Harley Read online

  A lump formed in my throat as I remembered that evening, how I had cried and begged him not to hurt me. I promised, as I always did, to do just what he told me to do. I swore I would do anything to make it better. I promised I wasn’t going to fight or run.

  And just like that, he was gone. He left me with a suitcase of clothes I didn’t recognize, but they were all in my size. So, those were what I wore. I did my makeup as he would expect me to do if he was to show up, and I hung out around the hotel. I wasn’t sure why I was there, and the staff at the hotel didn’t bother me, either.

  There was a part of me that wondered how long he was going to leave me here, but I knew better than to try to get a hold of him to ask. No, I had long since learned it was better to wait for him to come to me when he was read, and to do as I was told in the meantime

  Things were less painful that way, and there was a chance we might be able to fix what had happened between us – whatever it was that had ruined it in the first place. I didn’t know, I just knew I better do as I was told.

  And, that meant acting like this was home for now. Playing the part of the one who was perfectly comfortable at the hotel bar doing her own thing. It didn’t make sense to me, that was for damn sure; but knowing Shade, it didn’t need to make sense to me.

  I was just to do as I was told and trust him to take care of the rest. It was plain and simple in his mind, really.

  And, as I continued to sip on my drink and pretend like everything was okay, ignoring the crushing feeling in my chest, I fought the emotions swirling through me.

  I had to get through this. I wasn’t sure how I would, but I had to make things okay with Shade once more. I just had to figure out a way to fix this. More than anything, I just wanted things to be okay again.

  I was so lost in thought, I hardly noticed the ginger-haired man approaching me from the other side of the room. It wasn’t until he sat down at the bar next to me and greeted me that I was brought back to the moment, and my heart leapt to my throat.

  “Is anyone sitting here?” he asked.

  “No, please have a seat,” I said with a smile. The smile he flashed me in return made my heart melt, and I had to fight the blush that rushed to my cheeks.

  Sure, Shade was still on my mind, but I couldn’t believe such a man would sit down next to me when there were so many other open seats in the room. His eyes were locked on my face, lingering occasionally over my body. There were plenty of other women in the room I would consider far prettier than me, but he was paying attention to me and me alone.

  And, that was hard to ignore.

  Chapter 3

  Harley

  I had to admit, I was shocked at how beautiful Paisley was in person. Her pictures on the website hadn’t done her justice, and the interaction we’d had through message before agreeing to meet at the hotel was brief. I’d asked her for more photos, but she merely told me she wanted to save it for being in person.

  Though I was a little skeptical that meant I would be happy with what I found when I got to the hotel, I was pleased to see she was even more attractive than what I expected.

  She looked surprised when I asked if anyone was sitting next to her, but she allowed me to take the stool, and I immediately dove into the conversation. I had to admit, I wasn’t sure how to approach the conversation, considering I was looking for her to play the part of a girlfriend more than just a prostitute.

  Through the message I sent her, I told her I wanted her to act as though we were together. I wanted her to be interested in me and my day, and I wanted her to be genuine about her own. Sure, I knew at the time I set it up it would all be fake, but that didn’t bother me.

  It didn’t bother me that this was all for show. It didn’t have to mean anything for me to be happy. I just wanted to feel that connection. And, as I sat down and saw the way her eyes traveled over me, I felt the connection I lot more intensely than I expected.

  “Have you been here long?” I asked.

  “I’ve only been at the bar for about an hour,” she said as she glanced around the room. “It wasn’t nearly so busy when I got here, so I thought I’d get better conversation with the bartender rather than sitting by myself.”

  “It put you in a good place to find,” I told her with a wink, and she flushed a crimson red.

  “I wasn’t really hiding,” she said quietly.

  “I’m glad. I was happy to see you right out in the open when I walked into the room,” I continued, and she blushed again. She glanced around the room as though she expected someone to say something to her, but maintained an easygoing attitude regardless.

  “How was your day?” she asked me.

  “It’s been alright,” I told her. “I got through the workout I push myself through every week, but I really just wanted to relax for the rest of the night, you know what I mean?”

  She blushed again at the smirk, but her eyes traveled over my body once more at the mention of a workout.

  “You don’t look like you really need to push through anything,” she commented, and I laughed.

  “I always see room for improvement, but I appreciate you saying so,” I replied modestly.

  She gave me another surprised look, and I could sense she wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. There was something about her body language that told me she was on edge, but it was hard for me to pinpoint exactly why.

  The way she kept looking around the room told me she was sure we were being observed, or perhaps she was afraid someone would walk in on the interaction and she didn’t want that to happen.

  “But, I would rather talk about you,” I said, changing the subject. “Tell me about yourself. I love your name.”

  “Paisley?” she asked in surprise. Once again, a blush threatened to wash over her cheeks, but she fought to keep herself under control. “Thank you. I was named for my grandmother, actually. I hear how old fashioned it is quite a bit.”

