by Franca Storm
Over the conversation.
Over my body.
I knew why.
I’d given him a way in. I’d cut through the stalemate we’d been trapped in for so long. I hadn’t meant to, definitely not in the brazen way I had by making an intense come-on like that. The heat between us had been escalating and I’d just snapped. I hadn’t thought it through. I hadn’t considered the consequences, or that it would be too much for me.
He might've been gun-shy when it came to women, but in every other aspect of his life, Spartan was such a powerful, dominating force. I wanted to get closer to him. I liked him a lot. I had for so long. But I could only do it if I was in control. How would that be possible given the tough, hardcore alpha male that he was?
Urgh. It was a frustrating mess. Just like my life had turned out to be.
Maybe I could risk it now, though. Maybe I could actually go back to my old life.
I’d been prepared for the worst when I’d ventured outside of town to Ricky’s the other day. But nothing had happened. Psycho hadn’t shown up with his muscle in tow, or with his bent, high-powered brother. I’d been able to come and go freely.
Maybe it was all just ridiculous paranoia now. Maybe that bastard had finally given up his mission to destroy me.
There were far too many maybes.
I couldn’t risk it.
I had to be sure.
I had to be ready.
I downed the rest of my coffee, rinsed my mug, then stalked out of the tiny little kitchenette.
My one-bedroom apartment was too claustrophobic, a world away from my former digs. Sometimes I could tolerate it. Others, not so much. Tonight was one of those nights.
Besides, every two weeks I treated myself to a dinner out and that designated day was upon me now. It would give me a break from the feeling of the walls closing in on me and allow me to eat something different from the usual canned stews and the like.
I snatched my hooded denim jacket off its hook by the door, patted the left side to confirm my wallet was secured in the inside pocket, then shrugged it on. As I slipped my feet back into my favorite pair of black pumps, I checked my hair and makeup in the small oval-shaped mirror adjacent to the coat hooks.
Not bad, seeing as though I was worn down from working an extra-long shift today.
Worn down, or not, I didn’t sleep well anyway. Fresh air and a change of scenery beat hours ahead of frustrating restlessness.
I threw open the door and headed on out, looking forward to eating something delicious from Rizzo’s, the cozy Italian restaurant on the edge of town.
***
That hadn’t gone as planned.
Not ten minutes into the drive and my car had crapped out.
I’d heard an ear-piercing squealing noise coming from the hood, the car had suddenly stopped obeying my commands, trying to head in whatever direction it’d pleased instead.
And now, I was standing over the engine, the hood propped up and cringing at the sight of the abraded and very warn serpentine belt.
Great. Once again, the car needed to go back into the shop.
I pulled out my cell, intending to call Tricks at Wheels Up. The number was programmed in after the many times I’d needed to bring in my ailing, aging Pontiac Sunfire over the last two years.
Just as I was about to call, the rumble of a motorcycle caught my attention.
I looked up to see none other than Spartan riding down the road. When he got closer, he made some sort of hand gesture that I didn’t understand, then pulled off to the side of the road. He came to a stop just behind my car.
My heart started thumping in my chest as I watched him dismount and stride toward me.
He was decked out in all his presidential glory, his leather cut emblazoned with his club’s logo and the President designation. Chains hanging off his jeans that framed his muscular legs. His broken-in motorcycle boots. He rolled up the sleeves of his black long-sleeve tee, revealing the club tattoo on his inner forearm. There was something about it that was just so sexy. It spoke of the power he wielded. He walked with such authority too. His mere presence had such a reassuring effect, like you knew things would just be okay, that you’d be safe. It was as comforting as it was unnerving.
He smiled as he reached me, treating me to that gentle smile that he seemed to reserve for me.
“Hey,” I greeted. “You’re riding back late.”
“Yeah, had some business down at Tonic. It’s a good ride away.” He ran his gaze the length of my car, before settling on the raised hood. “Again, yeah?”
“It’s okay, I’ve got it.” I held up my phone. “I was just about to call Wheels Up when you pulled up.”
“That ain’t gonna do much good right now. The shop’s got new business hours as of two weeks ago. Closes up early on Thursdays now.” He rounded me and started looking under the hood. After a few moments of inspection, he nodded to himself. “All right.” He pulled out his cell and started swiping away.
“It’s the serpentine belt, right?”
He looked up and grinned. “Yeah.”
“I guess I’m not just a pretty face.”
“I’m well aware, love. You’re way more than that.”
Before I could let the warmth of his sweet compliment sink in, he held up his hand, then dialed on his phone.
“Tricks? Where you at? All right, yeah. Gonna need a tow down to Miller Road for Dani. Serpentine belt. What’s the ETA? Good, yeah. Later, brother.”
He hung up, shoved his phone back into his pocket, then told me, “Tricks is gonna be down here in twenty.”
I frowned. “I thought the shop was closed for the night.”
“Not for me.” He winked, making me smile.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah. I did, love.”
“Well, thank you.” I closed the hood and walked back to the driver’s door.
“What you doing?” he called after me.
