Chapter 10

"So wanna explain why you're like their pet?" Jayden blew out a mouthful of smoke and eyed me down from the couch.

"Pet? What are you on about?"

"They keep you up here like you are their pet or something."

"I live here, there is a difference."

"Sure hun."

It still made my skin crawl when he called me by pet names. "Surprised they let you through the gate."

"They weren't going to till," His lips cracked into a grin "I told them I was your boyfriend."

"You did what!" I literally felt the rage boil through my blood. "Look you've got to go." If my brother got wind of this I would never live this down.

I pulled him by his arm up and dragged him to the door.

"Hang on what's the rush."

"If my brother hears about this, you are most likely dead." Or worse Saxon could hear about it and believe it.

My whole stomach twisted into a tight knot at the thought of that. Saxon could think that I used him when really I was dating a boy from my school the whole time. It was the last thing I needed.

We had just passed the rubbish bins and I had my eyes on the door cut out from the gate when it happened.

"In a hurry sis?" Leigh stepped out of the shadows, looking impressed.

"Yeah I kind of am so can this wait for later?"

"Yeah sis it can wait." He crossed his arms. "It can wait five minutes."

I rolled my eyes and continued on dragging Jayden across the lot till we reached the door.

"Next time you should call me or give me a heads up." I opened the door and let go of him. "Cause this place doesn't like unexpected visitors."

"Is it this place or just you?" He arched his eyebrows at me.

"I'll see you school." I didn't need to explain myself to him and I didn't have too.

"Yeah see you at school." He stepped through the door and I closed it behind him. Now I got the pleasure of listening to whatever Leigh had in store for me.

"Whatever is going on between you and that boy needs to end."

"Yeah hello to you too Leigh." I walked back to him.

"I mean it Gabriella he's bad news and I can't have him around the club."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"We're just friends."

"Doesn't matter can't have him around here."

"WHY!"

This avoiding my question was driving me nuts.

"Cause he is one of our runners and I can't have him being seen around the club. You got it now?"

"What's a runner?"

"A drug runner, a dealer god do I have to break everything down for you."

Nope just that. "Ok fine I'll tell him he can't come around here."

"And you'll stop seeing him." He crossed his arms. "If these are who you are making friends with I would hate to think my sister is in the wrong crowd."

"Since when did you care what crowd I was in? That is of course as long as it is a crowd you aren't in, then in that case you should be fine with it."

"Don't drag up shit. I don't want you hanging around the wrong type of bloke."

"You are in no position to give lessons. Mister I do crime for a living."

"Just because I have this type of life doesn't mean I want it for you."

"Yeah yeah I know you want me to be straight up."

"No I want you to be honest."

"I am honest." I pointed to my chest, then pointed at him "Unlike you who avoids me, lies to me and acts like I'm ten years old."

I spun on my heel and stormed off. Fighting was all we did now. It was hard to remember that once we got on. Once we never fought.

--

The teacher was at the front of the room, writing on the board and I was trying my best to not break my pen. In fact I was trying hard to not let the anger I was feeling get the best of me.

It had been three days and for those three days, Saxon had avoided me. First I thought it was just a case that we hadn't run into each other but now I was more than sure he was avoiding me.

Seriously, I had gone from seeing him every day to never seeing him at all.

Like I said I was pissed off.

Still pissed off.

I was in such a foul mood that I didn't listen to whatever it was the teacher was saying. I couldn't be bothered nodding my head to whatever Jayden was saying and I would love to say I could ignore Sarah as well, but that was pushing it.

For the last hour she had insulted me clothes, hair, tattoo and where I lived. I hadn't bit back.

Until now.

"When you think about it she is just a biker whore."

Biker whore.

Now that hit a sore point.

I flung around, "What did you just say?"

She arched her eyebrows with a smug expression on her face. As if to say finally she bites back.

"I said you're just like a biker whore."

I kicked the chair back and reached across the desk grabbing her by the scarf and with force slammed her head against the table.

"Wanna say that again bitch?"

"LET GO OF ME!"

"STUDENTS STUDENTS STOP THIS AT ONCE."

I wasn't in the mood for stopping, so I did the only thing I felt like doing, I whacked her head back down against the table. This time blood oozed out her nose and she was crying. I would like to say I felt bad, but I didn't and it took Jayden pulling me off her to stop me from doing it again.

--

"Like I said Gabriella I've been on the phone to your brother and he will be collecting."

"Great." Leigh was going to hate me for a completely new reason that reason being dragging him down to the school to collect me. Collect me. Like I was piece of rubbish.

"Three week suspension." She handed me a form. "Starting as of today."

"Great."

"Now is there anything you would like to say to Sarah?"

Sorry I didn't get to smash your face into the table one more time for the sake of it. "Nope."

"I'm sure an apology would help things."

"I doubt that."

"Gabriella your attitude and lack of understanding of what you did is only making this worse."

"Fine." I turned to look at Sarah and her bloody face. "I'm sorry that you those to piss me off. Can I go now?"

"Not till your brother collects you."

There was a knock on the door and I heard the sound of heavy foot steps. Great.

