Spawn Chapter 8

I was gonna paddle that woman’s ass when I saw her. She waited until I was gone for the day doing a job for the club I couldn’t do remotely, well not totally anyway and she ran back to her house. I yelled at my brother Lash for letting her go, but he tried to tell me he couldn’t force her to stay. Like hell, he couldn’t!

It was super late when I got in last night, so I went straight home, took a shower, and tumbled into bed. It wasn’t until I got up this morning and came over to Lash’s to see her that I found out she was gone. My reaction hadn’t been a pretty one.

Standing in Troian and Lash’s living room, I stared at them like they’d grown two heads. What Troian had just told me didn’t compute. Well, it did, and that was the problem.

“What the fuck do you mean, she’s gone!? When? How!” I half yelled.

“Don’t fucking yell at Troian. It’s not her fault. Kimera has been telling us for weeks she wanted to go home. We couldn’t keep her here if she wanted to go. You know that,” Lash barked back.

“With all you big men around, not one of you could keep her inside the goddamn compound?” I snapped back.

“Only if we wanted to be accused of holding her hostage and being like some other people we know. I tried to talk her into staying, too. She was adamant, so we escorted her and Toro home. We checked it was safe and left her with all our numbers and her guns loaded,” was his reply.

“Why didn’t you text or call me and let me know?”

“Because Reaper told us not to. He didn’t want you distracted and then end up hurt or dead. I know this isn’t what you wanted. It wasn’t what we wanted either, but we had to do it. You can still work on her to get her to see reason and return. Just don’t yell at her like you are us,” he told me with a stern look.

I yanked on my hair. “Goddamn it, I’m sorry, Troian. It’s not your fault. I’m just frustrated that I can’t seem to break through to her. Has she said anything else to you about what happened that night?”

She gave me a sad shake of her head. “I’ve tried, and she shuts me down every time, Spawn. She says she’s fine even though we can all see she’s not. The other ladies have tried more than once, too. We tried not to push too hard because we didn’t want her to leave, but it happened anyway. I begged her not to go yesterday. She said it was time to stop hiding and to get back to her life. I think her work has been hounding her to come back. They don’t know what happened to her. She lied and said she was in an accident.”

I hadn’t known what excuse she used at work. On the one hand, I understood their need for staff, but on the other hand, I was angry at them for pushing her. Her physical bruises might’ve healed, but her psychological ones hadn’t.

“I’ll be back. Later,” I told them, making up my mind.

Lash followed me outside. Before I got on my ride, he stopped me. “Go easy on her, brother. Don’t blast her for it, or it might make her worse,” he warned me.

“I’m gonna try. Shit, how would you feel if it was Troian?”

“Like going over there and dragging her kicking and screaming outta that house and back here, but it would be the wrong thing to do. We learned that when I had to fetch Troian, remember? No matter what, it has to be her choice. Yeah, I made some threats to get Troian here, but in the end, I let her make the decision. That goes against our alpha male tendencies, but we have to sometimes.”

I chuckled because he was right about those tendencies. “I hear ya. I’ll do my best. Wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” he said with a grin.

On the ride out to her place, I tried to calm myself and think of things I could say to her that would change her mind. I wasn’t sure anything I came up with was gonna do it, but I’d try. Usually, I was a guy who could maintain his temper. It only came out to play when I was pushed too far. Then, it was worthy of the devil, hence my road name. What happened to Kimera pushed me there with no ramp-up needed.

When I pulled up in front of the house, her place looked deserted, and I didn’t like it. Turning off my bike, I swung off and removed my helmet as I scanned the area. Nothing looked out of place. I’d been coming out here a lot to make sure no one messed with it, and I knew I’d notice if something were out of the ordinary. I didn’t see her car, but she might’ve parked it in the back to make us think she wasn’t home.

Walking to the door, I briskly knocked and waited. I heard Toro bark and then get quiet. I noticed that at the compound. He’d only bark long enough to alert her and then stop. He was a very well-trained dog. I did feel better with him guarding her, but it still wasn’t enough. I needed her behind a fence with cameras, weapons, and lots of bodies to keep her safe.

