My weekday wake-up time is six-fifteen, but my eyes slowly opened half an hour early; I thought I heard my doorbell ring. Occasionally, I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking I had heard the bell, only to realize it was a dream. I was thinking that was the case again. I tried to slowly adjust myself so I could fall back asleep. Cal was lying on his side, and his arm was resting on the hollow between my rib cage and my hips. Our legs were tangled together. It was a great way to wake up, and I felt a strange, warm feeling in my chest begin to bloom. I was definitely falling for this man, falling for him so quickly, it was hard for me to know if the feeling was mutual. I shut that thought process down so I could get another twenty or thirty minutes of sleep. Then I heard the doorbell again. Definitely not a dream this time, and Cal’s hand latched onto my hips.
He said in a sleepy grumble, “Shit. I forgot to tell you, sweet cheeks. Vamp’s pickin’ me up ’round six this morning. I got tons of shit to do in preparation for Daytona.”
I sighed. “Why’s he got to pick you up?”
“You’re gonna keep driving my car today, but like I said, I got to get a jump on shit for Daytona.” Cal raised himself up on an elbow to get a look at my clock. “Jesus, he’s never early, but this morning he’s early. Cocksucker. Let me go let him in.”
I was learning that Cal was not much of a morning person. Cal pulled on his jeans, sans underwear, and then I heard him pad out to the front door. I was wearing a modest purple tank-top style nightie with beige lace at the top and bottom. I got out of bed and went into the kitchen to get out some Keurig K-cups so Cal and Vamp could have coffee. I brought down three mugs, and when I turned around Vamp was standing at the entryway to my kitchen. He was wearing a black long-sleeved Nine Inch Nails t-shirt with tight-fitting black jeans. His vivid blue eyes raked down my body, and a shit-eating grin crossed his lips.
I fought not to fidget, and said awkwardly, “Um, good morning. I’ve got K-cups on the counter if you want coffee or I have chai latte K-cups if you’re into that.”
Maybe it was the effect of his eyebrow ring glinting in the light, but for whatever reason Vamp’s hard gaze seemed to intensify with the eyebrow lift he gave me. Then he said, “I’m into many things, Mal. If it weren’t worth the trouble I’d get from Cal, I’d show you what I’d really like to be into right now.”
I could hear the master bathroom door open, so I scooted around Vamp and back into the bedroom. Cal was in the process of putting on his Jaguars long-sleeve shirt, but I could see the waistband of his boxer briefs peeking out of the top of his low-slung jeans. I guess going commando was not something he did regularly. Cal gave me an assessing look and I watched his lips purse slightly.
“I like your sleepwear, babe. But for future reference, you don’t run around in those kinds of threads when Vamp’s around. Got me?”
I gave him a strained smile, and said, “Yeah. I got you. Lesson learned.”
Cal gave me an arched eyebrow in silent question.
“No biggie. Just wasn’t fully awake when I ran out to do the nice hostess thing and offer you two some coffee.”
Cal and Vamp left my house a little after six twenty. This put me five minutes behind schedule, but since it was casual Friday, it wasn’t a big deal. I showered and blew my hair dry as usual. I threw on some jeans and a cable-knit, fire engine red cotton sweater. My faux Doc Martens were my new lifesavers, since they were inoffensive in the workplace but still fashionable with my jeans and sweater. I packed up my lunch and wolfed down some vanilla Greek yogurt with bran cereal sprinkled on top.
I had my purse placed in the passenger seat of Cal’s Mustang when I realized I forgot to set the alarm. I went back into the house and set it. I shut the door to the house behind me, and then pressed the wall-mounted button to open the garage door. I was moving to the back of the Mustang as the door opened and I noticed a vehicle was parked outside the garage door.
As the door opened higher and higher, I recognized the vehicle was Gwen’s SUV. She had one leg out of the open door. She stepped out of her vehicle waving a limp piece of white paper at her side. Her hair was combed, but looked like it was wet from a recent shower. She was wearing black capri pants and a yellow ribbed three-quarter sleeve shirt.
She immediately said in a chirpy voice, “Mallory! I’m so happy I was able to catch you. I thought you had already left for work. I was going to leave you a note, but now I won’t have to.”
She waved the piece of paper and then placed it inside her SUV. She moved forward three steps and stopped when she saw Cal’s Mustang.
“You have a new car? When did this happen?”
