Silver and Chrome: A Bad Boy MC Romance (18 page)

Despite
what I had said about wanting to show her the back of the club, I steer her
back to my office. Watching her flirt with the other guys while she wore next
to nothing has left me burning with desire, and I can’t continue to ignore it. As
soon as the door closes, I grab Eve’s arm and pull her against me into a kiss.

She
returns it, but then pushes back from me after few moments. “Wait,” she
protests. “I thought we weren’t going to do this.”

“That
was your rule, not mine.” I press my lips back against her as my hands run
along the sides of her body. The flesh of her bare stomach is soft and warm. Rules
were made to be broken, after all.

Her
mouth opens to let my tongue slide in and for a few more moments she seems to
melt into me, but then stops again.

“Right…
it’s my rule. I can’t do this, Bash. I’ve been down this road before. Look
where getting involved with Edward got me.”

I
run my hand up along her body and cups one of her tits, squeezing it as I
realize for the first time that she isn’t wearing a bra. My cock is hard
instantly. “I’m not Edward.”

I
can feel her heart pounding in her chest, and I know it’s not because she’s
scared. She licks her lips as she looks at me, the indecision on her face as
clear as if it were written there with a sharpie.

“I
can’t…”

“You
can,” I say. “I want you Eve. More than I’ve wanted anyone, ever. You know both
sides of my life and you actually accept them. That’s been the one thing I’ve
been missing my whole life. You’re smart, you fit in wherever you go. And
you’re fucking gorgeous.” I run my thumb across her nipple and then bend my
head down to kiss her on the neck. She tilts her head back to give me more
access.

“Bash…”
Her protests are getting weaker, and her hands are now running along my back,
tracing my muscles lightly with her nails.

I
meant what I said, though. I’ve never felt like this for anyone before. I’ve
never felt jealous or upset at just seeing someone I was with talking to other
men. I think about her when she’s not around, and the idea of letting her into
my lives have been a huge relief to me ever since I made it.

“I
thought we were just pretending,” she pants.

“I
don’t want to pretend anymore,” I answer, lifting my head to gaze into her
eyes. She finally nods and then meets my lips in a kiss that grows in passion
with each second that we touch. My hands slip up under her top and push away
the fabric as I close around her breasts. Her own hand slips down between my
legs and squeezes my cock. I’m harder than I can ever remember being.

I
just begin to lower my head to take her nipple into my mouth when there is a
pounding at the door to my office. Eve jumps back and grabs at the top of her
shirt, trying to yank it down just as the door flies open. I don’t even bother
trying to hide the rage I feel as I whirl around to stare at Snake and his
swinging beard.

Before
I can even scream at him to get out, he holds up his hands to stop me. “Boss,
we got a big problem.” Something about the look on his face tells me I’m not
going to like it. I glare at him, the urgency of his tone the only reason I
haven’t punched his lights out yet, and wait for him to continue.

Snakes
eyes shift to Evelyn and then back to me, the reason for his hesitation at
continuing obvious.

“Speak,”
I say, dismissing his concern. It’ll save me having to repeat this conversation
to her later, anyway.

He
looks back between us again warily, but then he just shrugs, deferring to my
decision.
At least someone around here remembers who the boss is.

“Ripper
just showed up. And he’s got something with him.” His eyes shift to Evelyn
again as he stops speaking.

“What
do you mean? What does he have? What the fuck did he steal now?”

Snake
shakes his head violently, his beard lashing against his cheeks like a whip. “No,
nothing like that… he didn’t actually show me what it was. He just said that
you and I need to meet with him now, in the conference room. He said he has
something… on you. He claims it’s new information and proof that you’re not
what you seem, and that it’s time for you to step down as president and get the
fuck out of the club. His words, not mine.”

My
heart begins to pound against my chest, the last few words out of Snake’s mouth
almost imperceptible against the rushing of blood behind my ears. There’s only
one thing that Ripper could possibly know that he could use to force me to step
down. The only question is, how did he find out after all this time? I’ve been
so careful. There is only one variable that has changed lately. Only one
potential leak that I don’t have complete control over.

My
eyes harden and I can feel my teeth grinding against each other painfully as I
turn my gaze to Evelyn. This is exactly why I’ve kept women out of my life. Getting
too involved leads to stupid decisions and dangerous mistakes. And now I know
exactly what mine was. I never should have trusted her.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

EVELYN

“Tell him I’ll meet you
guys there in a few minutes to discuss this.”

