Page 25 of Wyatt (The Black Roses MC #5)

Chapter eleven

Wyatt

A s soon as I see Maizie’s date, Steven , get up from the table, I get up from my stool.

Barrett shoots me a look, his brow arching. “I hope you know what you’re doing, brother.”

“I’m not doing anything,” I reply, and he rolls his eyes.

“If you say so.”

“Why don’t you go keep Maizie company until I get back,” I suggest, nodding to the gorgeous woman sitting by herself.

“You mean until her date gets back,” he says.

I shrug. “Sure.”

Walking into the hallway where the bathrooms are located, I find Steven washing his hands. When he sees me in the mirror, every muscle in his body immediately tenses. I’m pretty fucking adept at reading body language, and his is screaming uneasiness.

“Hey, man,” I say, the door shutting behind me. “You’re here with Maizie.”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks for the beer you sent over, by the way.”

“Sure, sure,” I reply with a false casualness to my tone. I don’t need him more on edge. I’m not here to necessarily scare the guy, just to let him know the score, if you will. To make sure that he understands this will be the last date he has with the woman I plan on making mine.

“This is your first time in Shine, right?” I ask.

He nods as he finishes rinsing his hands, then grabs a paper towel from the dispenser next to him.

“I don’t think you should come back,” I say, studying his reaction.

He jolts in surprise, and he turns to face me. “Come again?”

“See, that’s exactly what you’re not going to do. Come to Shine again.” I move out of the way of the door and lean against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest. My stance is moderately laid back, and I’m keeping my tone casual—but it’s fake, and the guy in front of me knows it.

“Maizie isn’t going out on another date with you,” I inform him.

He straightens to his full height, even though he’s still a few inches shorter than I am, and tilts his head to the side. “Well, I think that’s between her and me.”

I huff out a chuckle and a small grin appears on my face. Guy’s growing a pair right in front of me. Only thing is, mine are bigger.

“No, it’s not between you and her. This conversation is between you and me.

I’m telling you, you're going to walk out this door and make your way to the parking lot. Then you’re going to get in your car and drive back to your apartment—alone.

” I shoot him a sharp smile. “And you’re going to lose Maizie’s number and block her on that stupid fucking app.

Do whatever you have to do so you don’t speak to her again.

I’ll make sure she gets home safe. Thanks for playing, but you lose. ”

He crosses his arms over his chest and scoffs. “Is this some small-town biker bullshit? You see another guy who’s smarter and better off than you, and you don’t want me encroaching on your turf or something?”

At that I really do laugh. “One, I doubt you’re better off than me, whatever the fuck that means.

And that’s not what Maizie’s about to begin with.

Two, I definitely know you aren’t smarter than me because a smart man would have left the second I told him to—instead of trying to swing his dick around. Not smart of you at all.”

“I’m not scared of you,” he says, but the slight shake of his voice tells a different story.

My arms drop to my sides, and I straighten from the wall, taking a step toward him. “Sure about that?”

Steven looks at me for a beat, trying—and failing—to stare me down. “I don’t need this shit. You want her? She's yours. I’m out of here.”

He walks past me, making sure not to accidentally brush against me as he squeezes between me and the sink to my left.

Steven has one thing right.

She is mine.

When I walk back to the table, I hear Maizie ask Barrett where the hell I am.

Well, she uses the term partner in crime .

No crime has been committed. Not saying that assault wasn’t necessarily off the table if Steven hadn’t made his exit rather than run his mouth, which I could tell he wanted to do.

He left, so maybe the man is a little smarter than I gave him credit for.

“Hey, Maizie,” I say, sliding next to her in the booth.

“Look, if you guys want to meet Steven, I’ll be happy to introduce you, but you’re kind of crashing my date here,” she says, scooting over so I can fit in next to her.

“Yeah, about that.” I smile at Maizie, and she bites her bottom lip. The urge to swipe my thumb over the abused flesh is nearly overwhelming. “We met. In the bathroom. I don’t think he’s coming back to the table.”

Her lip falls from her teeth as her brows dip in confusion. “What did you—” She shakes her head. “You chased him off?” she asks, her voice a couple octaves higher than normal.

Looking over at Barrett, I notice he’s having a hard time containing his smirk. Actually, as his eyes dart between me and Maizie, he gives up the fight and sits back, ready to enjoy the show.

