Chapter Nine
Taylor
I can’t believe I am voluntarily driving back to this place. After what happened on Friday night, I told myself the chances of running into Noah again were slim to never going to happen. Yet here I am, parking up outside the bar in Locust Point.
It looks different in daylight, even with the bikes parked out front. The church is open and people are coming and going, others making their way down the street. None of them even glance at the bar or the biker hangout next door.
Two men standing by the bikes are watching me sitting in my car, gripping the steering wheel as I muster up the courage to get out. For the last two days, I’ve been searching everywhere for the bracelet dad bought me. It was the last gift he got me before he died.
He was weak towards the end but before he was totally bed ridden, his sister took him to the mall to get me something special. It means the world to me. And I lost it. In the back of my mind I knew where but I searched everywhere else before I admitted defeat.
Wanting it back is more important than being worried about seeing him again. I did what any normal person would do, I got their number and called the bar.
A man answered. He clearly didn’t work there, nor did he have any interest in the conversation. He said Raven was out, the bar opened later and maybe it was in lost and found. He then told me to come to the bar and look and hung up.
There is no way I was going back there when it’s packed with bikers, so I left work after my shorter shift and drove out here. The lights are off in the bar but I’m hoping someone is inside. It’s almost opening time. I can deal with Raven, she will understand and help.
Taking in a deep breath, I get out of the car and walk past the men watching me and up to the door. It’s embarrassing as hell when I try to open it, but it’s locked. Closing my eyes I remember why I’m here. I cannot lose that bracelet.
Someone approaches and I turn around. I didn’t see all the men the other night but I’m sure I’d remember this guy.
He has piercing blue eyes, that are twinkling with amusement, and curly ash blond hair.
He’s wearing his leather vest but has a white T-shirt beneath it that does nothing to hide his bulging biceps.
Jeez, since meeting Noah, I’ve been confronted with the kind of men you only see in thirst traps on social media. They’re almost unreal.
“Bar won’t be open for another hour.” And he has a southern accent too.
“Oh.” I don’t want to make a return trip all the way out here. “Do you have a number for Raven? I left something here at the weekend and I’d like to get it back.”
“She doesn’t usually open up, one of the other staff does that. I could try to call one of them, or you can come back later?”
I glance around. It’s not so bad around here I could find somewhere to grab a coffee and come back.
It’s not like I have plans. I’m about to speak when the roar of motorcycle engines splits the air.
A whole convoy of them come riding up and I watch, mesmerized as they ride in formation, like migrating geese.
Noah is at the front. He has on one of those helmets that doesn’t go over his whole head, so his face is showing.
I didn’t even realize people still wore those.
He spots me straight away and lifts his hand.
Not to wave at me, he indicates for the bikes to carry on while he turns into the parking lot of the bar.
“Oh shit,” I mutter.
The man beside me laughs quietly and I glare at him.
“Looks like the Prez is gonna help,” he tips an imaginary hat at me and saunters off.
He says something to Noah as he passes and I stand stock still, watching him get off the bike, his thick thighs look amazing in those jeans.
Stop it, Taylor. No bad thoughts about the bad man. After setting down his helmet and gloves, Noah walks over to me.
“What are you doing here?”
I almost say, well hello to you too, then remember where I am and who I’m talking to.
“I lost something on Friday and I think it might in the bar,” I tell him.
“Bar is closed.”
“Thank you for that, I hadn’t noticed.”
His lips lift in a half-smile. “What is it you’ve lost?”
“Um, a bracelet. It’s important to me.” He frowns. “Your friend said that Raven isn’t around and the bar doesn’t open for another hour. Could you maybe let me look around or, you see if its there. I called earlier and someone said it might be in lost and found?”
Now he openly smiles. “I don’t know who you spoke to but I think they were either hung over or fucking with you. We don’t have a lost and found.”
“Oh,” I look away. This is the only place where it could be, unless it’s fallen off while I was out somewhere, in which case it could be lost forever. I press my lips together to hold back the emotion.
“Wait here,” Noah says, taking a step back.
He probably saw me tearing up and wants to get rid of me.
“I don’t have keys but I can get in the back way.”
