Chapter 20
Girth
Lila agreed to go with me to the bar to meet her dad, and we rode on my bike in silence. I couldn’t be sure what she was thinking, but I sure as hell knew what I was; that this thing between us was spiraling out of control now.
I had never felt this way about a woman before; where it was more than just about her body, her tight plump ass and her pussy. After we had sex in her bathroom, I’d held her like she was my woman. I’d breathed in her scent and tried to hold on to that feeling of relief and happiness. I wasn’t familiar with these feelings I was feeling now, but all I knew was that I didn’t like them. They made me feel weak and they made me bad at my job.
We arrived at the bar and we both walked in together, to find the members of her father’s MC already there and talking in panicked hushed whispers. Lewis’ eyes lit up when he saw Lila and they rushed towards each other and he pulled her into his arms.
While Lila hugged her father, he looked up at me with narrowed blue eyes—eyes that were identical to Lila’s and I clenched my jaws. Lewis stroked his daughter’s hair and he was whispering something to her, which looked like he was asking if she was okay. Lila nodded her head and then he turned to me.
Lewis’ leg was still bandaged and I could see that he had a limp as he walked towards me.
“Girth,” he said and I remained silent. We were glaring at each other, although I knew what it was that he was going to say.
“I’m only going to ask you once. What the fuck happened and why didn’t you do your job?” Lewis said the words through gritted teeth.
“Daddy, please!” Lila said aloud and I looked at her and tried to stop her with my eyes. She was only going to make matters worse if she showed Lewis that she was on my side, that I needed her to defend me.
“I fucked up,” I replied, in a low growl and Lewis was nodding his head.
“I know you fucking did. You allowed my daughter to be nabbed from her bed, while you were on the premises. What were you doing? Why didn’t you see them coming? There were five of them in the car!” Lewis was thundering now and everyone in the bar was silent. Everyone’s attention was turned to us and I could feel the back of my neck burning up. Lewis had to turn his head up to look at me, because I was taller than him. I was fucking taller than everyone, but I was looking down at my feet now.
I knew I deserved to hear everything that Lewis was saying. I deserved to be punished, to be banished for not getting the job done.
“I was sitting on the chair on her porch, smoking, and I didn’t hear the car driving up to the back of the house. It was a blind spot and I missed it,” I said and Lewis crunched up the empty beer can in his hand and threw it away with a growl.
“Daddy, stop!” Lila was still pleading behind us, but Lewis and I were glaring at each other.
“You were on the job. You were supposed to watch out for my baby girl. You were supposed to fucking keep her safe!” Lewis growled and I looked down at my feet again and nodded my head.
“I swear to you that I will not allow something like this to happen again. I will keep her safe. I promise,” I said and Lewis grunted and ran a hand through his hair.
“What am I going to fucking do with your promises? You were supposed to be the best. I don’t know what Elwood was talking about, but he sure as hell wasn’t talking about this kind of incompetence!” Lewis was still hollering and now Fred came up to us and put a hand on Lewis’ shoulder.
“Cut the guy some slack, brother. He’s the one who rescued Lila. Single-handedly against five guys,” Fred was saying, and I clenched my jaws and kept my head turned towards the ground.
“What did they do to you? Did they touch you? Did they hurt you?” Lewis was like a madman. His eyes were wild and he went rushing towards his daughter again and Lila shook her head wildly.
“Nothing. They didn’t do anything. Girth got me out of there before they had the chance,” Lila replied, in a loud screechy voice and Lewis pulled his daughter into his arms again and they were hugging tightly.
I watched them with a dryness in my throat. I could see, first-hand, the relationship between Lewis and Lila. Lewis was obsessed with his daughter, and Lila looked up to him, no matter how much she claimed that she wanted to get away from him…they were all the family they each had.
Lewis pulled himself away from Lila and came charging towards me again.
“You’re going to keep my daughter safe, you hear me? You’re going to make sure that you don’t slip up a second bloody time, you understand?” he was screaming at me but I could hear an emotional quiver in his voice. I nodded my head and met his eyes. I wanted him to know that he had my word and I was genuinely sorry. The truth was that he had no idea how much I hated myself for what had happened. That Lila’s kidnapping had affected me just as violently as it had affected him.
The doors of the bar flew open, and Hugh walked in, in his police uniform.
“Lila!” was his first word and he went rushing towards her with his arms open. I felt my blood curdle in my veins.
