Steel Love: Alpha BBW Motorcycle Romance (7 page)

“I’m somewhat relieved actually. I’ll be honest I initially thought it was Reef who’d hired you. I thought maybe that’s why I hadn’t seen him around. That you were keeping tabs on me until he could figure out how to…” Maggie stopped and cleared her throat then looked back to Ash.

“None of that matters now… I accept your help. It’s good to know I’ll have someone around who will have my back if I need it while I’m going through the process of filing for divorce and separating my life from Reef. So I guess I should say thank you. As surreal as this feels, and with all of this new information about my father, I’ll admit it’s a little daunting. But now that I understand it I really do appreciate it. So thank you.”

Ash cocked an eyebrow at Maggie. He had never expected her to be so level headed. He’d never expected this maturity and common sense. Most of the women he’d dealt with in his life, including his mother, tended toward overly emotional reactions. I mean yeah she’d ran out of the club at full tilt when she’d found out about her father’s involvement with the Steel Breed MC. But it was somewhat understandable. She’d just found out that the man, who had raised her practically by himself, was not everything he had presented himself to be… At least this made his job easier. He’d never considered not following through, even if she did call the cops on him. Jack had given him a job and he intended to finish it, but it was going to be a lot easier with Maggie’s cooperation.

“That definitely makes my job easier. I don’t have to be so careful about you seeing me, and maybe if your fuck-head ex is around town he’ll be too afraid to do anything. Maybe it’ll even scare him off.”

Maggie snorted a very unladylike laugh. “Yeah doubtful. If anything it’ll probably make him even angrier. Force him to react.”

“Then I’ll be ready for that too.” Ash shrugged.

Ash watched Maggie, her eyes squinty and considering. She looked as if she was having a serious discussion with herself. About thirty seconds of this scrutiny passed before she spoke again.

“Do you get that the way you went about this whole thing was kind of screwed up? I mean did you ever consider just coming to me right away and telling me about my father?”

Ash’s eyebrows crawled toward his hairline in surprise. Was this woman honestly questioning him? “No, actually I didn’t, because if you want to know the truth I didn’t know your father’s connection to the club until a few days ago. Before that I knew he had asked us to watch out for you, but I didn’t know anything else. And since we’re being honest here, I’ll admit I don’t like it when I’m kept in the dark about things. It makes me cranky.”

Maggie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t realize how that little pose pushed her breasts up and put them on display for Ash, and far be it from him to tell her and ruin the show.

“Yeah? Well guess what buddy, it makes me pretty fucking cranky too. I don’t know if you understand why my father was afraid for me, but I’ll just let YOU in on a little secret. My husband, Reef, was an abusive dick. I can almost guarantee you he’s out there somewhere and he’s been watching me as closely as you have been. He’s not one to give up easily. So here I am, trying to take care of myself from my psycho husband, recover from my only parent’s death, and to top it all off I have some sexy biker following me around leaving ME in the dark. That makes me just a little cranky too. So from now on if you’re really going to keep this up we’re going to be clear with each other. We’re going to communicate, you
will
be visible to me, and I want to know the second you find anything more out. Do we understand ourselves? Because otherwise I’m going to the cops and I’m filing a restraining order against you.”

Ash sat back slightly after that little tirade. He knew she wouldn’t be able to get a restraining order that easily, but he wasn’t going to point that out to her and burst her bubble. He also realized days ago how much easier this whole process would be if she knew about it, and since he’d come to that conclusion it had been his intention to make contact with her and bringing her here. So he wasn’t going to point that out either. Seeing as everything she said made sense to him, he couldn’t help but latch on to the one piece of information that really piqued his interest.

“You think I’m sexy huh?” Ash smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her.

Maggie blinked at Ash.

“THAT’S what you took from everything I just said? That I think you’re sexy? Out of that whole tirade the only thing you heard was I think you’re sexy.” Maggie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, which of course did lovely things to her cleavage.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going home.” Without another word Maggie turned on her heal and started across the street toward her car. She didn’t stop when Ash called out to her, and only turned when she heard his footsteps getting close. When she reached her car door she pushed the unlock button on the keypad before turning back to face Ash one hand in the air in a ‘stop’ gesture.

