Maelstrőm

by Michelle Love

  “Damn!” Rod says then laughs. “You sure she’s on the same page you are?”

  I nod. “She is. I could see it in her frightened eyes. She was hurt by a biker a couple of years ago. Thought it was the real thing but one day he told her he was out of there and never came back. He left her behind and I think she thinks all men are like that.”

  Ashley nods, knowingly. “And you’re only in town for the rally then you’re gone too. I see her point.”

  “Me too. But I also think if she’d allow us to spend some time together that things could be worked out if we are the ones for each other. But she isn’t about to even see what happens between us.” I pick up the beer and take the drink I put off a second ago.

  This all seems so hopeless to me. I should forget about her and go to the bar and pick up some loose chick and forget about her. Forget about Angel. Forget about what might be.

  Rod stands up and pulls Ashley with him. “We’re off to get cleaned up and rest a bit before tonight’s crazy activities. If you want my advice, I’d say to turn up your inner alpha and don’t give her a choice.”

  I nod as they walk past me then look at Ashley as she runs her hand along my shoulder. “Blaze, you can get through to her. If it’s real, you can break that barrier she’s set up to protect herself. I know you can. See you later, Brother.”

  “Later,” I say and finish the beer, then make my way to my room.

  As I walk inside, I see the box that was delivered. I open it and take the clothes out and hang them all up. Then, in the bottom, I see the shit load of rubbers and the padded cuffs.

  I take them out and put them in one of the drawers then I take the small whip out and the edible strawberry panties and add them to the drawer. The tube of antibiotic ointment with painkiller I put in the bathroom, and then look at myself in the mirror.

  “Who are you, Benjamin Franklin Worthington of the Manhattan Worthington’s?”

  The tattoos on both arms have remained hidden from my family for the last three years since I started getting them. Suits successfully keep them hidden from judgmental view.

  And for a moment, I think about not giving this chick what I think she wants. A successful man who she can have faith in. Build trust in. Fall in love with.

  That man is me but not exactly the real me. But neither is Blaze.

  I’m this man who seems to be searching for a middle ground. Somewhere between rogue gang biker and billionaire lawyer.

  The way she calls me Benny has me thinking that she just might be the one to help me pull my two worlds together in some way.

  Angel is this smart woman who’s about to hold a Master’s Degree in Engineering. Something that my family would respect.

  But she also is this motorcycle-riding woman with no financial stability. Something my family would hate.

  She’d definitely be a woman in the middle of the two worlds that I’m a part of. Smart, spunky, but also fragile and afraid.

  Maybe I could help her close the gap between her two worlds. Show her that there’s no reason to think of herself as broken just because some numb-nuts, who was not meant for her anyway, left her to roam the world on his own.

  She was meant for someone else. She was meant for me.

  After a nice hot shower to remove the grime of the road, I put on a nice pair of black Armani slacks and a light blue button-down shirt that I think accents my eyes and I hope Angel notices that.

  Back into the shop, I go in with a bouquet of flowers I stopped and bought for her. The bell dings as I enter the waiting room and find no one around.

  Before I can call out, she comes up the stairs out of the bay and stops when she sees me. The way her mouth hangs open has me bubbling on the inside as I know that my new appearance is affecting her in all the right ways.

  “Hey, Angel.” I walk toward her, holding out the flowers. “I brought you a little something for your desk, or counter or whatever you call this place you work at.”

  She takes them from me and walks behind the counter, placing them on it and leaning in to smell them. “These are nice. Thank you.”

  Not really knowing what else to do, I stuff my hands in my pockets. I thought she might get all gushy and realize she should let me take her to dinner. But she’s just being really quiet.

  “You’re welcome. I felt like you helped me out earlier with my bike and helped me not get screwed over on the price. I owed you something nice for the nice thing you did for me.”

  She smiles but doesn’t look at me. “It’s my job, Benny.”

  “Not entirely, it’s not. So how was lunch?” I ask, as I’m going nowhere with this woman.