***
I watched as the man I despised rushed towards Lila and wrapped his arms around her. Lila wasn’t exactly hugging him back. She had her arms pressed tightly to her sides and appeared to be squished by Hugh’s tight bear hug but she didn’t push him away either.
I had to clench my fists to stop myself from lashing out at him, from roaring with anger as I watched them hugging. How was I going to live with this? I knew that I needed to keep my distance from Lila, but for that, I would have to see her leading a normal life, being with other guys like Hugh, dating other men. How was I going to move on with my life if I couldn’t handle a simple hug between them?
I was gritting my teeth as I watched them, and then I saw Lewis walk towards them. He thumped Hugh’s back affectionately and it made my blood boil even more. It was obvious that if Lewis ever had to choose; he would pick Hugh for his daughter over me any day.
“Thanks for coming in, Hugh,” Lewis said and Hugh finally pulled himself away from Lila.
“It’s no problem. I’ve already started working on the police reports for that site. You guys left behind quite a scene this time,” Hugh said and Lewis shot me a look.
“Yeah, things kinda got out of hand,” he replied, and then forcibly turned his gaze from me.
I could sense that Lila was looking at me too, but I was forcing myself to not meet her eyes. The last thing I wanted was to crumble at her feet which I knew would happen if I looked in her direction. My body was experiencing an array of emotions that I wasn’t accustomed to, the most intense of which was jealousy. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been jealous of another man. It definitely never had to do anything with a woman. I had just never wanted a woman this badly before.
“Well, whatever it was, I’m glad that our Lila is safe and I’ll take care of the police reports like I said,” Hugh told Lewis who nodded his head.
“Well, I’m only safe because of Girth. I wouldn’t be standing here right now if it wasn’t for him,” Lila spoke up and I had to clench my jaws in rage. When was she going to stop coming to my defense? I didn’t need her support. I needed her to fucking stay away from me.
“Sure, yeah, good job, Girth,” Hugh looked up at me with his shining bright baby-boy eyes and I could have knocked him down with one punch if I wanted to.
I was gritting my teeth and I could sense the back of my neck turning red hot, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around to find Fred standing behind me, he was smiling.
“Yes, thank you, Girth. I know Lewis appreciates your good work, even though he’s not in a mood to say it to you right now,” Fred said and with an arm over my shoulder, he started leading me quietly away from the rest of the group. I could feel Lila’s eyes boring into my back as I walked away. I could also sense that Fred had something important to say to me.
“It was my job, I don’t need thanks,” I replied and we came to a stop at a dark corner of the bar. We were facing each other now, and Fred looked calm and intense at the same time.
“Listen to me Girth, I’m not trying to attack you, at least not right now, but I’m sure you know better than to do anything with Lila,” Fred said and my brows knotted up. I didn’t want to say anything, anything that could possibly implicate me. I remembered Lila mentioning that she’d seen Fred looking at me and the way I was looking at Lila and Hugh, but I hadn’t believed her then. I had just assumed that she was playing one of her games.
“I know you know what I’m talking about, brother. Lila is my captain’s daughter, and she’s like my own daughter and it is my duty to take care of any guy from the MC who even thinks of laying a hand on her,” Fred said. Even though there was a threatening element to what he was saying, he didn’t sound like he was threatening me. He sounded friendly and calm and I realized it was much easier to talk with Fred than it was with Elwood or Lewis. I still said nothing.
“Look, Girth, I like you. You’re good at your job and you come highly recommended. I know that there is no man here in the Marked Skulls who can handle Lila the way you’ve been handling her. For that, I am just as grateful as Lewis should be. But, I want to tell you that if we ever find out that you’ve done something with her, it would be more than just losing your job. It’s just against the rules. You catch my drift?” Fred said and I had no choice now but to acknowledge that I’d heard him. I nodded my head and Fred smiled suddenly.
He thumped my shoulder and continued smiling.
“Cheer up, brother. Lila is safe and unharmed, all because of you. It doesn’t matter what craziness Lewis is sprouting right now; it’s time to celebrate. Just go back out there and make sure you do nothing more than your job,” Fred said, and giving me a last thump on my shoulder, he walked away from me and I pressed my eyes close.
Shit.
Fred knew. There was no hiding it from him now. He knew and he had done his part by warning me. He hadn’t threatened me, like I would have expected him to. He was trying to be my friend and was warning me of the consequences of touching my captain’s daughter and the best option now would be to take his advice.