Chapter Twenty
WE REACHED THE SHOP the next morning, and the first thing I noticed was Grease waiting outside on his ride, lifting his helmet off as I unlocked the door. Well, fuck. It was probably time I had my ass handed to me, right? Waking him last night was out of order, and we both knew it.
“Hey, man.”
“VP.”
He knew he wasn’t supposed to address club statuses or business here, but I had a feeling he had something to say, and wasn’t going to leave ’til it was said. The least I could do was listen. I owed him that.
“Rocket not here?” We were running a little late, so I’d hoped my so-called business partner had beaten me to it today.
“Haven’t seen him yet, and I’ve been waiting fifteen minutes.”
Great. So any potential customers would have walked away while neither of us opened the damn doors.
“Go on in, and get set up, babe. Grab yourself a drink. I need to chat with Grease.”
Caroline nodded, offering Grease a little shy wave as she headed inside, and straight to her desk.
“Look, about last night,” I said as soon as the door closed behind her, turning to face Grease. The fucker looked tired, and maybe that was my fault. Of course he lived a borderline aggressive relationship with his feisty woman, so anything could have been the reason.
“Not here about that. Well, I mean, I am, but not for the reasons you think. Her name’s Caroline, right?”
“What’s that to do with you?” I fought the urge to shove him back, because touching him didn’t go down well, and now I knew exactly who he was, I was starting to realise just how lucky I’d been that he hadn’t killed me way back when.
“Look, I was worried about her after you called, and-”
“Wait, worried about my wom… I mean, about Caroline? She’s not your concern.”
Grease grinned at my slip, and folded his arms, lowering his voice.
“She’s my VP’s potential old lady, man. She matters to you, so she matters. Got it?”
“She matters, because she fucking exists, and matters outside of being connected to me. Got that?”
“Jesus, okay, get off your high horse.” He smirked at the word ‘horse’ because we both knew that nobody was forgetting my little escapades on Halloween night.
I turned to watch Caroline, as she merrily made herself one of those god-awful coffees, and turned back to him.
“She’s okay. She… her nightmare wasn’t about me. It’s some recurring thing she’s had since she was little.” Grease frowned, scratching at his jaw.
“Like a specific incident?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. We talked about it a little as we were getting ready this morning. She just said it’s a nightmare about being snatched from her parents and kept in the dark.
There are scarier variations of that. I don’t know.
It’s her business. I just wish I’d had the balls to wake her immediately last night.
I’m never gonna stop kicking myself for letting her stay trapped in that hell for so long. ”
Grease lifted his helmet and pointed at the door with it.
“May as well come in and finish the planned routing for the camera feeds. Just bear this in mind, man. I’m a mafia trained tech. I can find anything. You give me her last name, and I’ll tell you if there’s something in her past that might be causing this. You could help her with it.”
Despite the risk, I grabbed his arm as he stepped past me. His eyes landed there before he shook off my hold and glared at me.
“I’m letting that one go, on account of you being my VP, and all messed up over your little woman, but nobody touches me. Don’t make the same mistake again.”
Jesus. “Just don’t go looking into anything to do with her unless she asks, okay? Her personal business should stay hers, regardless of how curious we are.”
He smirked, and pushed the door open. “Keep telling yourself that, man. It’s not like we need to know everything about anyone new near the club, right?”
Moments after we joined Caroline in the shop, I heard Grease start laughing and head for the door, letting Jamie in, who carried a cardboard tray stuffed with drinks from down the road.
“Gee, thanks for the help. It’s almost like you know I’ll kick your ass if I spill them,” she snarked at him, as he lifted the tray and carried it to the counter.
Jamie plucked the machine coffee from Caroline’s hand. “Nope. Not drinking that when I have the good shit with me.”
Caroline giggled as she followed Jamie to the counter, and took the offered mocha.
See, this is what I love about the people in my life.
They took note of what drink she liked. They brought her one without even considering that they barely knew her.
I fucking loved my club family, thanking god for the millionth time that Phoenix MC took over the Rogues, and gave me a family worth having at last.
“Sorry, sorry! Jesus fuck. My ride died on me!” Rocket stormed into the shop just moments after we handed out the drinks, and he looked touched as Jamie turned and offered him a coffee too.
“You… for me?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve decided to forgive you for what a prick you were when I was in the force. I’m turning over a new leaf, because apparently, some people think I’m an uptight… what was it, Grease?” He groaned, and covered her mouth, dragging her away from Rocket.
I ignored them, turning to Rocket, who looked frustrated as all hell.
“Where is she?”
He gestured to the car park outside.
“I had to get a fucking breakdown service to bring her. I don’t know what happened. One minute we were fine, and then there was a muffled bang, smoke, and she died.”
Fuck me. What was it with these guys and blowing up their rides?
“Let’s get her in the bay, and I’ll see what you’ve done to her.”
“Really?”
“Well, duh.”
I let him lead me outside, hoping as I left, that Grease wouldn’t scare Caroline, or worse, get all up in her business while I was gone.
Caroline
JAY AND GREASE WERE so funny, winding each other up, and threatening all kinds of things as they worked together. I really liked her, and I was starting to realise that Grease, although scary tall and imposing, was a decent guy too.
“Hey, Caroline, you mind if I get at the wall for a mo?” With my agreement, he waited until I backed my chair up, and then he scooted my desk away from the wall, crouching down to fiddle with the sockets down there.
