Chapter Twenty-Nine
ITURNED TO LOOK over my shoulder at the customer who’d just walked in, and it was a woman I didn’t recognise. One who looked instantly pissed off and stormed over to Caroline, practically shoving me out of the way.
“Are you okay? What did they do to you, C? I told you, men are all shitheads!”
Ah. She must be cousin V. That’s my assumption anyway. I picked myself up off the floor, and smoothed my jeans.
“You must be-”
“I’ll be your worst fucking nightmare if you’ve hurt her!” The woman snapped, getting right in my face, while Caroline argued with her, jumping up to tug on her arm, as the woman, V, jabbed a finger right at my chest.
“He’s not hurting me, V!”
Rocket started chuckling, even though the fucker was still trying to cover his bleeding nose.
“I like her.”
“And you can fuck off too!” V snapped at him, her arm darting around me to point at him next. I could see his point. She was fiery, direct, and couldn’t be less like her sweet diminutive cousin.
“Hi V, I’m Harley. This bellend here is Rocket. He’d shake your hand, but he’s being a wuss about a little blood right now.”
V’s lips twitched, and she backed up a step, turning to check on my Caroline. Yeah, that’s right, MY fucking woman. My old lady. I just declared that, didn’t I?
“Rocket, can you fuck off to your area, and let me sort out this little misunderstanding?”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to eat your fist again would I, VP?”
I ignored him and backed up a few steps, giving V room, although it put me further away from Caroline than I’d like.
“Nobody was hurting Caroline, I promise. Rocket scared her, I hit him, and she got all horny about it. Right, baby?”
Oh, how I fucking loved those cheeks glowing bright red like that. She gasped, stepping past her cousin to slap my chest.
“Harley!”
“Am I wrong, baby?” She buried her face against me, and I hugged her, kissing the top of her head, while V stared at us open-mouthed.
“I’m not really a complete heathen, V. Just have a really bad sense of humour. While Caroline gets herself under control, welcome to my little shop. You want a coffee? I can send Rocket to the place down the road.”
“I’m not your bitch, VP. I’m working here.”
I grinned, watching him checking his nose via his reflection on the counter.
“Yeah, looks like it. Doing nose jobs now?”
“Fucker.”
“I’m fine, thanks. I don’t need coffee from some dickhead.”
Caroline groaned against my chest, and sounds like that while we’re in a public place are really not helpful.
“Hey, am I the dickhead?” Rocket yelled from his counter, like he needed to even raise his damn voice.
“You’re always the dickhead, and can you keep it down? Caroline likes quiet, remember?”
V glared at me, and honestly, I couldn’t help liking her, while also being relieved I wasn’t with her because I had a feeling a guy could wake up without his nuts if they pissed her off.
“Actually, I meant you.”
Oh ouch. Rocket started laughing again, but Caroline was finally moving from her hiding place.
“Don’t talk to him like that, V. He’s a good person. He’s… he’s the best.” She glanced up at me, and fuck me, looking at me like I hung the moon is definitely going on that list of my favourite things she does.
“He’s got his hands all over you, C! You!”
Caroline pressed closer to me, so you know what? My hands weren’t going anywhere except tighter around her.
“I like his hands on me!” Yeah, she does. It was impossible to fight the smirk that appeared on my face at her words, and V saw it, of course.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not a dickhead. Look, I came to see if you wanted to get lunch-”
“Rubbish! You didn’t know I’d be here at all. You were checking Harley out!”
V folded her arms, and I lifted my chin at her.
“Checking me out, huh? And what’s a guy got to do to measure up, in your eyes? She’s safe with me, and I’d give up everything just to see her smile. You got some checklist you wanna run through?”
“Ooooh burn!”
We both ignored Rocket, but V relaxed a touch, her eyes going from my resolute face, to Caroline’s. Fuck, she could be sassy at times, and I loved that.
“I love her, V. She’s my fucking world, so if you think that means I’m a bad guy, then I can’t change that. I’m definitely not about to change my feelings, or stop seeing her.”
Caroline gasped. “It’s not up to her! It’s up to me!”
“Yeah it is, baby. You wanna be my old lady?”
“Ugh. She’s not old!”
Caroline’s eyes were filling up. “You meant that before?”
“Of course I did, little lady. I’ve never met anyone like you, and that’s a compliment, by the way. You fill me up with your love and sweetness. All those holes in me that I never thought would be filled, you do. You give me everything.”
“Uh… she fills your holes? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
I glared at the peanut gallery, and flipped him off.
“Not really the time for your commentary, fuckhead.”
V started to laugh, joining Rocket. “No, I’m with him. That’s just weird. She’s filling your holes? That’s some kinky shit I didn’t expect.”
I groaned, resting my forehead against Caroline’s. “Any chance you’re gonna bail me out here? You get what I mean, right?”
I could see she was fighting back a smile, but now giggles erupted, and I knew I was done for.
“Sorry, Harls, I get what they mean, and I’m definitely not signing up for doing that!”
Fuck me.
Caroline
IHADN’T EXPECTED V to show up here, but I could see already that she liked Harley, because who wouldn’t?
He’d charmed her in about ten seconds, but she still wouldn’t just back down and leave.
She wanted to quiz me, and probably felt protective, because she knew I was…
well, me. My family saw me as weak, because I had my little issues with people, and noise, and processing emotions.
Harley never did though. From day one, he treated me like I was completely normal.
I’m not supposed to aspire to being normal, but honestly, I’d love to be.
To just be like everyone else. To have control over my emotions, and my mouth, and my brain, and to deal with things like everyone else does.
“I’m taking C out for coffee, and girl talk,” V declared, just like I thought she would. Harley smiled at her, kissed my forehead, making me want to swoon, and then he released me.
