Hardy Read online

  When he came to another entry, Hardy felt sick to his stomach. It was the entry after she caught him cheating.

  I guess I’m cursed. I wondered what it would be like to have a different kind of man who wasn’t a biker, and Hardy wanted a different woman. I’m not good enough. He wanted someone else, a club whore. I saw it with my own two eyes.

  He’d been absent for a long time, refusing to come home at night. I thought it was space he needed because I couldn’t have kids. No, he’s found my replacement. He wants another woman.

  If she came back pregnant he’d probably have traded me in. I’m old news now.

  There were smudges on the page where tears had clearly fallen as she wrote. His heart broke for what Rose went through. He’d never wanted to hurt her, and yet over the years, he’d done exactly that, hurting her, breaking her.

  What kind of a husband did that?

  She’s pregnant.

  On one page that was all she wrote.

  Those two words held so much pain, and he was the cause. When it came to Rose’s pain, he was always the cause.

  He couldn’t handle anymore reading, and so he put the diaries away, and packed everything away.

  Climbing out of the attic, he smiled down at Rose as she entered.

  “How was your day?” he asked.

  “It was great. I’m so tired though. You wouldn’t believe how exhausting kids can be.”

  He followed her into the kitchen, and knew he was going to start making some changes. Rose deserved someone much better than he was.

  Chapter Seven

  “Sally is just through that room. She’s fifteen, and yes, she’s gone from one foster home to another, but give her time. She hasn’t had the best start,” the social worker said.

  Lacey was nervous as she stood beside Whizz. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and glanced down at his watch. The longer this trip lasted the better. He didn’t agree with Lash and Angel, but he’d do what they asked.

  “Will you stop?” Lacey said, digging him in the ribs.

  “What?”

  “This is our chance, and you’re going to ruin it. How do you think she’ll feel if she sees you looking at your watch?”

  “Fine, fine, I’ll stop.”

  He walked into the room the social worker pointed to, and when he opened the door, he stopped. The girl, Sally, was sitting at a table, scribbling in a notebook.

  “She’s doing her homework,” the social worker said. “Sally, honey, you’ve got visitors.”

  The pen hovered over the page for a split second, and then Sally looked up. Whizz would have taken a step back in that moment. Her brown eyes were filled with so much pain, so much anguish. She knew she wasn’t wanted, that no one wanted her. The wall came down over her eyes as she stared back at them.

  “Shall I leave you three alone?” the social worker asked.

  Sally’s hand tightened around her pen. Whizz wasn’t wearing his leather cut as he’d not wanted to frighten anyone.

  “Will you feel okay with us?” Lacey asked.

  “Sure, whatever,” Sally said, glancing down at her work. She slammed the book closed, and he saw it was a math book.

  Taking a seat opposite Sally, Whizz lowered himself down into a chair with Lacey by his side.

  Sally kept looking at him, but none of them spoke until the social worker left.

  “What happened to your face?” she asked.

  Whizz smiled. He’d been tortured for hours in getting the scars on his face and body.

  “I got into a bad fight.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He noticed both of her hands were clenched together where they sat on the desk.

  “You don’t need to be sorry. Why are you afraid?” he asked, pointing at her hands.

  She unclenched them, and even with the table separating them he saw little half moons that were indented from her clenching. “I’m not.”

  “You’re terrified. Probably crapping your pants,” Whizz said.

  The fire in her eyes let him know she wasn’t broken, at least not yet.

  “Whizz, stop it,” Lacey said.

  “I don’t get off on scarred men trying to scare little girls. What’s your kink? You into schoolgirls? Want to pass me around to men for money?”

  He had his answer.

  “I’m not into little girls, and neither is the club I ride with. I’m part of The Skulls. We’re a well-known MC.”

  “I’ve heard of you.”

  “A lot of people have heard of us. I take it you’ve been passed around foster homes, used.”

  Sally broke eye contact. “No one wants a teenage girl who fights back.”

  Whizz saw a loose tear spill down her cheeks. “How often do you cry?”

  She wiped it away, and glared. “I never cry.”

  “I don’t think this is helping at all,” Lacey said.

  “Would you like a chance to be our daughter?” Whizz said, following his gut.

  “What?”

  “I can’t offer you something great, but I can offer you a club, a family. None of us will prey on you. You’re fifteen, and we can give you a place to stay to be part of our family.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and slid it across to her. “Pick it up and look at the pictures.”

  She took hold of the cell phone, and started scanning through them.

  “May I come around, and tell you who they are?” Lacey asked.

  Sally nodded, and he watched his woman gaining Sally’s trust. This girl wasn’t what he expected. She’d not been given a real chance. Just from looking in her eyes, he saw that she believed she was unlovable.

  “You all look so happy,” she said.

  The yearning in her voice tore at Whizz. “Have you ever been with a family? Been part of one?”

  “I’ve been in foster care since I was a baby. My mother was an addict, and I had too many problems. No one wanted a baby that required too much care,” Sally said. “I’ve not had the best of luck.”

  “We’re offering you a chance,” Lacey said.

  “Why? You could have anyone. Why me?”

