Steel guardians

Chapter 3

Chloe:

"Your first article is great." Johns says as he stands in the doorway of my office.

"Seems a bit bland to me."

"No seriously, good job." He says, "what do you say we have that dinner tonight?" The last thing I'm in the mood for is dinner with John. But I've only been doing this job for a week, and I don't want to mess it up already.

"Sure." I say, "I just have to get home, take a shower. It's blazing today and the weather paired with this outfit doesn't result in me smelling too great." I say as he laughs.

"No problem. I'll text you." He says as he leaves the office. The first week back home hasn't been that bad. The first two days almost had me running for the hills. But luckily things have cooled off since then. From sleeping with Gunner to finding out his off again on again girlfriend is pregnant the next day, I'm just glad I had a normal, drama free week at work.

Axel didn't do any cocaine since last week either which is a bonus. But this whole Rosario thing is eating away at me. What if I have the opportunity to put a really bad guy away, for a very long time? A guy that I've been trying to catch for almost two years. But I can't do that without exposing the club. Of course I wouldn't care about it, if my brother weren't a member. I make my way back home, exhaustion causing my eyes to hang.

And now I have to go to dinner and make shitty small talk with my high school boyfriend. Then again, I'd rather do that than spend the night at home with Axel and a bunch of bikers. I roll my eyes as I get out of the car and see the infamous Harley's parked outside the house. I knew things were going too well.

I walk into the house, as I head straight for the stairs when someone grabs me by the arm. "Evening sweet cheeks."

"Malik." I say bluntly.

"where you headed off to in such a rush? Don't you want to sit down, have a drink and relax?"

"I need to hop in the shower actually." I say.

"Need some company?"

"Listen, I know Axel is in the club and I don't have a problem with you guys." I say, "but I don't have the energy to bat all of you constantly."

"Playing hard to get, I like it." He smirks.

"That's not to what I'm doing." I say, "in fact, I have a date tonight." I lie.

"Let me know if he doesn't satisfy you." He says as I make my way up the stairs and jump in the shower. I make my way back out of the house, I don't spot Gunner anywhere, sparking my curiosity. Then again I'm pretty sure Gina has him on a tight leash now that she's carrying his child. I give this new found maturity of his 2 months tops before he snaps.

I make my way to the bar. I wasn't really looking forward to it a couple of minutes ago but maybe it'll do be some good to just let my hair down and relax. I can't talk to Axel about how the frustration is killing me.

The fact that I could have another opportunity to try and catch Rosario and put him behind bars excites me. But Axel has his whole life ahead of him, one day he will realize what I've been trying to tell him all these years. He will leave the club, get a job that won't come with the threat of getting jail time, a nice girl and start a family. Or at least that's what I envision for him.

So if that means putting my work aside, I guess I don't really have much of an option. Investigative journalism can open other doors for me, it still has the premise of digging deep into the minds of psychopaths, without all of the messy work. I make my way into the bar as John waves at me from one of the booths.