Chapter 12
Girth
I hadn’t slept all night. Not just because I couldn’t get Lila out of my mind but also because I had to stay awake to keep a watch on her property. I’d stood for hours at her door, then sat down and then stood up again. By the time day broke; I could feel a stinging sensation at the back of my eyes. My body was craving sleep and my brain felt like it was shutting down. Lewis was right the other day when he said that I needed a break. I definitely needed a break right now, from Lila and from guarding her.
I waited till it was nine, forcing myself to stay away from her door and then on the hour, I knocked. Lila was quick to open the door, almost like she’d been waiting on the other side for me to come to her.
She was freshly showered and dressed in a thin cotton yellow dress, and had her beautiful blond hair tied in a loose ponytail that fell over her slender shoulder.
“Do you want to come in for breakfast?” she asked, in a small voice. Seeing her again, even though it had only been one night of us being apart; hit me like a punch on the face. I wasn’t prepared for the effect she was going to have on me. I had never imagined that any woman would be capable of it.
“No, I’m not hungry,” I said and I could feel a rumble in my belly.
“Coffee?” she asked and I could see the eagerness in her gaze. She was begging me to say yes, but I wasn’t going to fall for it this time, not again.
“We need to go. I’m going to drop you to the auto shop and then I’m going to take a break for a few hours. You’ll be safe there with your dad and the other men,” I told her and I stood my ground on the porch. I wasn’t going to go into her house again, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Lila gulped and stared at me. She looked like she could have been crying and I wanted to hold her, but it was against the rules. My job was to keep her safe, not to provide her with emotional support.
“You can rest here? I’ll make up the couch for you and you can get some sleep,” she suggested, in a small quiet voice and I shook my head.
“I’m taking you to the auto shop. Let’s go,” I commanded and turned away from her, walking down the porch to my parked bike.
I had to wait a couple of minutes before she finally emerged from the house. I was expecting her to put up more of a fight but she didn’t. She climbed up on my bike behind me, throwing her legs on either side before she placed her small delicate hands on my shoulders.
I gulped down every desperate surge of desire I had for her when she touched me and I rode to the auto shop. I would be lying if I claimed that having her sitting behind me, with our bodies just inches apart, her hands on my shoulders…wasn’t distracting, but I said nothing and neither did I do anything. This was a job and I was going to have to start treating it as one before things got out of hand.
We arrived at the auto shop, where Lewis and the others greeted us. They were clearly happy to see Lila back at the shop again, and Lewis took me aside to thank me for bringing her there. I tried to keep my guilt under the surface.
The man was thanking me for a job well done, while the whole time I was hiding the secret that his daughter’s hand had been on my cock, milking it, just the night before.
“I think I’m going to take that break you offered earlier,” I told Lewis and he grinned at me and nodded his head.
“Of course, you deserve it, brother. You can have the room upstairs at the bar, it’s prepared for you,” Lewis said and thumped my back. I gulped again when I heard him call me brother. I had betrayed him and he didn’t even know it.
Without looking at Lila again, I jumped back on my bike and rode to T-Bone.
Like Lewis had promised, the room upstairs was ready for me. It was a simple affair, with nothing more than a single bed and a nightstand and I sank into it without taking off my boots or any of my clothes.
When my head hit the pillow, I could feel myself drifting into sleep quickly. I wasn’t dreaming, it was more a jumbled stream of thoughts and I was conscious for most of it.
I was thinking about my mother, and what her addiction to drugs had done to our lives. How my father was never around and I didn’t even remember what he looked like anymore.
I had managed to get my brother out of that house fast enough, when I could afford it and I was grateful that at least he had the chance now to complete high school. What kind of a family did I belong to? Not the kind that Lila had. She had a good father, a community of men and friends to look after her. Being with me would only cause her trouble. My life would be nothing more than a bad influence on hers and she definitely deserved better than that.
I was sleeping lightly, waking up every few minutes because I was fantasizing about Lila one minute and then thinking about how being with me would destroy her life; the next. It wasn’t a peaceful sleep, even though my body was craving it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do my job well if I didn’t get any rest but Lila had taken away my peace of mind now. It was like I’d forgotten how to fall asleep.
***
I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing and I answered it groggily. I didn’t recognize the number, but it was Abe on the line, sounding anxious.
