by Romi Hart
Taking a deep breath, he nodded at his reflection and headed out, grabbing his keys on the way. He stared at his bike for a moment, wondering if he should invest in a regular vehicle, and then questioning the merit of renting a car for Leigh’s sake. But that went against his determination to be himself. He rode a bike for a reason. And he wasn’t going to change for anyone.
Besides, the idea of Leigh straddling his machine with her breasts pressed to his back and her arms around his waist was too good to ignore.
He’d already figured out that getting on the bike – resting all his weight on the bad knee while he swung his other leg over – was the hardest part, so once he straddled the beast, he smiled and kicked it on. The rumble under him was deeply satisfying, and the excitement built.
If Leigh wasn’t there as she’d promised, or if she refused to come with him, or even if he didn’t like what she had to say, at least he had the bike and the open road again. He could handle it.
Until he pulled up to the hospital, Zeke had forgotten Leigh was off today. He’d expected to find her in scrubs with her hair pulled back. Instead, his cock twitched as he stared at her, those waves sweeping down her back and over her shoulders and her body accented in a sleeveless blue blouse and jeans that were sinfully tight. Her legs looked incredible, the shape enhanced by the thick heel on the black boots she wore, and her eyes shone with spirit, reflecting the slightly deeper blue of the blouse.
He stopped next to her and shut off the bike, staring openly for a long moment. She blushed, ducking her head, and then she stepped forward. “I might owe you an apology.”
He nodded. “That depends on a lot of things. But I definitely owe you several, especially since I should have talked to you about what I heard before making assumptions.”
She sighed and bit her lip, and it was about the damn cutest thing in the world. And sexy as hell at the same time. “I can explain.” With a pleading expression that wrinkled around her eyes, she said, “Please forgive me for how I acted yesterday morning. I didn’t like the way Donna was with you, and I really didn’t like that you flirted back.”
That surprised Zeke. He hadn’t expected a reaction from her. He’d assumed she was just angry that he’d caught her in her little game. “Were you jealous?”
She shrugged, averting her gaze. “A little, I guess. But that’s no excuse for the things I said.” Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she asked, “Can we get out of here and go somewhere? I’d really like to sit down and talk, iron things out. Even if you don’t want to have dinner, I’d like the chance to clear the air.”
Smiling at her, Zeke nodded. “I think dinner is a perfect opportunity to talk. How do you feel about steak and potatoes? I’m always up for that.”
She laughed softly. “Really? I would have pinned you as a vegan.” The sarcasm and the eye roll were a breath of fresh air, and Zeke relaxed a little, laughing with her. “That sounds good to me.”
“Hop on, then,” he told her. She eyed the bike for a moment, like it was a rabid animal. But she shrugged, still looking nervous, and climbed on behind him. Zeke told his libido to take it down a notch as her warmth hit him, and he cleared his throat. “You’re gonna have to hang onto me pretty tight. I hope you’re okay with that.”
Wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing a little, she asked, “Like this? I’ve never been on a motorcycle before.”
Zeke closed his eyes for a second, reveling in the feel of her and wishing he could just sit here with Leigh pressed against him for a few hours. Then, he opened his eyes and nodded. “When we turn a corner, lean into the turn. Otherwise, just sit still, and I’ll do the rest. Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” she replied, and Zeke revved the engine to life. He didn’t peel out, taking it slow to get her accustomed to the feel of the breeze on her face. And then, as he pulled out on the road, he pressed harder on the gas, giving Leigh her first taste of one of his favorite feelings.
10
Leigh almost pouted as they pulled into the parking lot of the steakhouse. She’d gotten more of a thrill from being on a motorcycle than she could have ever imagined, and she couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off her face. Zeke pulled into a space and shut it off, and she stiffly let go and hopped off, feeling almost like she was removing a limb as she left the motorcycle behind.
“What did you think?” he asked, watching her with that shit-eating grin of his.
