Fletch’s Protection (Mountain Men MC #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Mari

My feet are tired, my back hurts, and it’s not even noon. But the worst thing of all is that Clark Wall is parking in front of the hardware store.

His work truck eases into the spot as he watches me through the window.

The hair stands up on my arms as I ring up a customer’s plumbing order. The bell on the door chimes, and I expect the smell of oil to precede Clark into the store, but it doesn’t.

Instead the scent of fresh mountain air and shaving cream floats past me.

Mr. Smith takes the quarters and mutters, “Well, well. That must be one of them.”

I don’t have to ask who he means. He’s not talking about Clark or the oil workers. Them is what the town calls motorcycle club that took over the old logging camp on the outskirts of town.

The man crossing the store is definitely one of them. He’s wearing a black leather vest over a dark T-shirt and big, tough-looking boots. The patch on the vest declares he’s a member of Mountain Men MC—the mysterious gang who has been coming into town more and more over the last couple of months.

The second time the bell rings, it is Clark and my heart drops to my shoes.

He stops and leers at me with a lopsided, dirty grin on his face. A wave of nausea rolls through my stomach. I can’t shake the feel of his nasty hands on me. It’s been six weeks since it happened, but the memory won’t let go.

“So, you got a boyfriend, huh? Haven’t seen you out with anyone,” Clark says casually as he slowly walks toward me. He’s referring to what I said last time he was in the store hassling me.

“I do,” I clip and for some reason, I keep on talking. “He’s in the hardware aisle if you’d like to meet him.”

Oh my god. Oh my god. I can’t believe I said that.

Clark chuckles. It’s a dark, ugly sound. “Now you make me wonder what that mouth is good for besides lying, Mari.”

God. He’s sick.

With my heart in my throat, I stride out from behind the counter and take the back aisle that skirts along the edge of the store. I follow it to the hardware aisle.

Thank god the biker is there. The first thing that hits me is that he’s bigger up close. Good lord, he looks vicious. There are wicked tattoos are all over this arms, muscles are everywhere, and those skull patches on the vest make him look like bad news.

Which is exactly what I need right now.

He’s looking at a display of bolts, completely focused.

Somewhere in the distance Clark calls, “Oh, are we playing hide and seek? Because I like a chase.”

Gulp. My heart stumbles.

I beeline for the biker. “Excuse me,” I say, breathing erratically. “I know this sounds crazy, but I need a boyfriend. That man is harassing—”

My words die when Clark appears at the end of the aisle. I turn to ice on the spot.

The biker’s hand slides around my waist and he jerks me against his body. I’m locked to him from my nipples to my knees.

A shocked wheeze squeezes out of me as he looks down into my eyes.

“Fuck, I can’t wait til we’re alone,” he says loudly, nostrils flaring as he inhales deeply. “I didn’t get enough earlier and I’ve been hard all morning thinking about you.”

My throat turns dry as sawdust.

“Yes…” I wheeze because I’m incapable of any other words. Yes? What am I saying? I don’t even know what I’m saying yes to.

With a loud crack, the biker smacks my ass, kisses my forehead with a growl, and turns to look at Clark with a deadly stare.

“You get your eyes full, asshole?”

It’s a good thing this man’s massive arm is locked around me again because my knees just buckled.

Clark’s face contorts, eyes burning with hate. His oil-stained hand clenches around a roll of duct tape until it’s shaking.

“Filthy fucking bikers,” he mutters. “Are you really that cheap, Mari?”

“I told you I was seeing someone,” I say, somehow sounding almost normal. All while I cling to the gigantic man like a life raft, resting my cheek against his leather vest.

“I’ll be waiting for you when you get off, because we are not fucking done,” Clark sneers and takes a step back but doesn’t move his glare away from the biker.

Below my ear there’s a feral growl followed by a low, venomous tone. “Stay the fuck away from what’s mine.”

Every hair on my body stands up on end. Chill bumps rush across my skin.

I have no idea what’s going to happen, but the door chime rings. Someone yells, “Clark, did you get that capacitor?”

Clark takes another step back, spins on his heel and stalks off.

All the air goes out of me in a rush. “Oh my god,” I choke out, swaying on my feet as I step away the from man I’ve just been hanging on.

I finally get my wits about me and him an apologetic look. “I didn’t think he was that crazy. I’m sorry for getting you involved.”

A large steady hand grips my arm and he turns me to face him.

“Well, I’ve had a lot of first dates and that’s got to be the fastest one ever,” he says with crinkles at the corner of his eyes.

My god. He’s handsome. But my mind is whirling and all I can think to say is, “Now what am I going to do?”

It was a question I meant to keep in my head.

His expression turns serious, that hand tightening a little more on my arm. “What has he done that you that makes running into my arms the safer choice?”

Good question. Because this man looks like he could bend steel with his bare hands.

But Clark is terrifying for a whole different reason.

A shudder tightens my muscles. The nausea peaks inside my stomach.

Keeping my voice low, I tell the stranger, “He cornered me in the back room. I was the only one working and I didn’t know what he was going to do.

It was terrifying. But another customer came in the store and he backed off. ”

A scary expression takes over the biker’s rugged face. His jaw muscles tic, eyes hardening. “Your boss won’t ban him from the store?”

“No way. They spend a lot of money,” I reply. “That’s the sad reality and nothing is going to change that.”

“What time you get off?”

I hesitate, then I cave and tell him. “At four.”

“I’ll be waiting out front.”

I’m already shaking my head. This man has done enough. I feel terrible. “Oh, you don’t have to—”

“Yeah, I do.” His hand lingers for a moment longer, warm and strong against my arm, with his thumb stroking against my skin.

He clears his throat, drops his hand, steps back and reaches for a pack of bolts.

Crazy ideas are forming in my head like a movie roll. Maybe he can walk me to my car. Maybe this isn’t terrible. He doesn’t seem to mind.

“Could you walk me to my car when I leave?”

“Sure, Cupcake.” He glances down my body slowly, but it’s not creepy. His expression is warm. “Now, can you ring these up?”

He’s holding up the packet of bolts.

Cupcake.

He really went all in on the fake boyfriend thing. I take the bolts and he follows like the world’s largest guard dog.

The whole time I’m ringing up his purchase, the man burns Clark up with a glare. The other clerk, Sadie, watches from her station like it’s a soap opera.

The tension in the building gets hot enough to crack the windows.

As if there isn’t enough madness, my boss appears in the doorway to the break room where he lounges for hours at a time. His gaze bounces between the biker, Clark and me.

Oh no. I can already tell this isn’t going to go well. I didn’t think my heart could sink any lower, but it does.

“You know what, Mari?” His face reddens as he straightens his Gary’s Hardware shirt. “We don’t want this kind of trouble here. You’re fired!”

The packet of bolts falls out of my hand and hit my big toe. But all I can hear is Clark laughing.