Saving Ayden

by Muriel Garcia

  “Right.” I take a cigarette out of my pack and light it, taking a long drag. “I don’t know if you’re telling the truth but I guess it will have to do for now.”

  “I might be an asshole…”

  “That’s putting it mildly.” I say and can’t help but chuckle darkly at his words.

  “As I was saying, I might be an asshole, into illegal shit but I would never ever hurt a woman. That’s my one rule since I became Prez and that goes for my men too. If any of them hurts a woman and we find out about it, they are dead. Not just to the club.” He gives me a single nod that I reciprocate. “She’s precious to you and I get that. Take good care of her.”

  “Trust me, I will.”

  “Good, how is the gun deal coming along?” He takes a long drag of his cigar and releases it slowly. I do the same with my cig, the burning sensation in my lungs clearing my mind of the talk we just had about Ayden.

  “It’s coming along great. We’ll get the shipment at the end of next week. I’ll be in touch when we are ready for the exchange.”

  “Good. I’ll be waiting for your call. Go get your woman.”

  As fast as he came over to talk to us, he dismisses us. Not that I mind, I need to get some air. We shake hands and walk out of the room, Aleck and Gabe following us. I cannot imagine how much willpower Gabe has not to fucking get into it with some of these fuckers.

  We get back to our bikes, getting ready to leave when Blades comes over to provoke us, once again.

  “Can’t believe you dared step foot on our territory Gabe,” he chuckles, “I mean it wasn’t enough what happened years ago for you to stay away from us, you needed to come back for more? How does it feel to know that we are watching you?”

  “I’m going to fucking kill you!” Gabe roars and punches Blades, making him fall on the ground. Gabe follows him down and pounds his fists into the Bastard’s head.

  It doesn’t take long before chaos explodes. We are clearly outnumbered. One guy jumps Aleck, who gets a couple of good hits in but takes a few nasty ones too. I was trying to help Aleck when another guy showed up behind me and knocked me down, hitting my face with a broken beer bottle. The pain radiates through my face and the only thing I can think of is Ayden. I need to get back to her. The blood running down my forehead blurs my vision but that doesn’t stop me from grabbing my knife and stabbing the guy in the side. He rolls over screaming in pain.

  “Enough!” Ray screams, coming out of the compound. “Can’t you be fucking civilized?” He punches Blades. “Leave now before this gets any worse.”

  We get on our bikes and drive a couple of miles before hitting a gas station to get something for my face. It’s not as bad as I thought, just a lot of blood everywhere. Ayd is going to freak out or punch me for going to see the Bastards and what happened. Even though she knows she’s not supposed to ask what happened and about club business, I know she won’t be able to resist it.

  The drive back to the compound seems to take forever. I can’t wait to lay in bed with my Sweet Cheeks and hold her, feel her warm and soft body against mine, and see her pale skin contrast with mine. I don’t know where we stand, from her point of view anyway. I know she’s mine, always has been and always will be. I’m just going to give her time to figure it out on her own and not push her. In the meantime, it won’t stop me from stealing a couple of kisses. As long as she doesn’t push me away.

  I’m still not sure if I completely believe Ray. He seemed pretty honest when he talked about Ayden, I knew he liked her when we were younger but I don’t think he would kidnap her and hurt her out of spite for us being together. I hope he wasn’t lying, if he was and I find out it’s going to get messy.

  I didn’t want to mention anything that happened to her in front of the guys or to another MC. I don’t want it to be leverage they can use against the MC or me. I know she won’t survive a second time. I need to make sure that whatever we do as a club will never fall back on her. I couldn’t forgive myself.

  It’s around two in the morning when we finally pull up to the compound. I know she’s probably asleep already, I just hope she listened to me and is waiting for me in my bed.