“Have fun, baby. Make sure you eat something, yeah?”
I nodded, grabbing my jacket, and I watched as he leaned closer to V.
“I know you understand Caroline, and wouldn’t force her to sit inside the place, but we have a favourite table there. I’m sure she’ll show you.”
V frowned at me as I stepped between them.
I wasn’t trying to be possessive, but they were both between me and the door, and to be honest, seeing them leaning close together like that definitely made me feel something.
Not jealousy as such, but definitely like I should be the one standing closer to him.
“We should go. I’ll be back soon,” I said to Harley, turning to smile at him as I reached the door.
“I’ll be waiting,” he said lightly, stepping back behind his counter, and picking up the phone, “your stuff will all be safe while you’re gone.
” It was like he could feel my wariness about leaving my laptop behind, still switched on, although I’d locked the screen.
Everything was on that thing, but I trusted him.
I loved him. There was no way he’d let anything happen to it.
V was impatiently dragging me outside, her fingers locked around my sleeve, until we were on the path, with the door closed behind me.
“He’s pretty possessive, huh?” What? I glanced back at the glass shop front, seeing Harley lift a hand to wave at me.
“He’s… he’s not possessive. What the hell are you on about?” She was taking large, angry strides, and I had to hurry to keep up with her. She was more than a foot taller than me, closer to Harley’s height, and my legs couldn’t match her pace.
“Wait, dammit! You know I’m too short to keep up!”
V suddenly laughed, and stopped, turning to wait for me by the curb.
“Forgot you’re such a short-arse, woman. Your man’s my height. Do you have to stand on a little step to kiss him?”
I had the sudden urge to flip her off, even as I was giggling at her sass.
Harley and his brothers might not have been the best influence on me, because I didn’t really swear or do any of those things.
Of course, before the last few days, I hadn’t ever had sex either, so maybe I was just changing. Evolving. Devolving. Whatever.
“He’s really sweet, you know. He looks after me. He steps between me and anyone who might even look at me wrong. He punched Rocket earlier because he touched me. He didn’t even hesitate.”
“So he has a hair trigger temper, and he’s prone to violence?”
I glared at her, and marched straight toward the door of the coffee shop, taking a deep breath and shoving it open, so I could march right on inside too. I took the next place in the queue, and V caught up with me.
“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be an asshole, only I thought I married the best guy too, and he turned out to be a cheating, asshole bastard of a man.”
I felt myself softening toward her, because she couldn’t help it if her impression of men had changed after an experience like that. I just didn’t like her making assumptions about character flaws Harley didn’t even have.
“He supports me, in my work, in my dreams. Did you know he even wants me to work on a project with him. Rebuilding an entire compound from the ground up.”
I was at the front of the queue already, so I placed my order, my usual coffee and usual toasted sandwich, and V added her order.
“He wants me to design it for him. I’m so excited about it, because I never really get to use that side of my brain enough. I trained for so long, and then ended up changing careers. This is my chance to design an entire compound, do you get how amazing that is?”
We paid, and moved to the waiting point, and I watched V fighting with herself before she responded. I knew she wanted to denounce this upcoming project, purely because it was Harley’s idea, but she finally sighed, shaking her head slowly.
“No, I don’t really understand what it entails, but good. I think you’ll be amazing at that. What… what’s the compound, you keep calling it that? It’s not a building?”
Our drinks were suddenly in front of us, and the little table number to take away with us, so we made our way back outside to the table Harley and I usually sat at, and it was only when the noise was finally silenced that I realised I’d barely noticed it for once.
I’d been so focused on defending my man, so caught up in my anger and frustration with V, that I’d missed the one thing that normally sent me right into the flight side of fight or flight.
“This is our usual table,” I said lamely as we sat down, and V pushed the table number to the edge for the servers to see.
“Tell me about this ‘compound’, cuz.”
I wasn’t sure how much Harley would want her to know, but at the same time, I didn’t want to have to hide what might end up being an important part of my life too.
“Harley’s the VP of the local motorcycle club. He wants to redesign their entire clubhouse compound. Knock it all down, and custom build the entire place.”
Her eyes widened and she leaned down on her elbows.
“Wow, that’s huge. Tell me more about this ‘club’ though. You mean like Sons of Anarchy bad boys? I don’t think that’s wise, cuz. You need someone decent, stable. Someone who isn’t caught up in some violent men’s club.”
She was really starting to annoy me with this. Pissing me off, even. See? I’m changing.
“Could you just put aside all of your damn prejudices for one minute? You met Harley. You can see he’s gentle, and kind, and protects me.
And you met Rocket, and sure, he’s a bit of a dick sometimes, but he’s also not a bad person.
I just finished a scanning project for him, and he was so grateful for the help. This is-”
“Unpaid work? This is all unpaid stuff? They’re taking advantage of you, C. You should be earning for your hard work, not servicing two men like they’re-”
“Servicing? You know what? I can’t do this with you right now. I’m… I can’t listen to you when you’re being so unreasonable. You’re being a bitch!”
We both fell silent, and then V grinned widely. “That’s my girl. It’s only taken you your entire life to tell me off! I’m a bitch, huh? Harsh.”
Why was I giggling now? Damn her!
“You really were though.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to expect the worst of Harley. He seemed nice in the few moments I spoke to him, although the other guy, I don’t know… it was hard to tell, what with him all bloody like that. I’ll try, okay? I’m still licking my wounds, but I’ll try.”
I nodded. I really couldn’t ask for more right now.
“Okay. And Rocket’s paying me for my work with a custom spray job on my motorbike. It’s going to be gorgeous.”
V lifted her hands, shrugging at me. “Well, why didn’t you just say so?!”