Slick comes up and shoves a bottle in my hand and, recognising I’d look a pussy to run off right now, I take it, but can’t get rid of the niggling question of just how closely Hank might be watching her for me. He’s a handsome guy, and not far off Wheels’ age. If he wants his patch, he better go nowhere fucking near her. He won’t be getting my vote otherwise.
The beer takes the edge off, but I need more. It’s Friday night, and however much I want to personally check that the prospect’s behaving himself, I’ve got to keep up appearances at least for a while. Otherwise, every motherfucker here will know where I’m going and suspect exactly what I’m planning to do. At the bar, I find Peg in his regular place and wave at the bottle of Jack. Marsh fills a shot glass and I down it in one gulp. Then, after rapping twice on the bar, Marsh gives me another.
Peg’s watching me. Easing himself up on a stool, he leans his elbow on the wood. “Be fuckin’ careful with her,” he warns me.
I crease my eyes, not quite understanding.
“Wheels,” he clarifies. “It’s a fucker of a thing to get over, losing your leg. It takes time to adjust.”
I settle on another stool. Peg knows what he’s talking about, and it might help to listen. “She thinks seeing her stump would be a complete turnoff.”
“And she’s right.”
“What?” I didn’t expect him to say that.
He nods slowly. “For some people it is. I’ve had women who don’t want anything to do with me once they’ve seen it. As if my cock isn’t enough to compensate.”
“Her leg doesn’t bother me.” I might not have seen it yet, but I’ve watched my brother put on his prosthesis before.
“It probably won’t, her pussy will take all your attention. But to her? If you’re going to be the first man other than her doctor to see it, she’ll be worried. If you don’t handle it right, man, you could damage her.”
I huff a laugh. “You reckon I want in her?” Drum hasn’t lifted the restriction he imposed on us all, so I’ve got to take care who I admit my intentions to—even Peg.
“I’ve seen you around her. I know you do. And otherwise,” he pauses to take a swig of his beer, “why did you volunteer to come seven hundred miles to fuckin’ Utah? Just step up and own it, Brother. I ain’t gonna tell Drum.”
A grin starts to come to my face, there’s no point in denying it—Peg’s known me too long. And then my smile disappears as I see fucking Chrissy coming up behind him.
Her arms try to encircle his large body and she leans forward to whisper into his ear, but plenty loud enough for me to hear. “You wanna take me back to your room, big fella? Have some fun?”
Peg’s eyes widen, and he glances at me. While a club whore and therefore expected to give her favours to all the brothers, the brothers know she usually focuses her attentions on me. Peg certainly does, and as her hands reach around to his groin and blatantly rub against his cock, he tilts his head and throws me a silent question. Realising he hadn’t heard our altercation in the kitchen earlier, I simply lift my chin. If he can get her off my back and keep her away from Wheels, I’ll be quite happy.
“Don’t mind me.” I wave my drink in salute.
The sergeant-at-arms gets off his seat and gathers Chrissy to him. As he leads her off, she throws a pleading look at me over her shoulder, letting me know she was trying to make me jealous. Huh, she’s failed, and now she’s going to have to eat the fruit of her labours. I find I couldn’t care less.
One more shot of Jack, and that’s me done for the night.
Chapter Fourteen
Sophie…
Despite my concerns about being out in public with my jeans flopping around my non-existent leg and visibly having no foot, I’m not the public spectacle I feared I’d be. Crystal, wearing yet another colourful pair of leggings, this time with trees and parrot-like birds, keeps me entertained with telling stories of the men in the club, while Carmen, to my delight, gives my hair a much-needed trim. Little Amy’s an absolute delight. Once Carmen had finished with me, Amy climbed on my lap and pulls at my now tidier locks, eventually getting bored and dropping off for a nap in my arms.
“So,” I glance up at Carmen, “how did Slick get his name?”
Now with her hairdressing duties done, she’s helping out again, popping the lasagna Crystal’s just prepared into the oven. She turns to me with a smile. “He hit some oil once and laid his bike down. Slid down the road, apparently.”
