Chapter 8 Marty
“You know I don’t need you to follow me around like some lost puppy, right?” My annoyance and frustration were clear in my tone. Something he didn’t call me out on, nor did he say much other than grunt at me as he looked around the dirty hotel room.
“People are slobs,” he said under his breath, the first actual words from him in the past two hours. I glanced at him and rolled my eyes before I got back to work wiping the floor-to-ceiling glass wall. I heard his big, booted feet shuffle through the space and the couch groan under his weight.
“You pissed at me?” he asked. The arm I’d been wiping the glass with froze mid-wipe.
“Why would I be pissed?” I continued with my cleaning.
Grunt.
Again.
I took a deep cleansing breath, but it did nothing to calm me down. Because under the lemony pine scent of the cleaners was Griffin and his leathery sage and eucalyptus scent. A scent I swore I’d been waking up to every freaking morning since that stupid night I’d idiotically asked him inside.
“You know why.”
“I don’t. And I’m not,” I said as I turned and pushed my cleaning cart toward the bathroom and got on cleaning up the huge soaker tub.
I admired the thing for a single moment before I reached for the cleaners.
What would it feel like to soak in a tub like that?
To not only have the tub itself but the time to luxuriate in not doing anything with hot, almost scalding water, filled with bubbles or great-smelling bath salts, the luxurious clean bathroom filled with candlelight?
And sexy, tatted-up Griffin settled behind me.
Naked. With his hands all over me. I bet Griffin’s touch can make a woman see stars.
I shook the thought away and ignored the blush on my face. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d never been that girl. The one who got googly eyes and mushy over a guy. I’d never been the boy-crazy, pick-me girl.
Until Griffin, a voice in my head whispered.
“Until Griffin,” I said under my breath.
“What about me?” His deep voice made me jump. My poor heart felt like it was about to leap out of my chest. I turned to look at him.
“What the hell are you doing?” I semi-shouted as he leaned against the doorway.
“I thought I heard you talking and wasn’t sure if you were talking to me. I didn’t want to be rude.”
“You? Rude? Right.” I shook my head and scrubbed the tub, ignoring the man and everything he made me feel. My skin tingled by the time I was finished, and he pushed the cart out of the doorway so I could get through.
“Thank you,” I said softly. I was tired, horny, and worried about Mary.
It had been a couple of sleepless nights with tons of twisting and turning in bed until I had no choice but to reach into my nightstand and get my battery-operated boyfriend to help quelch the ache Griffin had brought to life.
Or should I say Daddy? I shook the thought away.
“Stone texted. Said Mary’s okay. He’s taking her home and making her rest for a couple of days. He wanted me to ask if you were okay with taking her spot for these next couple of days.”
“Me?” I pointed at myself. I knew at least two people who would be better at helping Mary than I could.
“Yeah, you.”
“I don’t think so. He should ask Teresa.
” When he scowled, I started to explain.
“She’s great. Nice and knows how to be… nice,” I repeated, because I was suddenly starting to feel…
nervous around the biker. I made a face.
“I’m not the girl you want,” I blurted and felt myself turn red from head to freaking toe.
I’m not the girl you want?! I wanted a freaking hole to appear and suck me up.
“You’re not?” His head tilted slightly as the beautiful, lush lips of his started to twitch with a disgustingly handsome smirk.
“I mean, I’m not the girl Stone wants—“
“Excuse me? He better not.” He strode toward me.
Who the hell was I kidding? The man didn’t stride!
He might swagger, but in that particular moment as I stared up at him like some deer caught in headlights, he stalked.
Like a predatory jungle cat about to pounce.
And like a stupid, weak-kneed gazelle, I would let him because I was too mesmerized by how stupidly handsome he was.
The moment his body was right in front of me, his hand, ever so slowly, rose between us, like he was giving me the opportunity to duck away.
But I didn’t, too enchanted and taken in by his green eyes and the way his pupils darkened and grew.
His hand made contact with my face, the tips of his fingers soft.
Utterly way too warm but crazily comforting.
“I, umm…” My eyes shut. “I didn’t mean want want me, like in my pants.” I winced. I was making it so much worse. “I just meant for that position.”
“I have a position for you,” he rasped, and my eyes opened.
