The Middle of Nowhere Page 13

  “They’ll stay away, although you might still have to see me,” he said putting his hands on my shoulders and pushing me back so he could look into my eyes. “You aren’t going to regret this, Josie. I’ll get the office ready for you tonight so you can start in the morning.”

  “Ugh… OK,” I groaned even though I was happy about my choice. At least I think I would be. And at the very least, accepting his offer made him happy. I liked seeing my dad happy.

  My mom had appeared in the doorway grinning at us. I knew she had been listening to every word. She loved both of us more than anything else in the world. We both looked at her and laughed.

  “Shut up. The both of you,” she said as she wiped at the corner of her eye before she disappeared back into the kitchen.

  I couldn’t help but smile at her back as she walked away. She was a tough woman, but she was also the biggest softy I knew. Especially when it came to our family.

  Our moment together was interrupted by a knock at the door. My dad adjusted his cut and ran his hand through his hair before he stomped over to the door.

  “What is it?” he growled as he looked out at the club members. One of them was nervously shifting his weight back and forth from one leg to the other. The only one that didn’t look even a little intimidated was Stone, the club’s VP.

  He’d been in the club for as long as I could remember, but what I hadn’t remembered was how incredibly out of the world hot he was. He’d sure changed since the last time I’d seen him.

  I sighed and caught his eye when he glanced over my dad’s shoulder to see who had made the noise. His serious expression didn’t change and his eyes were back on my dad in a heartbeat.

  “It’s the Henchmen, pres,” Stone said and this time when he looked at me, he made it very obvious. But it wasn’t because he was looking at me for any reason other than he didn’t want to talk about club business with me standing so close by.

  My dad glanced at me briefly before he stepped outside and closed the door blocking me from club business. The thought to press my ear to the door and listen crossed my mind, but deep down, I didn’t want to know. Yeah, I was nosy but the less I knew the better.

  None of this was a world I wanted to be part of even if I was a little curious what kind of business they had that could be so important at this time of night. The Brother’s Rebellion was something I had been born into whether I wanted to be part of it or not. But that didn’t mean I had to like it, or participate in any part of it.

  Chapter 2

  After my dad brought me too the small office and showed me what I’d be doing, he left so I could make myself at home. He had taken all of his things off of the desk and room and moved it over to his office in the clubhouse. Well, one of the prospects probably did all of the moving.

  The room was plain except for an odd family picture that hung on the wall. He told me I could decorate it anyway I liked so that I could feel at home in my new office. But I didn’t plan on being here that long that I would need to worry about anything. He also told me to make a list of any supplies I might need and he’d run out and get them, but he’d probably have a prospect do that too.

  Even though I was just in a room in my own house, I had still dressed up as if I had been going to a real job. I started looking through the computer files trying to get a feel for how my dad handled his bookkeeping. It didn’t take long to realize he didn’t really handle it, everything was scattered around and completely disorganized. It was a mess, but at least it was something that would keep me busy.

  I jumped when there was a knock on the door. It was strange because I figured my dad would just barge in if he wanted me for something.

  “Um, yes?” I said worried that maybe I had just imagined the knock.

  The door slowly opened and Stone peeked his head inside the door. He grinned at me but waited as if he was waiting for me to invite him in.

  I pressed my thumbs into my palms. Club members weren’t supposed to be in the house, and they really weren’t supposed to be bothering me.

  I waved him in and he walked up to the desk. He set down some papers and receipts on the desk and slid them towards me. I glanced up towards him and he looked right into my eyes. He smiled a killer half smile at me.

  “Your dad asked me to bring these in to you,” Stone said still grinning. He glanced at the computer and then down at the desk. “You like it?”

  I tried to figure out what he was looking at but all I could see was his cut and his tight jeans. I cleared my throat and looked back up into his eyes.

  “Sorry?”

  “Like working for the big guy?” Stone said shoving his hands into his pockets as he looked around the plain room. “Simple. I like it.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, “I guess so. Today is my first day, so not much to like or dislike yet.”

  It was hard to keep my eyes on his. He was so gorgeous it made my knees feel weak and I felt like I was sweating more than normal. I didn’t even know what I was talking about with him.

  “Ah, I see,” he said sitting down in the chair across from me. “Saw you move in a few weeks back… thought you’ve been working for him since then.”

  I tilted my head feeling slightly confused about what he was doing. Yes, he was gorgeous, but he was in the MC. I didn’t want to have anything to do with anything related to the club and my dad should have made that clear.

  The last time I had seen Stone he was a prospect working on earning his way into the club. And now, years later, he was The Brother’s Rebellion vice president. I don’t think I had ever said more than two words to him until today.

  He had been known to be a ladies’ man. Like all the others he was rough and loud and smoked like a chimney. There had always been a woman hanging off of him anytime I had seen him. Old, young, tall, short, curvy, it didn’t matter, they all wanted him. And I could see why… his smile… his charm… his solid body.

  But I was too smart. I wouldn’t fall for any of that. I hoped he was smart enough to not try to mess with the club’s president’s daughter. My dad wouldn’t ever allow anything like that anyway. He loved the club, but he probably wouldn’t want me mixed up with any of them. After all, he knew them all very well, all their good and all their bad.

