BRICK (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 17) Read online

“I can give you set hours during the days, if you wish,” he said. “And then, in the evening, it would be as and when needed. But I will be honest, this isn’t for the faint hearted.”

  Jasmine’s heart began to race.

  “In what way?” she asked.

  Brick laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’m not referring to Maddy, she’s a dream kid, trust me. What I mean is, I could call you at four in the morning and I’d need you there. Do you understand?”

  Jasmine nodded.

  She had never heard anything like it, but the more she talked to him, the more she knew she wanted the job more than anything.

  “What do you do?” she asked bravely.

  Brick raised his eyebrows and exhaled before he shrugged as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to answer.

  Jasmine’s pulse quickened with each passing second and it felt like he kept her waiting an eternity.

  “I’m a Forsaken Rider,” he said finally. “I run a few businesses here in town, a lot of them that are open after hours.”

  Jasmine felt as if her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

  This man, he was a biker?

  An outlaw.

  A criminal…

  It made her nervous and it turned her on. She tried to keep focus on what he was saying, but suddenly, all she could do was imagine a big, powerful bike between her legs and wondered if he would take her for a ride.

  “Oh,” she managed to croak. “That’s… great.”

  Brick snorted with laughter and grinned.

  “It’s all right, you don’t have to pretend. It is what it is.”

  She felt herself blushing again and she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Around them, more children were filtering into the classroom and Maddy had been joined by some of her friends down at the front. They started to run around in a circle and Jasmine couldn’t help but smile. She seemed like such a happy little girl, and she had instantly put Jasmine in a much better mood. She could imagine working with Maddy would really help the soul.

  “I don’t have anything to conflict with that,” Jasmine said as she locked eyes with Brick and felt her stomach flip.

  He held her gaze as if he were studying her all over again and it made her heart begin to pound. She wanted to be confident and not break eye contact first, but there was something about him that was unnerving to her and it was making it difficult to hold her composure.

  “What I mean is,” she continued. “I don’t have a lot on my schedule. I can be free for you in the evenings.”

  He smiled and nodded.

  “Of course, I’ll always try and give you plenty of notice,” he said as his tone warmed even more. “I’m not going to be calling you in the middle of the night each night. I generally know when I need to be away from home. But, it’s just that chance, you know…?”

  Jasmine nodded.

  “I want Maddy to have a bond with someone. I don’t want to be calling in all kinds of people here, there and everywhere.”

  “I understand,” Jasmine smiled.

  There was a tinkling of ivories that rang out from the front of the room, and Jasmine looked up to see a little old lady with a shock of white hair sitting at a battered old antique piano. She started to play a tune and all the little girls spread out in a long line, and placed their arms over their heads, they pointed their feet and bent their knees just a little so they were ready to go.

  “Do you bring her here every Sunday?” Jasmine found herself asking before she knew the words were even coming out of her mouth.

  Brick nodded.

  “Your wife doesn’t bring her?” Jasmine blurted.

  She didn’t know why she had been so quick to speak; he had already told her that it was just him and Maddy. She hung her head slightly and cursed herself for being so foolish. But she still found herself looking at his hand to check he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

  Jasmine’s face began to flush red and she looked down at her feet and closed her eyes, willing the moment to pass.

  “I’m not married,” he said, sensing her unease. “It’s okay, though. It’s always just been Maddy and me, really.”

  Jasmine smiled a half-smile and nodded her head as she looked to the left and tried to not let it be obvious she was blushing.

  “So,” Brick said as he nodded to the front of the classroom and grinned at Maddy. “After here, we were going to head home. Maybe you could stop by as well and I can show you around? It would be good for you to spend some time with Maddy, that is, if you’re still interested in the job?”

  “Yes!” Jasmine said enthusiastically as she sat forward in her chair and instantly reined in her delight. “I really would like that. I think Maddy and I are going to get on really well.”

  Brick smiled and nodded.

  “I have the same feeling,” he said. “She seemed to like you instantly, trust me, I can tell. Sometimes, she just hides behind my legs and refuses to speak.”

  “I remember being a little like that myself,” she said.

  “Well, there you go,” he laughed. “Kindred spirits.”

  Jasmine smiled.

  She followed his gaze and looked toward the front of the classroom, as Madam Angelica ran through a dainty little routine with the girls and they all bounded around, looking as graceful as birds.

  As they sat there longer together, Jasmine couldn’t help but try to watch him out of the corner of her eye. She let her mind wander, as she looked at all the tattoos that snaked their way down his arms, stopping just at his wrist. He had two full sleeves, covering his perfectly tanned skin, and even though he must have been at least forty, he looked damned good with them. They suited him, and it was clear they were a massive part of who he was. She hadn’t seen a man, his age, before, who could rock the look so well. He was clearly a seasoned badass, and although it should have sent alarm bells ringing, it really didn’t. She could already see there were hidden depths to him and the way he lived his life.

  She turned away and tried not to get too engrossed in her secret spying. She had to be on the ball and keep her eye on the prize. She wanted this job. She wanted to be earning again, she wanted to keep her apartment and lifestyle, and she wanted to have something to fill her days which gave her purpose. What did she know anyway? She couldn’t figure a guy out from sitting and speaking with him for all of thirty minutes. He was going to be her employer and she was going to have to be on her best behavior around him, as well as ensuring her and Maddy had a nice time.

