Chapter Thirteen
Charlotte made her way around the back of the salon, where she had several cardboard boxes to break down.
The salon had just gotten a major delivery of new products, and she’d been asked to document and store them in the storage room at the back, which wasn’t a big deal, and something she was able to do with relative ease.
She broke down the cardboard and opened the large lid on the recycling box to help. Once that was done, she dropped down the lid and went on to the other pieces she needed to trash.
“Well, well, well, lookie who we have here.”
Charlotte spun around and was shocked to see Lucas, one of her old high school bullies. She hadn’t seen him since the fair where Savage kicked his ass.
Glancing around the back of the shop, she realized she hadn’t taken the time to protect herself. The truth was, the fair had been so long ago now, she’d started to forget all about Lucas and his cronies’ existence. She did notice they were not here today. It was a first for Lucas.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Is that any way to talk to me?” he asked.
He looked a little too cocky for a guy that had been on his knees at the first sign of trouble. Usually, when she saw Lucas, fear ran down her spine, and she always felt sick. That was exactly how she felt, only now she pushed those feelings aside. They were not high school kids anymore.
“Go away,” she said, slamming the lid closed on the trash can.
He literally jumped back. She didn’t know if it was because of the noise, or because she finally found her backbone, and dealing with his shit was not on her agenda. She wanted him to leave her the fuck alone, and quickly. She hated him with a passion. And yet, he was still there, his mouth open.
“Well, I thought I might regret what I do next, but you see, you make it so easy,” he said.
Charlotte frowned at him as he pulled out his cell phone. She had no idea what was happening, as within a few seconds, he hit “send.”
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Lucas held up his cell phone, and she saw a video, one taken a few days ago, where she and Savage had gotten onto the elevator at his apartment building and just before the doors closed, it showed them passionately kissing.
Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “You were spying on me?”
“Do you really think I was going to let him get away with humiliating me?”
“So, you sneak around like some pervert, taking pictures?” Charlotte asked.
“I’ve just sent it to your father!” The smile on his face was not sincere. It was evil, and he appeared to take such joy in her pain, she was disgusted by him.
In that moment, she hated him, and for the first time in her life, Charlotte didn’t run away.
She didn’t stand and take the pain coming from her bullies.
She lashed out, shoving Lucas back so hard.
Charlotte didn’t even know where she got the strength as she grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled his head back. She had all the power right now.
“You fucking piece of shit. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Charlotte didn’t know how it happened, but she was suddenly pulled back from Lucas, and she attempted to keep chunks of his hair, and when that didn’t work, she kicked out at him, finally nailing him in the balls.
Maeve, Eden, her mother, and even Kristin were at the back of the shop.
They were stopping her from attacking him, and she pulled away and tried to remain calm, but looking at Lucas, all the years of his bullying, the teasing, the punching—all of it came to the forefront of her mind.
She lashed out again, charging at him, wanting to beat the ever-loving shit out of him.
She swung, hitting him hard, but she was pulled away.
“Enough, Charlotte!” Nancy said, grabbing her chin. “I don’t know what has caused this, but this isn’t you. Stop it, right now.”
“You’re going to defend him?” she asked.
“No, I’m not defending him, but this is not you and you’re going to regret this later.
As for you...” Nancy said, walking over to Lucas, and before any of them could say or do anything, she slapped him across the face three times, and none of the slaps were light.
All of them were hard, and his face was bright red.
Charlotte didn’t know if she was responsible for the bright color, and in that moment, she didn’t give a fuck either.
She didn’t feel guilty for hurting Lucas. He was a piece of shit who took pleasure in other people’s misfortunes, and she had never liked him. She hated him.
“Get the fuck out of here before I find my knife,” Nancy said.
Charlotte got to her feet, and Maeve reached out to her. “Let me go.”
“Honey, you need to calm down.”
“You don’t understand, he sent a video of me and Savage to my dad. Dad is going to know I’ve been sneaking around with Savage and we’ve not been playing friends,” Charlotte said.
“Shit,” Maeve said.
