by Brook Wilder
Hot Wheels stepped back, examining her handiwork with a critical eye before nodding in satisfaction, “I think I’ve actually out done myself this time.”
Elle turned around to look in the mirror, but Hot Wheels stopped her.
“No, don’t look. You have to trust me, but even more than that, you have to trust yourself. Trust that you are beautiful and strong and can handle anything. And I’ll give you a hint, sugar, it has nothing to do with what you look like. It’s all in how you carry yourself. Attitude.”
Hot Wheels tilted her head to one side as she dragged Elle to her feet.
“Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight ahead like you don’t care about anything or anyone else, like you can’t see anything blocking your path. Come on. You can do better than that. Picture h– whoever or whatever you want, the thing that you really want, and walk towards it like there’s no one else there. That’s it, darlin’. Now you’re starting to get it.”
Hot Wheels clapped her hands in glee, “Perfect. Let’s go.”
Chapter 10
Elle stepped inside the clubhouse quickly. Mostly because of Hot Wheels’s forceful shove at her back, but still it was over. She was there. She hadn’t broken her promise after all.
Great, so now we can turn right back around and leave, her inner voice whispered, this time it was all her but she gave her head a mental shake. She hadn’t come this far just to turn around without doing what she came there to do. She was given a job. Make sure that all the bikers knew that the money for the party was coming from Carla’s farm.
With just a brief glance around, Carla could tell that Joel had spared no expense. She hoped that they really did have enough money to cover it and it wasn’t just another ploy, but that wasn’t her problem at the moment. No, her problem was the rowdy crowd of heavily drinking, black leather wearing bikers that had all just turned to stare at her.
“Hot Wheels, they’re looking at me like a piece of meat!” she squawked to the woman who was still standing impatiently behind her, waiting for her to move. Elle wasn’t the only one with a job to accomplish that night.
“Look, sugar, just remember what I told you. Shoulders back, chin up, eyes straight ahead. Just pretend they’re all beneath you, like none of em is worth your time. That’s it, eyes on the prize. Now, just walk,” Hot Wheels huffed out a sigh, “You gotta move sometime, sweetheart, preferably before we all age to death. No go!”
Elle lurched forward, helped again by Hot Wheel’s hand propelling her from behind and she repeated the other woman’s words like a mantra. Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight ahead. Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight–
“Oh no,” Elle whispered to herself. Her feet were still moving, carrying her forward like no one else was even there. Her shoulders were back. Her chin was up. And her eyes were straight ahead, fixed on none other than Honey. It was too late, though. She knew if she stopped now she’d never start again, so she did the only thing she could. She kept walking.
Elle realized the exact moment that he noticed her. As if he’d sensed her presence, he’d turned slowly, his eyes locking right on her own and not letting go. So she saw every expression that flitted through them as they widened in breathless surprise. She saw the shock, she saw the warmth fan instantly into a wildfire burning out of control. She saw his need. And it shook her to the core.
With trembling hands, she smoothed down the shimmering dress that Hot Wheel’s had loaned her, for the first time realizing just how short, and how tight, it really was. She wished desperately then that she’d looked in the mirror. That she could see just exactly what Honey was seeing.
But then she remembered what Hot Wheels had said. It wasn’t about what she looked like, it was how she carried herself. Attitude.
But I haven’t got any attitude, that insipid voice whined. And Elle brushed it off, standing up even straighter. Oh, shut up.
Wearing Hot Wheels’s dress like a suit of armor, she continued on. Joel and Carla were already by the bar with Tucker not too far off. At first glance, he looked to be standing nonchalantly at one of the bar height tables but just beyond him was Viper, the man who had caused all of the problems in the first place. And he was glaring bloody murder at Joel, along with the group of four or five brutes in Dirty Cruiser leather.
She only recognized one of them. Buck, that jerk that had tried to grab her the other day. Elle made a mental note to stay far away from that table. She could see how Buck’s eyes tracked her, following her steps, and she forced herself to raise her chin and look straight ahead again. Elle wondered briefly where Hot Wheels had gone to and, after a brief scan of the rest of the large open bar, she spotted her.
She was standing next to a giant of a man, covered in tattoos with long, shaggy hair that lent him a wild look. Elle remembered him. Sparkplug. A member of the Nomads who had helped them when things with Maurice had gone south. There was something about the way they stood so close together, their heads bent close as they spoke. But still, there was a distance between them, a tension that Elle didn’t understand.
And then she didn’t have the chance to because a hand was at her elbow, a voice low and full of heat at her ear.
“You look like sin,” Honey said, his breath teasing over her, sending chills dancing down her spine. But there was something hard in his voice too, “Are you trying to start a riot? These men will tear each other apart to get their hands on you.”
“I truly doubt that, Honey,” Elle said with a caustic look over her shoulder. He was obviously overestimating her charms. “I’m just here to do a job.”