  “Fine. I had a turkey on wheat at home.” She starts tapping at the computer keyboard in an effort to act busy I bet.

  “I thought I’d try my hand at dinner again. I thought I’d show you what I’d look like when you and I go somewhere nice. Not the old biker guy. The lawyer part of me. You know that’s me too, Angel.” I find myself rocking back and forth a bit and stop as it might make me look a little nervous. That has to stop.

  I am nervous but I don’t want her to see that.

  Finally, she looks me over and says, “You do clean up well, Benny.”

  “And I bet you do too, Angel. So what do you say to a nice evening out together where we can get to know one another better?” I ask as I take a step back so she can really take me all in.

  When she looks at me I nearly want to jump over the counter and pull her into my arms because I see the fear there and I want to hug it out of her.

  “I really do love the flowers. You keep taking this personally even though I’ve told you countless times not to. I don’t date. End of story. You look great, both ways. Hot biker guy and hot billionaire. You’re sure to find a woman, Blaze, or Benjamin, or whoever you are right now.” She stifles a laugh and I find myself pissed off.

  “I’m both,” I say with a snippy tone to my voice. “I’m sure you aren’t always Miss Motorcycle Mechanic Chick. There has to be a frilly little female inside of you that you let come out on occasion.”

  Those pretty eyes get hard in an instant and now I’m sorry I copped that attitude with her. One long finger points at me as her plum colored lips open and say, “Look here, dude, I don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone. Be both guys. Be who the fuck ever you want to be. I’m me. Warts and all, I am just me.”

  “Angel, I didn’t mean to make you…”

  “Well, you did make me mad! You’ve pissed me off. Thanks for the flowers. And have a nice life. I’ve had enough fun for one fucking day.” She walks over to the door that leads down the stairs to the bay and shouts, “I’m out of here for the day, Uncle Phil. See you tomorrow.”

  I hear him shout out a goodbye then she’s back grabbing her helmet and keys and hauling ass past me. Taking my hands out of my pockets, I grab her arm as she comes by me.

  Her eyes are so full of anger it really makes no sense. “Hey, I’m just asking you out on a fucking dinner date. Shit, Angel! The theatrics are over the top.”

  “And I’m just politely refusing. Why can’t you take no for an answer?” Her foot taps on the linoleum floor with a loud sound.

  It’s like counting off the seconds until she erupts again.

  This woman needs to get laid so bad it’s not even funny!

  “One kiss, Angel. If you feel nothing, I’ll leave you alone,” I find myself saying and have no idea where that came from.

  “Ha!” She jerks her arm out of my grip. “Ha!” She walks out of the door, leaving me standing there like an idiot.

  I push open the door as she climbs onto her bike. “Angel, just one.”

  She looks at me with a smile and makes the damn one-syllable laugh again then starts the engine and peels off.

  I guess I’m about to turn into a fucking stalker over this trick!

  ANGEL

  Why does this town have to be so damn busy and full of cruising bikers?

  I’m mad and just want t
o get home and get away from all men.

  Why did he have to show up there looking like a million bucks? Why did he have to show me the other part of him that I’ll be missing since I can’t have him in my life forever?

  That man is fucking hot as shit in his tight black leather and dressed up too. It’s not fair, really. Successful businessman one minute, dangerous biker the next.

  It’s just not fair!

  And the other thing that isn’t fair is how he wants to show me these two fantastic sides of him. Him! A man who will only be around a short time then poof, he’ll be gone. Back to New York to hobnob with the upper class.

  What a jackass!

  Who does that to someone? Who shows a girl what all she can’t have?

  Sure, I could have him for a night. I might even have been able to hang onto him for his whole visit here. But then he has to go back and here is where I’ll stay.

  I’m nowhere near the class I’m sure he’s expected to marry into. Not born wealthy. Not schooled in aristocratic snobbery. Not perfect by any means.