“Ouch.” I’d thought it was something to do with his bald head. These men are cruel not letting him forget something like that.
Amy starts fidgeting and Crystal comes to take her now wide-awake daughter from me. The rest of the afternoon passes quickly as we start discussing anything and everything. I realise I’ve never really had this, girlfriends who I could just relax with. Soon, we’re involved in a discussion trying to decide which men of the club are the better endowed, and I’m having a great time, at times almost bent doubled-over with laughter. It’s only spoiled momentarily when the club whore Wraith had chased off comes over with a sneer on her face, but before she can open her mouth Carmen shoos her away.
Slowly the clubroom begins to fill up with women—women who didn’t come over to talk to the old ladies. As well as the whores, there are other scantily clad girls up from Tucson, my new friends explain. And later, as I look over and see Chrissy with the other sweet butts waiting for the men to come out of church, I feel a moment’s envy at her long, beautiful, and fully functional legs plainly on display under her short and almost indecent skirt. It makes me wonder about Wraith’s firm declaration that he hadn’t been near them since I’d arrived at the compound. I can’t understand it—surely, he’d prefer someone who was whole?
Knowing I wouldn’t want to be around when the men came out of church unless I wanted to watch free live porn, after eating a plateful of the delicious pasta and helping where I can with the clearing up, I decide to go back to my room. Crystal’s already left with Amy, and Carmen’s now getting ready to leave.
“I’m off now, Carmen.”
After nodding at me, she beckons to someone outside the kitchen and Hank walks in.
“You ready to go, Wheels?” he asks in his cheery voice.
“You coming with me?”
“VP’s orders, so yeah.”
I admit, although they assure me Buster won’t be bothering me again, I was feeling a bit nervous about going to my room alone, so I’m not going to complain about having him along. Though I soon make it known he doesn’t have to push me, and he takes up his place walking alongside.
Being accompanied by someone I don’t really know is a bit awkward, so to remedy the fact I decide to break the ice and find out more about him. “So, Hank, what made you want to join the Satan’s Devils?”
He glances down at me and then gives a small shrug. “Was looking for somewhere to belong, I guess. Grew up in foster homes, never really stayed around anywhere for long. I dunno, the brotherhood seemed to call to me. And I love Harleys, of course. Got myself a real beaut, been restoring it for a while now.”
“What’s it like to be a prospect? What do you have to do?”
Another shrug. “Anything the brothers ask me to do.” His mouth snaps shut.
“Like?”
He grins and laughs down at me. “Not telling you that. Club business.”
“So you’re basically a runaround. Doesn’t that get wearing?”
His smile disappears. “I’m not gonna say some days aren’t harder than the rest. Didn’t much enjoy today.”
His eyes are no longer on me, so while I can wonder what unpleasant job he’d been called on to do, he won’t be telling me. And anyway, we’ve reached my suite now. Unlocking the door for me, he stands back so I can wheel myself in.
“I’ll be staying out here until someone relieves me.”
“Why not come in and wait, Hank? You’ll be more comfortable inside.”
“Huh! A bit of comfort isn’t worth ri
sking my patch over.”
Tilting my head on one side, I tell him, “Well, if you’re sure, but the offer’s there in case you change your mind.”
“I won’t,” he replies, shortly, and shuts the door firmly behind me as I go in.
Shaking my head, thinking I’ll never understand how it all works here, I cross the small sitting area and go into my bedroom. Moving from my wheelchair to the bed, I get out my book and try to get engrossed in the plot, but quickly find my mind wandering. Easing myself back, I soon give up on the fictional hero and close my eyes.
Wraith’s a handsome devil of a man, tall and strong, built with bulging muscles and a body I’d love to explore. But have I got the nerve? I shudder. How would I feel seeing his reaction to my ugly stump and the scars on my other leg? What if he turned and ran? I used to be so confident in my own body, knowing that all I had to do was flirt a little and my target would be mine for the taking. But now? Am I prepared to take that next step?