  I greet the guys who stayed to keep an eye on her and go to my bathroom to clean up and take care of the cut. I clean it as best as I can and put on some antibiotic cream over it—I really don’t want Ayden to yell at me in the morning because I forgot to put some on. The number of time she yelled at me because I didn’t take care of my cuts…

  I hope things quiet down soon and we can start back where we left off years ago and live a happy life. I take care of business, wash my hands, strip to my boxers and join her in bed, holding her body to mine. I smile, watching her sleep peacefully as she cuddles into me, pressing her soft body into mine. Fuck I love her!

  I try to stay awake as long as I can to watch her sleep but I’m exhausted. I didn’t get much sleep last night and with the day we had, I quickly give into sleep.

  Chapter 16

  Ayden

  November 17, 2014

  Today is my first day back to work after taking a week off.

  I needed the time away from everything and in particular Michael. I’m quite nervous to be back and having to deal with him. I’m not sure how things are going to go but I don’t have much choice. I have to deal with it and him. I can’t always take the coward way out.

  I’m going to be the bigger person and apologize for overreacting, hoping it will settle things down and make him understand I don’t want a relationship with him. I don’t know how that’s going to go as he thought we were a sure thing. Hopefully he will understand and leave me alone but I highly doubt it.

  Ant wasn’t too happy with me going back to work this morning. I don’t blame him—he knows I’m working with the asshole who tried to hurt me. I did manage to convince him to let me go back to my house for the weekend but it didn’t go my way.

  His one condition was that he had to be there with me, or one of the guys had to watch over me if he had to leave. I couldn’t say no to him. I really needed to be in my place, in my own little bubble for a couple of days before heading back to work. I needed my work clothes and to check up on what I missed work wise.

  I love to be at the compound—don’t get me wrong, but after what happened and what I had to reveal to Ant, I really needed to be in my own environment.

  The weekend was interesting to say the least. Ant was his overprotective self, constantly making sure I was okay and didn’t need anything. When I tried to go out to get the mail we had a fight. He was being ridiculous, I told him so and he got pissed.

  I get him, he doesn’t want anything to happen to me but he can’t keep me sheltered in the house forever. As much as I love him it’ll drive me fucking nuts. He insisted on driving me to work this morning. I tried to object but he did his neck squeezing thing and soft yet intense gaze thing he always does and I was gone. I hate that he knows how to get what he wants out of me. I have zero willpower when it comes to him and he knows it!

  Work was pretty slow this morning. I didn’t have much to do besides catching up on a few emails and the finishing touches on the campaign I was working on. I was more preoccupied about how to let Michael down easily. I’ve never had to dump anyone—I have no clue how to do it. Ant wasn’t too happy that I’d have to interact with Michael today. He doesn’t know just yet that I planned to confront him but he can know about that later.

  Around noon, I decide it’s time to end this once and for all. I haven’t seen Michael all morning. I think he was in a big meeting all morning. I saw him come back to his office a couple of minutes ago so it’s the perfect time to get it over with. I walk over to his office and knock on the door. No answer. I knock again and step in. Damn it! He’s not in his office. I guess I didn’t see him leave for lunch.

  I’m about to exit his office when something catches my eye. Everything in his office is perfectly placed and arranged. He’s a bit of a neat freak and that’s putting it mildly, hi
s files are color coordinated, everything is perfectly organized, yet something is out of place. A pile of documents is sticking out from between his desk and his briefcase.

  My curiosity getting the best of me, I look outside to see if anyone is around and close the door. I walk to his desk, kneel down and pick up the stack of documents. I flip through them, not think much of them at first–a couple of bills from a cleaning company, insurance papers, a work file, and a rather thick manila envelope. I take out its content and flip through it. I don’t have much time to look through them as he could come back and find me snooping around in his office at any second.

  I don’t find anything interesting at first, but then I notice the company logo and my father’s name in a couple of them. I put the rest of the papers back in place, sneak the envelope in my jacket and escape out of his office, rushing to mine.

  I lock the door behind me, not wanting to be disturbed or for Michael to find out that I took the papers. I sit at my desk and place the file in front of me. I’m still unable to look through it. I’m scared of what I could find. This could either prove my father really did take the money or clear his name.