“Crap,” Eden said.
“Fuck!” This came from Nancy.
“I’m guessing this is a family problem, and I’m not involved, so I am just going to make my escape, because this has nothing to do with me.” Kristin was right to make her escape. This was a mess.
Nancy had her cell phone out, and Charlotte heard her calling. Pulling out her own, she attempted to reach Savage, but it was going to voicemail. Maeve and Eden were doing exactly the same, and for the first time, between them all, nothing was happening.
“You don’t think this means ... do you?” Charlotte asked.
She looked toward her mother, but Nancy wasn’t giving her the usual lies where she would tell her everything was going to be okay, and that was because they both knew this was not going to be okay. Her father was not going to be okay with this.
“I need to get to the clubhouse.”
“I’ll drive you,” Maeve said.
“We’re going to need you, and you,” Nancy said. All four of us are going to have to go.”
“Why?” Eden asked.
“Because it’s going to get ugly, and the more women there, who are important to the club, the better. You’re going to have to trust me on this.”
****
Savage sat at the bar, thinking about what Nancy had told him. He needed to come clean to Doc. He kept glancing behind him, looking at the door to the man’s office, and each time, he just turned back around and looked at the bar. He didn’t have a beer, nor a whiskey.
His buddy Paulie was doing his computer genius thing, trying to find whatever material Andy was threatening Jimmy with.
He wanted to have all of that cleaned up, as well as the location of Martha’s niece, Betty.
So far, Grim was nearly there, and because the man didn’t like to fly, he’d ridden there.
Even at Grim’s pace, that was going to take some time.
Savage had already turned down several of the women who kept trying to come on to him.
He just wasn’t interested in any of the shit they were selling.
Savage’s cell phone went off, and he pulled it out of his pocket to see it was Paulie calling him, and he accepted the call.
“Please tell me you’ve got some good news,” he said.
“I’ve got some good news. The blackmailed images are all gone.
Your real estate buddy got into some kinky shit, and trust me when I tell you, all of that is old news.
The moment he met his wife, that was it, he got rid of everything.
His membership to a brothel, all women he hooked up with, any shady shit from his past, he stopped.
And to help him out, I just erased the shit Andy had gotten his hands on,” Paulie said.
“Thanks, man.”
“You’re most welcome. It’s what I do. So, are you and the little lady still doing well?” Paulie asked.
“I can’t talk here, right now.”
Paulie winced. “You know, keeping it a secret, and especially with whom you’re having fun times with, is never going to be a good thing.”
“I get it.” If Paulie was even advising him now, he knew it was time to come clean. Doc didn’t deserve to be lied to like this. “I’m going to talk to him. I’ll call you later, and thanks for this. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing. man, it sounds to me like you could do with a freebie, and besides, you know I love helping you out. Take care of yourself.”
Savage hung up his cell phone, just as the door to Doc’s office slammed open. He spun around on his chair, and the way Doc’s eyes found his, and the look in them, he knew the man had found out. He didn’t quite know how it happened, but the cat was well and truly out of the bag.
Getting to his feet, in that moment, he had a deep regret he’d not taken the time to tell him sooner. It was the least he could have done. Doc deserved that. He didn’t deserve to have all the hiding and sneaking and bullshit.
“I trusted you,” Doc said.
Savage held his hands up. “I know what it looks like.”
“Did you prey on her? Did you take fucking advantage of her?” Within seconds, Doc had closed the distance between the two of them, and he grabbed hold of his leather jacket.
“Look, I can explain.”
“Explain it to me. Explain how you’ve been sneaking behind my back with my fucking daughter.”
Doc tossed him across the room, and he crashed into the table. There was pain, but Savage ignored it. He deserved the pain.
He got to his feet, and as Doc came at him, he didn’t fight back, not even as two blows to the face came, one right after the other. He was not going to survive if he let Doc keep pounding on him.
The rest of the club were not interfering, and he figured they were all able to fill in the blanks, and none of them looked impressed.
He didn’t blame them, not any of them. He had fucked up, there was no other word for it.
