Cole
“Feeling better today?” I asked Lilah after the alarm on my phone went off to wake us up. I had stretched and hugged her close to me again.
“I don’t know yet. Wait until I’ve had my coffee,” she croaked out, sitting up on her elbows on the bed.
“There’s coffee downstairs in the common room,” I told her. “But what I’m talking about is since you got to talk to your son last night.”
“Yeah, that was nice. Now I know he’s safe.” Her face lit up a little bit when I mentioned her conversation with Micah the night before.
Her ex had checked in to let her know they were safe, which I thought was odd for someone who seemed to be the source of so much stress for her. Unless, of course, he had called solely for the purpose of letting her talk to her boy. I felt like that made more sense.
“Why do you ask?” she asked, yawning and stretching on her back on the bed.
Her body was so delicious, especially early in the morning. I wanted it. I wanted to see it out of those clothes. I wanted to touch her tender white skin with my hands and my lips. I hadn’t said anything, and I hadn’t wanted to make a move on her until she knew her son was safe. I had wanted to give her at least the night to adjust to everything before I said anything to her about staying at the clubhouse.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” I told her.
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” she said, rolling over and looking me in the face.
I smiled. I wasn’t in the mood for jokes really. I wanted to be serious with her. For me, what I had to say was serious business. Stipulations needed to be put in place in order for her to stay at the clubhouse. There were things that had to happen.
“Last night was on me,” I told her. “You didn’t have anywhere to go. I had to provide you somewhere safe.”
As I spoke, I watched the emotion on her face change. It slowly dawned on her what I was about to say, and she already didn’t like what she was about to hear. I knew there was a possibility that she’d run once I put the conditions in front of her, but she really didn’t have anywhere else to go. I didn’t see her running.
“But if I stay?” she asked me, trying to get me to the point.
“If you stay, there are some stipulations.”
“Yeah, I should have known. I didn’t think anyone was really that good-hearted. What do you want me to do to stay here?” she asked.
“I want you in my bed every night,” I started.
“I was going to ask if I got a private room, or how that worked,” she admitted.
“No, you don’t get a private room. You’re staying with me.”
“Does that mean you want sex every night? Does it mean you’re going to demand that I perform certain sexual acts with you every night?” She almost sounded eager when she asked the last question, like she wanted me to answer yes and wanted to hear me command her sexually.
“I do want you to give yourself to me when you’re ready,” I told her.
She looked at me with a little of her typical reluctance in her eyes. I could see her struggling with my demands. It looked like she wanted to reject it, but part of her really wanted to be okay with it.
“Is there anything else?” she finally asked.
“Yes. I want you in my chair at the shop. I want to tattoo your body.”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“You do. You drove over here yesterday so you can leave at any time. I’m not going to hold you against your will. If you don’t want to give yourself to me or to let me use you as a blank canvas, you can leave at any time.”
She took a deep, shaky breath. She looked like she was trying to rush herself to an answer.
“You don’t have to answer me now,” I assured her. “I’ll give you the day today. I’ve got to go to work, and you have until I get back tonight to decide, okay?”
She nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll have an answer for you when you get home.”
I wanted to lean over and give her a kiss before I got up to leave for work, but I didn’t think she would find it appropriate after putting my stipulations on her the way I did. I climbed out of bed and started getting ready to go to work. She didn’t say anything while I got ready. She sat quietly and seemed to be thinking about what I’d told her while I got ready.
When I came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to leave, she still lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She acted as though she didn’t notice me as I walked through the room. I grabbed my boots from the floor on the other side of the bed and slid them on my feet. She lay there silently the whole time, not saying anything. She didn’t even breathe heavily.
“Anything you need is downstairs,” I told her. “There are drinks at the bar, and there is a kitchen with anything else you might need. If you have any questions about anything, talk to Mick. He’s the big guy behind the bar with the big beard.”
“Yeah, I think I can manage,” she said flatly, not even looking at me to acknowledge that we were talking.
“I’ll see you tonight,” I said, walking out of the room and pulling the door closed behind me. If she’d said anything else, I didn’t hear it.
I went downstairs and hopped on my bike. I felt like there should have been some guilt over springing my conditions on her as suddenly as I had, but I didn’t feel any. I justified it to myself by thinking that since she said she wanted something more exciting, I’d show her what being with a member of the Steel Devils was all about. If she stayed at the clubhouse, she had to give me a reason to let her continue staying there.
