by Franca Storm
Trying to take in the startling news, I shifted my weight and folded my arms across my chest. “And how do you come into this?”
“Think of me as your mechanical engineer. You write the code, I bring it to life.”
Interesting. “I see.”
“Good. So, bring your A-game and we’ll get this shit done ASAP so I can get out of here and back to my life.”
His dismissive words got my back up and I shot back with way too much vehemence, “I’ll see.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t fuck with me.”
With that, he turned away from me and started back toward the clubhouse.
I was so worked up that I couldn’t hold myself in check and I ended up screaming at his back, “What’s your fucking problem?”
He came to a sudden halt and called over his shoulder, “Don’t have a problem. Sounds like you do, though.”
“Damien!” I shrieked at him, losing control of my temper. I'd inherited that from my Dad.
The next thing I knew, he was spinning around and storming over to me.
He got in my face and growled, “Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?”
“People are gonna know. It’s Anarchy.”
“Why are you being such an asshole to me?”
“Why?” he basically snarled. “You fucked me over, woman. You didn’t tell me who the hell you were. Do you get what could’ve happened with me fucking you? If anyone found out about that? It would be the end of my life! Being part of Iron Kings means everything to me. And we’re forming a real close and invaluable alliance with your dad’s club. Everybody’s got orders to be on best behavior and not to do anything to jeopardize it. One of Iron Kings fucking around with the Outlaws club princess is something that flies right in the face of all of that, as I’m sure you can imagine. So, yeah, you’ve got me trapped now. I need to rely on you not to open your mouth! You’ve fucked me up! Do you get that?” He leaned down and lowered his voice, almost to a whisper. But it wasn’t like it had been that night, hot and heavy. No, it was laced with so much anger and contempt that it sent a chill right through me. “I don’t want anything to do with you. I’ve never regretted fucking anyone as much as I regret fucking you.”
His words ripped into me.
They were so painful that, before I knew it, I was crying like a baby, right in front of him.
“There’s nothing between us. That night in the bar never happened,” he gritted out. “Are we clear?”
I brought my hands to my face to wipe away my tears.
“Say it,” he pressed.
“Yes,” I choked out.
He stared at me for a moment and, for a second, I thought I saw a flash of regret in his eyes. But I wasn’t certain and then he turned away abruptly and headed back into the clubhouse. He slammed the door behind him, leaving me standing in the courtyard and trying to get myself together.
No one could see me crying. There would be a thousand questions from everyone.
What Damien didn’t seem to understand was that I’d be in some serious trouble as well if my dad found out I’d been with a biker. There was nothing he was stricter about than that.
What a colossal mess.
3
~Anarchy~
I WAS HUNGOVER BAD.
It was a struggle just to sit up.
As I slowly and sluggishly took in my surroundings, I realized I’d been sleeping on a flowery couch, a neon-pink blanket draped over me. I pushed it down and found myself fully clothed, with my cut still on and everything.
What was going on?
I definitely wasn’t in my bed back at the motel that the Outlaws were putting us up at.
Scrubbing my hand over my face, I fought to think clearly with my head throbbing like a son of a bitch. It took me a good few seconds to remember what had gone down last night, aside from me drinking my weight in booze.
The Outlaws had thrown a few girls our way, two blondes clad in head-to-toe leather, which everybody knew was my weakness. They’d brought us back to their place and I’d… turned them down. Me? I’d turned down an easy fuck?
A part of me wanted to pretend that I’d been too wasted to go through with it, but that wasn’t me. Nah, I knew damn well what it was.
Hayley.
What I’d said to her last night had been replaying nonstop, that broken look all over her face haunting me. It had taken way too much booze to even get it to fade enough to just breathe easy.
She’d taken about ten minutes to come into the clubhouse after our talk outside where I’d laid down the law. I had to give it to her, the girl was a real good actress. There’d been no sign of the broken, upset girl I’d turned my back on. Nah, she’d been upbeat and full of life, answering all her club family’s questions about her schooling and her plans with wholehearted enthusiasm. Only the older veteran members had swarmed around her. The younger ones had known well to keep their distance. Even then, though, I’d caught Python watching them like a hawk, just to be sure, making certain none of them even made eyes at her. If he’d only known I’d had my hands on her just days ago. Hell, way more than just my hands.
Jesus Christ.
I couldn’t believe I was in this fucked-up position.
And what I’d had to do to minimize the damage wasn’t sitting well with me.
The shit I’d said to her had been so brutal. Making her cry like that had been a bitch of a thing.
But I’d had to do it.
I’d seen that look on her face as soon as she’d laid eyes on me. That damned spark there for me.
I’d had to make it clear, had to push her away.
The woman could ruin me.
I wouldn’t let that happen.
But what I didn’t get was why I felt so guilty about it.
Goddammit.
I just had to put it out of my mind and get my head on straight, especially since we were going to have to work together for the next little while.
I could compartmentalize things. After all, I’d learned from two of the best. Spartan and, recently, Wraith.
