Page 15 of Ordinary Girl

“Out back,” Wade replies, not looking at me as he leans over the pool table to take a shot. “Do you need him for something?”

“Not yet.” I head into one of the rooms at the back of the clubhouse, the ones we use to crash in, when need be. Live in, if necessary. And as I look out of the window I catch sight of Sofia walking in through the open gate. Dressed in jeans, a white shirt and Converse, her long blonde hair pulled back off her face in a loose ponytail she’s catching the attention of every brother who’s out there in the compound, but she’s ignoring the comments they’re throwing at her. Fucking animals. Any one of them touches her and I’ll cut their fucking balls off with a rusty knife.

I turn around and lean back against the window-ledge: take a couple of deep breaths and close my eyes. I don’t need a word with her, I lied. I just wanted to get her here, to see her. Test her? Maybe. But she passed. She’s here, isn’t she? She knows the rules. She’s a good girl.

A rap on the door causes my eyes to spring open. “Come in.”

She walks into the room, although, not too far in, and I notice she doesn’t close the door behind her. “Is this important, Skip? Only, I’m supposed to be spending the day with Ana.”

“I just wanted to catch up with you. Make sure everything’s okay, with the new office.”

“It’s a room above a piercing studio. It’s fine. You couldn’t have done this over the phone?”

I move toward her, and she doesn’t back away. That tells me something: tells me she feels safe, being here with me. “I wanted to see you. In person.”

“And I want to spend the day with my daughter. So, are we done here? I’d prefer not to waste any more time.”

“Close the door.”

She looks at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Skip, can I just go? Please? I’ve got no idea why you made me come here…”

I slide a hand around the back of her neck, lower my mouth down onto hers, I kiss her. And she’s all in, for the briefest of seconds before she pushes me away. She tries to back out of the door but I’ve already kicked it shut; blocked her escape, man, she’s fucking angry now.

“Let me out,” she hisses under her breath, but I shake my head, and she’ll be scared, for a second, until I touch her again. And I’m going to touch her again. I’ve been touching her, in ways she can’t get enough of, for weeks. This resistance she’s putting up now? I’m not buying it.

“I needed to see you, Sofia.”

“And I need to be with my daughter. So, this – not now, Skip, okay? Not today.”

I reach out and take her hand, I grip it so tight there’s no way she’ll be able to wrench it free, and I pull her against me. I kiss her again. I tilt her head right back and rest my mouth against the base of her throat, my hand on the small of her back, and she doesn’t make any attempt to escape. Not this time. There’s no fight, she’s giving in, I can feel her weakening in my arms because she always does. Always. She falls against me and I kiss her harder, feel her respond, alright, maybe sex is off the table right now, but she doesn’t get to go until I’m done with her.

“You finished?” she whispers, resting her forehead against mine, her fingers playing with the hair at the back of my neck.

“Yeah. You can go now.” I smile, she returns it, and I let her go.

I want that woman with every beat of my fucked-up heart, and she’s inmyworld now. Right where I want her to be, andI don’t mean that in a sinister way. My father loved my mother so much he left the world he really wanted to live in behind to be with her. It’s just that, I don’t intend to do that. I intend to make Sofia love me so much that she’s willing to leave her world behind to live in mine. Permanently. And she will. One day…

Joel

“Want a game?” Wade asks, tossing a pool cue at me. “I’ve just kicked Jep’s ass, you want to try your luck?”

“Make you proud, does it? Kicking a prospect’s ass?”

“That’s what they’re here for, right?”

I toss the pool cue back at him. “You’re not kicking mine.”

“You worried, huh?”

“I could beat you blindfolded, Wade, I’d just hate to humiliate you… Jesus! What thefuckhave we got here?”

Everyone’s attention is suddenly diverted to the clubhouse entrance as a young woman with long, silver-blonde hair and the face of a goddamn real-life angel walks inside. Dressed in skinny black jeans and a dark gray T-shirt she quite obviously doesn’t belong here, and our club girls, man, if looks could kill…

Wade whistles out loud, leaning back against the pool table as she stops by the bar and takes a look around. And her face, she’s nervous. Understandably so, this obviously isn’t her regular kind of hang-out. And I’m about to go and ask her who she is, and why she’s wandered into our clubhouse, but Kasper gets to her first, closely followed by Kai, but that’s no surprise. He can sniff out the pretty ones a fucking mile off, but she doesn’t seem to be reciprocating the attention. She seems more interested in Kasper.

“Has she just blanked Kai?” Wade crosses his arms and smirks. It doesn’t happen very often, women ignoring Kai. “Notthe Swedish stud you thought you were, huh?” he shouts over at Kai, who flips him the finger and heads behind the bar.

And that exchange, it causes this pretty stranger to turn her head in our direction, and I get a chance to look at her head-on. She’s young. Very young, and those eyes, man, even from back here I can see how blue they are. She’s fucking stunning, but that’s all I get. A brief glance, not even a smile, she’s throwing all that at Kasper. She likes a bad boy, that’s obvious, but I’m guessing the kind of bad boys a girl like her has had contact with are nothing like us. Which makes me even more curious as to why she’s here.

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