by Dez Burke
“She did not seem sleepy at all,” Yuri assured him. He knocked on the door. “She’s very happy to be here, in fact, so I’m sure she will not mind any instructions you may have for her.”
“How do you know she’s happy? Did she tell you?”
Yuri said in his usual gently chiding voice, “Her secret crush is here, President. Of course she will be happy.”
Smartass, Helios thought as he looked at the younger man’s retreating back. He should teach that boy some manners sometime, talking to him like—-
“Helios?”
Fuck. He had forgotten Yuri had knocked on the door, and he had been so busy thinking thoughts of revenge that he hadn’t noticed the girl opening the door. Slowly, he turned to face her. This close, her eyes looked bigger, more trusting, and she was gazing at him with such wariness it made Helios grit his teeth.
She had not looked at Yuri with the same wariness, so why was she wary with him?
“Call me President.” He snapped out the words before he could stop himself.
MJ flinched at the harsh tone and mumbled, “I’m sorry, President.” He was mad at her again. Why was it that she always made him mad? She couldn’t even think of anything she had done wrong.
She sounded scared of him now, which only made him more irritated. “I came here to warn you.”
MJ blinked. Warn her?
“Volunteers are here for one reason. To take care of the club’s needs. If the university had allowed us to hire outside help, we would have and there would be no need for volunteers at all. But we can’t and that’s why you are here. But I’m warning you – if I hear even one instance where you’re causing trouble or being a distraction to any of the club’s members, you’re out of here.”
His golden eyes lanced hers. “Are we clear on that?”
Extremely clear, MJ thought miserably. Just as it was extremely clear that for some reason, Helios Andreadis hated her.
And so all she said quietly was, “Yes, sir.”
Helios didn’t answer, and for one long moment they only gazed at each other. Tension vibrated from him, and if she had only been a little more experienced, a little less innocent, she would have known that one hint from her was all it would take for Helios’ tension to turn into passion. One hint, and he would have pushed MJ inside her room, taken her into his arms the way he ached to, and kissed her until she could no longer breathe.
But she was not.
All she knew was that the tension in Helios Andreadis meant he was furious. When he didn’t say anything else, she mumbled, “Good night, sir,” and slowly closed the door.
A second later, she heard Helios curse explicitly in English and in Greek.
Then came the sound of a fist smashing against the concrete wall.
He truly hated her, MJ thought numbly. But why?
Chapter Four
Task #1: Get everyone up for breakfast.
As MJ headed upstairs, she pulled out her daily planner to check her schedule. Today was a Tuesday, which meant all four of them had morning classes. She started with the room nearest to the stairs, which belonged to Andreus Economou, the grumpiest of them all.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and said chirpily, “Good morning, Andreus!”
A pillow would have hit her smack in the face if MJ hadn’t been ready to catch it. Of course, the first few times, she had not been ready to catch it. Since even a groggy Andreus had perfect aim, MJ was grateful that the club’s treasurer only liked to throw pillows and not bricks.
Walking past the bed, she went directly to the windows and raised the blinds. “It’s time to wake up! You’ve got a class at eight!” She turned around and handily caught another pillow hurtling towards her.
Finally, she went to his private bathroom. Wetting one of the hand towels, MJ marched back to the room, pulled away the pillow Andreus had slammed over his head, and replaced it with the hand towel. Then she started rubbing his face, particularly his eyes.
“Fuck off, MJ.”
“You know I can’t do that. You’ve got classes today, and Hallie told me you have an exam first thing in the morning.”
Andreus, eyes still closed, muttered, “Hallie doesn’t know shit.”
She countered promptly, “Hallie knows a lot of shit because she taught me all the shit I know.”
It was enough to have Andreus smile. “You are too much of a nag. You know that, right?”
“It’s another kind of shit Hallie taught me.”
He threw another pillow at her. “Go on, I’m awake. I’ll just shower and head down.”