“I may have…suggested he leave, yes,” I answer.

The waitress comes over with two plates. One is a steak with garlic butter melting on top and all the fixings to go along with it. She sets it in front of Maizie. The other is half a chicken and a double side of vegetables. Who goes to a steak house and orders chicken?

“Chicken at a steak house?” Barrett asks, mirroring the same question I have. He shakes his head then looks at the waitress. “Can I have some BBQ sauce?” Apparently, he isn’t going to let a plate of food go to waste on his watch.

“I can’t believe you would do that, Wyatt. It’s not like you and I—”

“Not like we what?” I ask, cutting her off.

Her eyes dart to Barrett, obviously not wanting to have this conversation in front of him.

“You can’t just run my dates out of town,” she says, changing course. “The man did nothing to you.”

“You weren’t having a good time. Plus, I saw the way you stiffened up after we sent over a couple drinks.” I point to her wineglass. “You’re welcome, by the way.” She shoots me an unamused look.

“How do you know I wasn’t having a good time? I could have just had a back cramp or something. Maybe I didn’t like the spinach and artichoke dip,” she challenges. Fuck, I love her fire.

“First of all, I know for a fact that you love spinach and artichoke dip. Every time Tanya makes a bowl of it, she makes extra to send home with you. Secondly, there isn’t anything I don’t notice about you, Maiz. I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

She lets out a deep breath. “Wyatt…”

“Eat your steak, sweetheart. Enjoy your new date,” I say, waving a hand over my body.

“Wait, does that mean I’m a third wheel?” Barrett asks around a mouthful of chicken.

“Yes,” I answer at the same time as Maizie says no.

His eyes look between us, but he just shrugs, swallows, then takes another bite.

“I’m still mad at you,” Maizie says.

“That’s fine. But can I have a bite of your steak? It looks amazing.” I shoot her a charming smile.

Maizie stares at me for several beats, her mouth opening and closing a couple times as though she’s going to say something, changes her mind, then wants to say something again. Finally, she waves her hand in front of her plate. “Go for it. I’m sticking you with the bill either way.”

I let out a laugh and wave down the waitress. “Would you mind bringing us another set of silverware and an extra plate? Oh, and can I order another baked potato with everything on it?”

“Of course. Anything else?”

“Another round of drinks,” Maizie says before taking a long sip of her red wine.

The next hour goes by with only a moderate amount of irritation radiating off the woman next to me.

Barrett and I discuss Linc’s new build, and of course, the fucker orders dessert.

We talk about how much fun it’s been having the club at Colby’s T-ball games.

That’s about the only time I feel anything other than frustration from Maizie.

It's like old times, according to Trick and Tanya, when everyone used to gather for whatever game Linc, Knox, or Ozzy were playing.

Barrett tells us his parents signed him up for T-ball when he was a kid. He played a couple of years but had more fun playing pranks on the coach and making an ass of himself on the field than actually playing the game.

“I think I was the first and only kid in history to be asked not to come back after my third year,” he says with a smile on his face. Guess he was born a natural outlaw.

Maizie is in stitches next to me, and it’s a welcome change. When the check comes, I throw several bills on it.

“I was kidding earlier. I can pay for mine,” she says.

“Not in this lifetime,” I reply.

“Wyatt—”

“Maizie,” I say, turning to her, “you aren’t paying for anything when I’m around. Ever. End of.”

She takes a breath through her nose and stares at me, but I’m unmoving in my resolve. Finally, she nods and looks at Barrett, who is looking everywhere but at us.

“Thank you,” she says, turning back to me, though her tone doesn’t come across as particularly grateful. Understandable, considering I hijacked her date after I got rid of the guy she was here with.

“This was fun, kids, but I promised a certain someone I would pay them a visit tonight, so I need to skedaddle.”

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone, Barrett,” Maizie says.

“I’m not,” Barrett replies.

The man is never seeing anyone, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t see plenty of beds belonging to various women.

“Okay then,” she says. “Time to go.”

I move out of the way so she can stand, and this is the first look I get at what she’s wearing. It’s a pretty white dress that fits tightly around her spectacular breasts with a layered skirt. And she has on a pair of dark-brown leather cowboy boots.