Her Journey (Her Series Book 2) (10 page)

As we walked up the stairs, I was hit by a wave of nausea out of no where. Slapping a hand over my mouth, I ran down the hall to my bathroom, barely making it in time to empty what little I had in my stomach. Damn. Here I’d been hoping if I didn’t eat, I wouldn’t get sick. Didn’t work. Ryan was there again rubbing my back.

I sighed as I sat back after flushing the toilet. I looked at Ryan, who gave me a comforting smile and handed me a wet washcloth. “Thanks. It’s really hard for me to have you see me like this.”

“Get over it. We all throw up. You’re human and pregnant. It happens. Really. It doesn’t bother me at all,” Ryan said, sliding down the wall next to me so we were both sitting on the floor in the corner of the bathroom.

“You know, my mom used to always say things like ‘ladies don’t fart’ and ‘ladies don’t burp’. You know, all those sayings that come from her generation. I used to just roll my eyes at her when she’d repeat them to me whenever I did something a ‘lady’ wasn’t supposed to do. As I’ve gotten older though, I’ve realized that they did sink in more than I ever thought.” I shook my head, thinking back to growing up with a single mother who was always trying to teach me to be a proper lady.

“She never said much about things like that when I was with her.” Ryan frowned.

“No, she wouldn’t have. After she got diagnosed, everything changed. Well, really as she aged, she became much nicer than she had been growing up with. Her parents had money that she inherited when they passed. Of course when you have money, you’re expected to show up to all these events and present yourself a certain way. After I had moved out and started living my own life, I think she started to realize that there was more to life than what strangers thought of you. Money isn’t everything in life.”

I leaned my head back against the wall, looking at the ceiling thinking over the things I wished I could change, but couldn’t. “I will always regret not taking more time out of my ‘busy’ life to be with her the last couple years. She tried to reconnect with me, but I was so put off by the way I’d been treated growing up that I wanted little to do with her. I took care of her towards the end out of what I felt was obligation. Sadly, by the time I started to see the person my mother really was, it was too late and we didn’t have much time together.

“All those friends, all the photo shoots, boyfriends…whatever and whoever I used to keep me away from her were no-where to be found when I really needed someone. Turned out I had become just like my mother. That’s why I’m doing this, you know? Not just for my mother, although that was my initial reason, but to find my own humanity. I need to find what’s important to me and who I am. Although you probably don’t see it, I have learned a lot from this experience and it’s not even close to being over.” Ryan smiled at me as she stood and held out a hand to help me stand. I took her hand and she squeezed it after helping me to my feet.

“I know you have. You aren’t the same person who we first met with your mom. You started to change in my eyes after she passed. I know you might not like it here and you might be uncomfortable around some of the guys, but it can be really good for you if you let it. Maybe later we can sit in the game room for a while and you can get to know some of the guys.” She let my hand fall from hers and turned from the room. “Would you like something to drink or eat?”

“No, I’m okay. I think I’m going to take a shower and lie down for a while. I don’t think I feel much up to eating right now.” I sighed. I was losing weight instead of gaining it and I knew the doctors were going to get mad at me if it kept up and it put the babies at more risk, but nothing sounded good and what little I did get down didn’t stay there. Ryan gave me a look that said she was thinking the same thing I was. “I know. I know. I’ll try to eat after a little nap, okay?”

“Fine. I’m not happy about it, but I understand,” Ryan said, then left me alone.

I quickly showered and then pulled on a pair of cotton panties and slipped under the covers. I wish I could say that I fell asleep quickly, but even as tired as I was I couldn’t stop thinking about Wrench and the fact that he’d been winking and smiling at me when we were by the pool. That had been completely different from the way he’d acted the few other times I’d been around him. His confidence wasn’t lacking, I’d noticed. He’d made sure to show off his sculpted torso, both front and back, for me. I didn’t drool, but it’d been a challenge. Men shouldn’t look that good and have attitudes like he did. I also knew my initial dream about him taking off his shirt had been wrong. He wasn’t completely covered in tattoos, only partially, not that I needed to know that for future fantasies or anything.

It’s a good thing his attitude was horrible or I might be attracted to him. However, it wasn’t hard to remind myself that men like that treated women like shit and I didn’t need a man at all, let alone one that would just cause more problems and headaches than I already dealt with.

With thoughts of how much better off I was without a man in my life bouncing around my head, I finally fell asleep.

I was awoken by loud roaring. Jumping from the bed, I looked around trying to find the source of the noise. After a quick peek into the hallway, using the door to hide my nude body, I figured out that the sound was at least not in my room. I’d guess it was coming from outside.

Moving quickly, I pulled on a pair of loose shorts and a tank top, then quickly made my way down the hallway. The sound of my flip-flops clicking against my feet filled the otherwise quiet house as I went to find what the noise was. Once at the bottom of the stairs, I looked around, then crept towards the front door. There was no one around that I saw, which was odd.

I walked out the front door and closed it quietly behind me. Following the sound, I walked around the front of the house to find it was coming from the garage, which was open. Inside, Wrench was kneeling down next to the source of the roaring, a motorcycle. I’d never heard such a loud bike in my life, not that I had been around a lot of them.

Keeping as hidden as I could, I watched as he worked on the bike. Grease was all over his hands and arms. It was probably on his shirt as well, but it was a black t-shirt so I couldn’t tell for sure. He switched out tools that were lying on the ground as he worked, stopped, revved the engine louder, then tweaked something again with the tools. Eventually he turned the bike off and stood. He turned his back to me but called out loud enough for me to hear.

“You know, you can come in here, Melia,” Wrench said to me as he picked up a towel to wipe his hands off with.

I jumped at having been caught, then tried to act as if I hadn’t been sneaking a peek at him. “I know that.” I crossed my arms under my breasts and stepped around the corner.

“Oh yeah? Is that why you’ve been standing there for the last 10 minutes?” He wrote something down on a paper that was on a work bench before turning to look at me. His large hands rested on the bench on either side of his hips, drawing my eyes to his crotch.

Once I realized where I was staring, I forced myself to lift my eyes to his face. A smug half smile tilted his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. Damn, I’d been caught staring at his package. I cleared my throat and tried to not think about the slight burning I felt in my cheeks.

“No. I was sleeping and you woke me up with this loud thing.” I motioned towards the bike. The smirk dropped from his face as he arched an eyebrow at me. The look that crossed his face made me nervous, so I quickly spoke before he could say whatever was on his mind. “Why is it so loud?”

“’Cause it’s my bike. I like for people to hear me coming.” My mouth fell open when he slowly dragged his tongue over his bottom lip and his tone dropped a few octaves deeper. “In more ways than one.”

“Well, it’s obnoxious.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. I was
not
going to acknowledge the double meaning. He might have an amazing body, but I was not interested in going anywhere near it. “I mean, I could hear it roaring and rumbling all the way through the house.”

“You’ll get used to it. It’s been quiet around here lately, but we’re having a meeting in a few days, so you’ll get a good taste of just how loud bikes get.” When a full-blown smile crept across his face, my mouth nearly dropped open. I think it was the first time I’d seen a sign of happiness from him. “You like to party?”

“No. Besides, I’m pregnant, so that’d be a definitely not.” I shook my head. I was trying to be nice to him, but it was hard. We had nothing in common. I mean really, what kind of dumbass asks a pregnant woman if she wants to party? Sure, I like to drink beer and smoke while pregnant because it’d be
so
good for the babies I’m carrying for someone else.

“No shit? I couldn’t tell.” Wrench actually rolled his eyes at me. “I meant, are you going to come out of your room and interact with people or are you too good for that?”

“Well, I
am
supposed to be on bedrest. That might possibly be why I’ve stayed in my room a lot. Could possibly be why I don’t plan to attend this so-called party. Probably don’t want to be exposed to drunk people or all-night orgies either.”

“On bed rest? Could’ve fooled me. You are constantly out and about.”

“Maybe that’s just because you tend to see me everytime I try to escape my room for a few minutes.” I growled.

“On second thought, it’s probably best that you stay locked away. That attitude of yours would ruin all the fun anyway,” Wrench shot right back at me, making me groan.

“Whatever.” I threw my hand in the air, turning to walk back into the house. Just as I neared the front door, a rough palm landed on my elbow. I turned to face Wrench, holding back a sigh. He looked handsome standing there in the sunlight with a streak of grease across his cheek, but I was irritated with him, as usual, so it really didn’t matter.

“Hey, wait. Sorry.” Wrench sighed, running a hand through his hair. “What I meant was, you should join us. It can be a real good time as long as you stay with Ryan or me. I guess Ellis would be good too. You’ve got to get bored of staying in your room. At least come down for a bit. Get fresh air, something to eat, meet some of the guys.”

“I’ll think about it.” I forced a smile and opened the door, pulling my arm out from under his hand where it had stayed.

What the hell was wrong with that man? He went from jerk to nice in the blink of an eye.

~Patrick~

After Melia returned to the house, I went back to my bike. I had known she was there long before I said anything. She was trying to hide, so I let her look her fill. Of course, I regretted saying anything as soon as her attitude made its glaring entrance.

Washing my hands in the sink in the garage to rid them of what grease was left, I shook my head at the woman. There was just something about her. She snapped, I snapped right back. I had been making a conscious effort to be nice, too. I’d seen her staring at my cock when she first walked in, but as soon as she’d realized what she was doing the bitch appeared. She could be interesting to talk to since she was all curious, then her high and mighty attitude rolled out, making me want to toss her ass to the ground and show her no one talked to me like that. Of course I couldn’t do that since she was a woman and pregnant, but lord did I want to.

The annoying 90s boy band song Ryan had changed my ringtone to broke the silence. Grabbing it off the work bench, I saw it was Dirty.

“What?” I held the phone to the side of my head with my shoulder as I continued to dry my hands with a clean towel.

“You aren’t going to like this…” His voice dragged out the last word.

“Just fucking spit it out.” I threw the towel on the bench, then closed the garage, slipping my bike keys in my pocket. I wanted to be in my office for bad news.

“We found Hammer. He had the shit beat out of him by Scrapes’s men. Seems they didn’t like that he was delivering our shipment to a restaurant just outside their territory.” Ellis sighed through the line. “They don’t think he’s going to make it. Only reason he even lasted this long is because a couple off-duty cops were leaving the restaurant, ran off the men and called an ambulance. They claim they didn’t get a good look at the attackers, but the only time Hammer has been conscious since I’ve been here, he said it was Scrapes.”

“God damn it. That motherfucker.” I kicked over one of the chairs in my office. This shit had to stop. “Keep me posted.”

“Will do,” Ellis answered.

I clutched my phone in my fist. I wanted to throw it. I was tempted to do it, but I didn’t want to be without a phone. Instead I kicked over the other chair before throwing open my office door. I stomped to the gym and told the few men working out in there to get out. Pulling off my shirt, I threw it and my phone down on one of the many benches. All my aggression came out on the punching bag through my fists. It was that or go after Scrapes, but that wouldn’t be smart. I needed to think, I needed a plan. I couldn’t just charge in and kill the motherfucker or I would’ve done that long ago.