The ride on his bike had been … heady. She’d never imagined it could be fun, but he’d made it so. She smiled, thinking about how it felt between her thighs, but more importantly, how she loved holding on to Brick.
He’d been amazing.
Rock hard.
Since her grandmother died, he was the first person she felt safe with. Like he could protect her from all the dangers in the world. It was a nice feeling.
“You’re staring off into space,” Jeff said. “You living out one of your fantasies or did you just have pie this morning?”
Jeff was a … well, she didn’t know who he was. One moment, he was nice. The next, he was saying hurtful things. Almost as if she’d done something to piss him off. She never knew which version she was going to get one day to the next.
“Do you think it’s going to be a long day today?” she asked, avoiding eye contact.
The end of the date with Brick, that was when he’d been a perfect gentleman. She’d hated telling him where she lived. It was a dump, but he hadn’t shown any kind of judgment when she told him. He’d walked her directly to her apartment door and had kissed her goodnight on the cheek. She didn’t know for sure if that meant anything. The kiss on the cheek—did it mean he wanted to date her again? Did he hate their date?
She was going out of her mind wondering. This was all so new to her.
It doesn’t matter.
If he never came around again, she’d just be happy she got to go on at least one date with him. It was better than nothing. It had been the happiest day she could remember in a long time.
The door to the shop opened, pulling her out of her thoughts. The moment she caught sight of the Skull Nation insignia, she disappeared into the office, giving Jeff the signal.
This was what she’d been told to do. Sitting at her computer, she put on her headset and turned the music volume up to the loudest it could go, blasting her senses.
These were the instructions she’d been given. If she wanted to keep her job, the moment a Skull Nation MC member entered, she was to sit at her computer, complete invoices, and listen to music as loud as she could. She was never to give any of them eye contact.
From her computer station, she could see out of the door.
Just for a quick second, she glanced over the top of her computer. She wished she hadn’t. One of the men punched Jeff in the back of the head. He didn’t go down to the floor, and she averted her gaze as her heart raced.
“No matter what, you stay behind your computer. You don’t watch. You don’t even look. If you do, you’re out on your fat ass. Got me?”
She’d agreed.
This job was long, but it paid well. She’d been able to save some money up, and she had plans. All of them would come with time and hard work.
Why were they beating on Jeff?
Her stomach twisted into knots. What if one day they turned their attention on her? What would she do? Who would protect her?
When Jeff came in sporting a bloody nose, she removed her headphones. “Are you okay?”
“Fuck, why do you always have to talk? Useless cunt. Get out there and work. I don’t pay you to sit around and do fuck all.” He was her boss, so she felt helpless and forced to take the verbal abuse.
Getting to her feet, she rushed out of the room. If she tried to help him or lingered, he’d get more abusive.
Jeff could be an asshole, but he had moments where he was nice as well. He never asked too many questions nor did he demand to know absolutely everything about everyone who worked for him, and she liked that. It made life easy. He didn’t judge her, and after a lifetime of being criticized for who she was related to, Jeff was refreshing, even if he was an asshole.
For the entire morning, she stayed out of Jeff’s way. Ignoring the tense way the men worked as the Skull Nation stuck around. She heard random shouts but zoned out. By the time it was lunch, she was more than ready to get out of there.
After grabbing her bag, she left the store and headed straight to the small public park area nearby to have lunch. In the height of summer, families and friends would swarm the place, all looking for the perfect shaded spot.
It was hot as fuck, and the park was completely packed. Men and women in different stages of undress were either lying down on the ground or sitting on lawn chairs. There wasn’t a spare seat, so she decided not to eat her lunch there.