Mace (Untamed Sons MC: Birmingham Chapter #1)

19. Mace

NINETEEN

MACE

The ride from my flat to the clubhouse feels like it takes an eternity. I have no idea what has happened to cause Maylie to come to the clubhouse, but worst-case scenarios are racing through my mind. I knew something was going on with her, and now, I’m kicking myself for not asking more questions.

I barely take the time to properly park my bike, and I toss my helmet at the prospect on the door before heading into the building. I don’t give the brothers in the common room a second glance as I head to where Riley said he left her.

I’m not sure what to expect when I open the door, so my heart is in my throat as I twist the handle.

Maylie is lying on the bed with Toby and a younger blonde girl who I assume is her sister. There is no blood, no injuries that I can see either. Her sister appears to be asleep, curled on her side against Maylie, and Toby gives me a smile, flicking his fingers at me in a wave as Maylie gently disentangles herself from her sister .

“Maylie…” The girl’s sleepy voice is quiet.

“It’s okay. Go back to sleep, Ivy. I’ll be back in a second, okay?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her,” Toby assures her.

The kid might be young, but the resolution in his expression tells me he means every word he says. I respect the fuck out of him for stepping up when Maylie clearly needs him to.

“Thanks, Toby.”

Maylie slips off the bed and crosses the carpet. I watch every step she takes with a corresponding thunk of the meat in my chest. She’s not hurt, though she is rattled. There’s no sign of her usual infectious sunshine as she stands in front of me. Instead, she’s uncertain and expressing a myriad of other emotions I can’t read.

Is she worried what my reaction will be to her coming here?

Is she in trouble that she thinks I can’t help her out of?

The only thing I feel as she steps into my space is fuckin’ relief. I let my eyes roam over every inch of her face until I’m sure there’s nothing life threatening, then I tug her against my chest, crushing her to me.

Fuck . She’s okay.

Her arms wrap around my back, clinging to me with a desperation that sends anxiety skittering through me. “Thank you for coming,” she whispers, and my chest hollows out as I pull back.

What the fuck is going on?

I cup her cheeks, needing to touch her, and press my forehead to hers. I’ve never felt panic like I did getting that call.

“You’re okay.” I’m not sure if it’s a question or a statement, but the tension in my shoulders and neck eases as the bands around my heart loosen.

Her hands slip over mine, holding me in place as she peers up at me. Maylie is so strong, so determined, but her vulnerability is split open for all to see. What the hell happened to drive her here? “I need to talk to you.” She glances back at the bed, and I get her meaning.

She needs to talk to me alone.

I open the door behind us and wait for her to slip out into the corridor. There’s an empty room next door that I lead her to, and as I close the door behind us, she steps away from me, her arms wrapping around her stomach as if she’s nauseous. I don’t like the distance as it makes the embrace we had feel almost like a goodbye.

“I’m so sorry for coming here, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

“What’s going on, Maylie?”

Her bottom lip slides between her teeth as her eyes screw up slightly. “I’m in trouble and I don’t know how to fix it. I hate asking for help, but?—”

I’m in front of her, my hand wrapping around her nape before I realise what I’m doing. “I’d be more pissed if you didn’t come to me,” I assure her.

She closes her eyes, and my stomach lurches as I brace for whatever hit is about to land. “The bruise on my arm…” Her voice breaks, and I rub my thumb over her skin. “I didn’t fall. Well… I did, but because I was pushed. Ivy… she’s got herself into a situation, and I don’t know how to get her out of it. We need to leave town. I have to take her somewhere safe.”

There is no way in fuck she’s leaving town. I won’t allow it. I lead her over to the bed, guiding her onto it as I sit next to her. “Tell me everything.”

A tear slides down her cheek, and I reach out to wipe it away. “She started dating this guy. I thought it was someone from school, but she was cagey as hell about him. At first, she was happy, and then she started to change. She was dipping out on her responsibilities, giving me shit all the time, and she was so angry, like she just couldn’t regulate her emotions. I tried to talk to her. I tried so many times, but she was so closed-off to me. Her boyfriend is a fucking man, Mace. He’s at least in his thirties, and that wouldn’t be issue if he was good to her, but he’s not.” Her voice trembles. “He’s hurting her.”

