What the Outlaw Keeps Read online

  “Well, well, well…” one of them opened with. “What do we have here? A pretty little lady in our dirty old bar?”

  Emily smiled meekly but didn’t turn to face them. She was trying to stay quiet and invisible. However, she knew that she was fighting a losing battle.

  “What brings a gal like you in here then?” the other one spoke. He leaned in close to her and he smelled like stale sweat. Emily had to try her best not to obviously gag.

  “Looks like she don’t want to talk to us,” the other said. “Stuck up bitch probably thinks she’s way too good for guys like us…huh?” He slammed his palm down on the bar top and grunted.

  Emily jumped slightly and turned slowly to face them.

  “As I was just saying to Junk here, I’ve had a lousy day and I just wanted to unwind. I’m not looking for any conversation, thank you.”

  She said it honestly and politely, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Both of them men moved closer, one on either side of her, and she looked from one to the other with panic in her eyes.

  “Please,” she said as calmly as she could, “I really don’t want any trouble.”

  “Too late,” one of them sneered.

  She looked ahead of her and saw Junk dip his gaze and turn to walk away.

  Oh great, she thought, some new friend you are…

  And even though she felt as if the rug had just been pulled out from under her, she couldn’t really blame Junk… He had tried to warn her that this wasn’t the kind of place for girls like her. And she hadn’t listened. He had even tried to stop her drinking. He’d given her the out. And now he didn’t want to be involved. He obviously knew who these guys were and what they were capable of…

  One of the men reached up and took hold of Emily by the back of the neck and began to whisper into her ear…

  “Why don’t you pick up your things and come out back with us sweetheart…” he breathed.

  Her skin was crawling. She could smell the booze on his breath and all she wanted to do was turn and slap him right across the face, but she knew that she couldn’t… Because what the hell could he do to her…?

  Her whole body tensed and she tried to barely move. Her hands were trembling and the other man was moving in close to her now, his hand running up and down her thigh.

  “Hey!” a voice came from behind them and made all three of them jump.

  The two men who had hold of Emily turned and glared at the guy who had interrupted them, and to Emily’s relief, she realized that it was the one who had caught her attention earlier. The man who had been choosing the music and watching her from across the room.

  “What the fuck?” one of the lecherous men asked. “Don’t be getting involved here, Carl.”

  But the music man was undeterred. He looked angry, his fists clenched by his side and he took a meaningful step forward.

  “I mean it,” he hissed. “Move away… now.”

  4.

  It felt as if time was slowing down, and Emily reached forward and gripped the bar top. The two men who had come over and frightened her had now moved away and were in a full raging argument with ‘Carl’, the man she had noticed earlier.

  She turned and tried to focus on them, but it was as if the booze she had been drinking had suddenly chosen that precise moment to wrap her up tightly in its clutches and rock her steadily into a haze of calm and confusion.

  She had been afraid of them. She knew that. But now, as she watched Carl screaming in their faces, shoving his palms flat into their chests and squaring up to them, it was almost as if she was in a dream. Carl, whoever he was, had come to her rescue.

  “Back the fuck off!” he screamed as he slammed his hands into one of the men’s chest again and behind him, Carl’s group of friends ran to back him up.

  Emily noticed that they were all wearing similar leather jackets. It was almost like a uniform.

  So they are definitely bikers… she thought.

  She looked at Junk and noticed he stood there smiling, his mouth twisted into a sinister grin as he twirled a toothpick along the end of his tongue. When he caught her looking, he simply shrugged and winked.

  “Prick,” she whispered as she turned back to watch the fight as it broke out in full force.

  She couldn’t be sure who hit who first, but Carl drove his fists into both of her assailant’s faces and knocked them out cold. He wrung out his fist and held it briefly to his lips. Emily’s eyes were wide and she was in both shock and awe. He had intervened and rescued her so quickly and effortlessly, she almost hadn’t had time to register it.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered, looking down at the bloodied faces of the two men who were crumpled in a heap on the ground in the middle of the bar floor.

  “Get them out of here,” her rescuer said. “And I never want to see them in here again… You got that Junk?” He said it so forcefully she was sure he was spitting.

  Junk bowed his head and momentarily looked ashamed.

  “Sure Carl,” he said obediently. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know they were going to…”

  “Save it,” Carl cut him off.

  Carl glared at Junk and Junk quickly moved out from behind the back of the bar and jogged to where the two man lay beaten and unconscious. He and two of the others from Carl’s gang lifted them under the armpits and began to drag them toward the back door. As they kicked it open, the sunlight from the outside filtered in and suddenly, Emily was shaken awake. It was still the middle of the day… What was she doing?

  She looked up at Carl who stood in front of her, his chest still heaving with exertion and his anger still palpable from across the small distance between them.

  “I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I’ll leave…that was all my fault…I shouldn’t be here.”

  She got to her feet and struggled to slip them into her court shoes. She reached forward and scooped up her purse and her jacket before she turned to find Carl only centimeters away from her.