Wraith had said he doesn’t mind, that he doesn’t care I’m not a whole woman anymore. But what if he can’t hide a shiver of revulsion when he sees me? What if actually seeing my injury in the flesh is a real turn off for him? Could I survive that? Or would it destroy me, simply confirming what I’ve known all along? But what if it’s possible? To have Wraith for just one night? That’s all I want after all.
It can’t be more than an hour later before voices outside the building break into my thoughts. I hear Wraith, and it sounds like he’s dismissing Hank. I’m surprised, I hadn’t expected to see him this early, if at all tonight. Despite that curious statement that he’d been waiting for me, I can’t understand how he could resist the heady selection of girls back in the clubroom. They aren’t damaged like me.
A minute later, and there’s a knock on my door. I pull myself up straight. “Come in.”
Wraith enters. He stands in the doorway, studying me for a moment. “The prospect stay outside?” he growls.
Creasing my eyes, perplexed at his lack of greeting and the bizarre question, I give the honest answer, “Yes, I asked if he wanted to come in, but he grunted something like he was okay where he was.”
Wraith’s taut features visibly relax. “Good.”
“I thought you’d be at the party…” I know the guys like to go a bit wild on Friday nights after church.
Now he breaks into a real smile. “The only party I want to go to is right here, with you.”
I look down at my hands, twisting together in my lap, not convinced this is a good idea.
He’s over to me in a moment, sitting beside me, his fingers under my chin, turning my head to face him. “Hey, I’ve got some news for you. You’re coming to Utah with Peg and me on Sunday―he’s got an appointment for you with the specialist he uses the next day. You’ll get a new prosthesis, and we’ll be back by Thursday.”
My brow creases and I shake my head picturing the astronomical sum that would cost. “I told you, I can’t afford to go private.”
He smirks. “Club voted, babe. We all agreed we’d pick up the tab for it.”
Now my eyebrows rise, it seems to be too good to be true. “Really?” They’d do that for me? I’d hoped, but even after Peg and Wraith had suggested it, I hadn’t really believed it.
“Yes, really. Peg say’s they’re really quick there too. You’ll have the fitting and cast taken on Monday, and by Wednesday should have a new leg made.”
“Wow!” I can’t believe it. “It took a couple of months just to get the appointment in England, and then weeks until I got the prosthesis.”
“Money talks, babe. Money talks.” Still holding my face toward him, he leans forward and after just a second’s hesitation his lips come down to mine. Despite my uncertainty and inner warnings, I can’t help but respond.
All at once there’s a loud slamming of the outer door, and then a lighter knock on the door to my room.
“You there, Soph?”
“Fuck it!” Wraith exclaims at the same time as I call out that I am. We pull apart as Horse enters the room.
He eyes us suspiciously, his face tightening as he sees we’re sitting so closely together. “Looks like I came back just in time,” he tells us, his arm muscles tightening suggestively.
Wraith stands abruptly and takes a step toward Horse. “No, I was the one who got here in fuckin’ time,” he sneers. “You would have been far too late!”
Horse shakes his head and closes the gap between himself and the biker. I draw in a breath, seeing both tall and equally well-built men standing head-to-head, worried they’re about to come to blows. “What are you fucking talking about?”
I wish I could get to my feet and put myself between them, but I’m bloody helpless as usual. All I can do is shout. “For goodness’ sake! Stop it, you two! Calm down! Horse, you don’t know a thing about what’s gone on.”
Horse at least glances in my direction and lowers his arms to his sides. “Well why don’t you fill me in then?” He tosses a glare at Wraith.
“She was almost fuckin’ raped last night,” Wraith explains, his posture slowly becoming less combative. He goes on to explain what happened, and who was responsible.
Horse’s anger rises to the fore again. “Where’s this motherfucker now?”
“In the fuckin’ ground! I made sure of that!”
I can’t suppress my gasp, knowing that could only mean one thing. I didn’t understand when Wraith said he wouldn’t bother me again that he meant they’d killed him. What kind of man does that make him? I draw back as far as I can, as though to distance myself. Did he actually do it himself? Could the man I’d been on the brink of giving myself to commit murder?
