Page 29 of Bound by Desire
“Mom, just don’t, alright!” Austyn explodes. “I’m not talking about it. I left. I’m back. I’m twenty-years-old, and just because I didn’t tell everyone where I was going does not mean you all get to treat me like I’m a child! You didn’t raise me to be stupid.Rememberthat.”
As they stare each other down, I take that asmycue.
“Alrighty, I’m just going to get out of here and let you handle yourbusiness.”
Princess steps to the side, allowing me to get through, not taking her focus off her daughter. That chick is going to have a roughnight.
I glance a second longer than I should have at the door Deke went through, then shake my head. According to him, he’s leaving. This is a goodthing.
* * *
“Harder!”Charlie yells as he moves his body to the left then theright.
I nail him a couple of times, and all he does is chuckle.Fucker.
We go at it for another thirty minutes, all while thoughts of my time at the clubhouse run through my head. If nothing else, it should be an interesting job, if they can keep all their personal shit to themselves. Not that I need interesting, but it should change up the monotonyabit.
Really, if you think about it, a strip club isn’t any different than a fight club. Both have guys high on testosterone and sexy womenaround.
My mind keeps going back to the tall, built man with anger all over him. Hell, even from far away, I could feel those waves bouncingoffme.
Austyn said he was a fighter. In my experience, a lot of men fight to cut through the tension in their lives. True, they do it for money, too. But there always tends to be an underlying thing. I wish the curiosity of it would go away, but unfortunately, it’s burning insideofme.
“Rylie, either get your head in the game or step the hell out!” Charlie calls out, snapping me out of mythoughts.
I halt mid-swing, coming back into the present. Damn. He’s right. Motherfucker. When was the last time I got lost in myself? When I lost focus at the task I was doing? Shit, the last time I remember was when Aunt CB was on my ass while I was living with her. And that was a damn longtimeago.
I need to get this man out of my head. Way out of my head. This shit is bad news all the way around. I don’t lose focus. Ever. That’s the moment you’ll get killed. I’m not quite ready to go out yet. I fear, with that man, though, I’d go out in a blaze ofglory.
Dumbass, you’re not going to see himagain.Ever.
“Sorry. Igotthis.”
“What’s goin’ on, girl? This isn’t you.” He stares at me with those eyes that have looked to the heart of me for years. If I were to have a father, I’d want it to be Charlie. Except when he calls me on my shit. Or maybe it’s especially because he calls me out on it. That’s atoss-up.
“Startin’ a new job, and it’s onmymind.”
Charlie puts his hands down and stares at me like I’ve grown horns and am spewing green slime from my mouth. “Newjob?”
I stretch my neck from side to side, stretching out the muscles. “I’m workin’ over at X for a while assecurity.”
“How the fuck did you getthatjob?”
Needing water, I lead us over to the bench and proceed to explain my run-in with Princess and how it ended with me and a job. He says nothing, which isn’t like Charlie. He’s an in-your-face kind of man, always wanting the best for everyone. Heart of gold, Itellya.
He’s also a meddler when it comes to me. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have it any other way. At least he gives a shit, and that’s more than I can say about the actualfamilyIhave.
“Give me somethin’,” I finally say, gulping down a bottle of water. The coolness helps quench my thirst. Love working out, but damn am I always sothirsty.
“That club’s been around for years. Know Pops. He was president for years. Handed over the reins to his boys, Cruz and GT.” He shakes his head. “For a while, they were havin’ some serious problems. Men comin’ after their women. Of course, this is all hearsay. Not one of them would confirm or deny anything. But shit gets out. They’ve been pretty tame over there at that clubhouse. I just don’t know if you going to work for them is agoodidea.”
“Why? I mean, I’m already in with Schade asitis.”
“Yeah, I know. Just don’t want you in any deeper than you are. Know you can hack it. Just want goodforyou.”
My heart warms. He’s always seen more to me than I ever have. He needs to give that up, though I’m really not ready forhimto.
Hope is a powerful thing. Me, I love my life. If I didn’t, I’d change it. But it’s nice that hecares.
