Chapter Fifteen
“No bike?” Hadley asked as she followed me outside and across to my truck.
“I’ve got to pick up Macy from her aunts,” I answered, pulling open the door and climbing inside. She did the same on the passenger’s side and pulled her seatbelt across her.
“Her aunt have her a lot?”
I nodded as I started the engine and pulled out of the gates and onto the road. “More than she should, I guess. It’s hard for me. With club business, shit isn’t always planned, and a lot of the time we’re pulled in at the last minute for things.”
“What about the girls around the club? They help don’t they?” she asked.
“Can’t keep asking them to look after Mace. Chelsea and Rose have their own kids and men to worry about.” My brothers’ old ladies were supportive and helpful. But it was time to start taking responsibility for my girl, rather than relying on them every time I was stuck. As much as Carly and I had our differences, Macy was her niece, and she’d do anything for her. It was her only connection to her sister.
We pulled up to the big house and I turned to look at Hadley. She gave me a soft smile, and in that second I had to close my fist to stop myself from reaching out to touch her face. She was stunning. A natural beauty. She never wore a lot of makeup, and the clothes she wore were sexy in an understated way. She had on jeans with tears down the thighs that showed off slivers of tanned skin underneath. Those alone tempted me. My mind not satisfied with just a peek.
“Come on.” We both climbed out, and she joined me as we walked up the path. I lowered my voice. “Carly can be harsh when it comes to club girls. Just ignore her.”
Hadley didn’t say anything. I knew she’d be fine. Some of the girls felt like they needed to defend themselves when someone came at them with derogatory comments. Where others, like Hadley, were completely comfortable with who they were and didn’t care about others’ opinions of them or what they did. Those were the kind of girls who got a man’s attention.
No brother wants a bitch who he’s gonna have to spend half his time reining in, and coping shit from his brothers about his woman’s loud fucking mouth. We wanted a woman who knew when to shut up, and knew when to speak up.
I pushed through the door without knocking and called out, “Hello!”
“Kitchen!” came Carly’s reply.
Hadley pulled the door closed behind her and followed me down the hall to the kitchen area. Carly looked up when we entered, her eyes narrowing as Hadley stepped around me to my side.
“Carly, this is Hadley.”
Hadley gave a small wave and smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Carly didn’t respond. Instead, her eyes moved to me with a dark glare. “She a club whore?”
“Carly,” I growled sternly. “Don’t start.”
But she did. “What you do at that place is your business. But bringing them here to my home… around my kids? Are you mental?”
“Hadwee!” Macy’s small voice crowed as she bounced into the room and threw herself at Hadley.
“Hey, sweet pea,” Hadley cooed, kneeling down and tickling Macy’s chin.
“Come pway!” Hadley looked up at me, and I nodded.
She took Macy’s hand and let my little girl lead her away babbling on about things even I couldn’t understand through her excitement.
“You gotta be so rude?” I snapped as Carly went back to busying herself with a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon.
She scoffed. “This is my house, Leo. You bring a whore in here, and expect me to be polite and ask her how her day’s been?”
“If she’s with me, you can fucking respect her,” I told her sternly. “Hadley is a sweet girl and doesn’t deserve to be treated like shit. And Macy adores her. What if she heard you saying crap about her?”
Carly stopped stirring and looked up at me. “Jesus Christ, Leo. You aren’t falling for her, are you?”
The question stopped me in my tracks. Just as I was about to tell her no, my mind screamed out, you liar. I didn’t have to bring her with me to pick up Macy. I knew Carly would be a bitch about it, and she wasn’t one to hold back when it came to her opinion.
Optimus had put me in charge of Hadley’s safety, but he could have assigned the boys at the clubhouse to watch her. It actually would have been simpler, and possibly safer to do that than to drag her out with me. She would have been safe there. But something told me that I needed her with me, that I didn’t want my brothers watching her.
Or touching her.