Gentle Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 4) (4 page)

King and Aidan nodded fervently.

Mac blinked. Of all the things he’d expected from these three hard men, sympathy about lost love wasn’t one of them.

“It’s OK,” Mac said cautiously. “I mean, it was bad at the time but I have a chance with her again. I can make it right.”

“And we’re gonna help you do that,” Aidan said. “Starting with my leverage.”

Mac felt the tension melt out of his body. “Yeah?”

“Hell, yeah,” Aidan said, his golden eyes as warm and bright as a sunrise. “So, here it is, OK? Ace Cuddy, VP of the Fallen Angels? Is gay.”

Jax and Mac cursed simultaneously and King grinned at Aidan. He knew this, of course, since he’d been in the room when Aidan hit Ace with his knowledge of that information.

“Jesus Christ,” Mac said in a strangled voice. “Yeah, that’s fucking nuclear, man. How’d you figure it out?”

Aidan shrugged. “He had a serious and long-term relationship with a local business owner and they met here at Curves sometimes. Used the back rooms for their… encounters.”

“Really?” Mac racked his brains, trying to think who Ace might have been with at Curves. “Who was the boyfriend?”

“The guy owns a café down on Brock Street and Ace paid him off to keep his mouth shut. Anyway, the point is, it’s all true and it’s what I threatened Ace with when the Fallen Angels took Gabriela. After that, Ace couldn’t be helpful enough.”

“I can imagine.” Jax was still shocked. “If those boys knew that their VP was gay, they’d skin him alive and that’s just for starters.”

“For damn sure,” Aidan said with great satisfaction. “Me, I have no problem at all with the man’s sexual orientation, but it’s not exactly A-OK in a motorcycle club, you know?”

“Uh-huh,” Jax said, a bit dazed. “So… what do we do now?”

Mac turned to King. “You help me find Mirrie? Where she works, maybe?”

King hesitated. “And if I found out? What would you do?”

“Go see her. Talk to her.”

“Even after she told you to stay away from her?” King said, his eyes very dark in his rugged face. “Even after she said she doesn’t love you anymore?”

“She does,” Mac said quietly. “I
know
she does, but she’s scared and for damn good reason, man. You don’t know what they did to her when she defied them and tried to walk five years ago. If they found out that she and I were back in contact, maybe back together? They’d do their worst.” He hesitated, looked at Aidan almost timidly as he thought about Gabi. “And we know that their worst is pretty fucking bad.”

“And you think that if you told her about Ace, she’d be willing to try with you?” King said. “You think she’d come back? Take that risk?”

“Yes,” Mac said simply. “I saw her eyes, Matt. I saw how she felt. If I can promise her that she’ll be safe with me, she’ll come back to me. I’m sure of it.”

King narrowed his dark gray eyes. “You’re pretty confident in your charm and appeal, man.”

“What can I say?” Mac said, a bit of his bluff and bluster reappearing. “I’m a goddamned catch.”

King grinned at that. “Debatable.”

“What if you tell her about Ace and she
still
tells you to fuck off?” Aidan said suddenly. “What if she really doesn’t want to take the risk?”

Mac felt a stab of pain deep in his chest as he formulated his next words. “Then I’ll back off.”

“For real?” Jax asked. “You’d respect what Mirrie said?”

“Don’t get me wrong, man. I’d fucking hate it if she said no and I’d tie myself in knots to persuade her otherwise.” Mac paused, feeling a bit sick at the thought of losing her all over again. “But…if she stuck to her guns, then I’d leave and she’d never see me again.”

“So you agree that the final call is Mirrie’s?” King said.

“Yeah.” Mac pushed his hair back with rough hands. “It’s her decision.”

His friends gazed at him, believing him. Mac was a lot of things, but an asshole wasn’t one of them. If Mirrie really couldn’t or wouldn’t trust him to keep her safe, then Mac would let her go. It may well kill him, they knew now, but he’d do it.

“OK, then,” King said. “Give me a few days and I’ll find out where she works, then it’s up to you to convince her to give you a chance. And if she refuses even after you give it your best shot, you leave the woman in peace. Deal?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Mac took a deep breath, nothing but grateful to be given this chance with her. “Deal.”

