Steel Love: Alpha BBW Motorcycle Romance (9 page)

A thick cloud of fog shrouded his feet. Tendrils climbed and circled his ankles. Her gaze slipped back up his body to his face. A sweet smile touched his lips and eyes. “Why am I dreaming about you? I usually dream about my dad.” Maggie asked as she looked away from Ash and out at the landscape around them. The hill they stood on fell fast and far beneath them. The sky wrapped around, encasing them in a dark grey-clouded globe. Lightening flickered across the expansive world and revealed to her that the hill had become a plateau, the edges of which fell to nothing.

“Where are we?” Her whispered question trembled and caught by the wind whipped away.

“Maggie.” Ash breathed her name like a kiss leaving his lips. His hands reached out to cup her face as he stepped toward her. She stood there staring up at him, his fingers leaving a trail of heat as they slipped down her cheeks and throat to grasp her shoulders. Maggie, caught by his eyes, wrapped her arms around his waist. She let her head fall back, exposing her neck to him, her eyes locked on his.

Ash leaned his face down and let his lips press against the pulse in her throat. He nibbled softly at the delicate skin. Then kissed his way up over her jaw to her lips.  When his lips reached hers she felt more then heard the word “Sweet” whispered long and drawn out against her mouth. Finally his tongue slipped across her lower lip. Maggie shuddered and pulled back. She was suddenly terrified of him deepening their kiss. That if he did, her soul would be his, and she would never be able to leave this place.

Maggie pulled out of Ash’s arms and turned away. Before he could grab her again she took off at full sprint for the edge of the plateau her bare feet slamming against the ground as the sky lit up white all around. She heard a scream from behind her that turned her blood to ice and nearly froze her in place, but she did not stop. Could not stop.

When she reached the edge of the plateau she slid barely keeping from going over the edge feet nearly slipping out from beneath her. She looked out from the edge at the empty world then down into the abyss and screamed at the sight of the black slithering mass far below. There was no rhyme or reason to the thing in the abyss just mass and motion and parts connected and disconnected and menacing. She stood there choking on her own screams when she felt the presence of Ash at her back.

“Maggie.” The whisper, barely audible, tickled her skin like a feather stroke. Even though he was behind her she knew he was reaching for her. Just before his hand could grip her shoulder she felt fingers wrapping around her ankle. When she looked down again it wasn’t that black slithering mass in the abyss. It was Reef staring up at her. His grin split his face unnaturally, his mouth too large. It reached from ear to ear and cracked open to reveal razor sharp teeth.

Reef jerked her ankle, throwing her off balance and pulling her over the edge, her arms flew back toward Ash who reached to grab her wrists. Maggie hung there suspended between the two men. The evil she knew below her, and the unknown behind her.

Maggie woke from the dream with sweat covering her arms and soaking her back. It had taken her a while to fall back asleep. She couldn’t shake the feeling of standing in Ash’s arms. She’d felt so safe there under the broken tree, but terrified as well. Standing there she felt like she was making a decision that she wasn’t really ready to make. Now that she was awake she realized she wanted to finish that kiss. She wanted to know what it would be like to let go and sign away her soul to this devil.

Eventually she fell asleep again and got a few more hours of sleep before her alarm woke her. She crawled grudgingly from her warm bed and slipped on her old bunny slippers. Reef would have hated the slippers. He hated anything that wasn’t new and fresh. Maggie had owned these throughout most of her youth. She’d left them behind when she went to college thinking she was too old for silly slippers, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away. So they had lived in the back of her closet at home until she’d left Reef. She found them when she moved back into her old room and immediately started wearing them again.

She went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and pulled her hair up into her usual high tight bun. Every now and then she would consider cutting her hair, but then she’d come to her senses. She wasn’t a particularly vain woman, but she did love her hair. It was most definitely her best asset.

After dressing for work in her comfiest black yoga pants and a long sleeved loose grey jersey knit shirt she threw on a red chunky necklace and a pair of teardrop earrings that matched the grey of the top. She didn’t normally wear much makeup. Her usual was to just brush on some mascara and maybe a tinted lip-gloss. Today she actually put on some rose essential oil. She hated traditional perfumes but loved to use essential oils when she was in the mood.