I felt like my expectations were perfectly reasonable, considering.
When I pulled up to the tattoo parlor, I noticed that the frame of the door was dented and the glass was scratched. It looked like someone had been trying to get in overnight. I wondered if it was the same guy who had ransacked Lilah’s house. It didn’t seem likely that they would have known I was involved in her, but I didn’t believe in coincidences. Stuff like this didn’t just coincidentally happen. Usually, when things like this happened back-to-back, no matter how connected the places were, the actions were usually related.
I unlocked the door to make sure that no one had actually made it into the shop. The lock tried to jam where the door was dented from the attempted breaking and entering. I was able to pop it open finally, and I stepped inside to look around. Nothing looked like it had been tampered with. Whoever had tried to break in obviously hadn’t made it past the door.
I pulled out my phone and took pictures of everything that had been damaged. I sent the photos to Bruce, Axel, and Ham, letting my president and my brothers know what happened.
Someone is on the way, Bruce texted me almost as soon as I sent the picture.
A few minutes later, I heard a couple of motorcycles rolling up to the shop. It was Trent and a couple of other guys who looked like prospects. They wore cuts, but they were blank, with none of the MC colors on them.
“Bruce sent us as soon as he got the pictures,” Trent said. He grabbed the door, and it looked like he was about to pull it off. He looked it over, checking out the damage. “Man, whoever did this didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Or they didn’t really want to get in,” he said in his booming voice.
“Either way, it happened,” I said. “That’s infuriating enough, whether they know what they’re doing or not.”
“Any idea of who it was?” Trent asked. “If you know, we can go handle it.” He punched one hand into the other palm.
“I appreciate it, but what I really want is someone to watch the shop for the next few nights in case they come back,” I told him. “I have an idea of who it is, and I’ll let you know if I need any help handling them.”
“Are you sure?” Trent furrowed his brow, surprised I didn’t just accept his help right off the bat. “I’ve got a couple of prospects here who are ready to prove themselves,” he added, trying to persuade me to take his offer to handle it for me. I know that if I accepted his help, I wouldn’t have any more trouble out of whoever it was giving us trouble.
“I’ll let you know if I need anything,” I said, “but right now, this is personal. Let’s just keep an eye on the place to make sure they don’t come back.”
“Yes, sir. We got it.” Trent nodded to call the prospects over to him. They stepped over by the front door.
They looked at him and nodded obediently. They spoke in hushed tones so no one else could hear what they were saying. The prospects didn’t look away from Trent’s face while he was talking to them. It was pretty amazing how disciplined they were.
A few minutes later, they walked back outside. Trent turned and came back to the back where I was standing, watching him.
“You need anything today during the day?” he asked.
“Nah, I think we’ve got it under control during the day.” I would have liked to have seen someone try to break in while all the artists were present. It wouldn’t have ended well for anyone.
“Okay. If you’re sure, I’m going to head on in to work. If anyone tries anything stupid, give me a call. I’ll be happy to handle it.” He clapped a powerful hand on my shoulder, almost pushing me down onto the floor. Then, he walked out the door and hopped onto his bike.
The engine roared outside, and he drove off. His bike was as loud as he was. I stared at the damaged door, and the windows that were scratched from where someone had tried to shatter them, except my windows weren’t normal glass.
I pulled my phone out and texted Bruce.
Do we have anyone who can fix my door?
I took another picture of the messed up door and sent it to him.
You didn’t ask Trent?
He looked at it but didn’t offer, and he’s gone now.
Text him. He might have a guy.
I pulled Trent up on my phone and messaged him.
Hey, do you know anyone who can fix my door?
It seemed odd to me that he hadn’t said anything at first.
I can replace it, he texted.
How much are we talking?
For family, I’ll do it for free.
No way, I messaged him. I wasn’t too keen on accepting his work for free.
You’ve given me how many tattoos for free? This is how it works.
But tell me, why didn’t you say something earlier?
You didn’t want my help.
I put the phone down and laughed. I reminded myself that he’d asked me several times if I needed anything. He’d really meant anything, apparently.
I’ll send one of the guys around later today. I’ll put it in with the girls this morning.
Thanks, I texted him.
I put the phone back in my pocket and stared at the dented door. I hoped I hadn’t just put the prospects in danger. But I was going to find out who’d done it. They were going to pay for messing with my life and my business.