Rough & Rugged (Notorious Devils Book 3) (12 page)

I don’t respond.
When will I ever learn?
My dream is stupid. I need to forget it ever existed and just be happy with my place in life. I have a good job at the bank where I could advance easily, making it a career. I have my parents and Andy. Plus, now I have Johnny, for however long this lasts between us.

“Let’s go to bed,” he mumbles.

I follow him without saying a word. I can’t help but think about my dream; my dream that will never come to fruition; my dream that will die like the dreams of a million other people on earth. I watch as Johnny drops his pants and gets into my bed, the pink sheets surrounding him.

“Shirt off, Hattie, come to bed,” he orders.

I don’t hesitate as I grab the hem of his oversized shirt and peel it from my body before I drop it onto the floor by my feet. Then I crawl into bed and lie down next to Johnny’s warmth. He sighs as he wraps his arm around me and places a kiss on my shoulder.

“Sleep, yeah?” he murmurs against my hair.

“Yeah,” I whisper into the dark bedroom.

I close my eyes and try not to think about the way he laughed at my dream. The way he refused to talk about his past, his parents, his own thoughts and feelings. I can’t help the sick feeling that he’s here for one thing and one thing only.

Sex
.

Deep down, I knew it. I even offered it as a one-time thing. But now, now he’s spending the night, calling himself my man, and making me believe that we’re
more
. I can feel it in my gut that this is going to get ugly; at least for me. I need to try and figure out how to keep him out of my head, and most importantly, my heart.

J
ohnny holds my hand as he walks me down the street toward the bank. My thoughts from last night about keeping him out of my head and heart are now obliterated and nonexistent. He’s there, in both places.

This morning when I woke up, he was gone.

I wanted to sit and stress, worry and possibly cry, but I didn’t have time. Instead, I got up and took a shower. By the time I was out of the shower, he was back, dressed and holding a bag with some donuts and coffee. I was shocked, but I didn’t have time to dwell. I thanked him, then hurried to finish getting ready while I snagged bites of my delicious chocolate donut here and there.

Now, with his hand wrapped around mine, we walk down the street toward my job.

“There’s a party at the clubhouse tonight. I can pick you up, you can stay with me for the weekend,” he offers.

My eyes widen at the idea of sleeping at that clubhouse, of being there for days. I don’t know if I can. All those women, those men, the alcohol and the drugs. I look down at my feet, but Johnny doesn’t allow it for long. He places his finger under my chin and tips my head back. My eyes connect with his chocolate ones and I melt a little.

“I’ll be with you the whole time. Nothin’ bad’s gonna happen to you, princess,” he murmurs before he presses his lips to mine in a kiss. Its gentle and sweet, leaving me wanting so much more.

“Okay, tonight,” I agree, nodding my head.

“Now, get your shit handled so we can have a free and easy weekend, yeah?” he says before he leans down and kisses me again.

This time, it isn’t sweet, nor is it gentle. He slides his tongue past my lips and his hand travels down to my ass and squeezes roughly. I moan wrapping my arms around his neck as I press my body even closer to his. He owns me, his kiss owns me, and I accept it.

“Be a good girl today. I’ll see you later,” he murmurs as he breaks our kiss and takes a step back from me.

I grin and turn from him, walking to the door of the bank and putting my key into the lock. I look back at him before I open the door. He’s standing on the sidewalk, a smirk on his face and a cigarette firmly planted between his lips. He looks like the classic bad boy, and I shiver at the sight. He’s
my
bad boy, and I’m his princess. I smile as a blush crawls up my cheeks, then I open the door and slip inside, locking it behind me.

Once I’m inside, I see Willa setting up her station with an evil grin on her lips. She’s never early. She’s usually ten minutes
late
every day. Yet, today she’s at least twenty minutes early, as I’m fifteen minutes early.

I decide to ignore her. She plays games and she’s obviously going to try to play one with me, but I have news. I don’t play. I’ll just ignore her until she gets bored and moves on. I’m not over, nor am I forgiving her for the way she talked about me and
to
me last night.

“Hattie, can we see you in the office?” Julia calls out from the back.

I look up and gulp, nothing good ever happens out of back office conferences. The only time I’m okay with going back there is when we have our quarterly evaluations. I make my way toward the office. It feels like the death march, like nothing will be the same after the meeting is over.

It feels like dread.

“Please, have a seat,” Sharleen, the manager, says, pointing to the chair that is across from both her and Julia, who is sitting by her side.

“Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?” I ask.

“We like you very much as a person, Hattie. You’re a good employee, you’re a sweet girl, and the customers adore you. However,” Sharleen begins. Julia holds up her hand and speaks.

“We didn’t want to believe her. Willa came to us concerned; she said that you’d begun dating a very dangerous man. Then, this morning, we saw the two of you together. He’s a gang member, honey,” she says gently.

“So I’m in trouble for the man I’m dating?” I ask, feeling confused.

