Page 8 of Faking it with the Bad Boy Bikers

“Aw, Mom. Please!”

I moved closer to the wall, curious to see how Nellie would react. She was a mystery and somehow already more interesting than the rest of the nuts in Devil’s Den.

“You’re going to have to wait until tomorrow.” Nellie’s voice was firm. “Now go brush your stinky little teeth and then come cuddle me. If you don’t get in before Papa Jack, you might not have any room in the bed.”

“I’m not stinky! Papa Jack is stinky! If he takes my spot, I’m going to find all the pickles in the world to torture him with!”Little footsteps raced across the floor. “Stay out of my spot, Papa Jack!”

I settled into bed with a smile on my face. If that cat got into bed before the kid, there wasn’t a chance in hell of either mom or daughter moving it. The thing was a monster.

A couple of minutes later I heard more little footsteps running across the floor. “Yes! Made it!”

CHAPTER 7

Nellie

I wiped a splatter of oil from my forehead and grimaced. I didn’t mind changing the oil in Beatrix but without a professional lift like the one we’d had in Blade’s garage, I was stuck using a simple jack and there was just something spooky about a car being held up by a single jack while I hung out under it. I was letting the old oil drain so I took a minute to check my phone.

There were no new messages from Hammer. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He’d been messaging me daily since Virginia and Blade died. Virginia had always run interference for me with the club guys. She wouldn’t let a single one near me unless Blade was there, too, and the guys still weren’t allowed to get too close to me. They’d protected me like I was their baby. The day after their deaths, though, it was open season.

Everyone got the hint and left me alone, everyone except for Hammer. He didn’t want to take no for an answer. He wouldn’t leave me alone. His looks and touches had grown more and more aggressive until I’d decided I needed to leave. Virginia and Blade left me their house and Blade’s garage and everything else. I’d planned on staying and running the garage but Hammer had left me no choice.

“Mom! We’re making even more cookies! Ms. Vivian says the biker guys like cookies!” Waylan’s feet appeared next to the car for barely a second before I watched them sprint back into the house.

Grinning to myself, I felt a sense of peace come over me. Raising Waylan in the heart of a motorcycle club had never been my plan but things had just happened that way. Devil’s Den would give her an entirely different life and I had a feeling she was going to love it.

I was changing the oil filter when I heard a motorcycle coming closer. My pulse sped up as I listened to it but I realized I was waiting to see which of my new neighbors I’d get to see. They’d already been gone by the time I was up and out of my room that morning. Not that I’d been hoping for another look at them. I was just curious.

The bike stopped behind Beatrix, the sound deafening under the car. When it cut off, I breathed out a sigh of relief and tried to stay focused on the job at hand, not wanting to give into the desire to sneak a peek at my neighbors. I saw black boots walk by the back wheels of the car and then the front, just to stop by the open hood.

“Yeah?” I waited to see if one of them was going to question my ability to work on my car but my thoughts were shut off when a hand grabbed my ankle and dragged me out from under Beatrix. I cut off a scream and came out swearing until I saw who was standing over me. “Hammer.”

He grabbed my wrist and yanked me to my feet. “Yeah, it’s me. What the fuck do you think you’re doing here? You belong back home. You owe me, Nellie. After that little brat fucked up my bike, you owe me big time. More than you already did.”

I scowled at him as his fingers tightened painfully on my wrist. “Did you follow me here?”

Hammer was a big guy. He wasn’t as big as my new neighbors, but he would have no problem dragging me around and he proved that when he yanked me towards the back of Beatrix. “You sold the fucking garage. That garage belonged to the club. You’re coming back with me and you’re going to make it right.”

I shot a look towards the house to make sure Waylan was still inside. “I’m not going anywhere with you, asshole. The garage was mine. Blade left it to me. It would’ve still been with the club, though, if you’d left me alone!”

He was crushing my wrist. The pain was so bad that my eyes were watering. “What are you looking at? Is that little brat inside? I don’t know if I want her coming back with us. She’s a pain in the ass and without her, you’ll have more time to get on your knees and treat me the way I deserve to be—”

He made the mistake of letting me get close enough to my trunk to grab my wrench. I swung it hard and cut him off mid-sentence with a hard hit to the side of his face and head. The sound it made was disgusting, a sickeningthudthat made me gag, but then his eyes rolled back in his head and his fingers loosened on my wrist before he went stiff and fell backwards into his bike. The bike fell over and they both went down hard.

I looked over my shoulder again to check on Waylan and took a second to put the wrench back and shake out my hands. My wrist was throbbing and my hands were shaking but I only gave myself that second to recover before I grabbed Hammer’s feet and dragged him completely behind Beatrix so Waylan wouldn’t see him if she came back. I fell on my ass multiple times trying to drag his big body but I got it done. Then I moved his bike over and lost my cool a tiny bit.

Grabbing my wrench again, I glared down at Hammer and then swung at his bike. I didn’t stop until I was out of breath and Hammer was starting to make grunting sounds. Fury coursed through my veins as I thought more about how I’d put up with him scaring me for six months. I’d felt trapped and alone because of him. I’d sold Virginia and Blade’s home because of him. Pulling my leg back, I kicked him in the side hard.

“You don’t get to scare me anymore, you stupid asshole!” I kicked him once more and then backed away, running my hands through my hair.

“Hey, Mom!” Waylan ran out on the front porch. “When we get ice cream later, can we take some cookies to the bikers?”

I hurried around the side of Beatrix and forced a smile. “Sure, baby. Go on back inside now, okay? I’m almost done out here.”

“I’m getting two ice creams, remember!”

As soon as she was back inside, I looked back at Hammer and swore. I hadn’t thought through destroying his bike. How the hell was he supposed to leave? I’d just ensured that he had to stick around. “Fuck.”

I was standing there, trying to decide what I was going to do about him when I heard more bikes coming my way. Grabbing the wrench, I held it in my fist and stood guard, waiting anxiously to see if it would be Hammer’s friends or my neighbors. I wasn’t sure who I wanted it to be. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain Hammer’s unconscious body.

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