Chapter Seven
IWALKED CAROLINE TO her ride, and waited until she started her up, then I turned and legged it back in the direction of my shop, and the warring brothers I was about to face down.
Grease was a great guy, despite his snarky attitude, and his partner, in business and the bedroom, was a former cop.
Weird right? Still if those two weren’t arguing, you could guarantee he and Rocket would be.
I had no idea what their beef was, but I figured it was better to head back, especially after that message from Jamie.
It basically said to get back if I wanted a shop to get back to.
I reached the door, and could hear raised voices before I even opened it. Jamie was sitting on my counter, grinning widely at the arguing bikers, and she caught my eye as I stepped inside.
“Should have brought popcorn, Harley. This one’s good.”
I listened to Grease giving Rocket hell, while Has-Been stood beside them smirking.
“So it’s like a lover’s spat, right?”
She laughed. “Yeah, only I can’t tell who dumped who.”
“Cool your jets, little pain, nobody’s dumping anyone. I’d never date this prick, even if he came to me on his knees.”
Rocket practically snarled at Grease, and Has stepped between them, nudging Rocket away before he reached him, because you don’t touch the guy unless you want to be sucking his golden gun, or so I hear.
I heard Caroline enter the shop then, and leaned closer to Jamie.
“My friend Caroline came to watch the show, but she’s a little timid, so go easy on her.”
Jamie leaned up to look over my shoulder, and offered Caroline a small wave.
“The fact that you said that to me, and not those three big lugs is a little insulting, Harley.”
I ignored her, and turned to reach out to Caroline, who stared nervously at the three large bikers, thankfully all without their cuts, proving that brains won out at least.
“It’s okay,” I said gently, catching her hand as soon as she was close enough. “This is Jamie, she’s here with her man. That one there. His name’s Grease.”
“Grease? That’s a name?”
“Don’t you forget it, sweetheart,” Grease said, having heard everything because he was a creepy bastard.
He winked at her, and then winced at twin glares from me and his old lady.
She wasn’t his official old lady yet, but it would happen soon.
I had no idea how the tattooing would work, because he clearly wouldn’t let Rocket anywhere near either of them.
Hell, maybe he’d arrange it with Has-Been while he was here.
“The other guy is Has-Been,” I said, watching her brow furrow at their road names. I could tell she was curious, but didn’t want to ask, and how was I supposed to explain it to someone who didn’t know we were all in a biker club?
“Grease and his old lady here are security consultants, and they’re here to help us beef up the security now that Rocket’s got all his expensive shit here too.”
“I’m not beefing anything of his,” Grease retorted, catching Rocket’s wrist as his hand shot in his direction. “Now I know you weren’t about to hit me, fuckhead. Remember we’ve still got a showdown coming. I’m just waiting for you to not be a weak ass pussy. At least you’re not drunk for once.”
“You fucking cunt, I’ll break that smug face of yours!
” Caroline’s hand shot out of mine, and I turned to see her backing up fast, her face pale.
Oh shit. This was a bad idea. Truthfully, I thought they’d banter more than this.
They didn’t come to blows as often as they argued, mostly because Grease kept saying he was waiting for the right moment to destroy him.
“Has, Jamie, break that shit up!” I barked at them, following Caroline as she backed into the repair bay. I caught her arms, and fuck me, she was literally trembling. Why the hell did I do this to her?
“Fuck. I’m sorry. This was such a bad idea.
I’m such a dickhead.” With no other alternative, I pulled her against my chest, cradling her trembling form against mine.
Another dick move, right? The woman who hates hugs, and I just forced one on her, but strangely, she seemed to start calming down.
Her hands clutched my shirt in tight fists, and she buried her face in the fabric, while I finally got to stroke those cute little curls of hers.
“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested this. It’s all my fault, okay?”
She started shaking again, her head juddering from side to side.
“It’s… me… I’m path… etic.” Fuck me, her words came out like her teeth were chattering, and I felt like an even bigger asshole for putting her through this.
“Never. You’re overwhelmed, and that’s on me, little lady. I swear. This is all on me, not you.”
I backed us up to my bench and sat down, dragging her into my lap, and the whole time, I knew I was pushing her fucking boundaries, but it felt like it was the right thing to do. For her. Not push her boundaries, obviously, but offer her comfort. Comfort she was willingly accepting.
