Page 11 of Wait For Me

“Could I?” I knew I was pushing shit by talking back to my VP that way, but Prez was his brother by marriage just as well as by club and he knew the man was a force. There was no denying that fucker when he got shit in his head.

“Okay,” Mack laughed. “You could have taken the beating he probably would have given you for thinking his baby girl wasn’t good enough for your sorry ass. Think on that for a minute, a beating versus the shit you’ve gone through instead.”

“Fuck!” The word burned as it left my lips. “How long am I going to be on this particular mission?”

“Until she comes home.”

“What if she never comes home?” I wasn’t one to panic, but I knew the shit that had been going down. Kip filled me in a few weeks back. The bitches I’d been fuckin’ seemed to think it was fun to harass his little sister at work. I took care of that shit, and figured things would get better after, but apparently the damn near year’s long stint of me fucking my frustrations out on every available pussy had been too much for the princess. I just hadn’t realized those same bitches had been running their mouths to her afterward until she had already grown fed up with the bullshit. Now, she was running away, and I had to go fucking play invisible babysitter for an indefinite period of time. It made a man question whether belonging to this particular MC was worth the price.

Mack huffed on the other end of the line. “If she’s doing fine after six months, and doesn’t seem to be headed back, I’ll find someone else to take up security and we’ll rotate them out, month-to-month after that. No matter what, she will always be Tripp’s daughter and that will always make her a target and a reason we need a man on her.”

He had a point there. This second round of prospecting they had me doing was no fucking joke. Tripp had been pissed when he came home to find out about the half-assed, last-minute proposal I offered his daughter. It was my own damn fault anyway and I couldn’t blame the situation on anything else. None of them knew I waited so long to ask her to marry me, so they had no clue that their princess was already trying to make contingency plans while thinking that her family left her hanging out to dry.

I felt bad about that part, but honestly, taking the ass beating instead of the never-ending prospecting term would have been preferable, if only it had been an option. I had been a full-fledged member, losing my cut hurt like a motherfucker, even though they were right. I deserved that shit. I could have turned them down, or fucking done shit the right way. Instead, I used her friend, hoping it would end things and be the easy way out. Fuck me for thinking that if she despised me, her dad wouldn’t force the issue. He’d find someone else to shackle her to.

Un-fucking-fortunately, that didn’t work out the way I’d hoped, and I felt like the miserable piece of shit that I was afterward too.

When Star pulled out on her road trip adventure the next day, I was a few miles behind her and stayed that way for the next 312 miles until she pulled off in Destin, Florida. Normally, I wouldn’t have gotten so close, but there were other bikers parked nearby too. I slid my Harley Softail Heritage Classic in near the other motorcycles and hopped off to follow her on foot. Normally, I would have worried that such a beautiful piece of machinery would stand out with its black finish and glossy white trim on the fenders and tanks, but I didn’t think Star had ever seen my new machine over the past year when she’d been avoiding me.

Mack had been right to worry about his niece, since she never even knew she was being tailed to start with. There was also the fact that the girl attracted a lot of attention as she walked by herself.

“Hey honey, you down for a ride?” One of the bikers called out to her. She smiled and kept walking, not acknowledging him. I wasn’t too concerned. Saw the cut, he was from a LEO club. Probably a pissant cop who needed to feel as badass as he thought he was. I chuckled at my own internal commentary before he got closer to her.

“Honey, I was talking to you,” the asshole said to her as he grabbed hold of her arm. “You down for a ride? I’m a safe bet, promise.” He flashed her a toothy smile that I guess he thought would work to put her at ease, but it did the opposite. She took a step back and brushed his hand from her arm.

“No.” That was it, quick, precise, and she was moving again, faster now. I could almost feel her pulse from where I stood, no doubt it was jacked up from the encounter. I hung back, waiting. Maybe, this little trip of hers would be short-lived if she realized that this was the kind of crap she’d have to deal with on her own.

“Listen, honey, I’m just offering you a ride. You’re a sweet little thing,” he told her and then pulled something out of his pocket to show her. I guessed it was his badge, but he picked the wrong one to show that to. She tensed immediately.

“Get the hell away from me!” Her voice carried well, and other people started paying attention. “I don’t want to ride you, you creepy cop, I’m only fifteen! Stop bothering me!” She was being loud on purpose and oh, shit! I couldn’t help laughing when she claimed to be fifteen. The asshole backpedaled so fast he lost his footing and fell on his sorry ass.

“What the fuck man?” One of his buddies moved in closer to him. “We don’t fuck with jailbait. What were you thinking?”

“She looked older,” the asshole insisted.

“You’re thirty-fucking-two years old and married. You had no business going there to begin with.”

Jesus! What a tool. I thought about handing the dipshit his ass but didn’t need to get hemmed up with local law. Star was on the move anyway and since the tracker was in her car, not on her body, I had to follow without losing sight of her. She made it to the water and stood there, soaking up the sun and the breeze for a few minutes before turning and heading inside to Willy T’s to get some food. I stood outside watching her eat alone while texting with her uncle.

Bagger: In Destin. She’s eating right now. Fended off a LEO biker moments ago. Told the whole fucking world she was 15 after he wouldn’t take no for an answer, and the asshole tripped over his own feet trying to get away.

I laughed as I typed the quick recap.

Mack: Why didn’t you end that shit before she had to?

Bagger: would have blown my cover and might have ended up in jail, then who would be there to trail the princess?

Mack: Don’t fuck this up. Keep her safe. If you have to intervene, bring her ass home.

I took a picture of her sitting on the deck, soaking up more sunshine and sent it to Mack.

Mack: Damn. Kid looks peaceful sitting there.

She looked gorgeous sitting out on that deck, like she was glowing with this inner light. I knew it was just the whole golden hour thing, best lighting of the day and all that, but damn.

Her dark hair caught the light just right, making it appear shinier than it was. Though her eyes weren’t visible from the distance between us, her long, summer-tanned limbs certainly were. She sat with her back straight, head tilted toward the evening rays of sun that hung around, and the look on her face was almost rapturous. As hard as she had been working over the last year, I imagined she was feeling the freedom of being out from under everyone else’s schedules.

For the first time, she was more than the annoying club princess with a crush. Yeah, I had been cursing that damn crush of hers for years. It was why I stopped any friendship in its tracks when she attempted it in school. The middle and high school had been connected in our tiny town and when I’d been a freshman, she had just been moved up to middle school. Those three years put us a world apart, though she didn’t realize it yet.

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