Chapter Thirteen
ONE THING I SHOULD have figured out about Caroline was that once she was in the zone, she worked without breaks, and if I didn’t keep putting mochas next to her, I don’t think she’d even hydrate.
And let’s be clear, chocolate coffee monstrosities were not the right thing for her to drink all day, but I had nothing else in.
I should have planned better, because something about her made me want to look after her.
To protect her and nurture her, and not in a creepy way, which was how I was worried it was coming across.
It was approaching two in the afternoon, and she still hadn’t taken more than one toilet break, and it was starting to bug me. Everyone knew that eye breaks were recommended in computer driven jobs. I mean, hell, we all started somewhere in our working lives, right?
“Caroline, shouldn’t you take a break? It’s after lunch.”
She didn’t even lift her eyes, sliding the next picture into the scanner, and setting it running.
“I’m fine,” she murmured distractedly, watching the image appear on her screen, and saving it to wherever the hell she was saving it.
“You’ll fuck your eyes up,” I tried next, and she snorted, waving a hand at me dismissively.
“I’m in the zone. I’m good.”
I grabbed her chair as she lifted the picture out and inserted it back into the file.
“Let’s go get some lunch,” I suggested and she sighed.
“In a minute, I’ll just finish this section.”
I dragged the chair back, and she let out a little panicked screech, as she dropped the next photo she’d pulled out. She seemed to be removing them in batches, and slotting them back in as she finished with them.
“NO! Don’t! I’ll lose my place.”
“Even I can understand your system, little lady. You’re hyper organised, and you know it.”
“Please! Please, just let me finish this batch, and then they’re safe again.”
“Rocket won’t have a shit fit if you leave them out for an hour.”
“An hour?! Oh my god, no. I don’t have time!
” She jerked the chair out of my grip and moved closer to the desk again, slotting the picture into the scanner and clicking the mouse.
She seemed to relax as soon as she was back in her workspace, but she hadn’t eaten, and even though it wasn’t my place to dictate anything to her, I at least wanted to feed her.
I backed up to Rocket’s counter and leaned against it, watching Caroline’s focus as she scanned, replaced, scanned, replaced, almost robotically.
“What’s up?” Rocket leaned on the other side of the counter and kept his voice low.
“She needs a break,” I replied, glancing at the clock on the wall. Almost two, and my stomach was rumbling, so hers had to be too.
“I’m sure she’s fine. She’s a grown up, right?”
I didn’t bother glaring at him, because I’m sure he could feel it from behind me.
“You want her fucking up her eyes working nonstop on something for you? That’s not how I roll, man.”
“You’re feeling protective because you’re into her. I get it. I care too, but-”
I spun to glare at him and he groaned, backing up to stand straight.
“Only in the sense that she’s a nice person, and I care that she’s helping me out. Jesus, you’re worse than that prick, Grease.” And speak of the devil, he walked through the door with Jamie badgering him about something as she followed.
“Fuck’s sake, I said lean with me. Is it really so fucking hard?”
She slapped his arm, and he retaliated by ducking back and slapping her ass, and it was her indignant squeal that caught Caroline’s attention. That’s how engrossed she’d been.
She shot up from her chair, spinning as she moved, and we all froze.
Grease had left his cut off, because he knew I preferred that, and we didn’t wear ours in the shop, but I could tell that even without them, she was intimidated.
Jamie waved at her, offering her a gentle smile, and Grease turned to shrug at me, but I was already approaching her.
“Noisy pair of fuckers. You couldn’t just come in quietly like normal human beings?”
“Nothing my little pain does is quiet, man, I thought you knew that.”
She slapped his arm again, and he made a low growling sound, gripping her face and murmuring something I’m so fucking thankful I couldn’t hear, because her cheeks flushed scarlet, and Caroline gasped.
I guess if you looked at their body language without knowing them, you’d think he was being an asshole to her.
Knowing them like I did, I had a feeling it was something inappropriately sexual he was muttering at her, and that seemed to be what she liked from him.
I had my hands on Caroline’s shoulders, and she was leaning back against me, and that’s exactly why I knew she was shuddering, and that was Grease’s fucking fault.
“Come with me for some lunch?” I whispered in her ear, and she nodded jerkily. Maybe I’d thank Grease later for breaking her concentration enough that she’d at least take a break, but I’d also want to punch him for scaring her. It was quite the dilemma. Maybe I’d do both later.
“Can I trust you two not to come to blows while we’re out?”
