Maggie

 

“Why does it matter where I’ll go?” I asked him. We were back on the question of where I would go if I got him to drop me off at the bus station.

 

“Because I don’t think you have anywhere to go, Maggie. I think you’re just running at this point,” he said in a calm voice.

 

“Earlier you were telling me you thought I was trying to set you up. Now you’re saying I must be on the run from something. Which is it, Blade?” I asked angrily, but I wasn’t mad at him. If I was mad at anyone, I was mad at myself for being back in the same situation I always found myself in.

 

“I’m sorry I misjudged you,” he said. “It was just hard to get a read on you before. You were being so guarded.”

 

“Well, I still haven’t told you shit,” I snapped.

 

“I know you haven’t, but I’ve gathered a lot from being around you,” he countered.

 

“Oh, have you?”

 

“Hey, calm down, Maggie. I’m not your enemy here. I just want to help you, okay? I would hope you would know that by now.” He reached over and put a hand on my shoulder.

 

He didn’t grab me like he did back at the diner when he had decided it was time to leave. This time his touch was gentle, and I almost melted into it. I wanted to melt into him. I wanted to give myself to him. I needed someone strong and protective like him, someone who cared about other people the way he did.

 

But I didn’t want to get in the way. I didn’t want to fall for another good guy just to find out he was an asshole down the road.

 

“Look, I don’t have anywhere else to be, and neither do you. Go ahead and tell me what’s going on,” he insisted.

 

I took a shaky breath. Tears were already welling up in my eyes. His kindness and generosity were so overwhelming, I didn’t think I could handle it. I didn’t know what to say, what to tell him, or where to even start.

 

Then, as if he could read my mind, he said, “Start with why you were in the alley last night.”

 

“Okay,” I said, hesitating, taking my time to start.

 

“It’s okay, Maggie. You’re safe here with me,” he said, coaxing me.

 

I smiled and laughed through the tears that were starting to trickle down my face. “My ex hit me, and I fled his house last night. It was kind of late, so I just grabbed a jacket and ran.”

 

“You were living with him?”

 

“Yeah, we had a place together. Well, it was his place really, the same place he had when we started seeing each other years ago. Now, I don’t regret leaving him, but I regret how I did it. I should have grabbed some money or my phone at least so I could have had a better place to stay than the street,” I continued.

 

“And that’s where the guys at the auction found you?” he asked.

 

“Yep. I was under a blanket in the alley. There was another guy there, a man who called himself Major Ralph. He offered me a blanket,” I told him.

 

“And he’s probably the one who gave you up. He’s been known to turn people over to the auctioneers. He usually keeps an eye out for new people crashing out on the pavement with him.”

 

“You’re shitting me. You think Major Ralph turned me in? Does he get paid to do that?” I asked.

 

“I don’t know for sure, but I’d assume so,” Blade told me.

 

“You really don’t have much to do with the auction itself, do you?” I asked him. I had noticed he didn’t seem to have a very positive opinion of the whole thing.

 

“I don’t really have much use for it, but they pay me well to make sure people stay in line,” he replied.

 

“Well, you know the rest, really. I got under that blanket and fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was at the auction. That’s where you came in,” I told him.

 

“I’m sorry, but you know, I’m really glad I ran into you there,” he said.

 

“I don’t get you, Blade. Why are you so interested in trying to help out a stranger?” I finally asked.

 

“It’s what I do. I can’t help it. You needed my help, and I just couldn’t resist coming in to take care of you. And you’re still not in a great place, so I’m going to stick around until you get back on your feet,” he explained to me.

 

“You don’t have to do that. No one is asking you to do that,” I protested.

 

“That’s fine, but all that being said, I really think you need to stay put for a little while until you get your bearings. You don’t need to go running off right now. You need to be where you’ve got some support and where you can get your feet under you again. Once you’re able to stand on your own, if you want to go running off somewhere, that’s when you do it.”

 

I laughed. “But once I have my feet under me and I’m on my own for a change, I’m not going to want to run off.”

 

“That may be true, but still, I think you should hang around and accept help when it’s offered instead of running away and falling right back into the same trap.” He took his hand back and had both hands on the wheel.

 

I stared at him for a moment, watching the intent look on his face while he drove through the downtown streets. I had noticed that we didn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular, just driving around. I wanted to reach over and trace the lines of the tribal tattoos on his arm and the scars from what must have been old fights. I didn’t understand why he was trying to help, but I was glad he was there.

 

“What exactly are you offering me, Blade?” I asked him finally. We’d been dancing around this all night, I realized. There was no point in not just cutting straight to the point.

 

“I’ve got a room back at Marauders’ HQ where you can stay,” he said.

 

I laughed and nodded. I knew it. “Are there any strings attached to this offer?” I asked.

 

“What do you mean?” he asked, taking his eyes off the road to look at me.

