“Hey, I didn’t proclaim to have my own shit together,” I joke, trying to break the tension and make light of the situation. “I think I’m a big boy and I can look after myself.”
She appears to think over my words before finally nodding. “One coffee,” she replies. “I’m not making any promises that I’ll be decent company.”
“One for now?” I ask. “Don’t write off my company just yet, you might offend us bikers, we have hearts too you know.”
“One for now, but under one condition.”
“Sure?”
“We get to ride at speed along that same stretch of road where we met.” The words seem to tumble out before she can stop them, and then she winces like she regrets them.
I grin. “Of course. Speed is my middle name.”
“I thought that was ‘beast’?”
“Nah, don’t get me mixed up with my bike.”
A tall guy appears, his eyes narrowing in on Belle. “Are you going to stand there chatting all day, Bella?” he asks. I don’t like his tone and the hairs on the back of my neck stand. “We do have other customers that need serving.”
“Sorry, Marco.” The quiet, unsure woman returns as she lowers her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with being scolded. I decide right there that I’m going to make it my job to discover whatever is causing this woman to want to break into a thousand pieces.
I fix him with a glare strong enough to kill. “Apologies,” I growl. “Marco, is it? I was keeping the lady.”
I pick up my order, winking at her before making my way over to the brothers.
“Fucking hell, Clay, is that coffee even still hot?” Rock jokes.
I grin. “Don’t know. Wanna wear it and find out?”
He sniggers. “Nah, I’m good. But maybe you wanna wear that piece of skirt back there,” he snipes, taking the cup from my hand.
I look over my shoulder, watching tentatively as she serves another customer.
“Don’t get jealous. Just because you’re now pussy whipped doesn’t mean we all want to be shackled with a woman and kid.”
The brothers are all chatting animatedly as I sit in the corner, watching Belle from a distance. There was a reason she was put in my path. I needed to save her, and now, I’m going to make itmy responsibility to help her get on the right path. Maybe this is a way to save myself too. I’ve made hundreds of mistakes over the years, and the biggest led to losing my brother. I thought I had time to make shit right with him. Little did I know that a bit of pussy would be the last thing we’d argue about.
We were together fighting in Afghanistan when Laurie, one of the women who served with us, came between us. He wasn’t even meant to be out on patrol the day he died, but he went to get away from me. It was a day that will stay with me for the rest of my life. And now, I’m left with the guilt that it should have been me. My parents should have lost me, but instead, they received the news that my brother was never going to make it home . . . that he’d been killed in action.
I stare into my coffee, reliving the memory, when I’m pulled from it by Rock calling my name.
“Clay?” he repeats.
I shake my head, and the room comes back into focus. “Sorry,” I say, picking up my cup and draining the rest of my coffee, giving myself a moment to compose.
“All good?” he asks with concern etched on his face.
“Yeah, all good. So, what’s next?”
“We got some collections to make for Pres, some late payments, and we also need to call in the strip club and collect last night’s takings.”
I nod and grab my keys off the table.
“I’ll be out in a mo,” I shout over my shoulder, making my way to the counter.
“You got a pen?” I ask the prick standing behind the counter. I’m still pissed at how he spoke to her, and I can’t hide that from my expression. He passes me one from in his apron, and I jot my mobile down on a napkin, dropping the pen back on the counter.
Belle is bent over cleaning a table, and it takes all my composure not to smack her arse. “Oi, beauty?”
