Loving Lo (Devil’s Knights #1) Novel – I was unexpectedly turned on when I met Lo, the president of Devil’s Night. As a thirty-year-old divorced woman with a son, I can‘t even remember the last time I have this feeling. “Let me go.” I squirmed. “I told ya, babe, not happening. I like where you are.” Lo’s head swung back to me, and I realized I had only two inches away from his face. His legs closed around me, pulling me closer to him. “Your sighs and moans are driving me crazy, babe. You moan one more time, and I’m going to lay you out here on this bar and have my way with you.”
How did just stopping quickly to get dog food and shampoo turn into an overflowing basket and a surplus pack of paper towels? “Put the paper towels down and back away slowly,” I mumbled to myself as I walked past a display of air fresheners and wondered if I needed any. “Oh dear. Oh, my. I … Ah … Oh, my.” I tore my thoughts away from air fresheners and looked down the aisle to an elderly woman who was leaning against the shelf, fanning herself. “Are you ok, ma‘am?” “Oh dear. I just … I just got a little … dizzy. ” I looked at the woman and saw her hands shaking as she brushed her white hair out of her face. The woman had on denim capris, a white button-down short-sleeve shirt, and, surprisingly, three-inch wedge heels. “Ok, well, why don’t we try to find you a place to sit down until you get your bearings?” I shifted the basket and paper towels under one arm to help her to the bench that I had seen by the shoe rack two aisles over.
“Are you here with anyone?” I asked as I guided her down the aisle. “Oh no. I’m here by myself. I just needed a few things.” “I only needed two things, and now my basket is overflowing, and I still haven’t gotten the things I came in for.” The woman plopped down on the bench, chuckling, shaking her head. “Tell me about it. Happens to me every time too.” “Is there something I can do for you? Has this happened to you before?” She really was looking rather pale. “Unfortunately, yes. I ran out of the house today without eating breakfast. I’m diabetic. I should know by now that I can’t do that.” My mom was also diabetic, so I knew exactly what the woman was talking about. Luckily, I also knew what to do to help. “Just sit right here, and I’ll be right back. Is there someone you want to call to give you a ride home? Driving right now probably isn’t the best idea.” I set the basket and towels on the floor, keeping my wallet in my hand. “I suppose I should call my son.
He should be able to give me a ride,” the woman said as she dug her phone out of her purse. I left the woman to her phone call and headed to the candy aisle that I had been trying to ignore. I grabbed a bag of licorice, chips, and a diet soda and went to the checkout. The dollar store didn’t actually offer a healthy selection, but this would do in a pinch. The woman just needed to get her blood sugars back up. I grabbed my things after paying and headed back to the bench. I ripped open the bag and handed it to the woman. “Oh dear, you didn’t have to buy that. I could have given you money.” “Don’t worry about it. I hope if this happened to my mom there would be someone to help her if I wasn’t around.” “Well, that’s awfully nice of you. My names Ethel Birch by the way.” “It’s nice to meet you, Ethel. I’m Meg Grain. I also got you some chips and soda.”
I popped opened the soda and handed it to Ethel. “Oh thank you, honey. My son is on the way here, should be only five minutes. You can get going if you want to, you don’t need to sit with an old woman,” Ethel said as she ate a piece of candy and took a slug of soda. “No problem. The only plans I had today was to take a nap before work tonight. Delaying my plans by ten minutes won’t be a problem.” “Well, in that case, you can help me eat this licorice. It’s my favorite, but I shouldn’t eat this all by myself. Where do you work at?” Ethel asked as she offered the bag to me. “The factory right outside of town. I work in the warehouse, second shift.” I grabbed a piece and sat down on the floor. If I was going to wait for Ethel’s son to show up, might as well be comfortable while I waited for him. “Really? Never would have thought that.