  It was time to focus and do her best.

  “Well done, girls,” Madam Angelica called from the front of the room as she clapped her hands together. “Perfect little ballerinas, aren’t you! Now, come on, let’s all move into first position and we are going to do one last practice of Dance Five.”

  The girls all took their positions and Brick sat forward and rubbed his chin. Jasmine could see how proud he looked, even though he was clearly trying to hide it.

  When the class was over, they made their way back out into the alleyway and Brick nodded toward a big, black truck with a flatbed out on Main Street.

  “Can you drive?” he asked.

  Jasmine had sold her car way back when she had decided to live alone. She rarely left Slate Springs, and she enjoyed walking around town or hopping on the bus if she needed to go a little further.

  “I can, but I don’t,” she said.

  “We’re not far, the truck was already down here,” he said. “But come on, you can get in with us so you can see where the house is.”

  Jasmine followed behind them and clutched her bag to her shoulder. It was such a strange situation, it hadn’t once felt like she were being interviewed for a job, despite all of his questions. It was just as if she had met up with someone and was now being taken to their house.

  When she realized that, the panic waved over her.

  She was getting into a truck with a goddamn Forsaken Rider. An older man covered in tattoos, who, she knew, broke the law fo
r a living.

  She swallowed hard and looked around.

  There was no one about on the street and it made her feel dizzy with nerves.

  You’re insane, Jas, she told herself. You do know that, don’t you?

  Maddy skipped along and Brick helped her up and into the truck and then he stood back and left space for Jasmine to climb in. Maddy sat right in the center of the long front seat and buckled a belt across her lap, and Jasmine moved past Brick and got in next to her, right on the passenger’s side.

  Brick slammed the door and tapped the window frame. The windows were all down and she was thankful for it. At least, if he tried to veer off road, she could scream for help.

  Stop being so paranoid, she instantly scolded herself. He’s with a child. He put an ad out online. He’s not going to do that if he wants to murder anybody. You’re such a worrier.

  But just to be safe, she pulled out her cellphone and sent Cadence a quick text…

  J: Just so you know… I’m in a car with a rather hot older man heading to his house. Oh and he’s a Forsaken Rider… Just in case I disappear! Love ya x

  She hit send and smirked. She could just imagine the look on Cadence’s face when she picked up that message. It would be panic first, followed swiftly by jealousy and a what the fuck moment. Jasmine turned her cell to silent and slipped it back into her bag.

  Brick climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door behind him. It felt funny, them all sitting next to each other in a row, and Jasmine was aware of Maddy’s adoring eyes on her. She looked down and smiled.

  “Your hair is really pretty,” Maddy said sweetly.

  Brick started the engine and he swung the truck out onto Main Street and Jasmine quickly grabbed her seat belt and clipped it on.

  “So is yours,” she said to Maddy. “Do you like having braids put in it?”

  Maddy nodded but with an air of uncertainty.

  “My daddy can’t do it,” she said with a grin.

  Jasmine smirked too and Brick looked across at them both, then put his foot down as if he couldn’t wait for the car ride to be over.

  “Well, when we get to your house, maybe I could braid it for you?” Jasmine whispered to Maddy.

  Maddy clapped her hands and grinned, and Jasmine just knew the two of them were going to get on just fine.

  5.

  Brick turned the truck off Main Street and headed out to a quieter part of town. He was right, it wasn’t far, and Jasmine knew she could easily walk it from her apartment.

  The house was old and sat back on a slight hill, away from the road. It had steps running up to the front door and it was three stories high, the windows had shutters and it looked well-maintained. It was the complete opposite of what she had been expecting. She had assumed she would be going to some modern monstrosity, or a dilapidated ranch out by the highway.

  When Brick stopped the truck and turned off the engine, Jasmine looked up at the house towering next to her. It was stunning. She had never really been to this area of town before, but she knew it was where a lot of the original Slate Springs families lived. All of the houses were older and grander. It was one of the most coveted streets in the entire town, and just looking at the house gave her goosebumps.

  “Nice place,” she said as Brick wandered around to her side of the truck and opened the door for her.

  “Thanks,” he said. “It’s been with my family a long time.”

  Knew it, she smiled to herself.

  “How long have you lived here?” she asked as she hopped out of the truck and held her hand out to help Maddy slide across the seat.

  “Years,” Brick said as he started to root around in his jeans pocket for the house keys. “I was here on my own before Maddy came along.”

  Jasmine nodded and followed behind them as they started to climb the steps to the front of the house. The veranda all around the outside of the ground floor was whitewashed and there were two little pink bikes with training wheels collapsed on their sides.

  “You learning to ride?” she asked Maddy, who replied with a big excited nod of her head.

  “Yes,” she said. “But it isn’t going so well.”

  She looked up at her dad and Brick smiled down at her.

  “You’ll get there,” he rubbed the top of her head. “I don’t think you’re doing too badly.”

