Page 35 of Mace

I could hear Rosie naming all the old ladies who are just regular stay-at-home moms, but I couldn’t really compare myself to a woman who has been wedded and bedded by her dream biker and made a baby with him. Any hope I had of something more with Mace flew right out the window.

I hated that Rosie and Amelia were fighting because of me. I hated it even more when Mace and Thunder came storming out of their meeting to find out what all the commotion was about.

Amelia pointed to me but before she could start playing the blame game, I spoke up,

“I’m sorry. I asked a bunch of stupid questions and triggered a bit of an argument.”

Mace’s eyes lifted to Amelia who quickly agreed, “Yeah, it happened just like that. It’s all her fault,” she said pointing at me.

Meanwhile, Thunder walked over to Rosie and pulled her into his arms. Rosie whispered something to him and his lips pressed into a firm line. “Amelia, get the hell out. You can come back this evening after dark to entertain whichever brother will have you.” Jerking his chin towards the door, he barked, “Hit the road, girl. I don’t like repeating myself.”

Amelia made a disgruntled sound in the back of her throat but grabbed her purse and stomped towards the door.

Thunder turned to me and gave me the evil eye. “And I think you must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Why don’t you go back up to Mace’s room and chill out.”

“Don’t tell my guest what to do,” Mace ground out from several feet away.

“If she’s just a guest, I’m within my rights to give her instructions and expect them to be followed. Are you saying she’s more than your guest?” The harsh tone of the older man’s voice told me that me being here was blowing back on Mace, making his club brothers resent him.

So, I didn’t wait for Mace to argue with him. I volunteered to go, “I’m tired. Maybe taking a break would be a good idea.” Without waiting for anyone to say anything else, I turned and almost ran upstairs. Nine ran right behind me making a whining noise.

***

Once I was inside our room with the door shut firmly behind me, I slid down with my back to the wall and burst out crying. Nine crawled into my lap and rubbed his head against my hand. I wrapped my arms around him and just let it all out. A nice cry always made me feel better.

But once the crying was over, the worry set in.

I started pacing as I tried to figure out why I just took the blame for Amelia’s shit. Nine sat staring at me with his head between his gigantic paws. It didn’t take me long to realize it was because she was already trying to blame me, and I wasn’t sureif the brothers were forced to choose, that they would choose me. She was the happy-go-lucky woman who drank with them and gave them sex. I was the outsider who brought danger their way. If I were them, I wouldn’t choose me either. Diffusing the situation and apologizing seemed the better option.

I probably shouldn’t have come clean with them the way I did this morning. I took a chance because I trusted Mace, though I still hadn’t told him everything. I only had three options. Between the cartel, the feds, and the Dark Slayers, the latter seemed the safest bet.

Now I was thinking more clearly, I was second guessing myself. I probably should have gone with the feds because they were the only ones who could guarantee my mom a way to get back to the US. I messed up and didn’t know how to fix it.

I was still stressing about it when there was a gentle knock at the door. I opened it to find Rosie standing on the other side with a tray of food. “I brought us some breakfast. Thought we could eat together and maybe talk about what just happened downstairs.”

“Does Mace want me to leave?” I asked.

Rosie shook her head, “Don’t worry about that. Things sometimes get heated here. The guys are busy talking about what to do about your father and the cartel. Mace asked me to check on you.”

I stepped back, because what choice did I really have? Rosie was an old lady. I was just a visitor. That meant what she said was what needed to happen. The minute she stepped through the door, Nine tried to jump on her, probably becausehe smelled bacon. I know that I sure smelled it. I quickly grabbed him by the collar and held him back.

She flipped out the legs on her tray, turning it into a little table. We pulled over the only two chairs in the room and sat down to eat. Eating was the last thing in the world I wanted to do. However, Rosie had been good to me, if she wanted to have breakfast with me and chat, I was there for it.

She uncovered two plates, which were both loaded with bacon, eggs, toast, and hash browns. She set one in front of me, along with a nice hot mug of coffee.

“Thank you, Rosie. It was nice of you to think about feeding me. I’d have probably stayed up here all morning worrying myself sick.”

Rosie shot me a sympathetic look as she held out a piece of bacon for Nine. He gently took it from her hand and devoured it. “Yeah, I’ve been there before. When I first came to the Slayers’ clubhouse, I was really young, like you. It was hard dealing with the club girls because I didn’t really understand them. To me they just seemed evil, always trying to lay claim to different brothers, always insulting each other and they picked on me a lot because Thunder was drawn to me. It felt like they were always trying to drive a wedge between us.”

“That must have been hard,” I responded, honestly thinking she got a raw deal. We took turns feeding Nine bits of bacon. There was a lot of it, so she probably planned to share with him, I reasoned.

“Oh, it was. It’s one reason why Thunder’s so protective over me to this day.” She took a sip of her coffee and pushed her food around her plate for a moment before telling me, “I toldhim what really happened and the reason he suggested you come up here until Mace is out of their club meeting was because the club girls can get a little persnickety. He was trying to protect you.”

Shock hit me hard and fast because all this time I thought I was safe here. “Protect me? From what exactly?”

“If they think one of them was treated unfairly, the others will kind of gang up on you. Don’t get me wrong, they won’t physically hurt you or anything, but they can be a mouthy, insulting bunch when they want to be.”

“Aren’t you afraid they’re going to target you for bringing me food and supporting me?”