“You’re leaving? I thought we were gonna talk through the-”
“They’re going out to get decent coffees for us, Grease… right?” Jamie said pointedly, and I figured why the hell not. I turned to Rocket as I started leading Caroline to the door.
“Behave. This is our place of work, right? Our livelihood.”
I guess being flipped off is pretty much what I expected.
We started walking, and I was relieved to see her coming out of her shell again, but that’s when she asked the question. The one I was dreading but knew would come.
“Who are all those guys? Why do you know them?”
Caroline
HARLEY GROANED, AND PAUSED, grabbing my hand to stop me.
“It’s a long story, and I want to tell you, but can you try to not judge me as you listen, please? You know me, okay? Knowing this won’t change who I am, nothing will.”
That was a bad way to start. That meant that what he was about to say would be bad.
We started walking again, and I heard him taking a deep breath, preparing himself to start.
“Grease and Rocket are… uh… brothers of mine. Club brothers, not the blood kind, but blood family isn’t always your real family.”
I glanced at him as he said that, like there was something that made him steer clear of blood family, but then I knew he had a daughter he adored, so it must have been other family that he was referring to. It didn’t seem like the time to ask, so I just nodded at him to continue.
“I’m in a… I mean, you saw my leather cut, right? You saw the colours?” He meant that leather waistcoat he wore, didn’t he?
“Phoenix… there was a phoenix on it.”
He nodded. “It’s a motorcycle club, and the first thing, the most important thing you need to know about them, is that they’re good people. Okay? You hear bad things about biker clubs, but this is not the club they mean. Phoenix MC, my brothers, they’re the best guys I know.”
“Even Rocket?” Harley snorted, rolling his eyes a little.
“I suppose.”
“He seems nice, Harley. He told me he’ll try to be less noisy when I’m around. That sounds like what you’re saying.”
His eyebrows shot up and he dragged a hand over his jaw, and I could tell that he hadn’t expected me to stick up for the guy, maybe because he didn’t realise the other man had made such an effort.
“You chose to go into business with him, right? He can’t be all bad.”
We reached the door to the coffee shop, and Harley stopped and tugged me aside.
“What do you want to eat? I’ll get it while you hold our table.”
I glanced over at the table we usually sat at, but something made me want to push myself today. To be braver. It looked busy in there, but not quite as busy as the last few times we’d been there.
“I’ll come in with you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not judging you for staying out here. It’s really unpleasantly loud in there, I get it.”
“I need to try,” I said firmly, reaching for the door, but Harley pulled me back once more.
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but he just grinned and pushed the door open, making room for me to go in ahead of him.
“Might not look like a gentleman, but I was raised to be one.”
The noise level was pretty bad in there, and I froze for a moment as it hit me like a wave crashing over me, but something warm touched my hand. Him, my protector. Harley took my hand, squeezing it gently.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured close to my ear, and just like that, the noise level seemed to dissipate just a little. Enough that I could walk with him to the counter, to wait for service.
Harley started pointing to various things, offering them to me. Some were sensible, and looked tasty, but others were just crazy.
“Porridge and ham in a toastie?!” I started giggling, and Harley grinned widely.
“I dare ya.”
I glanced at the cakes, and pointed. “Only if you eat one of those lemon muffins with the tomato soup, but you have to dip it in.”
He made a gagging face, and nudged me forward.
“How about you have the fruit cake with uh…” he glanced around and laughed, “with the spicy chicken soup. You have to break pieces up and shove them in.”
The server frowned at us as we babbled stupid ideas at each other, but you know what?
I made it through that queue, and we ordered our food and drinks, plus some bits for the others back at the shop, and when we stepped outside, into blissfully cooler air, and a fraction of the decibel level from inside, I realised that I did it.
I didn’t freak out, and I didn’t have to run.
“Thank you,” I said softly, as I took Harley’s offered hand, while he carried the tray of drinks, and I carried the bag of food.
“You did good,” he said casually, “but I’m never letting you cook for me, not now I know how crazy you like your food.”
He caught my eye, and smiled as I giggled, and I realised that it didn’t matter if he was friends with big scary guys, because he really wasn’t one himself.
I didn’t think the fact that he was in a biker club mattered either, because I didn’t have to be around them.
Just him. I could be around just him so easily that it felt like it was meant to be.
I was meant to meet him, because he seemed to understand me.
He saw past my difficulties and struggles, and saw me.
The me inside, the person I sometimes forgot was in there, because I was so focused outward on the things I couldn’t do, or was afraid of.
He saw beyond everything external, and that meant I could trust him.