by Sophia Gray
He had given up everything for the Rebels: his life, his marriage, his youth. He was willing to give them his daughter if that was what it took to keep them going. Of course, Teresa could not lead them without a man by her side, so she had to marry one of them in order to inherit the club. If he’d had sons, things would have been different, but he was only able to conceive Teresa. And that would have to be enough.
Why did not she understand that her place was with the gang? Why was she always so difficult? He had tried to subdue and teach his daughter her place in the world since she was a child, but Teresa never wanted to listen. Now he was forced to hand the club to a newcomer, a pretty boy with no tattoos or scars that proved him to be worthy of leadership, because if that didn’t happen, Teresa would never come back.
Getting down from his bike, Jimmy Love felt sick again. He hated that a clueless kid like Vance Tate would inherit the club, but he would do anything to bring Teresa back. And this time he would make sure she never left his side, even if he had to tie her to the damn bar.
Jimmy looked at his watch again. A quarter to twelve. It was early, but he would not have problems: the meeting would start when he said so, and he was already there. He went into the building and into one elevator, where he pressed the button for the second floor. Once there, a receptionist signaled to the door next to him, as if he did not already know where to go.
They were waiting for him.
“James Love?” a woman asked. Jimmy nodded and gave her a glare. She accompanied him to his seat, and while he waited, he took his phone and called Teresa once more.
“Teresa, do not think that just because ye have found yerself a new flashy husband, I will leave ye alone. Yer place is in the club. So, get married, do whatever is it ye want to do, and come back home with yer new man. Yer place is in the club with me,” he said warningly.
Jimmy Love hung up and closed his eyes. Soon his daughter would be back home. He had his best man making sure that Vance Tate did not betray him. Soon everything would be as it should have always been, and he could finally rest. He felt a sting in his right arm, but he did not open his eyes. Soon, all of that would go away. Those damn meetings would end.
Teresa would go back home and inherit the club, even if it took him his whole life and had to drag her chained by her wrists. He would make sure, or he would die trying. She would never escape him.
Chapter Thirteen
Teresa
Teresa got back from work that night feeling exhausted, yet exhilarated. She was still thinking about the events of the day before: her first date with Vance, their night together, and their sudden engagement due to her father’s unexpected and unwelcome visit. She still couldn’t believe she was going to get married to a guy she had just met.
Although she was not necessarily marrying Vance out of love, but out of necessity, she could not deny that the idea of being with him made her happy. She loved being with him, and maybe, just maybe, it could turn into love. However, she would not hesitate to ask for a divorce if things got ugly. She would not be bound to any man if he was not right for her.
After his proposal that very morning in her kitchen, they parted ways: he had gone home to change, and she had met Anne to tell her the news. Her best friend had freaked out – who wouldn’t? Teresa herself was still a little freaked out by everything that had happened.
Teresa smiled when her thoughts traveled to the moment where she had met Vance at the soup kitchen, the Silver Spoons for Charity, where she had walked to after her meeting with Anne. He was already working, getting the tables ready and sweeping the floor, and when she entered the restaurant, the broom slipped from his hands, making a loud noise that echoed through the empty place. All flustered, Vance rushed to pick it up and proceeded to trip over a chair in the process, making much more noise.
“Dammit!” He swore, his face reddening. Teresa burst into laughter when she saw him being nervous as a teenager in her presence.
“Do you need a hand with that? It seems that the broom is rebelling against you,” she joked, heading to the back of the restaurant to the storage room.
“And it’s colliding with the chair, apparently,” he answered back, getting over his moment of embarrassment.
“The furniture rebels!” Teresa laughed, and when she turned back, Vance was behind her, putting the broom in its place. Suddenly she felt flustered by their closeness: it had only been hours since he left her house, but so much had happened that it seemed longer.
Vance also looked troubled by her presence, and he looked at her so intensely that Teresa felt her insides burn with fire. She took a step towards him, hypnotized by his eyes, when a voice called her from outside the storage room.
“Teresa, are you here?” Peter asked. Teresa jumped away from Vance and felt her face burn, ashamed of what she had been about to do. What was she thinking, trying to kiss him at work?
“Yes, Pete!” she called out, pushing past Vance, leaving him behind.
The rest of their shift went by with no further incidents, but she felt lightheaded and could not stop herself from smiling from time to time. Even the customers wondered what had happened to her as she was even more cheerful than usual, but Teresa just widened her smile as an answer.
Whenever her eyes crossed Vance’s –which happened very often– she could not help but giggle like a teenager, and the hundred thousand butterflies had awoken again in her stomach.