I took a deep breath to curb my temper, but I realized it wasn’t very effective when I heard myself sharply say, “No, I don’t have a new car. It belongs to a friend. I was nearly abducted last Saturday night. I’m driving the Mustang to keep a low profile. And for what it’s worth, I just found out two days ago that the attempt to take me has everything to do with your money problems. I’m on my way to work. What do you want, Gwen?”
“I need help. I’ve been receiving threats. I was hoping you’d let me stay here for a few days.”
I sighed. “I don’t think so, Gwen. I mean, my home was burglarized just three weeks ago today. I don’t think you’d be very safe here.”
Gwen’s brown eyes flared at me. “What am I supposed to do, Mallory? I can’t fight back with these people. The threats are very real.”
I held my eyes closed for a moment; when I opened them I said, “Then go to the police with the threats. They can help. Send a squad car around your neighborhood, something like that. Bottom line, they have far more experience with this sort of thing than I do.”
Gwen pleaded, “Don’t you care that I could be physically hurt? Do you realize just how humiliating it is to not have money, and need the help of your daughter-in-law? The police can’t help with the threats. Besides, you used your money to put in that fancy security system you talked about and you’ve replaced the door. I’m sure things would be perfectly fine if you let me stay here.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ll give it some thought and give you a call by noon. I know you’ve been retired for a few years now, but how about you use the day to look for a job. That will help you get some money in the coffers.”
Gwen settled a hand on her hip and said, “You shouldn’t need to think on this for four hours.”
I felt heat in my cheeks, and said as evenly as I could, “Did you hear what I said? I was nearly abducted because of your money problems. So, yeah. I gotta think on it for a bit, before I decide if I want to let you bring your shit literally into my house. You act like you got nobody, but that’s bullshit. You managed to get Greg’s deadbeat dad to show up for his fuckin’ funeral, even though you couldn’t manage to get him to reach out to Greg while he was alive! Call his ass. It’ll be damned hard for whoever’s after you to find you in Mon-damn-tana. Now, just leave. I’ve gotta get to work.”
Gwen left, and I backed the Mustang out of the garage carefully. Cal’s car had a sensitive gas pedal, so if I wasn’t careful I’d be fishtailing into my street or leaving rubber on my driveway. I pressed the button on the garage remote in my purse. I drove to the end of my neighborhood, and when I stopped I fished my phone out of my purse. I waited until I was at a traffic light before I put my phone on speaker and dialed Cal.
“Yeah,” Cal grunted into his phone.
“Cal?”
“Yeah, babe.”
“Gwen showed up at my house before I left for work.”
“Was she alone?”
“Yes.”
“What’d she want?”
“She says she’s getting threats and she wants to stay at my place.”
“Fuck. Tell me you said no,” Cal growled at me.
I softly sighed and then said, “I told her I’d let her know by noon. She was pissed off and said I shouldn’t need to think about it. I told her it was because of her that I was nearly abducted. Then I told her she should look up Greg’s deadbeat dad in Montana. That’s definitely far enough away to lay low.”
Cal sighed and then said, “You might think so, Mallory, but for the kind of debt she’s got, it probably isn’t. Her shit is serious. Give me her number.”
“What? No, really, Cal, I appreciate it, but I’ve got it handled. I’ll tell her that she isn’t staying with me.”
Cal’s voice was tight when he said, “Give me her number, Mallory. You’re my woman, and this is not a problem you’re going to handle. So, give me her number, now.”
I was nearing the on ramp to I-295, so I said to Cal, “I’ll text it to you when I’m not driving. Okay?”
“Not okay, pull over and give me her number.”
I had been doing my best to adjust to Cal’s inherently bossy nature, but this pushed me a little too far. I didn’t trust myself not to say something I’d regret later, so I hit the end button on my phone and then I turned it off. I knew it wasn’t the smartest move, but for the time being it seemed like the safest one.
* * * * *
Being a business analyst wasn’t a glamorous gig, but I was good at it and it paid the bills. I had a decent boss, and I loved my coworkers. That made up for the monotonous duties that I had each month. The entire office was a cube farm, which I didn’t mind most of the time. The only downside was that our department was situated right next to the side exit to the parking lot. All the people who worked on our side of the building came and went down the middle of our pod of cubicles. As a result, I had found different ways to tune out the noise of people coming and going throughout the day. Since it was Friday, I decided to stream some music from Pandora on my phone, which was lying on the left hand side of my desk. I was running a job from our Oracle database program when Tina, from our accounting department, stopped by my cubical.
I looked up when I heard her say, “Mallory, I had no idea you had a brother. He is stunning; you really need to help us single ladies out, you know.”