Jay dropped her ass on my desk as he worked, which wasn’t ideal, but I was trying to step outside of my comfort zone to accommodate these people who mattered to Harley.
“So, how’s the scanning going?”
I uploaded the photo I’d just scanned, and moved it back to the folder.
“Easy peasy. I like repetitive stuff like this.”
“Must love sex then,” I heard Grease murmur from behind the desk, and I felt my cheeks turn red as Jay grinned at me.
“What?”
She shrugged. “You’re adorable with those blushes,” she said, and Grease snorted, peering at us over the desktop.
“Yeah, because you never do that, little pain.”
She looked for something to throw at him, but my desk was clear of projectiles, so she leaned over and smacked the back of his head.
“I’ll keep count,” he muttered, not even looking up from his work.
“So what’s the plan here?” I gestured to Grease and the shop in general.
“We’re revamping Harley’s security, now he has a second business worth of pricy stuff here. That’s what we do. Security, and uh… other stuff like that.”
I jumped as Rocket ran past me unexpectedly, reappearing for as long as it took him to grab something from his counter, and then he was gone again.
“What happened to you to make you so jumpy?” Jay asked, and I heard Grease groan.
“Butt out, little pain. It’s her business.” His head suddenly appeared again. “Although, if you wanted us to help make anyone disappear, that’s a thing we also do.”
“Dammit, Grease! We’re not… that’s not what we do,” Jay insisted, but he smirked.
“You’re not a cop anymore, innit. Take a walk on the wild side for once.”
“Already doing that. It’s called dating a biker.”
I covered my mouth as I giggled at their antics.
“You two are so mean to each other!”
Jay laughed, ignoring the continuing muttering from her man.
“It’s our love language,” she scrutinised me for a moment, “so what’s yours?”
I blinked dumbly at her, suddenly on the spot and not liking it at all.
“I… um… I don’t think I have one.”
“But you’re fucking Harley, right?”
“Probably ’bout time I gag you, little pain,” Grease grumbled, as I gasped and covered my face with both hands.
“It’s okay, she’s shutting up now. Just, you know, this is a safe place to say stuff. We’re his family. Maybe not the one he was born to, but the one he chose.”
“He chose you? That seems like an error in judgement,” Jay sniped, and he tossed a piece of wire at her.
“Shut it, mouthy. All I’m saying is, if you’re with him, then we’re your family too. That’s all I’m getting at. So like if you have uh… like something worrying you, or whatever, then we’ve got your back.”
Jay looked from him to me, and her eyes suddenly laser focused on mine.
“Is someone bothering you, Caroline? Do you need help? I can’t arrest anyone anymore, but I’m great at breaking men’s nuts. Just ask Grease.”
“You wish, Jay.”
They were like a double act, but it wasn’t funny anymore. It was intrusive, and too focused on me, and I didn’t like it at all.
“I… um…”
“Oi, get off her desk, Jamie,” Harley suddenly popped up beside us, “Caroline, can I borrow you for a sec?”
He grabbed my hand and practically dragged me away from the desk, and into the workshop area. Rocket was nowhere to be seen, but Harley wasn’t paying attention to anything but me.
“Look at me, babe. If they’re upsetting you, I’ll send them away.”
I tried to ignore the way my heart thundered in my chest, and the heat of mortification still warming my cheeks.
“I um… do they know… do they… what we did last night. Do they know?”
Harley swallowed hard, and his eyes left mine for a split second, but it was enough to tell me all I needed to know.
“Oh my god. You talked about… about what we did!” I shoved him back, and to his credit, he didn’t resist, just shook his head at me.
“How could you?”
“It’s not like that.”
“So what is it like? You guys have a group chat you all post your exploits in? Your conquests? Is that what I am? Am I a conquest, Harley?”
He looked stunned by my question, finally losing his usual calm facade.
“Are you fucking kidding me!? Is that really what you think of me? After everything we’ve… fuck me. Last night meant nothing to you? Is that what’s happening here? You got what you wanted, and now you just want me gone?”
I opened my mouth, and it snapped shut again as he turned and clenched his fists.
“Fuck. I really thought…”
“What’s going on here, man?”
“None of your business,” he snapped at Grease, while Rocket poked his head in and quickly disappeared again. I wished Grease would do the same, especially when he focused those steady eyes on me.
“We possibly upset your lady, man. It wasn’t our intention, but… well, Jay’s a nosy pain in the ass, as you know-”
“I heard that,” she sniped from behind him.
“I… oh god… I need to leave.”
Harley turned desolate eyes on me, a look I’d never seen on his face before.
“Fine. Go. Run from me. That’s what’s easiest for you, right?”
“Whoa, okay. Look, if we caused this, I’m sorry.”
Jay shoved Grease out of the way. “If you guys are having some ridiculous miscommunication, instead of just talking things out, I’ll bang your heads together. I learned the hard way that this… talking… is the only way to fix the problems.”
“It’s like she learned from her mist-” Grease grunted as she elbowed his gut.
“Seriously, talk it out. I think I made Caroline uncomfortable asking about stuff I had no right to, and Grease was no better. From what I can see, you two really like each other, maybe more than like, and I, for one, think you’re pretty perfect for each other, but that’s not my business.
Just ask yourselves this. If you walk away now, will you have regrets?
I did. I nearly lost everything, and I wouldn’t recommend it. Zero fucking stars.”
She dragged Grease back out of the repair bay, and Harley and I just stared at each other.
“I…”
“Yeah…”
“I’m not running, Harley.”