Riggs

M rs. Aggie knocked on his door just past midnight and he knew that it couldn’t be good news. She was the sweetest woman, bringing him over dinners and baked goods. He wasn’t quite sure why she did it, but he appreciated the gesture since he could barely heat water.

He’d even seen her around his club, Savage Hell, a few times. She liked to hang out in there when the Royal Bastards were using the bar for the night. They shared the place with their sister club, The Royal Harlots, because their club’s Prez, Savage was just that kind of guy. Mrs. Aggie seemed to like the older bikers who were a part of the Bastards. It always made him blush a little every time she’d find him at the bar and kissed his cheek. She wasn’t that old, although she told him that she had a two-year-old great-granddaughter. He was guessing she was in her mid-fifties and the older bikers at the bar really seemed to like her.

He pulled on a pair of gym shorts he had thrown on the floor, before crawling into bed after a very long day on the road, and ran down the stairs to answer the door. He didn’t want to make her wait too long on his front porch on this chilly night.

“Mrs. Aggie,” he breathed, “everything okay?”

“I wish you’d just call me Aggie, ,” she insisted. “And I could use your help.”

“Then you should come in,” he said, holding the door wide for her. She peeked into his house as if she was trying to decide if she could trust him or not and then smiled up at him as she walked into his house.

“It’s nice in here,” she said, looking around his first floor. “I always had you figured as the bachelor type, but this place looks like it was decorated by a woman.” It had been. After he bought his own place, his sister insisted that he let her decorate before he could even move in. Jade painted the place and practically furnished the whole house. She insisted that it was her treat since she had sold her marketing company just five years after starting it. Jade was only thirty, but she was a millionaire a few times over and he was so proud of her, but hated it when she spent her money on him. He did pretty well for himself, owning his towing company, and he told Jade to keep her money for a rainy day. She would always giggle at him when he’d say that to her and roll her eyes, telling him that she had enough money for a worldwide flood.

“My sister, Jade, decorated this place for me. I’m afraid you are right—my tastes do lean on the side of bachelor pad, and she wouldn’t allow it.” Mrs. Aggie laughed, but he could tell that she was worried about something—probably what she needed his help with.

“So, what can I help you with?” he asked, cutting to the chase.

“Well, you remember when I told you that my granddaughter was moving back in with me for a bit, with her two-year-old daughter?” she asked. He had never met her granddaughter, but Mrs. Aggie talked about her all the time.

“Sure,” he said, “I remember.”

“Great,” she breathed, “Phoenix ran out of gas and money, and you won’t believe where she’s stranded—Savage Hell,” she said, giving him a little wink. could feel his cheeks heat from his blush, and she giggled again. “I know that it’s late, but would you be willing to tow her from the bar to a gas station?” She held out a wad of cash to him, “This is for her gas and some extra for your time and trouble.”

“No,” he breathed, “I won’t take your money, Mrs. Aggie. I don’t mind towing your granddaughter to a gas station, but I will do it for free. After all, you’ve delivered so many good dinners over here that I probably owe you money.”

“Nonsense,” she insisted, still holding the money out to him. “I make you dinners so that I know that you’re eating properly, . I insist that you take my money, or you are going to make an old woman very upset.”

He threw his head back and laughed as poor Mrs. Aggie looked him over as though he was crazy. “I’m sorry, but you are no old woman, Mrs. Aggie,” he said.

“Well, I appreciate that you think so, but you get my gist. Take the money, Tommy,” she insisted. He knew that she was not playing around when she used his given name. Only a handful of people knew him as Tommy Cartright and Mrs. Aggie was one of them. When she broke out his real name, he knew not to fool around with her.

“All right,” he said, reluctantly taking the money from her. “I appreciate the business.” That was a total lie. He didn’t need her business. He was running almost twenty-four hours a day and even had to hire four other guys to work with him and Hawk at the shop. Having six tow trucks on the road at one time was expensive, but they were all still working nonstop which quickly paid for the extra trucks.

“Well, I just appreciate you doing this for me, . How’s Vindicator doing these days?” she asked about one of the guys from his club. Vin was one of the Royal Bastards’ SGT at Arms and one of the best guys he knew. He was also old enough to be ’ father and that made him the perfect age for Mrs. Aggie. She liked her men just a little rough around the edges and they usually had full gray beards. Vindicator sure fit that bill.

“He’s good,” said, not really wanting to get in the middle of whatever might be happening between the two of them.

“Tell him that Aggie says hi when you see him again,” she said, turning to leave. “Thanks again, .” He watched as she quickly made her way back over to her house, wrapping her robe tightly around her body and all could do was shake his head at smile at his neighbor. He liked her and going to pick up her granddaughter was a good enough reason for him to lose a little bit of sleep. After all—he owed her for a whole lot more dinners.

He pulled into Savage Hell’s parking lot just past one in the morning and found Mrs. Aggie’s granddaughter sitting in an ancient beat-up pickup truck. The poor woman looked to be sleeping in the front seat, and he assumed the toddler in the back seat of the truck was her daughter. He hated possibly waking both of them, but he’d have to have both of them get out of the truck to hook it up to his tow truck.

got out of his truck and walked over to hers. It was a wonder that she could sleep through him pulling into the parking lot with his noisy old truck. He had made sure that his employees got the newer trucks. Plus, he loved his old truck. It was faithful and reliable, unlike the women that he usually dated.

He gently knocked on the window on the driver’s side and saw no movement from the woman or kid inside. He looked in and studied them both, making sure that they were still breathing before he banged on the window a little harder. This time, the woman woke up and stared at him as though he had lost his mind.

