Blade

 

I was having too much fun keeping Maggie in the dark. If she didn’t want to tell me anything about what was going on with her, she didn’t have to know what was going on with me – with us since I was dragging her along with me. Every little thing seemed to spark some sort of anxiety in her. It was highly entertaining, but I was sure it wasn’t going to be long before I had to come clean with what was going on. Hopefully, Connor was about to make it clear by letting the children out of their rooms to come down and see us.

 

I heard a couple of doors open upstairs. They were old, creaky doors, so they were really loud when they opened. Maggie grabbed my arm when she heard them. She didn’t clutch me like she probably would have in a movie theater during a scary movie, but I could feel her nerves and tension in the way her petite hands wrapped fingers around me.

 

It was the second time she’d reached out and grabbed me. Her fingers sent electricity through my body. I didn’t want her to let me go. I realized I had urges to do more than just protect her. I could no longer deny how she made me feel. There were so many reasons why I hadn’t just let her go yet.

 

The main reason was that as soon as I saw her, I felt protective over her. She had been so vulnerable, despite giving everyone hell. Her reluctance to talk about whatever was really going on with her just added to that sense of how vulnerable she was and how much she needed someone’s help.

 

I placed my hand over hers and gave her a gentle, caring squeeze. I started to get up because I knew it wasn’t going to be long before we heard the stomping feet coming down the stairs. She let go but stayed where she was as I stepped away from the wooden benches.

 

“Uncle Blade!” the kids screamed as they came off the staircase. Soon, a bunch of children were surrounding me, all trying to hug me and reaching for me to pick them up.

 

“Uncle Blade?” Maggie asked skeptically.

 

I knelt down so I could let each one of those precious children hug me. I looked back at Maggie and saw her standing up with one eyebrow raised and her hands on her hips.

 

“Yep, Uncle Blade is what they call him,” Connor said, coming down behind the kids. He’d ditched his hoodie and gloves, sporting his usual dress shirt and bowtie.

 

He walked over and shook Maggie’s hand. “Sorry about earlier. I was just trying to get you two inside. Man, it’s cold out there isn’t it? Blade and his MC, the Marauders, donate a bunch of toys for the kids every year. They love him, of course. He’s just a big teddy bear when it comes to them.” I could hear the dorky smile on his face.

 

“They’re not even intimidated by him,” Maggie observed. I could hear her mind getting blown. It was great to know there wasn’t anything I could do that wouldn’t surprise or confuse her. She had so many misconceptions in that head of hers.

 

“No, they can sense he’s good people,” Connor told her. “Despite his tattoos and the scars on his arms, despite his rough demeanor and his intimidating size, they know. They can see right through all of that. If anything, I think it makes them feel safer because they know no one is going to mess with them while he’s here.”

 

“That’s right,” I chimed in as I stood back up. “All right, who is ready for Christmas presents?” I asked the horde of children surrounding me.

 

“Me,” they all answered in unison, raising their hands and jumping.

 

“Then do Uncle Blade a huge favor and go sit along the wall. We’re going to do this one at a time.” I pointed at the wall next to the door to the closet where we’d stashed all the presents.

 

“Christmas now?” Maggie asked me.

 

“Yeah, why not? I’m here now.”

 

“They wouldn’t want to do it without him,” Connor said as he opened the closet again and pulled out a chair for me.

 

I sat down, and Connor went into the closet to hand the toys to me as the kids approached, but there was only one problem. Maggie was standing in front of me, between the kids and me.

 

“What do you guys think? Do you think Miss Maggie deserves a Christmas present?” I asked the kids, leaning to the side so they could see me around her.

 

“Yeah!” they all shouted.

 

“No, no,” she said, shaking her head and holding out her hand. “You know how I feel about Christmas.

 

“Everybody loves Christmas,” one of the little girls said.

 

“You better listen to Isabella, Maggie. She knows a thing or two. She gets straight As in school,” I said, winking at Isabella sitting along the wall.

 

She giggled and kicked her feet.

 

“You really do know these kids, don’t you?” Maggie asked me, amazed.

 

“Yeah, duh. Now, come on up and get your present. We got enough for everyone and then some.” I leaned back and called to Connor. “I need a girl’s gift. Something for Maggie.”

 

When I handed her a doll, the kids behind her cracked up. They thought it was the funniest thing that I was giving a children’s toy to an adult. After she took the toy, I jerked my head to tell her to get out of the way and let the kids come up to get theirs.

 

It only took a few minutes to hand out most of the toys we’d picked up at the toy store, placing a toy in each child’s hand. Connor ran them upstairs after another round of hugs. A few of them even hugged Maggie, hopefully melting the ice that had built up around her heart a little bit.

