Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A ddie was nervous when she arrived at the Shadowridge Guardians MC fifteen minutes before nine. She wasn’t sure where to park her car, as there seemed to be a lot of cars around the entrance. So she parked it in the street, checked all around to make sure there wasn’t a fire hydrant or a no-parking sign, and then grabbed her hot-pink oversized purse before heading for the motorcycle shop.

She didn’t know a single thing about motorcycles, but when she’d interviewed for the job, Kade had told her that didn’t matter. What he needed was someone to answer the phones and take appointments. She would have other light duties like filing papers, making sure tags got on the keys when clients dropped them off, and keeping the reception area stocked with coffee and sodas.

She could do all of that. At least, she hoped she could. She really needed this job.

When Addie had first arrived in town, she’d gotten a small studio apartment, bought a reliable used car, and signed up for classes at the university. She’d emptied her checking account before she’d left home, and it had been a sizable chunk of money, but it wouldn’t last forever.

It was time for Addie to join the workforce.

Taking a deep breath, she headed for the door leading to the reception area. The garage bays were open, and several men were working in them, but no one noticed her.

As soon as she stepped inside, she startled because she was greeted with a squeal of excitement. After her initial shock, she realized Eden had jumped up from a chair. Her friend rushed forward to give her a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Eden released her, grinning. “I figured maybe you wouldn’t have had a chance to eat breakfast, so I had Bear make you pancakes.” She pointed toward a covered dish sitting on the counter.

Addie was overwhelmed. It was true that all she’d had this morning so far was coffee. She’d been too nervous to eat anything, and there was no way she would be able to swallow pancakes. They would sit like a brick in her stomach. “Thank you. That’s so nice. You didn’t have to do that.”

Eden shrugged. “I wanted you to feel welcomed on your first day.” Eden was bubbly and way too excited. Her red curls were in low pigtails behind her ears. She often wore them that way to class.

Her ginormous boyfriend, Gabriel, was right behind her. The man was always with her. The only place he seemed to let Eden go without him was into her classes at the university, though he waited outside.

At first, Addie had thought it was incredibly strange how Gabriel always hovered as though he were a jealous boyfriend. Addie had been extremely skeptical. In fact, she’d been leery about meeting with Eden for a study date the first time they’d made a plan.

Eden had told Addie right away that Gabriel would most likely come with her because he was overprotective. Super weird in Addie’s opinion, but Eden was the only person in her algebra class who was even close to Addie’s age of twenty-two. The rest of the class consisted mainly of eighteen-year-old freshmen.

After their first study session at the library, they’d met for coffee after class one day. Just as Eden had assumed, Gabriel had come with her for both events. The man had not said much, nor had he sat with them. He hadn’t seemed to mind a bit that his girlfriend had friends or met with them. It became instantly clear that Gabriel literally followed her like a bodyguard. He always sat near the exit and watched everyone who came and went.

Addie hadn’t asked a lot of questions. Clearly, Gabriel adored Eden and vice-versa. They’d even gotten engaged. Eden now wore a gorgeous diamond, which she had a tendency to spin around absently on her finger.

The thought of anyone getting married made Addie cringe inwardly, but she wouldn’t tell Eden that.

The truth was that Eden was Addie's only friend in town. Until they’d met in class, Addie hadn’t made friends with anyone. She’d still been constantly looking over her shoulder, worried Joseph would somehow find her.

He could if he wanted to. It wouldn’t take long for a private investigator to locate her. Though she’d left town with all the cash from her account and hadn’t opened a new bank account yet, she had used her social security number to apply for jobs and enter school.

Addie wasn’t particularly worried about Joseph. She couldn’t imagine why the man would care that she’d left him at the altar. They’d hardly known each other. Except for the fact that she might have embarrassed him, he’d surely walked away that day without losing a moment’s sleep.

Her mother, on the other hand, was probably livid. But it had been three months now. No one had knocked on Addie’s door. None of them would be able to reach her by phone because she’d disabled it and tossed it in a trash can as soon as she’d stepped into the airport. When she’d arrived in town, she’d gotten a new phone and a new number.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t in deep hiding. She knew it wouldn’t take much effort for someone to figure out her address and her new number. They had not, so she was starting to breathe easier. Maybe no one cared she’d left town…?