  “I saw your photo, and I wanted to give you a start. You reminded me of myself.”

  He listened to Lacey, loving his woman even more. She had a heart of gold, and she wanted to spread her love to others.

  “I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not wanted. In three years I’m out of foster care, and I can do whatever I want.”

  “You can do that, or you can come with us. We’re in the process of buying a house, and should be moving in soon. We’ll give you a good life, send you to college.”

  Sally bit her lip.

  “And we promise no one will try to take from you what you don’t want to give. We’re a good bunch of men.”

  “I’m not a bad mother either. I’ll be cool, let you dye your hair, and pretty much do whatever you want.”

  Sally looked from one to the other. “If you would like me to come with you, then I’ll be happy to come.”

  Well, shit, he’d just gotten himself a daughter.

  ****

  “What the fuck is this about?” Lash asked, moving into the main clubhouse. It was Saturday, and Hardy had been thinking about Rose’s diary all last night.

  “Doing a prom theme for the club, something a little different,” Hardy said.

  “Have we developed pussies?” Lash asked, stopping in front of most of the club.

  Zero and Prue were sitting together, along with Killer, Kelsey, Murphy, Tate, and pretty much the rest of the club. They all went silent, and Hardy looked at them all. His cheeks heated with embarrassment.

  “I’m trying to win my woman back. She’s never been to a prom or anything like that. I want to give her everything that she missed out on. She deserves it, and I’m asking you as the club Prez, and as my friend, to help me.”

  “You think prom is going to help you.”

  “Prom is pretty important in a woman’s life,” T
ate said.

  Hardy stared at Lash. “It’s important to me. It’s summer, and the kids aren’t at school. I’m not asking much.”

  “You’re asking me to turn the club into a high school prom. I went to prom. I’m not going to do it again,” Lash said.

  “Yeah, you went to prom and fucked some girl that wasn’t Angel. Just think how much your woman would love you if she knew that you’d created a prom theme,” Nash said, coming up to the group.

  “You’re helping him? My own brother against me?”

  “I’m a guy who can see what good a prom would do. I wasn’t there to take Sophia.” Nash shrugged. “Think how much our women would love us if we were to throw them a prom.”

  “Angel loves me.”

  “Look, I’m begging for this, okay? I fucked up the whole of my marriage, and I thought it was because of me cheating on her. It wasn’t just that. I’ve been failing my woman for so long that I don’t even know where it fucking starts. I’ve got to do something. She’s pregnant with my kid, and I’m not just going to sit back and lose her.” Hardy pleaded his case to Lash.

  “Fine.” Lash gave in. “Next Friday and I don’t want to hear another thing about it. This gets out and we’ll have everyone fighting us for Fort Wills.”

  Hardy thumped the air and turned to the women. “I’m going to need your help.”

  He worked for the next couple of hours to give the women an idea of the kind of prom he wanted. Everything that didn’t fit into the whole high school theme had to go. His mission was to give Rose everything she ever wanted. The diaries had been a nightmare and an insight, an important insight into his woman’s mind.

  By the end of the day they had ordered a lot of prom crap, and now all Hardy had to do was get her a dress to wear.

  Leaving the decoration of the club house to the women and men, Hardy begged them not to let anything slip to Rose. He wanted this to be a surprise to her. Riding into town, he pulled over when his cell phone went off.

  Picking up his phone, he saw Rose was calling.

  “What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”

  “I couldn’t get Millie to agree to Friday night, and I did tell Baker yesterday. However, she called and said if I’m still free she’s available tonight. Will you come over tonight? I really want this to work for him.”

  Hardy had completely forgotten about Millie and the plan to get her with Baker.

  “Sure, yes. Have you phoned Baker?”

  “Yeah, he’s more than happy. I offered to swing by the clubhouse to pick him up, but he doesn’t want me to. Said I didn’t need to pick him up.”

  “Nah, it’s better if he takes his bike. That way he can ride back to the clubhouse if he’s needed,” Hardy said. The last thing he needed was for Rose to go to the club. “I’ll swing by in an hour. I’ve got some things to do first.”

  They said their goodbyes, and Hardy made his way toward the shopping mall.

  Entering the mall, he found the shop specializing in proms and went inside. He looked through the racks, and when he found what he was looking for, he took it to the counter. After paying for the dress, he completed the outfit with some underwear. The dress was long, red, and would hug her curves to perfection. He found a lacy bra to match, and decided against underwear. She didn’t need the markings to ruin the line of the dress.

  Once he’d purchased shoes, he made his way to his home. Rose answered the door and stared at the boxes.

  “What is this?” she asked.

  “I will let you know in a couple of days’ time.”

  “What are you planning, Hardy?”

  “That’s for me to know, and you to find out.” He kissed her cheek, taking his package up to his room. He found the secret compartment where he stored all of his gifts for Rose, and slid it inside. When he came downstairs, he followed the lovely scent of garlic. Rose was in the kitchen, and he stood in the doorway, admiring her new curves. She wore a skirt that fell to her knees, and molded over the curves of her ass. Rose looked good enough to eat, and all he wanted to do was take a bite out of her ass.