 

“I’ll be back down in a minute,” Connor said, following the kids upstairs.

 

I put the chair back in the storage closet and sat down with Maggie along the wall again.

 

“So, you guys do this every year? Does he know how you get the toys?” she asked, and I realized she still thought we’d just walked out with them.

 

I chuckled. “The MC pays for the toys ahead of time, and the owner of the store just keeps a tab. If we pay too much, which we usually do, he uses the money to write off more toys for donations through other charities.”

 

“Wow, that’s not at all what I expected,” she said.

 

“I hope that’s a good wow. I hope you’re not disappointed that I’m not some big bad biker thug.” I leaned over and nudged her with my shoulder.

 

She laughed, blushing a little. “That’s kind of what I was expecting from you, you know. I mean, the way you handled me at the auction. The way you handled everyone else. You just kind of command the room. I figured you were the muscle all the time.”

 

“Just when I need to be,” I admitted. “You have to give back to the kids, man. Everyone deserves a chance to have a merry Christmas, right?”

 

She looked down at the doll I’d handed her, and a thoughtful look fell over her face. Her brow furrowed, and she frowned a little as she stared at the toy.

 

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

 

“I just kind of stopped believing in the magic of it all, you know?” She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

 

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s never too late to believe in magic.” I reached over and wiped the tear away from her cheek.

 

She grabbed my hand and held it on her face. A different look came into her eyes then, and she started to lean towards me.

 

Our lips almost touched. I could almost feel her soft, precious lips against mine.

 

“No, I’m sorry,” she said. “I need some fresh air.” She was suddenly flustered. She looked for a place to set her doll and finally just handed it to me.

 

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

 

“No, I’m fine. I just need some air. That’s all. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be back in a minute. Hold onto her for me. I’m coming back for her,” she said, pointing at the doll in its box as she got up and started to walk towards the front door.

 

I watched her hurry away from me, but I didn’t get up to follow her. She needed her space, and she needed me to be patient with her. There was a lot going on that she hadn’t told me, and she wasn’t going to be able to start moving forward until she let go of it.

 

“Where’s your friend going?” Connor asked as he came back down.

 

I laughed. “Just outside. She needs a cigarette or something,” I told him dismissively.

 

“She seems a bit overwhelmed by it all,” he said.

 

“Yeah. She’s had a rough night. I think it’s been rougher than she’s even told me.”

 

“You two go way back or what?” Connor asked.

 

“Or what. I just happened to show up at the right time. She needed to get out of a bad situation, and I was there to help, so I did.”

 

“You’re a good man, Blade. She looks like a good kid,” he said.

 

“Yeah, but I wonder just how bad things were before I came along,” I mused.

 

“Well, you better go find out, I guess. Thanks again for the toys, man. You guys do a great job every year helping these kids out.” He shook my hand while we talked.

 

“No problem, Connor. If you ever need anything, you know you can give us a call. These kids need anything, you can call me any time,” I reminded him, looking him in the eye.

 

“Of course, definitely. They’ll be talking about this for a while.” He stepped back and laughed a little. “Is she keeping the doll?”

 

“Yeah, I think so. She told me to hold onto it for her so she could get it back when she came back in.”

 

“I hope things work out for her. You’d better take that out there for her. It doesn’t seem to be warming up this morning. She’s probably going to be ready to go by the time you get back outside.” He started walking me to the front door.

 

He opened the door, and let me through.

 

“We’ll see you soon, Connor,” I told him as I left the building.

 

Maggie was standing at the bottom of the steps in the early morning glow. She stood with her arms wrapped around herself, shivering in the freezing breeze that was cutting through the downtown streets.

 

I walked down the steps to join her. “Let’s get you somewhere warmer,” I said behind her, startling her a little bit.

 

She turned around and nodded, so I put an arm across her back and walked with her around the corner to where my car was parked in the alley. I held the door for her and handed her the doll once she was in. She looked up at me with a joyful kind of surprise in her eyes, like she hadn’t expected me to hold onto it for her.

 

I winked and walked around to get in.

 

“Now, tell me, what was that?” Maggie asked once the car was on and the heat started to thaw her out.

 

“That place is an orphanage, a children’s home. We take them presents every year and just sort of look out for them,” I explained.

 

“You’re kidding me,” she said.

 

“No, you just saw it happen. Open your mind, Maggie. I know things are pretty grim right now, but that doesn’t make all of us monsters. I’m not here to take advantage of anyone. Now, let’s get out of here. Where to?” I asked as we pulled out of the alleyway.

 

“The bus station,” she said again. “And can I get a little cash to help me get a ticket?”

 

“About that. We need to talk about where you’re going before I take you to the bus station or pay for a bus ticket.”