Possessive_A Bad Boy Second Chance Motorcycle Club Romance

by Kathryn Thomas

  “That’s okay. I’m not in any condition to clean.” Bailey motioned lightheartedly to the bed. “It looks like we’re both not going anywhere tonight.”

  A few moments passed as Leo tried to keep his eyes from wandering back to the softness of her skin. He needed to end the silence, “So, I got you fired?... That sucks.” The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself. His tan cheeks turned pink instantly as she turned his head into his shoulder.

  Leo expected her to kick him out or to at least lecture him. But she didn’t. Instead, she let out a hearty belly laugh so loud that she had to hold herself in place and keep her body from rattling. After wiping away a tear, Bailey replied, “Yeah, yeah you did. But it’s okay. My boss was an ass, and it led me here.”

  “It led you here? I’m sure Jonathan offered you a huge payout for keeping silent. Why didn’t you just take that?” Leo had wanted to ask her that from the moment Jonathan had told him about it in the hospital.

  “Have you ever just wanted to life settle down, to stop running from the horrible things? Sure, I don’t want to be a maid and a payout would've been the easy route. But I want to get my—” Bailey stopped herself before she could mention her daughter. She wasn't sure how someone like Leo would react to knowing she placed her daughter in a halfway home. “—to go back to school and finish my teaching degree. But I need the stability first. The easy route gets you nowhere in life. At least, that’s what my grandma always said.”

  “The easy route is the easy route for a reason. I would've taken the money.” Leo was being blunt. Taking on life seemed like a waste when there were better options out there.

  “Maybe I should've.” She closed her eyes thinking back on her options once more, “But I’m here. And I’m going to make the best of it.”

  “I certainly don’t make it worth it.”

  “No you don’t.” Bailey regretted it instantly. She was towing a line that, from the stoney look on Leo’s face, wasn’t ready to be crossed. He was, after all, still her boss. She lowered her voice and offered an apology, “I’m sorry. That was horrible for me to say.”

  His lips parted into another soft smile as she said, “I don’t know why you're apologizing to me. I’m the one who got trashed and hit you with a book. I’m the one you’re picking up bottles and trash from every day. No one else would do that for me.”

  She smirked as she pushed him a bit further, “So Lyanna wouldn’t be okay with the flying books and the rum stains in your sheets? No starching your laundry and dusting your trophies?” Bailey winked at him.

  “I’m not sure if she’s ever heard of starch. Or laundry. Or dusting, for that matter.” Leo shook his head at the obvious mistakes he'd been making in front of Bailey. It was adding up in rapid succession. He placed his heads in his hands as he shook it back and forth slowly.

  “What’s that for? Stop it.” Bailey reached out towards his chair and grabbed his arm. The heat of her fingertips burned through Leo’s cold skin. He looked up slowly at her, staring into her eyes. He placed his hand gently upon hers as they remained in place. Calm floated over the room, slowing both their hearts to beat at the same pace.

  “We’ve gotta keep you talking. If not, you’ll fall asleep, and I can't risk that for at least another four or five hours. Unlike you, I have no idea what to do in an emergency except to call my agent.”

  “Well, what should I be saying?”

  Anything, he thought. But instead, he asked her, “Where’d you live before this job?”

  “With my grandmother. I was working on my degree after my divorce. She gave me a room to stay in and helped out with… with my other activities… It was great, but she passed about two months ago now. I had to leave so I ended up in Chicago working odd jobs to try to pay the rent.”

  Leo was taking in everything she was saying. She was previously married, had experienced loss, and had managed to keep herself afloat. It was more than what he was doing with him living in his parent’s home and hemorrhaging his inheritance along with his boxing earnings. Her situation startled him, “What about your parents? No help from them?”

  “No. Both are gone. My great-aunt Catherine was the one who kicked me out of my grandmother’s home. Her daughter lives there now. I’m kind of the black sheep of the family. Divorced. No degree or good job. You know the story.” Bailey turned her head away from him. She had not thought about her grandmother’s home or all that she had left behind. All that remained was the blanket belonging to Bailey and the strand of pearls she still wore today.

  “What about your ex?” Leo wanted to hear her story. Not because it made him feel better about his own or because he wanted to her to bring up her pain. It was because he wanted to know more. He wanted to know it all, every imperfection.

  She continued to look away as she muttered under her breathe, “An addict. I was young and dumb and I spent my time taking on him while he spent my money on drugs and booze. If I wasn’t paying for bail, I was paying for my hospital bill. He had a better aim than you when he threw things. Still, I stuck around for about ten years just hoping he’d get better if I tried hard enough.” She faced him directly, “The fact is, you can’t change anyone. You can’t make them better.”

  Bailey admitted to herself that her message was both directed at herself and Leo. Living with him had made her realize just how damaged she was. But he was as lost as she was. And if she couldn’t save the person that she was supposed to love the rest of her life, she would at least let Leo hear it.

  “I don’t think that’s true. People change.”