  There will never be a wedding announcement in the New York Times where it reads; Billionaire, Benjamin Franklin Worthington of the Manhattan Worthington’s and Angel, no middle name, Jennings of the middle of nowhere, Jennings’ are happy to announce their impending nuptials.

  No, that will not be a thing which would ever be allowed by such a high profile family.

  So why is he so adamant in taking me to dinner? Or kissing him? Or any of it?

  The damn crowd of slow-moving bikers is serving to piss me off even more and I find myself cussing under my breath constantly. Finally, I see a break and dash through it.

  The traffic thins to nearly nothing as I get to the outskirts of town and see my home. My little white wood frame rental with the pink shutters on the front windows and the green front door.

  The white picket fence surrounding the small home keeps my dog safely inside it. And there she is, popping her little body up as she hears my bike coming home.

  Her happy yaps make my anger ebb and when I pull up and get off my bike, frantic wags of her short tail make me laugh.

  “Hey, Cuddles? Did you miss Mommy? I was home just a couple of hours ago.”

  I open the gate, walk my bike up and park it next to the stairs that lead up to the small front porch that I have two white rocking chairs on.

  Those are our chairs where we spend most evenings enjoying the sun which sets on this side of the house. I take mine and she jumps up on hers as I pet her soft whitish fur. “You need a bath, Cuddles.”

  She barks a bit as if agreeing with me. I pick her up and hug her as she licks my face. “Mommy had a very bad day. A mean man bugged her a lot today to go to dinner with his gorgeous ass. He thinks Mommy can handle having him for only a little while before she has to let him go again. But Mommy can’t handle that at all.”

  Her little yappy bark tells me she understands completely and her lick on my lips, while gross, tells me she’s there for me and always will be.

  The sound of a bike coming makes me look up. Not many of the visitors come out this far. There’s nothing to see out here.

  I gulp as I recognize the bike and the bearded man in Armani slacks who’s riding it.

  “What the fuck does he think he’s doing?”

  I put Cuddles down so she can try to keep him from getting through my gate. She barks and runs like a maniac to guard the gate as he pulls to a stop in front of it.

  He climbs off his bike and opens one of the compartments on one side and pulls out a large grocery bag. It’s green and environmentally safe. So that means he’s worried about our planet.

  Great, another wonderful thing about the man who will never be mine!

  I watch and wait for my little dog to rip his expensive slacks as he opens the gate and then my mouth drops open in disbelief as my vicious guard poodle mix jumps up and down in excitement over the strange man.

  He smiles and catches her up in one arm as she jumps into it like she’s always known him.

  “Who are you?” he asks in the little sweet tone everyone talks to animals and babies in.

  “Her name is Cuddles, and she usually hates men. All of them,” I say as he walks up the stairs.

  I have yet to get out of the rocking chair. He places the dog on my lap and smiles at me, then of all things, tweaks my nose as if I’m some cute little kid. “Just like her Momma.”

  I set my jaw tight and glare at him. “Yep.”

  He cocks his head to one side.

  “Well, aren’t you going to let me in so I can make you dinner? I brought the things to make spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “I do believe I told you no about a hundred times, Benny.” I continue to glare at him and he acts like he doesn’t see it at all.

  “You told me no to taking you out. You never said no to me cooking you dinner at your place. No, not once did you tell me no about that.” He smiles and his whole demeanor tells me he’s so proud of himself for coming up with the technical loophole he’s found.

  I stand up as it’s obvious this lawyer is so ahead of me it’s not even funny. As I unlock the door I say, “You didn’t ask that or I would’ve told you no to that too.” I hold out my arm as a gesture for him to go inside.

  “Ladies first, my Angel.” His smile is so wide I want to knock it right off his handsome face.

  I walk in muttering to myself, “His Angel. Really!”

  Cuddles bounces around his legs as he comes in and I find myself pissed at my dog for the first time ever.

  “She’s adorable. I usually don’t like animals in the house, but she’s like a little person, isn’t she?” he asks as he sets the bag on the tiny countertop.