I
can still feel the burn of the accusation, even when Bash shifts his gaze back
to Snake. The bearded biker just nods as he exits, clearly anxious to get out
of here. He must have seen the look on Bash’s face as well. Does he really
think I have something to do with this? I don’t even know who Ripper is, never
mind what he has on Bash.

“Bash—”

“Who
did you tell, Evelyn?” His fury swings back to me as soon as the door is
closed, cutting me off.

“Tell
what? I don’t even—”

“About
me, obviously. You can’t expect me to believe that it’s a coincidence that
after years of keeping this a secret, it’s discovered only days after I finally
let someone in on it. So who did you tell? Your girlfriend from the bar last
weekend?”

“What?
No! I haven’t told anyone about you. I swear. I mean, after the night we met I
told her we had sex, but nothing about you since.”

“Bullshit!”
Spit flies from his mouth at the word, and his face is red. I’ve never seen so
much raw emotion on him before. His dark eyes are pools of midnight, but I can
feel the raging inferno behind them. I can’t believe that moments ago he was
kissing me so passionately, and now he’s turned into this monster, so eager to
believe that I’ve stabbed him in the back. “This was a mistake. This whole
fucking thing.” He turns his head from me now as he reaches for the door to his
office.

“Wait,”
I plead, reaching for his arm, my fingers closing against the cool leather of
his jacket. “Bash, I swear I didn’t tell anyone anything about you.”

Instead
of responding, he just yanks his arm from my grasp and flings open the door.

“Wait,”
I say again. “What should I do?” I can feel hot tears of shock start to rim the
edges of my eyes.

Bash
pauses for a moment before I hear his gravelly voice reply, still hot with
fury, but tightly controlled.

“Get
the fuck out of my club. I think you’ve done enough already.”

The
door slams shut with a force strong enough to loosen the tears building in my
eyes and allow them to stream down my cheeks.

Two days.

It’s
been almost two full days since Bash blew up at me at Axle’s, and I haven’t
heard from him since. Considering I didn’t go into work yesterday or today,
that probably means I’m fired. Of course, just not going in without calling is
probably cause to fire me on its own, but there was no way I wanted to see or
even talk to him after Monday. So he can go screw himself and that job.

What
burns me the most is how one minute he’s complimenting me, wearing down my
arguments about why I shouldn’t get involved with him, and then the next minute,
he’s basically accusing me of selling him out. I knew he had two sides to him,
but I had no idea those sides were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Maybe the MC side
was his true persona. I thought he was more Sebastian, masquerading as Bash
because it was easier to maintain a wall when you were surrounded my leather
and chrome. Turns out he was Bash all along, using the Sebastian mask to fool
idiots like me.

Maybe
he wasn’t so different from Edward, after all. Edward could certainly act the
part of Dr. Jekyll when there was a client to woo, before he brought down the
axe of Mr. Hyde. How different is that from Bash? Proper businessman by day,
lunatic thug by night. Maybe the whole story about him turning the MC around
was a lie.

It’s
a hard idea to swallow, though. If I believe that, then I have to believe I’m a
much worse judge of character than I thought I was. The things that he told me
about his past, about how he’s trying to change things… if they aren’t true,
then I really was blinded by something. Not love, of course. We just met a week
ago. Lust, maybe. Muscles and danger and a change of pace from my ordinary and
dreary life. Maybe that’s what I was blinded by? A desire to believe something
I wanted so desperately to be true.

But
did I really want that? I kept telling him, and myself, that I didn’t want to
get involved. That I had made promises to keep my love life out of the office. I
wasn’t going to get romantically involved with my boss again. Yet if Snake
hadn’t shown up when he did, there’s no denying what would have happened next. Bash
may have been urging me to break that promise, but I wasn’t putting up much of
a fight. The truth is, I wanted to break it just as desperately as he did.

Which
is why this whole thing hurts so much. Despite myself, I was actually starting
to fall for him. And like a fool, I thought he was starting to fall for me as
well.

Now
I’m just stuck back on the job boards, waiting for a pizza to drown feelings of
regret and anger in layers of saucy dough and melted cheese.