  “I think it’s sweet,” I told her. “And, it doesn’t sound too old to me.”

  “It’s not a trendy name, that’s for sure,” she shrugged. “But what about your name? Harley? That’s sexy.”

  I laughed. “I’m a Harley who rides a Harley. I guess you could say it was meant to be, right?”

  She laughed. “You like bikes?”

  “I guess you could say that,” I nodded.

  I hadn’t worn my vest to the hotel. I was proud to be part of the MC. More than anything, of course. But I wasn’t going to advertise that when I was meeting with a prostitute in a hotel lobby. Sure, I didn’t see anything wrong with certain kinds of prostitution, but I wasn’t sure what Jett would have to say about it if he were to find out I was flaunting the patch and meeting with prostitutes at the same time.

  After all, he knew there were plenty of sheep at the bar who would be more than happy to hang out with me for the night…and wrap up the night between the sheets. Of course, I could go through with explaining to him I didn’t want to have one of the sheep that night – or, more than that, that I had dealt with the sheep enough times to know I either had them already or wasn’t in the mood to get tangled up with another – but I knew the answer would be the same.

  Since I wasn’t part of the committee, I knew he would hold me to different standards than if one of the other boys were to go out and find themselves a prostitute for the night, so I was going to take the easy route and not let it get to me.

  I would keep this under the radar and have a good time with her for the night before letting her go the next day. There would be no pressure, no strings attached, and nothing that would come of the night, so there wasn’t any real need for the word to get out.

  But, the more I talked with Paisley, the more attached I felt. It was hard to be around her and accept the fact what we were doing was fake. This was something I was paying for, and that’s all there was to it. Sure, I could set aside that harsh reality in my mind for the sake of the conversation.

  I could flirt with her and treat her lik
e someone I had just randomly met at the bar. Hell, there was a part of me that wanted to. I didn’t want to think about the fact this beautiful woman was only spending this evening with me because of my wallet, though I knew that was the case.

  I didn’t want to think about the fact that I was just a client to her. Hell, she was good at flirting. She knew how to play with her glass as she sipped on her drink – she knew how to look up at me with those bright eyes and flirty smile in just the right way. She knew how to move on the barstool and drive me wild.

  Clearly, this was a woman who had a lot of practice in her trade. She was way too good at this to be doing it without even a glimmer of anything being less than sincere. And, it was hard for me to concentrate on the fact it was just the foreplay of what was to come.

  I could tell myself all I wanted that this wasn’t just about the sex, but the fact that she was a prostitute proved that that wasn’t so. She was here to sleep with me, and then she would take her pay and be gone. I would be alone once more, and I would have to now force myself to believe it’s what I wanted all along.

  God knew this was going to be hard to walk away from without still wishing it was something more.

  But, as the evening wore on, I realized I was going to have to make the move. I was starting to really feel interest in this woman, and I wasn’t going to be that guy. I wasn’t going to be the one who developed some sort of real connection to a prostitute who was only doing her job.

  No, the more I started liking her, the more I wanted to wrap up the conversation and get to the bedroom. It was hard feeling the connection knowing it was fake, so I just wanted to move on with the night and get back to what I considered my real life.

  “Alright,” I said when we came to another lull in the conversation. “So, do you want to take this upstairs?”

  I expected her to play it cool. Do the same thing any prostitute would do when the time came to do the act. But, Paisley looked surprised at first, then immediately uncomfortable. She looked around the room and smoothed the front of her outfit before shaking her head.

  “I should get going,” she said. “Sorry, but I can’t.”

  “What?” I asked in surprise.

  But, she didn’t waste time explaining. Instead, she got up and nearly bolted from the bar, heading toward the elevator.

  “Hey!” I called after her as loudly as I dared. The hum of the conversation in the room was thick enough it muffled the call, but I didn’t dare raise my voice any more than I already had. I wasn’t about to shout out the fact that I’d hired a prostitute who was now playing hard to get, but that certainly seemed to be what was going on, and I wasn’t about to let it go.

  I followed Paisley into the hall, stopping her before she made it to the elevator.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She looked at me with wide eyes, but it was hard to read the expression on her face. She had been so flirty, so natural out in the other room, but to see the way she was acting now, it seemed she had been caught completely off guard.

  “I’ve got to get going, sorry,” she said.

  She ducked past me and into the stairwell, but that was the last straw. I wasn’t going to let her get away with this as though it was nothing. So, I followed her once more, grabbing her arm. Now that we were alone, I could speak freely.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded. “You might have played a good game out there, but I paid for your services. I’m not going to deal with this whole ‘hard-to-get-thing’ you’re playing at!”

  She looked up at me with pure shock in her face, and for the first time all night, I had a sudden realization: maybe she wasn’t faking.

  Chapter 4

  Paisley

  It took a moment for Harley’s words to sink in fully. At first, I wasn’t quite sure that I’d heard him properly, but, as I realized what he’d said, the events of the night suddenly made so much sense.