When she felt complete she went downstairs to start the water boiling for her coffee and throw a couple slices of bread in the toaster. While she stood there waiting for the water to boil she heard the rumble of a motorcycle in front of her house. Maggie walked to the living room and peaked out the window. Ash was parking his bike in her driveway behind her car. He swung his leg off the bike and pulled his helmet off to hang it from the handlebars.

Maggie walked to the door and opened it as Ash reached the steps to the front porch. “What are you doing?” She asked as she stood in the doorway arms crossed.

“Good morning to you too Maggie. I thought we agreed to keep this in the open?” Ash cocked an eyebrow at her and smiled.

Maggie narrowed her eyes at him, her lips thinning at his smile. “Yeah, in the open as in you stay where I can see you. Not stay in my house.”

“Maggie, I’m just trying to be real here. I’m trying to make you comfortable with me being around. I’m not trying to scare you, or make this awkward. I thought we could sort of start over.” Ash lifted his hands into the air; palms open and facing her in a gesture that said, “See? No weapons. It’s safe.”

“What do you mean by start over?” Maggie uncrossed her arms and put her hands on the door getting ready to slam it shut and lock it as she watched Ash climb the stairs. It was almost an unconscious gesture. He hadn’t moved past the top stair, but she didn’t know this man, and she didn’t care if her dad had asked him to watch over her or how attractive she found him. She’d found Reef attractive once too. She wasn’t taking unnecessary chances.

Ash stopped at the top step several feet from her “I realize I could have handled things differently. You were right yesterday. I should have just introduced myself to you to begin with. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t mean to scare you Maggie. I’m sorry. Can we please start over?”

Maggie’s eyes widened. Please? Did this big bad sexy ass biker just say please? “Um… I have to be honest I’m torn. All of my instincts tell me to slam the door and call the cops. I want to trust you, but it’s a little difficult.”

Ash nodded his head slowly. “I understand. What if you close the door and lock it, and then go get your phone and keep it on you, you can even dial 911 and have it ready. If you need to press send you can press send. And I promise to stay at least six feet away from you at all times. What do you think?”

Maggie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then nodded. “OK. Wait here.” She closed the door firmly and locked the deadbolt before moving to the kitchen and grabbing the house line. She went back to the front door and opened it then walked away, leaving the door open for him to close on his own. She was holding him to the six feet rule.

“Come on back to the kitchen, I was just pouring coffee into the French press. Do you want some?” She spoke over her shoulder as she moved back to the kitchen. She heard the door close then Ash’s footsteps behind her. She looked over her shoulder to make sure he was keeping his distance and he was.

“Definitely, I’d love coffee thanks.” Ash pulled a chair out at the kitchen table and sat down. Maggie poured the hot water into the French press and slid the top into place.

“Toast? I’m not a heavy breakfast eater, but I usually have some toast with my coffee.”

“Actually that would be great, thank you.” Ash leaned back in the chair and set his sunglasses on the table. “So do you want to tell me any more about your ex? Why your father thought he was a danger to you?”

“Oh… yeah sure I guess it would probably be a good idea for my… er… should I call you my bodyguard? That seems strange but I guess that’s technically what you are right?”

Ash chuckled. Literally chuckled. Maggie had not expected him to be a man who chuckled. She took him as either no laughter at all, or loud explosive laughs. This was a nice medium. “What would you say to just calling me your friend?”

“Oh.” Maggie paused a moment to consider that. “Yeah, ok, friend. I actually don’t really have any friends right now.” Maggie laughed cynically. “Yet another thing Reef took care of… but yeah I think that would be nice. To call you my friend I mean. Anyway. What was the question again?” Maggie frowned trying to get her brain up and running without its morning jolt of coffee. “Sorry, I’m not usually this scatter brained I just didn’t sleep great last night and I haven’t had coffee yet so…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ash said, “I totally understand. I just asked about your ex. Anything you want to tell me about him? You know, any pertinent information I should know? Like, is he in law enforcement? Or a picture?”

Maggie laughed at that. “No he is not a cop. He works at a bank. Nothing special. He does work out though, pretty fanatically. I don’t have any current pictures of him, I left them all behind. Actually now that I think of it, stay here.”