Figured you would have said a nurse or something like that. Seems like you would have to be tough to work in a warehouse, sounds like a man’s job.” I laughed. “Honestly, Ethel that is not the first time I have heard that, and it probably won’t be the last. You definitely need a certain attitude to deal with those truckers walking through the door. I have an awesome co-worker, so he helps out when truckers have a problem with a woman loading their truck.” “My Tim was a trucker before he passed. I know exactly what you are talking about.” Ethel took another drink of her soda and set it on the bench next to her. “Feeling better?” “Surprisingly, yes. It’s a wonder what a little candy can do. How much do I owe you?” Ethel asked as she reached for her purse by her feet. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad that I was here to help.” “Mom! Where are you?” Someone yelled from the front of the store. “Oh good, Lo’s here. You’ll have to meet him.”
Ethel cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled to him she was in the back. I started getting up off the floor and remembered I wasn’t exactly as flexible as I use to be while struggling to get up. “Ma, you ok?” I was halfway to standing when his voice made me pause. It sounded like the man was gurgling broken glass when he spoke. Raspy and so hot. Those three words he spoke sent shocks to the bottom to my heart. Lord knows the last time I felt anything in my heart. “Yes, I’m fine. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning and started to get dizzy when Meg here was nice enough to help me out until you could get here.” Ethel turned to me. “Lo, this is Meg, Meg this is Lo.” Oh lord. I couldn’t talk. The man standing in front of me was … oh, lord. I couldn’t even think of a word to describe him. I looked him up and down, and I’m sure my mouth was hanging wide open. I took in his scuffed up motorcycle boots and faded, stained ripped jeans that hugged his thighs and made me want to ask the man to spin so I could see what those jeans were doing for his body.
I moved my eyes up to his t-shirt that was tight around his shoulders and chest and showed he worked out. I couldn’t remember the last time I worked out. Did walking to the mailbox count as exercise? Of course, I only remembered to get the mail about twice a week, so that probably didn’t count. His arms were covered in tattoos. I could see them peeking out from the collar of his shirt and could only imagine what he looked like with his shirt off. Tattoos were my ultimate addiction on a man. Even one tattoo added at least 10 points to a man’s hotness. This guy was off the charts. My eyes locked with his after my fantastic voyage up his body, and I stopped breathing. “Hey, Meg. See something you like, darlin’?” Lo rumbled at me with a smirk on his face. Busted. I sucked air back into my lungs and tried to remember how to breathe. Lo’s eyes were the color of fresh cut grass, bright green. His hair was jet black and cut close to his head with a pair of aviators sitting on top of his head. He was golden tan and gorgeous. The man was on a stick. Plain and simple.
“Uh, hey,” I choked out. Lo’s lips curved up into a grin, and I looked down to see if my panties fell off. The man had a panty-dropping smile, and he wasn’t even smiling that big. I would have to take cover or risk fainting if he smiled any bigger. “Thanks for looking after my ma for me. I’m glad I was in town today and not out on a run,” Lo said. Ok. Get it together Meg. You are a 36-year-old woman, and this man has rendered you speechless like a sixteen-year-old girl. I needed to say something. “Say something,” I blurted out. Good Lord did I really just say that. Lo quirked his eyebrow, and his smirk returned. “Ugh, I mean no problem. I didn’t really do that much. No problem.” I looked at Ethel while Lo was smirking at me; Ethel had a full-blown smile on her face and was beaming at me. “You were a life saver, Meg! I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.” Ethel looked at Lo and grinned even bigger. “You should have seen her, Lo.
She knew just what to do to help me. I could have sworn she was a nurse the way she took charge. She’s not, though, just has a good head on her shoulders and decided to help this old lady out.” “That’s good, Ma. You got all your thing you need so we can get going? I got some stuff going on at the garage that I dropped to get over here fast.” I took that as my cue to leave and ripped my eyes off Lo and bent over to get my basket and paper towels. “Yes son, that’s my stuff right here. I just want to get Meg’s number before she leaves.” “Why do you need my number?” I asked as I juggled my basket and towels. Ethel grabbed her purse off the ground and started digging through it again. “Well, you won’t let me pay you back for the snacks you got for me so I figured I could pay you back by inviting you over for dinner sometime. So what’s your number, sweetheart?” “I don’t eat dinner,” I blurted out. I was really going to have to have a talk with my brain and mouth when I got home.
