Chapter 11
Hound Dog
A fter the day we had with Greene and his station questioning us, seeing her was the highlight of my week.
We had been bogged down with enough questions to make us question our own secured selves. It was bad enough that Graves advised us to deliver less and lay lower. He was confident that we would be okay but warned that shit never goes away.
Being the center of an investigation was not the way to go in this lifestyle. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t warned when taking on this club and this idea that I had. Being asked to come to the station for questioning, each man was prepared by Otis, being ordered to give the truth because there wasn’t anything we were hiding.
No one would go against my rules of who to sell product to and no one wanted the consequences that would come with it. No one suspected me to be this leader but it wasn’t so much the outward appearance but the power you possessed in the stares and demeanor you held.
There were a lot of people out to get the club, but none stupid enough to plan something like this, but then again you never saw a poisonous snake until they attacked.
When I got to the Blue Sax that night, all I wanted to do was drown my pain in cheap whiskey. B.B had already left my side to go flirt with someone and make face with the artists. A few other brothers surrounded the bar. We needed a night to blow off steam, a night to forget everything around us.
A clearer mind made for a dangerous one.
What I didn’t expect was for Melody to return, let alone be in my presence. I didn’t count on the fact of her eyes finding mine for a brief moment only to turn away like she was defeated. So, of course I went after her like a selfish bastard in the midst of a chaotic situation.
When she was close by, I saw that fire in her eyes, the one that dimmed that night. I saw her for her, her little movements, her mind spinning with thoughts of playing with my fire.
And this girl wanted just as much as I wanted, but never voiced it. At that moment, all I wanted was for her to be mine, even if it wasn’t a full possibility. I wanted to give her anything and everything she wanted. I wanted to make her dreams come true, just so she could dream more.
How could one person, one woman make you feel this possessive? I guess like Pops always said, “When you know, you know.” And with her, I just wanted to know more.
But what shocked me was that I knew she was hiding something when I asked her to let me take her home, she hesitated, her cheeks turning red.
Her answer made my heart drop.
“Because I don’t have one,” she said.
I cocked my head, seeing if she would turn it into a joke, like it wasn’t true. There was no way this woman didn’t have a place. A roommate maybe, the friend at least I thought was a roommate or something. Rent was expensive.
But to say she didn’t have a place, didn’t seem real.
“What do you mean?” I asked the question, hoping for a different answer.
She avoided eye contact until I lifted her chin to meet my gaze again. “Tell me.”
Tell me that you’re being taken care of and given everything you need.
“I don’t have a place where I can take you to,” she said with a little more confidence.
“And why is that?” continuing my questioning like a man possessed.
She licked her lips and released a heavy sigh, “Because I wasn’t able to keep up a year ago so now I have my travel van.”
She’s been living in a van? Like she didn’t have a choice. I was all for the nomadic life, but people choose that, not as the only option to avoid sleeping on the streets. It chipped away at me internally, briefly thinking about the community center that a sweet older lady, Mrs. Grace, ran for those that needed a place to get their life back on track.
“Honey, you’ve been sleeping in your van?” I asked, only to know more about her and if she’d let me help her or support her. I knew that most people would think that this was too fast, but it was never too much to be a decent human being and help those that asked for it.
“It’s not so bad, over the past year I got to make it my own. Helps me just carry what is important and not carry too much. I mean it’s starting to look more like a glorified van, like a custom made one,” she calmly said, trying to paint me a picture of her makeshift home. Regardless, at this time, it would never be safe enough for her. “So, I mean I don’t think you and I would fit, but if you’re willing to make it work.” She winked.
She was too adorable for her own good. And too cute to try to get me off track on the subject.
“That’s okay, honey. You can stay with me, come on.” I said, grabbing her hand to lead her out of the bar. She was going to protest, tell me that she didn’t need my help or that she didn’t want to put me out.
We weaved through the sea of people, I nodded my head toward the brothers.
As soon as we got outside, she tugged out her hand, “Woah there hotrod, don’t you think I get a say in this?” She tossed her hips to the side, throwing a small tantrum.
“If I’m going to help you, yes,” I countered.
“I didn’t say yes,” she said.
Oh, we have a little fighter.
“Honey, you’ll say yes, because inside you want to say yes, but your heart is stopping you,” I said, stepping closer to her. Under the street lamps she was still damn beautiful, her strong eyes glaring at me like she wanted to be stubborn and tell me “no”. But she had a talent that I wanted to see her soar. There was something special about her, and I was thinking with more than my dick.
“I’m not going home with you.” She crossed her arms.
“There’s an extra bedroom,” I attempted to make it look like it would be better. She was going to say yes, just needed to convince her more.
“I don’t need your charity,” she raised her voice at me. Her fight was back.
