Chapter 12
Scarlett awoke with a start, her hair falling into her face.
The warm body next to her stirred, but didn’t wake.
As she blinked away the bleariness, she made out the steady lines of Limit’s body, his handsome face completely relaxed as he slept.
She couldn’t stop herself from running a hand along his cheek, admiring the straight line of his nose and his thick lashes as they brushed his high cheeks.
As much as she didn’t want to, she knew she had to leave before he woke.
Shit, before Ox woke!
As quietly as she could, she slid into her pants…and then realized her shirt was basically done for after the behemoth lying in the bed had ripped it in two. Always one to improvise, she tied it up under her breasts like some backwoods version of a cut-off and swiped her boots from the end of his bed. Even though she didn’t want to leave him, she knew it was best.
A man like Limit didn’t like strings.
She figured if she took them with her, he’d have no reason to worry.
As she closed his bedroom door behind her, a familiar voice had her clenching her eyes closed.
“Walk of shame, huh? Yeah, I’ve done a few of those myself.”
A tattoed hand belonging to none other than Green wrapped around her shoulders and she scoffed.
“Where’s Emily? Didn’t she have to do this herself?,” She quipped.
Green laughed.
“Nah. She wasn’t ashamed. You? Honey, it’s written all over your pretty face,” Green said.
“I’m not ashamed, per se. I just know that Limit doesn’t do relationships, so I’m taking away the pressure,” She said as she ran her fingers through her tangled hair.
Green chuckled under his breath as they entered the great room, his green eyes glinting in the sunlight.
“Smart woman, but I wouldn’t make presumptions. Limit likes you.”
As much as she wanted to hear that, she wanted to speak to Ox more.
Besides, it wasn’t making presumptions if Limit had told her himself it was a one time thing..
“Have you seen my…Ox?,” She asked.
Green nodded towards the office she’d spent time in yesterday.
“Getting ready for church. He should still be in there.”
“Church? On a Wednesday?”
Green laughed as he released her from his hold, his muscular arm falling to his side.
“While many of us don’t attend church on account of us more than likely burstin’ into flames, church is code for a club meeting. Shouldn’t take too long today, we don’t have anything important besides Rayna and Fury’s wedding,” Green explained.
Scarlett let all of that sink in before she patted his shoulder.
“Thanks, Green. If you see Emily, tell her I’ll check in with her later.”
He nodded and saluted her, sending a wink in her direction.
She laughed a little as she turned away, catching Torch’s eye over the bar top.
He nodded in her direction and she sent him a small wave.
As she neared Ox’s office, she heard voices and she knew he was on the phone with her mother.
“Damn it, Maddie! She’s my daughter. Not only did you leave me in the fuckin’ wind, but you kept her from me! I don’t know what she excepted to find here yesterday, but it certainly wasn’t an outlaw biker club!”
He sounded angry, and she almost turned back and left him alone, but she figured twenty-two years was long enough, to leave him on his own.
Besides, she was mad at her mother for the very same reason.
She couldn't blame him for being angry.
As she stepped over the threshold and into his office, he eyed her top momentarily before shaking his head.
Scarlett got the idea that her ruined blouse wasn’t high on Ox's list of things to worry about.
She felt much the same.
“I have to go, she just walked in. Yeah, have a good day to you too,” He spat before he slammed his phone closed and tossed it onto his desk.
As he stood, she had to smile, because she recognized the look on his face; she’d worn it so many times, and it was nice to see where it originated from.
“Morning,” She said.
He finally smiled and nodded.
“Would have been, had your mother not called,” He said.
As she slid into a chair, she waited for him to sit.
“I know you have church or whatever, but I was wondering if you would tell me what happened between you two.”
Ox sighed and ran a hand through his hair, the very same shade of brown as hers.
“It’s a long story, but to make it simple…we were young. In love. I knew she came from a different way of life, and to her family I was the boy from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’. Maddie was just so…different. She loved adventure, ya know? Craved the danger, and I needed that. I needed someone who understood what this life meant, and your mother understood. She thought she could handle it, and it turned out she couldn’t.”
Ox had his ringed fingers resting on his desk top as he looked up at her.
“I don’t blame her for wanting better, especially if she was pregnant. I didn’t blame her before I knew about you either, I just want you to know that.”