That day, the charity was so busy that by the time she had to leave, she had not been able to talk to Vance even once, and she had to run home to get ready for work when they called her to start early.
When the night came, and she finally got home, free from all her duties, all she could think of was talking to Vance. But it was so late. Teresa let herself fall on the couch and took out her phone before tossing her purse aside.
3:45 AM.
Vance had to be asleep by now. And yet, Teresa opened her messaging app and started a chat with Vance. She had never texted him before. How strange it was to marry a man to whom she had never texted?
Hi there, are you awake? she wrote, adding a smiling emoji at the end. The message was delivered, and Teresa looked intensely at the screen for a couple of seconds before putting her phone away. Of course, he wasn’t. Any normal person would be fast asleep by now.
Teresa sighed. What was wrong with her? She had just been with him last night. And during their shift at the charity. Why did she have the urge to see him again? To be with him again?
Her phone buzzed, startling her.
Vance’s message popped onto her screen, and her heart skipped a beat. Hi, Tess. Yes, I am. Why? Can’t sleep?
Why the hell are you still up? Look at the time!
The kettle calling the pot black. You are also awake.
Teresa chuckled before typing a new text.
I just got back from work. What’s your excuse?
I was waiting for you, actually. But I didn’t want to bother you, so I’ve been sitting on the couch looking at my phone every five minutes like a loser, Vance confessed.
Teresa laughed out loud. She could perfectly picture Vance sitting aimlessly at home waiting for her.
Well, wait no more. Did you want something in particular?
Just to see you.
Then come over.
Teresa held her breath. She really wanted to see him. He was typing an answer.
I’ll be there soon. Don’t fall asleep!
And with that, Vance went offline. Teresa smiled and let the phone drop onto her pillow before getting up. Vance would be there soon, and she was still sweaty and gross from work.
Hurrying and leaving a trail of clothes from the living room to her bathroom, she got undressed and jumped into the shower. In five minutes she was out, dripping but clean, and put on a simple shirt and some jeans. She picked up the clothes she had left around the house and threw them into her laundry basket.
Teresa was in the bathroom, drying and brushing her hair, when s
he heard the doorbell ring.
“Coming!” she shouted.
She threw the front door open and on the other side, smiling – and a little bit flustered, as if he had come all the way from his place running – was Vance.
“Hi, there,” he said simply. Teresa laughed and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him inside. She closed the door and faced Vance.
“Hello,” she whispered. “You didn’t have to come all the way down here at this time…”
“I wanted to.”
They were both standing in the hallway, her hand still gripping his arm, just looking at each other. And then Vance closed the space that separated them and kissed her, hard and passionately, as if he had been holding back the urge to kiss her the whole day.
His tongue played with her lips until she let him in. His hands traveled from her head, messing with her damp hair, to her back, where he drew a path of caresses until his grip found her butt.
Teresa clung tighter to his neck, getting comfortable inside the embrace, and she noticed a hard pressure on her lower belly that could only be one thing. Noticing how hard he was already with just a kiss made her giggle against his lips. Vance pulled back, exhaling ragged puffs of air, and looked at Teresa teasingly.
“Do you find it funny?” he asked. His deep, husky voice gave her goosebumps, and now it was his time to chuckle. “Looks like I’m not the only one that’s eager,” he whispered in her ear, and she trembled.
“Then there is only one thing we can do, right?” she said playfully.
The next thing Teresa knew, they were in the bedroom, their bodies tangling together, with all their clothes scattered everywhere.
Chapter Fourteen
Vance
Vance was working at the soup kitchen, tidying and getting the place ready for the service, when the person that filled his thoughts appeared. He had not been able to stop thinking about her since that morning when he had proposed to her. He had asked her to marry him, and she actually said yes!
He still could not believe his luck, although his stomach churned whenever he reminded himself of the trouble he was in. What would happen when he married Teresa, and she found out that he had been conspiring with her father this whole time? She would abandon him, that was for sure. And she would run away again, to a place where neither he nor her father would be able to find her again.
The sheer thought of being without Teresa made his skin crawl.
He had to do something about it. He had to come clean to Teresa, but he couldn’t bear the idea of her hating him. He was sweeping the floor when the door opened, and there she was, even more beautiful than when they parted, not even a couple of hours ago.
Startled, the brush slipped from his fingers and ended up on the floor. He rushed to pick it up, cursing his clumsiness, when he tripped over a chair. The noise echoed through the empty restaurant along with his curses.
“Dammit!” He swore. He felt the heat rush to his face like a damn fifteen-year-old schoolboy. Teresa started laughing, and he damned his luck again.
“Do you need a hand with that? It seems that the brush is rebelling against you,” she joked. Teresa headed to the back, and he overheard her fumbling about the place, leaving her purse and getting ready to work.
