Page 6 of Kindness

“That’s the clubhouse; only club members, family and employees are allowed in there, so stay out unless you’re invited. Trust me, you don’t need to see what happens behind those doors, especially after the kids leave,” Damon chuckles as he and Bailey lead me to a row of houses on the far side of the compound. As we walk, I take in my surroundings, the houses are all very similar. White brick with little porches out front; however, the one that the guys are currently leading me to has a wraparound porch with little columns on either side of the white front door where an elderly woman stands waiting for us.

“Welcome to our little compound,” she says with a huge smile, “I’m Edna, I’m Vic's old lady. You’re gonna be staying here with us for a bit, or so I hear,” her tone is pleasant, she seems like a lovely lady. She ushers us inside; cinnamon, and vanilla assault my senses as we enter the house, “sorry about the mess, I’ve been cooking up a storm since Zayde told us you would be staying; I hope you like cookies,” Edna disappears to the back of the house where I presume the kitchen is.

Damon and Bailey walk into a large living room; family pictures adorn the plain white walls, while the centrepiece of the room is a huge, black hearth that surrounds a wood-burning stove. I bet it gets nice and cosy in this room during the winter months; my aunt Elaine had one when I was young, and I used to love sitting in front of it while I read my books or played with her cats, that is until she passed away then her house was sold. Thinking of Aunt Elaine makes me sad because she and I were very close when I was a child; she was always there, taking me out shopping or buying me ice cream, but I always had to keep that a secret from Dad; I have no idea where mum would tell him I was, he hated auntie Elaine because she didn't put up with his shit.

Edna comes back into the room with a plate of cookies and a tray of drinks, which she places down on the small table that’s in the centre of the room, “please have a seat,” she says warmly, gesturing to the huge sofa and two chairs opposite the table, taking a seat on the couch Damon sits down next to me as Bailey takes a seat in one of the chairs and immediately reaches for a cookie. I chuckle at the fact he doesn't wait to be asked if he wants one. The cheeky bastard flips me the middle finger. “He’s a silent one isn’t he,” Edna comments with a laugh. “Help yourself dear,” she says as she moves the plate towards me.

We sit in silence for a bit, “So tell me about you, dear; what brings you to us? “I don’t think she’s being nosey but I’m not sure how to answer because I honestly have no idea what the guys told her about me.

“If you don't mind, Edna, we’ll wait and explain when Zayde gets here. That way, I don't have to repeat myself,” Damon interjects, saving me from further embarrassment. Edna nods and takes a cookie; she watches us but doesn't ask any more questions. The front door opens as two men walk in the door, “Zayde, thanks for doing this,” Damon says as he stands and shakes the hand of one of the men. He’s at least six foot three, tattoos peek out from the sleeves of his t-shirt that seems to be stretched tight across his body revealing the outline of muscles. His black hair has that slightly messy look but it makes him look good. I wonder if he’d let me climb him like a tree.

“Zayde, this is Tamara. Tamara, this is Zayde, the Royal Bears president.”

Onyx eyes look me up and down but Zayde says nothing, looking at me like I’m an inconvenience.

“Thanks for letting me stay,” I mumble as I look at my feet, his eyes burning into my soul, almost as if he was trying to figure out my secrets.

“I’m Slade, the VP, which means it’s my job to make sure this surly prick doesn’t do anything stupid,” the second man says as he reaches for my hand to shake it. Slade moves to stand guard at the living room door as Damon and I sit back down on the couch, Zayde remains standing.

“So, you said on the phone that you needed some help keeping her hidden,” Zayde says as he gestures towards me, the way he says ‘her’ has my skin prickling, the urge to curse him out coursing through my veins but I remain silent because after all these guys are trying to help me out.

“Yeah, Tamara is hiding from her arsehole ex and we need her kept safe until the little prick is dealt with,” Damon says, I have to fight the laugh that’s threatening to release. Slade growls from the corner as Zayde crosses his arms over his chest, I can see his arm muscles bulging trying to remain within the confines of his top.

“We’ll keep her safe,” Zayde states. Slade is watching us from the corner but he doesn’t say anything however from the way his jaw is set I can tell that he isn’t happy with Damon’s reasoning for my being here however, if only they knew the real truth but Dax said they can’t know and it makes me wonder why. Why keep secrets from men who Dax and Damon both helped out? I can’t help but wonder if maybe the guys don’t fully trust these men or if there is another darker more sinister reason for keeping the truth from them.

“She can stay here with us as long as she needs, I’ve already made up the guest bedroom and Frankie said she could use another set of hands in the bar during the week,” Edna pipes up. I have no idea who Frankie is but I’m grateful that I won’t be sitting on my arse doing nothing while these people hide me from my father.

“It’s settled then, Damon, could I have a word. Outside?” Zayde says, his voice has that low, sexy gruffness to it which sends a shiver of need down my spine, I have to tamper down my emotions and try my hardest not to let these men get to me. I can’t afford to get attached because it will make everything so much harder if my father finds me or if I have to run again. So I'll do everything I can to avoid being alone with this man.