My jaw clenches so tight, my teeth ache. I’d only glimpsed Ivy, but she looks as small as Maylie, and at seventeen, she’s still a kid. “Hurting her how?”

“I think he’s beating her. I grabbed her arm one day in the kitchen when we were arguing, and she cried out as if I’d broken it. I barely touched her, Mace, but she told me tonight that she’d reacted like that because he’d already hurt her.” She wipes at the tears now freely falling down her cheeks. “I don’t know how to help her besides running from him. She’s so scared, and to be honest, so I am. When I went to confront him, he didn’t take it very well.”

Red films my vision, and it takes every ounce of my strength not to lose my shit. “He pushed you.”

“Ivy pushed me. She was trying to protect me, to get me to leave before he did anything else. He’d already put his hands on me by that point.”

“Put his hands on you how?” White noise blasts in my ears as my breaths become choppy .

“It doesn’t matter. The point is, I can’t fight him, Mace. If he comes to the flat to take her, I can’t stop him, but I’m gonna try. He can’t have her.” The fierce anger in her voice has pride swelling in my chest, but this is no longer her fight. It’s mine. “I’ll kill him before I let him touch her again.”

I don’t doubt it, but it’s not going to come to that. I’m going to find this guy and break every part of him that touched Maylie… and Ivy.

“You don’t need to touch him. I’ll make sure he never comes near either of you again.”

To my surprise, she shakes her head. “I didn’t come here to ask you to fight this battle for me. I hate to even do this, but I need help to get set up somewhere else. I’m behind with everything, and I don’t have the funds to move us. You offered to help me with money in the past. I’m hoping that offer still stands. I just need enough for us to get somewhere safe in another city. I promise I’ll pay you back as soon as I get a job?—”

I cut her off before she can say another word. “You’re not fucking leaving town. No fucking way. This is your home, Maylie. I won’t allow it.”

“You won’t allow it?”

“No. This thing between us is new, but I don’t let people I care about go.” I palm her cheek. “I’m not letting you go.”

She’s tense for a moment before she relaxes under my touch, and I press my mouth to hers. Every inch of my body comes alive, and every inch of me craves more of her. “I need you to tell me everything about this guy, every single thing you know, and then I’m gonna need your sister to tell me everything she knows.”

“I don’t want to drag you into my mess, Mace. ”

“You ain’t draggin’ me anywhere. I’m all in, Maylie. I’ve been all in from the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

“You have?” She clings to my biceps, as if she’s afraid to let me go.

“If you don’t know that, then I’m doing something wrong.”

She crushes herself to my chest, sobbing brokenly, and it gores me to hear it. I hold her so tight, letting her expel all the demons inside her until her crying stops.

“He got her pregnant, Mace. He took away her birth control and forced her to have his child.” My hate for this guy is growing by the second. I already want to cut his balls off for touching Maylie, but knowing he did that to a teenager fuckin’ infuriates me. “How am I meant to protect her and her baby? The man is a monster.”

I pull back so she can see my face. “And what do you think I am, Maylie?”

She peers at me through her wet lashes. “I think you’re a good man.”

Her words shock me. No one has ever accused me of being good. I’ve always crossed lines and done whatever it took to get results. “I’m good to you.”

Her brows come together. “Oh… I don’t know what that means.”

I kiss her. “It means you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll take care of it.”

I need to touch her, to release the anger brewing inside me, and the longer our lips remain locked, the calmer I become until the rage bleeding inside me slows.

I get as much information as I can out of Maylie before we speak with Ivy. We do it in a different room so Toby doesn’t have to hear the harrowing details of what that fucking cunt did to her. As she spills everything, my fingers ache from curling them into fists. I can barely stomach to hear the torment he inflicted on her… and not just the physical shit. He has her so turned inside out that she tries to justify some of the shit he did to her. Her fear of him isn’t feigned—the girl is fuckin’ terrified of upsetting this cunt.