  I take a deep breath and look closely at the papers and there it is, the proof that Michael was the one behind my dad being framed. I feel myself go numb and cold. I can’t believe it. He is a jerk yes, but I never imagined he could do such a thing and more importantly, why? I don’t understand it—this makes no sense. Why would he want to date me after he sent my dad to prison? Is this some sort of sick game to get back at my father for something?

  I’m quite shaken by what I just found. I can’t fucking believe it. Michael is the one framing my dad. Why would he do it in the first place, why do this to my dad? I just don’t understand but if he was able to do such a thing, I don’t even want to think about the other things he could have done or could still be doing. It might not have been the smartest idea to take the papers from his office but I’m glad I did. This is what will get my dad out of jail!

  I spend the rest of the day thinking about all of it—the papers, my dad being arrested, why Michael would frame my dad? It still makes absolutely no sense. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. I need to talk about it with someone and the only person I could talk about this with is going to chew my head off for doing this. It’s too late now I’ve got the papers and I need to do something and have them be put to good use.

  I managed to avoid Michael for the rest of the day, looks like he wasn’t in his office at all which is good. I would have been a nervous mess if I’d had to interact with him.

  When five o’clock rolls around, I gather my stuff, make sure I have the file with me and head to the elevator. I tried to avoid everyone as best as I can, but Mr. Copeland caught up to me. I can’t act like I didn’t notice him so I hold the elevator for him to step in.

  “Miss Monroe, I’m glad you’re back in the office with us. The marketing team missed you.” He smiles broadly at me.

  “Uh thanks. I needed a couple of days off.” I’m so nervous right now, I feel like I have a big neon sign above my head saying thief.

  “I hope you are well rested and ready to tackle another campaign. I looked through the one you’ve been working on and it’s another amazing job you’ve done.”

  “It’s been a fun one to work on.” I keep looking straight ahead of me.

  “Why are you so nervous Ayden?” He asks softly.

  “I’m not nervous Mr. Copeland, I’m just tired and a bit out of the loop of waking up early to work.” I shrug.

  “Ah I see. Make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight, big meeting tomorrow remember?”

  “Yes haven’t forgotten about it, don’t worry. I’ll be ready. I just had a hard time sleeping last night, I was nervous thinking about seeing Michael again after what happened.” I say softly.

  “If you really are uncomfortable working with Mr. Sullivan, you should file a harassment complaint with HR so they can take it further. I don’t take what he did lightly but it’s your decision.” He squeezes my arm in support and lets me walk past him when we reach the underground garage.

  “Thank you Mr. Copeland, it means a lot. If anything happens I will make sure to file one.” I hate lying but what choice do I have? Show him the papers? He will know I snooped around and then I’ll be in trouble. Showing them to Ant and him giving them to the police will have the same effect but at least I won’t be the one having to do the talking about what I found to the cops. I’m already not completely comfortable with telling Ant, but someone else? Forget about it!

  “You’re welcome Ayden.” He smiles and walks me to my car. “Drive safely.” He shakes my hand, holding it for a moment too long. “Goodnight Ayden.” He bows his head gently, still holding my hand before letting it go. I freeze on the spot thinking he was about to kiss my hand. I need to get out more, seriously!

  “Goodnight Mr. Copeland.” I unlock my car, set my bag next to me, connect my phone to the console of the car and drive out of the garage.

  On my way home, I call Ant. I know he’s probably busy but I need to talk to him. Now.

  “Sweet Cheeks.” He greets me in his low voice.

  “Ant, are you busy right now?” I ask quite nervous.

  “Never too busy for you Sweet Cheeks. What’s up?” Seriously he’s trying to kill me with his sweetness.

  “I need to talk to you, it’s very important. I can’t talk about it over the phone.”

  “What’s wrong? You sound scared.”