I paused my music and opened my mouth to explain that I didn’t have a brother. Before I could say anything, I saw Cal’s hulking presence looming behind Tina’s shoulder. His face was set hard, and the glint in his eyes was not friendly. He stepped around Tina and grabbed my phone. I had it plugged into my computer so he met some resistance when the USB cord ran out. He yanked the mini-USB out of the phone and stalked back toward the side exit. I scurried after him and out of the building.
I tried to keep my voice down, both in volume and in pitch. I couldn’t remember being so outraged before. Who did this man think he was?
“What the hell, Cal? How did you get in the building? I’ve already called Gwen and left her a message that she cannot stay with me, and to leave me out of her future problems if they have to do with her debt. Now, give me back my phone, dammit.”
Cal was now holding his own phone and was obviously putting a number into it. He handed back my phone to me, then turned his back on me and stalked into the parking lot with his phone to his ear. He did not just do that to me! I stuffed my phone into my back pocket and ran after him to give him a piece of my mind, but he stopped next to a low-slung gunmetal-grey Harley I didn’t recognize.
Cal was looking down at the ground and after a beat or two he said, “Gwendolyn Pierce, this is Mallory’s man. We spoke once before, and I’ll tell you again, if your shit seeps into her life, there will be consequences. Get it together, and leave Mallory the fuck alone.”
He ended the call and tucked his phone back into the holster on his hip. He looked away from me, and took a deep breath. I was not waiting for him to decide to talk to me.
Setting my hands on my hips I said, “What the hell was that? You sneak your way into my office, find my cube, snatch my phone from me, and then you turn your back on me like I’m not even out here. What a bunch of bullshit!”
Cal ran a hand through his hair and then clipped, “It’s not bullshit. The bullshit is you hanging up on me. Don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit. You want respect, you got to give respect. I told you to pull over and give me Gwen’s number. You hung up on me. I told you I’m handling this problem for you. You don’t get to dispute that, woman.”
I thought my eyes were going to spring out of their sockets, they were open so wide. I took a breath and then said, “You can’t handle all of my problems. I told you I would tell her she couldn’t stay at my place, and I called her as soon as I was here.”
Cal leaned toward me. “I don’t give a fuck. If you would have given me her number over an hour ago when I asked for it, I wouldn’t be standing here right now. I wouldn’t have had to charm my way into your office, and I wouldn’t be here on another brother’s bike. I don’t have time for this shit today, Mal. You and I are having a conversation, you don’t hang up on me and you don’t walk away from me.”
I threw an arm out toward him. “Oh! But you can walk away from me during a conversation? One-way street is it?”
Tightly Cal said, “It’s not a one-way street. I told you I was handling Gwen, and I made sure I did that. I wasn’t about to talk to her or leave her a message with you ranting and carrying on in the background. I protect what’s mine, and nothing you say or do is going to change that.”
I shook my head slightly, and then said, “I don’t need protection from Gwen.”
Cal swung a leg over the motorcycle. “Really? Didn’t Bush try to take you because of her debt? Her shit’s already seeping into your life. Ain’t gonna let more of it get to you.”
He kickstarted the Harley, and the thunderous vibration of the pipes drowned out any retort I might have had. Cal didn’t even give me a chin lift before he pulled the bike forward and sped out of the parking lot.
I returned to my cube, wishing I had a more daunting project to sink my teeth into so I could forget about the bossiest man I’d ever met. Unfortunately, Tina was still hanging around talking to my cube-neighbor Stacy. When I sat down, Tina wandered over and Stacy followed.
Tina launched in, “I take it that wasn’t really your brother? Stacy says you’re an only child.”
I sighed, “No. Not my brother. My boyfriend, I guess.”
Stacy giggled, “You guess?”
I rolled my eyes up to my eyebrows and said, “I guess, because I’m not so sure I can do this dating thing again. God! The best part about being married was being in sync with someone’s personality and crazy quirks. That man is bossier than a freaking drill sergeant.”
Tina shrugged and, with a daydreamy look in her brown eyes, she said, “He could be my drill sergeant any day.”
I shot her a mock-dirty look, but said, “That’s not the problem with us.”
Both ladies giggled, and I added, “I gotta get back to work, maybe it’ll take my mind off things.”