“That was fantastic. I didn’t know it would be so much fun.” She shook her head. “I’ve been terrified of them all my life, but maybe I’m an adrenaline junkie and I didn’t even know it.” Or maybe, it was because Zeke was driving, and she trusted him implicitly, for whatever reason. Besides, holding onto him so tight didn’t exactly repel her. He was all hard muscle, and seeing him like this, fully functional, was an incredible turn on.
“Maybe you should spend more time on one. I’d be happy to facilitate.” He reached for her hand, and she took it, letting him lead her into the restaurant. He limped, favoring his left leg, but it wasn’t very pronounced, and she probably wouldn’t have noticed had she not known about his injuries.
They sat in a booth toward the back, and Leigh waited till they put in their orders to say anything. “How are you healing?”
“Well, I can ride, and I don’t have a lot of pain. I take ibuprofen and nothing else when it swells and hurts.”
She nodded, realizing they weren’t going to talk about his leg or banter back and forth. They needed to clear the air before they could move forward. “Okay, tell me what you heard so I can figure out what I need to do to fix things.” She winced at the way that sounded. Holding up her hands to stop him from responding, she said, “Nevermind. I’m going to explain the entire conversation, because I want you to know that you probably took something out of context.”
Zeke leaned his elbows on the table and blew out a long breath. “I’m listening.”
Feeling suddenly nervous, Leigh toyed with her hands and glanced away, trying to find the right words to start. She had to address this delicately, but she wanted to get it out on the table as quickly as possible. Meeting his gaze, she began, “I left Chris almost two months ago when I walked in on him in our bed, having sex with one of my closest friends. He’s been driving me crazy with texts and phone calls I haven’t answered. It stopped a couple of weeks ago, and I figured he would finally move on, so I was completely thrown off when he showed up at the hospital.”
“It probably didn’t help that I’d already come in with no warning,” Zeke chimed in. “I didn’t mean to shock you. I should have called you or something sooner.”
Leigh waved it off. “I could have contacted you, too. The truth is, until he walked in and started trying to talk me into forgiving him and getting back together, I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to see you. I looked at him and was so disgusted, I started using you as a means of pissing him off. It worked pretty well because he’d been stalking me and saw us together before he approached me. But everything I said about you was true. I used you to rip him and his ridiculous proposals apart, and when I first agreed to go out with you, it was because I needed something out of my comfort zone to help me move on. In the end, I thought you were using me to get your rocks off, and that bothered me. So, I didn’t call and tell you I wanted to see you again because I didn’t think you wanted to see me.”
Zeke looked down at his clasped hands, and Leigh waited, her heart in her throat. He lifted his head and opened his mouth, then closed it as the waiter delivered their food. It was only when he walked away that Zeke finally spoke. “So, it wasn’t because I was only good enough for one night.”
Leigh winced. “I know how I’ve been, Zeke. I know what it looks like. And honestly, when you showed up in my hospital with your injuries and your biker friends, I was quick to judge. I don’t feel comfortable with bikers. But there’s something about you that draws me in and makes me curious. It gives me the courage to find out if maybe I’m wron
g, and maybe you’re an example of what I always thought was impossible.”
He stabbed a bite of his steak but didn’t lift his fork. “A biker who wasn’t a criminal.” She nodded, and he smirked. “Well, you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m on the straight and narrow now, and so is my club, but I have a record.”
She blinked at him, both curious and apprehensive. Maybe she should have done her homework before ever going anywhere with Zeke. It wasn’t like she couldn’t have run a background check with the touch of a button. The internet was a wicked information source. “A record. What did you do?”
He gave a wry smile as he chewed and swallowed. “It’s all fallen off now. Most of it was juvenile. Petty theft and drug possession. I had some possession charges when I was nineteen, but by then, Corey, my club president, and his father had already found me, and I got clean pretty fast.” He pointed his fork at her. “Can I take you somewhere after dinner? I want to show you something.”
