Chapter One
“You know, it would be good for you to get out of Rivermont,” her mother said.
Charlotte stared straight ahead. She was not happy with the prospect of taking beauty classes at the local college. She had also spoken with Kristin Shaw, who owned the local beauty salon. She’d gotten some part-time work that would go with her courses.
She loved education. Learning was a lot of fun, but she had also come to realize that English, Science, Math, and all the other courses in between were boring.
Sure, she didn’t mind learning about them, but so far, she couldn’t think of a single instance where she would want to take them to the next level.
Going to college, getting a degree in something, and then finding a job and career path for the rest of her life sounded so freaking daunting.
She couldn’t help but think about Maeve, who did at one time have a social media channel, and she might have a bit of a girl crush, because she was one of the nicest women she had ever met.
And Charlotte had met a lot of women. With her dad being the Prez of Chaos Monsters MC, she saw a lot of women at the clubhouse
At first, she had thought that was why her parents had divorced—that her father was cheating. During an argument, when her parents didn’t even realize she was in the house, she discovered her mother was the cheating one in the relationship. That was quite a shock.
She had also come to realize that her mother hated Rivermont Ridge and was doing everything she could to try and leave. Including getting her daughter to leave and find a college completely out of town and out of state.
There was only one problem. Charlotte loved this town. It still had memories of her little brother before he passed, and there were good memories, as well as bad. She loved being near her father. Regardless of what Nancy thought, she loved her dad and the club. She felt safe when she was there.
She also knew it was probably because there was an unspoken rule about “hands off the Prez’s daughter,” or whatever, but she didn’t care. This was home to her.
“Mom, please stop,” Charlotte said. “I like it here. I want to follow this path.”
“But don’t you think it is boring, putting makeup on people and, well, making them look pretty?” Nancy asked.
She knew her mother meant well, but Nancy was a master manipulator. Charlotte was not easily fooled.
“I’ll think about it, Mom,” Charlotte said. “I’ve got to head out. I’m going to see Maeve, okay?”
Her mother sighed. “At least you said you’d think about it.”
Charlotte had nowhere to go, but she packed up her makeup bag. She didn’t want to keep hounding Maeve, seeing as the other woman had given her so much already. Instead, she decided to leave and call a cab to take her just outside the Chaos Monsters MC clubhouse.
She did this from time to time, when she needed a break from her mother.
She didn’t actually have any friends. She made them up, but it rarely came back to bite her in the ass.
Her mother didn’t ask too many questions.
She also wasn’t big on having guests over, so Charlotte was able to make excuses, go to the clubhouse, where she could sneak in and be left alone.
There was always a bedroom she was able to use, and all she needed to do was lock the door.
She was able to do what she wanted, without so much as a single question.
Pulling her makeup case behind her, she kept to the shadows, and she already saw some kind of party was happening.
She spotted Mac and a few of the others in the distance.
Most people ignored her. She was pretty forgettable.
Unlike Maeve and Eden, and several other women, she was a mousey girl, overweight, and unattractive.
She had been told enough times by people at school.
She certainly never garnered the right kind of attention.
It was so easy for her to sneak into her father’s clubhouse, which is exactly what she was doing now.
She made her way toward the bedrooms, and even though a couple of women passed her and even a few men, none of them stopped her.
She lost count of the number of times she did this.
Especially when her mother was in her ranting mood, and nothing anyone did could talk her off that edge.
It was just easier to walk away. No one paid attention to her.
Everyone ignored her as she made it to the top floor and went to the furthest end of the corridor.
Opening the door, she breathed a sigh of relief, because no one had taken it.
She couldn’t help but smile as this felt more like home than anything else.
Closing the door behind her, her stomach chose that moment to gurgle that it was empty, but she ignored it and instead got involved with work and just focused on everything else.
There was no reason for her to worry about her mother.
Nancy was probably already planning to leave, or working on her next tactic.
