Mace (Untamed Sons MC: Birmingham Chapter #1)

9. Mace

NINE

MACE

I take another shift at Temptation the next evening. Maylie slipped away from me after the assault, and I’m fucking pissed she left before I could talk to her. I wanted to take her home and make sure she was okay, but that choice was taken out of my hands because I was caught up giving Steve shit for leaving her so fucking exposed.

Fuckin’ Steve.

He’d received my full wrath. Every emotion I was feeling about that guy touching her was delivered on him after seeing those marks on her neck.

I’d wanted to lay out every single member of the security team who failed to protect her. Slamming that guy’s head into that table wasn’t enough. I should have made him hurt for hours, and the regret I have for letting him walk away burns through my veins.

As I walk up to the entrance, the neon sign over the door blinks, though not by design. Just another thing that needs fixing in this heap of shit place .

The security guy on the door—Archie, I think his name is—glares at me like I was the one who put Maylie at risk.

Fucker.

The welcome I get is as cool as the temperature, but I don’t give a shit. I ain’t here to make friends. I flash him a dark smile and walk inside, flexing my fingers at my sides. I need to calm my mood before I see her. The last thing I want to do is scare her, and she had been scared last night. I’d seen the look of horror in her eyes when I attacked that cunt. Does she see me as the monster?

No, she’d warned me about the guy coming up behind me.

The main room is quiet as I push through the doors. The lights are up, and the tables are empty. Staff members move through the room, preparing for the customers who will flood inside in thirty minutes or so.

I don’t see Maylie behind the bar, but Bella is there, restocking the fridge under the counter.

Has she called out sick?

I wander over to the bar to claim a stool as Bella slides a glance in my direction. I see the reproach and the anger blazing in her eyes.

“Where’s Maylie?” I ask. I don’t give a single fuck if this woman hates me. She can join the queue behind my foster sister and half my club.

Bella’s jaw gets tight, as if she doesn’t want to speak to me, but my attention is immediately diverted as Maylie appears through the staff door. She doesn’t look any different, but she seems distracted as her gaze slides over to the main floor, to the spot where she was attacked. It takes her a moment to drag her attention away, and when she does, my stomach hollows. That spark that drew me to her is dulled as she gives me a whisper of a smile that doesn’t resonate through the rest of her body.

“Hey, Mace.”

The sweet way she says my name is a balm to the anger swirling inside me, but it can’t completely douse it, not when she looks so fucking dejected, and not after she left me wondering all fucking night if she was okay.

“You ran off on me,” I accuse.

Her expression is a little bashful but not apologetic. “I just wanted to get home.”

“And I said I’d take you. Why didn’t you wait for me?”

Her gaze bounces towards Bella, who is watching us like an annoying chaperone. I wish she’d just fuck off. “I was fine, Mace.”

I don’t believe her. I can see in her eyes how affected she is by what happened last night. Fuck. I should have murdered that cunt for daring to touch her.

Coming off the stool, I lean across the bar and signal for her to turn so I can see her neck. Her skin pebbles when my fingers scrape over her nape as I move her hair aside to look at the damage.

Instantly, my teeth grind together. It looks worse than it had last night. Mottled bruising spans where he’d gripped her. He must have held her tight to leave that kind of marking.

I should’ve killed him.

She pulls away from me, letting her dark brown hair fall over her neck to hide the injury. “Before you start, I’m fine to work,” she says, her eyes resolute and her tone like steel.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Good, because I need to be here tonight.” The tight way she says it sets off my internal alarms. What’s going on that she’d rather be here than at home? Or is this to do with her needing money?

Maylie seems like an open book, but she is the hardest person I’ve ever tried to read. She puts on this persona of little miss sunshine, but I’m starting to realise that’s a fucking act.

“I ain’t stoppin’ you.” I hold my hands up defensively, showing her I’m not a threat to whatever she needs.

Besides, I want her here just as much. I wouldn’t sit at this bar night after night to watch Bella or one of the dancers.

She glares at me, reminding me of a kitten trying to be a lioness, before she wanders over to the fridge and grabs me a Coke. As she slides it onto the bar top, I grab her wrist, ignoring the little squeak of surprise she makes. My grip is firm but not enough to hurt her. I would never do that.

“I’ll be watchin’ you tonight, Maylie. I promise no one will fucking touch you again on that floor.”

Her cheeks flush a pretty pink that makes my head spin. Fuck, she’s beautiful… both inside and out.

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

My thumb strokes over her pulse point as her lips part slightly. I should let her go, but I can’t stop touching her.

“You don’t have to thank me. Things shouldn’t have got as far as they did last night. It’ll never happen again. Are you worried about being back out there?”

“I’m okay,” she promises. “I know you’ll keep me safe.” Her bottom lip slips between her teeth, and I follow the movement hungrily. “I don’t mean it like that. I mean… you’ll… uh… do your job. Not that it’s your job to take down handsy, half-drunk men, but?—”

“If you need anything, just let me know,” I interrupt before she can ramble more, and her eyes soften.