“Not necessarily
trouble
. But, we want to counsel you on your decision making skills. We also want to warn you that men like that will use naïve young women and manipulate them into committing crimes for them,” Sharleen continues.

“So you think that he’s going to ask me to steal from the bank for him, and that I’ll do it?” I ask dumbfounded.

“We really adore you, Hattie, but you’re young and this is the first time we’ve ever seen you with someone. His character is not trustworthy. Plus, how
old
is he?” Julia asks.

“Who I date isn’t anybody’s business but my own. In no way would it affect my ability to work, and in no way could anybody manipulate me into doing something morally or legally wrong.”

“We’re not firing you, but I don’t know if you’re going to be the right fit for our company anymore, Hattie,” Sharleen announces. I feel as though my stomach has dropped to the floor.

“Excuse me?” I breathe.

“Officially, we’re laying you off. You’ll be able to collect unemployment and we’ll give a positive reference to anyone who calls for a referral, but we can’t keep you here any longer,” Julia murmurs.

I look from Sharleen to Julia in shock for a minute. Then I gather my purse and stand, fishing my key and my alarm out of my bag before setting it down on their desk.

“You’re all cashed out from yesterday, so we’ll do a final count of your money just to make sure it’s all still the same, then you can leave,” Sharleen says before she stands and takes my key and alarm from the desktop.

I don’t say a word. I stay quiet as I follow Julia to my counter and watch her cash out my drawer. It balances to the penny, because I’m not a liar or a thief. Then I look between Julia, Sharleen, and Willa. All of them each wearing different expressions on their faces.

Sharleen is trying to look stern under her watchful gaze.

Julia looks like she’s about to explode into tears any minute.

Willa is full on smiling.

I don’t look at the other tellers before I leave. I hold my head up high and I walk right out the front door.

I have worked in that bank since the summer I graduated high school—over a year now, almost two. I have worked my way up from a part-time teller to the vault teller. Not once have I ever been questioned for anything. Not once have I been over twenty dollars off on my balance at the end of the night. Now, now suddenly because of a man I’m dating, I’m no longer trustworthy.

I open my apartment door and sigh, closing it behind me before I lock it. I inhale and I can still smell Johnny everywhere around me. I walk into the bedroom and grin when I see my messy sheets.

Quickly, I strip out of my work clothes and climb into the bed that I abandoned only hours ago. I bury my face in the pillow that Johnny laid his head on all night and I inhale, like a freak. I smell him, and us, and I close my eyes.

I arrive at the clubhouse parking area with the urge to turn around immediately and pickup Hattie. Somehow, between last Saturday and today, I’ve become attached to her. Feeling the need to see her Monday wasn’t anything I had ever encountered before. I’ve never wanted to see a woman that badly. I’ve wanted a fuck, but any
body
could do for that. I’ve never wanted a specific person.

I want Hattie.

Then I tasted her, and fuck, there was no denying I wanted more. Last night sealed the deal for me. Hattie is my woman. Not my Old Lady by any means, but she’s mine. For now. For as long as I keep her. For as long as I want her.

“Hey, baby,” Serina says as soon as I walk into the clubhouse.

“Not now,” I murmur, passing right by her and walking toward Fury’s office.

The door is open, and he’s inside, but I still knock on the door frame and wait for him to call me in. I close the door behind me before I sit down on the chair in front of his desk. He looks up at me and furrows his brow when he sees me.

“That run was good, no problems last weekend, right?” he asks, setting his pen down.

“Yeah, it was good,” I say. I don’t know why I’m here in his office, not really.

“This about the girl you rescued last weekend?” he asks. I look up before I nod.

“I’m going to give you advice, advice I would have never taken a decade ago.
Claim her
. She gets under your skin like no other woman has, then she’s yours and you claim her. Men like us, we don’t give a fuck about these bitches, so when one comes along that works her way under our skin, it’s a fuckin’ sign,” he informs me. I take in his words.

I nod.

I remember how he was with Kentlee. I remember what happened when he went away and the club wouldn’t back her because he hadn’t claimed her. I would hate for something like that to happen with Hattie. Though her situation is different,
our
situation is different, I would hate to have her swingin’ in the wind if something happened to me.

“She’s only nineteen,” I murmur. Fury coughs.

“She’s a baby,” he laughs.

“She ain’t a baby when she’s takin’ my cock,” I grunt, which only makes him laugh harder.

“Well, if you feel any way toward her at all, you want her, you think about her, and you can’t imagine another dick inside of her, then you need to claim her; infant status and all. If I’ve learned anything, Dirty, it’s that time doesn’t fuckin’ stand still. You turn around and years have passed. You need to take life by the dick, and you can’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks or says.”

I stand and look at him again. Really look at him. He doesn’t look like he’s in his mid-forties, but he is. There’s a little grey at his temples and he’s got some extra wrinkles around the eyes that he didn’t have a few years ago. He’s also got three little curtain crawlers running around his house and a younger wife who undoubtedly keeps him on his toes.