They needed to get their thing together and start working in unison so I wouldn’t sound like such an idiot. “You don’t eat dinner? Please don’t tell me you’re on a diet.” Lo said as he looked me up and down. “No,” I said. Lord knew I should be. Lo and Ethel just stared at me. “So, no, you don’t eat dinner?” Lo asked again. “Yes. I mean no, I’m not on a diet. Yes, I eat dinner. I just work at night, so I meant that I wouldn’t be able to come to dinner.” I looked at Lo and blushed about ten shades of red. “Why is this so hard?” “What’s hard, sweetheart? Can’t remember your phone number? I can barely remember mine too. Don’t worry about not being able to make it to dinner; I can have you over for lunch. You eat lunch right?” Ethel asked with a smirk on her face. Lo had a full-blown smile on his face, even his eyes were smiling at me.
That smile ought to be illegal. I could see where Lo got his looks from. With Lo and Ethel standing next to each other, I could totally see the resemblance. Especially when they were both smirking. I had to get out of here. I’m normally the one with the one-liners and making everyone laugh, now I couldn’t even put two words together. “Lunch would be good.” I rattled off my number, and Ethel jotted it down. “Ok, sweetheart, I’ll let you get your nap. I’ll give you a call later, and we can figure out a day we can get together.” Ethel shoved the pen and paper back in her bag and leaned into me for a hug. I awkwardly hugged her back and patted her on the shoulder. “Sounds good. Have a good day Ethel. Uh, it was nice meeting you, Lo,” I mumbled as my gaze wandered over Lo again. “You too Meg. See you around,” Lo replied. I gave them both a jaunty wave and booked it to the checkout. Thankfully there wasn’t a line, and I quickly made my escape to my car.
I threw my things in the trunk and hopped in. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, plugged it into the radio, and turned on my chill playlist, the soothing sounds of Fleetwood Mac filled the car. Good or bad, there was always a song that I could play, and it would make everything better. Right now I just needed to unscramble my brain and get my bearings. Fleetwood Mac singing “Landslide” was helping. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. All I needed was to forget about today. If Ethel called for lunch, I would say yes because she did remind me so much of mom, but I wasn’t going to let Lo enter my thoughts anymore. A woman like me definitely did not register on his radar, he was better just forgotten. When I was halfway home, I realized I forgot dog food and shampoo. Lo I helped mom finish her shopping and loaded all her nonsense into the truck. I looked around the parking lot for Meg, hoping she hadn’t left yet so I could get another look at her.
As soon as I saw her waving in the air as she struggled to stand up, I knew I had to be inside her. It took all my willpower to not get a hard-on as her eyes ran over my body. “Thanks for coming to get me, Lo,” Ma said as she interrupted my thoughts about Meg. “No problem, Ma. I’ll get one of the guys to bring your car to you later. Make sure it’s locked.” Ma dug her keys out of her purse and beeped the locks. We both got into the shop truck, and I started it up. “Sure was nice of that Meg to help out. I don’t know what I would have done without her.” “Yup, definitely nice of her.” I shifted the truck into drive, keeping my foot on the brake, knowing exactly where mom was headed with this. “You should ask her out.” All I could do was shake my head and laugh. “Straight to the point huh, Ma?” “I’m old, I can say what I want. Meg is just the thing you need.” “I didn’t know I needed anything.” I pulled out of the parking lot and headed to Ma’s house.
