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“What did you want?” Maddie asks, phone in her hands.
“I got Rae doin’ some admin for me downstairs.” I go with the next logical subject.
“I know.” She doesn’t look away from the screen.
I sat at the bar for a whole hour chewing the fat with the men, and never once did I see Maddie search out her friend. Either she’s pissed at Rae for dropping the bike and getting her in the shit, or she’s mad at me for ripping her a new one about it.
Money’s on the latter.
Either way, she’s acting like a brat hiding out in her room when there’s a woman out of her element downstairs.
“She can set it down and pick it up whenever she wants. Don’t need to be done tonight if you’d rather do somethin’ else with her.”
“It’s fine.” My girl taps something out before adding, “I figured if I’m in her face twenty-four-seven, she’s gonna getpretty damn sick of seeing me.” Maddie stalls her thumb, lifting her chin to look my way. “Why you telling me this, anyway? Shouldn’tyoube telling her she doesn’t need to spend all night on it?”
I grit my jaw and lean my backside against her set of drawers, folding my arms. “You get why I’m mad at you, right? It ain’t just about the bike.”
“I know.” She sighs, setting the phone on her nightstand. “It was because I hurt her.”
“Duh,” Harvey chimes in. “She’s valuable goods, Mads.”
“It was because any one of you could have been hurt.” I frown, suddenly seeing the lie in my practiced explanation. I’m mad becauseRaecould have been hurt. Not so much Maddie, who I know can hold her own. “I get it’s fun havin’ her here, but baby girl, this ain’t a holiday for your friend.”
“I know, Daddy,” she sasses. “She’s special to you. I played with your toy without asking.” Bitch rolls her eyes.
I hate that she’s right. Hate even more that I’ve never been the best at understanding my own needs and desires, so no wonder everyone around me sees the point before I do.
I’m most concerned about the woman who has no right occupying so much of my headspace.
“Run shit past me next time, okay? Especially if it’s somethin’ so dangerous.”
“It ain’t that dangerous,” Harvey mutters.
“Dangerous enough, someone was fuckin’ lucky they didn’t crack their skull open,” I gripe, adding to Maddie, “Did you not think through the risks involved? Do you even know if she’s got experience, or did you neglect to ask that too?”
“How reckless do you think I am?”
“Reckless enough to think puttin’ an inexperienced woman on a fuckin’ bike with eighteen hundred CCs of power was a good idea.”
“It was Digger’s idea,” she whines. “Fuck, Daddy. You don’t think I understand people get hurt on bikes?” Maddie’s pesky eyebrow rises again, head shaking as she stares at me wide-eyed. “You were there when I grew up in this place, weren’t you? You did see what I did, right?”
“Funny, Mads,” I grumble, cheek twitching beside my nose.
“You sure are trying to be.” She straightens, back against the headboard and legs folded beneath the blanket. “Look, I thought maybe she’d like it: the challenge. That maybe she’d enjoy it enough to want to do it again. Enough that it would make her look genuinely keen on the life to anyone else in the club.”
“Half the bitches in this place haven’t had anything in their grip other than a biker’s dick, Mads. She doesn’t need to ride to fit in,” Harvey states, eyes glued to the game.
“You’re not helping, douche.” She lobs a pillow at the back of his head for his troubles. Maddie leans forward, elbows to knees. “Fact is, Daddy, Rae needs to blend in around here if you want the assholes on the street to believe she’s Uncle West’s. And I don’t just mean dressin’ her up in black and slapping a leather jacket on her. I mean, she needs to look comfortable. Like she craves havin’ her ass on the back of his bike. As though his lap is the only goddamn place she wants to be.” My girl closes her eyes, dropping her face to her hands with a sigh. “She’s already worried it won’t be enough if there’s no physical affection.”
“Should have made her mine, then.” Harvey chuckles. “I wouldn’t have had any trouble bein’ physical with her.”
“Shut up,” we both tell him in unison.
“Focus on your game, Harvey,” Maddie gripes. “Or fuck off.”
“Jeez. Fine.” He relaxes as the game loads into another match. “Zipped.” He draws his finger across his lips.
“Rae’s worried it won’t be enough for who exactly?” I push off the drawers and reposition myself on the side of Maddie’s bed, shaking the image of Rae kissing Digger out of my head. “Shedoesn’t need to worry none about what anyone thinks; that’s my job. All she needs to do is follow instruction and keep her head down.” I exhale heavily out of my nose. “And tell me if that damn idiot calls her up again.”