Anger is a strange emotion sometimes. Whenever Greg and I would occasionally fight, both of us would end up throwing ourselves into household chores. Before we made up, we had a clean house or a nice looking yard to show for our tiff. I wasn’t about to clean the office, but I did manage to crank out almost twice as much work than I normally would. I decided to get a little fancy, and I created an infographic with some of the most recent sales data. I had just sent that over to my boss and the lead sales manager, when I heard my phone ding.
I checked the display and saw a text from Tasha.
My planning day just turned into a half day. :) Wanna do lunch?
There was a no-brainer if ever there was one. I texted back: Absolutely. U R a lifesaver.
Thirty minutes later, I sank into the passenger seat of Natasha’s black Chevy Equinox and leaned my head against the headrest.
“Where to?” she asked.
I sighed deeply. “I really don’t care. Wherever you want to go is fine with me.”
I saw Natasha look at me sideways from the corner of my eye. “What’s this all about, Mallory?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s wait until I have food in front of me.”
Natasha drove us to The Loop restaurant. She ordered a chicken Caesar salad wrap and a soft drink. I opted for a ten-inch Greek flat crust pizza with extra Kalamata olives and water. We found a booth and waited for our order numbers to be called, telling us to go get our food from the counter.
Natasha swallowed a sip of her diet soda and then said, “Let’s have it. What are you in a funk about?”
“Cal.”
Natasha wound her hand in a circular motion and said, “Figured that much. Go on.”
“Well, Gwen was at my house when I left for work this morning. I called Cal after our confrontation, just to keep him in the loop, you know?”
Natasha groaned, “In the loop, while we’re at The Loop. Okay, I got it.”
I shook my head at my unintended pun, but said, “He wanted Gwen’s phone number. I told him I didn’t need his help. I appreciated it, but I could handle this. He was beyond insistent that he was going to talk to her. He demanded her phone number. I said I was driving, and I’d get her number to him when I was not driving. He told me to pull over and give the number to him now. Just like that, now.”
Natasha pressed her lips together; she released them to say, “All right. I know there’s more.”
I nodded. “I didn’t like him being so supremely bossy, so I hung up on him.”
Natasha whistled and shook her head.
“I know it wasn’t the best move. I was just extremely pissed that he was being so demanding.”
“You do know he’s an alpha?”
“What?”
“An alpha male. Girl, you surely have not missed that about this biker of yours, have you?”
I blew out a breath. “If you mean that he puts the ‘troll’ in ‘controlling’, then yes. I’ve noticed that. It still doesn’t mean that I like it or that I’m used to it.”
Natasha chuckled, “I know you’re not used to it, but girl, you don’t hang up on your man whether he’s an alpha or not. When he’s an alpha though, you really don’t do something so blatantly disrespectful.”
“Well, he made that abundantly clear.”
Natasha gave me a quizzical look. “What? Did he call back?”
Before I could answer, Natasha’s order number was announced over the PA system. My number was called as she was toting her tray back to our table. I brought my pizza back to the table and placed a slice on a small white plate. It was piping hot, so I leveled a look at Natasha and continued to tell her about my morning.
Natasha put down her wrap and interrupted me. “Wait. How’d he get into your office? I thought you had a reception area.”
“We do, but someone put on the charm and told a single coworker from the accounting department that he was my brother. He saw my phone sitting on my desk because I was streaming Pandora, and he yanked the cord out and then stalked out of the building with my phone.”
Natasha chuckled. “Say what you want about that man, but he damn sure knows how to get shit done.”
I was incredulous when I asked, “Whose side are you on, chick?”
Natasha took her time before she answered. “Yours. And his, a little bit. He is trying to keep you safe.”
My straw wrapper was wadded up in a tiny ball on the table in between us; I flicked it at Natasha while I shook my head.
“Anyway, I followed him out of the building, and he programmed Gwen’s number into his own phone, and then he turned his back on me and walked into the parking lot to call her.”
“Did he speak to her?”
I shook my head, but still said, “No. He got her voice mail like I did. And that’s what makes me crazy. I had it handled. I don’t need him to fight my battles for me, and I don’t need him threatening Gwen. We had quite a heated conversation, and I really don’t know where things stand with him. I hate to say it, Tasha, but we might not be going to Bike Week after all.”
Natasha had picked up her soda glass to take a sip, and she pointed her glass at me as she said, “Don’t you jump to any conclusions. Bottom line, if he decides to sideline you for Daytona, then you and I can still kick it Thelma-and-Louise style. We’re gettin’ the hell out of town, chica. I don’t care where, as long as it’s not a theme park and I can get my drink on, you got me?”
Nodding, I said, “I got you.”