But could she?
With a heavy sigh, I eased myself off the couch.
I’d just steadied myself against the wall, ready to make my way to the apartment door, when another door flew open.
I tensed, wondering who the fuck it was, really not wanting to deal with one of the girls in my current state.
To my relief and surprise, it was Wrecker.
“Hey,” he whispered. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“No, brother, thank you. With you out of commission, I had two of them all to myself, all night long.”
“Really?”
“Hell, yeah.”
I couldn’t help grinning.
The guy wasn’t like me. He had more than a few rules about sleeping around. Finding out that he’d had a threesome was a big deal. The least I could do was let him enjoy it, rather than bringing him down with my foul mood. I just needed to take a nice, long shower, then get some caffeine and grease in me and I’d be good to go.
“You done here?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t made plans with the girls that would turn some innocent fucking into an unwanted date. He had a problem with keeping one-nighters to just one night.
“Yeah, I said my goodbyes and everything.”
Thank fuck. “Let’s jet then.”
He smiled and slung his arm over my shoulder. “You got it, brother. Let’s get you fixed up.”
***
That was the stuff.
I gulped down my second cup of coffee. My head was starting to feel a bit better now.
Me and Wrecker were sitting in a corner booth at a greasy spoon right near the motel we’d been staying at. We’d stopped off there to shower, then headed out to do the whole hangover cure thing.
I eyed him across the table. He was screwing around on his phone.
“Something going down?”
He was the more senio
r enforcer, so orders usually came through him before reaching me.
“Just Wraith checking in on us. Apparently, he’d been on his normal five-mile run when we’d hit the motel earlier. That’s why we couldn’t find him.”
Damn, that guy was intense about his working out.
“Well, lock it up, will you? That incessant beeping is annoying.” I’d failed to keep things light-hearted and all happy-go-lucky. I just couldn’t seem to bring it, no matter how hard I tried.
His gaze snapped to mine. “Shit, brother, what’s up your ass?”
I slumped back in my chair. “Bitch of a hangover, remember?”
He scrutinized me. “Nah, it ain’t that. You were in this mood before you’d even touched any booze.”
I had to give him some kind of explanation, or he wouldn’t stop. Plus, I couldn’t have his curiosity sparking. He’d look deeper into it and discover the mess I’d made of things.
“I’m just not happy about being tapped to play babysitter to their club princess.”
“It’s a big compliment.”
“What?”
“Python doesn’t let just anybody watch her back. For ages, it’s been his best. Grim.”
“He’s busy with the alliance overhaul stuff, that’s all.”
“Nah, it’s a test.”
I started. “A test?”
“Yeah, Spartan recommended you. I’m looking to take an easier time with things, so he wants to promote you to Number One, right under Wraith.”
Well, shit.
Before I could get a word out, he went on, “Besides, she ain’t that bad.” His eyes darted around, doing a quick sweep of our surroundings and then he lowered his voice, as he said, “Her being so straight up smoking will take the edge off too. No wonder Python’s got her on such a short leash.”
“Wreck,” I snapped.
He didn’t seem to notice my tone, because he just went on. “You think she’s still a virgin?”
I choked on my coffee. “What?”
“Seriously. I mean, what fucker in their right mind would even get close to her? Who would risk that, right?”
Someone who hadn’t known who the fuck she’d been at the time! Argh!
I had to keep calm, or he was gonna know. He might be one of my club brothers, but I couldn’t let him in on this. All it would take was one slipup when he was pissed drunk or something and it would be all over for me.
“She was away at college, Wreck. Python wasn’t there to stop anything then.”
“Right. Yeah. Well, maybe—shit, she’s coming.”
My whole body tensed up. “What? She’s here?”
“Yeah, so lock it up.”
More than fine by me. It was the last thing I’d wanted to talk about.
Although, seeing her was also the last thing I wanted to be doing.
I heard heels clacking on the linoleum, heard them getting closer to our booth. It had to be her. I had my back to the door, so at least I wouldn’t have to look at her.
“Wrecker, right?” she spoke as she reached us.
“Yeah, little princess,” he answered. “You already know Anarchy, right?”
Fuck.
“Yeah,” she confirmed.
I lifted my head her way. “Hayley,” I said, coolly.
Her eyes met mine real quick, but they narrowed and darted away a second later and she focused on Wrecker.
“How are you liking Taunton? The Iron Kings MC is located in a much smaller place, right? I bet there’s a lot more to see and do around here?”
“Hell, yeah,” Wrecker told her. “Me and the boys have been enjoying ourselves. Last night, me and Anarchy got fixed up with these two—”
“Brother!” I cut in.
“Right, yeah,” he said, holding up his hands. “My bad. Lady present.”
Hayley glanced at me and I saw what looked like a flash of jealously, because it'd been obvious what Wrecker had been getting at about last night. She blew out a breath and got back to pretending I didn’t exist and focused on him again.
Good. I didn’t want to exist to her.
