Daria
I paced back and forth in Rocky’s workshop, unable to do anything other than let every possible worst-case scenario run through my head. What if he was hurt? What if Garcia didn’t really want to talk at all?
Rocky had given me instructions before he left to continue work as usual and that he’d be home in no time. Of course, as soon as I stepped into the shop I was bombarded with thoughts of Rocky. The whole place was a reminder of him, how could he possibly think that I could do my work and wait for him comfortably?
It had been hours since Rocky and Cameron had left for an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Rocky had even confessed that he didn’t know where it was. What if he was lost, dying of heat stroke? I didn’t even know how far away the warehouse was so I couldn’t even guess at the time that he would be back.
Surely a phone call wasn’t too much to ask for. I didn’t even know why I was so worried. After all, he was just my boss.
I shook my head. Even the thought of it felt wrong. Rocky wasn’t anymore my boss than my own mother. He treated me like a colleague if anything, but mostly he treated me like a friend. Though, I supposed one didn’t usually have wild sex with a friend or colleague.
It was hard to admit, but I was scared out of my mind. Rocky was impulsive and so focused on revenge that I was worried he would do something irrational. My only consolation was that he was with his uncle, and if Cameron was nothing else, he was calculating. I knew there was no way Cameron could walk into any situation without at least three exit plans in his head in case things hit the fan.
I continued pacing, alternating between throwing looks at the clock and at the door. If he didn’t come home in the next ten minutes I was fully prepared to call the cops and tell them he’d died.
Luckily, at that moment the front door of the shop swung open and caused my head to snap in its direction, praying it wasn’t a customer. Rocky swaggered in, looking unharmed and well … alive.
“Rocky!” I cried. I sprinted towards him and jumped into the air, knowing he’d catch me, and he did. I wrapped all four limbs around his body, forcing his hands to come under my ass to support me. Not even thinking, I bent my head and crushed my lips to his, almost bruising them with my ferocity.
I was so glad he was home.
A moment later, the reality of the situation hit me and I hurriedly pushed myself away from him, turning from him shyly. I felt my cheeks flush red with embarrassment and started mentally chastising myself. I wouldn’t be able to meet his eyes after this, not after I completely and literally threw myself at him. What had come over me? Well I knew exactly what it was, but I should’ve kept it under control. I’d always accused Rocky of being impulsive, but then I went and threw myself at him. I snuck a look at Rocky and he seemed to be just as shocked as me. Or even more so, based on his expression.
“How did it go?” I asked, in an attempt to change the subject.
“It was fine. Garcia is on board. He said he’d follow our plan and help take Steele out.”
That seemed great news to me, especially since Rocky had been hoping for something like this for months. He seemed unhappy about it, though. There was definitely something he wasn’t telling me. He wasn’t completely meeting my eyes, they were flicking about around the room as if he didn’t want to look at me.
“Are you sure you can even trust him?” I asked. I already knew the answer. How could you ever trust someone like Garcia? From what I knew about him, he was violent, cruel and slippery. I was beginning to question Cameron’s sanity despite knowing that he knew what he was doing.
“No. I have no idea if we’ll be able to trust him. But you heard Cameron, he’s our best shot – actually, our only shot – if we don’t want to go to war with the Nightmare MC.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we were talking about an all-out war between bikers like it was nothing. What had I gotten myself into? All the rules and club politics were beginning to spin around in my head. I hadn’t even met many people from the club yet except for Michael. The problem was that I was involved, without truly being in the club, a strange middle territory that didn’t really make sense to me.
If there was anyone I could talk about it to it would be my mother, except I knew she didn’t really approve of my life decisions recently. I couldn’t blame her, especially when I’d promised I would listen to her, but at the same time I longed for her advice and wisdom.
Rocky sat down on a nearby chair and placed his head in his hands, elbows on knees. He was still worried about something, and I hadn’t correctly guessed it yet. Sometimes, I wished he could just tell me what troubled him without any coercion.
I racked my brain, searching and searching until I came to a conclusion. “Did he ask for anything in return?”
Rocky closed his eyes and nodded once. Bingo! I knew immediately that this was the issue and why he’d been holding back until now. I wondered what Garcia had wanted?
I didn’t have to wonder for long before he blurted it out. “He wants the club to work exclusively for him.”
