I wait until I hear the front door open and shut before I hop out of bed. Then, I go out to my bike barefoot to bring my cell phone in so I can call my mom while I climb back into Marcus’s soft, cozy bed, burrowing down in the sheets while the phone rings.
“Teagan? Where have you been?” she asks as soon as she picks up.
“Hi, Mom,” I reply while propping an arm under my head. “I’m in Myrtle Beach.”
“What in the world are you doing down there?”
“Oh, well, I was just riding, trying to decide where I wanted to stay for a while. I think it’s here.”
“And what the heck are you going to do in Myrtle Beach?”
“Well, I still have plenty of dad’s life insurance money, so I thought I would just hang out a while, try to make some friends.”
“A while like a few days?”
“No, maybe a few weeks or months even.”
“What about all of your things?”
“I’ve got my bike, and I can buy some clothes and all to hold me over.”
“That’s ridiculous, Teagan. Why don’t I just drive down this weekend to bring you your clothes?”
“You don’t have to do that, Mom.”
“I don’t mind. I might want to stay and walk on the beach for a few days too.”
“If you’re sure; just don’t make a special trip or anything.”
“Where are you staying?” she asks. “At a hotel? That’s going to get expensive…”
“No, I’m not at a hotel anymore. I’m, ah, staying with a new friend.”
“A new guy or girl friend?”
“Does it really matter?” I ask with a smile.
“Yes, it does! I don’t want you getting knocked up or have your heart broken by some beach bum.”
“I won’t,” I assure her with a laugh. “He’s nice and not a bum at all. In fact, he has his own house, and he brought me breakfast in bed again this morning…”
“Oh, Teagan,” she says with a heavy sigh.
“Don’t put a guilt trip on me about staying with a guy when you and Dad never married.”
“I know we didn’t, but I want more for you.”
“More than raising a baby on my own while the father only visits occasionally at night?”
“Your father and I loved each other. It was just…complicated.”
“Because he loved the MC more.”
“Yes, he did. That’s how all those bikers are built. The club is their entire life. Your father warned me of that when we met, but I didn’t listen. I thought he would change, but over the years I’ve learned one thing. Men…”
“Men don’t change,” I finish for her, the same thing she’s told me a million times. “I know, I know.”
“You shouldn’t be staying with someone you just met! If a man invites you to stay the night with him after you just met, well, it’s for one reason only, Teagan.”
“To stay up late watching movies and having pillow fights?”
She sighs in frustration. “Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying. I know that you’re twenty-two and have been mostly acting like an adult since before you were fifteen. I hope you won’t let your heart get in the way of your head.”
“I won’t,” I tell her. “In fact, if anything, I’m using him in this situation.”
“You know I don’t approve of that either, young lady!”
“Using him for a free place to stay!” I correct her assumption. “Didn’t Dad always say that even if you have plenty of money, you should still try to find the least expensive option? Well, I have money, but I would rather not spend it on a hotel room.”
“If he gets you pregnant…”
“He won’t, Mom!”
“Just make sure he’s a good man before he does! No bikers!”
“No bikers. Ever. I know. I’m not stupid.”
“And I was?” she asks with an indignant huff.
“No, of course you’re not stupid. But by the time you realized Dad wasn’t the type of man to settle down, then it was too late. You already loved him and were pregnant.”
“That’s right. So don’t fall in love with someone until it’s absolutely necessary!”
Laughing, I tell her, “That doesn’t make much sense.”
“Yeah, well, neither does loving someone. It usually only leads to pain for both people.”
“Or all three.”
“Or all three when there’s a child,” she concedes. “Your father did love you and me both, Teagan.”
“Just not as much as the MC. I know. He was their president, and the club was his baby.”
“Roy was the very first president of the second Savage Kings chapter ever founded. It was a big deal back then.”
“Uh-huh,” I agree. “And it’s a life commitment, until you die or can’t ride.”
I suddenly realize what a huge decision this is that I’ve set out on – prospecting. And while I do want it, I don’t think I had understood until right this second that if I succeed in convincing Marcus to give me a chance, there won’t be any going back…
“If Roy had to die young, then I can’t imagine he would’ve wanted to go out any other way,” Mom says confidently.
“But he didn’t have to die young.”
“Yes, he did, Teagan. When the original club called, he had to help them.”
“If you say so,” I reply with a heavy exhale. “I’ve got to go, Mom.”
“Text me your address, and I’ll start making reservations at a hotel for the weekend!”
“Okay, I will,” I agree, knowing I’ll have to figure out a time when Marcus won’t be here, assuming I can manipulate him into letting me stay that long.
The last thing I need is for him to meet my mother or for my mother to find out I’m sleeping with a Savage King.
And I’m not even sure what she’ll do if I get to prospect and patch in…
She’ll think I’m nuts, that I’ll get myself killed, and end up with a broken heart.
But the truth is, my heart is protected by ten-foot tall bulletproof walls.
Everyone thinks women take sex too seriously, that we’re too emotional about it. I don’t have that problem. I know that sex is the one thing that will always work to get a woman anything she wants from a man, at least temporarily, until he moves on to someone else.
That’s why I don’t have much time to waste with Marcus. Not that I think it’s going to take long with him.
I’m halfway to being a queen of the Savage Kings, and Marcus doesn’t even know it yet.