“What kind of job is that, Elle? To tempt them all? To distract them with your body while you spread…rumors.”
With a gasp, she spun around to face him and knew immediately it was a mistake.
“Don’t you dare, Honey. Don’t you–You know exactly why I’m here so stop being such a…such a…jerk!” Elle looked around hastily, taking the moment to draw a deep breath. She couldn’t seem to when she was looking at him but when she did turn her gaze back she could see contrition in his face.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…you surprised me, that’s all,” he looked up at her then, a sweet lopsided smile drawing across his face, “You’re always doing that.”
“Still, you didn’t have to say that.”
“No, I didn’t have to,” Honey said, still smiling but it hardened, “It’s true though. Everyone here will fall at your feet with one look.”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Elle huffed, unsure how to take his mercurial moods, “I’ve got work to do.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.”
“It’s important, Honey. Carla asked. I promised to help.”
“One day those promises of yours are going to get you in trouble.” Honey said after a long silence. Then he was pulling away, backing up as he headed back to man the bar and Elle was left with an odd sense of...loss. As if she missed his presence by her side. Now, that really was ridiculous.
But she hadn’t been lying, either. She had a job to do, and the sooner she got it done, the sooner she could leave. So, with that in mind she started circling the room. Talking to anyone who would listen, which surprisingly to her if not to Honey, ended up being more than she’d expected.
Elle didn’t say much. Just a few words here and there about how nice the party was. How great it was that the farm was so profitable and how smart Joel was to take advantage of it. The hours wore away slow and grinding for her but by the time she made it around the room she felt she’d done as much as she could.
There had been a few men, some of the one’s that had glared at Joel along with that scoundrel Viper, had laughed at her praise of Joel, saying that he would get what was coming to him. Those comments had made her worry, and she’d filed away each one, and the person who’d said it, to relay the information later. But at least half of them had stopped and listened to what she’d said. At least she hoped they’d listened. The alcohol had been flowing fr
eely all night and many of them were more than a little drunk.
A hand once more grabbing her elbow made her huff out a sigh of irritation.
“What is it this time, Honey.? I thought you said–” Elle cut off abruptly as she turned, expecting to see Honey, but it wasn’t him. He wasn’t there. And in his place stood a man she was all too familiar with.
“Buck, isn’t it?” Elle sneered, trying desperately to hide the spike of fear that shot through her.
Shoulders back, chin up, eyes straight ahead.
“I think I liked it better when you called me ‘honey’.” He was large, and he used all of his height and weight to loom over her. She knew he was just trying to intimidate her. And she also knew it was working.
“Let go of me.”
“Aw, sweetheart, come on now. Don’t be like that. A girl like you, dressed like that–”
“You, sir, have no idea the type of girl I am,” Elle said sharply, jerking her arm to try and dislodge his grip but it was like a vice. “Let go. Now!”
“No need to shout. Just come quietly. I’ve got some questions about those rumors you’ve been spreading.”
“W–what rumors?”
“Why, the ones about our…esteemed president, of course.”
“Esteemed, huh? Did you read that on a word of the day toilet paper?” Elle bit back, fear fueling her sarcasm.
“No, I heard it from Viper–It doesn’t matter, bitch. I’ve got something else altogether that I’m going to teach you. Starting with the proper way to use that mouth of yours,” Buck snarled the words at her as he started to drag her toward the exit and Elle dug in her heals, pulling against him wildly now.
“I really don’t think you are,” Honey’s voice was sharp and hard and full of command and Elle gasped in relief when she looked up and saw him standing, arms crossed over his chest, directly in Buck’s path.
“And who’s going to make me, you?” Buck snorted.
“I did it once. I can do it again.”
“You know, I told Viper about you. He said you’re just a pussy. That you wouldn’t even throw a pun–” Buck’s words were halted by Honey’s fist as he let one fly to land with a meaty thud across the other man’s nose.
“I guess you shouldn’t listen to Viper then, huh?” Honey said, grabbing Elle’s hand as he pulled her in the opposite direction, not even bothering to look back as Buck shouted profanities after them. He didn’t stop as he stomped down the hallway that led to the apartments in the back, one that Elle knew belonged to Joel. He kept going, not saying a single word as he shoved open the back door, a big heavy steel thing.
There was a small coach house in the back that sat nestled in the tree line and Honey made a bee line for it, still walking furiously and Elle had to nearly jog to keep up with him. Finally, they were there, going inside, and Honey flicked on one of the lights. Only then did he stop. Only then did he turn around and face her.
Chapter 11
Honey watched her. He couldn’t drag his eyes off her. He couldn’t stop his breath from billowing out of his lungs like a goddamned steam engine. He couldn’t stop the need and jealousy that had flooded through him when he’d first seen her walk into that bar in that dress. And he couldn’t stop the rage that had blinded him when that fucker had laid his unworthy hands on her.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he bit out he words, that anger still riding him hard as all the ways it could have gone wrong played out in his mind.