Next was Yuri, but as expected, Hallie’s older brother was already up and freshly showered. “I heard you and Andreus shouting,” Yuri said when she peeked inside his room.
She only smiled. “It’s nothing new. Do you need anything else before I go to Kellion’s room?”
There was a moment’s hesitation before Yuri said, “No. Nothing.”
That was odd. MJ puzzled over it as she went inside Kellion’s room next. His room was always the messiest, and the sight of what she had to clean up after class made her wince. “Good morning, Kellion.”
No answer.
That was also expected. Kellion hated attending his classes, more so than the rest of his friends. There was something about authority he despised, and he liked flouting it as often as he could. Whereas the trick to handling Andreus was making herself too nice for comfort, for Kellion it was the opposite.
After raising the blinds and letting sunlight blaze into the room, MJ headed back to the side of the bed. And then she started to sing. “Amazing Grace...” She sang as loudly as she could.
“Okay, I’m up, dammit,” Kellion growled when he couldn’t take any more of MJ’s God-awful voice. How a sweet-looking thing could have such a terrible voice was definitely one of the Devil’s greatest curses on mankind.
“Breakfast in thirty,” she reminded him.
Kellion didn’t answer.
She started to sing again, the national anthem this time.
“Okay, dammit,” he bellowed. “I’m up.” He cracked one eye open and muttered, “I hope Helios gives you hell.”
She gasped. “Helios will not give me hell. He’s the nicest among you all, you know!”
Kellion opened and closed his mouth several times. “Never mind.” It was too early to argue with a stubborn MJ. Helios, the nicest among them? Ha! Biggest fucking lie in the world.
A moment later, MJ was standing outside Helios’ door.
Three minutes later, she was still standing outside his door.
I can do this, I can do this, she chanted silently to herself.
Hand shaking a little, she knocked on Helios’ door.
There was a muffled answer, which she took as a sign for her to enter. “President?” She never made the mistake of calling him Helios again since her first day in the club. She didn’t have the courage to, not wanting to have Helios Andreadis look at her like she was trash, someone unfit to say his name.
Quietly slipping into Helios’ room, MJ made her way to the window without difficulty despite the darkness. After raising the blinds, she turned to greet Helios good morning but the words died in her throat.
It was going to be one of those days again then.
SWISH.
No sound of squeaking wheels, no rumbling engine, no mad laugh from James. No one hurting her, no one trying to hurt her, but it still felt the same. Sometimes, MJ felt like this hurt worse. This.
The woman in Helios’ room, in his bed...in his arms...stirred. The blanket lowered, baring one breast.
SWISH.
MJ forced herself to move. She stopped behind Helios, his back to her, his golden hair spread on the pillow like sun-kissed silk. Her hand hovered over his shoulder. It was hard to touch him during days like this. “President?”
MJ’s sweet voice, threaded with hesitation, reached him like a caress. Helios had woken up the moment she had entered the room. But he hadn’t said
a word, hadn’t moved a muscle. He didn’t know why. There were so many fucking things he couldn’t understand about himself whenever she was around, and he loathed it. Sometimes, it was almost as if he loathed her, too.
Helios sensed her hesitating to touch him. It angered him, this hesitation. She had been with them more than half a month now, and yet she only displayed such reluctance with him. Why? Did she not find him attractive at all? He was the oldest member of the club, with Kellion the closest to his age at twenty-one. One-fucking-year difference! Did that matter to her so much?
Or perhaps, Helios thought grimly, it was because he was no fun. Kellion traded jokes with her. Yuri made her laugh. Even Andreus, notorious for his bad-tempered ways, could be made to laugh in her presence.
It was only him.
Only him that she did not—-
“Don’t touch me.” Helios knew the moment she was about to touch him, knew that she didn’t want to, and the knowledge enraged him. Her dislike for touching him infuriated him so much he wanted to hurt her in return.