When
the call comes from security, I make sure to check the feed on my television
this time. An uncomfortably large part of me is disappointed to see my regular
delivery guy, so I switch it off in disgust. Why is it that no matter how hard
the logical side of me argues that I’m better off without him, and that he was
obviously a complete asshole who clearly didn’t think enough about me to give
me the benefit of the doubt, I’m still disappointed that he hasn’t even called?
Am I really such a glutton for punishment and abuse?

The
phone rings again, but this time it’s just Jackie, checking in.

“Hey,
you. Feeling any better?”

“Not
really.” I didn’t tell her exactly what happened, just that things weren’t
going so well at the new job and I didn’t think it was going to work out. Despite
what Bash may think of me, even if he’s a dick, I’m not the type to spill his
secrets.

“How
about we hit the town? I’m thinking martinis and manicures. Not necessarily in
that order.”

“Jackie,
you do realize it’s a Wednesday?”

“Yeah?
So? Why let that stop us? It’s not like either of us have to get up early
tomorrow.”

Jackie
never starts work until the afternoon.

“The
last time we went out drinking, look where it got me.”

“If
I remember correctly, the answer to that is: laid by a gorgeous, leather-clad
biker.” Telling her about my initial rendezvous with Bash seemed innocent
enough at the time, until I saw him again at the interview. But as far as she is
concerned, that first meeting with Bash was my only meeting with Bash. “If I
recall, you said it was one of the hottest encounters of your life. So what’s
your complaint, exactly?”

A
knock at my door saves me from having to answer. “Sorry, girlfriend, I already
have plans tonight. My pizza is here.”

“Oh
my God, Evelyn, you are so lame sometimes.”

I
laugh as I say goodbye and toss the cordless onto my couch. She might be right,
but I think lame just works better for me. Besides, I didn’t even stay long
enough at Piston to get a single paycheck yet, and I hate going out and having
Jackie pay for me. I need to stay in and start sending out résumés. I already
wasted all of yesterday and part of today moping around the apartment, waiting
for the phone to ring. It was time to get cracking again. Maybe now that Edward
thinks that I have another job, he’s no longer poisoning the job market against
me.

“Hi.
Medium pepperoni, roasted red pepper, and mushrooms?”

“That’s
me.” I nod, rifling through my wallet. “How much was it again?”

“Uh,
nothing, actually. It was already paid for.”

I
look up from my wallet in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“The
bill has been paid,” he repeats, drawing the steaming box from his fabric pizza
bag and pushing it toward me.

“What
do you mean? I told them cash on the phone.” I’ve been afraid to use my credit
card lately. I’m sure I’m just a purchase or two away from being declined.

He
just shrugs, staring down at the box as he shoves it forward again. As soon as
I grab it, he turns.

“Wait,
I think this is a mistake. Maybe you confused me with another customer?”

“I
don’t think so.” He doesn’t turn as he continues down the hall. “Have a nice
day.”

I
watch him until he turns the corner and disappears toward the elevators. As
much as I can use a free pizza, I feel guilty about it. There was obviously a
mistake, and my conscience won’t let me just take it without calling the store
first to tell them about it. I don’t want to get the pizza guy in trouble when
he gets back and they ask for the money, even if he wasn’t willing to listen to
me.

What
is it with men not wanting to hear what I have to say?

I
close my door and walk the pizza back into the kitchen, pondering whether or
not I should call Jackie and change my mind about going out. Whenever I spend
time with her, I feel more aggressive and vocal. She never has any trouble with
people ignoring her. I need to develop more of an in-your-face attitude, and
she’s usually more than happy to help me work on it.

But
first, I have to call the pizza place. When I do, they put me on hold as soon
as I ask to speak to a manager. The priority seems to be more on taking new
orders than resolving issues with existing ones, because a moment later, I hear
on-hold music.

I’m
waiting less than a minute when there’s a knock on the door again.

The
delivery guy must have realized his mistake after all and come back for his
money. Hanging up, I grab my wallet and head back to the door.

“Figure
out the mix-up?” I ask as I pull the door open.

My
mouth drops when I don’t see the delivery guy standing in front of me as
expected.

“Not
completely,” comes a deep and familiar voice. Sebastian is standing before me,
his suit jacket open and white dress shirt pulled tight across his hard chest.
It’s his smoldering eyes that draw my gaze the strongest, though. I see
something in them that I haven’t seen before. It looks a lot like regret. “But
I’m pretty sure the fact that I was a complete ass the other day only made
things worse…”