She knew her mother loved her, but the reason Nancy kept talking about leaving wasn’t for her, it was for selfish reasons, because she wanted to go. It wasn’t hard to deduct.
Locking the door behind her, she looked around the room that was always vacant.
She figured it was the room the furthest away from the chance of someone getting sex.
She’d even seen a couple of the men and women just doing it out in the hallway.
They were always so blasé about it, just getting naked and having sex right where they wanted to.
It was insane to her. This was the life, though.
The same life her mother had never been happy with.
She rubbed her temples, then pushed those negative feelings aside, and instead just focused on being happy, as she opened up the makeup case Maeve had given her.
It was one of the best gifts she’d been given in a while.
She did get that gift certificate from her mother, but she was not big on clothes shopping.
It couldn’t be refunded or transferred either.
She would have no choice but to go on that date with her mother, which always ended in disaster.
She loved her mother so much, but she could be a little much for anyone.
Sitting on the floor, she set up the makeup mirror and had the lights on as she started to work on her eyeliner technique. Her aim was not to have to pull the top lid of her eye, so she could swipe eyeliner on the top lash line, to give her a fuller-looking lash line. It looked cute.
Every so many tries, she would blink, or the pen would slip. At one point, she ended up with a stroke of eyeliner across her eyelid.
Her hunger was starting to increase as well. Usually, she brought snacks on her trips here, but her only mission had been to get the hell out of there.
She ran fingers through her hair and blew out a breath, because it fucking sucked to feel this way.
This meant she would have to go downstairs and hide, which wasn’t hard, but she didn’t like going into the main clubhouse when there was a party.
It felt like most nights there was some kind of party.
She released a sigh and blew out a breath, because there was not a lot she could do. She needed to eat some food.
Getting to her feet, after wiping the smeared eyeliner off, she brushed down her body, then got to her feet and made her way toward the door and opened it.
She nearly stood on the pizza box that had been left right outside her room.
She had no idea who had left it, and she picked it up, lifting the lid, to see it was her favorite, which was a meat feast with pineapple.
Her mouth watered, she was so hungry. It wouldn’t hurt to take the pizza.
Stepping back into the room, she closed the door, took out a slice, bit into it, and loved the meaty taste. It tasted heavenly and was exactly what she needed.
****
Savage walked down the long corridor, going toward the final door in the hallway, holding two mugs of coffee. He got it personally delivered by one of the Prospects hoping to join the club. He’d already checked to make sure all new Prospects hadn’t bullied Charlotte in the past.
It had been several months since he had seen that group of little shits attempting to hurt Charlotte, and just the memory of it was enough to piss him off. Charlotte had thanked him, and that had been that. That was all it should fucking be.
She was Doc’s daughter, his Prez, a man he greatly admired and respected, yet he hadn’t taken another woman to his bed since.
Even if he watched a couple of the women who seemed to enjoy being around the club, there was no desire for any of them.
However, he didn’t like that his gaze was drawn to fucking Charlotte.
This was a nightmare. He never considered himself a pervert, but what kind of guy watched a nearly nineteen-year-old girl?
Savage was no longer convinced it was anything other than being protective.
She brought out his protective side, that was all this was.
It’s why he allowed her to constantly sneak into his room.
Did she even realize it was his room she kept staying in?
The first night, he had stumbled into his room after a long day on the road, and he’d been so shocked.
Instead of waking her and calling her out for fucking being in his bed, he left her and slept outside.
Over the years, this had happened more and more.
He seemed to have a fucking radar for when she was close, so he kept his distance.
Last night, he left the pizza outside of his room, and waited for her to take it.
He had slept in a lot worse places, and he either crashed on the sofa, or outside.
It depended on how cold it was. He didn’t mind Charlotte being in his bed.
She clearly needed the space, and he had a sneaking suspicion she had never told the truth of what she went through at school to either her mom or dad, which was sad.
However, it needed to stop. He needed his room back, and Charlotte couldn’t keep coming to the clubhouse to hide. The time for hiding was over.