  “Did you have a good day?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I want to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest with me,” he said.

  “Sure.”

  “Did you ever love me?”

  She turned around to face. “Of course I loved you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

  “Then what is it?” he asked.

  “Hardy…”

  “I want to be the man for you. I want you to love me, and to want to be with me.” He took a step toward her.

  Tears glistened in her eyes. “I never imagined myself married to a biker. I also never imagined myself part of your world.” She bit her lip again, and he’d come to see that she always did that when she was worried about upsetting him. “I fell in love with you when I was young, and I didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on.”

  “Would you still marry me again?” he asked.

  She hesitated. “I would still marry you. I just wouldn’t have married you when I did. We jumped in too fast, and we both paid the price because of what happened.”

  Hardy hated the truth, and yet that was all he was going to get.

  “I asked for that.”

  “I’m not going to lie and pretend something isn’t happening. We spent a lot of time when we were younger avoiding conversations.”

  “Did you want a banker? Someone with a nine-to-five job?”

  “That was something I thought I was going to get. Please don’t think that I don’t love you. I do, and that’s the problem. I met you, fell in love, and we both moved faster than either of us anticipated. We should have taken our time, gotten to know each other.”

  “My only regret is not coming home that night to you. If I’d come home, I wouldn’t have been where I was, and it wouldn’t have escalated the way it did.”

  Tears filled his own eyes, startling him.

  “Hardy, are you crying?”

  “Yes, I am.” He rubbed his eyes, and forced himself to look away. Rose caught his face, forcing him to turn to face her.

  “Don’t hide from me.”

  Staring into her eyes, Hardy grasped her face, holding onto her chin. She didn’t hold him too tightly, just enough so that he could look at her.

  “I love you with all my heart and soul, Rose. You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted. The one woman I’ll only ever fight for. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t love anyone else, and you’re my heart.” He pressed a kiss to her lips.

  “We need to stop this,” she said, tapping his chest. “We need to move on with our lives.”

  “I don’t want to lose you.” The thought of never getting to hold her in his arms scared him. He didn’t want to ever let her go.

  “I’m not talking about losing me. I’m talking about us finally getting together and putting this crap behind us.” Rose stroked her hand down his face. “I can’t keep living like this.”

  “I love you, Rose.”

  “And I love you, Hardy, and I think it’s time for us to start again. To give ourselves a chance.”

  Hardy wanted to take her into his arms, but he held back. He tugged the necklace he’d been wearing ever since Rose had taken off her wedding ring. He’d placed her wedding ring on the chain. Now, he removed the ring, and slid it on her finger.

  “This doesn’t change anything though, Rose. I’m going to make sure you fall in love with me again. This is something I need to do, and something you deserve.”

  “Then I guess we’re both in for a treat.”

  ****

  Rose fluffed up her hair as the doorbell rang. Hardy and Baker were outside talking, and Rose made her way downstairs. She was in a pair of jeans and white shirt, but they were her smart ones, the ones that showed off her ass and tits. She wouldn’t be fitting into them very soon.

  Opening the door she saw Millie was holding a cake.

  “Hi, I, erm, I baked a cake. A chocolate cake with a g
anache style frosting.” Millie looked at the cake then at Rose. “I hope that’s okay. I don’t get invited out much to dinner parties or a dinner of any kind.”

  “You’re a charmer, Millie.” Rose took the cake, inviting her inside. “Hardy and Baker are here. I hope that’s okay. It’s hard to turn those men away. They love my cooking.”

  She kept on talking seeing how nervous Millie was.

  “It’s okay. I’m surprised about the invite.” Millie removed her coat and held onto it. Rose entered the kitchen, placed the cake on the counter, then took Millie’s coat.

  “Come on. We’ll head outside and see what the holdup is,” Rose said, taking her hand.

  Baker and Hardy were around the barbeque pit talking.

  “Guys, this is Millie. I’m sure you’ve met her before,” Rose said.

  Baker’s eyes lit up when he saw her.

  “Toy lady,” Baker said.

  Rose winced. He was really out of practice right now, and Rose was pleased she and Hardy were there to help steer the conversation.

  “I guess that’s me,” Millie said, looking scared.

  “Baker, help me.” Rose didn’t wait around. She walked back into the kitchen, and turned to face him. “Toy lady? What the hell was that?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do when I’m around her. She’s different.”

  “Well, she’s brought a cake as well. I’ll bring them both out at dinner. Be nice, and not scary with the whole toy lady thing. It’s a job, nothing else.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry,” Baker said, holding his hands up.

  “Good, let’s go out there.”

  They entered the garden, and Millie had her arms folded over her chest, listening to Hardy talk about the rose bushes.

  “You have a beautiful garden, Rose.”

  “Thanks, honey. It was just an overgrown jungle a few days ago. Baker and Hardy worked to get it like this.”

  “They’ve got a good touch.” Millie leaned forward to scent a flower. Glancing back at Baker, Rose’s heart went out to him. The look of longing on his face took her by surprise. Losing his wife had affected him in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine.