Chapter 3: Jessica
Ajax had me a twisted, confused mess. The last two weeks had been enough craziness without him adding to it with his declaration of me being his, and his constant watching me at the bakery.
Madisen had been shot at on her way home from her doctor’s appointment a few days ago. Rebel hadn’t been able to make it to the appointment, so some of the Warriors guarding her had taken her to it. When they were heading back to the compound, someone ran two of the prospects off the road and tried to shoot them. After an exchange of gunfire, they took off.
Rebel had almost lost his mind, and Madisen was now not coming to the bakery at all, which I thought was a good idea. What I hadn’t expected was for the guard duty on Trudie and me to increase. I had no idea why. We weren’t the ones someone was after.
As I told Trudie goodbye for the day, Ajax took a hold of my arm. He’d been in a foul mood all afternoon. I had no clue what had pissed him off. As he led me out to my car, Lash followed us with a grin on his face. I met Lash a few days ago. Bull had brought in more men from the other clubs to help with guarding us, Madisen, and the businesses. Lash was with a club called the Iron Punishers out of Virginia. He explained that his president was the brother of Harper, the wife of Viper in Dublin Falls. I knew Harper from the party at the clubhouse a couple of weeks ago. The night Daisy had gotten all up in my face.
Ajax opened my car door and helped me inside. He leaned over to snap my seatbelt. He looked up at me. His mouth was so close, I could almost feel it on mine. He hadn’t kissed me since that day in the kitchen. I guess he realized he didn’t want me after all. Just like I knew he wouldn’t. I tried to ignore the ache in my chest.
“We’re going straight to the clubhouse, Jessica. Lash and I will be riding with you. Stay with us. Don’t get ahead or drop behind. Do you understand?”
I nodded my head. He basically told me the same thing every day when I came into work and every day I headed home. He gazed at me with a considering look on his face before he sighed and stood up. He shut my door and walked off to his bike. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was getting harder and harder to be around him day after day.
A short drive later, we were at the Warriors’ compound outside of town. Jake was at the gate. He waved when he saw me, and I waved back. I’d come to know all the guys in the club. All of them were nice to me. I was still meeting the new ones who had come in from the other clubs.
I’d barely parked when Ajax had my door open and my seatbelt off, helping me out of the car. I walked ahead of him toward the door of the clubhouse. He was back to glowering like he’d been doing all day. I was over it. I marched inside to find the common room full of men. I saw Madisen and headed in her direction. She smiled and gave me a hug when I reached her.
I started to fill her in on how the day went at the bakery. I saw Rebel pull Ajax aside and say something to him. If anything, his face got darker. I wondered what he was saying. I shook off those thoughts and tried to focus on Madisen. Lash stood there joking with us.
Ajax:
I let Rebel pull me aside, while I kept an eye on Jessica. I didn’t like her in this room with a bunch of other men. Ones who didn’t know she belonged to me. My brothers knew to stay the hell away from her, I think, not so much the others. Well, Lash did after the other day.
“What’s up, Ajax? You look like you want to kill someone?” Rebel asked me.
“I’d like to fucking kill half the damn customers at the bakery,” I growled.
“Why? What are they doing?” he asked, sounding curious.
“There are a bunch of horny men coming in there to flirt and eye fuck the staff, and fucking Jessica is oblivious to it. I warned her to watch them, and she looked at me like I was crazy. And that fuckwad, Officer Talbot, is one of the worst! He’s in there every day now, getting his Danish and sitting there taking his damn time to eat it. He never looks away from her. I don’t like it. Someone could get obsessed with her or something. Can’t we get someone else to work in the front, so she can stay in the back and bake?” Rebel choked back what I thought was a laugh. I glared at him.
“Well, I’d have to see if we can afford another person right now. We may have to wait. She’d probably have fewer issues if she wasn’t single and unattached. Though there are still guys who look even when they are. Madisen had a doctor in here a little while ago, I wanted to flatten.” I sighed and swallowed down the curse I wanted to let fly.
“She’d be spoken for if I could get her to talk to me and believe I want something with her. The damn woman is obtuse. She honestly was surprised when I said I wanted to go out with her. She thought I was joking. The shit at the party only added to it. She seems to think I’d want the likes of a bunny over her. She’s totally unaware of her attractiveness. God, I’m gonna lose my mind before this is through,” I groaned.
“So, are you saying you want to date her and get serious or just to hook up? Because hooking up isn’t what I see when I look at Jess.”
“Hell no, I don’t want to hook up! I want her. She’s all I can fucking think about. I just need to get her to take me seriously and see what I see. Having all these other men slobbering all over themselves when they look at her is going to drive me to kill someone. I had to warn Lash over there when he first saw her. Luckily, he listened to my warning, though I still don’t want him around her.”
Rebel glanced over at Lash standing there with Madisen and Jessica. He was talking to them, and I could see the gleam in his eye. It was all I could do not to march over there and flatten him.
“Listen, I hate guys looking at Madisen too, but we’re going to have to find a way to live with it. Our women are beautiful, sexy and guys are going to respond to it. As long as they don’t step out of line, we have to ignore it. When someone does step out of line, we shut that shit down immediately.”
He was right. Madisen was attractive and had guys looking at her all the time. Hell, for that matter, Jocelyn and Devyn were in the same boat with men looking at them. I gave him a nod. As I watched the women chatting, I asked Rebel, “How’s Madisen doing?”
“She’s fine. Won’t take it easy.” I had to chuckle. He had his hands full with her. Not long afterward, the women came over to join us. Jessica stayed for a little while then said she needed to head home. Though she protested, I and two other guys followed her home to make sure she got there safely. When I left her at her door, it was all I could do not to kiss her, but I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I’d have her under me with my cock pounding into her. I knew she wasn’t ready for that yet.
As I pulled away on my bike, I waved at the two guys staying behind to watch her. She had no idea we had guys watching her at night to be sure she was safe. Though we thought Madisen was the only one in danger, we weren’t willing to take chances. Hell, most nights I spent half the night watching her place before going to the clubhouse to catch a few hours of sleep before heading to the bakery in the morning.
??????
Several days passed before any more drama happened. When it did, Madisen had to stay at the hospital for a few days due to a cyst on her ovary. Since then, she’d been mostly down on Rebel-enforced bedrest.
I was sitting in the common room having a drink before heading over to watch Jessica’s place later. Madisen was talking to Rebel. Whatever she said, the next thing I knew, it turned into an impromptu pizza party for the whole club. I was sitting there thinking about Jessica when Madisen came over to sit down beside me.
“How was the bakery today? Were they busy? Any problems?” she asked me. I groaned and rubbed the back of my neck.