Chapter Four
“No, Pax.”
“What?” he asked. Pax’s eyes were still locked on the door Elena—his future wife— had disappeared through. She’d run like a scared little rabbit almost immediately after their introduction, but there’d been a definite heat in her eyes when she’d looked at him. It matched what he was feeling. The sparks had been flying when he touched her hand. The contact felt so electrified it almost brought him to his knees.
It was eye opening.
Pax was more than a little tempted to follow right behind their gorgeous new employee so he could find out. It’d been a long while since he’d been this genuinely interested in a woman.
Cupid normally shot arrows, but in Pax’s case, he must have used a lightning bolt. The energy that had sizzled from the connection was so strong, he still could feel it reverberating through him. It ramped everything up including his primal instincts. The urge to snatch her up and lay claim was planted in his head the moment their skin had touched—and it was strong. He’d been in lust before, and his gut was telling him this went beyond simply wanting to fuck. He needed Tanner and Vinyl to meet her as soon as it could be arranged.
Would they feel the same instantaneous chemistry with Elena that he had?
“Don’t even think about it.”
“What?” he asked with a frown.
“You know what,” his mom told him with one raised eyebrow. “You boys left Colorado because you got tangled up with the wrong woman and now, you’re eyeing my new assistant like she’s piece of meat.” She scoffed and shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I wasn’t eyeing her like she was a piece of meat,” he fibbed. Elena was much more than just a piece of meat. That little bunny was his . “I was admiring that lovely lady.”
She snorted, making him chuckle.
“Don’t bullshit me. I know exactly what you were thinking.”
“Mom—” He knew the reputation that followed around his trio was less than glowing, but still. His mom had never gotten involved in their personal lives before, why did she have to choose now to do so. “All I did was look at her.”
“And I’ve seen that look before,” she said, pointing at him. “It’s the same one your dads give me, which is why I’m telling you to knock it off. You looked as if you were about to eat that girl up.”
“Well—”
“Don’t say it.” His mom held up her hands. “Just give me a break here. You three have already stirred up enough trouble.”
She didn’t have to specify what trouble she was talking about.
“Trisha was not our fault,” Pax argued, a little hurt his mom would imply otherwise. He dropped into the seat Elena had previously occupied with a grunt. The three of them hadn’t done anything wrong but he still felt like they were being punished. “She knew exactly what we were offering when she—”
His mom cleared her throat, interrupting him. “And from what I heard, the three of you were warned she was clingy before you took her home. More than once .”
Pax winced at that truth. The other club members had tried to tell the three of them what a bad idea it was to take Trisha home that night, but they hadn’t been sober enough to take any of it seriously. Their dicks had been calling the shots that evening, not their brains.
“You boys should have known better.”
The disappointment in her tone made him feel like a kid again.
“We didn’t think she’d cling to us ,” he groaned, dropping his head back onto the chair with a thunk. He knew that sounded like a cop out, but it was the honest truth. They’d seen her fucking other members and walking away with no problems—at least on the surface. Trisha seemed like a good time—the type you enjoy for a night and maybe hook up with again depending on how things go. They hadn’t known the full situation until it was too late. “Before any of this shit started, Vinyl told her outright that we were just fucking around. We all did. We couldn’t have made it any clearer. Tanner told her to her face she was just a piece of—”
“I don’t need the details,” his mom yelped, covering her ears. “I already know too much about what you boys get up to without having to hear anything more. Just leave Elena be, okay?”
“I thought you liked her?” he asked, his brow furrowed. He figured his mom would have jumped at the chance to have him date someone she got along with. The women his trio had been involved with in the past had never gotten her approval.
“I do,” she answered with a nod as she shuffled through a stack of papers on her desk. “That’s why I don’t want you to mess around with her. She deserves more.”
“Ouch, Momma.” Pax clutched his chest as if he’d been stabbed. That had actually hurt to hear despite him playing it off.
“You know what I mean.” She pointed a finger at him as if he were still a child. “I love you, honey, but you need to listen to me. That girl has already been through hell and you boys aren’t going to give her another tour.”