That was both depressing and a relief.

Gabriel set a hand on Eden’s shoulder and reached around her to hold out a hand. “Welcome to Shadowridge Guardians, Addie.”

Addie shook his hand. “Thank you.” She looked around. Gabriel wasn’t her boss. Kade was. At least, that’s what she thought.

“Kade will be here in a moment,” Gabriel continued. “He got called into the shop to help with a motor.”

Addie nodded. She felt awkward. She always felt awkward in new situations. That had been true her entire life. Or maybe it was simply that she’d rarely been in any situations where she’d felt like she belonged.

Even from a young age, Addie had felt like her mother’s puppet. She’d been an agreeable child and had done as she was told most of the time, but she’d had the sense she’d been switched at birth.

Her parents were wealthy, and now there was just her mother. Caroline had come from what Addie had learned was considered “old money.” Her father had been a banker, so he’d earned money in his own right, but it had been her mother whose lifestyle they’d all fallen in line with.

Nannies, tutors, private music lessons, sports teams—Addie hadn’t had any interest in any of it. She’d gone to an elite private school and had been a good girl who’d gotten an English degree because “it was a respectable degree for a debutante.”

Vomit .

If her father had still been alive, she was pretty sure he would have helped Addie talk her mother into letting her get a degree in something that included math, but he’d passed and left her to fend for herself.

Addie had been a zombie for the past five years since her father’s sudden heart attack. She’d been much closer to him than her mother. She’d felt a kinship with him. Since then, she’d let her mother railroad her into all kinds of things, including her degree and the selection of a husband.

The pressure had been building inside Addie for a long time. The need to get out from under her mother’s thumb had grown and grown until she’d finally snapped. She felt bad about coming to her senses one minute before her wedding, but that had been the moment she’d jolted into her body and taken control of her life.

It could have been worse. She could have gone through with the farce of a wedding and spent the next several years slowly dying while pretending to care about a man she had no feelings for. What if they’d had kids? She shuddered.

“Do you want to eat pancakes while you wait?” Eden asked.

“Uhh…”

Gabriel chuckled. “How about we let Addie get settled in? I doubt she wants to sit down and eat right this second.”

“Right.” Eden nodded. “Well, you can stick them in the microwave and reheat them when you’re ready.”

Gabriel winked at Addie from behind Eden. He understood she might not want them, but he was humoring his fiancée.

The door leading to the shop opened, and Kade stepped in, wiping his hands on a towel. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to meet you, Addie. I think I got everything situated in the shop, so I can show you around now.”

Gabriel pulled Eden back toward yet another door behind the reception desk. “Let’s let Addie get settled in. You can come check on her at lunch.”

“Okay, D— I mean, okay. Good idea.” Eden beamed at Addie. “Have a great first day.”

“Thank you.” Even though Addie didn’t know a single thing about motorcycle clubs or motorcycles in general, she was grateful for this job. She knew good and well she’d only been hired because of Eden.

As soon as Eden and Gabriel were gone, she turned her attention to Kade.

He waved her farther into the room from where she was still standing just inside the entrance. “Come on around the receptionist’s desk. There’s a place you can safely stow your purse.” He glanced at the covered plate on the counter and chuckled. “Let me guess. Eden had Bear make you pancakes.”

“Uh, yes. Who’s Bear?”

“Another club member. You’ll meet him eventually. He often hangs around the clubhouse and wanders into the shop. He’s the club’s secretary. You’ll like him. He’s a big guy. Don’t let his size freak you out when you meet him. I’m pretty sure inside him lives a giant teddy bear, which is fitting. All the girls adore him. Mostly because he makes them pancakes in the morning.”

“Girls?”

He winced. “Sorry. Women.”

She nodded. For a moment, she’d thought maybe there were children living here. Maybe there were?

“Ready for a tour?”

“Yes.” She stowed her purse in the box he indicated under the counter and glanced at the plate of food.

“Don’t worry about the pancakes. No one’s feelings will be hurt if you don’t feel like eating them, or maybe you don’t even like pancakes.” He chuckled. “Eden can be pushy.”

Addie hated to risk hurting anyone’s feelings, so she would try to eat them, but not yet. Right now, she was too nervous about learning her way around this job.