When she’s finished talking, both she and Maylie are in tears. I keep my hand on the back of Maylie’s neck while Ivy’s rests against her stomach. “I’m worried about my baby. Yesterday, he hit me here.” She indicates a spot above her abdomen, more in the rib area, but I can understand why she would be worried.

“Do you want to go to the hospital to make sure things are okay?” Maylie asks her.

Fear blankets her eyes. “What if he’s there?”

“I’ll be with you,” I say. “Trust me, kid, he ain’t getting near you ever again.”

She closes her eyes. “My baby is innocent. I don’t… I don’t want to lose my child.”

“Then we go to the hospital,” I say.

I grab the keys to one of the pool cars, and while Maylie gets in the front seat, her brother and sister climb into the back. I keep my hand on her thigh the entire drive, needing to touch her someway so my rage doesn’t overwhelm me.

My club affiliation gets us pushed up the queue in the emergency department, and within an hour, Maylie and her sister disappear through the double doors that lead to the treatment bays. I hate letting her out of my sight, but Ivy needs privacy for whatever examination is about to happen and she only met me a couple of hours ago .

I sit with Toby in the waiting room, ignoring the looks of mistrust, disgust, curiosity, and even admiration people keep directing at me. I’m used to being watched, it comes with the territory, but I can tell the kid finds it a little odd.

“Do people always stare at you?” Toby asks as he leans back in the plastic chair he’s sitting in, his gaze roaming the waiting area.

“Yeah.”

“It bother you?”

“No.”

He swings his head back and forth, watching the endless movement of people in and out of the waiting area. “You like being a biker?”

“Yep.”

“You ever say more than one-word answers?”

I snort. “Kid, is there a reason for the twenty questions?”

His shoulders shift. “Just making small talk.” He pauses, then asks, “You like my sister?”

I turn to him. The question isn’t malicious or accusing, just curious.

“Yeah, I like your sister,” I answer plainly.

I more than like Maylie, which is why she ain’t leaving town. I will burn every part of Link’s life to ashes before I let her walk away.

“She’s a good person.” Is he about to deliver me the same warning Steve had when he noticed my interest in Maylie?

“She is.” I lean forward on the plastic chair, ignoring the ache in my back and lacing my fingers together between my slightly parted thighs. “It bother you?” I fire back his earlier question .

He shakes his head. “No. She deserves to be happy.”

A pang of pain spreads through my chest. “She hasn’t been happy?”

That thought doesn’t sit right with me, but what I’ve learned about Maylie is that she puts on a brave face, often hiding behind her smiles and sunny personality. Beneath it, it’s easy to see she’s not doing as well as she makes out.

I’m surprised Toby has noticed that. In my experience, young boys aren’t usually all that empathetic. “She tells me and Ivy that she is, but I don’t think she’s been happy for a long time.”

“What makes you say that?”

He shifts his shoulders, pushing his too-long hair out his eyes. “I can tell. My sisters think I don’t notice things, but I do. I see what they try to hide from me as if I’m too young or too stupid to know the details. Maylie pretends she’s happy. She doesn’t want me and Ivy to feel as if we’re a burden to her, but of course we are. No one wants to be stuck raising their siblings.”

My chest tightens at his words. I’ve been this kid. I’ve been the teen with no parents, relying on other people to take care of me. I understand how he feels, but he couldn’t be more wrong. Maylie doesn’t see him as a burden. If anything, she is clinging desperately to the idea of family that she’s built since they lost their mother.

“That’s not true, Toby. Your sister desperately wants to keep you together as a family. Ain’t saying the situation ain’t hard. Taking care of anyone else at any point in life is fucking hard, but don’t ever feel like you’re weighing her down.”

He turns his head towards me, pinning me with the gaze. “But we do weigh her down. Maylie can’t have a normal life while she’s taking care of us. Sometimes, I think it would be kinder for her if she put us into the system.”

