Page 8 of Property of Baffle
“Where are we going now?”
“You are going to chill out in my hotel room while I go watch my best friend get plastered and probably hunt down his woman because he can’t stand to be away from her for very long.”We made it back into the building before I turned to wrap my arm around her shoulders while we waited for the elevator.“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”she asked.
“Yeah, Nell.You already had one asshole try to take your choices away.I’m not going to do the same shit.”
“Not the same thing at all,” she argued on my behalf.
I tossed a reassuring smile back at her as she followed me into the elevator.“Okay, not the same.Still, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable on my behalf.Please, stay in my room, order room service, and relax while I go watch my club president get shitfaced before he runs off to track down his woman.When I get back, we’ll work on getting you out of the situation you’re in.”
“I still don’t understand why you’d go to such lengths to help me.”
I turned Nell to face me then reached out and gently lifted her chin so that our eyes connected.My lips turned up in what I hoped was a reassuring smile.“No need to understand my motivations.Just know that you are safe and I’m going to keep you that way.”
Nell gave me the slightest of nods and I dropped my hand from her chin just as the doors opened on my floor.“Good, now let’s get you comfortable, so I can get this bachelor party shit over with and get back here to you.”Nell pushed her hair behind her ear and I couldn’t bring my self to look away as the tip of it heated to a fine, red blush under my scrutiny.“You don’t have to worry about me coming back and trying anything.I plan to stay sober.”As soon as we were secured in the room, I asked for Nell’s phone.“I’m going to give you my number and I need yours so I can check in or you can call me if you get scared or anything happens, okay?”
Part of me wanted to cancel, but I knew I couldn’t do that to my brother.He’d understand.Fuck, he’d probably tell me it was okay and to stick by Nell’s side.For some reason, I didn’t want anyone to know about Nell just yet.For now, she was my person to worry over and it didn’t feel right that anyone else should help out with keeping her safe.That was my job.She might not know it, and I was still fucked in the head over it, but Nell was claimed.She was the one that Bigfoot’s father, Crutch, was always talking about.The one woman who comes along, and you know in an instant that she’s the one who will change your life for the better.He also always warned that when we found our one, we better bend over backward to make sure we do the same for her.That’s why I didn’t want anyone else to help just yet - at least not any of my club brothers.I wouldn’t mind sharing Nell with Sammy because they could both probably use a good friend, but I had no doubt that they’d find that relationship sooner or later without me having to force it on them.
5Trauma Bonding
Nell
While Rick was gone,I took a shower and helped myself to one of his t-shirts.It came down to about mid-thigh which would have been fine if I had a spare pair of panties to change into.I hand washed the pair I had been wearing along with my bra and hung them over the towel rack in the bathroom to dry.It wasn’t the best option but I didn’t know when I’d be able to get to a store next.I had no doubt that Elena had already thrown my stuff out in a fit of rage.It was exactly the thing she would have done to anyone else.The only reason I had never seen that side of her launched at me was because I never missed the rent or utilities and was always good to float her when she couldn’t make hers.It kinda sucked to realize you hadn’t been your best friend’s best friend.It was more like I’d been her sugar mama without the sexual side of things.Then again, she’d been okay with her fiancé raping me, so I guess that side existed, too.
Being alone with my own thoughts sucked.
Eventually, I settled in on the couch with my bare legs crossed and a spare sheet draped over them while I watched some reality TV drivel.I’d only meant to see if the contestants on whatever wild dating show it was had anything intelligent to say, and before I knew it, I was in the middle of episode four.They were not prime examples of higher education by any means but they did have a certain train-wreck appeal that made me unable to stop watching.
The middle of the fourth episode was where I planned to bail - again - but then things took a turn for the unexpected when a couple paired off and snuck away to hook up in a spot where they didn’t think anyone could see them.Why on earth they thought that was a good idea when there were literally cameras everywhere, I didn’t know.Then again, they were more pretty than smart.
The hotel door opened and I nearly jumped out of my skin at the same time a woman on the show shrieked to the heavens.She thought Mark was into her, so I guess the dramatics were warranted when he practically fell on top of her while getting naked with another woman.
“What in the hell are you watching?”Rick called as he moved further into the room.
I picked up the remote control and paused the show.“Honestly, it’s not my usual source of entertainment but once it started, I couldn’t look away.”
The rich sound of Rick’s laughter traveled across the room and landed somewhere near my nerve endings.Just close enough to tease them into dropping goosebumps all over my skin.There was something about the man that did it for me, and it wasn’t just his good looks.His eyes tracked over my face and then down to the rest of me.
“Is that my shirt?”
My biker savior didn’t need to ask.We both knew it was since it had his club logo on it.A skull wearing a crooked crown and a bandanna covering the lower half of what would have been its face.Rick’s eyes bounced back up to meet mine as if he was still waiting for my answer.
“Sorry, yeah.I took a shower and didn’t really think it through that I had no clean clothes with me.I hope you don’t mind.”
His head drifted back and forth as if he was saying,” No,” but he still answered verbally as well.“What’s mine is yours, sweetheart.”
Full-body tingles tickled my nerves again.The way he called me ‘sweetheart’ made me want to jump on him and proclaim my undying devotion.I glared over at the TV that was paused mid-two-timing asshole drama as I thought that.Damn.Maybe I was short a few brain cells, too.Rick was bound to have a woman, or multiple women, lined up back in New Mexico.Maybe he had a few in Vegas as well.
“You’re back kind of early,” I said by way of starting an exploration into his relationship status.It was also a change from the subject of my attire because I didn’t need him to know that I was nearly naked.Truthfully, I didn’t need the reminder that I was beyond easy access while in the same room with a man who got my motor revving without even trying.
Rick’s laughter coasted over me again.“Told you it wouldn’t take long before Bigfoot went looking for his woman.We were at the bar all of thirty minutes before someone mentioned what the women were up to.”
“What were they up to?”
He grinned.“The hen party was being entertained by male dancers.By the time we walked in, one of them had Sammy tied to a chair on stage and my brother charged up there to claim his woman.He dragged her off to a private room and there wasn’t much of a party left after that.Some of my club brothers realized they’d been hanging in the wrong places to pick up horny women, though.”His deep chuckle resonated through the room.“The dancers got them all worked up and my boys swooped in to finish the job.”
“The dancers were probably pissed your guys cut into their end of night tips.”He shrugged his shoulders.“I don’t even know your friends, but I kind of wish I had gone to see them on that stage.”
