Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA
Healing from my injuries was a slow process. Four days after I came home from the hospital, I saw Max outside my little two-bedroom house on his motorcycle, just watching. He didn't approach my house as I expected, and while he watched me, I hid behind a curtain and peeked out at Max.
He just sat on his bike, eyes on my house, for hours at a time. He'd leave around dinner time and then return an hour later and do the same thing. Sit on his bike. Watch. I had no idea if he stayed all night because the pain pills I was taking only before bed knocked me out. In the morning, he was back, watching.
Why didn't you watch me when I needed you to? Why was she more important than I was? Why did you make me think I meant more to you than I actually did? Why did you let me think we might have a future when you were still so tied to your ex?
Then I laughed at myself. Max never had promised me anything. Just asked me to be patient, said he was starting to have feelings for me. And I'd focused on that vague declaration instead of looking at the reality of the hold Wendie still had on Max. When all the signs are there for us to follow, why do we ignore them because of love?
My wake up call had been brutal.
I hadn't mattered enough. I hadn't mattered as much.
Even the stupidest girl could eventually figure things out and face reality.
Then after three days, Max stopped sitting vigil outside my house.
That was that, apparently.
But after Max disappeared, Darren appeared, with a friend of his. Genny and Joy had called me, but had respected my request for time. I didn't want anyone to see me with these bruises and black eyes and swollen lips. But they called several times a day, and Joy had made meals to tempt my nonexistent appetite and had them delivered and left at my front door. I tried to eat -- I did -- but I wasn't hungry.
The betrayal diet. Best appetite suppressant ever.
But Darren I opened the door to because if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here to open the door.
For a long minute, he just looked at me, cataloguing my obvious injuries.
"Thank you," I said to him, and he knew what I meant.
"I wish I'd been there a few minutes earlier," he said.
"You came in time," I told him. "That's all that matters."
He nodded, then turned to the woman standing next to him and smiled at her, then back at me.
"I'd like you to meet my friend," he said, and, because he was looking at me, he missed the slight wince she gave at the designation of friend. "Harriet McNally, but we all call her Rie."
"It's nice to meet you, Rie," I said. "Would you please come in?"
They both walked in, and I took them into my small kitchen where I had a little round table and four chairs.
"Please sit down," I said, and I quickly plated some cookies and brownies Joy had sent me and placed them on the table.
"Would you like some drinks?" I asked.
Rie shot to her feet and asked me if she could please get the drinks so I could sit down. Grateful, I directed her to the Keurig, and she quickly made three cups of coffee and grabbed the cream from the fridge.
We chatted easily as we drank our coffee and ate the cookies and brownies, staying away from the deeper, darker topics that surrounded us. Throughout our conversation, I noticed the glances that Rie shot at Darren.
She loves him, I thought, and he's completely unaware.
Darren treated her like one of the boys, I noticed, and was oblivious to the feelings so evident in her eyes if he'd just look closely. After a while, Darren got to the point of his visit.
"Knew you were in pretty bad shape, Briony, and since Rie's currently on summer break from school -- she's a teacher -- I thought she could help you out during the days and evenings until you're healed up."
As she blinked her pretty blue eyes up at Darren, I think she would have agreed to help him with anything he asked of her. She seemed so sweet, so shy and so in love with this clearly clueless man that I decided someone needed a happily ever after since mine had eluded me. Rie seemed like a girl who could be a friend and I could be a friend to her.
"I would love that," I said simply. "I work from home, but all sorts of things are difficult with my arm and my ribs so the help would be great."
Smiling at her, she smiled shyly back at me, but Darren smiled widest. "You'll love her, Briony. Rie's the best."
Oh, yes, this was going to be fun.
We talked some more and I finally caved. "I saw...Max sitting outside my house for three days."
Darren's face closed up tight. "Briony, I can't really talk about him. He's club business."
"Yes, but --"
"Briony, just know that he paid for his mistake and he's going to be paying for it for a long time. Beard was pissed beyond anything and so were the brothers. And that's more than I should have said."
"I get it," I said, but I really didn't. All I knew from my months with Max was that the term club business was sacred and not to be discussed with outsiders. "But all I really wanted to know was why he'd been assigned to watch my house since the reason for me being protected was gone now."
Darren was uncomfortable, but my question relaxed him a bit. "He wasn't. Assigned to watch your house, I mean. That was on his own since he...had the week off."
"Why?"
Again, Darren looked slightly pained. He wanted to answer my question but couldn't.
"He wasn't feeling well," he said finally. "So Beard gave him the week off."
"And he hasn't been by today, so I'm assuming his week's up."
"Pretty much, yeah," Darren confirmed. "Look, I need to get back to the clubhouse. Rie will keep hanging with you and she'll stay with you until tonight when you go to bed. Sound good?"
A strategic retreat if ever there was one.
"Sounds great," I said, faking a smile. "Thanks for stopping by, Darren. And I just want you to know I appreciate what you did for me."
He gave me a nod, smiled goodbye to Rie and took off.
I glanced at Rie and pushed the remaining cookies toward her. Between the three of us, we'd demolished the brownies. Picking up a cookie, I smiled at her.
"I've spent the last seven months in love with a man who loved someone else. I know a little bit about unrequited love if you ever want to talk about the subject."
Oh, boy, did she.
And while she talked, it helped me keep my mind off my own very broken heart.
Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA
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The Rampage MC #4: Max and Briony
عاطفيةI was supposed to be protecting her. Instead, I left her to help my former girlfriend. And she was badly hurt on my watch. Now, she won't talk to me and I can't get to her for a year. I'll work the rest of my life to regain her trust, earn her forgi...