“Who’s to say that would happen?” he asked defensively.
Why were they automatically the bad guys? Pax and the others didn’t have a string of broken hearts in their past. The trio had always been clear where they stood. They’d never misled any of their fuck buddies despite the tales that Trisha was spinning.
“Because it always happens.” She tapped her nails against her desk and gave him a look. “Are you ready to settle down?”
“Does it matter?” he asked instead of answering her question. The topic of settling down with one woman would normally make him bolt but things felt different now. Putting down roots and starting a family wasn’t something he’d considered in the past but that was before meeting Elena.
“When it comes to Elena it does,” his mom informed him bluntly. She softened it with a smile. “She’s not the type you walk away from, son. From what she shared with me today, too many people have already done that to her, and I’m not going to let you three add to the lot. The poor girl doesn’t need any more heartbreak.”
“You’re seriously warning me off?” He loved and respected his mom, but her answer wasn’t going to change his mind.
“I am.” She nodded and clasped her hands together atop her desk. “She’s a sweetheart, Pax.”
“I could tell,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He could see his mom wasn’t going to budge.
“You, Tanner, and Vinyl could break her heart and I’m not going let that happen.”
“Gee. Thanks, Mom.” Every time she said it was like a kick to the stomach.
“Watch your tone when you’re talking to your mom, son.”
Pax turned to see one of his dads leaning against the open doorway.
“Sorry, Mom,” he apologized.
She waved a dainty hand at him. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
“What’s going on in here?” Archer asked, bumping Vinnie out of the way so he could walk into the office.
“Nothing,” Taffy assured him with a smile. “We were just talking about Elena. I offered her the job and she’s starting on Monday.”
“Now, son.” Vinnie clapped a hand on Pax’s shoulder. “That girl there is the type you boys need to settle down with.”
“Vinnie!” his mom gasped at the same time that Pax yelled, “I know!”
She glared at her husband. “Don’t go putting any ideas in Pax’s head. I just got done telling him to leave her alone.”
“Why?” Archer asked with raised brows. “I thought you liked her.”
Pax watched them go back and forth, his dads backing him up without even knowing they were doing it.
“I do!” Taffy tossed her hands in the air. “That’s why I don’t want Pax and the others to ruin it!”
Her husbands looked at her blankly.
“Your son is exactly like the two of you were when we first met. She’s bound to get her heart smashed.”
“Did we smash yours?” Vinnie asked, his expression softening as he looked at his wife.
“No, but—”
Pax grimaced. It wasn’t a secret that his dads had sown their wild oats far and wide before they’d met his mom, and she was still salty about it. It was partly why she was so prickly with them about the Trisha situation.
“Honey,” Archer walked around her desk and kneeled beside her. “When our son and his brothers meet their one, everything changes. I know that because it’s what happened to us.”
“I take it, you’re interested in the woman?” his dad asked him, his expression as serious as Pax had ever seen it.
“I saw her for less than a minute and already I can’t stop thinking about her.” Pax shared, rubbing his jaw. “I want to take care of her; learn everything I can about her. The only thing she said was ‘hi’ to me, but I can already tell you I’d listen to that woman talk forever if she’d let me. It’s crazy and I don’t know what the fuck that means but it’s true. There’s something special about her.”
“See, Taff?” Archer squeezed his wife’s hand. “He’s not gonna fuck this up. We didn’t raise an idiot.”
“But what about Vinyl, or Tanner?” She looked at her son for answers. “It’s not just you I’m worried about, honey. Those two are part of the package. What about them?”
“We’re not assholes, Mom.” Pax wasn’t sure why his mom’s opinion of them was so low, but he planned on changing it soon.
“I didn’t say you were,” she argued with a shake of her head. “I just don’t think Elena’s on the same level as you three.”
“Level?” he echoed in question. “What does that even mean?”
“I think your mom is trying to say that Elena is less experienced than the ladies’ you guys normally spend your evenings with,” his dad answered diplomatically. “She’s not a hook-up kinda girl.”