Chapter Five
So far, Andy Bernadette had been the epitome of gentlemanly behavior.
He’d picked her up at her mother’s house.
Charlotte hadn’t gone with the red dress, nor the black, or pink one.
Savage loved the look of a blue one with speckles of glitter that wasn’t too flashy.
It showed a little skin and dipped down toward her cleavage, but didn’t show too much and finished at her knee.
Again, it didn’t show too much. It was just enough of everything.
Her hair was curled, as Maeve did her hair and makeup. Friday became a girls’ day, with Eden joining them, as well as her mother.
Throughout it all, she wanted to text Savage and ask him for advice. With every passing hour getting closer to her date, she wanted to run for the hills. Not once through high school was she even asked on a date.
The conversation had been light in the car, and he drove them out of town, about twenty minutes to a lovely family Italian restaurant, that appeared to be a bar and restaurant.
The parking lot was busy. She had gotten the address prior to their date and texted it to Savage. She was pretty sure she saw his bike.
Andy parked toward the back, and as she opened the door, he looked a little upset that she didn’t need his help getting out. She thanked him anyway and pushed her arm through his as they made their way inside.
She didn’t know which one of them was stiffer, her or Andy. This didn’t feel natural.
Maeve said there would be nerves and butterflies, but there would be excitement. She didn’t feel any of those things, and in fact felt a little sick. Especially as the ma?tre d’ was waiting for them. They were escorted to a very romantic private table.
She was so far out of her depth. She had never once been romanced in her entire life.
“This is a beautiful restaurant,” she said, attempting to fill the silence. This is what she and Andy had—silences. The conversation in the car didn’t exactly flow. They talked about the day in general, the weather. None of this felt natural.
“Yes, it is. They had amazing food as well,” Andy said. Yet, he didn’t offer any recommendations.
“What do you do, Andy?” she asked.
It was strange, because when she was with Maeve, Andy had seemed a little flirty, almost nervous, and a little more attentive.
Right now, he was far from it. He looked a little on edge, even annoyed.
Something didn’t sit well with her. It was like she was getting two different people, and she hated it.
“I work for my grandmother, Bernadette. Whatever her heart desires is what I do for her.”
“Are you her only relative?” she asked.
“The only one that matters.”
Again, he seemed cruel.
“No one will put up with her nasty ways, so someone has to do it.” He shrugged. “That has fallen to me.”
“She has a lot to say,” Charlotte said.
Maeve had rarely gotten a word in edgewise, but at least Mrs. Bernadette hadn’t been her usual cruel self. Whatever Maeve had said to her had clearly put her on her good behavior.
The waiter came, breaking into the silence that could be cut with a knife. She had no idea what was going on.
“So, er, tell me about yourself,” she said, trying to remember every movie and book she had read about a first date. “Do you have any plans—”
“Tell me about you,” Andy said, interrupting her. “Trust me, I’m boring. I don’t have a lot going for me right now. I’m taking care of my grandma, and that is about all there is to it. Tell me about yourself. You’re a makeup artist, right?”
She didn’t like this. “I’m technically a training makeup artist. Maeve, the woman who worked on your grandmother, is the real makeup artist.”
“Is that what you hope to achieve?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“You don’t have any real answers, do you?”
He was abrupt and rude.
“Uh, at the moment, I think it is a little soon to have all the answers.”
“You’re going around in circles. Is that because you don’t have to make a decision or because your dad makes them all for you?”
This made her frown. Charlotte hated confrontation. The only reason she accepted this date was because Mrs. Bernadette was so happy about it, and she also didn’t want to upset Maeve.
“My dad doesn’t make decisions for me,” she said.
“You’re the daughter of the Chaos Monsters MC President. I’m sure you do as you’re told.”
“I don’t know who—”
“Shut up,” Andy said, and sat forward. At the same time, he reached out for her hand and held it tightly.
To any onlooker, it would appear as a loving gesture. A man reaching across the dinner table, but the pain went up her wrist. She didn’t want to make a scene, but she gritted her teeth and felt the tears spring to her eyes.
“You’re mine now and you’re going—”
“Well, well, well, fancy meeting you two lovebirds here,” Savage said.
The hand at her wrist loosened immediately.
She figured Andy was letting her go as they had been interrupted.
However, shoving her hand beneath the table, she looked across to see Savage standing close to Andy, but he also had an incredibly tight grip on his shoulder.
Again, to any onlooker, they appeared to be good friends, but she saw the pain pinching at the corners of Andy’s lips.
She didn’t feel any remorse.
“I don’t know what just happened there,” Savage said, letting Andy go and slapping him on the back.
“But I have to wonder what it’s about.” He grabbed a chair at another table and took a seat.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything. You two seemed to be having a rough time with conversation, and, well, I can fill a silent room. Charlotte, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Does your wrist hurt?” Savage asked.
It was still pulsing, and she had a sneaking suspicion it was going to be bruised.
“It’s, uh, it’s—”
“The truth, sweetheart. That is all I ask.”
“Look, you have got this all wrong,” Andy cried out. She wasn’t sure what happened as Savage had moved so fast, but all of a sudden, Andy’s nose was bleeding.
A couple of waiters came over to the table.
“Well, look at that,” Savage said. “Charlotte, be a doll and give these guys a big tip for their trouble, while I escort this man out.”
