Chapter 18
Harley
When I woke up the next morning, I was alone in the room. Dash was nowhere in sight and I sat up straight, worried that something had happened. In the past eight years, if there was one thing I’d learnt—it was to always stay alert. My mind went straight to the worst possible situation. That Dash had abandoned me.
I tried to stay calm, to even my breathing and jumped out of bed, looking for my clothes. I found my dress lying on the floor and I put it on quickly. Then I rushed to Amanda’s room, still worried.
But she was sleeping soundly, turned on the side and sucking her thumb. I breathed a sigh of relief. I still wasn’t sure where Dash was, but at least my daughter was safe.
I went up to her and knelt down beside her bed. I stroked her forehead and she moved a little. She had a long day yesterday and she looked so comfortable. I didn’t have the heart to wake her up right now. First, I needed to figure out where Dash was.
I went back to our room, searching for clues. I saw that his clothes and shoes were missing. Now that I looked around, I saw that all trace of him had simply disappeared. I was afraid suddenly. Was it all a dream? Had I just imagined everything?
What was I doing here? How did Amanda and I get here? How was I supposed to pay for this suite? I barely had any money to afford our next meal. A sound like a cry rose up in my throat. I was panicking.
Why had I trusted him? He was nothing more than a stranger. Why did I allow my desire for him to overpower my mind?
I helped him escape. I came here to this hotel with him. If the Hell’s Drifters found me now, which I knew they would—they would never forgive me. I shuddered at the thought of what Caesar would do to me…to us.
I sat down at the edge of the bed, about to shatter into a million pieces. I felt stupid and naive. I’d spent the past eight years trying to avoid this situation. Doing everything I could to keep Caesar happy…and now one look from a handsome man and everything was ruined. My daughter and I were never going to be safe again.
Then the door to the suite started to open and I jumped again. I was convinced it was Caesar. I was about to scream for help, but it was Dash who walked in.
He had two big bags in his hands and he shut the door behind him.
“Mornin’ sleepy head,” he said, smiling wide.
“I…I…”
I couldn’t get the words out. He saw the expression on my face and dropped the bags.
“You thought I was gone?”
I didn’t have to respond. He knew the answer to that question already and he came rushing towards me. Before I could speak, Dash had pulled me into his arms.
“Harley, you said you were going to trust me,” he said, stroking my hair. I looked up at him with my lips quivering. “I’m not going anywhere without you and Amanda. I promised I was going to take care of you.”
I nodded, trying to blink the tears away from my eyes.
“Where did you go?” I asked and he was smiling again.
“I went shopping.”
That confused me.
“My club arranged for the hotel reception to have some cash in hand for me. I used it to go buy some clothes and other things I thought you might need,” he said.
Dash went back to the two bags and dumped them out on the bed. He wasn’t lying. It looked like he’d gone on a massive shopping spree.
“I wasn’t sure of your size…but I made a wild guess,” he added, as he started taking things out one by one. He’d thought of everything.
There were a few cute dresses, a handful of t-shirts and some skirts. And there were five sets of matching lace lingerie.
“If these don’t fit you, we can go and exchange them,” he said. A smile was spreading on my face. How did he think of all this? Dash didn’t fail to surprise me!
“And there’s some stuff for Amanda too,” he added.
There were some dresses and clothes for her, and some glittery hairbands and chocolates she would like. Suddenly Dash had turned into a proud and excited daddy. It warmed my heart to see him like this. I wouldn’t have expected a man like him, someone who was in an MC, to be this thoughtful.
“I know this isn’t perfect. Most of this probably won’t even fit you guys, but I figured it would be a temporary fix. Just until we can figure this situation out.”
I rushed to him and threw my arms around his neck.
“They’re perfect!” I exclaimed.
I kissed him tenderly and he kissed me back. He was holding me by my waist, and when he kissed me, I felt beautiful.
“Good. I bought myself some clothes too, something was mysteriously wrong with my old stuff,” he remarked, which made me smile.
When I pulled away from him, he continued to stare at me.
“I’m going to shower and then put on one of your selections,” I told him. Dash arched his eyebrows playfully and I laughed.
“No peeking until then!”
I went into the shower and stripped off my old clothes and stood under the warm steady stream.
Why was I worried? What was I even afraid of? Other than Amanda, Dash was the best thing that had happened to me and he was right, I needed to begin trusting him whole-heartedly.
I smiled as I showered, still thinking about him. No matter what happened now, at least we would have last night. I was satisfied with that.
***
When I came out of the shower, my cellphone was ringing. Dash was sitting on the bed, putting on his new clothes and he saw me stare at the screen with crossed brows. It was an unknown number. I was afraid it was Caesar or someone from the Hell’s Drifters calling.
Dash came over to look.
“It’s for me, don’t worry,” he said and touched my cheek lightly.
I heard him talking in all seriousness on the phone while I changed into one of the dresses he bought me. I wasn’t surprised that it was a perfect fit. Dash seemed to know my body to an inch.
He hung up the phone and turned to me.
“We should head out to my MC’s Clubhouse. They’re waiting for us there,” he explained.
I gulped, beginning to feel nervous again. Being around another motorcycle club, especially one I had no knowledge of—made me uncomfortable. I never had any luck with anybody from an MC, till I met Dash. So what guarantee was there that they would be any different from the Hell’s Drifters?
Dash saw the nervous gleam in my eyes and he came up to me again. He hooked a finger under my chin and tilted my face up to look at him.
“Harley, I know you’re afraid, but I promise you things are going to be different. The Marked Skulls aren’t anything like the guys you know. We don’t mistreat our women. We live by a strong moral code. Nobody is going to harm you or Amanda. I promise.”
I stared into his eyes and nodded. I trusted him. I knew he wasn’t going to let anything happen to us.
I smiled and stepped back, twirling so he could see the pink floral dress twirl along with me.
“What do you think?” I asked. Dash was smiling too; his eyes were glowing as he watched me. No man had looked at me with that much admiration and respect as Dash did.
“You look beautiful. Not as beautiful as you do with no clothes on, but this is a close second,” he joked.
I fell on him, wrapping my arms tightly around him and he kissed me. He lifted me up in the air and I squealed, throwing my legs around his waist as he started carrying me to the other room.
“We should wake up Amanda and get her ready,” he said, dropping me down in front of her door. We kissed again and then I went in.
My daughter moved and blinked, she was beginning to wake up.
“Good morning, sweetie pie,” I cooed, rushing to her bedside, still blushing from how Dash made me feel.
Amanda smiled when she opened her eyes.
“Is Dash still here? Are we going on our adventure?” she asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. It seemed like she’d been dreaming about it.
“Of course. He’s not going anywhere,” I said, stroking her hair. “Now, we have to get out of bed so we can start, don’t we?”
Amanda jumped up. This was the easiest it had ever been to get her out of bed.