“And it’s colliding with the chair, apparently,” he answered back, still mortified. He headed to the back to put the broom in place. Teresa was facing the cupboard, and she did not see him coming. He got a good look at her from behind and smiled before leaving his tools in their place.
“The furniture rebels!” Teresa laughed and turned around. She looked surprised when she saw him standing there, very close to her in the narrow space of the storage room. His heart started racing, and he saw her cheeks reddening: at least he was not the only one affected by their closeness.
So much had happened between them in the last hours that he did not know what to think, what to say, or what to do now they were alone. Vance locked his eyes on hers, feeling raw desire burning inside of him. She took a step towards him when a voice called her from outside the storage room.
“Teresa, are you here?” Peter asked. Teresa jumped away from Vance, and he cursed Peter for his bad timing.
“Yes, Pete!” she called out and rushed out of the place, leaving Vance behind.
Vance took that time to catch his breath and calm down. If Peter had not appeared at that very moment, he did not know what he would have done. He was about to jump on Teresa and regretted the missed opportunity.
For the rest of the day, he followed her with his gaze and could not help but smile whenever his eyes met Teresa’s. Every time she caught him looking at her she would smile, chuckle, and get back to work, more cheerful than before. When she left, Vance had not even had the time to say something to her, and at the end of his shift, he went home quite frustrated.
He was heading home, taking the long road, the same path he followed when he found those books for Teresa, when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Jimmy Love. Vance hesitated before answering the call, but he knew that ignoring his boss would not make him disappear.
“Yes, boss?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Do not yes boss me, lad!” his boss’s voice screamed down the line. He sounded drunk, and Vance frowned. Drunk already?
“Sorry, boss, is everything alright?” Vance decided that acting innocent would be the best course of action for the time being.
“What was all that about this morning? Why were ye at Teresa’s place? And how is that yer gonna marry, when ye said ye were not even close to it?” he spat.
Vance sighed slightly before answering. “That was true, boss. I was not even close to marrying her, but your convenient appearance gave me the perfect opportunity: marry her to shield her from you,” he blurted out. “When she realized that by marrying me you could not force her to marry anyone else, she accepted immediately.”
He heard silence on the other end of the line for a while. He pictured his boss’ face contorted by the effort of thinking under the influence of alcohol.
“That’s bloody brilliant, lad!” he finally exclaimed. His laugh sounded like a hyena barking, and Vance thought he had never heard such an awful noise. “I want ye to come back immediately now that the wedding is on. I need ye at the club, even if ye have to come and go every day,” he ordered.
Vance gulped. He had hoped to delay that moment as much as possible… If he ever went back to the club at all.
“I’ll have to help out with the wedding, boss, but I’ll try to get there as soon as possible,” he lied through his teeth, but luckily Jimmy Love was in a good mood and seemed to take the bait.
He went on for a minute or so about the great things they were going to do together before hanging up the phone. Vance sighed, suddenly tired. Since he had started his new mission, talking to his boss always left him exhausted, and he knew why: he had started to grow a conscience.
There was a voice inside of him that said again and again that what he was doing to Teresa was not right; that he should not be lying to her in order to bring her to the place she hated most, and that she would never forgive him for it. It made him feel sick.
Vance could not imagine a life without Teresa – or rather, he did not want to. He surprised himself thinking about their wedding and picturing a life together: after the wedding, they would go somewhere far away, where no one knew them. Then they could buy a house together, maybe even have kids…
And the most surprising thing of all was that the club was not a part of his vision. He did not want to make Teresa go back to the life she had run from, and he did not want to go back either. How could he have changed so much in so little time? A week ago, all he could think about was inheriting the club.
But now that he truly knew who his boss was, and could only imagine the kind of life Teresa once had with him, Vance wanted nothing more than to get as far away from it as he could. He wanted to be a good man for Teresa and give her everything she deserved, not hand her over to her abu
sive father.
Vance spent the rest of the day thinking about Teresa, becoming restless by the minute. He knew she had to work at the bar, so he refrained from calling her. Instead, when he got home, he started looking for a job. Up until this point, he had only focused on conquering her and on the charity because his boss was paying all his expenses. But if he wanted to end that life and make a fresh start with Teresa, he needed a real job and to save up.
He turned on his laptop and spent the afternoon browsing job sites, looking for something he could actually do. He was not fit for many things: he had worked in his father’s business as a delivery boy, and afterward for a multinational as the photocopy guy. Not a great résumé, he knew that, but he still tried to work something out. He built the best résumé he could and sent it to several job openings, hoping some would call him.