“What do–What are you talking about, Honey?”
“I’m not talking! I’m shouting!”
“I can see that,” Elle shot back at him, “What I can’t understand is why.”
“Why? You want to know why, Elle?” Honey forced out on a harsh laugh, “Because of you. I’m shouting because of you. Because you have no sense of self preservation. You put yourself in danger, you keep putting yourself in danger and you don’t have a fucking clue!”
“I don’t!”
“You do! Yes, you do! What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t been there tonight, huh?” Honey said, the thought alone causing his throat to close on the bile that threatened to rise. He took a step closer, glaring down at her, “What do you think would have happened?”
“I don’t–It doesn’t matter, Honey. The point is you were there, you saved me–”
“I shouldn’t have to save you! You’re a smart person, Elle, I know you are. Way smarter than me. Way smarter than any one of those assholes,” he gestured with a waved hand back towards the clubhouse, “but you show up at a place like this, looking like that–”
“What’s wrong with how I look, Honey?” Elle cut in, her voice angry, “Hot Wheels gave me the dress to wear. Granted it wasn’t my first choice, but–”
“Hot Wheels. I owe her one. She should have fucking known better.”
“No, Honey! No!” Elle shouted and the shock of it made Honey look back at her, oddly cooling some of his own temper, “Not Hot Wheels. Not Joel or Carla or anyone else. It was my choice to wear the stupid dress, it was my choice to help my friend, it was my choice to do what I could, to keep the promises I made. And you know what? I did it! So stop acting like I’m some fragile porcelain figurine, because I’m not!” Elle took a deep breath, and Honey couldn’t take his eyes off her as her eyes gleamed and a flush flamed across her cheeks.
“Besides, it’s just a dress. A stupid dress. What does it even matter?” Elle shook her head, still breathing hard as she tried to reign in her anger and Honey was surprised to find his gone. Disappeared in the wake of her words. He was much less surprised by the desire that took its place. The need that was his constant companion whenever she was near. But he kept it in check as he watched her.
“God, you don’t even realize, do you?” Honey said, his voice tinged with awe as the realization washed over him. She really had no idea just how gorgeous she was, how beautiful, how drop dead sexy. Honestly, it should be a sin for her to walk around like that. With a small smile, he held out a hand as he moved to stand in front of the full length mirror that stood against one wall.
“Come here.”
***
Elle looked at his outstretched hand like it was a snake, just waiting to strike. And then she really would be helpless. Then she would lose all the control that she had fought so hard for.
Would that be such a bad thing? that sly voice whispered inside her, warm and sweet like the desire that was melting through her to pool between her thighs. Would it be so bad to lose control for one night? Just once?
“Come here,” he said again, his words soft and rough as they wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him. She wasn’t even aware her feet were moving until she was suddenly standing in front of him.
Honey placed one hand at each of her shoulders and she looked at him in confusion as he slowly turned her around until her back was against his front.
“What are you–”
“Hush,” he whispered, letting his hands slide down the sides of her arms and lower until they rested across her hips, “Just look.”
“Look at what?” Elle asked uncomfortably as she shifted, restless and aching, needing…something. One of his hands made the journey back up, passing her shoulder until it reached her chin. Honey tilted her face until she saw it. Her own reflection, staring back at her, with Honey standing right behind her, his arms twined around her.
She gasped though as she drank it in. It was her, but it wasn’t her at all. Her hair was loose and long, waving in gleaming tendrils that looked tousled, as if someone had just run their fingers through it. The makeup Hot Wheels had applied was simple, but dramatic. Her pale skin looked creamy and flawless but with a hot blush across her cheeks that she thought might have more to do with the man standing behind her than anything cosmetic.
There was no other makeup except around her eyes, but it was enough. A smoky eyeshadow in dark charcoal grey made them look lidded and sultry and the eyeliner, drawn back in a cat eye, made her loo
k somehow…mysterious. Feminine, but strong.
And the dress! It was unlike anything she would have picked out for herself but it flattered her body, enhancing curves and emphasizing dips that she didn’t even know were there before. Honey had been right. She really did look like sin. It sent a jolt of power through her, thick and heady, and when she met Honey’s gaze again in the mirror there was a different look in her dark, chocolate brown eyes.
“Fuck, Elle,” he breathed out hoarsely and then his lips were dragging across the side of her neck, up across her jaw, and she watched. She saw it all in the mirror. And what she saw was the woman she could be.
No, this is you. This is a part of you, another side of you. Embrace it. It was that voice again, the one that she’d started to think of as the little devil on her shoulder. But there was truth to the words. This was still her, this stranger in the mirror. Or it could be, if she let it. And God did she want to.