  “People change when they have something to change for. I wasn’t that for Joe.” Bailey thought of Lily and how she would cry out for him at night during their first month in the garage apartment. Bailey spent night after night explaining how their divorce wasn’t Lily’s or her fault. She needed to say it as much as the young girl needed to hear it.

  A haze took over her body as she suddenly jerked backwards. The bed had seemed to pull her in as her mind looped images of her daughter. She began to shiver.

  Leo noticed the way her hand had stopped gripping the blankets and how her head had fallen into her chest. He shot up from his chair, knocking it over in the process. He stripped her bedding and lifted her body up. He gently grabbed her small, delicate face, bringing it close to his. He could feel her slowing breath against his face as he searched for a pulse.

  “Stay with me Bailey!” He was calm as he unbuttoned the top of her shirt and poured the water from her glass onto her bare chest. “Talk to me. Say something.”

  She shook even more violently, her head nodding back and forth. He grabbed the back of it and steadied it once more. He continued to plead, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not letting you go. Just stay with me. Stay with me.”

  Leo looked down at the girl as her eyes timidly peeked open. They struggled to focus on him until they found him. A softness lightened them as the dark circle grew wider in its own expense. “Leo,” she whispered, “Leo…”

  His thumb traced her bottom lip over the faded pink lipstick. His other hand pulled her closer to him. Their noses touched as her body stiffened under his guidance. Her hand found his arm once more. Finally, their lips found each other, both parting for the other as his tongue left a trail along the top of her mouth.

  Slowly they fell back into the stack of pillows. He held his body over hers as her arm moved to his back, lifting up the edge of his shirt, searching to feel his skin. His hand slid under her hip with his fingers tracing the lower edge of her hip and slowly moving towards the hem of her hiked-up skirt.

  Bailey arched her back as he moved the stiff material up and up and up. Her stomach twisted in knots as his thumb hooked under her cotton panties, slowly yanking them towards her knees and then using his palm to gently spread her legs. Bailey gasped inaudibly as her breath escaped her. But Leo could feel her moan as her lips opened deeper.

  His lips began their own trail as they moved to her cheek, th
e very tip of her chin, the lines of her neck, and down to the V-shaped line of her still-wet blouse, already half-unbuttoned. The top of her breasts raised to him as she lost control of herself. He rested his head between them, alternating kisses and small flicks of his tongue.

  But Leo needed to see her. He needed to know that what he was doing was alright. He had never asked permission before, nor had he been so gentle and reactive to another’s body. Bailey was different. She was light in places where he had only known dark, primal urges. She was soft in places he had always imagined were hard. Her body and her soul had shocked him in so many ways.

  Their two pairs of eyes locked. Hers teared up from the sensations he was creating as his fingers found the soft, damp folds of her pussy and slowly massaged circles in the sensitive skin. His gray eyes burned with a fiery but contained desire. He watched her face as it contorted beautiful from longing to pleasure with each longer stroke of his finger. Every bit of her had become a wave, tensing and cresting with the rhythm of his movements.

  Leo wanted nothing more but to linger there, to feel the spark that lit his body from the inside out. He needed to hold her closer and to take her further. His fingers, his palm, his lips were not enough. His arm shot up from under her as Bailey cried out. The buttons of her grey blouse gave way one by one as he ripped away the remaining fabric separating her covered skin from him.

  He dove in for a kiss, as passion took ahold of him. He was uncaged and unmatched. The sudden change in energy brought Bailey back to center. She pulled back, her face turning to the side. The familiar taste of whiskey had hit her, causing to remember where she was and who she was with. The scent of his body was a memory she did not want to relive tonight.

  Leo could feel her go limp and begin to resist. He gently set her back down and then slid off her bed. His arms folded, he looked down at her as she slowly buttoned up her shirt and replaced her underwear. He was unsure of what his feelings should be. If she were just another girl, a girl that had rejected him, he would be out of there in a rage. He would want nothing to do with a woman like her.

  But didn’t flee. Instead, he sat back down and pulled the black phone out of his pocket. Jonathan was returning his phone calls.

  “Leo? Fuck man! What happened? Is the maid okay? Should I send someone?”

  Bailey listened as Leo retold the story from the book to her last fainting spell, leaving out the part about their time on her bed with her spread legs and his open mouth.

  “I’m sending a guy. He’s a medic; he’ll check her out. Just keep her awake until then. Got it? I’ll be there tomorrow evening to check in on you. I’ve got some things to discuss with her anyways.” His voice sounded almost too serious to Leo. There was no hint of the overly friendly employee aiming to please him.

  Leo hung up his phone and walked towards the door. “I’ll wait outside. Jonathan’s sending a guy, an EMT, to take a look at you. Will you be okay alone?”

  “Leo...” Bailey tried to apologize, but it was too late. He was out of her sight. She'd wanted to go back to that moment when their two bodies had found one another, to have a do-over at whatever caused them to pull together. But she knew, in her heart, that she could never get past the alcohol on his lips or the way he looked at her with such unchecked desire. Some things were not meant to change. This, for Bailey, was one of them.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The door to Leo’s bedroom was wide open the next morning. Light poured out of the open windows, and the book that had hit Bailey in the head had been put back on its shelf. Even the liquor bottles had been placed in a trashcan, far out of sight.