What could he possibly want to show her? Leigh’s curiosity soared. And if he wanted to hurt her, he would have already done it. He’d had plenty of opportunity between their previous evening together and having her alone on his bike. Instead, he’d let her leave his house without even trying to stop her, and he’d driven her to a restaurant in the middle of town when he could have taken her to the middle of nowhere and tied her up. Hell, she’d trusted him enough to climb on the back of his bike, to sleep with him on the first date. And that was technically not even a date. Why wouldn’t she go with him?
“Okay.” She shrugged. “I’m game.” Besides, if she didn’t go with him, how was she ever going to get back in his bed? Or even better, get him into hers?
He nodded, and they fell into the routine of semi-silence as they devoured their food, now making small talk. Leigh ate quickly, now intrigued and wanting not only to be back on the motorcycle but also to know what he wanted to show her. She had no clue, and as they mounted the bike, her excitement grew. It felt amazing to have an excuse to hold on to Zeke, to touch him at all. And it was exhilarating to take off at high speed. Even though Zeke had her braid her hair to avoid anymore tangles than she already had, the wind in her face and over her arms gave her the most joyous feeling she’d had in a very long time. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy, this content, with Chris.
And that was very telling.
He took her through town, on the highway, toward the industrial district, and they exited just south of the majority of the factories. She looked around at the sparse buildings, seeing a diner and a couple of gas stations but nothing in the way of residences. And just as the sun set behind the horizon and twilight turned into an inky night, he turned into a parking lot behind a set of chainlink fence gates. Behind it was a nondescript building, motorcycles lining the front of the building and bikers milling about everywhere she looked. Most of them had drinks of some kind in their hands, and as soon as Zeke parked and cut the engine, the rumble of the crowd filled her ears.
Anxiety instantly took over, and while she forced herself to get off the machine, she couldn’t seem to step away from Zeke. She should have been furious with him for bringing her here, but Leigh was too busy digging through survival instinct and clinging to him instead. “Zeke…” she began but trailed off.
Taking both her hands in his, he commanded her attention and locked eyes with her. “This is my other home, Leigh. There’s nothing to be afraid of here. These are my brothers, and they’ll welcome you because I brought you here. You’re perfectly safe.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him, or that she lacked faith in him. But she didn’t know these other men, and she didn’t know what might happen while she was here. What if another gang came in and started a rumble, or whatever it was called? “Why did you bring me here, Zeke?” She winced internally at the tremor in her voice. She didn’t want to sound like a scared kitten, but she couldn’t seem to control it.
“Because I want to show you that we’re not criminals. I want to show you that we’re just average guys, a lot of us stragglers who don’t have families or screwed up early on and needed someone to pull us out of a rut. We don’t run drugs or illegal weapons or anything like that.”
Leigh narrowed her eyes at him. “Then how do you make money?”
He smiled broadly. “We’ll explain that, too. Come on. Let’s go inside so you can get a feel for the place.”
That sounded terrifying. If this environment out here, with smoke and liquor and loud guffawing didn’t give her an idea of the atmosphere, she couldn’t fathom what she’d find inside. But she put her trust in Zeke and let him take her hand and guide her into the building.
Interestingly enough, the inside didn’t look much different than a rundown bar, though there were a couple of corridors that led off the main area. “It looks like we’re in luck tonight,” he told her as he moved her toward the bar. “Kira’s here, and Corey’s behind the bar. You’ll get to meet my boss and the newest old lady.”
Leigh wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean, old lady?”
Zeke laughed. “It’s a term of endearment for a biker’s significant other. And before you start stereotyping, once we commit to someone as an old lady, we don’t go screwing around. There are exceptions, but we ride their asses and set them straight. We respect the women we care about. Just a warning, though. I’m not exactly known as the type to settle down, so some of the guys may talk shit about me.”