When the door didn’t open, I knocked again. I wasn’t leaving until she talked to me. I could wait as long as I had to. I’d slept in worse places than on her porch. If she really weren’t home, I’d wait. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the door eased open, and she peeked out at me. She didn’t open it all the way, though. She was glaring at me. So this was how it was to go? Okay.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked aggressively.

“I came to see how you’re doing since you snuck off while I was gone. Can I come in?” I asked with a smile, even though there was a bite to my tone.

“I didn’t sneak off. I came home. I can’t help it if you were off gallivanting somewhere. I didn’t need your permission to leave.”

“Permission, no, but common courtesy would dictate you should wait until everyone is present to say goodbye. I would’ve thought you knew that.”

I saw her hand tighten on the door. Shit, I wasn’t increasing my odds of getting inside to talk to her by being confrontational with her. “Hey, sorry, I was just disappointed, and I would feel better about you being home if I checked that you were secure.”

“Lash and some of the guys already did that yesterday.”

“Yeah, but they aren’t security system savvy like me, no offense to them. Last time I was here, I saw you had what appeared to be a security system. I’d like to check to be sure it’s working properly or if you need something better or not.”

She gnawed on her bottom lip for several moments before nodding and opening the door wider. “Okay, if that’ll get you off my property, then do it. It’s always been more than adequate before this.”

As she stepped back, I saw Toro was hiding behind her. His ears were up, and he was alert. She gave him a command, “Bleib.” He relaxed a bit. I knew enough German from my school days to know she’d told him to stay. I’d heard her use several commands while at the compound. The Flynns trained some of their dogs using Irish Gaelic but others in German, which was more common.

As I came inside, he nudged my hand with his snout. I rubbed his head. “Hi boy, how’re you? Keeping your momma safe, I see.” He gave me a doggie grin and head-butted my hand for more rubbing.

She laughed. “I swear, Toro, you’d sell me out for head and belly rubs and treats, wouldn’t you?”

I followed her into the kitchen. He let me continue to pet him but stayed between us. She pointed to the stools at the counter. “Can I get you something to drink? I have water, soda, lemonade, and tea. Sorry, no beer.”

I sat down. “I don’t drink beer as much as you might think. I’d love lemonade, please. And for the record, Toro would never sell you out for those things. He loves you and would gladly rip out anyone’s throat if they were a threat. He’s still guarding you right now even if he appears relaxed, and that’s with him knowing I’d never hurt you. If he thought I would, he’d be eyeing me like a treat.”

She laughed and nodded as she got two glasses out of the cabinet. “Yeah, you’re right. He’s a smart boy, aren’t you? Yes, you are.” She praised him as she poured lemonade over the ice she filled the glasses with. He perked up.

As soon as she sat my drink down in front of me, she got into a jar and got out a treat. He sat on his butt without being told and waited for her to give it to him. His tail was wagging a mile a minute. With it in his mouth, he lay down and started to gnaw on it. She stayed standing on the other side of the counter. That bothered me. Didn’t she trust me?

“Why don’t you have a seat and relax while we talk? I promise I won’t bite unless you ask me to,” I told her with a grin.

She hesitated for a couple of seconds, then came around the counter. I jumped up to pull out the stool closest to me. She eyed it warily, but she did sit. I pushed the stool closer to the counter and then sat. I heard her inhale deeply. I waited.

“Hopefully, the woman you went to see isn’t upset you had to leave so quickly. Shouldn’t you spend more than a day or so? Or is that all the longer Reaper will allow you away from the compound and whatever it is he has you do?” Came out of her mouth. It surprised the hell outta me.

I addressed the last thing she said first. I had to in order not to lose my cool over her thinking I’d been with some woman. Was she blind? If so, it was time to let her know she was the only woman I wanted, and I’d wait until she was ready for us to go to the ultimate conclusion. I thought I made myself clear about other women when she mentioned bunnies and hang arounds, but I guess not. Maybe if she knew how serious I was, she’d stop fighting me. Up until now, I hadn’t outright said I wasn’t just teasing her.