“I’m done Ash. I’ve had a long day, with a lot of really powerful and overwhelming information coming to me. I need to go home, alone, and process everything. Please leave me alone right now, seriously. If you’re being straight with me about everything then I assume I’ll see you tomorrow morning when I’m on my way to work. Otherwise, just…. Please leave me alone for tonight.”

Ash stopped a few feet from her and put his hands up at the end of her speech. “Ok, no problem. I’ll swing through your neighborhood later, just to make sure I don’t see anything suspicious, but otherwise I’ll leave you alone. And yes, I will definitely see you in the morning.” Ash paused a moment and reached up to scratch his chin as his lips pulled into a grin.

“I’m not forgetting about that ‘sexy’ comment though.”

Maggie rolled her eyes and turned away from him to pull open her car door and slide behind the wheel. Ash suspected she was hurrying in order to keep him from seeing the smile and blush his words had caused, but he still caught a peek. She shut the door firmly and hit the lock button. Ash laughed as Maggie put her car in gear and pulled onto the road and away from him. That was the first time in his life he’d met a woman that didn’t have to have the last word. Though now that he thought about it, she did make her point with that locking her doors business.

The entire meeting had gone significantly better than he’d anticipated. He was really starting to look forward to this. Who wouldn’t want to get paid to ride around on a motorcycle all day and watch a hot chick? Maybe he’d even get a chance to talk with her again. Shit maybe he could even take her out sometime. That might possibly be crossing the line, but honestly he was willing to take the risk. Besides, she’d already admitted to him she thought he was sexy. What more did he need than that?

Ash walked back toward the bar contemplating the thought of taking Maggie on a date. Could he even remember the last time he had taken a girl on a date? Let alone a woman like Maggie Quirke? He looked up as he reached the door and noticed Prentice Malone leaning against the wall and smoking a cigarette. Prentice was tall. Close to six and a half feet. He also had the biggest damn shoulders Ash had ever seen in his life, and calves the size of tree trunks. His Irish ancestry left him with blond hair, a deep russet beard, and the greenest eyes Ash had ever seen. Prentice’s eyes were one of his best weapons. He was a man of few words, but he could spook his opponent with a very pointed look with those pale green eyes. Most found it a little unsettling to look the silent giant in the eye for too long. He also happened to be one of Ash’s best friends and his right hand man.

“Who’s the sweet ass?” If anyone other than Prentice had asked, Ash might have decked him, fortunately they had been through a lot together and knew just how far they could push each other.

“That, my friend, was the only child of Seamus Quirke. One of the OG Steel Breed. And yes she does indeed have a fine ass, but not for you.”

“Ooooohhhh” Prentice blew smoke out with the word in his slow deep South Boston accent.

“Callin’ dibs? That’s new. Jaimie ain’t gonna be pleased.” Prentice motioned toward the bar with his cigarette.

“She was lookin’ for ya.”

Ash shrugged and looked away from Prentice. He wasn’t sure how much he could tell him without getting the OK from Jack first. He really needed to go speak with Jack and find out if he could get permission to bring Prentice on as a second pair of eyes. Especially now that Maggie knew about him. It would be easier to have someone watching his back. It might even draw Maggie’s shit ex out a bit if he sees them interacting.

“Yeah, well I can’t deal with that now. I can’t go into any details just yet, but I’m planning on askin’ Jack for an extra set of hands. You know I’ll request you if he agrees, so if I can get that to fly I’ll let you know.”

Prentice grunted an affirmative as Ash opened the door to the bar and strolled in. He needed a cold stiff drink and a moment alone to calm his semi hard-on before talking to Jack. Working with Maggie was going to be mighty interesting, and probably a little inconvenient if this hard-on shit didn’t cool the fuck down.