  Bailey’s silk green flats tiptoed quietly past the room, hoping not to disturb its owner for more reasons than one. But when she took her glance inside, she was shocked to find no one there, and the master bathroom’s door was wide open revealing its emptiness.

  The booming sound of a man’s voice startled her as she walked towards its source. The television that had remained off for the entire time since her arrival was set to a sports news channel. The man was recapping a tennis match as a replay of the game played. She stared at it unsure of what to make of her transformed surroundings. Even the air had seemed to smell a bit different from the night before.

  “Hello Miss Reed.” Bailey spun quickly, her hands instantly flying up to her head as the bruise pounded against the temple. Leo watched her as she tried to maintain her balance. His hands steadied her in place as he apologized quietly, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Leo—I mean, Mr. Connelly—” She was more than surprised to see him. Not only was he out of his room and in one of the common areas, but he was out of his sweats and t-shirts and was wearing a pair of dark dyed blue jeans that hugged his legs and a white button down shirt. She looked him over once more as she slowly caught her breath and then scuttled out of his grasp, “I’m fine. Thank you. Just jumpy today, I suppose.”

  “Why are you not in bed? You can take the day off, you know. This house isn’t gonna burn to the ground just because you’re no—” The sound of the smoke alarm began to chime from deep in the kitchen. Leo shook his head frantically and ran back towards the sound.

  Bailey followed him and watched as he removed a pan from one of the stainless steel burners. She chimed in, offering a, “Can I help you?”

  “I tried to make myself some eggs. As you can see, it’s not going very well.” Leo held up the pan towards her, showing her the black, mushy remains of the yolks.

  “No, not well at all. Go sit down.” She walked towards him, taking the pan out of his hands and placing it in the sink. Bailey noted the way that she could still feel the impression his skin made against hers as their arms brushed and her back slid past his chest to maneuver around him. She retrieved a clean pan and the carton of eggs, “I’ll make you an omelet and some toast. Go sit down. I’ll be out there in a second.”

  “Seriously, I can do this.” He ran his hand through his hair as he watched her light the burner and then lower the flame.

  “You’re not the one getting paid here. I am. Let me do my job.” She turned her back to him as a wide smile drew across her face. The first few eggs cracked in her hand before she finally heard him turn and walk back towards the living room.

  Minutes later, she emerged with a steaming plate in one hand and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice in the other. She set it before Leo who had taken up the entire length of the black leather couch. His eyes stared at the screen as the program had changed from tennis to boxing.

  “Do you miss it?” Bailey broke his concentration.

  “Boxing?” He turned his gaze towards her, a hint of a smirk causing his lip to twist upwards. “Yeah. I miss it—mainly the physicality of it, the control.” She blushed as the events of last night came back to her.

  Bailey walked towards the storage closet and took out the broom and dustpan from its place. He watched her as she began working on the floors of the dining area, finally calling back to her. “Why don’t you take a break?”

  She leaned the broom up against the wall and stood next to the couch. Her arms crossed tensely before her chest. “You don’t pay me to sit around, do you?”

  “I pay you to be my home’s caretaker. And from the look of it, the house has been cared for. So I'm giving you permission to sit down and watch some TV.” He emphasized the word ‘permission.’

  “I didn’t ask you for permission, sir.” She pulled at the black flowing folds of her dress and curtsied sarcastically. “And there is a ton to. I still need to get to your room and bathroom, order the groceries for the week, tackle the library’s carpet…”

  “Sit down Miss Reed.” His voice had lost its humor and instead became commanding. She sat at the edge of the couch, the farthest she could get from him. He could see her fear starting to rise as he eased off, “Just for an hour, okay? I never do this.”

  Her body relaxed as she tried to follow the match playing on the television. During the judging break,
she turned to Leo and asked, “Why don’t you go back. To boxing, I mean. If you miss it, why would you leave it?”

  “When my parents died in an accident, I just couldn’t recover. I wasn’t as strong as I used to be. I wasn’t as quick. My trainer left me first, and then my couch followed. No one wanted to put me back in the ring so the sponsors fled. Announcers started calling me ‘a legend’ which is another way of nicely saying that I was done with.” Leo took a sip of his orange juice to push back the knot that had formed deep in his throat.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your parents. I didn’t know that. Mine died too. My mom from cancer, my dad from a motorcycle accident.” Bailey could feel the connection. Two lost orphans trying to find their way.

  She thought of her own daughter and how she was left parentless at the halfway home. Lily, by all the updates she received from her counselor, was doing and adjusting well. She was in school now and was taken in by a couple. Her new residence was in their foster home in one of the more affluent neighborhoods. While her heart ached every day for her own daughter, Bailey at least recognized that what she was doing was right.