“You need someone in your life besides that club.” My mom grabbed her phone out of her purse and started fiddling with it. “We’ll see, ma. Meg didn’t seem too thrilled with me.” She definitely liked what she saw, but it was like she couldn’t get away from me quick enough when she saw that Ma was going to be ok. “Well, you are pretty intimidating, Lo. Thank goodness you didn’t wear your cut.” My leather vest with my club rockers and patches was a part of me. “What is wrong with my cut? If some bimbo can’t handle me in my cut, she sure doesn’t belong with me,” I growled. “Not what I meant Lo. That girl has been hurt, you can see it in her eyes. You’ll have to be gentle with her.” My phone dinged. I dug it out of my pocket and saw my mom had texted me. “You texted me her number, ma?” “Use it, Logan, fix her,” she insisted. I sighed and pulled into mom’s driveway. “Maybe she doesn’t want to be fixed, ma. Maybe she has a boyfriend.”
“She doesn’t. Call her, or I’ll do it for you,” she ordered. I knew my mom’s threat wasn’t idle. She totally would call Meg and ask her out for me. “I’ll help you get your thing inside ma.” “I’ll make you lunch, and then you can call Meg,” Ma said, as she jumped out of the truck and grabbed some bags. I watched her walk into her house and looked at the message she had sent me. I saved Meg’s number to my phone and grabbed the rest of Ma’s headed into the house. Looked like I was calling Meg. Meg After my crazy morning at the Dollar Store, I put all my stuff away and started a new list of things I needed on the fridge. Dog food and shampoo got top billing on the list. I was running dangerously low on both things. The overflowing sink full of dishes was giving me the stink eye, and I knew I should do them. Instead, I flipped the sink off, ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook and left a note for Remy. He could do them when he got home from school.
I put a twenty dollar bill on top. Problem solved. Looking at the clock, I saw there were four hours before I had to be at work. I was exhausted and would be needing a nap. I grabbed some panties and a sleep shirt from my dresser and headed into the bathroom before I keeled over. Remy is my fantastic, most awesome son ever. I love him. Plain and simple. Remy is always telling me I don’t need to wake up in the mornings with him before school. He was right; he was sixteen and could totally handle getting himself out the door on time for school. Kid was more put together then his mom is. I don’t get up with him because I think he can’t get himself ready, I do it because otherwise, I wouldn’t have any time to spend with him. Working from three to eleven Sunday through Thursday, I barely see Remy. Dragging my butt out of bed after only getting a couple hours of sleep to be up by at six to spend an hour and a half with him before he runs off to school is necessary.
After he goes to school, I clean, run errands, and any other odd things that needed to be done. Then I would normally pass out for a few hours before work. It was a weird schedule, but it works. I shared custody of Remy with my douche of an ex-husband, Hunter. We had been married for twelve years and divorced for the past five years. Yes, I had gotten married when I was nineteen. Looking back on marrying so young, I realized it was not the right choice at all. That’s what happens when you’re young, stupid, have low self-esteem, and the first guy in eighteen years shows a little interest in you. You end up married, pregnant, and alone, while your newly acquired husband runs off with his friends. Leaving you alone with a newborn and no idea how to care for him. Thank goodness I had my mom and sister to help me out. The decision to get a divorce was one of the hardest, and also one of the easiest, decisions I have ever made. It wasn’t a good marriage at all.
In the end, we both just stayed married for so long because of Remy. We have a pretty lax visitation schedule when it comes to Remy. A lot of the time Remy will spend the evenings with his dad, then come to my house to sleep and wake up at our house. Weekends are pretty much every other, but there are always exceptions. Hunter is big into hunting and fishing and had gotten Remy into in too, so they are always out on the boat or traipsing through the woods. As long as Remy was happy, I was fine with the arrangement. I grabbed Remy’s dirty clothes off the floor and threw them into the hamper. God forbid he would put his clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor next to the hamper. Boys. I plugged my phone into the speaker that was set up on the tank of the toilet and fired up the shower playlist. I had a playlist for nearly anything. Chill, shower, cleaning, pissed off, you name it; there was a playlist for it. Steam and the sound of Journey crooning about a lonely girl taking the midnight train to anywhere filled the bathroom as I got undressed.