Chapter Four

Three days later, Mirrie dragged herself to work at The Web Café for the seven a.m. shift. She both felt and looked like hell and she knew it: she’d barely slept or eaten since running in to Shane at the art centre event. She thought about him constantly; she saw him everywhere; she longed for him in a way that kicked the breath right out of her. God, she
missed
him.

Memories washed over her now: Shane visiting her in the hospital on the pretext of ‘checking her over’, but really, just to see her. Shane sneaking her favorite white chocolate chip cookies past the nurses and doctors; Shane holding her up as she took her first shaky steps; Shane finally asking her to dinner after a gentle six-month dance of flirtation and unwavering belief in her. Shane kissing her, undressing her, carefully running those large hands over every inch of her fragile body. Shane lying next to her after making love, stroking her face, whispering that she was the strongest, bravest woman he’d ever known and that he loved her.

That last memory pierced her deep and she shook her head against the emotional pain.

You fucker… why didn’t you just stay in the past, where you belonged? I was functioning just fine – not awesome, admittedly, but OK – and seeing you again has made it so. Damn. Hard. To get up in the morning and breathe
.

Gathering her strength for the upcoming eight-hour work day, she opened the door of the café and gratefully inhaled the aroma of strong coffee. Yeah, today she’d need four of Spider’s most lethal espressos to get herself together, for sure.

“Mornin’, Mirrie.”

She turned and with a great effort, pasted a fake smile on her face. “Hi Spider.”

Liam ‘Spider’ Valance – her boss and good friend – stood at the counter carefully stacking fresh-baked cookies on the glass display tray. She stared at the white chocolate chip ones briefly, decided what the hell, wandered over.

“Can I have one of those?” she asked hopefully.

Spider grinned, his dark eyes dancing in the morning summer sun. His face was almost completely covered with a tattoo of a black spider web and the rest of his slim frame was inked with spiders of all shapes and sizes. Despite the intimidating exterior, the man was a mushy marshmallow inside and Mirrie knew it.

“Breakfast?” he teased her.

“You know it.”

He shook his dark head. “Yeah, sure, grab a few. You need a coffee?”

“Many,” Mirrie responded, her mouth already full of cookie. “Many,
oh-so-many
coffees.”

“Sweet and strong, huh?”

“Yep. Thanks.”

“Uh-huh.” Spider shook his head again as he released some of the steam from the espresso machine, watched Mirrie closely. God, she looked like absolute shit yet again and he was determined that today was the day she was going to come clean about what was going on.

He’d asked, of course, over and over and she’d faffed it off as allergies. As if
that
could explain her pallor and exhaustion and red eyes, when Spider was well aware that the woman didn’t
have
allergies. She was damn near indestructible, actually, and had never even taken a sick day in almsot four years of working for him.

“Oh, by the way?” he said now. “You left your phone here last night. Again.”

“I did?”

He produced it from behind the counter with a flourish. “You did.”

Mirrie took her cell with a sheepish grin. “I hate this damn thing. I never even notice when I don’t have it with me.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” He shook his head with nothing but affection. “You’re the ultimate anti-tech woman. Nothing about you makes sense, sweetie… like for example, why are you smiling when it's clear that you’ve been crying all night?”

She jumped. “I haven’t!”

“Uh-huh.” He rolled his eyes.

Without another word, Mirrie ducked in to the staff room to hang up her jean jacket and also to avoid that knowing look in Spider’s eyes. He was smart as hell, unfortunately, and he knew her like the back of his heavily-tattooed hand. She’d managed to avoid a full-on conversation with him, but she suspected that the clock was ticking down.

She heard Spider’s voice now and she knew that he was talking to a customer. Quickly, she put on her dark green apron and glanced in the mirror. She’d gone heavy on the makeup today in a vain attempt to conceal her exhaustion and she’d kind of succeeded. She ran her fingers through her bright-pink hair, tucked it behind her ears, licked her lips. Yeah, that was about as good as it was going to get.

She exited the staff room, stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the customer’s broad back, muscled shoulders, long blond hair. Spider was making goo-goo eyes at the man and flirting wildly.

“What the hell?” she choked out. “Are you fucking
kidding
me?”