  Not that there would ever be anything my dad would have to put his foot down over anyway. I didn’t want that. I wouldn’t let it happen.

  Stone had always been good looking, but I never really thought about him in any way other than just being a member of the MC. He’d been standing outside with the rest of the club the day I drove away heading for college. It had been totally embarrassing to have a send off, but it meant a lot to my dad.

  I remember looking at him as I drove away. There had been some half-dressed woman hanging off of him as he waved his goodbye.

  He had been something to gawk at even back then, but now he was even more. I couldn’t not look. And his smile. Oh God, that smile. It was a smile that could, and probably did, melt panties.

  But none of that mattered to me. Stone wasn’t my type. Yes, he was hot, but other than that what else was there? I didn’t know anything about him, and what I did know wasn’t anything I’d be interested in. My type was anyone that wasn’t in the MC.

  Stone’s blue eyes glowed at me as I stared at him unable to think of anything to say. It wasn’t like I could kick him out. My dad wouldn’t be thrilled about that either. I didn’t want to have anything to do with the MC but I also didn’t want anyone to dislike me. I would just have to make it clearer to my dad that the club members needed to stay out of the office when I was working. That my office was off limits to them.

  “What brought you back here anyway? I thought you were off living the good life? Didn’t you get married?” he said, and I knew that my dad hadn’t told anyone why I was back, which I was thankful for. It wasn’t as if I wanted anyone to know what had led to me coming back home. I didn’t really want Stone or anyone else for that matter to know about my shitty, ab
usive ex-husband.

  “Break up… I guess,” I said as I rubbed my palms against my pants. He raised an eyebrow at me as if he was wanting to hear more, but I just kept my lips pressed together.

  “Been there,” he said and stood up abruptly. I couldn’t even pretend to stop my eyes from moving up his body until I stopped at his eyes. He was so solid, and I knew under his T-shirt and cut that he was impossibly muscular. I was pretty sure that if I asked him to lift his shirt, he would have.

  I shook the thought from my mind. Even though he wasn’t my type, he was definitely everyone’s type to look at.

  “I better get back. Your dad said you’d know what to do with those,” Stone said, nodding at the unruly stack of papers.

  “Oh yeah, right, got it… thanks. I’ll take care of them. You can tell him that… well you don’t have to tell him that… uh nevermind,” I said forcing an awkward smile. He looked at me as if I was missing several teeth.

  He laughed, “You’re every bit as cute as I remember. Later sweetheart,” he said with a wave and left the room.

  I stared at the doorway even after he was gone. I could have handled watching him leave the room about six more times.

  “You OK dear?” I jumped as my mom poked her head inside the room right where I had been staring. It was like she popped my little daydream like a bubble.

  “Fine,” I said as if I’d just been caught doing something I shouldn’t have been doing.

  “Need anything? I’m heading out to the store.”

  “A cold shower,” I muttered towards the computer screen.

  “What did you say?” she said squinting into her bag as she worked at fishing out her car keys.

  “Nothing. Never mind. Which store are you going to?” I said grabbing the receipts and stacking them into a neat pile in front of me.

  “Grocery store. I can pick you up some lunch,” she said, but it didn’t seem like she was paying any attention to me as she looked at her phone. It was as if her mind was already out the door.

  I shook my head, and she walked away without another word. My brain had been somewhere else too so I couldn’t really blame her for seeming distracted. Only I shouldn’t have been thinking about him.

  I dropped my head down on the table and sighed. There had to be some way to get him out of my mind. I closed my eyes, but that only seemed to make it worse. He was standing there in my daydream and I could make him do whatever I wanted.

  “Snap out of it,” I said tapping my forehead repeatedly with my fingertips. I turned towards the computer and started entering the numbers from the receipts.

  No matter what I tried my thoughts kept sneaking back to Stone. The numbers weren’t powerful enough to keep my mind busy, in fact it may have actually made matters worse.

  I tried Facebook, searching for new recipes, YouTube, listening to music but none of it helped. I couldn’t get him out of my head.

  “Hey baby,” my dad said startling me back into reality. I sighed and ran my hand across my forehead. “Everything OK?”

  “It’s fine. Everything is just fine,” I said sounding harsher than I had intended.

  “You’ll get it. I know I made a mess of everything,” he said as if he thought I was frustrated by the work. “Just take your time.”

  “Right… yeah, I know,” I said closing whatever it was I had open on YouTube. I didn’t even know what I had been watching since all I had been thinking about was what Stone’s body looked like under his T-shirt and cut.

  My dad stepped forward and walked right up to the desk. He looked down at the receipts and then over at the computer. He sniffed, “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “What’s that?” I asked pretending to be busy with the spreadsheet.

  “There’s going to be a little get together here tonight, and I was just thinking you should stop by just so the guys can meet the new—”

  “Oooh no way, dad! There is no way in hell. I was very clear that I didn’t want to have anything to do with the club,” I stood up and pushed the chair away. I wanted him to know that if he was going to try to push the club on me, I was willing to walk from my new, barely minimum wage job and my rent-free bedroom too.

