3. Autumn
THREE
AUTUMN
“You sure you want to go here?” the Uber driver asks. His heedful expression can’t be mistaken.
No, but I don’t have a choice. I walked around for another hour after leaving Tink’s bar and found most of the shops already closed for the night.
Then the motel, which was far from impressive, cost a lot more than I expected, even with the friendly discount—if it was even applied.
California is more expensive than I’m used to.
I look out the car window. Behind an intimidating iron gate, a large multistory mansion sits at the end of a long driveway. It gives more “wealthy family” vibes, and not so much “motorcycle club.” Even the driver knows what lies beyond the gates, and it doesn’t settle any of my nerves .
My fingers curl around the door handle, and I take a deep breath. I can do this.
“Thanks,” I mutter, and then open it. He doesn’t wait to see the outcome, leaving as soon as I shut the door.
When I walk closer, a man leaning against one of the gate’s pillars, scrolling on his phone, draws my attention.
He wasn’t noticeable from where the car had dropped me off.
He has on the same vest as Razer and Viper from the bar.
The crunch of the gravel under my shoes has his head snapping up, and he pushes off the pillar, walking toward the center of the gate.
“You lost?” His eyebrows dip down, eyes tracking over the length of me with scrutiny.
I shake my head. “No—uhm—Razer sent me.” I pull out the paper just in case he doesn’t believe me. I know how it looks for a strange woman to be randomly walking up to their home.
The man nods. “Oh yeah, Dodge’s new babysitter, right?
Hold on.” He jogs back over to the pillar, and I wince from the loud creak of the gate’s tracks as it opens inward in a slow drag.
“I can drive you down in the rover if you want to wait for the gate to close again,” the man offers, nodding toward a golf cart looking thing on the side.
“I can walk,” I tell him, needing the extra time to calm my nerves and go over my list of experience for the ten millionth time in my head. They make it sound like I already have the job, but that’s hard to believe given the way my life seems to roll.
He gives me another nod. “Good luck. Don’t let the ladies scare ya.”
I frown, heading to the house as he chuckles behind me. It’s better not to ask what he meant or I’ll psych myself out of the job.
There are only two bikes parked outside the front, to my surprise. I’d have thought, since this is their clubhouse, there’d be more. I climb the steps of the porch, my stomach a tangled nest of anxiety.
Before I can knock, the door ?whips open, and a cloud of perfume seizes my throat, ripping a cough from me as I wrinkle my nose. I’ve always been sensitive to fragrances, the nose of a bloodhound, I’d joke.
A woman rests against the doorframe with crossed arms, her head cocked to the side.
Her jean shorts are so tiny that I can see her full ass cheek from the side, and her top is a fishnet material with star pasties over her nipples.
I know my eyes are wide when I take her in before meeting her heavy black-lined stare under a curtain of pin-straight auburn hair.
“Hang-ons aren’t welcome back until Saturdays,” she drawls out with shiny pink lips before popping a bubble.
I don’t know what that means, but her whole appearance is so jarring, my brain takes a few moments to restart. “Uhm, I’m here for a babysitter job?”
Her jaw stops chewing, and her gaze slides down my outfit.
She stands straighter upon noticing my plain-jane jeans and T-shirt.
“Oh, thank god. We love Winnie, but she’s a lot.
I’m Daisy, by the way.” She opens the door wider to welcome me in, not waiting as she continues through the foyer.
I guess I’m expected to follow, so I gently close the door behind me.
“Autumn,” I tell her, unsure how to feel that people seem so ready to pawn off a small child. Especially someone dressed to go to a rave, but maybe I’m being too hasty with my judgments from a glance. I need to stop finding fault in first impressions if I ever want to make friends .
If I thought the outside was nice, the inside is gorgeous. Most of the walls are a deep-oak color with a similar matching floor. My first view upon entering is a split staircase that spirals to a second floor, and an eye-catching chandelier hanging above.
“Come on, the main room is this way,” she says, guiding me past the stairs to a hallway on the right.
There are a ton of closed doors, giving me the vibes of a storage unit facility, before it opens up into the largest living room I’ve ever seen.
The space spans far enough to have a full size bar, multiple pool tables, and couches.
