Chapter 4
Harley sighed as she got out of her car, wondering how she had gotten caught up with such a menace of a man. She could tell Hades was not the type of man to hear the word no . Even his siblings seemed to oblige him, and Harley was baffled by it all. What baffled her more was that she was obliging his every demand too. It frustrated her, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from doing as he said.
She watched as he pulled into her driveway behind her, the loud roar of his bike’s engine resonating inside her, causing a chill to roll up her spine. That sound was so familiar to her, and it also triggered her in the worst ways. Her father used to make her ride on the back of his bike, even though he knew it terrified her. He would even have his crew drive her around on their bikes, just to laugh at her fear. Luckily, that was the worst of her abuse. Her sister got it much worse.
Blinking the emotion from her eyes, she watched as he swung his leg over the bike before kicking the stand up and swaggering toward her. He wore all black with a fitted T-shirt that read Obsidian Riders. She’d heard bits of conversation between him and his people and gathered enough to understand that was his motorcycle club. Him being the president of a motorcycle club should have sent her running. As a matter of fact, she wanted to run. She feared this bully of a man, but something in her felt glued in place whenever he demanded she stay.
Dante really didn’t need her anymore. He was really healthy now and had done beautifully overnight, but at the same time, she wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on him for the next day or so…
Her thoughts cut off when Hades dwarfed her with his size, blocking the sun completely from her vision.
“The fuck you over here thinking about? Lost in la-la land and shit,” Hades snapped.
Harley frowned and chose not to respond to him. She felt that might be the best approach to dealing with Hades. Holding her tongue would allow her to keep her thoughts and complicated feelings in check surrounding him.
Turning on her heels, she walked toward the front door of her house. The house she lived in was nice but modest. She liked living in a space that was comfortable with new appliances, but she didn’t want a whole bunch of unnecessary rooms, so she only had one bedroom, and her home only had one level.
She grabbed her keys, which she had gotten from her purse back at the birthing center, along with her duffel bag and car. She convinced Hades that she needed her car and refused to get on his bike until he agreed. She was sure the only reason he followed through with allowing her to get her things and car was because he didn’t have the address to her house or to Blaire’s house so she could pack some clothes and get her fur baby.
Just when she was about to unlock her door, that familiar grip on her arm caused her to wince and then turn around.
“I asked you a question. I don’t do well with people ignoring me, Tink.”
His voice was the deepest she had ever heard, but she found it sexy… intriguing, even with the mean ass words he spouted.
Unsuccessfully, she tried snatching her arm away from him, which caused her to sigh in frustration. Looking up at him, she admired his chiseled features up close. His full beard looked shiny, as if he had just oiled it, and the soft waves in his close-cut hair looked smooth to the touch. He had long eyelashes for such a menacing man, and they were framed by thick brows that seemed permanently pulled together.
Harley stopped her eyes from wandering down to his large muscles, with tattoos covering them, and focused on his deep brown eyes. “Why do you call me Tink?”
She could tell her question in response to his question threw him off. He wasn’t used to being questioned, but Harley couldn’t help it. She was naturally curious and had been silenced so much in her childhood that she promised herself to ask as many questions as she needed to when she hit adulthood.
They stood in a stare off while Hades seemed to contemplate whether he wanted to answer her before he finally said, “You remind me of a fairy.”
She blinked up at him in surprise, and then she couldn’t help it. A laugh bubbled out of her and pushed past her lips. She giggled with a hand covering her mouth because Hades did not look like the type of man who knew what fairies looked like.
“I’m sorry.” She gasped the words out before slapping her thigh.
Hades ran an impatient hand down his face before asking, “What the hell is so funny?”
After a few more giggles, she said, “For one, I think you mean Tink erbell if you’re referencing me as a fairy.” She held in more giggles as she watched his face frown up even more. “Second, fairies are like… magical and poop rainbows and unicorns and stuff. I’m none of those things.”
Finally releasing her arm, he took a half step closer to her, causing her neck to bend all the way back so she could look up at him. Her natural instinct was to take a step back and cower from him, but she bit back that reaction and stayed planted in place.
“You’re small and girly. Sounds like a fairy to me.”
She blushed for some reason, not understanding why it felt good for him to refer to her as small and girly. She was definitely both things, but hearing him address her feminine components did something to her.