I frowned and began thinking on it. Honestly, that kind of deal wasn’t one that surprised me, especially when I thought about what else he could have asked for. And the club had made deals with him before; this would just be an extension of that. I assumed that Cameron had thought it through and decided the risk was worth it. He was constantly saying how important it was to avoid a war and protect the people in the club, so I was sure he didn’t make the decision lightly.
I understood why Rocky was feeling guilty, though. In all his plans for revenge, I was sure that he assumed the weight of it would rest on his shoulders alone and he wouldn’t have to rely on anyone, save perhaps Cameron. Now he was finding out that Garcia was planning to ruin all that. In his head, he was probably thinking that he was failing his father, allowing the club to be caught up in something dangerous just so he could get his revenge. I also knew that he was far too invested and set in his ways to ever back out of the plan. He would avenge his father no matter what.
“So, when’s he organizing the hit?” I asked.
“A few weeks. I need to stake out Steele for the next few weeks, find the perfect time and place for the hit. When I know that, I’ll feed the intel to Garcia and he’ll go from there.”
That sounded like a bad idea to me, although I knew next to nothing about stakeouts. I just imagined him getting caught, unaware and defenceless, with nobody to call on for back up.
“Are you going on your own?”
“Yes, Daria. Don’t worry about it though. I’ve done it a million times before.”
I ignored the sudden questions that arose from his statement including who and why he had been on so many stakeouts, and focused on the matter at hand.
“Can I come too?” I asked casually, taking a leaf from Cameron and praying Rocky would agree before he though too much on it.
“Fuck no. You’re staying here and that’s final.” Well, that didn’t work, I thought glumly.
“But what if you get hurt, what if you're alone and need backup?” I argued though this seemed to amuse him if anything.
“Backup? Darlin’ you watch too many movies. It’ll be fine, I’m in no danger at all.” He was being entirely ridiculous and I resisted the urge to smack him.
“Well if it’s not dangerous then you should have no problem with me coming,” I said smugly. At this point, I was standing in front of him, arms crossed and holding my ground. I was more than stubborn when I wanted to be and there was no way I was accepting anything other than his acquiescence.
“You do realize we’ll just be in a car for several hours a night, following Steele around and sitting there watching him.”
“I know.”
“It’ll be boring. Nothing like those cop shows where they sit for ten minutes and then bullets start flying. If we do our job well, they’ll never know we’re there.”
“Okay, I understand. Now promise you’ll take me.”
“Fine,” he grumbled and I let out a shout of triumph. “We’ll get started tomorrow.”
My eyes widened in shock at that. I didn’t realize it would be so soon. Though, knowing what I did about Rocky, I half expected him to head out tonight. At least that gave me twenty-four hours to psych myself up for it. Though, if Rocky was right and we were just going to be sitting in a car for hours, there wouldn’t be much to psych myself up for.
“What if they catch us?” I asked, intrigued.
“They won’t,” he said, as if that was the end of the conversation.
“But what if they do?” I persisted. We needed a getaway plan at the very least.
“Then we get the hell out of there. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing alright?” I could tell he was getting exasperated and probably wishing like hell that he’d never agreed to take me with him.
“Alright,” I conceded, dragging the last syllable of the word out.
“So, what have you done all day,” he asked, changing the subject.
“Um…” I took a look around the room, somehow expecting there to be some miraculous evidence of all the work that I’d done.
“Really Daria? You did nothing?” Rocky teased.
I flushed and lowered my head. “Maybe I was slightly distracted.”
He let out a laugh and I stared at the way his jaw moved and throat worked. There was something oddly sensual about his movements and I wondered how I hadn’t noticed it before. Well, I had. I’d just worked hard to ignore it. But I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
I took a step closer to him as his laughter died down, feeling myself grow damp between my legs as I ran my eyes over him.
Rocky looked at me in confusion, and I knew what he was thinking. It was only a one-night stand, nothing more. Besides, we were friends. Good friends. And everyone knew that a friendship never went back to the way it was after you tried a relationship. Could we really risk it all?
The only thing I knew for certain was that now was the worst time to be starting up something with Rocky. Apart from the fact that I didn’t know if he felt the same way, he had too much on his plate for me to distract him from it.
No, I would play it safe for now and control myself.
Shaking my head firmly, I looked at the clock to see it was just passed closing time.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Rocky!” I chirped and almost bolted out of there. I didn’t know if I could trust myself around him for much longer.
The last thing I saw before I hastened out the door was a look of bewilderment plastered over Rocky’s face.
At least I knew he was just as confused about things as I was.