Page 26 of Romeo

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t bring it up again.

Chapter Six

Maddie satin her car in the parking lot at Smith’s Sports Therapy & Rehab Center and stared through the windshield at the building in front of her.

Her place of work should really be in her rearview mirror right now since normally she’d be heading home for the night. Instead, she sat contemplating on whether to put her Toyota in Drive, smash her foot on the accelerator and plow through the front of the building.

Would it be stupid? Yes.

Would it make her feel better? Also, yes.

At least, until the reality of her actions set in.

Her fingers choked the steering wheel, and every damn muscle was tense. One of the massages she gave to her patients to relieve knotted muscles would be great about now.

She really needed to keep pushing at getting a job with a professional team, but if she applied for them now, she’d get turned down without even an interview since she needed more time and experience under her belt.

Hence, the reason she still worked at Smith’s.

She also needed a good reference. Another reason she wasn’t ramming her SUV into the building.

A regular paycheck would be nice, as well, so she could eat, put gas in her vehicle and pay rent. She might even need bail money if she ended up taking her frustration out on her asshole boss.

All this was why she was leaving her car in Park and only shooting daggers at the building instead of creating a new entrance with her Toyota.

The pros when it came to working at Smith’s: her patients and getting the experience she needed to advance her career to the next level.

The cons: too many to fucking list.

However, at the top of the list of cons was one Roger Smith. She didn’t think anyone could be more arrogant or cocky than a biker. Time and time again, “Roger Dodger” proved her wrong.

Every time her mother called to check in on her, Maddie donned her game face and lied about how she loved her job. The last thing she wanted was to tell her the truth.

Because one, they might insist she move back home. And that was happening… Never.

Two, Shade might pay Roger a visit. That was something else she needed to prevent.

Shade was overly protective of his blended family. Not only of her mother Chelle, but of Maddie, her younger sister Josie, and her adopted brother Jude.

When it came down to it, also Gabi, currently living with Crash and Liz in Shadow Valley. For a short time, she had lived with Maddie’s family after she was rescued from the Shirleys on Hillbilly Hill.

But since Gabi and Jude had formed some sort of deep connection in that short amount of time and were consideredtoo young to act on it, Crash and Liz from the Dirty Angels welcomed her into their household.

Doing so prevented a lot of problems and temptations. It also gave both Gabi and Jude stable homes and families.

Maddie spent a lot of time with Gabi since she was now almost twenty-one. So, even if Trip hadn’t notified Zak when she moved down here, Gabi would’ve known and shared that info.

When it all boiled down to it, Romeo was bent out of shape for nothing.

With the three clubs being so interconnected, Maddie couldn’t escape the MC life. Or their meddling. No matter how much she might want to.

For a hot minute, she did consider moving to Thailand.

Or Antarctica.

She loved her family, both immediate and the Fury, she really did. She received plenty of love, support, and protection. Even if, at times, it felt a little smothering. However, if she needed anything, it was only a text or phone call away.

If she was short on money one month, a deposit would appear in her bank account.