Shaking her head, she turned once again to unlock her door. Once she pushed it open, she said, “I was thinking about how rude you are, to answer your earlier question,” without looking back at him. She heard him grunt behind her as they stepped into her house. The small space that greeted them was her living room. Though small, it was cozy and felt like home—to her, at least. There was an electric fireplace built into the wall, and above that was her mounted flat-screen TV. She had a small sectional with pink and purple throw blankets, and there was a small puppy bed for her dog, Pixie, in the corner. The current book she was reading, Mega Man by Mel Dau, lay on the coffee table, and she made a mental note to grab that before she left. After taking her shoes off, she turned to Hades and said, “Have a seat. I’m going to shower and pack a bag quick, then we can go get Pixie.”
His face mugged up. “Pixie?”
Harley’s face lit up. “My puppy’s name is Pixie.”
Her puppy was her best friend. She technically wasn’t a puppy anymore. She was two years old, but she was tiny. She reminded Harley of a fairy. She was small and magical and impactful. She had a bit of fairy dust in her, too, Harley was convinced, because on her worst days, the sight of Pixie made everything better. For two beautiful years, Pixie had become the center of her world.
Hades snorted. “Fucking fairies. Tink is the perfect name for you.”
“Tinkerbell,” she corrected, already making her way toward her bedroom.
“Tink,” his commanding voice demanded, causing her to roll her eyes. She didn’t know why she was arguing with that man about a name that wasn’t even hers.
When she got into her room, her mind automatically went into overdrive as she thought about everything she had to pack. In her head, she planned to only take care of Dante for one more day, but by now, she understood that Hades was unpredictable, so she knew she needed to pack for more than that.
Not only did she have to pack for herself, but she also had to pack for Pixie too. She sighed before she got to work. She opted to pull a suitcase out of her walk-in closet and filled it with clothes before she grabbed Pixie’s other pink, fluffy bed from the corner of her room and tossed it on top. Next, she made her way out of her room and into her bathroom, grabbing toiletries and everything she would need, careful to leave everything she would need for her shower. After tossing those into the suitcase, she moved into the kitchen to grab some of Pixie’s wet food and her treats, bowls, and dry foods.
In the living room, Hades sat on the couch, making it look more like a damn love seat with his size. She felt his eyes on her as she grabbed a few toys for Pixie and the purple blanket on the couch before grabbing her book. When she felt confident that she had everything she would need, she went back into the bathroom and stripped out of her scrubs she wore to work the previous day before turning the water on and pulling her hair into the bun.
Inside the shower, she allowed the warm droplets to soothe her before washing up. Just when she turned the shower off, she heard elevated voices coming from the living room. At first, she ignored it, thinking Hades was on the phone or something, but when she heard a few loud thuds , she quickly wrapped her towel around herself and rushed to the living room.
Her heart stilled when she saw Hades had her ex-boyfriend, Drew, hemmed up against the wall.
“Drew! What the hell are you doing here? Hades, let him go. Y’all are not about to fuck up my house!”
She knew she was mad if she was cursing.
Drew looked in her direction. Hades kept his eyes on Drew.
“You questioning me, but why is his nigga in yo’ house, Harley?” Drew spat.
“Aye. Eyes on me,” Hades barked, causing Drew to look back over at him. “Ain’t nothing over there for you to see.”
Drew’s face frowned up, and he looked Hades directly in the eye. “Let me find out you fuckin’ my bitch.”
“Drew!” Harley screeched. “We haven’t been together in over a year. Why can’t you get the hint that I don’t want you? Why are you even here?”
It was common for Drew to pop up at her house, but each time it confused her because he knew good and damn well they were not together. His obsession with her was unsettling, but there was nothing she could do about it when the police were in his back pocket.
Without looking at her and keeping his eyes on Hades, Drew said, “You always going to be mine.”
Before she could even open her mouth to respond, Hades asked, “Has he been bothering you, Tink?”
“I—”
“A simple yes or no.” Hades grumbled the words out.
Harley let out a deep sigh, understanding already that Hades wasn’t going to allow her to dance around her response. “Yes,” she whispered, praying that Hades didn’t harm Drew or mess her house up. Drew would only take it out on her, and that terrified her. He’d never hurt her, but he could make her life a living hell.
