Page 18 of Maximus

“You think you can protect her from me? That gal owes me, and I plan to collect. This ass kicking will teach you not to hang around with the wrong people. You wear that cut, then you get cut down!”

The crazed man swung at me with a bat. It was evident he was talking about Gia in his rant. It was also his mistake not to bring a gun with him. This fool had brought a piece of wood to a knife fight and didn’t even know it. He was about to find out how Maximus operated. I unsheathed my knives and took my fighter stance. The man’s eyes looked crazed, but a bit of clarity shone through when he saw the miniature swords in my hands. It was too late for his regrets.

“You think you can threaten my woman and come out unscathed. Wrong move.”

The man’s face gave a shocked look right before I went to work slicing and dicing him. I sliced a hole in his beer-stained t-shirt. My blade tore right across his protruding belly. It wasn’t a deep gash, but just enough to draw a little blood. That caused the foolish man to drop his bat and grab at his gut. You would have thought I sliced him through to his intestines, the way the man cried and screamed. It was a simple flesh wound.

“You cut me! Oh my God. What is wrong with you?”

He couldn’t be serious. Did he forget that just a second ago, he was trying to bash my head in with a bat? Ridiculous. It didn’t matter if his selective memory had kicked in. I was in warrior mode, which left no room for sympathy. His pathetic cries fell on deaf ears. There was no way he was leaving this street tonight on his own. One way or another he was being carried out. Either by ambulance or by hearse. It didn’t matter to me.

The next swipe of my blade took a chunk out of his face. I wanted him to remember fucking with me every time he looked in the mirror. If he survived, that is. I didn’t give him time to react, I simply continued slashing him at will. He had no way of defending himself against Julius and Caesar, my swords.

The fucker fell to the ground and surprised me by smacking me in the forehead with his bat.Fuck! I forgot he had that. No matter. I kicked the bat out of his hand and slashed his forearm with Julius, while Caesar took a bite out of his thigh. I swiped at my brow for what I thought was sweat, but soon discovered my sweat was red.You’ve got to be kidding me. This bastard had made me bleed my own blood!

Enraged, I kicked him in the throat and slammed my fist into his left eye. Before I could do too much more damage, a lady yelled from her window for me to get out of there. The police had been called, and I wanted no part of being locked up again. I sheathed my blades and took off back to the clubhouse. Hopefully, I didn’t leave a blood trail in my wake.

Twelve

Sunflower

Morning came fast, as I was dreaming about that sexy biker with the gorgeous smile. I was overdue downstairs at the clubhouse. It was my duty to clean up behind the impromptu party that happened last night. The guys were in the mood to cut up a bit, and in doing so, left a huge mess. Since I got off early last night, nobody was left to clean up behind them. After going through my morning grooming routine, I headed down the stairs and started the tedious task of cleaning and sanitizing the place.

I don’t know who told these men that throwing up in an ashtray and leaving it to sit overnight was a good idea, but it seems they thought it was par for the course. I must have cleaned a gallon of vomit out of the ashtrays.Disgusting!One thing I didn’t have to worry about was left over beer in the open bottles. They certainly knew how to drink till the last drop was gone. Which probably explains the vomit.

After what seemed like an eternity, I hauled countless numbers of trash bags to the dumpster behind the clubhouse. I made my way back inside to take care of the bar area. I was taking inventory of what was left behind the bar, so I could restock and place a new order, when I smelled something heavenly. My stomach immediately reminded me that it was empty. I needed to have whatever it was someone was baking. Man, it smelled good.

“Who the hell is baking?” Chili surprised me by asking.

Where did she come from? She showed up now that all the dirty work was done. I will pay her back for that.

“Right? All I know is it is making me hungry.”

I continued working as Chili sipped on a cup of coffee from the local shop around the corner. She didn’t even think of bringing me some. I mean I didn’t exactly like coffee, but that wasn’t the point. She could have sprung for some hot tea or even a cup of hot water.

“Thanks for thinking of me when you stopped at the coffee shop.”

A sheepish look came over her face as she continued sipping her beverage. She was the kind of girl who thought about her needs, and her needs only. It wasn’t a malicious thing. She was just built like that. However, if I had gone to get myself a drink, I would always bring her something back.

As I was counting the left-over bottles of Yellow Jackets, I heard someone approaching the bar behind me. I swore I heard a male voice humming a catchy little tune about sunflowers…do be do be deepon repeat. When I turned around, I was shocked to find a small plate of chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. They looked so delicious and smelled even better. Next to the plate was a single sunflower.

The humming continued, but it was moving further away from the bar. I looked up and saw Maximus walking toward the stairs. He shot me a little look over his left shoulder before gifting me with that glorious smile.Swoon!

“Oh, so he’s making you snacks now? You didn’t tell me he was your man.”

“That’s because he’s not my man.”

“Tell that to someone who believes you. That man is not baking you homemade chocolate chip cookies for nothing. You gave him some, didn’t you?”

“Chili, you need to stop. Just because a man brings you food does not mean he has hit it.”

“Maybe not yet, but he definitely wants to. And what’s up with the sunflower? That’s an odd flower to put on a plate of cookies.”

“Girl, who knows.”

I knew Maximus had started calling me Sunflower. It was not a secret. In fact, I loved the name. The problem was, as soon as Chili found out he gave me the name, she would want to know why, and that wasn’t any of her business. All she needed to know was that we weren’t together, but he was not available for any other woman to mess with.

“I still say y’all are boyfriend and girlfriend. Tell me I’m wrong.”

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