Ryder

by Blair Grey

  And for me, that would mean that I would be expected to sleep around. He didn’t care if I was to settle down with any one member of the club or not, that didn’t really change the final outcome. I would be expected to have the next generation of biker growing in me soon, and he would expect me to dedicate that child to the club, as well.

  The thought made my stomach churn, and it was hard for me to act as though this was all okay. It was one of the things I’d always hated about the club, and something I likely wouldn’t change. How could I possibly think that was okay?

  How could he?

  Remember, none of this is real. You just have to play the part for now so you can find out where Mom is, and then you’re out of there. You don’t have to sleep with any of these guys, and if any of them cross the line, you can fight back.

  That might start some real trouble, but you’ll get through it. You always get through this sort of thing. Remember when you were younger and you managed? Of course, then you were too young for your father to let his men have their way with you. Now, you’re going to have to stand on your own two feet.

  “All I can say is that you better be compliant with the rules. I dealt with enough shit out of your mother, I’m not in the mood to deal with any more. You women need to know your place in the club – and that’s not where you think it is!” He looked at me long and hard, and I once more thought he was trying to read my very thoughts.

  It was hard for me to hold his gaze, but I forced myself to with a smile. I didn’t want him to suspect anything, and I worried if I were to hesitate at all, he might.

  “Of course,” I said. “I really want to come home, Dad. I know this is what I was meant to do with my life, and I just had some time when I really wasn’t sure what I wanted. But, I know that this is it. Can you please give me another chance? Please?”

  He stared at me for what felt like an eternity. I knew other members of the club were doing their best to listen in on the conversation, but I wasn’t going to let them see me be nervous. They weren’t going to suspect a thing, either. Sure, this had to be strange for everyone, but I was going to play it off as though it was entirely what I wanted.

  Just returning to my roots – coming back to what I had always known was right. Sure, on the inside, this might be the last thing I wanted to do, but with the way my father’s face was softening, I knew my charm was working. He might be able to read just about any other person on the planet, but he didn’t know me well enough to know what was really going on inside my mind.

  With my same, self-assured smile, I ordered a drink before turning back to him. “So, what do you say? Are you going to let your prodigal daughter return after all this time?”

  He stared long enough for me to wonder if he was really just playing me, and if all Hell was really about to break loose. But then, he smiled a broad smile, one I couldn’t quite classify as sadistic and evil or one that was really just happy to have me back in the fold.

  Either way, he clapped me on the shoulder before ordering another round of drinks for everyone in the club.

  “Welcome home, darlin’,” he said with a smile. “Welcome home.”

  I sipped on the drink the bartender gave me and gave him another forced smile, hoping to God it at least appeared to be genuine. I had to swallow the bile that filled the back of my throat and push through. I had to make myself get through this.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I said with a smirk. “It’s good to be back.”

  He laughed, clapping me on the shoulder once more before the conversation around the bar picked up again. I felt sick to my stomach, and I avoided eye contact with anyone else around the room. I knew what they were all thinking, and I wanted nothing to do with it.

  I just wanted to find out where my mother was and figure out a way to bring her home. I didn’t know if this was the way to go about doing it, but at the time, it seemed like the only option. Now, I was too far in to turn back. I had committed to this, and the only thing left to do was wait it out and see what happened.

  And, hope to God that it worked.

  Because I didn’t have a second chance if something went wrong.

  Chapter 18

  Ryder

  I paced back and forth in the hotel room. I hated waiting. I never had been a fan of it, and it was even worse when I was waiting for something important. I’d gotten a hotel room because it felt like the best way to touch base with Taylor after her first day with her dad, and I hoped I was right.

  We’d talked about the prospects being the ones in charge of communicating with her and telling us what was going on, but that wasn’t enough for me today. I had been a nervous wreck knowing she was going right into the thick of things, and I hoped against hope that she would come out on the other side okay.

  But, there wasn’t anything I could do about that right now. Right now, I really was stuck in the waiting game, hoping she could get out of there and not be followed on her way home. I had to know how it had gone with not only her father, but how she felt about everything.

  It had to come as a bit of a shock, her putting herself right in the middle of everything once again. After all, she had made it clear more than once she had no desire to ever be around a MC for the rest of her life. Now, she was going right into the heart of the MC she hated more than any other on the planet.

  Taylor might not have much to say about the Steel Wings, but she knew we had only gotten involved in her life because of what her father had gone – and the fact her mother had come to us for help when she had nowhere else to go. Of course, she was going to turn to us when that was her situation.

  So, whether Taylor liked it or not, we were the good guys in the situation. And now, we might end up being the good guys all over again.

  Every little sound that reached my ears caused me to stop and listen carefully. I didn’t want to miss her coming up the hall, though she knew the place and the time when she was supposed to meet me. But, if she was being followed, I was more than ready to intervene and make sure anyone who tried anything would know to stay far away.