"Come in."

The door swung open and my eyes shot to the ground. Leigh was going to have a field day with this.

"I'm here to collect Gabriella."

My eyes widened and my pulse quickened. This couldn't be happening.

"Are you Leigh?"

"No Saxon her brother was tied up with other matters."

The principal frowned. "Well I did want to have a word with Leigh regarding Gabriella violent attack."

"I'm sure I can pass it on."

"Gabriella, Sarah could you step outside for a moment while I have a word with Saxon." The Principal directed us out.

I kept my eyes on the ground and made sure not to touch or brush Saxon.

When the door closed, Sarah's mouth opened.

"You deserve longer than three weeks." She sneered.

"And you deserve a better nose job than the one I gave you." I shot her down. Only Sarah would still be giving lip with a bloody face.

I leant against the locker and crossed my arms, glaring down at the floor. I don't know how long Saxon was in there but it felt not long enough when the door opened up.

"Let's go." His voice was firm and he strode off down the corridor causing me to just follow in his shadow.

Did he regret having sex with me?

Did he regret everything?

By the way he was treating me that was my only guess.

He held the corridor door open for me and I stepped out into the fresh air.

"So wanna explain why you punched her?" His voice broke the silence as we walked towards his truck.

"Didn't punch her."

"No you slammed her head in the desk multiple times."

Why did he make that sound worse?

I wasn't a violent person. Was I?

I crossed my arms and took longer strides. "Why do you even care?"

"Just wanting to know what has you being so violent."

"Well I'm not saying."

Biker whore. Two words was all it took. What hurt and why it hurt was because it was true. I am a biker whore. Thanks to him.

Why did I let myself fall for a man that I could never have?

I opened the truck door and climbed in.

He was slower to get in and when he did I was suffocated by his luring scent. Darn this cabin for being so small.

He put the key in and turned to look at me. "We aren't going anywhere until you tell me why you did that to that girl. Your principal is under the thought that you had a violent outbreak. But I'm not that stupid so tell me what caused it."

"I'm not telling you."

"Then I'm not starting the car till you do."

"It's a truck."

"Whatever smart ass. Now fill me in, what had you smashing heads against school desks."

"Why didn't Leigh pick me up?" Because I was really wishing my brother was the one grilling me right now. At least with him I could lie or even tell him the truth he wouldn't care. But if I admitted it to Saxon and he knew how much it bothered me, well the ground could just swallow me up.

"He was busy."

"Doing what?"

"Club business."

Well that shut me down. I knew then I wasn't going to get any more details on what he was doing or where he was.

"Can you just drive the truck already." I glared out the window. This wasn't how I imagined our first conversation going after we....well I can't even admit it now. It just brought up bad memories.

"What did the girl do?"

He really wasn't going to give up was he? I turned to look at him. I could lie. "She was asking for it."

His black eyes just stared back at me, not breaking.

Why did it really matter if he knew the truth?

"She called me something and I snapped ok. Is that enough for you?"

He arched his eyebrows, and made no move to start the truck.

"Fine." I sighed, "She called me a club whore. Can you start the truck now and get me the hell out of here?"

I was embarrassed and furious at the same time.

The engine roared to life and I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head, opening them and staring out the window.

He broke me.

We were half way up Main Street when the silence broke in the truck and because he hadn't said anything I literally had to ask him to repeat himself.

"What did you say?" I turned to look at him.

"I said, you're not."

"I'm not what?"

"A club whore." He drove the truck with one hand on the wheel and his other hand fell down on mine- covering it. "You're far from any whore Hun."

I shallowed sharply.

"You're mine. Whether you want to be or not. You're mine. So you ain't no whore."

I had a million things to say. But first I had to remember to breathe because Saxon was sucking the air from my lungs.

"So that's why you've been ignoring me?" I didn't pull my hand from under his. I admit it that I enjoyed his touch, even if it was out of pity.

"Been busy."

"Don't lie."

"Fine I didn't know how to face you. Wasn't sure if you regretted it or not. Wasn't like I could stay and wait for you to wake up. The boys were banging on my door first thing, surprised they didn't wake you."

So that explained why he wasn't there when I woke up. "I don't regret it." If there was one thing I was sure about it was that. I didn't regret having sex with him. Sure I hated seeing myself as that girl- the one who gave it up to him when it didn't no couldn't mean what it meant to me to him.

"You sure about that?" His chiselled eyes saw straight through me, and he would see I wasn't lying.

"Yeah I'm sure."

But where did we go from here. He said I was his. That stirred a feeling inside me that I couldn't explain. Maybe I had misheard him or he hit his head this morning- hard.

"I can't give you what you deserve."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not a good guy Gabriella. I do what I want and when I wanna. I run a charter that has little to no rules. I don't, nah I can't be your boyfriend."

That hurt.

"I never asked you to be."

"Then how is this going to work?" His eyes danced from the road to me. As if I had the answers.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned to look out the window "Guess we just go back to how things were."

He was silent.

Guess we just go back to how things were. This girl had no idea the influence she had over my life now. How she was the one holding shit together while at the same time driving me close to insane. She didn't get that we couldn't go back to the way things were because I couldn't.

