Chapter Three
TRAVIS
W atching her attempt to fix this fence is comical. I had no intention of sitting here like a fucking stalker once I got back from lunch, but the distant wails of expletives had my feet stepping closer to where she was attempting to mend the fence I’d already fixed. Call me curious, but a pretty little thing like her doesn’t look like she belongs around here. And she certainly doesn’t look like she should have such a filthy mouth.
Curiosity may have killed the motherfucking cat, but making sure this one stays will only serve to soften the blow of my exit. I know that’s why Mick put the ad out before Dean gets home. He can tell my departure is looming.
Mollie bends grabbing the hammer I watched her toss aside moments ago.
I see the faint outline of a tattoo on her lower back as her top rises. I can’t make it out from my spot sitting on a hay bale by the barn, but my dick twitches at the sight of her glossy skin. One leg raised, my elbow resting on my knee, I take a long drag from my smoke before flicking it to the ground.
“You shouldn’t be doing that so close to the hay,” Mollie shouts from the fence.
“You shouldn’t hold a hammer like that.” I jump down and step closer to her.
Whack.
Told you.
“Urgh! Piece of shit,” she shouts, shaking her fingers and squeezing her eyes shut .
My lips pull. She’s something. That’ll teach her not to watch tutorials on her phone. I couldn’t see for sure, but I caught her watching and following along. It was obvious. “You swear like a man,” I tell her, holding out my hand so I can check hers is okay.
The scowl she offers me suggests she’s not in the mood for jokes. “Thanks for that.” She looks at my gesture but refuses my help, holding her hand to her chest. “You going to help or just carry on being useless?”
Useless? I drop my hand, lost for words. Been called many things in my adult life, but never useless. It instantly irritates me. “I’m pretty fucking use ful , actually.” I don’t know why I allow myself to snap at her. Given the nature of the club, this little doll shouldn’t be getting under my skin.
She mutters more swear words under her breath before speaking again. “Prove it.”
Is that a challenge? From someone who doesn’t fucking know me? “You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think challenging me will somehow motivate me to help you.” I stare her down.
Looking at me with no expression, she doesn’t blink, but her lips part. “Well?”
Did she not hear me? Or maybe she did and she’s just being a brat? “Well, what?” I fire back at her, my eyes narrowing when I look at her face.
Another scowl. “Are you going to help?”
I grin because I’m actually taken aback by her fucking attitude. Most women get on their knees for me. However, something tells me this girl would fight me at every turn if I tried to make her. As much as that excites me, maybe that’s just it? She’s just a girl. I should drop this. I should turn around and walk away before I piss her off and she leaves Mick shorthanded.
The way she cocks an eyebrow at me throws that notion straight out the window faster than what it came in through. Her invitation to see how far I can take this is accepted. Girl or not, I never lose.
Still staring at each other, something jolts inside me. A rush of heat I’ve not felt before courses through my bones. Unsure of what the fuck is happening, I suddenly picture myself doing unholy things to her. I don’t want to, but I can’t stop. “You’ve got it, Baby Doll.”
She picks up a plank of wood then turns, almost knocking me to the ground with it .
“Fuck,” I mutter. I hear Mollie laugh, and I turn quickly to look at her. “You did that on fucking purpose!”
She sniggers. “What?”
I see her smile. Fuck, she’s unlike any other girl I’ve met. “Oh God, you’re going to be a pain in my fucking arse.” I rub my head, composing myself as I turn to leave. As much as I will plot my revenge, I don’t have fucking time for this right now. Tonight’s a big night. I need to get back whilst my ego’s intact.
“You two.”
Mollie and I look up to see my uncle standing by the tractor.
“Janette and I are out for dinner tonight. Wondered if you wanted to join us? Gives us a chance to get to know Mollie a bit better.”
Fuck no . “Can’t,” I start, as he makes his way over to us. “Dean’s back tonight.”
“That’s tonight?”
I nod.
He comes to a stop. “Right. You’ll give him my best?”
I nod again but my eyes narrow. He doesn’t mean that. He knows as soon as we can, Dean and I will be starting up our own business and I’m gone.
“How about you, Mollie? Got plans later?”
Mollie looks up at me, and I double take. Her dark, round eyes are now soft. Is she pleading? Does she want me to help her out?
I grin making her eyes widen. She has no idea how much my aunt and uncle love a meal out. A good chance for an interrogation.
Revenge, plotted. “Mollie’s free,” I tell Mick with a fake lightness to my voice.
He smiles. His hopeful eyes turning to Mollie.
Mollie scowls at me, and for the strangest of reasons, I fucking love it.
One day. That’s how long I’ve known this girl, yet I already know I’m going to get a kick out of testing her boundaries. I wonder if she could handle me how Tanya did? No. Way too soon for that. I’ll have to break her in gently.
“Uh, I was, but now I’m not,” Mollie splutters, tucking her hair behind her ear with one hand, the other struggling to hold the plank of wood. “I’m meeting a friend later. Sorry, Mick.”
A friend ?
I know the look on my uncle’s face. I see it every day. Disappointment.
“Cancel.” I immediately wonder why the fuck those words chose to fly from my mouth. Apparently, so does Mollie given our little standoff moments ago.
“What?” she says stunned.