That pain in my chest spreads. “Trust me, it wouldn’t be kinder for you, and it wouldn’t be kinder for her either. You think about the way Maylie worries about you now, how do you think she’s going to feel knowing you’re in foster care? And the system… it ain’t rainbows and unicorns, Toby. There are good people who really want to help kids, but there’s a small percentage of foster parents in it for the wrong reasons. You get placed with one of them, it can change your life in ways you can’t even imagine. So, yeah, things might not be perfect with your sister, but trust me when I tell you it’s the best way for all of you.”

His brows draw together as he mulls over my words. “I didn’t think about that. I just… I hate that she’s never got to experience things she should have.”

“Like what?”

His mouth pulls into a wry smile. “Dating. She never had time to do anything. When Mum first got sick, she lost most of her friends from school. It’s hard to keep up with things when all your free time is spent sitting in hospitals or taking care of me and Ivy.”

“She doesn’t do anything other than go to work?”

The thought of her living and breathing nothing but work is depressing. “Not usually. When you took her out for breakfast, I think that’s the first time she’s ever done anything fun that wasn’t with me or Ivy.”

That heavy feeling in my gut weighs down even more. I’m building a picture of Maylie, and I don’t like what that picture shows .

I want to ask him more, but the doors to the treatment area open and Maylie steps out with Ivy. They’re both smiling, which makes some of the tightness in my chest loosen.

Toby and I both push up at the same time, walking over to them.

“Everything okay?” I ask, slipping a hand around the back of her neck.

I don’t know what this need is to touch her constantly, but the moment my skin comes into contact with hers, I feel calm. Maylie nods, but her words are at odds with the tears standing in her eyes. Seeing them makes me want to hit something.

“Hey… what’s wrong?”

“She’s been crying since she saw the screen,” Ivy says.

My gaze slides from her younger sister back to Maylie. “Ivy’s baby looks perfect, according to the sonographer. I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt.”

I pull her against my chest, dropping the hand on her neck to wrap both my arms around her back. This woman…

I kiss the top of her head before moving down to her mouth and claiming that in a quick kiss. I wish I could take longer to devour her, to show her everything I’m feeling, but her brother and sister are sniggering at the side of us.

I force myself back, enjoying the way her cheeks flush. “Let’s go back to the clubhouse.”

I slip my hand into hers as we walk out of the hospital.

Toby and Ivy chatter the entire way back. I don’t have a clue what Toby is saying, but he seems to be suggesting baby names from some computer games he’s played .

Maylie stays uncharacteristically quiet, so I rest my hand on her thigh, bringing her attention to me. She gives me a smile that barely reaches her eyes, and I wish I was able to ask her what’s going on in that pretty head of hers. She’d been so happy in the hospital, but her mood has soured during the drive back.

She doesn’t speak much as I show Toby and Ivy back to the room and tell them to message their sister if they need anything. Then I take Maylie’s hand and guide her out into the hallway.

As soon as the door is shut behind us, she digs her heels in, forcing me to stop. “Where are we going?”

“Only next door.”

Her gaze slides back to the door we just exited. “I’d rather stay with them. I don’t want to be alone.”

Sometimes, her innocence is fucking adorable. I step into her space, spanning my hands around her hips. “You ain’t gonna be alone.”

Confusion furrows her brow. “I don’t… you… what?”

I brush my thumb over the apple of her cheek. “I’ll be with you.”

Her eyes flare wide. “Oh.”

“You’d rather stay with your brother and sister?” I give her an out, even though I really hope she doesn’t take it.

“No. I mean, yes, I want to stay with you.”

Thank fuck for that.

I press my mouth to hers, kissing her with the passion I wanted to give her in the hospital. I can’t get enough of her. She is so different from any other woman I’ve ever been with. It should scare me how fast Maylie has become an intrinsic part of my life, but it feels like this is how it was always meant to be .

My tongue slides between the seam of her lips, and she opens to me, allowing me inside her mouth. Her movements against my tongue get braver every time we kiss, and my thoughts go back to what Toby said in the hospital.

Maylie doesn’t have time to do anything, not even dating. I don’t know if he meant that literally, or if he was exaggerating how busy his sister has been over the years. No one who looks like her could get to twenty-two without dating at least someone.