  “No,” he said calmly. “You don’t have to do that.”

  They were so close she was sure he would be able to hear her heart beating. It was thumping loudly in her chest and her pulse rushed through her ears.

  He pulled up another stool and sat down on it before he reached around her and pulled the one she had been sitting on closer.

  “Sit down,” he said with a smile.

  Emily just wanted to get out of there and back to a part of town that she knew…but he had just rescued her from two horrible creeps. The least she could do was say thank you and buy him a drink.

  “Okay,” she said as she sat down. “But I’m buying… What are you having?”

  “No chance,” Carl grinned. “Junk!” he called as the barman came running back to his position.

  “Get me my usual and whatever the lady desires,” he smiled at her, his eyes looking up and meeting hers from under his deep brow.

  “Same again, Junk,” she said cockily with a grin.

  “So we haven’t been formally introduced,” he continued as he held out his hand. “I’m Carl, and I own this bar.”

  Emily was taken aback. Even though she had figured he knew the people in there and could tell he had some kind of say in the place, she didn’t think for one second he would have been the owner. He looked too young and rugged… She expected this kind of joint to be ran by an older man with a whole lifetime of experience and stories to tell.

  “Emily,” she smiled as she held out her hand too and the pair shook.

  Even though he was clearly a man on the outside of mainstream society, Carl was easy to talk to and he instantly had put her at ease. He passed her, her bottle of beer and slid a twenty note across the counter to Junk.

  “I thought you said you owned the place?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I do,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I get a free ride…”

  She remembered that she hadn’t paid for a drink since the second she had walked in and felt embarrassed
.

  “I just assumed they’d have set up a tab or something,” she whispered.

  “What, like you got when you walked in,” he sipped on his whisky with an amused twinkle in his eye.

  “Erm…” she stammered.

  “Relax,” he laughed, “I had a word with Junk and told him all of your drinks were on me.”

  She was stunned.

  “What?” she laughed. “But we’ve only just started talking?”

  His eyes glinted and she was sure that if she looked into them long enough, they could swallow her whole; they were so deep and intense.

  “I obviously saw you the second you walked in,” he said confidently. “And I have to admit, I was intrigued.”

  “Oh yeah?” Emily took a sip of her beer. “Why?”

  “Well, like the other’s said, it’s not often girls like you end up in a place like this…” He ran his tongue along his bottom lip and Emily couldn’t help but let her eyes follow it, and she felt her pulse quicken again. “And, I guess, maybe it was the outfit and the ballsy attitude. I can tell you’re a handful… And I like a handful…”

  She couldn’t suppress her grin from spreading from ear to ear. She could tell she was blushing, but she couldn’t control it. She felt the heat spread out from her cheeks, down her neck and into her chest. Her breasts were swollen and heaving in front of her, pushed up by her plunge bra and her cleavage was exposed ever so slightly by the popped buttons on her shirt. She could tell that Carl was desperate to look down, but, so far, he had remained a gentleman, and only stared deep into her eyes.

  “I guess you could say I am a handful,” she teased as she bit the end of her fingernail.

  “So why here? Why the shitty day?” he changed the subject quickly before the heat between them intensified so much there would be no going back. Emily was disappointed for a second, but then she straightened up and brushed her long blonde hair back over her shoulder.

  “I had a job interview,” she sighed. “But I left before I even went in…”

  “What did you do that for?” he said as he motioned to Junk for another round of drinks.

  “I don’t know… Lost my nerve probably…I was trying to convince myself it wasn’t the place for me…. But maybe it was self-sabotage.”

  “A bit like this?” he winked.

  Emily giggled at his joke. He was funny and smart. She couldn’t help but wonder why he had ended up in this kind of dive, not working in a proper job where his sharp mind would be put to good use.

  “I wouldn’t class this as self-sabotage…” she said as she stared into his eyes. “In fact, maybe this is what I’ve needed all along.”

  She had no idea where her confidence was coming from. But she wasn’t about to reign it in now. She felt on fire. As if she could take on anything. No one could stop her in the heat of this moment.

  “I may have to agree with you on that one,” Carl smiled as he drained his full glass and then got to his feet.

  Emily wanted to reach out and take hold of his arm to stop him from leaving, but she restrained herself.

  “I like you,” he said as he leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear. “And I’d like to see you again.”

  Emily’s grin crept back and she bit her bottom lip.

  “Meet me tomorrow night,” he whispered. “For dinner?”

  She looked up at him, into his beautiful eyes and strong, dominant features. He was so handsome and masculine, he was intimidating.

  “I’d like that too,” she smiled.

  “Tomorrow, eight p.m., I’ll pick you up on the corner of West Street.” He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Which end?” she asked, for a fleeting moment, confusion ran through her.

  “By the park,” he said. “Eight on the dot.”

  He wagged a finger at her jokingly and turned on his heel.

  He sauntered off toward the table of men in the corner and Emily scooped up her purse and jacket before she slid down off the stool and turned to get the hell out of there.

