17. Chapter Seventeen
Maya
F irst days on the job were always stressful, filled with paperwork and orientation, tours and training, my head was ready to explode by the time I pulled into my parent’s driveway. It was hard to think of it as my home, when I hadn’t spent much time there—or was fully welcomed there.
It was a little after six-thirty and I was starving. I’d found out quickly that I probably wouldn’t be getting out of work on time—ever—not when I had to catch up the night shift nurse in my area, then chart my patients—not that I’d done any of that today. But it would be my routine eventually.
Grabbing my lunch box and purse, I climbed out of my car and headed for the house. I could only pray that my mother had made dinner. With any luck, I could just heat up a plate, and eat before I took a shower and fell into bed.
“Where have you been?” My mother’s shrill voice cut through my exhaustion and had my metaphorical hackles rising.
Looking up, I found my mother standing in doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Elaine Henderson was short and petite with short graying blond hair that she still dyed and a pinched look permanently on her face. “Work. I told you; my hours are from nine to six during training.”
Her mother narrows her eyes at her. “I expected a phone call that you’d be home late.”
“I came straight home from work. Literally. Traffic was hell.”
“Don’t get an attitude with me. You want to live in my house, you can abide by my rules. A phone call when you’re going to be late is common curtsey.”
“I’m not late, though. I told you my hours, and with traffic this time of night—”
“Enough with the attitude,” my mother snapped.
“I don’t have an attitude,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. “You’re not listening.”
“You, ungrateful little brat,” my mother ranted. “You think you know it all? Well, you can do it all then too. I want you out of this house.”
My mouth dropped open in shock, my mouth practically hitting the floor. “You’re kicking me out? ”
“Sure am.”
“For what? Exactly?” I ground the words out between clenched teeth, as my body began to shake. I gripped my bags tightly, my knuckles white as I waited for my mother to speak again.
“For being rude. I won’t have you talk to me like that in my own home.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
I looked into the living room, noticing my father for the first time. Sitting in his recliner watching TV, he had heard everything and had not said a word. “Dad?” I asked him, hoping for back up.
“You heard your mother.” His voice was gruff, no-nonsense, leaving zero room for debate.
Tears welled in my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing to justify my mother with any emotion. “Bad enough you couldn’t come to my college graduation, now you’re kicking me out, because of traffic? What did I ever do, to make you hate me so much?”
My mother didn’t respond, instead, she turned her back to me and walked away, leaving me to gape after her. Turning to my father, I walked around the recliner, so I was between him and the TV that he cared more about, than his own daughter.
His caramel eyes, eyes that matched my own, flicked from the TV to meet my gaze. “Don’t look at me like that,” he sighed. “You know how your mother is. Give her some time, she’ll calm down.”
I just shook my head as disappointment raged through me. “One day, you’re gonna look back and wonder just how you lost me, and you’re going to realize you did nothing to stop it. ”
Emotions flickered across his caramel eyes. “Don’t be like that, sweetheart.”
I just shook my head, fighting to back the sob that was bubbling in my chest. Abruptly, I turned away and headed for my bedroom. I needed to pack; I needed to leave before I broke down. I would not give my mother satisfaction of seeing my pain.
In my bedroom, I grabbed my two large suitcases—that I still hadn’t unpacked in the week I’d been home from school.
In fact, all I needed to do, was pack up my bathroom, grab my dirty clothes basket and my suitcases and I would be set for a while.
I could come back and grab my mountains of boxes later, but I’d at least have enough to get me by.
I took the time to slide my laptop into my pillows before I placed those into the dirty clothes bin as well. I wheeled my suitcases out of my room, to find the living room empty—my father gone.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I wheeled my suitcases out the front door and left them on the porch. It only took me two trips to get everything important I owned out of my parent’s house.
Once my car was loaded, I drove away without glancing back. When I was out of sight and around the corner, I pulled over and parked. “What the fuck?” I sighed, making sure my doors were locked before I pulled out my cell phone and called my sister.