Chapter 8

MAGGIE

He was so confident. So sure of himself. Maggie couldn’t help but feel a shiver run up her spine and goose bumps break out on her arms. That man was going to be a problem. She wasn’t afraid of him, and maybe
that
was the problem. It was more that she was afraid of her own reaction to him.

He was way too attractive, and nothing like Reef. Reef was your classic hyper muscular, tanned, blonde haired, blue eyed, all American boy. Ash was dark, thick, and intimidating. He didn’t seem like he would fit in well at a frat party.

She had spent her life since college under the thumb of a controlling, manipulative, abusive man. Just the idea of getting involved with someone right now was enough to make Maggie want to puke. Plus regardless of the fact that Ash was ostensibly helping her, he had still been essentially stalking her. There was something there between them though. She felt it, and she knew he felt it too. She just couldn’t get past the creepy feeling she got when she considered that someone had been watching her without her knowledge.

Ok, yes her father had asked him to do it, but he didn’t have HER permission. And besides he could have
asked
her. He could have come to her house the day after the funeral and just
said
, “Hi, my name is Ash, your father used to be involved in this club I belong to and before he passed he asked us to keep an eye on you until everything is settled with your ex.”

None of that happened though. Instead he was sneaking around watching her, then showed up at the dojo and just demanded she follow him without any explanation or understanding about how this made her feel. Granted she did follow him back to the bar. She was starting to wonder just how much of an idiot she was.

Reef had fooled her. The entire time they dated, their wedding, and the first few months of their life together he had fooled her. At this point she was seriously questioning her ability to judge a person accurately. So the fact that Ash didn’t scare her in the least, especially considering his behavior so far, was a little disconcerting. This man was the epitome of the ‘bad boy’ type every father across America warned his daughters against. This was the man that she was supposed to watch out for, but all she wanted to do was sit down and have a conversation with him, and then lick him from head to toe.

Maggie laughed out loud at the imagery as she pulled into her driveway. Lord Reef would have never let her lick him from head to toe. Reef had been a purist when it came to sex. When they first met she’d only been with one other guy which itself had not been a mind-blowing experience so it worked for her. After they were married she’d tried to get him to explore a little, nothing crazy, just something different. He had laughed and mocked her calling her a pervert. Not too long after that the physical abuse started and sex became a practice in meditation for her. Removing her mind from her body until he could finish and she could roll over to sleep.

Maggie thought about Ash as she got out of her car. She was sure he was nothing like that. A smile slipped across her face. She could imagine Ash in bed or even just making out. Pushing her up against a brick wall, the grit biting into her shoulders as his mouth trailed down her neck. Lord that made her heat up.

As Maggie pushed the key into the lock on her front door she heard the loud screech of tires and turned in time to see a blue car race past her house and down the street. “That was weird.” She thought to herself as she watched the taillights fade. Drag racing was not a common occurrence in this quiet old neighborhood, but it was probably just some punk kid messing around. She unlocked the door quickly and slipped inside closing it behind her and throwing the dead bolt.

The tightness in her shoulders let go as she leaned back against the door with a sigh. She never felt safer then when she was in her house. This was home. This was where nothing bad could ever happen to her.

Maggie moved through the house taking stock of the doors and windows. Even though this was the one place in her life where she did feel completely safe, part of the reason for that was her ability to have complete knowledge and control of her environment.

No one came in or out of her house without her knowing. She had little safe guards set up all over. Little signs to let her know if someone had broken in while she was gone. Like flowers in vases on windowsills set just perfectly so she would know if they had been moved. A dish of stones, one in the center with writing on it, set exactly in the center of the sill so she could read it standing at the window. If anything was even slightly out of place Maggie would know.

After making her way through all the downstairs rooms and confirming everything was in place she went up the stairs to her bedroom switching on the lights as she went. Illuminating the dark corners. When she got to the top of the stairs she put the baby gate in place with the bells on it. It leaned lightly across the threshold, not locked down into place but just sort of sat there. It was easy enough to climb over but if someone even brushed against, or lifted it to move it out of their way, the bells would ring.