Shane turned around now, a grin splitting his gorgeous and oh-so-slappable face in half. “Hey, babe.”

“
Babe
?” Spider echoed, delighted. “Oooh. I need to hear
this
.”

“Don’t you ‘babe’ me,” Mirrie hissed. “And get the fuck out of here.”

Spider stared at her, astonished. “Why are you swearing at the hot man?”

“Yeah,” Shane said, still grinning. “Why are you?”

“
Get
.
Out
.
Now
.”

“Nuh-uh.” Mac gestured at the coffee that Spider was pouring. “I’m a paying customer.”

“He’s getting that to go, Spider,” Mirrie said, ignoring Shane completely.

“No, he’s not, Spider.” Mac eyed the pastries piled up in front of him. “Wow. Those smell good. Fresh-baked?”

“Yep,” Spider said. “I made ‘em myself this morning. You want something?”

“Sure do,” Mac said. “Maybe a few croissants? And a blueberry muffin and… ummm, let’s see… those white chocolate chip cookies look amazing.” He glanced at Mirrie, remembering how much she loved sweet stuff. “Three of those.”

“To stay, yeah?” Spider asked.

“Uh-huh.” Mac wandered over to a table next to the window. “I ain’t going anywhere.”

“OK,” Spider said. “I’ll bring you your food in a sec.”

Mirrie had witnessed this exchange in shock and finally managed to find her voice. “You’re gonna
what
?” she demanded. “Spider, whose side are you
on
?”

“Oh,” her boss said innocently. “Are there sides?”

“You’re goddamned right there are sides,” she said. “Get him out of here or I’m walking out.”

“Why?” Spider said, genuinely perplexed now. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that I’m in love with her,” Mac explained. “But she’s fucking stubborn and won’t admit it
or
listen to me about it.”

Spider stared at her wide-eyed, wondering how he’d missed
this
tidbit about her life. “Really?”

“No!” she sputtered. “None of that’s true! He’s a fucking stalker and if you don’t kick him out, I’m leaving.”

“
Are
you a stalker?” Spider asked Mac as he brought him his coffee and a loaded plate.

“No.” Mac took a sip of the coffee. “I’m a doctor.”

Light dawned on Spider’s face. “Oh… wait up a second. You’re Shane.”

“Guilty as charged.” He smiled at the other man. “So she’s talked about me, huh? What’s she said? Don’t leave out
any
of the good stuff.”

“How’d you find me?” Mirrie demanded suddenly. “If you’re not a stalker?”

Mac gave her his trademark smart-ass grin. “One guess.”

“Fucking King’s Men,” she muttered.

“Yep,” he said cheerfully. “Fucking King’s Men. Can you
believe
that King didn’t even give me a break on the price? Cost me a small fortune to track you down, but it was worth every penny.” He popped a piece of cookie in his mouth. “So, really,
they’re
the stalkers. Not me.”

Spider turned to Mirrie. “I don’t get what’s going on here, but I’m not kicking him out if he isn’t wrecking the place.”

She opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out.

“Besides,” Spider continued, taking in the handsome face and large, muscled body. “He dramatically improves the view around here.”

“Well, thank you,” Mac said. “I’m fine with being purely ornamental.”

“Perfect.” Spider went back behind the counter. “I’ll just stand over here and pretend to be deaf, then. You two get on with whatever it is you need to sort out.”

“We have nothing to sort out,” Mirrie said. “
Nothing
. And I’m out of here.” She turned and started walking to the staff room.

“You can’t go,” Spider said calmly.

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because.” He took off his apron. “I need to get to the bank and Vera’s not due to start work until nine. You gotta stay here and handle the customers.”

“The bank?” Mirrie spat out. “It’s seven-fifteen in the morning.”

“Yep.” Spider shrugged in to his jacket. “My meeting’s at eight.”

“Bullshit,” she said.

“Bulltrue,” Spider responded. “So you need to stay.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she demanded in a furious whisper. “In the back?”

“Yeah,” Spider said. “Let’s talk for a minute. In the back.”

Mac waved his hand at them. “You two go on. I’ll keep an eye on the place.”

“Thanks,” Spider said.

“
Don’t
thank
him
,” Mirrie whispered again, totally enraged. “He’s an asshole.”

