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“You want something else? Because you don’t hand those out to anyone. What’s it going to cost me?”
“Nothing you and your boys aren’t capable of doing.”
“Which is?”
“What you do best.”
Back at the coffee shop, I kept my eyes firmly glued to Beth’s shop window, watching and waiting for King, Montana or the others to appear. Whatever they were discussing seemed important, not that I gave a damn about.
It was my shop.
“Bailey?”
Looking up, I lightly smiled at Beth, who placed a strawberry smoothie in front of me and a plate of blueberry scones. I wasn’t really hungry, but I didn’t want to upset her, so I took a scone and picked at it.
“I heard your cousin is here. Will he be staying?”
“I don’t know. Jamison doesn’t care for change that much, but he seems to like this place. He likes the bikes and the club brothers.”
“He’s disabled, right? Can he listen and follow simple orders?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ve been wanting to hire a stock boy. You know someone that can help me around this place. Mike is getting older, and I worry when the new stock arrives. His back isn’t so good anymore. I was thinking if Jamison stays, maybe he would like to come work with me. Do you think he would like that?”
I nodded. “As long as you let him have all the chocolate muffins he could eat, I’m sure he’d love it. He’s got a serious sweet tooth.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“What?”
“King?”
I sighed, sitting back in my chair. “What’s to say? He’s a pain in the ass. He’s stubborn and rude. He acts like a toddler with his favorite toy. I’m not a toy. One minute he’s sweet and kind, the next he’s a complete asshole. He likes things his way, and he really loves telling me what to do.”
Beth nodded. “When Mike started dating me, he was the same. He was right out of bootcamp and was home on leave. I was dating someone else back then, but Mike saw me and that was it. He said I was his and told me to kick the other guy to the curb. I think I threw my drink in his face.”
I snickered. “What happened next?”
“I’ve been married to the man for twenty-six years, Bailey. What do you think happened?”
“Mike adores you, Beth.”
“Yes, he does and I love that man to pieces, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have our problems. King and Mike are a lot alike. I think it’s because of their military training. I think the Marine Corps beat the need to protect those they love into them, and they know no other way.”
“Should have beat them into submission instead.”
Beth snickered. “It’s not their nature to be submissive, Bailey. Mike may look like an overgrown teddy bear, but the man has a protective streak that can rival the Rocky Mountains. Once they claim someone, or worse, fall in love, their protective nature reaches new heights. They don’t know any better.”
“He doesn’t listen to me. He just orders me around like I’m one of the club brothers and expects me to fall in line. My grandmother did that, only she used her fist to make her point clear. He scares me sometimes, Beth.”
Beth leaned forward and reached across the table, covering my hands with hers. “Has he ever hit you, Bailey?”
I shook my head. “No. but there is darkness in him, Beth. I see it and today when he yelled at me, in my own shop, I thought he might.”
“I would never hurt you,” his gruff voice whispered behind me.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was still angry at him. Instead, he kneeled beside me, partially caging me in and lowly said, “I’m sorry I shouted Bailey. I saw you with Montana and I had to get you away from him. He isn’t what he seems. The man is dangerous.”
