“Do you like fish and chips?” he asked as he started the car.
“Not fish, but I love prawns and calamari. Where are we going?” His arms were distracting me as they steered the car and changed gears. And that musk smell of his cologne; it was doing things to me that made it hard to concentrate.
“Thought we’d go down to Wynnum. That okay with you?”
“I love Wynnum. Do you go there much?”
“Not as much as I’d like. But the salt air and water helps me process shit in my mind and I need that right about now.”
“You know, you keep surprising me.”
Glancing at me briefly with a serious look on his face, he said, “Yeah? Well, you do the same to me.”
“Can I ask you something about your club?”
“Harlow, you can ask me anything. Can’t guarantee I’ll answer it though.”
“Did you always want to join Storm or did you just do it because your Dad was the President?”
He was quiet for a moment and I figured this was going to be one of those questions he wouldn’t answer but then he replied, “I grew up knowing I’d join. It’s in my blood. But when I finished high school there was awhile there where I questioned it. I did well in school because my Mum pushed me. I look back now and wonder if she wanted me to have options other than the club. She even made me apply to university and I got accepted into an engineering course. Dad wanted me in the club though and I couldn’t fight what was in me.”
“Do you regret that choice?”
This time he was quick to answer. “Never. I love my club; they’re my family.”
I settled back in my seat, enjoying his openness. “So, how does it all work?”
“How does what work?”
“Well, you work for the club right? Do you just earn money from Indigo?”
“We don’t run illegal operations if that’s what you’re asking. Our money comes from businesses that we own.”
“What kinds of businesses?”
He raised his eyebrows as he flicked a quick glance at me. “What? You don’t believe me?”
“Actually, I do believe you. I’m just curious, that’s all. I don’t know anything about bikers so I’m just trying to get my head around how it all works.”
“You sound like you don’t usually believe people. Where’s that come from, babe?” His tone was softer now; I could get used to that tone being directed at me.
“You don’t really want to hear all about that.”
“Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.”
My stomach unleashed more butterflies at his words. He hadn’t said anything sweet or sexy, but that one sentence said so much to me about him. In my experience with men, and granted I’d chosen some real assholes, they didn’t want to get to know me; they wanted to get inside me. So yeah, Scott was all about the butterflies.
“My last boyfriend, Billy, cheated on me with my best friend. He also stole from me; over five thousand dollars that I’d been saving so that I could quit my job eventually and spend my time working towards getting my art into a gallery. This was after living together for three years. Before him was Matt who I dated for a year before I discovered the bullshit life story he’d given me to hide the fact that he was a no hoping bludger who was sucking me dry of money and happiness. Matt came after Neil who -”
Scott cut me off, his voice harsh, “Stop. I don’t want to know anymore about those assholes. You ever tell me where they live, they’ll wish they’d never set eyes on you.” We were stopped at a red light and he focused his eyes on me. There was pain in those eyes but there was also warmth that attached itself to my heart, and I was pretty sure that in that moment, I was his. His to have however he wanted.
The light changed and the moment was broken, but I’d felt it and I wondered if he had too.
“What kind of art do you make?” he asked, and I was thankful for the change in the conversation. I wasn’t sure if he’d done that on purpose but I was fast learning that Scott was very intuitive so I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a calculated move.
“Mixed media art.”
“Mixed what?”
“It’s art that uses a range of mediums, so I mix paint with ink and collage and pretty much anything I want to put on there. I’ll show you some of my pieces; that’s probably the best way for you to understand what I mean.”
He moved his left arm to rest behind my headrest and looked over at me and smiled. “I’d like that.” It wasn’t his smile so much that hit me; it was the crinkled eyes.
Oh, holy God; I really was done for.
Scott’s phone rang at that moment and a male’s voice filled the car. “Scott, you got a minute?”
“Griff, I’ve got Harlow with me but go ahead.”
“I’ve got some information about Black Deeds and our security issues. You good with that?”
“Yeah, brother, shoot.”
“It looks like they’ve been nosing around some of our suppliers, gathering information about our orders and such. Even offered a bribe to one of them to stop our supply. Roughed him up a bit when he refused. I’ve offered them some muscle until this is dealt with. The other thing is that they’ve been spotted at some of our other businesses besides Indigo. No other security breaches though.”
Scott looked like he was about to blow a fuse. “Christ!”
“Yeah,” Griff agreed.
“Keep digging around, and let’s start our own fucking recon on them.”
“My thoughts exactly. Talk to you later,” he said, and ended the call.
I was quiet while Scott processed what Griff had told him. Having no idea what they were talking about and knowing it was none of my business anyway, I refrained from asking him anything about that conversation. We drove in silence for awhile but it wasn’t the kind of silence where I was trying desperately to come up with something to say. No, it was an easy silence and I realised that being with Scott
was
easy. Sure, I felt that excited, nervous buzz a little but that had to do with my attraction to him. Just being with him though, was uncomplicated; he put me at ease with the way he treated me.
Eventually, I broke the silence. “Can I ask you another question?”
He chuckled. “Something tells me you’re going to anyway.”
“What does your Dad do as the President? Because it seems to me like you’re in charge of a lot.”
“He’s handed a lot of the responsibility over to me; getting me ready to take over as President when he steps down. But he still does a lot.”
“When will he step down?”
“Not anytime soon. Could be years but I need to be ready.”
“Griff didn’t want to tell you that stuff with me listening, did he?”
“No, he didn’t.”
I took that in. Scott said a lot without actually saying a lot.
A couple of minutes later we pulled up to Wynnum Esplanade and Scott parked his car on the road near the wading pool. We went across to Pelican’s Nest and he bought us lunch which we took to the park to eat. It was a beautiful day to be out; it kind of felt naughty to be sitting in the sun by the ocean on a work day.
Scott set us up at a picnic table and then asked me, “Is your art something you still want to pursue?”
“Absolutely, and my best friend is helping me find galleries that might be interested in my work.”
He scowled. “Wait, this isn’t the bitch that cheated with your boyfriend is it?”
“No, I haven’t seen her since I discovered that. This is Cassie, my new friend who I’m pretty sure would never do that to me.”
“So, you’re working on getting your Mum sorted and in the meantime trying to get your art happening?”
“Yeah. And working at a strip club to pay the bills,” I winked at him when I said this.
He scowled again. “Harlow, if any of our customers give you trouble I want you to come to me with it and I’ll sort them out.”
“You seem worried about that but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I’ve seen some of those motherfuckers in action, babe. You bring it to me if there’s an issue. No-one else; me,” he asserted in a way that made his request clear.
“Okay, Mr. Bossy,” I teased him but he wasn’t in a mood to be teased.
We were sitting across from each other and he dipped his head so that his face was closer to mine. Determination was clear in his eyes. “I’ll always be bossy where your safety is concerned. I’m not mucking around here; these men aren’t all your standard Joe Blow and you need to take that in. They fuck with you, it means they fuck with me. And babe, I’m not one to be fucked with,” he warned in that deep, threatening voice I’d heard him use before. The fact that it made me feel safe didn’t escape me. I kind of liked it; no man had ever made me feel safe like that before.
Later, when he dropped me back at the café, he reiterated what he’d already said. “Remember, no putting up with shit from Indigo customers. I want to know if there are any problems,” he said as he met me on my side of the car.
I only just stopped myself from rolling my eyes. “Okay.”
He moved close to me, backing me up against his car, his right hand sliding behind my neck and holding my head. Then he delivered another strong warning. “Something tells me you don’t plan on involving me, babe, so let me make myself clear. I’m not a man who likes finding shit out later; especially if something happened that I could have stopped. There
will
be problems between you and me if you don’t do as I’ve said. Understand?”
Shit
. Who could argue with that? “I understand,” I agreed.
“Good,” he murmured, eyes on my lips, “Now, I don’t do this dating thing so I’m not sure, but I reckon I’m supposed to get a kiss out of it.” His left hand had made its way to my face and he was holding my cheek.