His honesty was a breath of fresh air, and it eased her tension a little, making her feel a little more confident as they approached that one friend of his who had visited the hospital so often. Next to him was a woman she’d seen once or twice. Kira, she assumed. She was drop dead gorgeous and made Leigh feel a little mousy by comparison.
“Hey, bro,” his friend – Rafe? – greeted before he even noticed her standing there. Then, his smile grew, and it was clear that Zeke didn’t have a reputation for bringing women around this place. That had to mean something. “I remember you. Nurse Curvy.”
Leigh had just a moment to blush before Rafe stood and embraced her like they were old friends. “Welcome to the clubhouse. This is my better half, Kira. Kira, this is…” He trailed off and raised an eyebrow.
“Leigh,” Zeke provided. “This is Leigh.” Leigh held out a hand to Kira, shaking it with a smile.
“I can’t believe you’re here with this old dog after the way he acted around you,” Rafe chuckled.
Leigh blushed more fiercely, feeling the way her cheeks and throat heated, especially as Zeke draped an arm around her waist that felt possessive. “I had to see if he had any sort of redeeming qualities. I didn’t need my entire outlook on humanity ruined.”
They all laughed, and more weight lifted from her shoulders, even as the bartender came over and laughed with them. Hadn’t Zeke said this was his boss? “Zeke, who is this gorgeous woman you’ve brought to us tonight?” he asked in a smooth, charismatic tone.
“No one for you to leer at,” Zeke said with a teasing grin, though she could hear the underlying warning. “This is Leigh. Leigh, this is Corey, the president of the Devil’s Flames MC. His old man was the president for about thirty years before he took the reins.”
“Welcome to our home,” Corey told her, gesturing around. “Make yourself comfortable. I will provide whatever beverage you desire at no charge. This is a safe space, so you never have to worry about danger here.”
“Wait a minute,” Kira interrupted, shaking her head. It raised alarms in Leigh’s head until she saw the sparkle in Kira’s eyes. “There is one danger in this place. You need to be careful, because no matter who you are or where you come from, it’s really easy to fall in love with this group. And maybe one of them more than the rest,” she added, leaning in to kiss Rafe when he looked offended.
She glanced at Zeke, who seemed a little irritated, and she wondered if he was like his friend, Rafe, or if he was a different sort. She couldn’t tell by his reaction. Clearing his throat, he said,
“Hey, Corey, can we get a couple of beers? I want to show Leigh around. She has this idea of what a motorcycle club is, and I want to set her straight about our organization.”
Leigh frowned. Organization? That sounded very much like a mob or mafia term. “What exactly is it you guys do?”
“Protection,” Rafe answered instantly.
That was even more like organized crime, and Leigh’s eyes grew wide. Corey handed her a beer. “We’re legit, don’t worry. We have security licenses and contract out. We even work with other clubs when they need some extra security. But everything we do is above board, nothing illegal. Hell, if someone here has a felony on his record, he’s not even allowed to carry a gun because we don’t want to pay the price for losing a good man to lockup.”
She turned to Zeke, blinking and looking for confirmation. “He’s not lying. I wasn’t allowed to have a gun till I filed for permission from the feds. When I proved that none of my felonies had anything to do with weapons, I was granted my right to carry early.”
“That’s it?” she asked. “Just security?”
“That’s it,” Corey said, crossing his heart with a wink. “I mean, we have a mechanic’s shop for bikes, and we can order specialty parts that a lot of places don’t carry. We can work on just about any bike out there, so it’s pretty popular. Other than that, we’re just a bunch of guys who hang around and try not to let the bad guys take over.”
Zeke tugged on her. “Are you ready to see the rest of the place?”
Leigh hesitated and then nodded. He was eager to show her around, but she wanted to learn more from the others. As she looked around, all the guys seemed a little rough around the edges, but none of them were particularly scary. A couple looked like they spent a lot of time brooding, brows heavy and knit together. But they waved or nodded at Zeke, and they didn’t seem intimidating then.
