Maggie

 

“Blade?”

 

I jerked awake in the bed as his name flew from my lips. I looked around the room and ran my hands across the covers next to me. He was gone. The room and the bed were both empty. I didn’t panic. It was no different from any other time I’d woken up to find myself alone in a hotel room or some dude’s bedroom from the night before.

 

The strange part was what I had seen that night, leading into the morning, had actually started to convince me Blade was one of the good guys. Apparently, no matter how good he was, he was still just a guy. No better than any of the rest.

 

I thought I’d heard him come back a few minutes after the police had taken him downstairs, but I couldn’t remember too clearly.

 

I looked at the window facing out of the room. “Good, it’s still daylight,” I mused to myself. “I need to figure out how I’m going to get out of here.”

 

I slid out of bed, still naked, and pulled on my clothes from where I’d left them on the floor. There was still time in the day to figure out where to go. I didn’t want to impose. I didn’t want him to worry about me. I certainly didn’t want to get stuck in another dead-end relationship with another man who was just going to use me for my body. I wasn’t going to be convenient for anyone. I was going to be me and I was going to be ever-present in someone’s life, or not in it at all.

 

I poked my head out of the room and looked up and down the hall. Giving myself the all-clear, I walked down to the staircase. It was time to plot my escape, time to get away. Blade seemed like a good guy, and I made a million excuses in my head for what I was doing, but it all boiled down to the fact I just wanted to get away. I had started running from Axel, and I didn’t want to stop just because I’d found another guy who was nice in the beginning.

 

“Hey, you’re the girl Blade brought back with him last night,” a voice said behind me. I turned around and saw a woman with tan skin and frizzy black hair. She wore black eyeliner, a thin T-shirt that exposed her midriff, a black leather vest without any of the MC’s colors, and skin tight blue jeans. She held a cigarette between two long, thin fingers. It wasn’t lit, but she held it like it was.

 

I froze. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what was okay to say.

 

“Relax, hun. I won’t bite. You’re not my type. What’s your name?” she asked in a rough voice that told me she’d spent a lot of time with these guys.

 

“Maggie,” I said cautiously.

 

“Nice to meet you, Maggie. Name’s Bre,” she said. “I’m Bean’s old lady.”

 

Who the hell is Bean? I wanted to ask her. I didn’t really need to know. I was going to be out of there pretty soon.

 

“You lookin’ for Blade?” she continued, like it didn’t faze her at all that I wasn’t answering her questions.

 

“Yeah, I was just about to go downstairs to see if he was down there,” I lied.

 

“He ran off a little while ago, after the cops left. Said he had something to handle,” Bre told me.

 

“Did he say how long he was going to be?” I asked.

 

“Honey, I’m lucky he told me anything. I just happened to be hanging out in the hallway when he got off the phone.”

 

“Off the phone?” I asked, mostly to myself.

 

“Don’t be one of those girls, getting jealous of every person he talks to. You’ll go crazy. These guys live free, baby. You want to keep one of them faithful, you gotta keep up with him. You can’t be sleepin’ all day and expect one of the Marauders to just hang around waiting on you,” Bre explained.

 

“I see,” I said, nodding. I was thinking about what that phone call must have been about. I wondered if someone from the auction was looking for me since he’d taken me away the way he did.

 

“Besides, it sounded like it was business anyway, so don’t sweat it, honey.”

 

I smiled. I wasn’t sweating it the way she thought I was. Something was wrong, and that realization added yet another item to the growing list of reasons why I wanted to leave. Bre was on that list, too.

 

“So, how’d you two meet? I haven’t seen you around before.”

 

My breath caught in my chest when she started probing. I decided to use Blade’s story from earlier. “We met at the club. He helped me when someone jacked my purse.”

 

“That must have been some kind of help he put on you this morning.” She smiled as she looked me up and down.

 

I wondered what she meant from that, or how she knew what had happened in the room that morning after we’d come back from the children’s home.