Wraith turns around, his face falling as though he realises he’s perhaps said too much. Horse pushes past him, comes to sit beside me and pulls me into his arms. His smell is familiar and safe as he rests his chin on the top of my head, his hands stroking my back. I relax into his comforting non-sexual and non-threatening touch.
Watching us, his gaze flitting from one to the other, stroking his beard with his hand, Wraith breathes out a long breath. Then, throwing up his hands in a gesture of defeat and giving a mumbled curse, he leaves the room.
For a moment Horse and I sit in silence, then Horse pulls back, and unknowingly mimics Wraith’s gesture as he cups my chin in his hand and gently turns me to face him. “Are you okay, Soph?”
I don’t answer immediately. Bikers, club whores… I already knew this was a different world. I hadn’t given much thought to what they were going to do with Buster. I suppose in the back of my mind I thought they’d either kick him out of the club or report him to the police. But take his life? For what he did to me? And possibly by Wraith’s hand? The hand of a man who, if Horse hadn’t interrupted, might now have been making love to me?
“I don’t know, Horse.” My voice is just a whisper. “I can’t believe Wraith or any of them did that. That they are capable of it.”
“Oh yes,” he replies. “Don’t kid yourself, love. Any of the men here are capable of killing.” At my sharply indrawn breath, he taps his fingers to my forehead. “And that’s why I thought you’d be safe here.” Then he adds with a bemused shake of his head, “Or you should have been.”
“But I don’t want anyone to kill to protect me.”
“You’re in an outlaw biker club, love, it comes with the territory I’m afraid. Or actually, in this instance I’m glad. I’d have killed that bugger myself if I’d been here. I’m so sorry that happened to you, I’m sorry I left you.”
Wondering whether he really would have murdered someone or if it had been a figure of speech, I try to console him. “You’re not to blame, Horse. There’s only one person to blame, and apparently he won’t be bothering anybody ever again.”
“Hey sweetheart, don’t cry.”
Until he pointed it out, I hadn’t noticed that tears were running down my face.
He realises why in an instant. “You and Wraith have been getting clo
se, haven’t you?”
My confirmation comes out on a sob.
Rubbing my hands over my leaking eyes, I breathe in a sharp breath. “I don’t think I can stay here, Horse. Please take me away.”
Horse sighs. “I can’t do that, babe. I wouldn’t be able to protect you anywhere else. And you certainly wouldn’t be safe on your own. Remember the contract that’s out on you?” He leans forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “They live by different rules here, Sophie, rules you don’t understand.”
“Explain to me, then,” I cry out. “Justify how killing a man can be right?”
“A man who tried to fucking rape you!” Horse swings around, his eyes narrowed and gazing into mine intently. “If Wraith hadn’t stopped him, just think about that. He could have hurt you badly or killed you.” As I go to speak, he puts his fingers over my mouth. “Call Wraith, get him back here, and let him have his say. Talk to him, let him explain how the MC works.”
His words have brought back what happened yesterday, and I shudder remembering how Wraith had saved me in the nick of time. How far would Buster have gone? I really can’t sort out my thoughts, my mind’s racing and I don’t think I can cope with any more. Speak to Wraith? No, not now.
“Not tonight,” I tell him, wiping the backs of my hands over my eyes to clear the last of my tears. “I just want to forget everything, to go to sleep.” I want to be alone to try and process everything that’s happened. “Aren’t you going to go to the party, Horse?”
Tilting his head to one side, he looks into my face and ignores both my protest and my question. “Call Wraith back.”
He seems to think it’s important I speak to Wraith, but I’m not even sure I want to see him again. Or stay here.
As Horse sits, patiently waiting, giving me time to digest what he’s said, I try to make sense of everything that’s happened. Apart from Buster, nothing that Wraith or any of the others have done has made me feel the slightest bit uneasy staying in the club―leaving aside the free sex shows that is. But now I know they live a different way of life, far closer to Sons of Anarchy than I believed. Buster wouldn’t have stopped. Would I have wanted to live with the fear that he’d come after me again? A violent shiver makes my entire body shake. Or want Buster walking around forcing himself on other women?
Satan's Devils MC Boxset 1 Page 18
