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CHAPTERONE
MAYA
“Baby—”
“If you call me that again, I’m going to punch you in the balls, Texas.” I glared down at the injured man lying on the bed in a guest room at the Hawks MC compound. He’d not long gotten placed there, the room clearing of club members for me to work after an altercation down the street. Currently, he wasn’t feeling the pain I knew he was in, thanks to the strong medication I’d given him. Still, it didn’t mean I had to listen to him, or this new pet name—instead of little Marcus—while I worked.
Earlier, when I’d been called to the scene after Texas had been jumped by a bunch of wannabe thugs, and before he got saved by a woman and her two dogs, I’d thought it would be an easy fix on the scene.
It wasn’t.
While I hadn’t been told all the details of what had happened—and I probably wouldn’t getallthe information—what I did know was that the situation would be taken care of privately through the Hawks motorcycle club. This is even though Texas wasn’t yet a member, but he was a friend of the club, and his uncle was the president to the Caroline Springs Charter in Melbourne. Actually, we’d both been brought up around the club. My dad was the main boss over all the Hawks charters around Australia, but we resided in Ballarat.
Having grown up in the club meant I wasn’t surprised when someone got hurt from “certain situations.” Only now I could do something to help. I’d been called in because I’d become their own personal doctor since I completed my Bachelor of Paramedic Science degree. Although, it was lucky I’d been available, since usually I worked odd hours and a lot of them.
Texas’s irritating smirk brought me from my thoughts. He was probably thinking I secretly enjoyed his new pet name. Did he still think I had a crush on him? Annoyance and embarrassment burned under my skin. I hated the reminder of my crush and how I used to look at him with puppy-dog eyes. In fact, it made me want to press a little harder on his cracked ribs, which was what I did, drawing out a pained wheeze from him.
“You done that on purpose,” he accused, scowling.
“Yep.” I nodded. “So don’t be a jackass and call me endearing names.” I checked over his other side and found two more cracked ribs. “Besides, my boyfriend wouldn’t like it.”
“The prez know about that?” he clipped.
That would be a hard no. A very hard hell no. Dad was as protective of me as a dog was to its bone. Actually, growing up surrounded by a bunch of men in an MC made my dating life pretty much nonexistent. Except, this time, I was lying my arse off. I didn’t have a boyfriend, but Texas didn’t need to know that. I lied because whenever I was around Texas, he either flustered me or annoyed me. I wished he’d just forget the crush I had on him or the fact my brother had pretty much begged Texas to teach me to kiss because I’d been scared of messing up when the time came.
Nope, I couldn’t, wouldn’t think about that moment or how he’d said, “Not bad, little Marcus.” He’d ruffled my hair. “I’m sure someone will like it.”
Pushing that night from my mind, I sighed. “No, Dad doesn’t know, and you won’t say anything.” If Talon knew, there was no doubt my imaginary boyfriend would have a background check and drive-bys from the MC brothers in seconds, and if I gave the name of some poor fool, their lives would change instantly.
Texas hummed under his breath.
“Texas, I mean it. Do not say a word.”
His frown was replaced with a cocky smile. “What do I get in return?”
I wanted to kick him.
Why was he this flirty version of himself with me now? He used to dodge me every chance he got because I was only his friend’s little sister.
Ignoring his question, I placed myself in doctor mode and treated him like I would any other patient. “Sit up. I’ll wrap your ribs and clean your cuts and scrapes, but then I have to get going.”
With my help, Texas sat. I could feel his gaze on me, but I didn’t meet it. I worked on his body. On his hard, tattooed body.
Ignore it.
Ignore those hard planes, those dips and bumps of his muscles. I pushed his looks aside and worked so I could get out of there. The sooner I wasn’t around him, the better. I hadn’t been honest with myself before. To me, my feelings back in the day weren’t just a crush. When I’d been a teen, I’dlovedstupid Texas Monroe.
What I thought was love anyway.
Now that I was older, I was smarter.
At least, I liked to think I was, and realised it had been a young, foolish crush. The only reason Texas still got to me and my emotions was that over the years he’d grown from an attractive boy into a man who you wanted to make a body pillow out of. What helped was that he knew what he wanted in life and went for it. He’d just opened his second tattoo business in Ballarat, while his first was in Melbourne. He had skills. People from all over the country sought him out for his art to be tattooed on their bodies.
He was smart, funny, cocky… and I had to learn to forget about him. He’d made it obvious I wasn’t his type with the women I’d seen him dating. They were everything I wasn’t. I was sure he went out of his way to date all women who had a different hair colour than my dark brown. They were all tall, slim, sweet, shy… unlike me. I got my strong will from my mother and attitude from my father.
Sighing, I went about packing my things into the bag and stepped back from the bed. “It’ll take six weeks to heal those ribs. Please take it easy or you’ll make them worse.” Turning, I started for the door.
“Maya,” Texas called softly.