I straighten my spine trying to mask the fact I feel the exact same way. “You heard. Cancel your plans.”
Mollie’s jaw drops as Mick’s head turns to me.
“You’re new here. Will do you some good to get to know who you’re working for.”
“I’m busy,” Mollie snaps, before she smiles apologetically at Mick.
He smiles back with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“What time are you meeting your friend?” I ask her.
Her eyes jump between me and Mick. “Eight,” she fires back.
Just as I go to open my mouth, Mick pipes up. “What time’s Dean back?”
My eyes snap to Mick’s. Eight. “What?”
“Take Mollie with you.”
I laugh. He can’t be serious. “You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”
Mick scratches his head. “No, boy. I’m serious.” He looks at me blankly. “Since neither of you want to join me and your aunt, you can take Mollie with you to meet Dean.”
“Uh, no, that’s not necessary. I can cancel, Mick. I’d love to hang out with you and Janette.”
Mick smiles as Mollie tries to backtrack. “Too late. We’ll do another night.”
Scowling, I cross my arms. “Clubhouse ain’t the right place for no little girl.”
I feel the wood hit the back of my head before I see Mollie’s arm swinging.
“Good job I’m not one of those.”
“Alright you two.” Mick steps closer to us both like he’s refereeing.
I wipe the back of my head checking for blood.
“You can show Mollie around.”
I roll my fingers together, sighing on a breath. “Uncle Mick, I’m twenty-five. You did a good job, but I don’t need you trying to be a parent no more.”
Mick laughs. “You ungrateful shit. I know I’m no parent,” his eyes gleam with remorse, “but as your boss, you’ll listen. Mollie needs showing around. Only man I trust to look after my new— unexpendable, employee, is you.”
Not my boss for much longer.
Mick turns before looking back at us both standing frozen. “You’ll take Mollie, then I expect you both here tomorrow early doors. Blackjack’s about to pop, I need you here.”
Mollie reluctantly nods her head, watching Mick as he walks away. “You’re a dick, you know that?” she hisses once he’s out of ear shot.
I frown. “You’re the one who upset him. Couldn’t you have just said yes?”
Mollie huffs incredulously, turning to look at me. “Me?” she says sharply. “You’re the one he called an ungrateful shit.”
“ You’re the one who turned down his hospitality on the first day of work.” I step closer to her making her take a breath as she looks up at me. “He expects it from me. You… you should have agreed.”
“I wasn’t lying when I said I had plans. I really am busy later.”
I can’t stop my eyes from pulling together. I can’t tell if it’s annoyance at her being busy, or the idea that I’m the only man Mick trusts to keep her safe. The way my brain twists that to mean I’m the only one who could hurt her too, sends an evil—yet somewhat satisfying, chill up my spine. “Well, that works for both of us then, doesn’t it?”
Mollie frowns as she turns away from me, the wood in her hand almost hitting me again.
With a slight step back, I shake my head. Brat . “You wouldn’t last five minutes in our clubhouse,” I mutter under my breath, again wondering why the fuck I’m retaliating. It’s like she’s sunk her teeth in and I’m secretly begging her to bite harder.
She stops dead in her tracks, dropping the wood to the floor with a thud.
My heart picks up speed and I’m suddenly all too aware of it.
“What makes you think I wouldn’t last five minutes?”
I balk. “Look at you.” My eyes rake over her body. The slight curve of her hips and her tits quickly rising and falling as she steps closer to me, makes a burning sensation rise in my throat. She’s irritatingly gorgeous.
Placing her hands on her hips when she stops, her captivating eyes enlarge into gaping holes.
What the fuck is happening here? Why is my heart galloping like it is?
“Well?” Mollie asks, watching me watching her.
Looking down, all I can picture is this girl tied to my bed with her legs spread wide. “Well, what?” I stammer, like a complete twat.
Mollie takes a subtle step forward, her chin angled up to look at me. “Why wouldn’t I last five minutes? Tell me, biker boy.”
Biker boy?
A gag. Ropes— lots of ropes. Her begging me like the other girls do. I can see it now. I’ll show her what this biker boy is capable of.
“We play pool and poker, Baby Doll. We get drunk. It’s not the right place for a girl like you.”
“A girl like me?” Her eyes pinch in the middle. Oh, she doesn’t like that. “You don’t know anything about me.”
Lowering my face, she sucks in a breath as mine undoubtedly hits her cheeks with how close I’ve gotten to her. “You want to play?”
Holding her ground—which is pretty fucking impressive given my size, her soft lips part before she speaks.
My eyes glance, watching as she sucks in a breath.
“I’m a good pool player. You also don’t strike me as someone who’d take losing to a woman very well.”
So am I. With a huff, I let out a laugh. “You think you can beat me, Baby Doll?”
The way her face tightens whenever I call her that only serves to make me want to call her that more often.
“Yeah, biker boy, I bet I can.”
“Prove it,” I say, challenging her again.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Thought you didn’t want me there?”
“Thought you were busy?”
We’re face to face, standing off against one another, the unexpected tension running rife between us. I can’t explain the way this girl is igniting flames in the deepest depths of my core. The way she’s goading me… I’ve never had a woman stand up to me like this before. I want to strangle her and put her in her place. But the challenge. Her confidence.
This is new.