She didn’t exist to me either.
And I wasn’t liking the way her thick blue hair was falling in front of her face as she leaned down while she talked with Wrecker.
I wasn’t even noticing the cute way she kept drawing her bottom lip between her teeth and gently nipping it.
And I sure as fuck wasn’t noticing how smoking hot she looked in the skinny gray jeans she was wearing, or the white tank that made her perfect perky tits pop, or what the black studded cropped leather jacket she was wearing did to me.
Nah, I wasn’t noticing shit. She didn’t exist to me.
“You can’t text that to her,” I heard her tell Wrecker, pulling me back to their conversation.
“Why not? It’s nice, ain’t it?”
“It’s basically telling her she was nothing but a warm body for you to climb up on. Like you don’t even see her as a person, just some tool to get your rocks off with.”
He looked stumped. “Then, what—”
“I told you not to text either of them anything,” I cut in, unable to help myself.
Damn fool always got a woman’s number before or after he fucked her and texted her the morning after. He needed to leave it on good terms. He could never do a simple fuck 'n' chuck. He was too damned nice and couldn’t let go of his whole relationship persona. It’d caused a load of drama, because he couldn’t just be cold about it and make a clean, definitive break. It sent mixed messages.
“Why can’t he text her—them—I mean. Them? Seriously?” Hayley asked me.
Wrecker took her words in, then looked to me. “They hang up at the club. I might run into them again, brother.”
“Being too nice is gonna have them clinging onto you, big time. You ain’t into either of them like that, are you?”
“No, but—”
“Then, for once, just fucking well leave it.”
Hayley jerked her head at me and snapped, “You’re an ass.”
Wrecker’s eyes almost bugged out of his head at her vicious bite at me. “What the hell’s up with you two?”
“I don’t want him tailing me wherever I go. But it’s President’s orders,” she told him.
Wow. That was a good cover. Maybe she wasn’t as naïve as I’d figured.
Wrecker nodded, then thanked her and pocketed his phone, thankfully taking my advice of not texting his one-nighters.
Hayley shifted her weight and folded her arms across her chest.
“You just in here to eat and say hi, or do you need something?” I asked her.
“I don’t need anything from you, but according to my dad, you’re in dire need of me. He sent me here to get started on our work today.”
I took her in, noticing that her expression didn’t match her bitchy tone. Nah, she looked uneasy, nervous at the prospect of being alone with me. It was the same look she’d had after we’d fucked around in that bathroom and I’d called her out on being a virgin.
Vulnerability.
I couldn’t take seeing her so out of sorts, especially because of me. Best to get stuck in to the work to deflect all the other awkward shit between us.
I shot to my feet. “Let’s go then.”
“Right now? Don’t you want to finish your breakfast?” she asked, pointing at my half-finished fried breakfast.
“Nah, Wrecker’s the king of leftovers. He’ll take care of it. Right, brother?”
“Damn straight,” he confirmed, grabbing my plate and starting to heap the contents onto his.
I slid out of the booth, slapped some bills down on the table and then told him, “See you later.”
“Yeah, man.”
I turned to Hayley and gestured at the diner door. “After you, lovely.”
4
~Anarchy~
“WHERE ARE YOU HEADED?”
As Hayley strutted over to a bus stop just outside the diner, she answered me over her shou
lder, “Where do you think? Catching the bus back to the clubhouse.”
What? “Buses don’t go up there.”
She looked surprised that I’d already picked up that knowledge about her city. I was a fast learner and I kept an eye on things.
“They get close enough. It’s just a ten-minute walk from the closest stop.”
“That’s how you made it into town?”
“I took a cab. But you have to call and they take about half an hour to show up from this part of the city. The bus is quicker.”
“You know what’s quicker than that, smart-ass?”
“What?” she grunted.
“My bike.”
“Like hell,” she said, looking disgusted and horrified at the same time.
I stepped up to her and her wildly darting gaze finally settled, drawn to mine like an all-powerful magnet. “Listen, I’m here in town for a reason. I need to get this shit done. People are counting on me. The same goes for you. So, do you think you can get over yourself long enough for us to do all that? Plus, we aren’t heading up to the clubhouse anyway. All my equipment is back at my motel.”
“All right,” she agreed, dropping her gaze and turning away. With a huff, she started off in the opposite direction to the bus stop.
“Wrong way, cutie pie.”
She stopped and spun back to me.
“There’s a good girl,” I couldn’t help teasing.
“Argh!” she cried, fisting her hands angrily in her hair. “I hate you! You’re such an asshole!”
I grinned. Damn, she was a hell of a spitfire. “Right back at you.”
“Where’s your stupid bike? Let’s just get this over with, because every second that passes has me wanting to wipe that stupid smirk off your face with my fist!”
Wow. Getting spunkier. I was liking that from her. Too much.
I turned away and called over my shoulder, “Come.”
She muttered something under her breath, but followed me anyway.
I led her around to the lot at the rear of the diner.