That thought dies as I break apart from her, leaning my forehead to hers to catch my breath. “I don’t want you to worry about anything,” I tell her.

“It’s hard not to. I’m used to being the one always having to think about these things. I don’t know how to be any other way.”

“I know, darlin’, but you’re no longer alone. Come on. You need to sleep.”

I lead her into the room next to where we left her siblings. I shut the door and move to the couch to toe off my boots. Maylie doesn’t move, her nerves apparent as she takes in the bed. “We’re just gonna sleep,” I assure her.

Her eyes move from the bed to me. “What if I don’t want to sleep?”

I scan her face, trying to discern where her head is at, but she’s surprisingly closed off. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to forget. I know I have no right to ask anything else of you, considering everything you’ve already done, but can you help me to forget?”

Fuck. The vulnerability in her words slices through me. “Maylie… not like this?— ”

She doesn’t let me finish.

Rolling to her toes, she presses her mouth to mine and kisses me with a fevered desperation. I’m a cunt, because I should stop this. She’s emotional and upset, but I want her, so I press her back against the wall and let my tongue grapple with hers.

I lift her off the ground, her legs wrapping around my hips as our mouths fuse together. My heart is thumping like I’m a teenager having my first sexual experience. I’ve fucked so many women over the years, had a mix of both good and really bad sex, but I’ve never felt a single connection to any woman I’ve ever been with until now.

I’m no longer in control of myself, and from the way she clings to me as she devours my mouth, neither is she.

This isn’t enough. In this position, I can’t touch her the way I want to, so I walk us over to the bed and sit her on the edge of it. I lose our connection, our mouths coming apart as I reach for the hem of her sweater and drag it over her head. She lifts her arms instinctively, leaving her in a tiny vest top. I don’t bother to remove that, impatient to get my fill of her.

Instead, I pull it down under her breasts, revealing the pale pink lacy cups of her bra, which I unhook to get my first glimpse of those dusty coloured nipples. She’s perfection, and my decision to stop her from dancing is confirmed as a good one. The thought of anyone else seeing her naked has me growling in my throat before I drop to my knees in front of her.

Her gaze follows my movements as I part her thighs to make space for me and take one of her breasts in my hand before sucking the nipple into my mouth. Her fingers dig into the edge of the mattress as she tosses her head back, dragging in a ragged breath.

Does she have even the slightest clue how sexy she is?

She looks beautiful, her head tipped back, gripping the mattress like her life depends on it. My body is electrified in a way it’s never been, and my cock is so hard in my jeans that it borders on pain.

When I’ve had my fill of her pretty tits, I lift my head. I don’t even have her fully, and yet I’m more turned-on than I have ever been in my entire life. I reach for the button of her jeans, opening them and pulling down the zip. I see the first ripple of uncertainty in her eyes as she comes up onto her elbows to watch what I’m doing.

It’s enough to make me pause for a second. “You want to stop?”

She shakes her head. “No, I’m fine. Keep going.”

“You need me to stop, just say the word, yeah?”

“Okay.”

I pull her jeans off her legs, tossing them onto the floor behind me. Her underwear is simple black cotton knickers, a stark difference to the softness of the bra. Maylie’s hands twitch, as if she’s debating covering herself, and eventually, she covers the apex between her thighs.

If she knew the battle raging inside me, the sheer force of will it is taking for me not to toss her down and ram my dick deep inside her body, she would not have an iota of uncertainty.

Putting a knee onto the mattress, I lean down and kiss her with every ounce of passion that beats inside my body, leaving no doubt about what I feel for her. Maylie truly has no idea how perfect she is, and that only adds to her appeal. While I admire confidence, I’m drawn to her sweetness.

“Are you on the pill?”

She shakes her head. “I’ve never… I don’t…”

I run my hand over her stomach, enjoying the ripples of her muscles. “It’s okay. I have condoms.”

As I try to climb off the bed, she grabs my shirt, stopping me. The look on her face makes my gut twist.

“Mace…” Apprehension quivers in her words, making me pause. “I’ve… I…” She sits up awkwardly on her elbows, her hand covering her bare breasts before she tugs her top up. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I really do.”

