The Biker's Fate Chapter 540

Tate

Saturday morning, I awoke to an empty bed and sat up. "Flash?"

There was no response, so I grabbed my phone and saw that he'd sent me a text.

Flash: Downstairs. Come down when you wake up.

I smiled, taking a few extra minutes to properly wash off the makeup I had on the night before. With my face freshly moisturized, I pulled my hair into a cute braid, then dressed in yoga pants and a T-shirt, and headed downstairs.

I heard chatter and laughing in the kitchen, so I made my way toward the sound, and found Hatch and Maisie standing with Flash at the island. I started toward him but before I could take a step, the woman standing next to Maisie turned, and I froze.

"Hey, baby," Flash said.

I mean, I think that's what he said.

I couldn't actually process much of what he was saying, you know, on account of the fact I was staring into the face of mother fucking Melody Morgan.

She…her…my total complete and utter idol, was less than three feet from me.

Smiling at me.

"Tate?" Flash called.

It was like an echo in my head. And then there were bees. Oh my god, they were buzzing. So much buzzing.

But all I could do was stare at Melody.

Lordy, she was pretty. Her perfectly styled blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, only nothing about it was messy. She wore skintight jeans and knee-high boots that were obviously made for her, and she had on a black denim jacket over a low-cut T-shirt. She was perfectly perfect in every way. A walking fashion icon who looked like she'd just stepped out of the pages of a magazine.

"I think you broke her," Flash said with a chuckle.

It wasn't until I felt his hand on my waist that the bees in my head stopped their buzzing and I was brought back to reality, blinking up at Flash.

"There you are," he said, smiling gently. "You okay?"

"It's weird. I thought I saw Melody Morgan in front of me," I breathed out, letting out a nervous giggle.

Flash grinned. "Take a deep breath and smile, Tate."

"Nope, I'm good pretending I'm not in yoga pants, no makeup, and my hair all funky as I stand three feet from Melody fucking Morgan." I whispered, the Melody fucking Morgan part, lest she know I was talking about her, of course. God forbid the woman see just how incredibly awkward her number one fan was. I gripped Flash's cut before jabbing my finger into his chest. "Later, when we're alone, you and I are going to have a conversation, complete with slides that will contain graphs and pie charts, about how to give your woman some advance notice when royalty comes to visit. Capisce?"

"Graphs and pie charts?"

"Yes. And you can bet your ass there will be a test," I warned. "Got it?"

Flash grinned slowly. "Got it."

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath before pasting on what I hoped was a confident and sincere smile and turned to face Melody. "Hi, I'm Tate."

"Hi, I'm Melody."

"Yes, of course you are. You're Melody Morgan. And of course you know that, because you're Melody Morgan and I can't stop saying Melody Morgan and you're my queen." And then I curtsied. "Why can't I stop saying Melody Morgan?" I waved my hand behind me and begged, "Flash, help me stop saying words."

Flash chuckled. "Melody, my woman's a big fan—"

I drove my heel into his boot, only managing to bruise my heel.

"I mean, she's your biggest fan," he corrected.

Melody grinned. "It's always wonderful to meet one of my loyal subjects."

"Oh my god," I squeaked out, still mortified by my behavior.

"In all seriousness, Tate, Train'll tell you I'm far from royalty. I spend more time on the back of his bike than the royal coach these days. Just think of me as one of your club sisters."

"Sisters." I let out an inelegant snort. "Right."

"No, seriously." Melody pulled up her pant leg. "I just got a burn on my calf because I hadn't quite figured out how to get off the bike right."

Just then, Train walked in shaking his head. "Told you to mind those pipes, baby."

Hatch glared at Train. "You let your woman get burned?"

"No, Train was right. It was my fault," Melody rushed to explain. "I didn't wait for him to help me. I was excited and hopped off on the wrong side."

Hatch sighed. "Well, it's a lesson you only have to learn once, but Train still shoulda taken more care."

"Yeah, I should have," Train agreed, sliding his hand around Melody's waist, and kissing her temple.

"Or, I could have listened to my man who tried to warn me." She grimaced up at him, but he winked at her which seemed to defuse the tension in the room.

While all of that had been going on, I'd buried myself in Flash's chest, attempting to hide behind his cut in an effort to disappear.

He leaned down and whispered, "Baby, you're fine. Just be yourself."

I pinched his side in response.

"Ow," he hissed. "What the hell was that for?"

"Being myself is not the way to go here, bub," I hiss-pered. "Obviously."

Flash wrapped both his arms around me and squeezed gently. "Jesus, you're funny when you're discombobulated. You want breakfast?"

"In a minute." I wrapped my arms around his waist and shook my head. "I'm not done hiding."

"Baby, she's one of us now," Flash whispered. "You've got nothing to hide from."

I glared up at him and said for his ears only, "She is a fucking queen, Mr. Wallace. You will show some respect."

Flash responded by dropping his head back and laughing. "I'm gonna make you a cup of coffee before you implode."

I sighed. "I'll allow it."

He kissed me gently, then released me and made his way to the coffee pot.

"Tate!"

I turned to find Poppy rushing into the kitchen and it gave me the perfect excuse to pull myself together and focus on something other than my awkwardness. I grabbed her hand and led her back out of the room, pulling her down the hall.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I just made a total fool of myself," I whispered. "I need a second to reset."

She smiled. "I bet you're being way too hard on yourself."

"Um, no, pretty sure I'm not," I retorted, adding in a whisper, "I curtsied to her, Poppy."

"What the fuck now?"

Dropping my face into my hands I shook my head as Poppy chuckled and wrapped her arms around me. "Come on, honey, you're fine. Melody probably took it all in stride."

"Baby," Flash breathed out, pulling me away from his sister and cupping my face. "What are you doing out here? Come back into the kitchen."

"Seriously, honey," Poppy said. "Pull up those big girl panties and join the fun. You're the president's daughter-in-law." She leaned in and whispered, "She should be curtsying to you."

I let out a snort-laugh, falling against Flash as he kissed my temple. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm sure I'm overreactin—"

Melody stepped into the hallway just as I gathered my courage. "Oh, sorry, I was just looking for the bathroom."

I waved my hands in the air like a deranged magician's assistant. "Allow me to escort you to the facilities."

Melody laughed. "Oh my god, you're so funny."

Yeah, that's it, I'm funny. Not criminally insane or restraining order worthy.

"Two doors down on the left," Poppy said, putting me out of my misery. The second Melody was out of sight, Poppy settled her hands on my shoulders. "I take it back. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Right?" I cried. "Oh my god! I can't function!"

"Enough," Flash growled, turning on his sister. "You need to back the fuck up, sissy. Tate is fine. Stop telling her she's not."

"She didn't mean it that way," I argued.

"I really didn't," Poppy confirmed.

"She was teasing."

"I really was," Poppy said.

"Well, you can quit," Flash snapped, sliding his hand around my waist.

"Sorry, Tate," Poppy rushed to say.

"There's nothing to apologize for," I said in exasperation. "Honey, seriously, your sister was just busting my chops. It's all good."

Flash's glare turned into more of a frown as he gave me a squeeze and sighed. "I made you coffee."

Poppy mouthed, "Sorry," as we made our way back into the kitchen, and I responded with a smile.

By the time Melody walked back into the kitchen, I had busied myself enough with drinking coffee, eating breakfast, then helping with clean up, I'd managed to mostly block out the fact that Melody was my supreme ruler and shoved the bees back in their hive.