Hitchhiker

by Stacy Borel

  I’ve been staring at this damn screen for an hour doing research. I decide to check my email; I keep getting a notification on my phone from it. Shit, I forgot to pay our power bill! Thankfully, it is just a warning.

  The front door lock clicks and opens as I’m at the table, staring at my computer and figuring out the bills instead of doing my homework. “Babe,” I hear Mason call to me.

  “Yeah? I’m in the kitchen,” I shout back, not taking my eyes off the computer screen. Schooling’s costing me too damn much. Daddy helps pay for some of it, but I’m left with the rest—the loans. Mason says I can just use the money in our account so there’s no added debt, but that’s money he earned from his work. I don’t feel comfortable letting him pay my way.

  “Babe, I need the bleach. Where do we keep it?” he asks from behind me.

  I turn around and look at him. “Oh my God,” I breathe out as I blink and look at him again, thinking I must be seeing shit due to exhaustion. He’s covered in dried blood. “What happened?” I ask with wide eyes. “Are you hurt?”

  He shakes his head. “Club business, babe,” he says with his head hanging low.

  “Mason…” I start, but decide against it when he looks at me with cold dark eyes.

  “You wanna know? You wanna know how I went into a home and murdered a family, and cleaned up any evidence that could point to me? That what you wanna know?” he growls out.

  My face pales, and my stomach turns. “No,” I breathe out. How could he do something like that? I feel weak in the stomach. I shakily return my fingers to the keyboard to close out what I was going over.

  “Don’t ask for answers for shit you don’t wanna know,” he tells me. “Now, where’s the fuckin’ bleach?”

  I point to the laundry room. “In the cupboard over the washer,” I say quietly. He’s changed over the last few months, ever since he joined Satan’s Law. He’s always had a slight temper and been stubborn but not like this. I don’t know why being in this club is so important to him, but it is, so I support him in what he wants to do. That’s what you do when you love someone. I look down at my engagement ring and smile. I’m marrying him, not the club. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. I love this man. I do. What I don’t love is what the club is doing to him.

  He’s out more often, away more often, and over the last few weeks, he’s been coming home all dark and gloomy. Now, today, he’s covered in blood. What’s next? I didn’t sign on for this shit, but what choice do I have? I love him with all of my heart. I want to marry him. I’ve loved him since I was a little girl. When I was little, I always dreamed of being swept off my feet by a charming prince. There’s no white knight or Prince Charming on a horse, though. I have a dark knight on a Harley instead, and damn if he isn’t one hell of a man. There is nothing sexier than the way Mason looks on his bike, all rough and tough in his leathers and tattoos.

  He comes back out into the kitchen when he’s cleaned up, and places a tender kiss on my shoulder after swiping my hair out of the way—that’s my sweet man. Mason may come off dark and brooding to the rest of the world, but with me, he’s different. I shiver as he blows his warm breath against my neck, getting close to my ear. He bites me playfully, trying to get me hot and bothered.

  “Babe, I love you, but I am so damn tired.” I pop my neck, and it feels so good.

  “Wedding is in three days. Everything ready for it?” he asks, rubbing my shoulders- exactly what I need from him. He asked me to marry him three weeks after I started at University. He told me to make it happen quickly, and that he didn’t want to know anything except where to be standing when it was time. I ended up waiting, which he hated, but I wanted at least one year of University done before we tied the knot.

  I smile, letting the crap he shared with me when he came home wash away. “Of course it is.” It’s true; I’ve had everything ready since day one. “Daddy’s officiating,” I let him know. I wasn’t going to have my dad do that, but he insisted, and since I didn’t want to fork out the six grand for my dress, Dad stepped in and paid for it. In return, he wanted to be the one to pronounce us man and wife.

  “Good,” he says, stepping away. “Jasper and Vinny are standing up with me.” He smiles proudly, thinking of his two best friends. You rarely see one without the other. In a way, they are like Eden, Lilly, and me.

  I smile. “Good. I have Eden and Lilly for me, but of course, I have to have my mom too. Since Eden and Lilly are only sixteen, they can’t sign our license.”

  “As long as Jasper doesn’t have to dance with your mom, he’ll be cool with that. Fuck, now I need to find a third,” he says, grumbling.

  I shrug. “Just ask Trent or something.”

  “Fuck no,” he says, growling. Jeez, what’s his deal with Trent? “What are we having for supper?” he asks, going to the fridge to pull out a beer.

  I shake my head. “I didn’t even think to make anything. I made a bacon sandwich before I sat down. Sorry,” I tell him apologetically. I try to cook or pick something up when I can, but most days I’m too tired.

  “I’ll order Chinese or somethin’. You have a lot of homework tonight?” he asks as he leans against the kitchen counter. He’s a big, tall, intimidating wall of tattooed muscle, and he’s all mine. I grin while looking him over in his dark jeans and fitted white t-shirt. He has a snake on his forearm, the only tattoo of his I can’t stand to look at. I hate snakes. That tattoo gives me the creeps; I feel like it’s staring at me. I keep teasing him that one day I’m going to knock his ass out and have someone cover it up. He did do one thing for me, though- he got his dick pierced. I really didn’t think he would do it, but I made him a bet that if he pierced his dick, I’d try anal. He really wanted my ass, but then I told him he wasn’t getting that until we’re married. He said that it wasn’t fair, but I told him he should have been more specific in his terms before he went through with his end.

  “Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to be a lawyer…one year down, three more to go. Ugh. Seriously, this sucks,” I say, whining.

  He chuckles. “Yeah, but in the end, you’ll be the best damn lawyer around. And, fuck, ya never know when I might need one of those.” I don’t find his statement as entertaining as he does, especially after what he told me just moments ago when he first got home. He puts his empty beer down, having drained the bottle in two drinks. Stepping over to me, he wraps his arms around my shoulders. “Don’t sulk. I was kidding.”

  Grabbing his fingers and tucking them in mine, I kiss his hand. If only that were true.