“It’s okay if you ain’t ready. There’s a lot going on and things are a bit crazy. We can just sleep, darlin’, if you’d rather?—”

“I’m a virgin.” She blurts it out so fast, it takes my brain a moment to catch up.

She’s a virgin. Maylie is a fucking virgin.

My heart skips a beat, something I’m pretty sure it’s never done before, as elation washes through me. In any other circumstance, I would never want to be with someone without experience, but knowing no one has ever touched Maylie that way before unlocks a possessive edge to me I didn’t know I had. I want to be her first. I like knowing I’ll be the only one who’s been inside her.

She mistakes my silence for judgement and quickly scrambles away from me, coming to stand at the edge of the bed. “Right. Okay. I’m sorry.” Heat rises in her cheeks as she refuses to meet my gaze. “I’ll go back next door.”

Before she can reach for her sweater, I wrap my hand around her bicep. “Stop.”

She doesn’t move, but she also won’t look at me. I lift her chin with my other hand, and her uncertain eyes lock onto mine. The vulnerability shining in them hits me in the chest like a fucking sledgehammer, and I realise the power I have to destroy her.

“I don’t care that you’re a virgin. Knowing no one else has touched you is fuckin’ driving me to the edge.”

The line between her eyes deepens as she searches my expression for the truth in my words. “You’re just saying that.”

“Babe, I never say shit I don’t mean.”

She pulls away from my touch, glancing aside. “Don’t you find it weird that I’m twenty-two and have never had sex?”

“Why would I find it weird?”

“You were my first kiss too, Mace.”

Fuck . My cock turns to stone. “Sweetheart, you’re killing me here.”

“I am?”

I thread my fingers through her hair. “I love that you’re mine completely,” I assure her. “And I’ll take this at whatever pace you need to. The first time we’re together, I want you to be comfortable.”

I don’t even recognise the words coming out of my mouth. I’ve never said this shit to anyone in my entire fucking life. If she was a club girl, I would have kicked her out of my fucking room, but Maylie isn’t someone I plan on using for a good time. She’s my future. “Get ready for bed. You look exhausted.”

“What about you?”

“I’m fine. I can survive on next to no sleep.”

Her eyes bounce from my eyes to between my legs. “I mean… that . ”

I follow her line of sight, noting the bulge behind my jeans. I’m hard as a rock. “You let me worry about that.”

She shakes her head and tentatively presses her hand against the folds of denim protecting my dick. I suck a breath between my teeth the moment she makes contact, my balls so tight, it hurts.

“You don’t have to do this,” I say despite the pain of needing to release.

“I know, but I want to.” Her fingers fumble with my belt, and I don’t move as she pulls the buckle free before releasing the button. I have to concentrate so hard to make sure I don’t blow in my underwear.

Eventually, she pulls down my zip and peels my jeans apart, pushing them down my thighs. She stares at the bulge behind my boxers, her fingers trailing over the material, making my hips twitch.

This seems to embolden her, and she slips her hand between the waistband of my boxer shorts and my belly until her fingers meet the silk of my shaft.

I swallow hard, sucking in air through my nose as she rubs along my shaft to the tip of my cock. I can hear my laboured breaths in the silence of the room as she frees me from the material.

“It’s so big .” She breathes the words, and I’m not sure she intended to say them out loud, but it makes me chuckle.

“I’m glad you approve.”

Her eyes flick to mine before lowering again to study my cock. “I don’t know what I’m doing. What do you like?”

I understand how hard it is to tell someone you’re out of your depth, so I take her hand in mine and wrap it around my shaft. “You can apply a lot more pressure than you are,” I tell her. “Don’t be afraid of hurting me. I can take it.”

She tightens her grip, firm enough that it sends a wave of desire shooting through my body but not hard enough to cause pain. My fingers tangle in her hair. “That’s my good girl.” Her eyes heat at my words. “You like that? Being called my good girl?”

She nods, her tongue wetting her lips. “I like it when you call me anything sweet.” Her hand still grips my shaft as I kiss her. “What do I do now?”

“Whatever you want.”