  “OK, well I just wanted to—”

  “It doesn’t matter. You should have told me about this days ago. I could have made other plans. I don’t want to be around,” I said crossing my arms in front of my chest.

  My dad laughed, “What kind of plans? You don’t leave the house.”

  I could feel my face turning red. I was angry and frustrated… in more ways than one. And it wasn’t like he needed to point out the fact that I didn’t go out.

  “You didn’t even give me a chance. I could have gone out to a movie or something.”

  “With who?” he said smiling at me.

  “Myself,” I said stepping around to the side of the desk. Even though I considered quitting, I wasn’t, at least not yet, I just needed a break.

  “Listen, you aren’t leaving this house. I don’t care if you come to the fucking party or not, but you will not leave this property… do you hear me Josie? It’s not safe right now with him out there when we’ll all be at the house.”

  The way he said it made it seem as though if I left during the day he’d put a tail on me. I definitely wouldn’t put it past him.

  “Dad, he’s not going to kill me,” I said turning to face him.

  He shook his head, “I don’t know what that idiot is capable of and I’m sure as hell not going to let you find out.”

  “I’m not going to the dumb party,” I said staring him right in the eyes. I wanted him to know how serious I was. Yes, he was super intimidating most of the time, but he was still just my dad.

  “But you will not leave this property. Is that understood?” he said giving me the same stubborn look back.

  I nodded and walked out of the room. My feet stomped as I walked down the hall and stepped inside of the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me. At least I wasn’t thinking about Stone any more.

  I stayed in the bathroom until I heard my dad leave the house. Even though I was sick of staring at a computer screen, I went back to the office. I was confident I was done thinking about Stone and I could finally get some work done.

  I kept working undisturbed for a couple hours before my mom returned from the store. She was holding several bags when she stepped inside the office. The look on her face told me that she had run into my dad.

  She sat in the chair across from me and set the bags down next to her. I kept my eyes focused on the monitor while she crossed her legs and lit up a cigarette. I could feel her eyes drilling a hole into me, and I knew she wouldn’t stop until she said her peace.

  “Josie,” she started calmly, “you know you can’t leave here without someone, especially at night. It’s just not safe. Not yet baby, we’ll get there… you’ll get there, but we just don’t know what he’ll do yet, you know?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. TO me it seemed like she was being over dramatic about the whole thing. Sure he was a bit of a loose cannon but it wasn’t like Troy was just going to whip out a gun and start shooting at me the minute he saw me leave the house. And yes, he hadn’t wanted me to leave him and threatened to kill me if I ever did, but he wasn’t a murderer. At least I was pretty sure he wasn’t. He was just an idiot that got a little rough sometimes. I left him, it was over. I wanted to be done thinking about Troy.

  “Don’t give me that look, I’m still—”

  “You will always be my mother,” I said already knowing what she was going to say. “But I’m old enough to take care of myself. It’s not like I’m going to hide behind dad and the club forever. Once I can afford my own place, I’ll be back out there and you and dad won’t be able to watch me every second of the day.”

  “You keep telling yourself that honey,” she said standing up as if she had made her point. I hated having to admit that I was hiding behind my dad and the club, but it was true. “Don’t
come to the party. I don’t fucking care what you do as long as you do it inside this house. For now.”

  “Aye-aye captain,” I said as I saluted her.

  Maybe I should go to the party. And maybe I should hang all over every club member there until my dad tells me to go inside. That would teach him a lesson. They wouldn’t want me to go to any future club events that would be for sure.

  But I didn’t want to do that. I couldn’t do that. Could I? No. No. I’d just forget about it. After all, they were right about one thing, I didn’t have anywhere to go.

  Chapter 3

  The noise from the party in the backyard was too much. If only I had earplugs. With each passing hour they all only got louder and louder. It was a mix of the camaraderie, the music and the booze.

  The backyard had been decorated up really nicely. There was streamers, glowing lanterns and a big fire going in the fire pit.

  I closed the curtain roughly so I wouldn’t have to see any of it through the window anymore. If my parents saw me looking out, they would have mistaken it for something else… they would have thought I wanted to be there, but I didn’t. I didn’t want anyone to think I cared.

  I didn’t know how I’d get any sleep with the all the racket they were making. Maybe I’d have to flip on the TV in my room, crank it up and find something to binge watch. But that wouldn’t be enough to block out the noise.

  I grabbed a diet soda from the fridge and started to go to my room. Right as I was about to turn the corner the back door opened and Stone stumbled inside the house, laughing and pointing at someone outside. He laughed at himself. I didn’t know if I wanted to smile, or be pissed off that he was just waltzing into the house like he owned the place.

  “Oh, hey,” he said trying hard to act like he hadn’t been drinking. But failing miserably.

  “Yeah, hey,” I said glancing towards the back door, “are you supposed to be in here?” The words had come out sounding way meaner than I had intended. I opened my mouth to apologize, but he raised his hand as if to stop me.