For some reason, the sad expression on his face had Scarlett tearing up, and she reached for his hand the exact same time he reached for hers.
“It’s going to take some getting used to… all of this,” She said as she gestured at the room.
Ox’s face lit up with something she thought resembled hope.
“You mean, we didn’t scare you away?”
Scarlett choked out a strangled laugh before she looked down at her lap.
“I won’t lie and tell you that I’m not completely thrown here, because I am. But, there’s something me and mama have in common, Ox. I like adventure, too. I've been craving it for years, I just didn't know how to find it. And, this place? Teeming with it, I’m afraid.”
Ox chuckled at her bluntness before he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.
“You stayed with Limit last night, huh?”
She winced at the mention of her bed mate and nodded.
“Weird for you?”
Ox’s eyes crinkled at the question as he grinned.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. I can’t tell you who to sleep with, sweetheart. But, Limit? Well, he’s not like the rest of us. He’s hard. I’m not saying he’ll hurt you. He would never lay a hand on you, Scarlett. But, I don’t think you’ll find a happily ever after with him, either.”
Scarlett wasn’t sure that’s what she was looking for, and truthfully, she didn’t know if Limit was capable of that either.
“I know, Ox.”
“I just want you to be careful. I won’t hound either one of ya, but I want you to be careful,” He said.
Scarlett squeezed his hand.
“Maddie called you?”
He flinched at the mention of her name, and Scarlett knew in that instant that he was more affected by her mother than he would like to admit.
“Yeah, she wanted to see how it went between us.”
“Why didn’t she just call me?”
Ox shrugged.
“She said you weren’t answering, and she got worried.”
Scarlett instantly felt her pockets for her phone and realized that she must have left it in Limit’s room- something that had her stomach turning.
Could she face him after what they’d done?
He held me all night long.
He isn’t so bad.
With the awkwardness she was about to face in the forefront of her mind, she bit her bottom lip.
“How did mom leave?”
Ox dropped her hand and motioned towards the lot.
“We were going to elope. Her parents, your grandparents, never would have agreed to us gettin’ married, so we decided to have a ceremony here. My father, your other grandfather, loved her like his own. He was going to perform the ceremony. He thought the world of Maddie…I waited for hours that day, but by the time the sun set, I knew she wasn’t coming. I tried calling, writing, everything…but after a year of trying I never heard back from her,” He said, sounding forlorn.
Scarlett hadn’t heard that story yet- her mother had been very brief on her details about their relationship- but it hurt Scarlett just the same.
“I’m so sorry,” She whispered.
Ox looked broken for only a second before he waved her off.
“Nah, don’t be. It was for the best. All I ever wanted was for her to be happy.”
Neither one of them mentioned the fact that Maddie didn’t have much time left to be happy; she was sick, and no matter how much Scarlett begged her mother to let her stay home and take care of her, she’d urged her to move to North Carolina and spend time with Emily. Start her life over, away from prying eyes and away from Scott.
Now, Scarlett realized her mother had only done that so that she could meet her real father and spend time with him.
Scarlett was torn between truly enjoying him and feeling guilty for not being home with her mother.
“I just want you to know that my ex did something similar to me. I know that feeling, and no matter how much you try to tell me that it doesn’t matter, it does. He cheated on me and then called off our wedding only weeks before we were supposed to say our vows. It mattered to me, and from the looks of things, you and I aren’t that different,” Scarlett said softly.
Something flickered in Ox’s eyes then, something good.
“This life teaches you a lot, Scarlett. Especially how short life can be. I know it’s not my place- not yet at least- but I want you to know that if in the end, Limit is what will make you happy, then you have my blessing.”
She frowned, obviously confused.
“I thought you said he wasn’t good for me?”
“No, I said you won’t find a fairytale with him. He’s not that kind of guy. If that’s what you’re looking for, then walk away from him now. However, I can say this for certain: he’s never taken to a woman the way he’s taken to you.”
The fact that it was her father telling her that, weighed heavy on her heart as she sat back in her chair.
Even though it pained her to say it out loud, she had to let him know that she was prepared to face anything at this point.
Scarlett’s whole world had fallen apart in a matter of weeks, and at this point, she knew she could handle just about anything.
“You survived without a happy ending, Ox. Something tells me I’ll survive, too.”