  She had no idea if she would go to meet him. But there was one thing that she couldn’t deny ̶ she had chemistry with that man. It was immediate and exciting, and it powered her all of the way home with a beaming smile on her face.

  5.

  She woke the next day with a pounding headache and a dry mouth. The sun beamed in over her bed and when she opened her bleary eyes, she realized that she must have fallen straight to sleep without closing her blinds. The birds were cawing loudly out on the telephone line and somewhere downstairs, she could hear her mother humming a tune and pottering around.

  She rolled over and looked at the clock on the night stand. It was almost ten a.m.

  “Jeez,” she yawned as she rubbed her eyes and leaned up on her elbows.

  Her clothes were strewn about the floor, her shoes in a heap and her bag open and spilling the contents all over. She noticed her lipstick and her cellphone and she got to her feet and stumbled across to pick it up.

  No messages.

  Great, she thought.

  She slumped down on the floor and gathered her thoughts as the events of the previous day came careening back to her.

  She had walked out of her interview…so she wouldn’t be offered a job today. She had made her way down town where she had stupidly gone into some kind of biker bar…and then she had caused a fight and met a guy…

  A guy who, even through her drunken haze, was still making her smile.

  Carl.

  He had been like no one she had ever known before, and yet, he appealed to her in so many ways that she wondered why she hadn’t found someone like him attractive before now.

  She crossed her legs underneath herself and thought of him some more. He had been strong and confident. The way he had overthrown those two creepy guys had done more than turned her on. It had sparked something inside of her that she had never known existed. Now she was hungry for him and the danger he could bring to her. The idea of having a man who could protect her so effortlessly was intoxicating.

  She bit her lip with nerves and remembered his words…

  By the park… Eight on the dot…

  Could she really do this? Could she go along and meet this guy after just drunkenly chatting to him in a grimy biker bar?

  She looked down at the screen of her cellphone again and at the blankness of it.

  No messages.

  No calls.

  No notifications.

  No love…

  What did she really have to lose?

  “Screw it!” she said as she jumped to her feet and pulled her robe down from the back of the door. “I’m going to go, and I’m going to have a good time!”

  She slipped her arms into her nightgown and tied it tight around her little hourglass waist.

  As she bounded down the stairs to the kitchen, she couldn’t suppress her smile. For the first time in a long time, she felt full of hope and excitement. This was going to be a day full of unpredictability and even though that was kind of nerve-racking, it was also exciting.

  “Morning Mom,” she beamed as she walked into the kitchen.

  “Morning Mil,” her mom smiled.

  The kettle was boiling on the stove and Emily reached up into a cupboard and pulled down a mug. She put a small teabag inside, poured the steaming water over it and waited for it to brew.

  “Recovered?” her mother joked.

  “Was I bad?” Emily cringed as she tried to remember the details of how she had returned home the previous evening. But her mother just chuckled and shook her head.

  “You were fine,” she laughed. “Just a little merry.”

  “Oh good,” Emily sighed as she fished out the teabag and topped up the cup with milk.

  She sat down at the kitchen table as her mother hummed and buzzed around her, cleaning the counter sides, rearranging flowers in a vase, emptying the dishwasher.

  Emily pulled a magazine to her and flicked it open. Inside was a double
page fashion spread and she looked at all the pretty girls in all their pretty dresses.

  “I think I need to go shopping,” she declared as she took a big gulp of tea and tried her hardest to wake herself up.

  She had no intention of telling her mom of her impending date, but she, at least, had to look good when she met up with Carl later that evening.

  She smiled to herself as she remembered how he had liked her sexy secretary look. Maybe she would be able to recreate that without being so conservative.

  As she jumped to her feet and began to skip back toward the staircase, she, again, felt full of hope. She knew she would figure something out and she had the feeling this day was going to be one of the best of her life.

  6.

  It was approaching seven p.m. and the nerves were starting to take hold. Emily had spent the day shopping and had returned home to shower and preen herself in preparation for her big date.

  She sat on the end of her bed as she smoothed blusher over her cheeks and plumped up her lips with a striking red lipstick. Outside, the sun was going down and was casting a pink glow around her room. She had butterflies in her belly, but she was willing them to stay just small enough to not panic her too much.

  She thought about the last time she had met up with a guy and gone on a date and realized that she couldn’t remember. It had been that long ago. It wasn’t that she was short of offers, simply that she didn’t have any interest. The men that asked her out were all so predictable and she had written them off long ago. She didn’t want to have another boring conversation with a trainee lawyer or a salesman. She wanted someone with an edge that would keep exciting her and never leave. She smiled with hope. It was possible that Carl could be that person. After all, he had beaten up two men in front of her when they had yet to exchange a word, and it was all in her honor.

  She believed in fate. Maybe her bad day had led her on to the best experience of her life.

  “Jeez, don’t get so ahead of yourself, Emily,” she laughed to herself as she got to her feet and slipped in her simple diamante earrings and pinned them closed at the back.