Smiling, I bantered, “That would only be if you were dating a woman who didn’t have a three date policy.”
“What the fuck’s a three date policy?”
“You take me on three dates before you get a kiss.”
His eyes twinkled. “Babe, you’re deluding yourself. We’ve already kissed and you’ve already made it clear you want me to fuck you. I’d say your three date policy is null and fucking void.”
“Well, have you made your mind up about having sex with me yet?”
Smirking, he asked, “Are you trying to bribe me with a kiss for sex, Harlow?”
“Would it work? Because if it would, I’d break my three date policy right here and now.”
Leaning even closer to me, he promised, “Fucking you was always on my agenda. First I’m going to fuck you with my tongue, and then I’m going to fill your pretty pussy with my cock. So I’d say it’s time for you to give up that sweet mouth.”
His dirty mouth sent jolts through me; who would have known that I’d love dirty words so much. I pulled his mouth to mine and kissed him with a passion I’d never known. He devoured me with his mouth, his tongue and his potent desire for me. My body became alive under his touch, and my mind was overrun with lust and thoughts for how I wanted him to possess me. I craved more than this kiss and would make damn sure he fulfilled those promises he’d just made.
Ending the kiss and pulling away from me appeared to be hard for him. “Fuck, baby, that mouth of yours should be fucking illegal.”
I smiled. The same could be said about him, but I wasn’t telling him that; not yet, anyway. I wasn’t handing my heart over to a man that easily anymore.
S
cott
Thoughts of Harlow consumed me for the rest of the fucking afternoon. Christ. This was why I didn’t do anything more than one night stands with women. It was distracting me from the business at hand. I couldn’t fucking think straight and that was a problem. A problem I didn’t have time for at the moment. And yet, every time I thought of her, it warmed my fucking cold heart and drove my dick wild.
Shit. I was fucked
.
I spent the afternoon going over the current Black Deeds problems with Griff, J and Dad. Griff had sent Nash and Stoney to do some of the recon we’d discussed. Bullet’s club was involved in drugs and porn. We needed to get a better idea on those operations and this type of thing was Nash’s specialty. If there was something to be found out, Nash was the man.
At seven o’clock Mum turned up. She was here for Dad but I took her aside while Dad was still talking with Griff. “How are you?” I jerked my chin at Dad, “He treating you alright?”
She sighed. “You and Madison need to back off him. He’s changing. For the better.” She emphasised that last sentence.
“Men like that don’t fucking change and you of all women should know that. You’ve seen enough shit go down in the club, seen enough men who beat their women and cheat on them to know they don’t fucking change. When are you going to open your eyes?” I remembered the conversation with Harlow from this morning; she just needed to open her eyes and see what was in front of her.
Flinty eyes hit mine. “Your father has given you everything, Scott, and you need to remember that.”
“The way I look at it, he’s given me nothing but lies,” I fumed.
She flinched at that. “Well you need to look at it a different way.”
I shook my head. “Not going to happen,” I said, and then added, “Any respect I had is gone, simple as that.”
“Kind of makes it hard to work together.”
“No, Mum, it doesn’t. He’s my President, that’s it. I get the shit done that needs doing, just like I always have. Any relationship outside of that doesn’t exist.”
Her voice lowered into a hard, angry tone. “You can be a cold hearted bastard sometimes, Scott. Perhaps it’s time for you to learn how to forgive.”
She was upset and making a move to leave but I had one more thing to say, “Call me cold hearted, call me whatever you want. I make no fucking apologies for the way I live my life. I do however expect shit from those I love and when it’s not delivered or when my trust is broken like that, I will never, I repeat never, fucking forgive or forget. Are we clear?”
Her eyes widened. Then a look of resignation came over her and she walked away.
Fuck
. I hadn’t meant to be so forceful with her, but the way she was carrying on, like we could all just forgive and play happy fucking families, was not on and it had pissed me off.