One moment, Helios was lying on his side, then the next moment he was sitting up, the blanket falling to his waist, revealing a broad expanse of chest. His fingers encircled her wrist, and his gaze was cold as it fell on her face.
The fury on his face made her bite her lip. Hard.
Don’t look at me like I’m hurting you. How can I hurt you when you despise me? It was what he wanted to snarl at her, but he did not. To speak such words meant that he felt something for her, and that could never be.
He released her wrist. “What do you want?”
She could only look at him miserably. When he spoke so coldly like that, her vocal chords just gave up on her.
“What?”
“Ergh...urgh...argh...” She snapped her mouth shut and couldn’t help but glare at him. See? She couldn’t speak. Surely by now he should know that he could make her so nervous she just couldn’t speak in his presence?
Helios glared back. “I have no fucking clue—-”
A knock on the door cut him off before it opened, Yuri appearing at the doorway. “Hallie says breakfast is ready. You can start working on the rooms now, MJ.”
Without a word, MJ left the room, head bowed. Not caring if Yuri saw her, she then started to run towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway and locked herself inside it.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Instead of seeing her reflection, she saw Helios with a naked girl in his bed.
SWISH.
She threw up.
Chapter Five
“Chat with us,” the younger bikers pleaded as MJ started serving them organic salad with roasted sesame dressing on their plates. It used to be that the club’s dining hall stayed empty. Although Hallie had always served as some sort of mother hen to the club, she was also notoriously bad at cooking and preferred to spend most of her time in the garage working on the bikes.
In MJ, everyone found what they didn’t get from Hallie – someone domesticated enough to make the kitchen a cozy place to hang out in. Of course, it also meant that they had to bear with her love for greens and healthy food. But since she was extremely amusing, the bikers were able to tolerate her mostly vegan diet.
“I’m not here to be your entertainer, you guys.” After checking to ensure that every one of the bikers had his salad, she grabbed her camera and started taking photos.
Everyone groaned.
“Oh come on, this is what I’m here for.”
“No stories, no photos.”
In one corner of the kitchen, Yuri stood next to the window and observed the scene with quiet satisfaction. MJ was a good addition to the club, probably the best since Hallie. He knew that MJ thought everyone was humoring her, but it was the opposite. She didn’t know it, but she was the one humoring the guys.
Every member of the club hankered for family, secretly or not, and with MJ they had the little sister they all wanted. While none of them lacked for female company, they also knew that girls wanted to be with them for a reason. Money, power, fame, sex – there always was a reason.
But like Hallie, the members of the club were sure that MJ did not want any one of those from them. After all, MJ had...
“My secret crush then,” MJ decided after a beat.
Everyone groaned, but it was a good-natured sound. In truth, it was MJ’s secret crush that had everyone at ease with her. Most of the guys felt safe teasing MJ, knowing they would not be misunderstood. Some liked to flirt with her outrageously, knowing that she would not reciprocate. After all, she did have her secret crush, and the story of how she became part of the club was now legendary.
She made a face. “Well, what else am I going to talk about?”
“Yeah, yeah. Fine. We got it. Talk about him then while we eat your salad.”
Another one asked with a frown, “But he’s here? He’s really a part of the club?”
MJ turned red. Every time the question could be answered with Helios’ name, she just couldn’t help but blush.
The sight of MJ’s reddened cheeks had everyone laughing.
“And you haven’t made your move yet?” a freshmen member demanded. “You’re so slow.”
“I’m not slow. I’m...biding my time.”
The biker next to her snorted. “Does he even know you exist?”
“Of course he does.”
“I just don’t get why he doesn’t make the first move instead,” the biker on her other side muttered. “Maybe he’s got a girlfriend?”
****
Helios watched MJ shake her head almost violently at the question. “He’s not that kind of man! He’s gentle and nice...”
“Knock, knock.” A mocking voice said behind the door just before Kellion walked into the study.
