt. When did this happen?”
“About a week ago.”
“What are you doing here? With me? On this job?” She spoke with her voice raised a little. Was she genuinely concerned? It was a little hard for me to believe.
I sat back in my chair, drinking some more of my beer.
“The world doesn’t stop because I got a scratch.”
“Spike, that looks more than just a scratch.”
“I’m taking it easy.”
Her nostrils flared and she thrust her chin up.
“You think this job is easy?”
“You’re not going to pull a knife on me, are you?” I asked.
We were looking into each other’s eyes and then she tilted her head to the side and smirked.
“I don’t know what that would feel like. To live your life every day when you could get seriously hurt at your job.”
“I’m not the only one in a job like this,” I said and she shook her head. There was a change in her eyes, but I couldn’t tell what exactly it was.
She picked up another burger. I wasn’t expecting her to. This girl was definitely full of surprises. When I first saw her last night, I wouldn’t have expected her to plough through a couple of burgers and drink beer for breakfast.
Maybe there was another side to Sabrina Wyndham I didn’t know about.
“How was Paris?” I asked her, the kind of question I had never asked anybody before. For the first time, I was genuinely interested.
I had to admit that this was a side to Sabrina that I wasn’t expecting to see. I had her pegged as a spoilt brat, Daddy’s precious little angel, a breaker of hearts, a seductress. Yet, today, as she sat there, matching my every beer for a beer and a burger for a burger, I was seeing her in a light that was making me want her even more.
She laughed and made jokes about Paris. Not only describing how beautiful it was, especially after it rained, and the smell of the cakes in the cafés and their perfect coffees…but she didn’t hesitate to make jokes about the famous Parisian people. How they weren’t warm and she found it very difficult to fit in or make friends. She knew she was under constant scrutiny and they were talking about her behind her back.
“I just wanted to bitch with them, you know? But they just wanted to bitch about me.” That made her laugh and I grinned too.
I was finding myself drawn to her, drawn to how adorable she was. It was more than just her beauty, or the way she spoke and how fashionably she wore her clothes, or that thick shiny ponytail that swung behind her. Sabrina was funny and observant. There was something very earthy and real about her, which I wouldn’t have expected from a girl like her.
“So, I’m guessing you’ve never been to Paris?” she asked. I realized I was lost in thought for a long time. Now, she was expecting an answer.
“No, never. I’ve never been anywhere outside this country. Never felt the need to go anywhere,” I replied. “Among other reasons.”
She arched her brows high up on her forehead.
“While I completely agree with you—there is so much to see in this country and I don’t think I’ve seen enough of it yet—I still want to know about the other reasons.”
I looked at my watch. It was nearly noon. We’d been sitting here and talking for over two hours already. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it and piqued her curiosity.
“Don’t try and evade it, Spike. Come on, you have to tell me. I told you all the reasons why I have such a love-hate relationship with Paris.”
Maybe telling her would be a good thing. I was beginning to feel a different kind of attraction toward her, and if she knew the truth, she would keep her distance from me. That would make it easier. To keep this strictly business.
If she stayed away from me, I could do my job better.
Sabrina tilted her head to one side, a faint smile dancing on her lips. She was waiting for me to explain.
Normally, it wasn’t this difficult for me to talk about it, but today, for some reason, I didn’t know how to say it to her.
“Well, it would have been difficult to travel the world from prison,” I replied.
I could see she was stunned into silence. A bottle of beer was still in her hand and slowly, after a few moments of no movement, she brought it up to her lips and drank from it.
I was in prison. It may not have been a huge deal in my circle, but it was certainly a huge deal in hers. Maybe she had never met someone who had been to prison before.
She licked her lips and put the bottle back down on the table.
“I’m sorry, are you implying that you have been in prison?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”
I was expecting her to return to being the girl I first took her to be. Maybe she would stand up, demand to be taken back to the house. Maybe she’d even speak to her father and demand that he change her bodyguard. That way, I’d be out of this job and wouldn’t see her again. Order would be restored.
But Sabrina didn’t do any of those things.
“What happened? Why did you end up in prison?” she asked.
Wasn’t she scared? I was expecting her to be afraid of me now. Afraid of what I was capable of. Instead, she was leaning toward me over the table, as if she couldn’t wait to hear more.
“It’s probably best if we don’t go into the details. I was a kid. I came from a neighborhood where everyone had been to prison a couple of times. I guess I was just following a trend. My future had already been decided for me.”
Sabrina watched me closely as I spoke. She stared at my mouth, then at my eyes, then gazed down at my tattoos and looked up at me again. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what she really thought of me. Did she hate me even more now? Was I nothing but prison scum to her?
“But you didn’t go back, right? After you did time?” she asked. Again, another question I wasn’t expecting from her.
“No. Drax, the President of this MC, he recruited me. I found my place here and I’ve stayed out of prison ever since.”
She nodded as if she understood. How did she understand? There was nothing remotely similar to this in her life. What did she know about second chances?
Sabrina tucked some stray dark hairs behind her delicately small ears.
“Well, I guess I’m glad you’re not in prison anymore,” she said. She was even smiling lightly now. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. This was going to be my way of pushing her away from me. I wanted her to rebel against her father’s decision, but it didn’t seem to be doing the job.
“So you get to be here, keeping guard over me.” She spoke in a softer voice. Something had definitely changed between us. I watched her closely, expecting her to break into a big laugh any moment now, but she didn’t. Did she actually mean what she was saying?
All I could do was nod in response. I had no words.
I was glad when I saw Drax enter the room. The air between Sabrina and me had become thick with tension. Sexual tension. We had been staring at each other, eyeing each other up for several moments in silence.
Maybe telling her about my prison stint wasn’t such a great idea after all. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I was dangerous, in some exciting way. I wasn’t trying to excite her.
What if she was on a mission to collect new experiences? Live a little dangerously on the side. Get a taste of a different world? I would be the perfect candidate for that.
Under any other circumstance, I would have been happy to oblige. To give her a taste of a different life, just for one night, if that’s what she really wanted. But not now. Not when I was supposed to be doing a job.
I saw Drax and jumped up from my seat. It caught Sabrina by surprise. She looked over while Drax came to us.
“Spike! You look alive!” he said with a happy growl. When he noticed Sabrina, he kinda stopped in his tracks for a moment. Nobody was expecting to find a girl who looked like her sitting in the booth in Fifth Gear with me.
“And who is this lovely little thing?” he asked, coming up to us.
“Sabrina Wyndham,” she said before I could speak. She held her hand out to him in a way that nobody did around here. Drax glared at her, looked at me and then groaned a response, not bothering to shake her hand after all.