Zayde and Damon step outside which means that now I can’t hear their conversation, Slade remains standing by the doorway but he’s watching everything. Bailey stands and pulls me into his arms for a hug, Slade starts to move forward towards us but then his footsteps falter, Edna’s belly laugh startles me, I pull myself away from Bailey turning to look at the woman lifting my brow in question.

“Sorry to startle you dear, I just thought of something that Vic said to me before he left this morning,” the woman says as she stands and begins gathering the dirty dishes, Slade glares at her from his spot by the door and I can’t help but wonder what the hell happened. Bailey looks down at me and pulls me back into his arms, giving me a gentle squeeze before letting me go, he turns and grins at Slade as he strolls out the door.

“Let me show you to your room,” Slade says as he finally steps away from the door. I think the only reason he has left his post is because Bailey has gone outside, which means someone else is there to keep an eye on his president. Biker clubs always confuse me. I have no idea how most of the hierarchy works but I do know that the President is the one who calls all the shots and the Vice President is his second in command and therefore in charge whenever the President can't be.

Slade leads me along a small hallway towards the back of the house, there’s a door right at the end of the hallway which he opens, gingerly. He waits outside the door gesturing me to go inside, the room is much smaller than my own at home, three of the walls are decorated in cream while the wall with the bed is a turquoise blue colour. The bedding matches the room and there’s even a chair in the corner of the room, the bed takes up the whole back wall. It’s cute and welcoming, the bed looks so comfy and makes me wanna just lie down to take a nap.

Chapter 4

Slade

Shedoesn’tutteraword as she looks around the small room, for some reason she affects me way more than any other woman has, she makes me want to burn the world just to keep her safe. Listening to Damon talk about why she was here made me so angry because I know for a fact that he’s lying to us however, I don’t want to call him out on his bullshit because he helped us when Talia went missing. Well, there’s also the fact that I have no idea what he’s lying to us about, all I know for sure is that something isn’t right with his reasoning but for now, I’ll keep my doubts to myself all while doing what I do best. Watching.

Talia is my little sister my parents adopted her when she was a baby. The adoption was meant to be closed however somehow Talia’s birth mum found out where she was, she waited outside of the doctor’s office then grabbed the little one while mum was trying to open the car. She hid from us so well because she fled to her family’s estate in the highlands which made it impossible for us to find her however Damon is one of the best hackers around Beastville and he managed to track her down, to this day we have no idea how the fucker managed it. But he did and the guys brought Talia back to the compound safe and sound, not a mark on her. I’ve been after the fucker who took her ever since, but he’s a slimy fuck and has managed to stay under the radar all these years.

Tamara though, there’s something special about her; I can feel it deep in my bones. I’ve never wanted to protect someone so fiercely well, except Talia but that’s just what we do, Tamara though she makes me feel all kinds of things. I want to know what she feels like, how she looks when she sleeps, how she would feel wrapped around my dick. I’m usually a fuck them and leave them kind of guy but not with this one, I need to figure out all her secrets I just hope that she knows once she’s mine there is no going back.

“You gonna stand out there all night?” her angelic voice breaks me from my perversive thoughts, I take a step into the room. “You don’t say much, do you? I mean earlier when you introduced yourself, I thought I was never gonna be able to get you to shut up but now, here you are just standing there, watching me like some kind of creeper,” she chuckles as she flops down onto the bed, sighing as she does.

“I talk, I’m just trying to figure you out.”

“Have fun with that,” she mumbles, her voice so low I almost miss the pain lacing her tone it makes me even more determined to figure out what the fuck is really going on with her and why the hell Dax and Damon decided to hide her with us. Damon’s reason may well be true, but I have my doubts, it’s a curse to be able to taste people’s lies in the air, it disturbs me to no end but for now I will let Damon believe that we bought his excuse. I just hope that I don’t have to kill her, that would be such a waste.

“Bailey and me are leaving Tamara,” Damon says from outside the door, I didn’t even hear the prick walking along the hallway. I mentally scold myself for being too distracted by the red-haired beauty in front of me. Tamara stands and makes her way towards him. The way Damon and Bailey are with her pisses me off, I wonder if there is more to their relationship than they are letting on, the very thought of another man’s hands on her body makes me see red, I need to get out of here.

I shoulder check Damon on my way out of the bedroom and the prick actually laughs at me.

“What’s his problem? he was fine a minute ago,” Tamara asks, I don’t wait around to hear his response. I find Zayde sitting in the living room, Edna bending his ear about how us guys better be nice to this girl and make her feel welcome, I sometimes think she forgets who’s the boss around here. Edna has been part of the Royal Bears ever since Zayde’s father was president, Branton was a dick and almost killed our club with his shit. He was running drugs and hiding it from the cartel, there was nothing more important to him than his addiction. Hell Zayde’s mum Michelle died from an overdose one night and we all thought that Branton would stop then, however, her death only sent him spiralling deeper, so he had to be dealt with so Zayde, me and the other guys decided to take matters into our own hands, we made sure that his next hit was a fatal one.

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