I could always stay home, Elle thought to herself as she got into her car the next morning, her stomach clenching painfully as dread and anxiety filled her. You promised, that pesky voice in the back of her head shot back defiantly. And she knew it was right. She had promised Carla that she would go to the farm and help her out today, and she couldn’t back out.
Besides, then Honey might think it’s because of him. That thought alone made her push the key in the ignition and turn over the engine to the little car, and it kept her going out of her driveway, down the highway and all the way until she pulled into the parking lot at the farm. It deserted her then, as anxiety once more flooded her system and Elle slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt in the fine gravel.
She sat there for a long moment, her fingers grasping the steering wheel and it took all of her willpower to pry them from the leather. But she did. One by one, until her hand was finally free. Drawing on every ounce of determination that she had, which was considerable, she pushed open the door and got to her feet, closing it again with a loud thud that had her jumping.
Elle had spent nearly her entire life battling the crippling anxiety that had plagued her, and she sure as hell wasn’t about to let one alarmingly handsome, tattoo-covered, too sexy for his own good biker take that away from her.
With her resolve strengthened, she strode forward, heading for the office that sat perched just at the top of the small incline. The greenhouse next to it looked deserted except for a man she didn’t recognize who was unloading a truck full of dirt. At least she prayed it was dirt and not more compost. She shuddered just thinking about how long it had taken her to get the foul smelling stuff out of her hair.
There was an oddness to the way he was standing, as if he was trying to see everywhere at once and as Elle walked into the office the tension was even more palpable. She didn’t know how she could have missed it before, but with Carla’s warning about a split in the club, she could feel it now like an electric charge hanging in the air and just waiting for a single spark to explode.
She wasn’t surprised to see Carla there, the phone once more pressed to her ear and her forehead creased with lines of stress and worry and her heart went out to her friend. It was always a struggle, starting a new business, or in this case, taking one over. But with the added bonus of having a bunch of angry biker’s just waiting for her to fail was obviously taking its toll.
Elle took a step forward, wanting to say something to offer comfort but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
“I wouldn’t bother her right now, if I were you,” a deep voice said behind her and Elle looked back to see Joel smiling at her before he shrugged in commiseration, “I already got chewed out for interrupting.”
“Oh, alright then. I guess I’ll just wait.”
“Wait? For what?” the only other female member of the group appeared behind the Dirty Cruiser’s president and Elle had to stop herself from jumping. But the woman’s pale green eyes shot at her like lasers, keeping her frozen to the spot as she arched a blond brow at Elle.
“I, uh, I’m just waiting to talk to Carla to find out what she needs me to do today. I promised.”
Hot Wheels grinned at that last, “You promised, huh? Well, the boss lady is busy right now.”
“I can tell,” Elle said through gritted teeth. She looked towards Joel for help but he was already walking away, his own plate full of things that needed to be done. Despite her best intentions, Elle couldn’t help but look around for another face.
“Who are you looking for, sugar?” Hot Wheels asked, her southern drawl thick as Elle answered before she could stop herself.
“Honey.” Darn it, she mentally cursed, and then sighed, “Is he here today?”
Hot Wheels gave her a knowing look, with more than a hint of sympathy mixed in, “No, he’s at the clubhouse. Somebody’s gotta keep an eye on those idiots while Joel’s here.” The other woman tilted her head to one side, narrowing her pale, jade green eyes at her, “You’re not sweet on him are you? Because unlike his name, Honey is not. Sweet, that is.”
“Oh, I know,” Elle muttered in agreement, before hastily shaking her head, “What? No, that’s ridiculous.”
“Because he’s trapped a lot of women over the years. I know. I’ve watched it happen, I’ve watched more than a few hearts get broken over that man and I’d hate to see a sweet girl like you fall to his…charms.”
“I’m not sweet,” Elle shot back with a huff of breath, “and I’m certainly not sweet on anybody. Especially someone as…as ridiculous as Honey.”
“If you say so, doll.”