  “Can you be at my place in fifteen?” I nearly beg him.

  “Of course I’ll be there. Are you okay?” Concern laces his voice.

  “I don’t know, physically yes, mentally? Fuck no!” I sigh frustrated.

  “I’ll be there.” He hangs up before I have the chance to say anything else.

  The drive home only takes me fifteen minutes but they are the longest fifteen minutes ever. Ant is already at my place, his bike parked in the driveway and he’s leaning on it, looking like a dark angel sent straight from Hell to tempt me.

  Before I have the time to stop my car and get my bag, he opens the door for me and helps me out of it.

  “What’s wrong?” He looks into my eyes, searching them.

  “Inside.” He nods, opens the door with a key from his pocket and leads us inside. “I never gave you a key.”

  “I know. I had one made this morning.” He says matter-of-factly.

  “Didn’t you think it would be a good idea to ask me for one before making one for yourself?” I’m getting pissed now.

  “No, because I knew you would throw a fit about it. It’s not so I can snoop around whenever I want. You never know what could happen.” He shrugs as if it were normal for him to make a key to my house without asking me. He’s so aggravating.

  “Whatever.” I throw my bag on the kitchen counter and get us two beers.

  “You know I’m right.” He smirks and takes a long pull.

  “Can we get to why I called you and why I need your aggravating ass to help me?” I glare at him and take a long pull of mine, needing it.

  “I’m all ears Sweet Cheeks.” He sits at one of the bar stool in front of the kitchen counter, resting his elbows on it.

  “I was going to talk to Michael today, to end things with him properly and make sure things were at least civil between us so we could at least still work together-”

  “You were going to go and talk to that asswipe?” He cuts me off.

  “Yes, I still have to work with him.”

  “Seriously Ayd? You were going to talk to that fucking asshole after what he did to you? You should go to the cops and report him!” He’s getting pissed now.

  “Look I might not have to work with him for much fucking longer so why don’t you shut up and let me tell you what I have to say for fuck’s sake!”

  “Go on.” He grunts.

  “So as I was saying, I was going to talk to him and tell him it’s over between us but he wasn�
�t in his office. He’s a neat freak and everything in his office is spotlessly clean and organized but there was a stack of papers sticking out from between his desk and his briefcase. It caught my eye so I looked through it and found this.” I take the papers out of my bag and hand them to him. He looks at me confused but looks through them for a couple of minutes. The waiting is killing me.

  “Why did you have to go and do such a stupid thing Sweet Cheeks? He could have caught you and hurt you or so much worse. He’s already been a dickhead to you this could have turned really bad. I don’t even want to imagine what he could have done to you knowing you found these. I can’t imagine life without you. Even if you haven’t been an active part of my life for a long time, it would kill me to lose you… again.” He finishes almost in a whisper. Oh… my… God! Why does he have to say things like that! I’m speechless at this point but he’s not. “He obviously is the one who framed your father and put him in jail. I wonder if he knows that you are Cabe’s daughter. I don’t know what his problem is but we need to put an end to this mess and we need to do it now.”

  “B-besides giving this to the cops and let them work on it there’s not much we can do Ant.” I sigh resigned.

  “I’ll protect you Sweet Cheeks. Don’t worry. I know you’re going to hate me for this but you should quit your job. It’s not safe for you to be around Michael anymore with what we found out, and until we know his real motive it’s the best solution to keep you safe.” I can’t believe it!

  “Ant I’m not going to quit my job because some wacko is out to get my dad and for some reason was adamant on us dating.”

  “I protect what’s mine Sweet Cheeks. This is the best thing to do to keep you safe, like it or not.”

  “I’m not yours Ant.” I’m seeing red.

  “Oh but you are Sweet Cheeks. You’ve always been and you’ll always be, but I’ll give you some time to realize that on your own. I promised you, one day you’ll be on the back of my bike… and you’ll be wearing my name. I always keep my promises.” He says, very seriously and winks at me smirking.