I looked in the mirror and cringed. Hopefully, my hair looked a lot better during my encounter with Lo. Right now it just looked like a maroon rats nest on the top of my head. I would be the first to tell you, my name is Meg, and I am addicted to dyeing my hair. Red, maroon, purple, black, brown, even blonde at one point in my life, you name it, my hair has been that color. On further inspection of myself in the mirror, I had bags under my eyes and dark circles that just made me look tired. Fabulous. Hunter never told me I was pretty. Or gorgeous. Or anything flattering. At one point, I would have been thrilled for him to tell me I looked ok. He never commented when I changed my hair color or hairstyle, which was often and each time very noticeable. Never commented when my weight would fluctuate, which it did quite often throughout our twelve years together.
When I would try to stand by him in public, Hunter would always move away from me like he didn’t want people to know he married me, let alone knew me. In all honestly, he acted like he was just disgusted with me. He did wonders for my ego. Not! I tried so hard those first ten years of marriage to make it something more and I just couldn’t. He told me he wasn’t the type of guy to say things about hair or looks, and that I knew that when I married him (I so did not!). He wasn’t going to change for me, end of story. The last two years, I mean our marriage, I had completely checked out. I weighed the most I ever had, and I ate to be happy, but I never got happy. I just got bigger, and when I got bigger, my low self-esteem became nonexistent Hunter started noticing that I wouldn’t say I love you anymore. I would say me too, or act like I didn’t hear him.
He finally called me on it, and I just couldn’t lie anymore. I loved him for giving me, Remy, but that was it. Any love I had for him before had gone away a long time ago. He got pissed. I cried. He yelled. I cried more. That was a typical fight between us. Except for that time, Hunter left, and I let him go. We both knew it was over and there was no going back. Of course, Hunter called me every name in the book and tried to make my life terrible that first year after the divorce but I didn’t let it bother me and that drove Hunter crazy. Silence drove him crazy, to be exact. He always had to be talking, even if it was nothing he was saying, you had better listen, and you had better have a comment when he was done talking. I had no comment after all the things he said about me, just silence. He finally just left me alone, and that was where we are now. We talked when it was about Remy, and that was all we talked about. It. Was. Awesome. Now I was working on getting my confidence back.
I never use to look in the mirror unless it was first thing in the morning getting ready or at night washing my face, those were the only times. Now, I made myself look in the mirror and was learning to love the person staring back. I had lost some weight since the divorce but was still a big girl. I was a size eighteen, with lots of boob. I really had lots of everything. I was always going to be curvy. My face had finally gotten out of puberty two years ago to where it didn’t constantly break out. A woman in her thirties having constant breakouts was ridiculous, then just one day it stopped. Not that I was going to question it, I was just going to go with it and pray it never came back. My face was round and full and had an average look.
I barely ever wore makeup because I just didn’t see the point and really wasn’t a girly girl. I would rather be out helping dad work on an old car than spending an hour each day worrying about how I looked. I jumped in the shower deciding that was enough looking in the mirror. If I looked too long, I started seeing all the things I hated. I washed up and sang along with Journey for a couple songs, and felt my fatigue hit me hard as I stepped out of the shower. I threw on my clothes and went to crash.
Meg I rolled over and heard “Compass” by Lady Antebellum blaring from my phone. I pulled the pillow off my head and looked at the time. It was only one o’clock. Everyone I knew knows not to call me during the afternoon unless it was an emergency. “This better be an emergency. You know how much I love my sleep.” I mumbled into the phone, putting the pillow back over my head. I had forgotten to pull the curtains and sunlight was streaming in through the window. “No, I don’t know how much you like to sleep darlin’, but now I do.” I shot up, knocking the pillow off my head, and kicked my dog, Blue, in the head. It was Lo. Why the heck was he calling? Maybe something happened to Ethel. Wait, did he just call me darlin’? “Did something happen to your mom?” I demanded. “No. She’s good. Actually making a pie right now for tomorrow.” Lo said. I breathed a sigh of relief and took a breather. “Ok. That’s good. So why did you call me?” I asked, as I laid back down and Blue jumped off the bed. Blue was just like me, sleep was golden, and nobody better interrupt it. “I was calling to ask-” “Wait. How did you get my number?” I interrupted him. “From my mom, darlin’. You gave it to her this morning.”