“Hey boo, how was your first day?” Jenna answered on the second ring.
“Mom kicked me out,” I said in greeting .
“What the fuck?” Jenna snapped.
“Yep.”
“Dude, what happened?”
“I told her my hours for the week several times. Today I got off at six, technically. I didn’t get out of there till almost 6:10, and with traffic I walked in the door at maybe 6:45. She said I need to call her when I’m going be home later than planned. Because you know traffic is plannable.”
“What the actual—where was Dad?”
“Oh, he was sitting right there in the living room, watching TV while I stood right behind him. He didn’t say a word.”
“Fucking bastard.”
“Yep.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m sitting in my car around the block. Thankfully I hadn’t really unpacked yet. So I threw my clothes back in my suitcases and grabbed them, my dirty laundry basket, pillows, and important stuff like my laptop and that in the car.”
“Jesus,” Jenna groaned. “What’s your plan?”
“Well,” I hedged. “Remember I told you my guys were wanting me to move in with them?”
“Yeahhh,” Jenna hedged.
“Well, after my date Saturday night with Jason, he brought me back to a rental house that him and the guys just got. They just signed a lease on a house just a couple blocks away from mom and dad.”
“Wow,” Jenna murmured. “I—that’s—wow.” She laughed. “That’s amazing. Honestly. Wow.”
I laughed, hearing my sister so utterly speechless was a first. “Yeah. I haven’t told them yet. But that’s where I’m going to go now. I’m gonna ask them to get the rest of my boxes and stuff.”
“That’s amazing! Yes, absolutely, sister! Go live your best life! Damn, if I had three hot-as-sin men after me, you know I’d be there.”
I laughed loudly and heartily, immediately feeling better after talking to my sister, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “Yeah, so I’m gonna go do that.”
Jenna cackled like a witch. “Alright, sister! Call me tomorrow night and we’ll talk about everything.”
“Sounds good, Jen. Love you.”
“Love you too girl. Sorry mom and dad suck.”
“Thanks.”
“Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Yep. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Smiling, I hung up and set my phone in the cup holder.
I made sure it was safe to drive, before I pulled away from the curb and drove the three blocks to the house Jason, Marcos, and Nico had rented.
The two-story blue and white farmhouse was something out of my dreams, set back on just over an acre of land, it had a large wrap around porch and a detached garage.
The long driveway ran down the right side of the house the house and ended at the open garage doors, where three black Harley’s were lined up inside.
I pulled my car to a stop in front of the doors, and barely shut the car off before I saw my guys walking out of the backdoor of the house, toward my car.
After quickly unbuckling, I climbed out of the car before my boys could reach me. “Hi.” I smiled broadly as I looked them over.
“Hi, beautiful,” Nico said, walking right into me, pressing his body against mine. His hands cradled my face as he pulled me into a mind-blowing kiss.
“Hi,” I murmured against his lips. My hands came up and gripped the lapels of his leather cut, holding him against me.
Someone squeezed behind me, their warm body pushing me against Nico. “God, you look amazing,” Marcos muttered into my ear, before he sucked a wet open-mouth kiss into my neck.
I moaned and leaned back against him. Nico used my distraction to angle my head and devoured my mouth again.
“Alright, numb nuts, give her a minute to breathe,” Jason grumbled.
Nico ended our make out session with a gentle a chaste kiss to my lips, before he stepped back and gave me space .
Marcos didn’t move, his open-mouthed kisses led up to my ear before he said, “As lovely as this surprise is, what are you doing here?”
I sighed. “My parents kicked me out.”
Marcos pulled away, dropping his arms from around my waist. “The fuck?”
“What happened?” Nico demanded.
“Are you OK?” Jason asked.
I took a moment to really think about how I felt about it all, the hurt and the anger that simmered inside me. “No.” I shook my head slowly, grimacing. “Not really, but I think I will be.”
A smirk tugged at Jason’s lips before he slowly walked toward me. “Yeah, Darlin’,” he murmured, stepping in close to me. “You’re in good hands. We’ve got you from here.”