“Look, I just need to find out what I should be doing, okay?” Elle said, and Hot Wheels threw up her hands in a gesture of mock innocence, but it was belied by the mischievous light in her green eyes.
“Well, shit, I can tell you that.”
“Oh, really,” Elle said with a raised brow of her own.
“Really. Here, you need to deliver this to the clubhouse. No one else can make the drive over.” Hot Wheels handed over a soft padded envelope, then added with a frown towards Carla, “When you get back, maybe you can talk some sense into that friend of yours. She’s going to work herself into a tizzy if she keeps going like this.”
“I thought she was your friend, too?” Elle asked, hesitantly taking the package.
“Oh, she is. But we’re a little bit…at odds at the moment, I guess you would say. I’ve been fraternizing with the enemy,” a sinful smile drew across Hot Wheels’s face and Elle was suddenly afraid to ask for any more details. Instead, she held up the package.
“This isn’t anything…illegal, is it?” Elle asked, finishing on a whisper. And jumped as Hot Wheels threw her head back and let out a barrel laugh.
“Oh, you sweet thing. Maybe you should fall for Honey. He’d have his work cut out with you,” the woman said, still chuckling to herself as she walked away. It wasn’t until a moment later that Elle realized that she hadn’t answered her question.
With a sigh, she turned towards the door, heading back out to her car. She didn’t have anything else to do. And she was sure that Carla wouldn’t have her move anything illegal. Pretty sure, anyway. A moment later she was backing down the gravel driveway and heading towards the Dirty Cruiser’s clubhouse.
She couldn’t help but wonder at the sudden lightness inside her, like bubbles floating through her. It couldn’t be because she might see Honey again.
That’s ridiculous, she mentally scolded, shaking her head at herself. Ridiculous.
***
Honey watched the room with a sideways glance. To anyone looking, they would just see the bartender with his head down while he wiped down the glasses, getting ready for whatever rowdy festivities the night would bring. But most of the members of the Dirty Cruisers didn’t realize that he was much more than just a simple bartender. His real job was to keep a finger on the pulse of the crew, and just then, the pulse beat fast and hard with a tension that was palpable.
That tension seemed to ooze forward as two of the Dirty Cruiser’s walked in, stalking towards the bar and talking softly to each other as if they didn’t want to be overheard. Honey didn’t recognize them. He couldn’t prove it, but he was fairly certain that Viper had been recruiting new members that were more loyal to him than the crew. The very thought made Honey’s stomach churn.
The two men, both rough looking, sat uneasily on the bar stools, the bigger one leaning forward.
“Hey, what does it take to get some beers in this shit hole?” he sneered and Honey had to grit his teeth to stop himself from saying something nasty right back. He had a job to do. And that didn’t include losing his temper and scaring off the newbies. At least, not until he had some valuable information to pass on the Joel.
“Yeah, it’s coming right up.” Honey said, his voice still tight with anger, but a moment later he was sliding two glasses of amber colored liquid in their direction. There were no thanks. The men were already back to their conversation.
“…are you sure, Buck?” the shorter one was saying.
“Of course I’m sure. That guy told me the truth about everything when he recruited us. He said I had to know cuz he might tap me for VP when he takes over. He says there’ll be plenty of dough and hoes when he’s in charge.”
“Dough and hoes. Good one, Buck,” the short one said, giggling nasally and Honey surreptitiously closer, his focus apparently all on the glass he’d been polishing for the last five minutes as if it was god damned crystal.
The one called Buck shoved the other man in the shoulder, “I didn’t come up with it, you moron. Anyways, he said the president who’s in charge now is a use–uspi– Usup–”
“I believe the word your looking for is ‘usurper’,” Honey said softly.
“What was that?” Buck growled angrily from his stool and Honey sent him his most innocent smile. The one where, if the newcomer had known him at all, would have had Buck backing up real quick.
“I asked if you guys needed a refill on those beers.”
“This piss water? No, I don’t think I could choke down another glass,” Buck said with a sneer and his companion hee-hawed like a donkey next to him.
