Steele
Fuck these early mornings.
Brock had better pay me a bonus for this shit. He might have done it for Tara, but there is no fucking way I am ever saying I’m doing this for Elizabeth.
As her car rolled up to the front of the store, I cursed Brock’s name more and more. I knew Elizabeth would sometimes look at me with a hint of jealousy, as if I was a prize to be captured, but I had never looked at her that way. She just bugged the fuck out of me with her prissy attitude and her diva tendencies.
And now I had to protect her?
I’d do it for the club, but not for this bitch.
She got out of her car with a look I’d seen her mother and father give me the couple of times I’d met them—contempt and judgment.
“You’re the one watching me?” she said.
“Yeah, I’m fucking thrilled about it too,” I said, taking a swig of my Sam Adams. “It’s simple. You go inside and do your typing and smart-people shit. I stay out here and make sure no Bandits cause trouble. You stay out of my way; I stay out of yours.”
“Given how you stink, I think that’s a fair trade,” Elizabeth said, becoming more comfortable with her confrontational attitude with each word. “Tara told me someone would be watching me. I didn’t think it’d be you.”
“I didn’t think it’d be me either,” I said with a snort. “But here I am, watching over you, little Ms. Rogers.”
“Excuse me, I’m a working-class woman; can you not talk to me like I’m some sheltered child?”
I burst out laughing at that. The Rogers girls were literally the poster image of “sheltered child.” At least Tara had some awareness about that.
“I’m sorry, so going to an Ivy League school, living at home with mommy and daddy, and being spoon-fed a job like yours isn’t sheltered? Can you clarify what you mean? I’d love to know what ‘sheltered’ means in the Rogers household.”
Elizabeth’s nostrils flared, but I also saw her eyes starting to water. Brock had never told me I couldn’t make her cry. I merely had to make sure the Bandits did not come and damage her or the building.
A-plus for me, if I graded myself. I’d done what I’d set out to do—protect. There was nothing about protect with kindness.
“You know, with Brock, it was fine because it was just the two of us,” Elizabeth said as she shook her head. “But now there are more people coming to this office and working. The last thing this place needs is someone like…you standing here.”
“Someone like…me?”
I stepped forward to Elizabeth, towering over her. She was at least four inches shorter than her sister, whom I could already tower over. This was going to be so much fun.
Really fun. I already feel excited.
“Are you saying something about my type of people?”
Elizabeth gulped. I expected her to walk past me, scoffing about how I couldn’t spread my scent or how I was tarnishing the supposed perfect image of NME Services. I waited for her to use her prudishness to hide the fact she was scared.
“Yes, I’m saying you’re causing problems, Steele,” she said. “I didn’t like it when you were dating Tara, and I…”
She closed her eyes and took a breath. She looked back at me with much more compassion and softness.
“I know you’re not a bad guy. But unfortunately, yeah, someone dressed in a biker’s cut just hanging out at the front door, judging everyone who walks in here, that’s not a good look.”
I pursed my lips. I could appreciate a small compliment. I sure as fuck wouldn’t show it.
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“Don’t come back tomorrow, Steele,” she said, though she sounded oddly pained to say it. “Really. We’ve got security in the afternoon and evening.”
“And what if I do? Are you going to tell Daddy?”
Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. I laughed again, but the conversation was wearing on me. I turned back to the wall and leaned on it, just wanting to be alone.