“Reaper didn’t limit my time away. He wouldn’t unless there was a very good reason. I’m lucky that most of my work for the club is doable anywhere as long as I have a computer and internet. In this case, there was some boots-on-the-ground work to do, and I was the best qualified to do it. I deal in anything computer-related. I set up cameras and security systems for the club’s businesses and the compound. I do research into people who’re bothering the club or we have questions about. I sometimes help the other clubs do investigations, although Smoke and his old lady, Everly, in Dublin Falls do it more.”

I paused to give her a chance to say something before I went on. She glanced down at the counter and then back up to me. “Do you mind if I ask how you learned to do all that? No offense, but you don’t strike me as the computer type.”

I laughed. “Do you mean I don’t look smart enough to do it, or because I’m a biker, I wouldn’t be capable or interested in it?”

Her face flushed. “Well, you have to admit, a computer-savvy man isn’t what most people think of when you say biker, and there’s a certain image that goes with your kind of person, too. It sounds terrible saying it out loud, but shouldn’t you be a skinny, glasses-wearing nerd?”

This really made me laugh. I had to sober up a bit to answer her. “Darlin’, I was exactly that growing up. I was super tall and skinny, and I wore glasses. You would’ve never recognized me if you saw me then and now.”

“So what happened? And why a motorcycle club? Did you grow up around your club?”

I heard what sounded like genuine interest in her voice. I went with it. I’d still tell her the rest, but later. “I started to work out to put on some weight and muscle to take care of the skinny part. I was twenty before I beefed up a decent amount. The super tall you can see I had no choice in. I’ve been six foot six since I was twenty-one. I hit six feet when I was around thirteen. As for glasses, I do wear them sometimes when I’m tired of contacts, or I’m at home and have the contacts out and wanna read.”

“Really? I just can’t picture you as any of those things.”

“I’m glad. I was a total nerd. As for why an MC, no, I didn’t grow up around any clubs. I was born and raised in Montana. I grew up with real horses, not steel ones. I can tell you when I discovered motorcycles as I got older, my mom almost had a heart attack. She begged me to stick to the animal kind, but after taking a ride on a friend’s bike, I was hooked.”

“Motorcycles and computers, not the likeliest combo. When did you get into computers?”

“I’ve loved computers since I was a kid. I think I was ten years old when I started using one at school. To me, they made sense. When I graduated high school, it was the only thing I could see myself doing, so it’s what I got my degree in, in college.”

“You went to college? Shit, there I go again. Sorry. I truly don’t mean it like it sounds,” she quickly clarified.

“Yeah, I did. I have a bachelor’s degree in computer science. I could’ve gone on to get my master’s, but honestly, by then, I was doing shit beyond that level on my own. A lot of stuff I do now was self-learned or from having those in the field showing me. I’m not the best there is, but people like Smoke and Everly, who are, share their knowledge. I’m fortunate to call them friends.”

“Can I ask how you ended up in a club if you didn’t grow up around one and how that ended up being here rather than in Montana? If I’m being too nosy, tell me.”

“You’re not being nosy. I don’t mind. I came to be part of the club by accident. I left Montana ten years ago to get away from, of all things, a woman. She was someone I thought I was head over heels in love with, and when she chose another guy over me, I was heartbroken, or I thought I was. I couldn’t stand to see her with him, so I packed some of my shit and got out of town on my bike. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, so I sorta wandered, and soon, I was no longer in Montana. From there, I went from state to state, seeing the country. I’d never been anywhere before.”

I paused to take a drink. It was weird to be talking about another woman with her, but she asked, and I wanted her to know about me. She’d soon find out I knew what I had with that woman wasn’t love because she never hit me a tenth as hard as Kimera did.

“What did your family think?”

“They hated it. They were worried about me and would ask me to come home every time we talked. Anyway, I eventually landed in Virginia. I’d started to see bikers all over the country, and some were in clubs. I didn’t know much about them, but they seemed exciting to me. I was in a bar one night, and I saw five guys being idiots. They kept harassing the waitresses, being loud and obnoxious, and picking on other customers.

“I was at the bar, and I watched as long as I could, then one of them grabbed one of the waitresses and pulled her down on his lap. The bouncer was worthless, and I knew he wouldn’t do anything. I’d had enough and went to intervene. People saw the guy do it, but none of them did anything. When I got to their table, I noticed another guy walking up, a biker. He didn’t look happy either. The guy with the waitress on his lap noticed me and popped off his mouth. I told him to let her go and take his friends and leave. I said no one wanted to hear or see their bullshit and asked whether no one taught them manners.”