“Good one, Buck. Good one. Piss water.”
Honey just shrugged, his face frozen in a good natured mask that he’d honed over the years as he went back to polishing the glass and they seemed to forget that he was there at all.
“So like I was saying,” Buck continued, “The guy in charge now is some sort of pussy who’s trying to get everyone to go straight and give up the life.”
“What?” the other guy interrupted, but Buck kept talking over him.
“The one who recruited me, the one who’s going to take over, he told me,” Buck stopped, looking around surreptitiously before lowering his voice even more and Honey leaned closer, trying to hear, “he told me–”
“Ow. Fuck!” Honey exclaimed as pain shot through his hand. He’d been trying to eavesdrop and had stopped paying attention for one moment. He’d tripped on the rubber mat behind the bar and the glass, already old and cracked, had shattered with the jarring motion and sliced through the palm of his right hand.
He glanced up but both men were staring at him now, the shorter one in confusion and the other one, Buck, in suspicion. Honey plastered on a forced smile.
“Better go get this cleaned up,” he said hastily as he made his way to the back room. The whole way there he cursed himself for acting like a fool. He needed to learn with that asshole Viper was up to and he wasn’t going to do it by drawing the suspicion of all the new bikers he recruited.
Honey was still chastising himself, quickly wrapping a small towel around his hand just to stem the dripping flow of blood when all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. That feeling, the feeling that he knew so well, the one that told him that something bad was about to happen, flooded through his gut. A second later he heard it.
“…and just what, precisely, do you think to presume that you are doing, sir?!” It was a feminine voice. A familiar, feminine voice and with just the towel wrapped around his wound he rushed back out into the main room of the bar.
The impact of seeing Elle cut through him as it always did but it didn’t slow his feet. If anything, it only made him move faster as he watched her, somehow, glare down her pert little nose at the big, burly biker named Buck.
“…How dare you!” she gasped, turning away from him in affronted disgust but then Buck made the biggest mistake of his life. He reached out and grabbed at Elle, stopping her motion and jerking her back around to face him.
“No one talks to Buck that way, especially no woman!” the crude biker snarled.
“Of course not! No woman would talk, in any way, to a man who refers to himself in the third person!” Elle snarled right back, pulling at the arm the big man still held in his grip, “Now, let me go. This instant.”
Any other time, Honey would have cheered for Elle, for the spirit and fire burning in her warm cinnamon gaze but just then, all he could really see was the blood red haze obscuring his vision. It narrowed even further when Buck tried to pull her towards him once more. And then, he lost it.
Something inside him snapped at seeing Elle treated that way. He couldn’t stomach any woman being abused, but this wasn’t just any woman. This was Elle. His Elle. With a roar like an enraged beast, Honey charged towards them.
A moment later, impact hit. He felt it ricochet through his whole body as he shoved at Buck, taking the other man by surprise. Enough to make him drop Elle’s wrist and back up a few steps.
“Hey, man. What the fuck? We’re just having a little fun,” the short one said, his voice holding an edge of whine to it that had Honey swinging out his fist again.
“Go have your fun somewhere else. She’s mine,” he growled the words, rage consuming him, making him braver, or stupider, than he normally was as he stalked towards them.
“Viper will hear about this!” Buck tossed out angrily and Honey just smirked.
“Oh, I’m sure he will. I’ll tell him my goddamned self. Now, get out of here.” Honey took one more step forward and they must have seen the seriousness in his dark gaze because in the next instant, they were both gone.
Anger and panic still churned through his system as he slowly turned around to face Elle. He knew he was glaring at her. He didn’t care. He was pissed.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he bit off through gritted teeth, “No, wait. I don’t want to hear it. Come with me.” He reached forward, taking her hand in his and turned towards the storeroom at the back. He needed to calm down. He didn’t know what he might say with his temper still flaring inside him but Elle always seemed to know just what buttons to push. So instead of speaking, he dragged them both to the back room and shut the door behind him.