My hand on the door handle, I turned back to him, my brow furrowing at his odd question. “What do you mean? I’m waiting until Tricks gets here.”
He shook his head. “No, you ain’t.”
“What?”
“Not gonna leave you sitting out here in the middle of the night in a crapped-out vehicle. It ain’t right.”
“Spartan, this is Ridgefield. It’s a very safe place. Thanks to you and your club actually.”
He stepped up to me. “Where were you headed?”
My breath hitched at his sudden closeness. God, he did things to me. He worked my body up into a state of such fiery intensity.
“Dani?”
My eyes snapped back to his. “I… uh… I was headed to dinner at Rizzo’s.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “With who?”
His uncomfortableness at having to even ask the question was obvious. It seemed like he’d barely been able to get the words out.
It was odd seeing such a formidable force like Spartan out of sorts in any way. At the same time, it was kind of empowering that I’d had that impact on him.
“No. I was taking myself out.”
“Well, now you got company.”
“You want to come with me… to dinner?”
“Yeah. We gotta talk.”
I swallowed hard. “We do?”
“I didn’t like the way we left things at the gym the other day.”
I cringed at the memory.
And it just highlighted the fact that being alone with him in a confined space could have that same awful awkwardness happening again. “I need to stay here and wait for Tricks.”
He grinned, clearly picking up on my attempt to toss an excuse into the fray. “He’s still got your spare set of keys from the last time you brought your car in. There ain’t no need to be stuck waiting here.”
“Okay, yeah. You’re right.” As much as I didn’t want to make a fool of myself again, I really didn’t like how we’d left things between us either. If nothing else, given my rese
rvations, we could at least clear the air.
“All right then,” he said, before holding out his hand and leading me over to his bike.
Here goes nothing.
5
~Spartan~
SHE WAS REAL NERVOUS.
It weren’t taking no major skills of perceptiveness to figure that much out.
It was all over her.
On her face.
In her body language.
She hadn’t stopped fidgeting since we’d sat down in the corner booth at Rizzo’s.
It was in the energy she was putting out there. She was awkward and frazzled.
Seemed like she was afraid to say or do the wrong thing.
I figured it had to be down to the thing at the gym.
Ever since then she’d been acting damned near standoffish with me. At the bar. On the roadside earlier. And on my bike. She’d barely been able to wrap her arms around me. I’d had to pull them around me for her own safety, so she didn’t fly off the bike when I’d gunned it.
The first time having a woman on the back of my bike in years and it hadn’t exactly gone the way I’d figured.
I was good at reading people, but she’d surprised the shit outta me. She’d been all attitude and fire any time we’d interacted before. But those had all been controlled circumstances. For her. Either they’d been on her turf at Legacies, or she’d come up to me and started up something. But the situation in the bathroom at the gym the other day had been a different story. Nothing had been on her terms.
And that was when it clicked for me.
Why she’d run out on me at the gym, why I was seeing a real vulnerable, shy, unsure side of her all of a sudden. This shield of hers.
“I’m sorry. I… this… situation in here, it wasn’t in my plan. I don’t know how to—I can’t—I need to go.”
She had to be in control. Clearly, she couldn’t deal if she wasn’t.
So, she obviously had some issues, but I knew better than to take it personally.
I had some baggage that came along for the ride with me too.
I watched her swallow another mouthful of the fancy-ass pasta dish she’d ordered, down her second gin martini, then give me an uneasy smile as she commented, “You haven’t said much since we got here.”
Time to put it out there and end this bullshit dance. “Been waiting on you to get comfortable.”
She stared at me for a few moments, like a deer caught in the headlights. Then she blew out a sigh and sank back against her chair. “I’m sorry. I just… I guess I have some issues.”
“Ain’t a person on this earth who don’t, love.” I rested my elbows on the table and eyed her curiously. “So, what’s yours?”
“Well, you already know I came here—retreated here—for a reason.”
“Yeah. A lot of people come here to start fresh.” Truth was, a lot of them were running from something. Most, the people they had been, a version of themselves that they didn’t like. With Dani, though, I’d long suspected she’d come to Ridgefield to run from someone.
“Yeah,” she murmured. Aimlessly pushing her food around her plate. “For most of my life, I’d been in full control. Of my own fate. Of every aspect of my life. These days, though, there’s very little I actually have control over. But one thing I can control is who I allow to be a part of my life, how close I allow someone to get.”
Huh. “I get it.”
She tossed me a skeptical look. “You do?”
“You want the ball in your court with this thing that’s going down between us.”
“I… yeah.”
I shrugged casually. “All right then.”
“Really? You’re just okay with that, with giving up your power?”
“I ain’t giving up nothing. Letting you take the lead don’t take nothing away from me. It works both ways, but I know you can’t see that yet, and that’s okay with me. Besides, I ain’t stupid. I know you’ve been tiptoeing around me for the last couple of years, cuz of my history. Least I can do is offer you the same.”
“That’s really sweet. Thank you.”