I stroked her back gently, resting my chin on her head as her trembling slowly eased off, and that was going to be the danger point, because the second she came out of whatever this panicked state was, she was going to realise she was in my lap, and freak out again.
“Shh… it’s okay. You’re safe, just like I promised. They’re just mouthy fuckers, and should know better than to act like that in front of a lady.”
Movement that I saw from the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I saw Jamie peeking around the side wall at me.
She mouthed the words ‘is she okay’ and I did my best to signal how little I fucking knew with just my face, because I wasn’t about to disturb this little lady right now. She didn’t seem to mind me calling her that, and I only did it because she was so sweet and petite that I couldn’t help it.
Jamie nodded at me, and disappeared again, and I kept my focus on the soft little woman in my lap, who was no longer shaking so badly, and was probably right about to hit the awareness phase and punch me in the balls.
Caroline
HE SMELLED SO GOOD. Familiar. Safe. The smells that made this shop feel like a welcoming place were all him, as it turned out.
The scents of oil and leather came from him, and he wasn’t even wearing any leather, so I figured it was his cologne or something.
His token scent had been grounding me, just like his arms had offered warmth and strength, while displaying just how much of the latter he had.
I was in his lap. That fact was starting to permeate my brain, now that it was starting to come back online, and I knew it was inappropriate, I knew I shouldn’t be doing it, but I couldn’t help myself. For the moment, I felt safer than I ever had before, and I didn’t want to ruin that.
“You back with me, little lady?” Harley murmured softly, sending a little tremor of delight through me, because his name for me made me feel small and protected.
“Yeah,” I whispered, “and I seem to be in your lap.”
Harley chuckled, pressing his face against my hair as he squeezed me a little tighter.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t know what else to do. I know you have boundaries, and I just probably breached most of them.”
I shook my head, keeping my face pressed against his warm chest, because maybe that was where the feeling of safety came from.
That steady heartbeat, the warmth, the aroma, just everything about him said to me that I was safe with him.
Protected. He was nothing like those other men in there, or any men I’d ever met.
He felt me tense up at that thought, and sighed softly.
“Are you gonna make me let you go now?” The way he said it, the reluctance in his voice, the way his arms didn’t soften at all, told me just how much he wanted to keep holding me. Somehow that was all I wanted too.
“No.” I felt him freeze for a moment, then a surprised breath huffed out.
“See? You’re amazing, and so strong.” I opened my mouth to argue, but that’s when I felt it.
A soft press of his lips to my forehead.
He kissed me. It wasn’t something he was taking from me.
He was giving me something. Soft, tender, comforting.
It seemed to soothe my soul, and I relaxed further in his arms. Nothing could ever make me want to leave the security of his embrace. Ever.
“Almost time for Church, man. You wanna pick this up after that?” Church? I had no idea any of them were religious, but maybe that meant I had nothing to fear from them after all. Church people couldn’t be bad people, right? Harley tensed for a moment.
“We’ll lock up, and I’ll follow you down there. Sorry, man, we called you down here for nothing.”
The other guy laughed. “Nah. It’s all good. While you were off gallivanting, and before Rocket had a hissy fit, we checked out your existing system, and talked through some protective measures. I’ll have a plan for you tomorrow.”
The sounds slowly died off, and then it was just us, alone.
The roar of motorcycles outside was comforting.
A familiar sound. Something that always calmed me, because I could free my mind while I rode.
So what if my motorcycle had had to be altered to suit my smaller stature?
So what if I silently struggled with the weight of it, when I climbed back off after riding?
It was a small price to pay for everything it gave me.
“You have to go?” I asked Harley, finally lifting my head to look him in the eye, and after the closeness of our little moment here, I found it bizarrely easy to do.
He smiled at me, reaching up to push my hair away from my eye with the gentlest touch possible.
“Only when you feel safe to ride back home, little lady. Nothing’s more important than that.”
There was no awkwardness as we finally got up from that bench, and his warmth left me as we separated, and more than making sure I was safe to ride, he even followed me home, and waited as I parked up and went inside.
What a gentleman. He was nothing like those other men who were in his shop today.
He wasn’t loud or aggressive. He wasn’t threatening or scary. He was just… Harley.