“Thanks.”

I’m reluctant to let her go, but I release my hold on her as she flashes a smile that seems a little more real. That ember in my stomach burns all the more brighter than it has since my mother extinguished it all those years ago.

My gaze is magnetized to where Maylie walks over to Bella. I should look away, but my eyes linger on her, drinking her in once more like a thirsty fuck.

“Hey, man.” I force my attention from her as Steve steps up to me. His eyes are wary as he approaches, and he should be. If it hadn’t been for Maylie, I would have throttled the life out of him. I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing the ring of bruises around his neck. Fucker.

If he’d done his job properly, Maylie wouldn’t have got hurt.

His hand rubs his nape as he winces. “About last night?—”

I stop him before he can say anything that’s going to piss me off. “Don’t.”

“It won’t happen again,” he assures me.

“No, it won’t, because I’m going to be here every fuckin’ shift she works.” I have no idea why I say this or how I plan on pulling that off. Nicky’s not going to let me spend all my fuckin’ time here. Not with shit as bad as it is in the club.

But Steve doesn’t know that, and his surprise is genuine.

Fuck him .

“Mace.” Maylie’s voice breaks through the fog of anger shrouding me, and I don’t step back, but Steve does, moving away from us.

I turn slowly back to her, trying to calm the tornado blowing inside me. She’s a fucking vision, but Steve is right. Her innocence drips from her, and I don’t mean innocence in the sense that she’s unworldly. I don’t get that vibe from her, but I don’t know how to explain it either. She doesn’t fit in the world she’s trying to be part of.

She watches him go before she turns back to me. “Don’t give him a hard time because of me.”

I’d put him in the ground because of her, but I keep that to myself. Instead, my fingers tangle in a strand of her hair.

She freezes, her eyes widening, but she doesn’t pull away or ask me to stop. “I’ll be at the end of the bar all night,” I tell her.

The frown lines between her eyes are as fucking sweet as she is, and I want to smooth them out. “You don’t have to stay. The guys can handle things.”

Like fuck they can.

“No.”

The sigh she makes tells me I’ve won, but I don’t feel victorious. I want her to want me to be here. “There are still some brownies left in the dressing room,” she says to me. “If you want one, I mean. Don’t feel like you have to. They’ll get eaten anyways. The girls are obsessed, and Archie could keep me in business if I decided to run one…” She trails off, her cheeks burning.

Fuck, she’s adorable, and I don’t do adorable. I’ll destroy her in the same way I destroy everything around me, and yet there is no force on earth that can stop this. I want this woman.

“I’ll grab one later.”

Her smile nearly unseats me. It’s genuine and, fuck, it makes something pleasant stir within my gut.

“They might not survive that long.”

Bella twists to glance over her shoulder at Maylie, and the tightness in her body tells me she doesn’t like what’s she’s seeing.

I ignore her, focusing on Maylie instead.

“Can I ask you something?”

I want to tell her she can ask me anything, but that ain’t true. The club has a lot of secrets, and even if I don’t respect Crank, I would never betray the patch to outsiders. But I doubt she’s going to ask about the inner workings of the Sons, so I answer, “Sure.”

“Is your club planning to keep the bar?”

I indulge her question. “As long as it stays profitable.”

“Right. Of course. Businesses are no good to anyone if they’re not making money. Temptation does make money, right? I mean, we’re always busy.”

“Yeah, sweetheart, it makes money.”

A surprising amount, according to Dash. He’d pored over the books since we took over, and even he was astounded at the profit coming through the business.

“How did you get involved with the club? I can’t imagine they send out job applications.”

Fuck, that’s a complicated tale and not one I want to share with her yet. I don’t want to fucking scare her away by revealing the man I truly am. “Long story,” I say.

“Which means mind your business.” Her awkwardness hits my gut like a stone. “Got it. ”

“It ain’t a secret, Maylie. It’s just a really long, really horrible story.”

Her eyes are sad for a moment. “I understand that.” The lights go down on the main floor, leaving only the bar area and stage illuminated. It steals the opportunity I have to press her for answers, to find out what she understands about long and horrible stories. What happened to her? “The doors are about to open. I better get back to work.”

For the next hour, the bar transforms. Tables and booths are filled with men of all ages, and a few women too. Maylie and Bella work like whirlwinds, pouring drinks with practiced ease and then grabbing their trays to disappear into the shadows of the main floor. I watch Maylie with eagle eyes, ready to pounce into action if anyone so much as flinches in her direction.

On one of her numerous trips out to the floor, I track her like a predator as she weaves between the tables. Someone tries to touch her, and I stand immediately, ready to snap his fucking wrist until she diffuses the situation.

What the fuck am I doing?

This… this ain’t me.

I don’t care about anyone outside of Nicky and Riot, but somehow, this woman has got under my skin in a matter of days.

I’m in fucking trouble.