“No worries.” I sat back and folded my arms, feeling that business tone that I fell into real often take me over. “You asked me to train you.”
She finished chewing another mouthful of pasta, then patted her mouth all proper and everything with a napkin. “I did. Why? Are you reconsidering?”
“I could sort something out for you, yeah. But, first, I gotta know why you want it.”
“Why does it matter either way?”
“Cuz, love, I don’t wanna be creating some kinda vigilante. Having that on my back ain’t gonna end well for nobody.”
“Vigilante?” she spluttered. “Wow, that’s a major leap from me asking you to teach me a few tricks. Are you speaking from experience?”
She was smart, for sure. But so was I. It was damned obvious she felt cornered by my question and was trying to turn it back on me. “I just need an answer, Dani.”
She stared at me for a long moment, probably deciding how much to reveal, given all the secrecy about her past. Despite my research on her, I only knew so much. The regular background check I did hadn’t pulled up her reason for coming here. There’d been no record of nothing going down. But that didn’t mean there weren’t something there.
Drawing in a breath and looking me dead in the eye, she told me, “I’m not looking to start a fight, so don’t worry. I just want to be able to protect myself. I don’t ever want to feel helpless again, to be at the mercy of anyone.”
Again? I didn’t like that.
But I knew better than to ask.
The ball was in her court.
Until she was ready to share it, or realize there shouldn’t be a fucking ball in the first place, I’d leave it be. I’d given her my word. And I never went back on a promise.
Besides, getting closer right now wouldn’t be the best idea with what I had going on. So, taking it easy and her still needing to hold back the way she was, worked well for the time being.
“So?” she pressed. “Did I pass?”
“Yeah, love. I’ll send you to Finn.”
“Finn? I thought you were going to—”
“Nah, it ain’t a good idea for me to do it. You wanna ease into this thing with us, then us getting physical with training ain’t gonna let that be.”
“Oh,” she said, blushing in that cute way she’d done at the gym. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“Finn’s the best. He’ll do a good job.”
She nodded, but still looked put out that it weren’t gonna be me doing it.
Hell, even without the temptation factor, I had my own training to focus on.
I had to be ready and training somebody else was gonna take away from the time I needed to make that happen.
I took a swig of my beer and relaxed back into the booth. “So, now that business is done with, there’s a question I gotta ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“Is this a date?”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it is. Our first.”
“Then we best be getting to know each other.”
“Get down to the important stuff.”
“Go ahead then. Hit me. What do you wanna know that I ain’t already told you in the last two years?”
She made a show of thinking on it. “Hmm,” she mused, tapping her chin. “Let me see.” Her eyes lit up in the next moment. “I’ve got it.”
“Yeah? Well, go on then.”
She rested her elbows on the tabletop and steepled her fingers, looking intense.
And then she asked me, “What’s your favorite color?”
“Gray,” I told her. “And, vital stuff, love,” I said, laughing.
She burst out laughing too.
Now she’d relaxed a bit, she was back to being that funny, smart-as-a-whip woman I’d taken a liking to two goddamn years ago.
Seemed we were finally making headway.
6
&nbs
p; ~Daniella~
HARD ASS didn’t even cover it.
It barely scratched the surface when it came to Finn “Wraith” Jones and his tough training practices.
It was more than run-of-the-mill self-defense with him. It was high stakes, kill or be killed, fight for your life stuff. He was a good teacher. He actually came prepared with tactical training plans every day, he had the ability to explain complicated moves in easy-to-understand ways, and he was extremely patient.
I’d learned a lot and come a long way from merely wailing on a bag and fighting shadows.
And it had only been a few days so far.
I patted myself dry with my towel, wiping away the sweat all over my body, then set about changing in the bathroom. It was odd having the place to myself without any of the wannabe badass men who were members of Ricky’s to worry about. Finn had managed to get us the place to ourselves every night this week after closing. Well, him or Spartan. I wasn’t sure which one of them had been responsible for pulling off such a thing, but both of them had some major clout.
Finn had headed home a few minutes ago and given me the spare set of keys to lock up. He had a date with Ashley, from what I’d been able to gather, given how secretive he was with everything, especially his personal life.
And I was looking forward to my own.
My second date with Spartan.
He was coming down to meet me and we’d planned on going to see a movie in town. There wasn’t a theatre in Ridgefield, so it was going to be a treat for the both of us.
And normal.
Very normal.
I wondered if a guy like Spartan who lived such a surreal, unconventional existence had ever actually been to a movie before.
Well, I’d find out soon enough.
I shrugged my hooded denim jacket back on and took a quick look at myself. My gray tank with the lace bust was doing my cleavage a lot of justice. My black, boot cut pants were really working for me too, going well with my favorite pair of black pumps. Even though we were going on a date right after I’d been training, I still wanted to look the best that I could. God knew, he did.
I still couldn’t get the visual of him standing in this very bathroom in all his naked glory out of my head. Even though we were taking it slow, because of me, the more time we spent together in an actual dating capacity, the harder it was to stick to that. The man was just so damned alluring.
