SAVIOR: A Motorcycle Club Romance (6 page)

Max came out of the shower with a towel around his waist. He used a hand towel to dry his hair. It looked wet and shiny like silk under a rainfall. I stepped in to help comb his hair.

After a few minutes, he admired the James Dean look I gave him. “You’re good at combing hair.”

“And you’re good at braiding hair,” I retorted. It felt nice to return the favor, especially with him only wearing a towel. “My mother worked as a hairdresser. I never knew her very well but some of her skills rubbed off on me. It must be genetic.”

“I never had much of a family,” he revealed absentmindedly. “My father was a hired gun for the Steel Eagles. My mother was a waitress he dated. She served him coffee at the diner he went for breakfast.”

“My parents met the same way,” I replied. “Dad met mom when she was a teenager cutting hair on weekends.”

“My mother died when I was a toddler. She had always been a sickly woman.”

“Did she go to a hospital for help?”

“No, she was an illegal immigrant from a war torn country in Eastern Europe,” Max sighed. “My mother came here as a stowaway in a cargo ship. She was afraid getting medical attention get her jailed or deported. My birth had almost claimed her life. After she died, I ended up living with my father.”

“That’s awful,” I gasped, momentarily stopping my combing. “What about your father? Did you live with him and his motorcycle club?”

“When I was five, he died during a shootout,” he said, continuing his tragic tale. “The Steel Eagles took me in since they respected my father. He had fought and bled for them so they wanted to make sure I was taken care of. They fed and clothed me. They taught me to fight with my fists, ride a motorcycle, and shoot a gun. They also made me take up my father’s mantle. I was a gunrunner when most teenager were worrying about pimples and the school prom.”

“If the club was that important to you, then why did you leave?”

“I never planned on leaving,” he admitted. “For years, I didn’t think much about the world outside of the motorcycle club’s four walls. Maria changed all of that. She made me question my ties to the Steel Eagles.”

“And your club just let you go?”

“Just like my old man, I had fought and bled for them,” he answered, his fingers tracing a scar on his shoulder. It looked like a bullet wound that had entered and exited him. It seemed like it had missed any major internal organs. We had something in common after all. “I had earned the right to leave. Besides, they were scared of Maria.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. “Some tough motorcycle club was afraid of a German college student?”

“More of what she represented,” he clarified, flashing a bright smile. “I felt truly happy in being with her. It reminded me of when my mother held me as a child. She would talk to me about growing up into a good man… back before the Eagles and my father took me away. To be honest, I was a little scared of Maria myself.”

“You were afraid of her?”

“The Eagles were taught to keep their emotions locked up inside of them,” Max said, almost sounding as if he were quoting someone. “Emotions are dangerous in that line of work. I believed that… until I met Maria.”

“One woman did that?”

“She showed me there was more to life than the Steel Eagles,” Max continued, his eyes looking wistful. “Maria opened my eyes to a humble life with a real family. Not one of violence and killing. Soon, the place I had called a home became a prison. I told the club president I planned on leaving with Maria.”

“How did that go?” I asked. “I can’t imagine it’s as easy as giving your boss the usual two weeks’ notice.”

“It was dangerous to challenge him but we had to leave,” he sighed, rubbing his forehead. It was like he was massaging long dormant memories in his head. “Surprisingly enough, he understood where I came from. At first, I thought it was due to the respect he held for my late father. However, he had faced the same dilemma that I had.”

I put the pieces together. “He fell in love with a woman…”

“And he choose the club over her,” Max replied, almost letting out a cynical laugh. “He knew the power of what I felt for Maria and he was afraid of it. As club president, he was terrified of the bikers loving someone more than they loved the club. Inside its walls, the club could control us. It could mold us into whatever he or the next club president wanted us to be.”

“So he was afraid of your bond with Maria becoming stronger than your bond with the club.”

“Exactly,” he said. “I made the choice he couldn’t. I had never thought I’d start a normal life and raise a family. Maria opened up my eyes. I saw what happened to my dad when he put the club before his family. He died alone over a stupid deal that went bad.”

“I’m sure your mother would’ve been proud,” I said in admiration. I reached out to rest my hand on his shoulder. My hair cascaded upon his bare skin. “And Maria as well. She must’ve been a special woman.”

“She was,” he said with a bittersweet smile, his shoulders slumping. “And now I’m back to being alone.”

“No, you’re not,” I said, locking eyes with him. I placed my head opposite his. “I’m here for you.”

Max reached out touch my cheek with the back of his hands. His weather-beaten knuckles gently rasped against my skin. His grey eyes seemed like a pair of blizzards that were even more intense. I leaned in to get a better look at them. So much passion and pain swirled in each iris. Our lips were just millimeters from each other. I wanted to ease the tension and pain in his beautiful grey eyes.