Without any further explanation he walks away.
At a loss, I wring my fingers together, a nervous habit I’ve had since childhood.
After what feels like five minutes but probably wasn’t, the door behind me clicks from the inside.
Noah opens it and steps back to let me in.
I squeeze past him and walk into the bar.
It looks different when it’s empty but it’s dark inside because of the blinds over the front windows.
“Any idea where you might have lost it?”
“I only sat at the table back there or when I went to the-” I cut myself off there. He knows full well where I went.
“I’ll check behind the bar if you want to take a look.”
We go our separate ways, and I search around where we first met Raven, the table where we sat and then I wander down the hallway to the bathroom.
I half expect him to follow me again but he doesn’t.
I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
The bathroom doesn’t yield any results either and my heart sinks.
This was the last place I thought it might be. I walk back into the bar and Noah looks up from his phone.
“Not there.”
“I don’t see anything here either, but I can check with Raven when she gets back, she might have found it and put it somewhere safe.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
He watches me, well, more like studies me, and I can’t help thinking about how he had me pressed against the wall, staring so intently at my mouth and calling me Cherry.
“How did you get home that night?” he interrupts my thoughts.
“Cab. Raven got it for us, said you had taxi drivers.”
Noah smirks and shakes his head.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he presses both hands on the bar and leans back slightly. “The driver might have it in his car.”
“I never thought of that, can you get hold of him, if you know the company.”
“Sure,” he smirks again and I get the feeling I’m missing something. “Take a seat and I’ll text him.”
It’s not in my plans to hang around but if my bracelet is in the car, I can handle it. Noah texts someone then looks back at me. He offers me a drink which I decline, because it’s mid-afternoon, who drinks at this time. Bikers probably.
“There’s a coffee machine, if you’d prefer.”
“Actually, that would be nice, thank you.”
He nods and goes to the huge machine behind the bar.
As I watch his broad back, I wonder what his men would think of him now, behind a bar making coffee for a random woman.
He turns around with two cups and sets one down for me, then slides over creamer and sugar.
He stands back and holds his by his abdomen.
“This bracelet, it was expensive? You have it insured?”
“It wasn’t expensive, no.” I cradle the cup in my hands. The initial worry I felt over being around him is diminishing. He’s not behaving like an ass, he isn’t threatening me or staring at me like he wants to tear off my clothes. He’s being normal. Kind of nice even.
“But it was a gift from someone I care about a lot and if I lose it, I’ll be upset.”
“Boyfriend?”
“You’re really nosy you know that.” He shrugs, not caring in the slightest. “My dad gave it to me.”
He nods and his eyes narrow a fraction. I expect him to say something but he glances into his coffee. What is that about?
“Only thing my old man ever gave me, was a headache.”
“That bad?”
“You grow up in this life, it’s the way things are.”
“What about your son?”
His stance changes in a split second and I remember how he was when I went to his house, how he didn’t want me to see his son.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t pry.”
His shoulders rise and fall a few times and I get the feeling he’s trying to hold himself back. Not from hurting me, I don’t think he would do that. There is something else though.
“Not a lot of people know about Oscar. It’s safer for him.”
“Oh,” I nod. Makes sense. “I guess when you’re in a gang you want to protect your kids.”
“A gang?” he arches a brow.
“You know, all this.”
“It’s not a gang, Cherry, we’re a motorcycle club, we like to ride our motorcycles.”
“Is that all you do?” I give him a look, brushing over the fact my heart thumped when he called me Cherry.
“Yeah,” he grins. At least he doesn’t look like he’s going to lose his shit.
“Well, I won’t say anything about your son. There isn’t anyone I would tell. I don’t know you or your friends or anything about you.”
He nods. His phone buzzes and he checks the text and frowns. “It doesn’t look like it’s in the car,” he says, giving me a strange look.
My heart drops for a different reason.
“Raven still might know where it is,” he says, more gently than I’ve heard him talk. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he knows how important this is to me, even more so than I’ve let on while we’ve been looking. But that is impossible.
“It’s okay, thank you for trying. And thanks for the coffee.” I need to get out of here before I let him see a side of me he really doesn’t need to and hop off the stool.