 

“I mean, what do I have to do to stay there? Do I have to sleep with you, sleep with the whole club, what? It’s too good to be true, so what’s the catch?” I asked.

 

“There’s no catch, Maggie,” he assured me. “Now, if you want to sleep with me, that’s great, but I’m not going to ask you to,” he added, laughing.

 

“Right.” I sat back and looked through my window at the buildings passing by outside, considering his offer. All I had been thinking about was getting away, running away, fleeing just like I had done every time before.

 

I fled my foster home. I fled every relationship before Axel. I even fled Axel. I had wanted to flee from the auction, but Blade had come along and saved me. I had wanted to escape from him all night and all morning long, but he didn’t let me. He’d offered it a couple of times, but I knew there was no way I was going to get away from him.

 

He had been trying to save me the whole time, and I hadn’t wanted to admit I needed saving. But I needed it so bad. The sun was up now, and the entire city was glowing in the golden light. Dawn had come. It was a new day. And I realized the only way it was truly going to be new was if I allowed him to offer me sanctuary.

 

“I’ll do it,” I finally said. “I’ll take you up on your offer.” I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to admit that I had just accepted his generosity. Again.

 

“Good. You’ll be pleased when we get to the clubhouse and HQ. You’ll be able to get a hot shower, a clean change of clothes that fit, and you’ll have a clean bed to sleep in,” he said.

 

“Will you stay?” I asked.

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

“Will you stay with me this morning?” I was appalled at how vulnerable I sounded, but I didn’t want to be there alone. I was afraid everything would go to shit if he left me alone. It occurred to me that Blade might have been the very first person I ever could have actually trusted.

 

“Sure, if that’s what you want,” he said.

 

“Thanks.” I still hadn’t turned around to look at him. I couldn’t face him, not after admitting I needed his help. I’d spent so much time fighting with him over it all night and all morning that having to admit it now just felt like a punch in the gut.

 

“Is everything okay over there?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, just before we get to HQ, what’s your real name?” I asked.

 

“Robert James,” he told me. “What’s your name?”

 

“Maggie Evans.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Evans,” he said, snickering.

 

“Yeah, you, too, Robert.” I turned around to look at him as I said his name, and our eyes met, locking in for a brief moment. I could feel the connection, but we both looked away quickly, as if we couldn’t handle the spark.

 

“Don’t ever say that name,” Blade told me.

 

“Oh, but it’s cute. What if I wanted to call you Robert all the time?” I teased him.

 

“Please, no.”

 

We got a good laugh out of it, and then we were pulling into the lot behind Marauders’ HQ.

 

“This is it,” Blade announced.

 

HQ was on a corner lot. It was in one of the older downtown buildings. There was a shop door like they would have used on a mechanic shop or a firehouse. There were also stone steps leading up to a door that probably led to an office at one point.

 

We pulled into the parking lot behind the building. There was an automated gate closing it off. Blade had to punch a code into a keypad to let us in. He pulled in and parked alongside several other cars.

 

“Bikes go inside,” he explained to me as he parked the car. “Cars and such go back here. The gate and fence protect them.”

 

He switched off the car and got out. I followed, unsure of where we were going or what we were doing, but I had become proficient in following Blade around like a lost puppy dog. He led me in through a back door that took us into the shop bay where the motorcycles were parked along one wall.

 

The clubhouse was quite a sight. There was a bar downstairs with pool tables and dart boards, a couple of couches, and TVs mounted around the room just like at any sports bar. The front half of the room doubled as a shop where they must have worked on their bikes. There were stairs going up to what looked like an office. From the office, we walked through to another staircase that led up to the rooms.

 

Blade showed me where the showers were. They had separate men’s and women’s restrooms and showers.

 

“That’s for the old ladies,” he said, pointing me into the women’s shower.

 

“But what about clothes?” I asked, and he took me to the room where I was apparently going to be staying. The room came with a dresser and a closet both full of clothes.

 

“We keep the rooms stocked up on necessities, just in case. Some of the MC’s old ladies help us take care of clothes. You should find several sizes of everything in here. I’ll give you some privacy while you get your clothes together,” he said, stepping out of the room.

 

“No, you can stay,” I assured him. It was my way of asking him to. The last time I’d been alone, I ended up naked and on display for everyone to see.

 

“Okay, I’ll stay,” he said, and he came back in. He plopped down on the bed and kicked off his boots. “I can’t promise I’ll be awake when you get back from the shower,” he joked.

 

“That’s fine. Just where are the towels?” I walked out of the closet with a t-shirt that looked like it would fit better than what I had on, and I scrounged through the drawers in the dresser until I found some decent panties that were the right size (finally).

 

“Towels are in the closet in the bathroom.”

 

“Thanks, Blade. Really. Thank you for everything,” I said as I left the bedroom and headed for the shower. I was nervous, but I felt safer there than I had anywhere else in a long time.