Page 31 of Tied to You

Ignoring it, I close my eyes shut tight, rolling to my front. My dick feels heavy, the release I needed, still not found. I wince, rolling back, and my phone starts up again. Fuck. Blindly I reach for it, knowing it can only be one person. “Hello?” My voice cracks as I answer Mick.

“Where are you?”

I grunt, letting him know I’m not going to make it. Peeking one eye open to check the time on my phone, I’m already a few hours late. “I’m in no fit state to be working today,” I say, feeling a wave of nausea roll over me. I swallow, keeping it down.

“Well, I need you. Mollie’s foot isn’t broken, but she isn’t allowed to walk on it for a few days. I need you here.”

Damn it.Going there means seeing her. Seeing her means we’ll end uparguing.

Another wave hits, and I know I don’t stand a chance in keeping this one down. “Be there soon,” I grumble, throwing back the covers, stumbling to the toilet, only just managing to get the vomit in the pan. Never again.

Once I’m able, I shower and dress, then make my way to the farm. No sign of Dean before I left. He must have gone home rather than crash at the clubhouse. Pulling up, I dock my bike and go to find Mick. Stupidly, I check the house first, only to find Mollie sitting at the table with Janette.

They both look up when I walk in. “Rough night?” my aunt asks, looking me up and down.

Mollie refuses to look at me, taking a sip from her mug.

“Went exactly as planned,” I say, hoping they buy my lie.

Janette rolls her eyes. “I can expect the next poor soul knocking at our door within the next few days then?”

No.Tanya doesn’t get attached. Doubt I’ll be seeing her any time soon, anyway. Not after my performance last night.

Mollie chances a look at me. Can she sense my doubt?

“Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen. That’s the saying, right?” God, I’m a cunt.

Janette scoffs this time. “You’ll never have a family of your own if you hurt women like that?”

I flash a look at Mollie whose head is still down. “I don’t want a fucking family,” I spit, turning away, hot heat swimming in my veins. “And what if a woman hurts me first?” Snapping like a raging child, I shake my head, pissed off with myself.

The way Janette chokes on her drink makes me double take; my hand raised to the door handle for my escape. “That’ll be the day,” she says hushed. The fact that I can feel Mollie’s eyes now burning into my head, fucks me off.

Somehow, I keep my mouth shut and walk out the door, giving it an obvious slam as I go.

A family of my own? Never going to happen.

I find Mick with Blackjack out in the field. He doesn’t say anything, but we both know his unspoken words speak louder. The longer he stays quiet, the more annoyed I get. We may work well together and manage to get most the jobs done, but frustration and angst are oozing out of me by the time I’mabout to leave.

Dusting off my hands, I take a look to the house wondering whether I should go up there and tell them I’m never coming back. The way my insides churn with a need to escape here, burns intensely. This place—apart from the club—is all I know.

As if he knows I’m about to explode, Mick appears around the corner, his body held as tight as mine feels. He gazes at me, and I just know he’s about to pop. “I think we’re done,” he says, not as angrily as I was expecting.

“Right,” I say, turning to look at him. I throw the rag in my hand to the floor, grateful to be getting out of here. “Do you need me here tomorrow?” I ask out of courtesy more than anything.

He laughs, and I immediately know it’s fake. “I said,we’redone,” he repeats himself.

Oh?I drop my head, a meek smile drawing on my face as I think. “Wondered when you were finally going to say something.” I don’t mean to sound like I’m goading him, but this day has been brewing for some time now.

His face twists. “And that’s why I need you gone.”

My forehead wrinkles in confusion. “What?”

He huffs under his breath, taking a step closer to me, making me stand a little straighter. “You need grounding—”

My laughs cuts him off. “Like a child?”

“Don’t be fucking smart, boy. You need to grow the fuck up. Take some responsibility for once in your life.”