  I didn’t care if it would blow the cover of the mission – if it meant protecting Taylor, I would do it.

  But, after what felt like an eternity, Taylor’s footsteps finally sounded in the hall. I knew it was her. They were light and quick, feminine in so many ways. I’d watched her walking back and forth behind the bar long enough I knew her without even having to see her, and the short rap at the door confirmed my suspicions.

  I threw open the door without hesitation, knowing she would be on the other side. And, I was right. Taylor practically threw herself into the room as soon as she saw me, and I quickly shoved the door closed behind her.

  “What happened?” I asked before she had the chance to speak. “Did he fall for it? Are you back in?”

  Taylor was breathing hard, and she looked flushed. She looked around the room for a moment, as though she wasn’t entirely sure she was okay. Then, she sighed as she looked at me.

  “I’m in,” she said with a short nod. “It went about like I thought it would. I mean, he was a bit leery at first, but I stuck to my guns and maintained my charm the entire time I spent with him, and he’s all but welcomed me back.”

  “Did he say so?” I pressed. “Or do you think he could have been putting on a show himself?”

  “He told me I have to be ready to do anything the MC needs,” Taylor said with a sigh. “And, I think you and I both know what he means by that.”

  I nodded. The mere thought made my blood boil, but I knew I had to be careful. I didn’t want to say anything that would give away how I truly felt.

  “You aren’t going to do anything like that,” I told her. “I don’t care what he said or tells you, you have to do. You’re not going to wind up in bed with any of those bastards.”

  “I don’t want to,” she admitted. “It’s just that, well, I’m afraid he’s going to push for it sooner rather than later. You know how Presidents get about their MC, and if my
mom is still fighting against him, it wouldn’t surprise me if he would look for ways to get back at her. It crossed my mind the more I sat there – what if the way he wanted to get back at her was to get me to carry the next generation of biker within the club?”

  “Do you really think he would push for you to get pregnant that fast?” Part of me didn’t want to know the answer. I didn’t want to even think of the sort of man who would ask his daughter to do such a thing. Sure, my life revolved around the MC, but I would never do something like that.

  And, I just assumed, any man who loved his daughter would feel the same way. After all, he was her father. He was the president of the MC. He could call the shots when it came to things like that. Those weren’t the sort of rules that were set in stone like so many other principles that came with MCs.

  To think that he would want that more than anything was enough to make me sick to my stomach. But, I wasn’t going to feed into the fear that she had. I promised her I would take care of her, and I meant what I said. I wasn’t going to let anyone lay a finger on her, and I would kill anyone who tried.

  But, I knew she was smart, and she had her wits about her. I wasn’t going to feed into the idea someone was going to do anything to her, not when she still had so much more to do. She was going to go back and spend more time with the MC, and she was going to need to be confident as she did.

  For as much as I hated the idea of her having to do that, I knew it was best. I had to be smart about it. I had to build her up and let her know she could do this.

  “Well, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “I’m supposed to be meeting with my father again on a somewhat regular basis,” Taylor sighed. “He wants me to get back into the groove of the club. Know how they operate and the way things are, you know?”

  “I guess that’s what you went in there for in the first place, isn’t it?”

  She nodded, though there was now a look of uncertainty on her face.

  “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” I asked. “I’m sure if you don’t want to go back there, you can back out. Jett will figure out how to make it work.”

  “I’m stuck in it now,” she said. “I don’t think I could get out of this, even if I wanted to.”

  “I don’t think that’s true,” I tried, but she shook her head.

  “I wanted to do this, and I’m going to stick with it to the end. If this is how I get my mom back in my life, or at least help save her, then I’m going to do it. I don’t care about the danger,” she said.

  Though I wanted to argue, I couldn’t help but feel proud of her. I knew she was brave. She always had been. But, to hear it again made my heart swell with pride. I wanted to be with this woman more than anything, and I would. That was happening no matter what.

  We would get through this, then I would make her mine. I hoped she would come to see that not all MCs were as bad as she thought, and there were good things to be said about some. Including the Steel Wings. She might not realize that she could live in the lifestyle and not do the things she was afraid she’d have to do in Death’s Door.

  But, those were things that she would learn with time. For now, there was only one thing on my mind, and I couldn’t ignore it. I took a step toward her, taking her in my arms.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. I noticed she didn’t pull away from me. In fact, she seemed to pull me closer to her ever so slightly, wanting me though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone, not even to herself.

  Without a word, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, kissing her deeply.

  “I’m reminding you which side of the game you belong on,” I told her.

  “It’s not like you have to do that,” she said as she looked up at me with a smile. “I know.”

  “Then you won’t mind if I do this…” I picked her up and carried her over to the bed, laying her down on the mattress before pulling her pants off.