 

“It doesn’t take much to see what happened between the two of you,” Bre said, as if she could read my mind. “Be careful, honey. I hope you stick around.”

 

“You know, Blade isn’t the first rough type I’ve dated,” I announced quickly. “I know I probably look like I’m new here, like I’m new to this life or whatever, and I know I’m acting a little unsure of myself, but that’s because my life got turned upside down last night. Blade was there to pull me out of the situation I found myself in, and he brought me here so I had somewhere safe to go. So, take your judgmental eyes on down the hallway.”

 

I expected Bre to snap back at me. She looked like the kind of woman who started – and finished – a lot of fights.

 

Instead of bowing up at me or trying to start anything, she laughed. “You got some spunk, kid. I can see why he brought you back here. You keep that shit up, you’ll fit in just fine around here, girl.” She gave me a big smiled as she talked and nodded approvingly at how I’d responded to her.

 

“I don’t want to be underestimated because I might seem a little nervous right now. But I don’t know you, and I don’t know anyone else here other than Blade, so forgive me if I’m a little guarded,” I said, with as much authority as I could muster.

 

“Hey, it’s no problem, girlie. What happened last night?” The dreaded question.

 

“I don’t want to talk about it. You really don’t know how long Blade is going to be?” I asked.

 

“Nope, sorry. He didn’t say anything. But hey, I was about to go downstairs to get a drink and have a smoke. Wanna join? It would be a good way to pass the time while you wait on him,” she offered

 

“No, I’m good. Thanks.”

 

“What, you don’t drink? And you’re hanging out here?” she asked incredulously.

 

“Not really. And I don’t smoke either,” I told her, which wasn’t entirely true. I did drink. I just didn’t smoke.

 

“Well, why don’t you come on down? I can get some of the other old ladies together, and we can get to know each other better,” she persisted. “With an attitude like yours, I’m sure you’re going to be around a while anyway, so we might as well start getting to know you.”

 

I had to think of a way to run her off and avoid any further questions. “I guess I’ll just wait up here until he gets back. Had a long night last night. Maybe I can get some rest,” I told her as I rested my hand on the doorknob again.

 

“Suit yourself. If you need anything or if any of the other old ladies give you any trouble, just find me.” She winked as she walked past me to the stairs.

 

I felt trapped again. Despite everything, waking up alone had rattled me. Hell, having the cops barge in and put guns in our faces rattled me. I felt like I was back in the same old situation.

 

I remembered the times Axel had been in trouble with the law. There had been late night phone calls, officers or other gang members looking for him. There had been knocks at the door all hours of the night, times when we’d been forced to pack up what we could to hit the road in the middle of the night to avoid the cops or other people who wanted to kill him. They probably would have killed both of us if they’d ever caught up with us.

 

It had been no way to live, but it hadn’t always been that way, and that was what scared me so much about letting myself get too close to any other man. The clubhouse had felt safe, but the cops had already been there in the first few hours after I arrived. I had already experienced being made to stand up in front of men naked again, within just a few short hours of being pulled off that auction block.

 

“The auction,” I said aloud. I just knew that was why the cops had barged in. They must have been looking for someone connected to it, and Blade had obviously gone to fix whatever it was before the cops got to it.

 

I decided I needed to get a shower before trying to leave. I needed to wash up after what we’d done that morning once we got to the clubhouse. I grabbed my towel from the morning and a change of clothes from the room. I started the water and waited for it to heat up. I got in and let the hot water rush over my body. My thoughts slowed as I breathed in the steam and felt the warm air in the shower wrap around me.

 

Finally able to focus on my situation, finally alone with my own thoughts, I started analyzing everything that had happened. My muscles unknotted and relaxed. My body unwound under the heat. I leaned against the tile and closed my eyes. I asked myself why I was trying to run. I asked myself what I was afraid of. The same old fears kept rattling around in my head. I was simply afraid he was going to turn into Axel, or worse. Except he’d taken those toys to the kids at the children’s home. I knew he was a good guy. I didn’t need to keep making excuses.