“What?” I said, the lust clearing from my foggy head.
“I mean—“
“Right.” I stepped back, confused and a little icked by him.
I shook my head and breathed in the scent of the room and whatever cologne or after shave Griffin wore. It filled my lungs and made me want to bury my face into the crook of his neck to get a better whiff even after the stupid thing he’d just said that made him just like every other guy out there.
He was a player. That much was evident. He would be fun and more than likely, judging by the bulge he tried to subtly adjust earlier, more than ruin me for anyone else. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to take the chance.
“I have to head up to the clubhouse. Thanks for hanging out with me,” I said as politely as I could manage. I wanted to push the guy down a flight of stairs as much as I wanted to kiss him.
“What?”
“I have to head up to the clubhouse,” I repeated.
“Why?” he brusquely asked. I stopped and stared at him.
Maybe Griffin had used the fact I technically worked for him and the club as an excuse?
Maybe he had a girlfriend, or worse, a wife and kids up there?
Not that I had ever seen kids living there, but maybe he had a home off the casino’s property. I knew a couple of the guys did.
“Because Mary isn’t here, and she’s usually the one who takes care of things up there mid-week.”
“She is?” I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve never seen her up there.”
“Well, that’s our job,” I huffed, ready to leave and hating the idea of not knowing when I’d see him again. It had only been three days since he’d dropped me off and turned me down, but it felt longer.
“Your job?”
“Yeah, you know, to blend in. Get things done and not be noticed. Discreet.” It was a bitchy thing for me to say. Remind him of what an ass he’d been a couple of days ago just because he had turned me down.
He had done the right thing.
It would be too messy to hook up with one of the Steel Sinners.
I’d seen it one too many times. New girls, young, with hearts in their eyes or after some kind of man with money, thinking some big, strong biker would toss them onto the back of their bike and claim them as their own, inevitably changing their lives and living happily ever after.
It usually only ended up in heartbreak and drama with that girl looking for a new job.
Hell no.
I didn’t need a man to make a mess of my life. I liked my life. It was quiet, and I was content. But he could definitely scratch an itch if you let him, a little voice in my head whispered. Touch-deprived. That was my problem. It had been too long.
“Marty—“ His phone rang, and he made a face. “I have to take this.” This was it. The last time I’d see him. I’d worked here for three years; I knew it was possible to avoid one another.
“Do what you gotta do,” I forced out. The words felt thick on my tongue. “Just shut the door behind you,” I muttered, pushing my cleaning cart to the hotel room door.
“Shit.” He looked torn. I wasn’t sure why. It was evident by the fact he’d avoided me and hadn’t bothered to text me that he wasn’t interested. “This isn’t over, spitfire.” The calm warning in his voice made the hair at the back of my neck stand, but I ignored it.
“Sure.” I rolled my eyes and walked out.
Thankfully, the clubhouse was empty.
Maybe because it was midweek, so everyone was out and about.
Either way, I wasn’t going to question it.
It was a blessing in disguise even if it meant I had more work on my plate this shift.
I’d cleaned up this space after a couple of parties they’d had after the monthly fight nights the club hosted, and that wasn’t something I ever looked forward to.
Couples in all sorts of positions and states of undress, not to mention used rubbers that littered the ground along with beer bottles and shot glasses.
I wasn’t a prude. The Steel Sinners knew how to party, and there was nothing wrong with it.
Especially when you were there as a guest. But cleaning up bodily fluids and puke sucked.
And cleaning it to take the stink out sucked worse.
Today, though, wasn’t one of those days.
I emptied the trash and cleared out the dishes that were stacked by the sink.
I knew Pope told Mary to let the guys take care of their own things, but I also knew Mary loaded the dishes and ran the machine to make sure all the counters in the kitchen area were cleared.
So, I did that, too. By the time I was done, I was a little sweaty and ready to head home.
My phone pinged as I was on the way down to the break area in the elevator.
Mary: I think I lost my necklace in the club area when I went to check on Kim’s work. Could you go down to Elysium and check for me? I wouldn’t ask, but my mom gave it to me. It’s a cross with a ruby in the middle.
I took a deep breath and exhaled. It looked like my already long day was about to be longer.
Me: Don’t worry. I’ll check.