Her eyes looked hard, almost closed off. I imagined the anger boiling up in her body. I shouldn’t want her like this but yet, I did.
“Let me let you in on a little secret. Saints protect their own, you haven’t noticed we have a soft spot for creative minds.” I leaned over, whispering in her ear, “And the more time I spend with you, all I want to do is help you succeed.”
“Why me?” Her voice returned to a whisper.
“Call it fate, call it the right timing, but I know when there’s something special.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, itching to vanish.
“Please, only if it’s just until I help you get over this little hurdle of stage fright,” I said, hoping to put this to rest.
Having her at my house would mean her safety, my protection, and keeping her close without wandering eyes. If anything, she was going to be my secret. Question was, how long would that last?
I could see the answer at the tip of her tongue. I urged her, “Say yes. Let me help you soar, and then you’ll be safe, free to rest your head without worry.”
With that final temptation, Melody nodded her head. I clasped my hands on her cheeks, and couldn't help but smile. She definitely had a soft spot.
“Let’s get you home, little songbird,” I said, whisking her away from the crowds and back into my truck only to take her to her van and then back to the house. A house that was a lonely state, but with her light, it wasn’t going to be lonely or unused anymore.
When we got to the house, she slowly stepped into the home, frozen as she looked at the house through a new set of eyes. Her way to form better memories than those of pain. I could still see the faint limp she had, her body was still healing.
“Welcome home.” I smirked, helping with her bags. When she said she didn’t have a lot, she wasn’t kidding.
She started to walk toward the guest bedroom, but stopped, only to look at me. “Are you staying here?”
I wanted to say no, that I had my room back at the clubhouse property, but she made it damn hard to know how she wanted me to answer. I made up my mind. “I stay here, but you won’t see me as often. Mostly you’ll have the house to yourself. I’ll stock the house with food so if you want to cook, you can cook.”
She nodded, taking her stuff and placing it in her bedroom. I loved that she was being cautious. While I wasn’t going to promise forever, I could at least have her start trusting me without blind faith. She turned back toward me in the doorway. I leaned against, taking up the entire space.
Her eyes turned up toward me. Her face was soft with pure innocence. I could see the little nerves in her movements. “You need to stop looking at me like that, Hound,” she said, almost like a siren call that you couldn’t ignore.
“Like what?” I tilted my head.
“Like you won this battle.”
“I didn’t win anything. Well not yet at least.” I chuckled. I kept looking at her in awe. She floated between being easy-going and comfortable to cautious.
“You’re still doing it.”
“How am I supposed to look then?” I asked her.
Melody crossed her arms, only pushing her boobs up giving me a view of her cleavage. I should have looked away, but she was too tempting.
“Like you don’t want to kiss me,” she said softly.
“But I think you want me to.” I leaned a little forward.
“This is supposed to be a business agreement,” she protested.
I shook my head, “I think we both know that’s a lie.”
I pulled her closer, wrapping my arm around her waist. “Tell me to kiss you, Melody. Tell me that you agreeing to stay here was more than just pity or sympathy but that you believe I just want to see you succeed and make those pretty dreams of yours come true.”
Her body trembled at my words, and she shook her head, “Shouldn’t need to kiss if all you want to do is help.”
Something low rumbled in my chest, “Honey, it’s not, but it’s about you and what you want and need.”
Her eyes widened at the thought. “Kissing your protege, sounds tempting.”
I was growing impatient, the need to have her lips on mine grew stronger.
“Tell me to kiss you,” I growled.
“Kiss me,” she finally whispered.
I couldn’t kiss her fast enough. The way her warm mouth melted into mine. She was soft and gentle, holding back the inner siren she was, I’d follow her lead until such time.
Guilt washed through me, calling me selfish, knowing that in the end that I’d have to push her away. She shouldn’t fall in love with me, because in the end it would end in pain.
But I could be greedy for a while. I could give into temptation, but reality sometimes had a stronger hold.
She pulled back, “Thank you, Hound.”
I wanted to say, “anything for you” but the words didn't find their way out.
The sudden realization hit me, what I just did.
I brought a woman home and possibly just filled her mind with promises that I thought I was going to keep. Just like I thought I could keep her.
My hands trailed along her arms, she tried to grab my hands. I brushed past them, only to utter the words, “As much as I might want you, you shouldn’t want me. I can’t give you more than just this.”
Her eyes softened at the sudden words that in the end I was there to help her, and anything else wasn’t going to happen. No matter what. I didn’t give her a chance to tell me otherwise, it was better this way, knowing that she deserved someone else, someone to grow old with, that didn’t make a lot of promises only to worry if they would fulfill them or not.
She couldn’t want me. Better to leave her with the image of a good guy than one that wasn’t afraid to take a life for his own cause.
Those words would come back and bite me in the ass and own it.