It’s quiet and smells like fresh cleaner, but I can imagine the space gets a little wild if they throw parties here.
“Cool, huh?” Daisy says at my side. “Shaw put a lot of money into this place.”
Whoever Shaw is, maybe he’s looking to be a sugar daddy. I shake away that sudden and disturbing thought. “Never seen anything like it.”
She lets out a dreamy sigh. “You should see it when it’s full of all the men. They’re the best part.”
Hard pass on that, but I don't shatter her fantasies. She waves toward one couch. “You can get comfortable. They’re in church right now, but I’ll let Dodge know you’re here.”
My eyebrows furrow. “Church? You guys have a church here too?” I’m kind of worried I’ve somehow stumbled across a cult by accident. I glance down the hallway we came from. Would they let me leave if I asked? My palms start to sweat, and I curl them under my thighs.
“It’s like an important meeting between certain club members. No one should interrupt,” Daisy explains with a shrug before walking over to the bar. “Want a drink?”
“Oh no. Thank you, I don’t drink.” Nor am I looking to get drugged.
God, Autumn. What have you walked into? I want to smack myself.
She snorts. “I meant like water or something. No alcohol during the day when most of the men stop by between jobs. Let’s just say that the local police seem to stop us more than necessary.”
The local police? Are they well-known criminals, and I?, the naive broke college student with no job or home, a perfect victim, have fallen stupidly into their trap? “I’m still good. Thanks. ”
I settle down slowly on the couch and pull out my phone to double-check my class registration time and course catalog since I don’t have anything else to do while I wait, other than overthink the life choices that brought my imminent death.
Daisy lingers by, but she doesn’t attempt to make any more conversation, and I know she’s probably not allowed to leave me alone in the room.
When I imagine a place where a bunch of bikers live, cleanliness isn’t what comes to mind first. This doesn’t look like a place I’d ever be caught dead in, but I can appreciate the effort they’ve put in. Probably with blood money.
I grimace. I avoided anything that could get me in trouble growing up. I didn’t need to be sent to juvie or thrown into the foster system. When I got to college, I was afraid any misstep would get my scholarship stripped away.
I take a deep breath. I’ll give it a try instead of judging these people because they wear leather vests and ride some bikes. I have nothing left to lose, and I don’t have the time or money to try to find anything else.
The doors swing open, and I’m immediately intimidated by the large crowd of men that filter out from behind them. All of them in the same vests, but with different patches on some.
Daisy moves closer to me, a smile on her face as two men walk straight to us.
“Who’s this?” His voice is straight honey, with a deep timbre.
“This is Autumn. The nanny to help with your Winnie, Dodge.”
Something flickers in his gaze, and we take each other in.
He’s tall and so muscular that his biceps ripple under his plain T-shirt.
Dark brown hair is tucked under a beanie, but I can tell it’s not that long with the way none peeks over the edges of the hat.
When I stand, I barely come up to his chest, but it’s his warm brown eyes that have a kindness to them that makes me want to swoon more than anything.
His jaw is model-worthy, with over a day’s growth peppering it.
Sometimes men look unkempt like that, but maybe the overall ruggedness of him makes it sexy.
“Tink said you’re some kind of child teacher,” he rumbles out in that deep voice that itches a very horny part of my brain.
I shake my head. “Not yet. I’ve been a nanny since I was very young, and I’m starting my graduate program for my early childhood development degree.”
He frowns before rolling his lip between his teeth. “So you’ll be attending classes?”
“Yes,” I tell him, then quickly try to explain before he can change his mind, “but most of the classes offer online options. I’m pretty sure I have to do a hybrid for one class on campus while the rest are online to keep my scholarship, so it would only be a couple of hours in the morning one day a week I’d need off. ”
“Sounds like everything’s working out perfectly, Dodge,” the man to his side says, patting Dodge’s back.
I’d forgotten he was there, being so caught up with the man before me.
His vest has a patch with the word PRESIDENT attached to it, and then I glance back at Dodge, seeing ROAD CAPTAIN on his.
I can deduce it means he’s a member of importance.