Helios swiftly snapped his laptop shut and stood up. “What is it?”
Kellion only smirked. “No need to feel edgy. I know you’ve been watching MJ on the CCTV. Your laptop’s screen was reflected on the window behind you.”
Helios grimaced.
Kellion headed towards the minibar at the corner. He took out an energy drink from the fridge. As he tore the wrapper off its lid, he remarked casually, “I never knew you would last this long, you know.”
Helios did not answer, his face stoic.
“It’s been over two weeks. You’ve been watching her all the time. Why don’t you just take her?”
Helios said silkily, “Maybe because I would like to honor her ‘secret crush’?”
“Bullshit.” Kellion took a long gulp of his energy drink. “You’re never one to let anything stand in the way when you want something. What’s different now?”
Helios did not answer.
“Has it never occurred to you, the possibility that you could be her secret crush?”
Kellion’s words warranted a humorless laugh from Helios. “Have you heard her speak about him? I have. Because you’re right. Every goddamn day I watch her like a stalker. I am obsessed with her. I need to think about her just so my cock will get hard and when I fuck another woman, I pretend it’s her. That’s how low I’ve sunk, and I don’t even fucking understand why I want someone like her.”
The words were spoken with such harsh emotion that Kellion knew there was nothing he could say in return. He had never seen Helios feel so strongly about anyone...at least not since Helios had learned of his brother’s betrayal.
Everything had changed for his friend since then.
Everything had become black, with seemingly no chance of light ever coming into Helios’ life...until one girl had skidded into his life and made Helios’ heart start beating again.
There was no redemption left for Kellion, but Helios was a different case, and he would do everything he could for his friend to start living again.
“It’s possible—-”
Helios cut his friend off curtly, “No. It’s not. You’ve heard her speak about him, too. She says he’s kind. The kindest man she’s ever known. Someone gentle.” H
is lips twisted and he asked mockingly, “Does that sound like me, Kellion?”
“No. It doesn’t sound like you. But you can be that person again. You were that person before.” Kellion gestured to the laptop. “Why be satisfied with just watching her from afar? For her, can’t you be that person again?”
Helios shook his head. “I will not be weak again.”
Kellion did not answer. When Helios spoke like that, he knew there was no changing his friend’s mind.
****
It was almost eleven in the evening when MJ made it back to the club’s headquarters. She was tired and hungry, and because of both, she was irritable, too. Why in the world did Helios Andreadis have to build his club’s headquarters so far from the main campus anyway? Did he know how many calories she had to burn just to cross the football field to get here? She hated burning calories. She hated it because that meant exercise, which was synonymous to training. The latter word reminded her of all the training she had with James.
Crossing the dimly lit living room, MJ made her way directly to the kitchen. Switching the lights on, she threw her backpack on the counter and prepared to cook herself a meal. Since it was a Tuesday, most of the bikers would probably be out racing and come home at around three in the morning.
MJ said a quick prayer.
Dear God, please let them eat out because right now I’m too tired to cook, but Andrea’s gone so now I have to take over and cook for them.
It was a selfish prayer, and feeling guilty about it, MJ decided to pray again.
I’m sorry God for being selfish. If they’re hungry after the race, of course I’m going to cook for them. Please just make it easy for me to wake up later?
There. That was better. With a happy smile, she started whistling as she cooked herself some mac and cheese. The real kind, not the one that needed to be microwaved.
“Mmm...” She couldn’t help sighing in pleasure when the aroma of mac and cheese hit her nostrils. She took a seat and as she started to dig in, her mind drifted back to her talk with Hallie earlier this morning.
“Your secret crush is Helios, isn’t he?”
Hallie’s softly spoken words had an unexpectedly positive effect on MJ. She was so shocked by the other girl’s words that the urge to throw up stopped. Slowly, she opened the tap and rinsed her mouth. When she was done, she saw Hallie through the mirror, gazing at her with a look of sympathy on her face.
