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Chapter 6
Alec
"Stop Staring,” Bailey tells me for the third time since we sat down in the library, but it’s impossible not to stare at her.
She’s not what I expected at all. Yes, I’ve always thought she was beautiful, and I’ve had a crush on her forever, but she’s so much more. Bailey is funny, smart, and has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. I never saw her as the popular bitchy type, but it was still so hard to believe she could have that popularity and have the life she does and not be a bit snobbish. However, Bailey is the complete opposite.
“How much longer do we have to stay here?” I ask, ready to have her on the back of my bike again.
“Twenty more minutes,” she says, closing one of her notebooks and opening another.
“Soo… I have a question,” she says hesitantly.
“Okay… hit me with it,” I say cautiously.
She takes a deep breath before blurting it out, “My parents would like you over for dinner tonight?”
I wince and immediately shake my head. No way. No way in hell. If I meet her parents, they will see how below them I am. They’ll see how Bailey deserves so much more than me. It wouldn’t be a lie, but I’ve fallen in love with her, and I can’t let her go. I’ll do anything, be anything she needs, but I need time to prove it. I don’t want her parents to meet me and try to take her away when they realize the truth before proving myself.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay, I promise,” she says, cupping my cheek and bringing my eyes back to hers.
“No, it won’t. They’re gonna see. They’re going to try to take you away from me,” I tell her, voicing my biggest fear.
“They already know about you and your family. They know about you and your friends. My mom is actually the one who told me to go for it. Go for you,” she explains, smirking. I stare at her in total disbelief. There’s no fucking way.
“Please come, Alec. I’m really close to my parents. I don’t hide anything from them, and I’ll never hide you either. It would mean everything to me,” she pleads with me, and I snap.
There’s no way I can deny my woman anything, especially this. I nod my head with an inward sigh, and she smiles hugely before turning back to her notebook and getting back to work. I spend the rest of the time dreading tonight and what the outcome might be. I’m in such a dark daze that I don’t realize we’ve made it to the end of the period and to the parking lot. I climb on my bike while Bailey starts her car and I follow her home. I’m now sitting on my bike outside her huge mansion wondering how the fuck I got here. Okay, mansion may be exaggerated, but when you grow up where I did, that’s exactly what this looks like.
Bailey walks toward me as I climb off my bike. She holds her hand out for me, and I take it just as the door to the house swings open, and out steps her parents. They’re the perfect couple, with the perfect daughter, and suddenly I feel very, very, lacking. Bailey gives my hand a reassuring squeeze before walking up the stairs to her parents and giving them each a hug. I hold my hand out to Bailey’s dad to shake, but her mom launches herself at me first.
“Alec, we’ve heard so many good things about you. Come in, come in. My name is Brooke, and that’s Trey,” Bailey’s mom says, pulling me into the house. I turn to look at Bailey and see her and her father trying to hold in their laughter.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Mrs. Harris,” I say, turning back to look at her mom.
“None of that; I’m Brooke or mom. I have a feeling we’re going to be really close in the future. My Bailey is so enamored with you. You know she told me…” Brooke starts.
“Mom!” Bailey exclaims, and her dad gives up the fight against his laughter.
“Brooke, Bailey, how about I take Alec to the garage to get to know him better?” Trey asks, and I know this is where it comes. This is where he pulls me aside and tells me to leave his daughter alone and never speak to her again. My past always has a way of coming between me and the most important things in my life. This time, my shitty past is costing me the love of my life.
“Alright, Hunny, but please don’t take too long. Dinner is almost ready,” Brooke says, and I look over at Bailey. She gives me a reassuring smile, and I try to return it but know it probably looks forced. The minute the garage door is closed, Bailey’s dad speaks.
“You ride a bike, huh?” he asks, turning to look at me.
“Yes, sir,” I say, putting my hands in my pockets. I hate feeling so small.
“You know a lot about them?” he asks, raising a brow at me.
“Yeah, my brothers and I each built ours from junkyard parts,” I say, my one accomplishment I’m actually proud of.
“Great, maybe you can come over sometime. I have a project maybe you can help me with,” he tells me, giving me a smile.
“Wait, what?” I ask, confused. He laughs and crosses the garage back toward me.
“Don’t worry, Alec. You need to take that look off your face and thoughts out of your head. I’m not going to warn you away from Bailey. Let me fill you in on a couple of reasons. One, she is smart and can make her own decisions, plus her mother and I trust her. Two, my father-in-law tried the same thing with me, and it just made me fight even harder for the woman I love. Third, we have more in common than you realize,” he tells me, walking over to the deserted-looking part of the garage and pulls a sheet off of something sitting in the corner.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I say, then wince at the language. Trey just laughs and looks longingly at the beauty sitting there.
“That’s a Harley-Davidson WR Racer; It’s a classic. What year is it?” I ask, amazed at the bike.
“46’, my dad gave it to me right before he passed away. It was his pride and joy. I miss riding it, but Brooke and I have gotten a bit older, and it’s not what it used to be. I still want to get her running again, though. I figured maybe you could help me out with that. I haven’t told Brooke, but I’m buying a newer model Harley for our anniversary. Some of the best times of our lives were spent on the back of a bike,” he says, smiling fondly and sadly at the bike.
“I would love to help you get it up and running,” I tell him, surprised he’s asking me. I know he’s probably had dealings with my family in the past and has heard the rumors about me, but it seems Bailey’s parents are more like her than I realized.
“All right, perfect, let’s go eat. I’m starving,” he says, turning back to the house.
“That’s it, though? No speech or lecture; Nothing?” I can’t help but ask. This is so fucking weird.
“The first time I heard her talk about you with her mother, I knew I lost my baby girl. I’ve always known the day was going to come. Bailey’s giving you her heart, and I have to watch and worry about that for the rest of my life. But I also see the way you look at her. She’s taken your heart, too. I can see it because it’s how I look at her mother every single day. I was a lot like you when I was younger. I wished just one person would have given me the benefit of the doubt. Then Brooke did. She saw something in me even I didn’t know was there. Now you have a whole family giving you a chance. A huge chance. If you love her the way I think you do, and you’re the man I really hope you are, you won’t let us down. More importantly, you won’t let Bailey down,” he tells me, shocking the hell out of me. He gives me one more squeeze to the shoulder before walking into the house and going straight for his wife, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her softly. He’s giving me part of his world, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep that safe.