She blinked, and then her eyes popped out when she saw Drew slumped onto the floor. Hades’s fist was so quick, she missed him knocking Drew out. Harley let out a yelp, but Hades ignored her as he used one hand to lift Drew by the throat like a damn rag doll before he walked toward the front door.
“Get dressed.” It was all Hades said before opening the front door and tossing—like literally tossing—Drew out.
Drew was not a small man. He towered over her and had a good amount of muscle on him, but he was no match for Hades.
Harley stood in the middle of her living room, in a towel, and dripping wet with wide eyes. Finally, she found her voice as Hades sat down calmly, cocking his legs and looking over at her. “Hades, why did you do that? Do you know how bad you just made things for me? Drew is going to?—”
“Drew ain’t gon’ do shit.” His tone sounded so sure and final. She couldn’t argue, even if she wanted to. “He better be lucky I didn’t kill his ass for putting twelve onto my motorcycle club. Now hurry up before that punk wakes up and calls his lame ass crew over here.”
Harley’s mouth dropped open as she registered the fact that Drew and Hades already knew each other. She had so many questions, but the last thing she wanted to do was walk out that door and be met with Drew’s people, so she scrambled into her room and made quick work of getting dressed.
After triple checking that she had everything for herself and Pixie and tossing a few more clothes into her suitcase, since she no longer wanted to come home any time soon out of fear of Drew, she rushed back into the living room.
Hades stood, but she didn’t miss his eyes sweeping over her first. She wore a pair of black leggings with a pink crop top. It was nothing special, but the way he looked at her made her blush.
“Let’s go get your mut.”
She nodded and then found herself cowering beside him as he opened her front door with no worry in the world. Her eyes ballooned at the sight of Drew crumpled on the ground several feet from her door.
Hades snatched her keys from her and locked her door behind them, since she was too busy looking at Drew. As they walked past him, Hades kicked him in his ribs, causing Drew to groan. Harley absentmindedly clung to Hades’s arm until she was safely at her car.
He unlocked her car before he handed her keys back. After opening her door for her, he waited for her to get in while he put her bags in the back seat. “I’ll follow right behind you. Don’t worry ’bout dude.”
That was all he said before he closed her door and walked away. She watched in her rearview as he got onto his bike, started it, and backed out.
The only thought she had as she backed out of her driveway was that she wished he would wear a damn helmet and leathers when he rode that death trap.
“Uhh… Lady Bug? Who is this big scary man?” Blair asked as she eyed Hades, who stood right behind Harley with a frown on his face.
Harley’s eyes were only for Pixie, though. Her baby wiggled around in Blair’s arms, trying to get to her mama, and Harley wasted no time grabbing her from her best friend.
“Hi, mama’s baby!” Harley squealed. “Did you miss me?”
Pixie tried to lick Harley’s face, but she pulled away while still petting her long, brown, and black spotted fur. She was all of three pounds and the cutest teacup Yorkie she ever laid eyes on. Harley was absolutely obsessed with her.
“Harley, are you going to answer my question?” Blair asked, still staring up at the mountain of a man in her doorway.
“It’s a long story, friend. I promise to call you and Sage later, okay? I have to go now though. Thank you for watching Pixie for me.”
Blair popped her hip out and placed her hand on it as she diverted her eyes to her best friend. Normally, Harley would come in and chill with her for a while, especially after ditching on her birthday plans. Harley knew Blair had a million questions, and she silently promised she would answer them all, but not right now.
Blair must have seen the pleading look on her face because she finally said, “Okay…” The word dragged out like she so desperately wanted to say more to Harley, but she quickly looked up at Hades and said, “You better take care of her.”
A low growl sounded from behind Harley, and she knew it was coming from Hades. She turned her head and looked up at him, and he was staring at Blair with a look of disgust. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, shorty, but?—”
When Harley felt him trying to step around her, she shut it all down. One thing she wasn’t about to play about was her best friend.
“Hades! Let’s go.” It was her turn to grip his arm as she adjusted Pixie in her other one. She tugged on him roughly as she called over her shoulder, “I’ll call you later.”
Surprisingly, Hades allowed her to pull him along, and Harley would take that as a small win for the day.