Page 2 of Tough Biker Daddy

Immediately, I remembered Joyce, the whore of a woman who had started making everyone at the compound miserable. After receiving several complaints about her teasing the men, only to block them after taking their money and falsely accuse them of mistreating her, I finally sent her away after demanding payment in full. When she said that she couldn’t pay, she immediately suggested that her sister, Lydia, was more than capable of paying her debt and was willing to do whatever it took. At Joyce’s insistence, I agreed to speak to her sister, but I already had the sinking feeling that I was going to have to hunt Joyce down for her debt.

Taking a deep breath, I sat up in my chair. “Send her in,” I ordered, and Jagger disappeared into the hallway again. Within seconds, the door opened again, and a tiny, meek-looking woman entered the room.

She had the expression of a kicked puppy, and she was much smaller and slimmer, yet curvier, than her boisterous sister was. I wouldn’t even have guessed that the two were related, from how different she looked to loud and demanding Joyce. In all honesty, the woman that entered my office looked as though she was made of paper and was twice as fragile, despite her fully developed body. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her, completely caught off guard by her appearance.

“Hello,” I finally managed after snapping out of my stunned silence. Motioning towards my desk, I said, “Please, have a seat.”

As if operating on autopilot, she did exactly as I asked with absolutely no hesitation. As soon as she was seated, I made my way back over to the chair on my side of the desk.

I smiled at her. “So, let’s discuss business. I assume Jagger told you why he brought you here?”

She nodded gently. “Joyce owes you money, and she said that you could collect it from me,” she replied, her voice soft like the coo of a dove. “I have no money, though. My sister took everything I had a week ago and promised to pay me back.”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Is that so?” I asked, and, once again, she nodded.

“Please, allow me time to work off the debt,” she pleaded, her voice quivering as tears stung her eyes. “I don’t want to repay it the way she was doing, but I can work it off. I can cook, clean, or anything. Just please don’t make me do that.” Realizing that Joyce had told her about the ways she had repaid the debt, I finally understood why she was terrified. She thought I was a monster…

“No one is asking you to resort to such methods,” I reassured her, my voice calm and even. “I’ll admit it is a choice that we offer women, but it has never been mandatory. If you wish to work off your debt through work, and not by selling yourself, I am more than happy to help you figure something out.”

She sniffled as she looked up at me, her big, round eyes looking like that of a lost puppy.

“You mean it?” she asked.

“Of course,” I informed her. “We do more than just illegal business. You could always just help out with our other business endeavors. I’m sure anyone would love to have an assistant.” After seeing her wince at the mere mention of this, I thought before a moment. “Why don’t you act as my assistant? You can help let people know when I can see them or getting my lunch. Anything I need, if you do it, I will take off one hundred dollars off your sister’s debt.” She still looked frightened as she stared at me, but I knew she was considering it.

As much as I wanted to make her mine, I knew this wasn’t the time. She was a delicate flower on the verge of falling apart at this very moment. If I pressed her too hard, she would wilt and be lost forever. No, as Jagger and Adam had, I would win her over slowly and make her beg me to have her. I reveled in the idea of claiming her as mine as she prepared her answer.

“You promise no one will do anything to hurt me?” she asked.

“I promise,” I reassured her. “I’ll protect you from the others, and I won’t ask you to do anything that you don’t want to do.”

Seeming satisfied with this answer, she began to nod her head. “I’ll do it then,” she said, her confidence holding up a little bit better as she spoke. “I will work as your assistant and pay off my sister’s debt.” She sounded so sure of herself, as she agreed, that I had to take a second look at the woman seated across from me in order to process her newfound confidence.

The fragile looking woman with perfect curves was still there, but she no longer had the look of a kicked puppy. Instead, she exhibited more confidence than I even thought possible for a woman like her. It both aroused and excited me. Now, she reminded me of a caged tiger, beautiful and calm yet dangerous if not closely monitored. It made me think twice about the fact that Joyce was making her pay her debt, and I couldn't help but wonder what she would be doing with her life if she hadn't been forced into the situation. Realizing that I was going to have to watch her carefully, I gave a small smile.

"Alright, then," I agreed, feeling a little better about my offer than I had originally. "You'll start tomorrow. In the meantime, in order to ensure you won't try to escape or to get out of paying the debt, we have to ask that you move onto the compound. You'll be provided with all the necessities, and I'll see to it that no one hurts you. All I ask is that, as my assistant, you make my day as easy and productive as possible, so I can finish all my work and meet with everyone I need to. Do we have a deal?" I offered her my hand to shake and waited patiently for her response.

After considering everything, she finally nodded and shook my hand.

"Deal," she agreed. "What do I do about my apartment, though? My lease is up at the end of this month."

I thought for a moment.

"I can have everything moved to storage for you, and, once you have the debt fully paid off, we'll help you find a place," I told her. "Does that sound fair?"

"It does," she agreed. "I suppose I should go home and prepare for my new job." Rising to her feet, she gave me a gentle smile. "See you tomorrow, boss." With that, she left my office, and I felt intrigued by the woman.

With luck, I would make her mine.

CHAPTER THREE

Lydia

The fact that he had agreed to demote me to an overpaid assistant in order to pay off Joyce’s debt, rather than forcing me to continue her work brought me great relief. But, at the same time, I was still highly skeptical of the man called Chase. He reminded me of the tabby cat I had had when I was a kid. That cat had acted friendly towards Joyce’s hamster, but, one day, when we let our guard down and left Squeaker in his hamster ball, we came home to find that the tabby cat had mauled him. Joyce was so angry about this – even though it had been her own fault – that she cried to Mom and Dad until they finally took the cat out to a pond and drowned it in a pillowcase. I had hated them for so long after this, but the moral of the story had been to be careful whom I trusted. Right now, I felt like Squeaker, trapped inside a flimsy plastic ball with the evil tabby cat watching over me, and waiting for me to make a fatal mistake.

Despite my initial fears, I quickly found that Chase did have legit businesses that helped cover the illegal activities. He oversaw everything from the repair shop that operated from the warehouse on the compound all the way to his connections in one of the local trucking companies. He had so many meetings in a day that it appeared next to impossible to manage them all. Over the next week, I worked with Chase to come up with a system to manage his time and to schedule appointments with each person he needed to throughout the day. It was impressive that he had ever managed without a system of his own, but I did my best. By the end of the first week, he came up to my chair in his office and smiled at me.