Dodge scowls at him, shoving off his touch. “I thought you were heading home to Mik. ”
The president laughs, holding up his hands in surrender. “I am, I am.” Then he looks at me. “Don’t take offense at any of his attitude. We’re all a little protective of our family.”
He walks off before I respond, but I smile up at Dodge.
The comment settles some nerves. “No offense taken. Trusting a stranger with your baby is a difficult choice, and should never be taken lightly. I’m here to ease any concerns you may have.
” It actually puts me more at ease, too.
People protective of their children are my kind of people.
You can never be too careful in this world.
His eyebrows raise. “Believe me, just the way you carry yourself is a step up from the ones who have been taking care of her.” I don’t miss the way he glances over at Daisy, and then another woman in an equally scandalous outfit that has joined the other men.
Dodge nods toward the heavy door he just walked through. “Want to meet her?”
My heart skips a beat. The minute I meet the baby, I’ll be stuck. There’s never been a child I don’t immediately get attached to—nothing that can tear me away from the job, and I should discuss the logistics with him first. Instead, I smile and say yes .
He takes me out the back door, around the corner from the church doors, and into a large gated backyard with a fenced-off pool. It’s like paradise, and again, unlike anything I expected from a place meant to be home to a gaggle of bikers.
Smack-dab in the center of the large grassy area, a woman is sitting on a large blanket with a small baby. Blonde curls line the top of the child’s head, and I already feel my heart latching on to love her. Then she makes some happy babbling sounds, and I’m done for completely, through and through.
Way to hold strong, Autumn .
Dodge walks over to them, his smile widening as the baby holds out her arms for him to pick her up. He does so with ease, love clear as a sunny day on his face. The woman stands, wiping off her dress, and then walks toward me with a soft smile.
“Hi, I’m Lacey,” she says, holding out her hand.
I shake it. “Autumn.”
She nods toward Dodge. “Don’t let him intimidate you. He’s really a big softie, and he really needs help with Winnie. ”
Before I can even think to ask anything, she trots off inside, and I turn back to Dodge as he walks toward me, baby still in his arms.
“Lacey isn’t her mom if you’re wondering, just a clubwhore.”
I blink, my mouth dropping open a bit. “A c-clubwhore?”
Dodge scratches the back of his neck. “Right, I forget that’s kind of frowned upon outside our world. Basically, women who live in the clubhouse. We pay their way and they help out the men.”
“With their bodies?” I’m trying to withhold that pesky judgment, but it’s getting harder the more he talks. The women can do what they want, and as long as they’re being treated right…and not being forced. Some women probably enjoy it. I look over at Dodge again, I’m sure they enjoy it a lot.
He shrugs. “Or like cooking and cleaning. Lacey has been helping me babysit off and on.”
I nod slowly, focusing on the adorable baby instead of exactly how helpful Lacey is. “Hi.” She grabs my finger, immediately trying to pull it to her mouth. “That’s not for eating, silly. ”
Dodge clears his throat, a strange expression on his face when I look back up at him. “I guess this is where I ask what made you want to be…you said an early childhood teacher?”
I smile, appreciating that he remembered some of what I said.
“I’m getting my degree in early childhood education.
I would prefer to become a teacher to elementary kids, mostly kindergarten or pre-K.
But it’s not always up to us, unfortunately.
As for why…” I trail off, looking back at his daughter and feeling a pinch in my heart.
She’s so young, and it already looks like she has a ton of people who love her. I sigh. “It’s a long and sad story.”
He nods when I glance back at him. “I get that. Maybe one day you can share it. I’ve heard I’m a great listener.”
My cheeks flame. I can’t tell if he’s being genuinely friendly or if I’m delusional to think he’s flirting with me. “Maybe,” I get out before my throat can close up from nerves.
“So when can you start?” he asks, bouncing Winnie on his hip.
Hope fills my chest, even as I try to push it down. “Tomorrow morning, if you need it.”
He nods again, looking as awkward as I feel. “I do. Give Daisy where you’re staying, and I’ll send a prospect to bring you over in the morning. Eight good?”
I immediately want to refuse his offer, not wanting to depend on him for transportation, but I swallow my pride because it beats paying for a cab. I could really use that money, and if he’s willing, I should take it. “Yeah, that’s fine.”