He had fucked up, and this was the consequence of that.
Savage had known better. He knew the dangerous game he’d been playing, and now he and Charlotte had been found out.
All they could do was handle the consequences.
Savage didn’t know how it happened, but they ended up outside, where there was a small dusting of snow. It was fucking cold, and he shoved at Doc, hard, trying to keep some distance between them.
“I love her,” he said, trying to stall the attack.
He could be honest with Doc, he didn’t have to hide his feelings.
“You think you can fucking lie to me?” Doc asked.
Savage grunted as he got another blow to the stomach and one under the chin. He blocked the third hit coming his way, and he growled. “I’m not lying. I love Charlotte, and I want to marry her.”
“Dude, that is not what you want to say right now,” Doc said, who also let out an audible wince. He was not helping matters, not in the slightest.
“You’re not marrying my daughter. You’re not good enough for my daughter.”
Savage was pulled against Doc and his head ended up in some kind of chokehold.
He hadn’t exactly put up much of a fight, because the truth was, he did feel incredibly guilty when it came to Doc.
He should have told him the truth, and because he hadn’t and he’d been the one to fuck up, these were the consequences.
He accepted it. He didn’t want it, but there was nothing else he could do.
He started to lose air and he couldn’t breathe.
“Dad, stop!”
He heard Charlotte’s voice, and much to his surprise, Doc did in fact let go and allowed him to breathe, which he took full advantage of, gasping as much oxygen as he could.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked. “Dad, let him go, right now.”
“All this time, you’ve been sneaking around with him.”
“We didn’t mean to sneak, and it wasn’t like any of this was planned. None of it was. It just happened,” Charlotte said, and he couldn’t help but wince because that wasn’t exactly helpful.
“Happened. So, fucking this piece of shit just happened?” Doc asked.
He would accept that for now, because he did, after all, sneak around with his daughter, and fell in love with her.
“Piece of shit. I seem to recall you constantly being proud of him, and all he had been able to achieve. That was all you could say, and you couldn’t give a shit what Jake or I had been able to do,” Charlotte said.
“Don’t bring him into this.”
Savage pulled away, and he saw most of the club were outside to witness his humiliation.
“Don’t bring Jake into this. That’s right, I’m not allowed to talk about Jake.
I’m not allowed to talk about a lot of things.
Like the fact you and Mom hate each other’s guts, and had long before you got divorced, but we had to pretend to sit and make happy family.
Just like you want me to be happy for you and Maeve, and I am, but you always want from me, don’t you, Dad, you never think about anyone but yourself. ”
“Charlotte—”
“It was a pain in the ass to come by the school, to show your daughter any interest. Do you think they couldn’t see that, the bullies? It was so much easier to pretend nothing was happening, even as I was being punched and hit every single day,” she said.
Savage had figured this one out.
“I didn’t mean to fall in love with Savage, but I have, and you cannot even be happy for me. I never meant for you to find out this way.”
“You love me?” Savage asked.
“Yes, I love you, but I also know how important the club is to you, and my dad, so I am not going to ask anything of you. Your place is here, and I’m not part of this club, nor am I part of you.
” She turned to look at her father. “You know, a small part of me had hoped you might ... be happy for me.”
She went to walk away, but Savage was not going to run from Charlotte. The club was the only family he had ever had, but Charlotte was the only woman he had ever loved. It was an easy decision.
He pulled off his leather jacket and handed it to Doc. “If you can ever find it in your heart to forgive me, I would gladly take this back. I love this club, but I love your daughter a hell of a lot more.”
And with that, he rushed toward Charlotte, cupping her face, stopping her from climbing into Maeve’s car.
“I’m going to take her home,” he said, looking toward Maeve.
The other woman looked shocked but just nodded her head. This was not how he wanted matters to end.
Taking hold of Charlotte’s hand, he walked over to his bike and swung his leg over the seat.
“You don’t have to do this,” Charlotte said.
“I do, because I love you, and I wasn’t lying to you, babe. I love you, and I see a life with you.”