Then, we kissed.

His lips were as warm and welcoming as the fireplace he tended. Max made the log burning in the hearth seem like a mere firecracker. The man’s body was like a wildfire setting the forest of my heart ablaze.

In these cold days, I had forgotten what it was to be truly safe and warm. It wasn’t just thick clothing or a good heating system that kept a person warm. It was the warmth that came from love and companionship.

I felt him grasp the sides of my face with both hands. Max kissed me even deeper with his tongue holding down mine like depressor. My fingertips traced the muscular panes of his bare chest.

Suddenly, he broke away from me. Conflicted emotions clouded his grey eyes. I almost blurted out a ‘sorry’ before holding my tongue. I honestly didn’t know what to say that would make the situation less awkward.

For a moment, there was only silence except the howl of wind outside.

“I’m heading to the garage,” he said, avoiding my gaze. Max went to get dressed. It felt like he was putting on a piece of armor to shield himself from me. “Do you need anything from your car?”

I was as flush as a strawberry. “No, I’m good.”

Max went into the garage and disappeared for a better part of an hour. I made some hot dogs for us it. I let the links stew in the pot while I fished through the pantry for toppings. They were easy enough to make. It gave me time to think about our relationship.

And rehearse a hundred different apologies.

I didn’t know what exactly I felt for Max. It was a mix of admiration, attraction, and empathy. I felt as much love a woman could for a man she had just met. Yet, I respected the pain that still lingered in his heart. It felt callous to pick at it while it still healed.

Max returned when I finished laying the hotdogs on their buns. “Do you want anything special on yours?”

“Smells good,” he said, breathing in the aroma of the freshly cooked food. “Just ketchup, mustard and relish. I’m not too fancy about what I put on meat in tube form. I picked it up from Maria. Germans like having as little garnishing on their sausages as possible.”

I handed him his hotdog. “Okay, just the essentials for you.”

“Thanks,” he replied, immediately chowing down on his hotdog. “Tastes great.”

The two of us sat and ate together. We talked about everything except for the awkward kiss we had mere moments ago. If anything, avoiding the subject made me think about it even more about the gorgeous man next to me.

My nipples grew hard but it wasn’t from the cold. I imagined his hand cupping my breasts and pinching hard on them. I wanted to kiss his warm lips again. I wanted him to suckle my lower lip before plunging his tongue deep into me.

Finally, Max broke the awkward silence and my perverse thoughts. “I supposed we should talk about what happened earlier, Emily.”

“I just keep saying stupid stuff,” I sighed, wanting to crawl into a hole and disappear. “You must think I’m the worst guest ever.”

“No, the worst guest I ever had was a traveling salesman who tried to sell me a used ottoman,” he laughed. I joined in a girlish giggle. I was relieved that the tension was somewhat relieved between us. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. You’re a lovely, charming girl.”

I shot him a look of disbelief. “You really think so?”

“I never lie to a lady. Eagle’s honor.”

I sucked in my lower lip. “But I’m not beautiful like Maria.”

“I had my romance with Maria… but it’s time to move on,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s what she would’ve wanted… but you deserve better, Emily. You deserve someone better than a shell of a man…”

I almost wanted to laugh. The biker didn’t know just how gorgeous and charismatic he was. I guessed it was a side effect of living by himself in the middle of nowhere. This place probably didn’t get it share of young women in need of a handsome boyfriend.

“But I want you, Max,” I replied, placing a hand on his cheek. I felt it slowly swell and deflate under my fingers. “You’re the kindest man I have ever known.”

I tugged at the neck of his t-shirt. I saw the toned musculature peeking over the rim of his shirt. My eyes trailed down to his groin.

In turn, I began to unbutton my shirt. I revealed my bra-clad breasts to him. Taking off my shirt, I began to remove my sweat pants as well.

Suddenly, Max reached out to stop my hand. “We can’t do this, Emily. I don’t want you to do this out of a sense of obligation. I may be your savior… but I can’t be your lover.”

“I don’t think of you as just my savior,” I replied, feeling his grip loosen around my hand. “At first, I wasn’t sure I could even trust you. I’ve always had a thing against bad boys. But you’ve shown me that you’re more than a leather jacket and a bike strapped to a pickup jeep.”

He started to speak. “Emily-“

But I silenced him with a finger before pressing my body against him. Taking off my finger off his mouth, I replaced it with my lips. Our mouths became locked in a passionate kiss. His tongue yearned for more but I broke it off before he got what he wanted. “I need you, Max.”

He stared at me as if lost in a daze. I wondered if old memories of Maria flooded back into his mind. They had been through much together. Max had fought for her. He had even left the motorcycle club that raised him to start a new life with her.