“Where’s Lila?” I barked, jumping out of the bed and rushing to the door of the room. I heard a gunshot in the background and I could feel the adrenaline pumping in my veins.
“She’s fine, you need to get here and take her away, like now!” Abe was shouting, over the voices of the other guys around him. I could hear the commotion and raised voices and another gunshot.
“Fuck!” I growled and ended the call, before running out of the room and out of the bar.
I rode my bike hard to the auto shop. What the fuck was going on? I shouldn’t have left her there by herself. It was my duty to look after her, even if it meant going without sleep or rest for days. I shouldn’t have just left her in the care of other people.
I was cursing under my breath the whole time to the auto shop and I jumped off my bike without parking and ran towards the gate, which was now surrounded by armed men from the Marked Skulls.
“Where’s Lila?” I barked at them but I didn’t stop running or hear their response. I could hear my own harsh breathing, my heart was racing in my chest. What was I going to do if something happened to her?
“Girth!” I saw Abe who was standing at the doors of the garage with a gun in his hand.
“What the fuck happened? Where is she?” I asked, panting. I was running in and Abe followed me.
“She’s fine, she’s there,” I heard him say, but I’d seen her already.
She was crouched down on the ground, in front of a car that had a tyre missing. She was in one piece. Other than her hair coming undone, she looked unharmed. In front of her was Lewis’ stretched body, and his ankle was in Lila’s hand.
“What happened?” I thundered as I approached them, and Lila looked up at me. Some of the other guys were standing around her.
Her blue eyes were wide with fear and my first instinct was to pull her into my arms and kiss her, but I forced myself to not to do it.
“It was the Dark Legion, they landed up here and opened fire,” Fred replied.
Lewis was on his back, stretched out in front of his daughter and I could see that Lila was in the process of bandaging his foot. She looked afraid, too scared to speak and I wanted to hold her in my arms and stroke her hair and reassure her that I would take care of her.
“They got Daddy!” she blubbered, but Lewis was lifting himself up on his elbows off the ground.
“Just my leg. They got me on my leg, it’s just a scrape, I don’t have a bullet lodged me in or anything,” Lewis said, and he seemed to be in good spirits.
“And we got rid of the bastards,” Abe was walking up to us.
“How many of them were there?” I asked and Rodeo shrugged his shoulders.
“Thirteen, fifteen…we didn’t count. More than us anyway,” he said and I clenched my jaws and looked at Lila again. We were surrounded by her friends, her protectors and her father, I knew I couldn’t do or say anything to arouse any suspicion that there was something else going on between us.
“Are you okay?” was all I said. I had to say something. I was worried for her, especially since she looked deathly pale with fear. She nodded her head and held my gaze. She had a look of relief in her eyes now, like she was happy to see me and I wanted her to know that I regretted leaving her alone like this. She was my responsibility and I knew she trusted me.
The others were helping Lewis off the ground now and Lila joined in. She’d bandaged his left calf and I could see some blood seeping out from under it.
“Daddy, you need to go to the hospital. I’m not trained in first aid, I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she said to her father, who was now being carried over to one of the parked cars.
“I’m fine, mouse, I’m just a little bruised that’s all. I don’t need a hospital for a thing like this,” Lewis said with a laugh, but we could all see that he was in pain but was trying to hide it.
“Where are you taking him?” Lila was following them and I followed her, I was too anxious to let her leave my sight even for a moment.
“They’re taking me home, mouse, you don’t need to worry,” Lewis called out to her, as Abe held the car door open for him to be helped in.
“Well, I’m going with you then,” Lila stated and whipped around to me. “Are you coming?” she asked and her eyes were glowing.
“Of course I am,” I replied, matching her gaze and I saw a flicker of a smile stretching her lips.
“Let’s go then,” she said and walked out towards the gates of the auto shop where she could see my bike fallen on the ground. I followed her, keeping my distance but my eyes on her.
I had spent the morning trying to get rid of my feelings for her, trying to sleep it off but now I knew that none of that had worked. I still felt the same way about Lila that I did from the first moment I saw her.
I got on the bike and she sat down behind me. Once again, she put her hands on my shoulders and we rode off in the direction of Lewis’ home. At least we were together again, and I was more at peace now than I was alone on that bed trying to get some sleep.