“I heard that,” Mac called at their retreating backs.

“You were meant to!” she called back. “Asshole!”

They went in to the staff room, shut the door, regarded each other.

“How can you do this to me?” Mirrie finally said. “You
know
who that is… you
know
what happened between us.”

“I do.” Spider leaned back against the wall and loosely crossed his arms. “Which is precisely why I’m not asking him to leave. You two need to talk.”

“No.” She struggled to not shout at her friend. “No, that’s precisely why he
has
to leave, Spider. If word gets out that he was here, that we saw each other?” She bit her lip. “You know what would happen to us. It’s no joke, no matter how lightly he’s taking it.”

Spider was serious now, his face devoid of any and all humor. “Mirrie, the man isn’t an idiot. He knows the score and he’s still here, which means that he has a damn good reason to take this huge risk. Don’t you think you should hear what it is?”

“No,” she said again.

“Today isn’t the first time you two have talked recently, is it?” Spider said shrewdly. “You’ve seen him before now, haven’t you?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “A few days ago we ran in to each other and we met for coffee. I told him everything, OK, and the deal was that he’d get his answers and then we’d go our separate ways. But as you can see…” She gestured at the door, in Mac’s general direction. “The asshole’s here.”

“Maybe he wants you back,” Spider said cautiously. “He
did
say that he loves you.”

“Again, you know what would happen to us if the Fallen Angels heard about that.”

“Are you sure they’d still care?” Spider asked softly. “I mean, yeah. Four years ago, they were still pissed about you walking away from them, but so much time has passed since then. Don’t you think that maybe they’ve just forgotten about you? About both of you?”

Mirrie stared at him, totally incredulous. “Do you know
anything
about MC members?”

Spider shrugged and lowered his eyes. “Yeah. A bit.”

“Well, one thing you clearly
don’t
know is that MC’s never
ever
forget a slight or let go of a grudge. There’s no such thing as a statute of limitations with these kinds of guys, OK? Four years is like four minutes to them, trust me.”

Spider was silent.

“Spider, please.” Mirrie fought to keep her voice steady. “Please get him out of here. It’s not safe for him or for me. Please… help me.”

“Yeah, alright.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’ll help you.”

“God, thank you.” The relief was immense as it washed over her. “So let’s go and ask him to leave…”

“No.” Spider snapped out the word. “No, that’s not how I’m going to help you.”

“What?”

“He stays until you guys talk.”

“Spider…” Her panic was rising again. “Please...”

“Mirrie.” Something in his voice made her stop talking and gaze up at him. “Listen to me.”

It was only Mirrie’s love and respect for her friend that kept her quiet. She nodded.

“Sweetie.” He paused, gathered his thoughts. “Look, I saw you after you ended things with Shane. I saw how fucking wrecked you were and how long and hard you hurt for him. You hurt for
years
, Mirrie… you’re still hurting now. What you did? Walking away like that? It saved his life but it killed you in some ways and I
know
it.”

Mirrie shut her eyes, struggling to hold back the tears.

“He’s here now, at long last. He says he loves you. I think he wants to fight for you.” Spider touched her arm gently. “I’m not saying that you go back to him, OK? I just think that he deserves to be heard. Just give the man a conversation.”

She opened her eyes now. “I wish I could. But I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because then I’ll start to hope for us.”

“You don’t want that? Don’t want hope?”

“No.” She wiped her tears away with both hands. “This can’t happen, Spider. Me and Shane? We can’t happen. I can’t open that door even one little bit, because when it slams shut in my face – and don’t kid yourself, it
will
slam shut – I’m not going to be able to handle it. Not this time; not again.”

“What if it didn’t shut? What if you guys could make it work?”

“This isn’t a Hollywood movie. This isn’t a romance book. This is real life – this is
my
real life, mine and Shane’s.” She shook her head and he saw her visibly pulling herself together. “There’s no happy ending for us. We’re no Cinderella and Prince Charming. Me and Mac, we’re more like Romeo and Juliet… we’d both fucking end up dead.”

“Mirrie…”

“No.” Her tone was clipped and cold. “You go to your fake meeting at the bank and I’ll handle the customers.” She glanced at the clock. “The morning rush is about to start, so I need to get back out there.”