  “What are you doing?” The smile on her face told me she knew exactly what I was doing. She closed her eyes as I knelt on the floor between her legs, putting my lips to her pussy. Her sweet smell filled me, and a shock ran through me, fueling the desire to have her.

  Taylor moaned on the bed, writhing beneath my touch as I pleasured her with my tongue. Her taste was everything I thought it would be, and I was glad I’d gone through with the idea. I was learning with Taylor not to ask for much, but to show her what I wanted by taking it.

  She clearly wanted it, as well. She went along with it, grasping the bed sheets between her hands and moaning as I continued to pleasure her. Her breathing intensified, growing to a gasp and raspy breaths as she came hard. I tasted the rush of her juices as she climaxed, licking between the lips of her pussy with my tongue, taking every bit of her for myself.

  I didn’t stop until I had cleaned her completely, leaving her satisfied on the bed. We weren’t leaving together. We couldn’t. It was too dangerous. There could be someone watching at any corner, and I didn’t want to risk someone seeing the two of us together.

  But, I left her satisfied in the room and satisfied myself with what we had done. I was working on her, and I knew the time was coming when she would give in and finally be mine. I had been working for this for a while, and for years, I knew it was just a matter of time before she finally gave into me.

  I already couldn’t wait for that day. The day when I could flaunt her to the entire MC as my own. The day when I would finally be able to make her the queen of my kingdom.

  As I left, I thought about her body, her taste, once more.

  It was hard to be patient, but I’d already waited this long, I could wait a lot longer if I had to. The important thing was, this was happening. She would be mine one day, and I would be hers.

  I would protect her, I would love her, and I would spend the rest of my life with her.

  And when that happened, I knew this would all be worth it. I just had to get through today.

  Then finally, it would be worth it.

  Chapter 19

  Taylor

  Although I was nervous to be getting in with my father’s MC, I had to admit, the days went by smoothly and a lot faster than I thought they would. If there was one thing I could say about my father, it was that he wasted no time when it came to doing what he wanted to do.

  And, if he wanted me back in the MC, he wasn’t going to waste time making sure I knew the ropes all over again.

  When I was younger, I knew most of the generic information there was to know. I knew where they met. I knew the names of the important people in the MC, and I knew the general order of business.

  Of course, at my young age, and with my mother wanting to keep me as much out of it as possible, there was a lot I didn’t know, but those were things that didn’t matter now. Right now, I had to get used to the way of life within the MC, and I had to do it as naturally and quickly as possible.

  “Hello?” my dad answered the phone, and as usual, I gulped before I replied. Even now, he had the ability to make my blood run cold and send a chill through my bones with his voice alone.

  But, I had to act like I wanted to be there, and that meant I had to check in with my father like anyone else who was showing interest in being part of the club. It didn’t matter to him that I was his daughter, or that I had known many of these things since I was a little girl.

  He wanted to make sure I was brought back into the club in the right way, as he put it, and that meant I would be checking in and learning things all over again.

  “Dad,” I said. “I’m outside the warehouses – which one am I looking for?”

  “Good,” he said. “Number seven. It’s on the far left and mostly by itself compared to the others. Just leave the box inside the door and make sure you lock it on the way out. I want that key back tonight.”

  “I’ll have it back,” I assured him. “Don’t you worry.”

  “Good,” he hung up the phone without talking more, and I sigh
ed. He had given me a box to leave at the warehouse, but he hadn’t told me what was in the box, or what was in the warehouse, either, for that matter. All I knew was that it was a place the club used to store things, and I was to add to the collection.

  I knew this was sort of a test. He wanted to see if I could follow through what I was told to do without asking too many questions…and without fucking it up, for that matter. He had given me specific directions to call him when I got down to the warehouses, then to not ask too many questions once again as I took care of business.

  I was to go about the rest of my day without worrying about it too much, but I already knew it would be on my mind. I was mapping everything out. I had to. I wanted to be able to take as much information as possible back to the Steel Wings, and I didn’t know when I’d have the chance to do that.

  The more information I had to give them, the more likely it was for them to strike hard when the time came. Of course, we were still waiting for the right moment. I wanted to know where my mother was more than anything, but I hadn’t yet brought it up to my father, and he hadn’t volunteered the information, either.

  In fact, it was as though my mother had dropped off the face of the earth. He hadn’t asked about her or even acted like there was any possibility of me being connected to her in any way. It was a concern that I’d had when I tried to get into the club in the first place.

  I didn’t want him to put two and two together – realizing that the time I came to see if I could come back home was the same time word broke out he had found my mother. But, I hadn’t said a word about her, and so far, neither had he.

  I didn’t know if he was aware of the fact she and I had nothing to do with each other, and I didn’t know how much about her he knew now. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if she was alive anymore. All we knew was that he had found out where she was, and she vanished shortly thereafter.