She rolled down her window just a crack, “Can I help you?” she asked. She looked like a younger version of her grandmother. She had the same green eyes that always seemed to wink at him to make him blush, and the same long, blond hair that Mrs. Aggie had.

“Um,” he started, “your grandmother sent me to tow you to a gas station,” he said. He held up the wad of cash that Mrs. Aggie gave him, “She said to give you this too.” He handed over all the money she insisted that he keep, knowing that she’d be pissed at him come daylight, but he didn’t care. He was serious about not taking Mrs. Aggie’s money. Plus, he thought that the young woman in the truck staring back at him could use the money more than he could.

“Oh,” she whispered, rolling her window back up. She jumped down out of her truck, looking back to check on her toddler who was still sound asleep in her car seat. “I guess I fell asleep. I’m Phoenix,” she said holding out her hand to him.

He gently shook her hand, “,” he said. God, she was gorgeous. Even with messy hair from sleeping in her truck and smudged eye makeup under her eyes, she was sexy as fuck. She was just the type of woman that he liked to ask out and that was a problem since all of them were trouble. If he asked Mrs. Aggie’s granddaughter out, he might piss off his neighbor if things didn’t go right between them.

“Is short for something?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “My name is Tommy, but everyone calls me because I own a towing company.” He nodded back to his tow truck as if in explanation. God, he was acting like an idiot just because a pretty woman was smiling at him. From what Mrs. Aggie told him Phoenix was about twenty and hadn’t had a real easy go of it since she ran away at sixteen. She said that her granddaughter had just gotten in touch with her a few months back, asking if she could come home and bring her toddler, and of course, Mrs. Aggie said yes. She was the sweetest woman he knew in town.

“’ Towing,” Phoenix read on the side of the truck. “So, , how do you know Aggie?” she asked, looking him up and down. “Why are you helping her out? Are you two dating? She did inform me tonight that she loves bikers—which, by the way, is something that no granddaughter needs to hear her grandmother admit.” She winked at him the way that Mrs. Aggie did earlier, and damn if his cheeks didn’t heat just like they do every time his neighbor winked at him.

“Well, I don’t know much about her liking bikers or anything, but I’m her neighbor. She’s very sweet to me, and helping her out is my pleasure,” he added.

“You didn’t answer one of my questions, ,” she said. “Are you dating my grandmother?”

“No,” he insisted. “As I just said, we’re neighbors and that’s it. Sometimes, she takes pity on me and brings me dinner when I work late, but that’s all.” Phoenix looked him over as though she wasn’t sure if she believed him.

“Well, how can I help you get this old heap running again?” she asked.

“I was thinking about towing you into a gas station, but it’s late and this is a small town. Everything closes down here after midnight, even gas stations,” he said.

“Yeah, I remember that. I used to hate it when places closed early every night and when I lived here, there were a lot of stores that were closed on Sunday. Is that still the case?” she asked.

“Basically,” he said, “you’re back in the Bible belt again, and if places are open on Sunday, they now open after noon.”

“Well, this is going to be so much fun,” she grumbled.

“If you hated this place so much, why come back?” he asked. He loved everything about living in Huntsville. He and his sister decided to move down to Alabama after she sold her company back in New York. They wanted a slower pace of life, and boy did they get it. Sometimes, he missed the big city, but then, he’d sit out on his big front porch and watch the sun go down, and that was when he knew that it was all worth it.

“I really had nowhere else to go. My grandmother is sweet enough to take me and Lydia in, and I appreciate her so much. She wanted me to come home, and she wanted to meet Lydia. I honestly missed her and God, I made some shitty decisions over the past four years, but my daughter wasn’t one of them. So, I packed what little we had and bought this piece of shit truck to get us back across the country, and here we are,” she said, looking back into the cab of the truck.

“Your grandmother has been talking about you and your daughter moving in with her,” he admitted. “How about if I take you to Mrs. Aggies and I’ll run to town in the morning to get you some gas? It will be enough to get your truck to the gas station to fill it up I know that she’s glad to have you both moving in with her and she’ll be waiting up to see you. So, are you ready to finally get back home?” he asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” she joked.

“And you’ll be right next door, huh?” she asked.

“Um, yeah,” he said, “when I’m not working, which feels like that is all I do right now.”

“Well, maybe you could take a night off and bring me back here so that I can see what a real biker bar is,” she said. He wasn’t sure if she was teasing or not, but he knew that it wasn’t a good idea to take Mrs. Aggie’s granddaughter to a bar.

“I’m pretty sure that you’re not twenty-one yet, Phoenix, and if that’s the case, you won’t be allowed into the bar,” he said.

She barked out her laugh and he wondered what that was about. “I’ll be twenty-one in a month,” she admitted. “So, how about you agree to take me out for my first drink at this bar?” She pointed to the building, and he shook his head.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Phoenix,” he said. “I don’t think your grandmother would approve of a thirty-year-old dating her twenty-year-old granddaughter.”

“I get it,” she said. He could tell that she was lying by the disappointment he saw on her face, but he decided not to call her out on it. “Thanks for the help tonight, . I’ll get Lydia and her car seat out of my truck. Can we ride with you back to Aggie’s?” she asked. He wasn’t sure if she sounded disappointed or not by him turning her down flat, but he knew for sure that he was disappointed in himself. A beautiful woman had asked him out and he pushed her off because he didn’t want to piss off her grandmother. He knew that he was doing the right thing. She was way too young for him, but he still felt like an ass for turning her down. He was an idiot—but then again, that was something that he already knew.