“Let me guess. The answer was no, and he took a swing,” she said with a smile.

“Yeah, you could say that. The next thing I knew, I was brawling with them along with the biker. We put them down and then out of the bar. That biker turned out to be Mayhem. Afterward, we talked and had a few drinks, and he invited me to come to the compound. I never left and ended up a prospect. Best decision of my life. I came to hide and lick my wounds only to find the wounds weren’t really that deep. She hurt my pride more than anything.”

“Coming to the rescue seems to be your thing. You’re a knight in shining armor.”

“Babe, I wouldn’t ever claim to be a knight. Yeah, I hate to see people get hurt, especially women and kids. That’s kinda par for the course in our club and those we call friends. My dad raised me better than those idiots. I have a temper, and I work to contain it, but seeing shit like that, what happened to Troian and you, it brings my inner demon out to play, and I play hard and for keeps.”

Immediately, I knew I’d made a mistake in mentioning what happened to her. Her ease evaporated, and she became stiff and closed off. It was like a wall went up around her. Shit! “Kimera, don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Close yourself off. I know that night was hell for you. No woman should ever go through it. I wish you’d talk to someone about it. It would help. Any of us is willing to listen. You have nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. It’s not your fault.” I took her hand as I began to talk. By the time I was done talking, she jerked it away and stood up.

“Spawn, I appreciate you wanting to help, but I don’t need it. Talking doesn’t solve anything. I just want to get on with my life. Thank you for stopping in to check on me, but as you can see, I’m fine. I hate to cut you short, but I have a lot of stuff to get done before I go back to work.” She edged away from me.

I stood, too. “Kimera, tell me, do you think checking on your security system is the only reason I’m here?”

“You said it yourself. You’re protective of women. Yes, I can see you totally doing that, but it’s not needed.”

“It’s true, I am, and I’ll check it out, but it’s not the main reason I came.”

“Did Troian send you?”

“She didn’t. I came because of you. Surely, you know what I feel? All our talk about the bet should’ve told you.”

“You’re a flirt. I didn’t take it seriously. I promise,” she said hastily. She was moving toward the front door. I had to stop her.

I got between her and it and slowly raised my hand to touch her cheek. She saw my hand coming, and she still flinched. God, how I hated that. I rubbed my thumb soothingly over her cheek. “Baby, I’d never hurt you. I hope you know I won’t. As for me flirting, yes, I was, and I am, but it’s not just something I do with all women. I’m gonna just lay this out for you, so there’s no doubt about what I intend.”

I saw her swallow hard. There was panic on her face, but in her eyes, I saw something more. I was pretty sure it was desire. My heart skipped a beat. Taking a deep breath, I told her.

“I know you have healing to do, and I’ll help you in any way I can. I’ll be here no matter what because when you’re ready, I want us to be together. I’m more than interested in you, Kimera. You mean more to me than any other woman ever has. I wasn’t away seeing another woman. None of them attract me. I wasn’t kidding about the whole number of kids thing. I want them and you. I want you as my old lady when you’re ready,” I whispered.

For a moment, I saw stunned surprise and maybe hope on her face, but then it was gone, and she started to shake her head and move away from me. “No, no, that’s not possible, Spawn. I can’t be what you want even if you did mean it. Besides, give it a week or two. You’ll forget all about me. I’m not anything special for you to settle for.”

“I’m not settling for you! And it’s more than possible with us both wanting it.”

She darted around me, got to the door, and had it open before I could stop her. “Well, I don’t want it. Now, it’s time you leave. I don’t want you here. Tell Troian I’m fine and I’ll talk to her soon. Please, don’t come here again.”

She was close to breaking down, I could tell. As much as I wanted to stay and argue, I knew it was the wrong move. If I did, I ran the risk of alienating her permanently. So, as much as it hurt, I walked out the door. I turned before she could shut the door. “I’ll give you some time to think, but we’ll talk about this again. Take care and call us if you need anything. See ya later, Hotcake,” I said before striding off to get on my bike. I had a campaign to plan. Operation Win She-Wolf was underway.