  “Yes, she is like a little traitorous bitch, that one,” I say as I look around the room to make sure that there are no unmentionables lying around.

  I do live alone and on more than one occasion have slipped out of my bra while watching television and left it lying around. My sweep of the area doesn’t show me anything I need to rush to hide so I look at my dog.

  The pop of a cork makes me look at him, the man who can’t take no for an answer, as he opens up a bottle of red wine. “I’ll just let this breathe while I’m cooking.” He pulls a six pack of beer out and breaks a couple off and hands me one after he opens it for me. “Here you go, my lady. Go take a load off and watch some television. I can find what I need in here.”

  With a shrug of my shoulders, I do what he’s said. The beer is good and cold and goes down easy. I watch my dog helping the intruder find things.

  Keeping the television low, I listen as he talks to my dog, “Cuddles, huh? I like something a little bit tougher. How about Rambo?”

  “She’s a girl!” I call out. “And you can’t come into someone’s home and immediately rename their dog, Benny.” I take another drink of the beer and find him smiling.

  He waves a wooden spoon my way as he says, “So how long do we have to be together before I can do that then?”

  I look away and mumble, “More than five minutes.”

  After a little bit of clanking of pots and pans as he gets together what he needs to make dinner, he comes into the room, wearing my white, frilly apron.

  I nearly spit out the beer I had just drank as he takes a seat on the coffee table I have my feet propped up on. His long fingers begin to untie my boots as he looks at me. “You’ve had a long day, haven’t you? Let me get these off for you, my Angel.”

  “Yes, I did. There was this weirdo who asked me out over and over all day and made it one hell of a brutal day, Babycakes.” I laugh then take another drink, finishing the beer off. “Wanna beer me again, Pumpkinhead?”

  He pulls off both boots then holds his hand out for the empty can. “I do want to beer you again. And I will, after you shower.”

  He takes my hand and somehow leads me right to the little bathroom that’s just outside my bedroom door. In he goes, pulling me along behind him.

  Reac
hing into the small stand-up shower he starts the water. Then he turns to me. “Dinner will be ready in about a half-hour. So don’t stay in here forever, my Angel.”

  The bathroom is very small and his body grazes mine as he walks past me to leave. I have to hold myself steady using the sink so I don’t fall into his arms.

  He closes the door and I fall to sit on the closed toilet as my knees give out.

  What is he doing to me?

  Pulling my clothes off, I climb into the shower and put it on straight cold water. I have got to calm down!

  After a quick shower, I get out and wrap myself in a towel and head to my bedroom to find something to put on. I settle on a pair of cotton shorts and a little pullover T-shirt with the only clean bra I have left, a black lacy thing that can be seen through the shirt.

  It’s sexy but not over the top sexy. I could go out there in overalls and army boots and the man is still going to attempt to get into my panties. Which are black lace too.

  Giving my freshly shampooed hair a nice scrunching, I make my way out to the living room with a freshly washed and make-up free face and find him sitting on the sofa, petting my dog and sipping on a beer.

  His eyes go all over me and his mouth hangs open a bit. “Wow!”

  I roll my eyes. “Come on, Benny! I have on no make-up. My hair’s a tasseled mess. My clothes are five years old. What’s to say wow about? Unless it’s like ‘wow, what a mess’.”

  He gets up and walks toward me, but I hold up my hand stopping him as he looks like he’s about to pick me up into his arms and hug the shit out of me.

  He stops and says, “It’s a wow, you’re really gorgeous. Even without a stitch of make-up or your hair in that pretty braid, you’re still fucking hot as shit, Angel. I swear it’s that kind of wow.”

  I look at him and shake my head slowly. Like I said, I could’ve come out in anything and he’d have acted this way.

  It’s just an act. He’ll say all the right things in order to get to the goods.

  “Whatever. So, are there any beers left?” I ask as I start to walk to the kitchen.