  “You… You think I’m a prostitute?” I asked.

  He looked at me like he’d been punched in the stomach, and I recoiled. “You’re not?” he asked.

  “No,” I whimpered. “I’ve never been one, and I really didn’t ever plan to be one, either.”

  It was hard not to wince as I spoke. I was sure I would get smacked for this. Hell, I wasn’t sure what this man would do to me. Shade had taught me more often than not that smacking me around was the only way to handle me when he was upset with something, and the size of this man only made the idea of that even worse.

  I didn’t want to think of what would happen if he lost his temper and started hitting me. Especially not in this stairwell. For all I knew, no one would come to my aid, or they would be too scared to knowing that this man had to be powerful.

  He looked like he was important. I wasn’t sure what it was about him, but talking to him as I had all night, listening to the stories he had to tell me, I had to admit, he certainly wasn’t lacking for confidence. Hell, he seemed to be a real somebody, even if I didn’t know that much about him.

  And, if he thought I was a prostitute, he was sure to get pissed off at me when he found out the truth.

  “Then why the Hell were you on a website advertising yourself?” he asked.

  I looked at him like he was crazy, wondering if this was some sort of trick. He held my eye contact for a moment, before he sighed and pulled out his phone. It didn’t take him long to pull up the profile, and without hesitation, he handed it to me.

  I held his gaze for a moment, and then I let my eyes drop to the phone. Sure enough, there was my name and photo right there on the site. There was a sinking feeling in my heart as I opened the profile and flipped through the bio and description of myself.

  It was accurate, but I hadn’t filled out any of it. Even the way the profile was written screamed to me what must have happened. And, the events of the last few days were starting to make a lot more sense, too.

  I had never thought my boyfriend would stoop to the level of pimping me out, but it didn’t really surprise me that much, either. He had been more than a little pissed when he left me at the hotel in the first place, and after making it clear I wasn’t to leave, I had to suspect he was up to something.

  “Did you talk to him?” I asked.

  “Who?” Harley reached for the phone, and I let it go as his hands closed over it.

  It was then that I realized he was just as much in the dark about all this as I myself had been. This ginger giant clearly didn’t know that I wasn’t part of the plan and didn’t have any clue I was being advertised as a prostitute. At the same time, he likely didn’t know he hadn’t been talking to me, either.

  “You exchanged a few messages earlier,” I pointed to the phone. “But you weren’t talking to me.”

  “You weren’t the one who told me what you would be wearing or when you meet? Then how did you manage to pull off the look and be where you said you were going to be?” Harley looked at me with a hard expression – the same sort of expression Shade would have before he started hitting me.

  It upset me, but I knew I had to fight through the trauma building up inside. Clearly, this man didn’t want to hurt me. He’d had the opportunity to do so more than once, but he hadn’t laid a finger on me. In fact, he had been respectful toward me when I pulled back from him, which was far from what Shade had ever done.

  I shook my head. “I should start from the beginning if any of this has a hope of making sense.”

  “Yes,” he said with a nod. “Please do. I’m so lost right now, and I’m beginning to wonder if you were both in on this and played me for a fool.”

  “It’s not that! Not that at all!” I shook my head as I spoke. I didn’t want to make this man angry, but I had a feeling he already would be after what he had been dealing with.

  After all, he thought he was meeting with a woman who was on board for this whole thing from the beginning. He’d already paid a fee through the site, and there was more that should be owed to me after the night.
It certainly looked like I was trying to just run off with his money.

  Or, worse than that, it looked like I was working with a boyfriend who was trying to run off with his money. That was the last thing I wanted Harley to think. He had been nicer to me tonight than any other man had been in as long as I could remember.

  In fact, talking to Harley that night had made me feel like I was the only girl in the world. He had focused on me in a room that was full of other beautiful women, without so much as giving them another glance.

  It was so unlike anything I had been around for so long, I almost didn’t know what to do with myself during the few hours we spent talking. Somehow, even knowing that he thought I was a prostitute and was paying for it, I still didn’t mind how he had made me feel.

  I enjoyed feeling like I mattered, and he had done that for me.

  “Let me explain,” I said softly. “Please, don’t get mad.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said simply. “Stop pressing yourself against that wall like I’m just looking for the chance to hit you.”

  “Sorry,” I said with a sigh. “I guess it’s just what I’m used to with my boyfriend and everything. When he gets mad at me, he hits me.”

  “Well, I’m not your boyfriend. I would like to know what’s going on, so I can get the Hell out of here. If this is some sick joke, you’re both-” he started, but I cut him off as I raised both my hands to stop him.

  “No! Like I said, it’s not that at all!” I took another deep breath before continuing. “I’ve been with this guy for a few years now, and things haven’t been great for us for a while. I mean, we fight a lot, and things have just been getting worse. He fell in with the wrong kind of people, and no matter what, I can’t seem to get through to him, you know?”