  “But I want to be able to ride like you,” Maddy moaned as she buried her head into the back of her dad’s legs.

  “Well, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” he laughed. “I’m never letting you near one of those bikes.”

  Maddy crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, and Jasmine laughed.

  “She likes the idea of the motorcycles then?” she asked.

  “Evidently,” Brick raised his eyebrows as he slid the key into the lock and opened the front door.

  He stepped inside and Maddy skipped behind him. Jasmine moved in cautiously, she was very aware that she was about to enter someone else’s home. Someone who was a complete stranger, and of whom she was trying to make a good impression on.

  The first thing she noticed was how dark the place was. The shutters were all half closed and the room was stuffy and drab. Jasmine tried not to look alarmed; compared to her own apartment the place felt like a prison. It could almost have been some sort of dark homely cage where people got sucked into a sleepy dream. She looked down at Maddy who grinned and moved over to the TV and turned it on. When the light from it shone around the room, she could see that it was clean and relatively tidy, but it certainly lacked a woman’s touch. It was as if he had lost completely what he was trying to do with the place, and he obviously didn’t know a whole lot about the importance of natural light.

  Brick moved around the room and started to turn on all the lamps and the wall sconces.

  “So,” he said. “I’ve got a few things to do through there. Will you two be all right if I leave you to it?”

  Jasmine was surprised he didn’t want to hang around them, but it also made sense. They had to see if they got on and if it came naturally for them. She didn’t want Maddy to feel uncomfortable around her. She wanted them both to enjoy each other’s company.

  “Sure,” Jasmine smiled. “We’ll be fine, won’t we, Maddy?”

  “We will!” Maddy began to jump up and down on the couch and clapped her hands. “Jasmine is going to braid my hair just like a princess!”

  “Well, I’ll definitely leave you both to it then,” Brick laughed as he turned and headed for a door leading out of the room and into a hallway.

  Jasmine looked around and couldn’t help herself, she walked over to the windows and started to open the inside shutters.

  “It’s dark in here,” she said to Maddy. “When I do princess’s hair, I like to be able to see what I’m doing.”

  Maddy giggled and skipped over to the other side of the room and reached for a pink vanity case. She snapped open the latches and started to look through it.

  “I have all sorts of bows and hair ties,” she said with a proud smile. “I’ve been collecting them for ages.”

  Jasmine walked over to sit on the floor beside her and watched as her little hands started to pull out various different pink, purple, and blue ribbons and clips from the box.

  “Wow, they’re awesome,” Jasmine grinned. “I love them.”

  “Me too,” said Maddy. “I try to put them in myself, but it never looks right.”

  “And your dad can’t do it,” she half laughed.

  “No, he’s terrible at it,” Maddy giggled.

  “Well, to be fair to him, I think it is more of a girl’s thing,” she agreed. “Shall I have a go for you?”

  “Please!” Maddy jumped to her feet and Jasmine climbed up too. They both moved over to the couch and Maddy sat on it with her legs crossed underneath her and Jasmine went around the back and started to run her long nails through Maddy’s hair in place of a comb.

  “Which color would you like?” she ask
ed.

  “Ummm…pink!” Maddy grinned.

  “I’m going to do two long braids on either side of your head, okay?”

  Maddy nodded enthusiastically and Jasmine felt warm inside. There was such an innocence about her, it was lovely to be around. The contrast to awful Arlene and her shitty attitude in the diner, compared to the loveliness of little Maddy was so huge it was almost hard to believe the same people could exist in the same town.

  Jasmine began to braid one side of Maddy’s hair; it was long and golden, and when she reached the end, she tied it with a pretty, pink hair tie with a sparkling crystal on it.

  “Perfect,” Jasmine told her as Maddy grinned up at her and urged her to continue with the next side.

  When she had done the same with the other section of hair, Jasmine walked around and looked at Maddy from the front.

  “Wow,” she said. “You do look just like a princess.”

  Maddy clapped her hands together and smiled as if she had just won first place in a pageant, and then she got to her feet and ran across the room to the mirror.

  “Oh my gosh!” she declared. “I really do! Thank you so much, Jasmine!”

  “It’s my pleasure,” Jasmine smiled. “Now, come on, what would you like to do next?”

  Maddy looked around and at the open shutters and she crunched up her lip to her nose.

  “I want to open the other shutters,” she said quietly. “Dad never opens them because he’s so used to being out all night.”

  “Well, then,” Jasmine smiled. “I’ll check with him that he doesn’t mind and then I’m sure we can open them up and get some more light in here.”

  “I like seeing the sun,” Maddy said. “Even though it’s always too hot when we’re outside.”

  “Yes, it is,” Jasmine agreed. “You’ve got to wear sunscreen.”

  “Oh, yes,” Maddy nodded. “Every day. It’s part of our routine.”

  It was so endearing to think of this big, burly man, covered in his tattoos, getting this lovely little girl ready for school in the morning. She instantly got an image of them standing in the bathroom together, Brick trying to tie her hair up in a ponytail and struggling with the hair ties. She could see them eating breakfast together, and him walking her to school before he climbed onto his big, dangerous bike and went off to break the law and do God knows what else.