A soft whine, low in my throat, tore out of me as his mouth descended on mine. The kiss was slow and sensual, passionate. Jason poured his heart and soul into me as his hands wrapped around my hips and tugged me against his hard body.
Marcos moved away, giving us space, and I sighed as I leaned into Jason and one of the most passionate kisses I’d ever experienced. I was dizzy and breathless when he pulled away. He kissed my forehead as his hands slid around my waist to my back and he hugged me tightly.
An unexpected sob tore out of me. The unexpected comfort and security I felt just by being in his arms, allowed for the emotions that had been bubbling at the surface to finally boil over.
Clinging to him, I buried my face into his chest and let it all pour out of me, all while Jason rubbed my back and murmured soothing sounds as he held me tight. “It’s alright, darlin’, we’ve got you.”
I gave myself a sold two minutes to bawl my heart out.
When I pulled away, I took a deep breath, wiped my eyes, and shoved down the hurt and pain.
I straightened my shoulders, cleared my throat, and took charge of my life.
“I packed what I could in my car, my clothes and important stuff. I need to get the boxes still, but it was all still packed from college.”
Marcos pulled out his phone and started typing. “We’ll get the prospects out here. We’ll grab everything tonight. No reason for you to have to go back there.”
I smiled, feeling the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. “Thank you.”
Marcos turned to me and cupped my cheek. “We’ve got you, Mi Vida.”
In the end, I went back to my parent’s house with the guys. They had four prospects and two pickup trucks and I didn’t have to lift a finger. My mother was livid when I walked back in the house, but I directed the men to my bedroom and instructed them to take everything but the furniture .
It took twenty minutes to pack up my life and remove any trace of me from my parent’s home. Twenty minutes, and my parents never said a word to me. My father sat in his recliner, watching TV and didn’t bat an eye as leather-clad bikers stomped through carrying boxes and bags of my belongings.
Thankfully, my mother kept her mouth shut, and we were able to get out of there as fast as possible.
Now, standing inside the bedroom my boys had given me—the master suite of the rental house—I looked around the chaos.
My guys had already furnished the large room over the weekend, purchasing two king beds and pushing them together so the four of us could sleep together easily.
Dressers lined the walls, and two nightstands framed the two beds.
My suitcases and dirty clothes bin littered the floor, there were bags of toiletries covering the counter in the ensuite bathroom.
The bed was covered with odds and ends we had grabbed from my bedroom along with my laptop.
We had left most of my boxes downstairs in the dining room, out the way for me to go through and unpack when I had more time.
It was getting late, and I still needed to eat dinner and shower. My first day had gone from being long and stressful, to utterly exhausting and heartbreaking. I forced the thoughts from my mind as Jason walked into the bedroom. “How you doin’?” he asked softly.
“I’m fuckin’ drained,” I answered honestly.
He nodded, as if he already knew. “Go shower and get ready for bed. Nico’s cooking dinner, it’ll be ready in a bit.”
Relief washed over me—I wouldn’t have to make any more decisions; they would take care of everything. Nodding, I reached out to open my suitcase when Jason moved behind me and wrapped me in his arms.
“You’re safe darlin’, we got you.” He murmured the words into my ear as he pulled me back against his chest.
“I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” I muttered.
He chuckled softly. “You’re not a mess. This is just a bump in the road, you’ll see. You were meant to be with us.”
I smile softly. “This place is beautiful. I’m so happy you guys got this place.”
Jason only squeezed me tighter, before he spanked my ass once. “Go on, shower.”
“Yes, sir,” I smiled.
Jason chuckled again. “Easy now, we haven’t negotiated yet.”
“Right,” I sighed.
“Don’t worry about it just yet. We’ll talk this weekend. Go on, shower.”
I nodded and headed into the attached bathroom, feeling lighter, despite my exhaustion. My men would take care of everything. I didn’t have worry. They would take care of me.