She didn’t argue and reached into her purse. There had been no wine, just a little water consumed, and no food ordered. She apologized and quickly let herself out. As she did so, she was there to see Andy pulling out of the parking space, and the dust as he drove off without her.
“That was my ride,” she said, slumping her shoulders.
“I’ll take you home.”
She groaned. “No, Mom’s going to be up and waiting. I don’t want to go home, because this was a disaster.”
Savage reached for her wrist, holding it up. She tried to pull it away from him, but he glared at her, and she rolled her eyes.
“It’s fine. Honestly, it is not that bad.”
“Not that bad, it is already starting to bruise. What happened?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything, but it was so strange. Before he could even say anything, you were there. It was like he was forced to go on that date with me.” She shrugged and attempted to pull her wrist away. “I don’t get it.”
“I’ll take you back to my place,” Savage said.
She knew it shouldn’t happen, but she did get a little thrill knowing they were going back to his place.
It was wrong, because nothing was going to happen. They were friends. Savage didn’t see her that way.
“I’ve got to ride on the back of your bike?” she asked.
Savage shrugged out of his leather jacket and draped it across her shoulders.
“I’ll go slow.”
****
Savage could have quite easily killed tonight, and done so in front of Charlotte.
The look on her face would stay with him for a long time.
He’d gotten a seat at the bar, and all it had taken was a nice, juicy tip for the ma?tre d’ to get him to tell Savage where Andy and Charlotte were going to be seated.
One big tip. He didn’t expect to see the confusion on Charlotte’s face, or the sadness.
Arriving at his apartment, neither of them said a word as they traveled the elevator to his floor, then stepped off.
He let them both in, and Charlotte was still wearing his leather jacket. The moment they were inside his apartment, she kicked off her heels and let out a moan. “That feels so good. I don’t know why my mom insisted on me wearing heels.” She closed her eyes.
Savage chuckled. “What do you want? A beer? Water? Coffee?”
“Would it sound childish if I said hot chocolate?” she asked.
“I don’t have hot chocolate.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you do.” She put her hands on his shoulders, giving them a squeeze, as she brushed past him and went immediately to one of his kitchen cabinets.
She opened it up, and much to his surprise, inside were several boxes of hot chocolate bombes.
“I might have gone shopping. You have beer, which is gross. Water is good, and coffee, but what about those times when you need hot chocolate and ice cream?”
She went to his freezer and pulled out a carton of vanilla ice cream. “See?”
“Wow,” he said.
“So, Savage, do you want to try one of my hot chocolate bombes?” she asked.
She looked so freaking innocent, and he needed to get his head out of the gutter.
“I’ll try a bombe.”
She looked way too giddy.
He made his way to his sitting room, collapsing on the sofa.
He heard Charlotte bustling around the kitchen, and he leaned back, trying to get his emotions under control.
Part of him wanted to go find Andy and hurt him.
There was real anger brewing inside him, ready to explode at a moment’s notice.
He wanted to fucking kill that little bastard.
How dare he touch Charlotte that way? It pissed him off.
If Doc found out, he knew the club would be on a mission, and it wouldn’t be hard.
He couldn’t tell Doc. For now, Andy had made an enemy out of him.
Minutes passed, and Charlotte appeared, carrying two mugs in one hand, which she placed on the coffee table, on a couple of coasters. She also had the ice cream, and he saw two spoons peeking out the top.
“Thank you for tonight,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t turned up. That went from like zero to a hundred so fast. Do you know what sucks?”
“Nope, what?”
“I have no idea what he was going to say.”
This did make him frown. “Before you came over. He was going to say something, and now, I don’t know what he was going to say.”
“Is it important?”
“I guess not. But it would be curious, wouldn’t it. Especially with asking me on a date. I don’t get it. He looked so impatient. Like I’m the one that forced him to go on this date. Trust me, I didn’t do any such thing. The guy is a total asshole.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You can tell me how much of an asshole he has been all night long.”
Charlotte laughed. “I’m so grateful you were there. Truly, I am.”
“I’ve got your back.” He took a scoopful of ice cream and swallowed it down.
“How did you know, though?”
“How did I know what?” he asked.
“That I was in trouble, or that he was hurting me.”
Savage stroked a finger across her wrist. “I saw,” he said.
“You saw?”
“Yep, that was all it was. I saw he was hurting you, and I had to stop it.”
She leaned her head back. “Thank you, I appreciate it. So, do all dates end like this?” she asked.
“No.”
Charlotte laughed. “How would you know? You admitted you had never dated anyone.”
“True, but I also know how I would end a date.”
“You do?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Would you show me?”
Savage looked at her and knew once again they were on dangerous ground. “How about I show you from start to finish?”
“Start to finish?”
“I take you on a date. Not around town, we can’t do that here, because your dad would fucking kill me. But I take you out someplace, I don’t wear the leather cut. Just you and me, and we experiment with this dating thing?”
“You know what, yes, I like that. I really do. When?” she asked.
“How about next Friday?” The club was having a party, and he wouldn’t be missed.
“I could make that.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up from here at five. You can make that?” he asked.
“Yeah, I can. How would you like me to dress?”
He thought about her wardrobe and knew exactly what he wanted her to wear.