He chuckled. “That’s right. I forgot. Sorry. Proceed.” “Thanks for the permission.” Lo rumbled into the phone. I slapped myself on the forehead and winced. “Sorry. I’m not a morning person.” “It’s one in the afternoon, you missed morning by an hour, Meg.” I could hear the smile in his voice. Apparently, I was entertaining. “I mean, I need time to um … ahh … wake up before my brain starts to function properly.” Jeez, now I sounded like a moron. “I got ya, babe. I’ll let ya get back to sleep, but I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to meet me for a drink tonight?” Hmm, babe? Not quite as good as darlin’ but still good. Wait, did he just ask me out for a drink? “What?” “You want to meet me at The Tavern for a drink after you get off work?” Lo asked again. “I did hear you right the first time; I guess I was just shocked you wanted to meet up with me.” “Why wouldn’t I want to get a drink with you? Buy you a couple drinks, thank you for helping my mom today.”
Lo reasoned. Therefore, this was like a pity drink. Got it. That made more sense than Lo actually wanting to go out with me, just a drink. “Sure, sounds good. I live right down the street from there. We normally go there after work on Thursday so I won’t be there till after midnight.” I told him. “No problem, darlin’. Hold on a sec.” I heard Ethel yelling something to Lo. “My mom wants to know if you can make it tomorrow for lunch.” “Um, yeah. Should be fine. I just need to know where.” “I’ll text you her address and time,” Lo said. “Ok, well, I guess I’ll see you tonight.” “Looking forward to it, darlin’.” I started to say bye but realized Lo had already hung up. Darlin’. How many times did he call me that, three or four? His voice just sends shock waves through me, especially when he calls me darlin’. “It’s just a drink. He just wants to say thanks for helping Ethel today. Nothing more, nothing less. Right, Bluesy? You’re all I need.” I crooned to Blue.
Blue, my Basset Hound, sat at the foot of my bed, crying. “Can’t get up, Bluesy?” I leaned over the edge and looked at the dog. He really was cute looking, in a pathetic kind of way. He had ears that were about five times too big for his head and droopy looking eyes. He was black, brown, and white with black freckles running up his white legs. He was adorable. Blue looked at me and placed his front paws on the bed, begging for me to help him up. “Might as well get up Blue and make some dinner for work tonight. What ya in the mood for, sweet boy?” I scratched Blue behind his ears and crawled out of bed. Blue walked into the kitchen and came back with his food bowl and dropped it at my feet. “Silly boy. How about I fill your bowl, and I’ll whip up some cheeseburgers for Remy and Troy.” Troy was my co-worker, we have been working together for the past twelve years. Besides Remy and my family, Troy was the only other person I was close to.
We were like brother and sister. Troy was six years younger than me, had his own house, and was freaking hilarious and my best friend. Troy was both mine and Hunter’s friend before the divorce. Troy always joked that I got himin the divorce. I walked into the kitchen and started getting everything out for the burgers. I lived in a two bedroom, one bath house. I loved it. It was the perfect size for Remy and myself. There was a small living room with a chocolate brown, large overstuffed chaise lounge where I loved to read and a matching overstuffed couch where you would typically find Remy playing X-Box or watching Netflix.
Remy and I each had our own rooms that were separated by the bathroom. The back yard was huge, with a large deck and a fire pit. It was where I spent a good bit of my time on the weekends just relaxing. When I really needed to clear my mind, I cooked or baked. That was what I was going to do now. No more thinking about Lo and all those tattoos and wondering what he looked like with his shirt off and his smile that made me want to rip my clothes off and let him have his way with me. No more thinking about Lo and his tattoos. No. More. I wonder how many he has. I must be crazy.