Savage didn’t knock but kicked the bottom of the door as he knew she also locked it from time to time.
“Charlotte, it’s me. Don’t pretend you’re not there, I know you are.” Savage smirked as he heard her cussing. It was rare to hear Charlotte say much of anything, so cussing was quite a stretch for her, and he found it completely cute. Kind of sexy as well. But cute.
Charlotte released a huff, and she opened the door, dressed in a pair of jeans and oversized sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled back, with some loose strands that hadn’t been caught up.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I always know you’re here, Charlotte. The fact you’re sleeping in my bed, little girl, is the reason I know you’re here.”
Charlotte’s eyes went wide. “Your bed?” She looked back toward the bed, which was very nicely made, and he liked that.
Savage couldn’t stand mess and did believe some of the men to be complete and total slobs. It was why he made sure none of them tried to use his room to take any of the club women. He wasn’t interested in sleeping in a bed that had lots of other people fucking inside it.
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea this was your bed.”
“Here,” he said, handing her the coffee. He stepped past her to take a seat on the edge of his bed. “Do you want to tell me what it is that has you sneaking around?”
“I’m not sneaking.”
He held his clenched hand, then started to slide a finger up as he reeled each of his points across. “You keep to the shadows. You only ever come during the night. You don’t talk to anyone. Do you want me to keep going, but there is a chance I could lose hands?”
“You’re the one that left the pizza!”
“Ding-ding.”
“And this is your bed.”
“Right again.”
She let out a wince. “I am so sorry. I had no idea this was your room. I’ll, uh, gather my stuff and leave.”
“Drink your coffee first, and don’t try to change the subject by leaving.
Just tell me what the fuck is going on with you.
” He took a sip of his coffee, and it was damn good.
The latest bunch of Prospects were interesting.
Some had what it took to join the club now.
They were team players and didn’t give a fuck about the shit work.
Others moaned all the fucking time, it was exhausting even listening to them.
Charlotte sighed. “There’s nothing.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, sweetheart. You can lie to everyone else, but we’ve got a deal, remember? I keep my mouth shut, providing you tell me the truth from the start, and right now, you’re not keeping your end of the deal, and I don’t like that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Okay, fine. Mom is being her usual pain-in-the-ass self, and she wants me to look for colleges out of town. She wants me to find a whole new career that takes me far away from Rivermont Ridge. The only problem is, I don’t want to leave town. I like it here. It’s ... safe.”
Savage frowned, and he watched her.
Charlotte chuckled. “I know, I know, it sounds completely crazy.”
“And that is because it is completely crazy what you’re suggesting.” He took a long sip of his drink. “Six months ago, you were being attacked and you admitted the bullying had been like that for most of high school.”
“But it didn’t get bad until the final year, and since leaving school, absolutely nothing.
” She shrugged. “Mom’s running away, and it is what she always does.
I don’t want to run away. I like the thought of going to beauty school and working at Kristin Shaw’s shop, and I like Maeve and Eden. They’re my friends.”
He wasn’t about to point out that they were also older than her.
“You’ve got to do what makes you happy,” he said, meaning every word.
“I don’t even know what makes me happy, but arguing with my mom every single day is exhausting. It’s why I come here, and I am sorry. I figured this room was clear because it was the furthest from the main clubroom,” she said.
He chuckled, and then shoved his hand into his pocket. “Here.” He slapped a bundle of keys into her hand.
“What’s this?”
“It’s keys to an apartment near town. I bought it not long ago, and I have fully furnished it as well. No one goes there, but it’s yours if you ever need a place to stay, and it also means you can make yourself some food, rather than eating the pizza I bring.”
“Thank you. I mean, I’m grateful for the pizza, but this is ... thank you.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it.”
It got Charlotte away from him and meant he didn’t have to fucking think about the fact she was in his room.
Nor did he have to put up with her sweet vanilla scent that seemed to have filled the whole fucking room already.