She was mine or at least I wanted her to be mine. I just didn't know how to go about it. I glanced at her again, she was still staring out the window. What I would pay to hear her thoughts.

If I let her go now, she would be free to date and maybe she would say no to the first few guys but one day she is going to say yes. My stomach twisted into a tight knot. She should be with someone younger, someone carrying less worries and scars.

The better man in me should let her go but I wasn't the selfish bastard for no reason.

"Fuck it. We'll do it." I grinded out the words to my own death sentence because I had no idea what I was getting myself in for. "Can't have you dating anyone else and the thought of someone else getting a taste of what I did causes my mind to go to dark places. So what do you say Gabriella, will you....um you know....can we....date?"

Her head spun around at first her face was completely stunned. Then slowly the corner of her lip twisted up. "Means we keep it from my brother."

I scoffed. Means keeping it from the entire club. I wasn't ready to be labelled with an old lady yet. Not after the first wife.

"We keep it from everyone babe I kind of have a reputation to keep up." I kissed the back of her hand.

"Fair enough and I'm not ready for all that drama right now anyway. So we set boundaries."

And so it begins.

But it would be worth it. Look at her she was perfect. Fuck perfect she defined beautiful. When they say men would go to war over a woman, that woman would be Gabriella. She was too young and too innocent for the likes of me. Yet somehow we were here and she was agreeing. Fuck that, she was smiling about it.

Was it possible she wanted this to work out as bad as I did?

"No boys." I was the first one to start on the boundaries. "That means no kissing, hugging or fucking."

"No girls." She fired right back. "No kissing, hugging or fucking."

A smirk graced my lips. "I can agree to the fucking but the club girls kind of flock to me. Always got one clinging to my side and I can't stop them from kissing me."

At first I was expecting her to spray a few words of hate at me but when she just sighed I had to give her a double look. Why the fuck did I have to be driving while we sorted this shit out.

"Fine. I understand but that takes the hugging off your list."

Seems fair. I nodded my head.

"And I want out of all your business with the club. No details."

She caused me to double glance at her again. Swear this girl was going to get me in a car crash.

"You seem set on that?"

"I thought you would want it that way."

"I don't mind."

"Really? So if I ask how was your day, you are really going to tell me the truth?" She looked at me with doubtful eyes.

"I'll try my best." And I meant it.

"Fine then club business is up to you on how much I know and don't know but I have one thing that I want to be firm on."

"That being?"

"My dad. I don't want you to mention him or acknowledge him in any way. No questions. No lies." She arched her eyebrows. "That's a boundary for me."

"Fine."

Why didn't she want me knowing about her old man? Irish never really mentioned him either. Guess she had her reasons for it. Maybe one day she would trust me enough to tell me why.

"Another thing, no more tattoos."I added. "Your skin is too perfect to be tattooed."

"Bugger cause I was just thinking about getting a leg piece." She winked.

I pulled into the lot and parked the truck.

"So we play it cool?" I asked. Feeling suddenly nervous.

"Yeah I'll just act like you're another one of my brother's mates that drools after me." She grinned and shook her head while cracking the truck door open. "Talking about Leigh, where is he?"

"Why worried about getting told off?" I slammed the truck door and walked to her side. She was leaning against the truck, looked deep in thought for a minute.

"Something like that. So where was he? And how much of today does he have to be told?" She batted her eyes at me.

"Everything." I smirked. "Add that to the list. I'm not getting in-between you and your brother."

"And here I was thinking I might have been able to keep it to yourself."

"How you gunna explain not going to school for three weeks?"

"I would have come up with something."

I scoffed "Well now you don't."

I looped a finger through her jeans and pulled her towards me. She titled her head back staring up at me.

"I really wish you could kiss me right now." Her sweet words blew across my face. "But you can't."

And she pushed me away.

What why.

"Hey Prez!"Ice yelled across the lot and ducked my head across the truck, spotted him heading this way.

"You've got better hearing then me." I muttered to her.

"Maybe its cause I'm younger." She flashed me a grin and then wiped her expression completely. "Well thanks for picking me up, not that you needed too. I would have got a lift."

I should have added that to the list, no lifts with anyone apart from me. I didn't trust others driving or riding abilities.

"Yeah um no problem." I stepped away from her and she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Gabriella always a pleasure." Ice grinned at her, his eyes hovering around her breasts for two seconds too long.

Fuck this was going to be harder than I thought.

Wasn't like I could grab him by the neck and make him stop looking.

"You wanted me?" My tone wasn't exactly friendly.

"Um yeah boss. Blue wants a word. Has something to do with Irish being interstate." Ice stopped staring at her and looked at me instead.

"See ya Saxon and thanks again. Ice." Gabriella spun on her heel and took off in the direction of the cottage.

If I had it my way she would be heading to my bedroom and not that cottage.

"Righto lets go see what they want." I pulled a cigarette out and lit it up.

Time was going to pass slowly when she wasn't around. How the hell was I going to be able to focus on club business when all I could think about was her and those killer curves. God was cruel.