She walked out of the kitchen at a quick pace and into the living room. Maggie had found a photo of Reef and her wedding in the living room when she’d come home. When she found it she put it in the desk drawer. It was the only image of Reef she’d found in the house. Maggie opened the drawer and found it there lying face down. She opened the back of the frame and pulled the picture out. Maggie pinched the image between her forefinger and thumb like it was diseased and walked back into the kitchen. She dropped it on the kitchen table face down in front of Ash and moved back over to the cupboard that held the coffee cups.

While Maggie poured coffee Ash studied the picture of her wedding day. She’d been very happy that day. In the image Maggie had a huge smile on her face, and Reef had an arm firmly around her shoulders. She had thought him protective. Now it was funny to her how easily you could mistake protective and possessive.

She turned and placed the coffee cups on the table, one in front of Ash and hers across the table from him. She grabbed the cream pitcher from the fridge and the sugar bowl from the counter and set them on the table. Then plated the slices of toast and set those down with the butter, jelly, and knives and finally sat down herself.

“I don’t really know what I should tell you about Reef. I mean what kind of information do you want? What would be helpful to know?” Maggie made her coffee as she spoke. Lots of sugar. Lots of cream. Butter AND jelly on her toast.

“Why don’t you start by telling me why you left?” Ash asked as he took a sip of his own coffee. He apparently took his black and put a thin spread of butter on his toast. No jelly she noted.

“Oh… yeah. Well. Let’s just say he was capable of speaking the sweetest words you’d ever heard in your life, but when he was angry he preferred to speak with his fists. I was planning to leave before my dad got sick. I’d started to prepare, you know? Stashing money, clothes. I’d actually tried to leave once before, but he found me somehow. I suspect he had a tracking device on the car. When dad told me about his cancer diagnosis and how bad it was… that was just the catalyst for me to try to leave again.”

“Is he the real reason you were in the hospital?”

Maggie jerked her head up. “How do you know I was in the hospital?”

Ash looked down at his coffee, pursing his lips slightly. Maggie decided he had very nice lips. Then mentally slapped herself for checking out her first real friend in her adult life. “I asked someone I know, a computer guy, to dig up some information on you. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into.”

Maggie sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Yet another breach in privacy. Lovely. So what did you find out?”

Ash was smart enough to look embarrassed at his confession. “Yeah, sorry about that. The only thing he could find was just basic stuff, you know, where you went to school, your marriage, and then the hospital stay. I assumed it was Reef. I just thought I’d ask.”

“Yeah, he did that when my dad called to tell me he was sick. That was it. He put me in the hospital for a week and when I came home I drugged him so he wouldn’t wake up while I was sneaking out of the house. It was pretty straightforward. Probably much more dramatic in my head than in reality.”

Ash arched his eyebrows, “I don’t know about that Maggie. Sounds pretty fucking dramatic to me. Woman gets put in the hospital by her husband and then drugs his ass to escape him? Yeah. I’d say that’s a TV movie waiting to happen. What’d you drug him with if I can ask?”

Maggie snorted at the TV movie comment, “Benadryl. It’s all I could find in the house. I put like ten in the desert. He was out cold.”

Ash laughed, not only at her snort, but also at her ingenuity. “Shit, remind me never to piss you off.”

Maggie glanced up from her coffee and smiled at Ash. He looked startled which made her frown slightly, but before she could ask what was wrong the phone rang. Maggie picked it up off the table and frowned at the caller ID. She had no idea who was calling at this early hour. “Hello?”

“Maggie? Hi it’s Jessi. I got your number off the paper you filled out for the class. I hope it’s not too early to call.”

“Hey Jessi! No it’s not too early to call. My shift at the library starts at nine. So I’m usually up by now. What’s up?”

Ash looked up at her, an inquisitive eyebrow arched. Maggie just smiled back at him.

“I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight. I know it’s a Monday, but there’s a little bar down the road that has an open mic night on Monday nights. Kind of an odd night I know, but there are a few really good singers around here that go and there’s a house band that plays backup. If there aren’t any singers they just play the whole night. It can be fun. Anyway, I just thought I’d extend the offer if you were interested in maybe getting out of the house. There’s usually a small group of us going. All girls. Just a night out to get away from home and not have to worry about men or anything… So what do you think? Are you interested?”