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They got to the bar about five minutes before church was supposed to start. He helped Tilly out of his pickup truck and tugged her against his side. “Remember, stay close to me,” he ordered.
“Got it,” she whispered back. She put her hand in his and he felt this insane sense of pride that he had no right to feel. They walked into the bar, hand in hand, and he felt all eyes on them as he settled down with her in the corner of the room. Most of the time, women weren’t allowed in their clubhouse during church, but tonight’s meeting had to do with his woman and Mace insisted that she attend. If the club’s Pres insisted that someone attend church, they usually obliged.
Mace met them at the bar and held out his hand to Tilly. “I’m the Road Reaper’s Prez,” he said. “Mace.”
“Good to meet you, Mace,” she breathed, shaking his hand. “I’m Tilly.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you and I’m sorry about what happened to you here at my club. I wasn’t here that night, but I wish that I was. I would have killed that fucker for what he did to you.” Owen knew how his Prez felt. He wanted just five minutes alone with her asshole ex-boss.
“I appreciate you saying that, but there was honestly nothing anyone could have done to stop Nate. He snuck in and out through the bathroom window. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. My memory of that evening is still a bit sketchy, but the doctors all say that I might get them back at some point,” she said. Owen hated that she still had gaps in her memory about that night, but maybe it was a good thing that she couldn’t remember what had happened to her. Finding her laying on the bathroom floor was something that he wished he could forget too.
“Well, I just wish I would have been there that night,” he repeated. Tilly nodded and smiled as Mace showed her to a corner booth in the back of the bar. “I hope you’ll both join me tonight at my table,” he said. Being asked to sit with the club’s Prez was a big deal, even if Tilly didn’t seem to pick up on that.
“We’d be honored,” Owen quickly said, filling the silence. Tilly slipped into the booth and Owen slid in next to her.
“I’m going to get church started,” Mace said. “I’ll see you both later.”
Owen waited for Mace to leave before leaning into Tilly. She still smelled like apples and cinnamon from when she sprayed her perfume earlier. A part of him wondered if she’d taste that way too. “Thanks for that,” he whispered, trying to keep his cool.
“What did I do?” she asked.
“Well, you agreed to sit with Mace, and I appreciate that,” Owen said.
“Oh,” she said, waving him off, “that wasn’t a big deal. He was kind to invite us to sit with him.”
“It’s kind of a big deal that he asked us to hang out with him,” Owen said.
“You mean like when you get asked to sit with the cool kids at lunch in high school?” she teased.
“Yeah, you could compare it to that,” Owen agreed.
“Isn’t that your brother?” she asked, looking across the room at the front door.
“Yeah, that’s Maverick. Will you be okay for a second while I run over to talk to him?” Owen asked. She smiled and nodded at him as he stood. He could feel her eyes on him as he made his way across the barroom, and he had to admit that he liked the way she watched him.
“I see you brought Tilly,” Mav said, nodding over to where she sat.
“Yeah, Mace asked me to bring her along which worked for me because I wasn’t going to leave her back at my place alone. Not with her fucking ex-boss still not showing his damn hand. That fucker got away with knocking her out, putting her in the hospital, and the cops aren’t even going after him. They said that he was just a person of interest in the case, even though Tilly identified him as her attacker. He didn’t even spend a night in jail.”
“Yeah,” Mav breathed, “I kind of ran by her sister’s place to check on her and her kid this morning and my surveillance wasn’t as stealthy as I hoped it would be. She caught be spying on her and her kid and well, I had to fess up that I was just checking in on them. She said she appreciated it, but then her husband showed up and I felt like an ass for even stopping by.”
“You met her husband?” Owen asked. Tilly had told him a little bit about her sister, Melody, and how she worried that she was in over her head with her husband. Tilly wasn’t sure if she was blowing things out of proportion or not, but she had a sick feeling that Melody’s husband was abusing her. She made him promise not to tell anyone about her suspicions but hearing that the guy was an ass didn’t bode well.
“Yeah, I met him. He really is an ass. He got in my face and told me that I didn’t need to stop and check in on his family. I mean, I can’t blame him for acting that way. If they were my family, I’d do the same. You know, some strange guy stopping by to check in on your wife and kid—that wouldn’t play well for me either.”
“I guess you’re right. Has Melody had any news about Nate? Has he tried to reach out to her?” Owen asked. Tilly said that was her biggest fear—Nate going after her family. She seemed so selfless and that only made him want her more.
“She said that she hasn’t seen or heard from him, but I’m wondering if that was for her husband’s benefit,” Mav said.
“Do me a favor and let me tell Tilly that you stopped by her sister’s place. I don’t want to upset her while we’re here,” Owen said.
Maverick looked over at Tilly and smiled. “Um, she doesn’t look too upset right now, bro. She looks pretty damn happy.” Owen turned to find her surrounded by a half dozen bikers and groaned.
“What the actual fuck?” he asked.
“You left her alone and you know how the guys like to take advantage of a pretty woman left all by herself,” Maverick reminded.
