by K. A. Ware
She’d been terrified when I dropped her off after the night at Moonlight. Between the shootout and high-speed chase, anyone would be freaked, but her fear was more profound than that. I hadn’t missed the way that Sinner had been looking at her like he’d recognized her. I wasn’t familiar with anyone from the Satan’s Sinners Tacoma chapter, and I’d been too far away to read his officer’s patch, so all I knew was that he ranked high enough to have one. I could ask around, but I didn’t want to risk raising suspicion, at least not until I had a better grasp on how she was involved.
Regardless of who he was, Rabbit being familiar enough with the Sinners for someone to recognize her meant bad news. If I was sure about anything, it was that she had secrets. I wanted to press her on them, but with her tendency to run I was afraid it’d scare her off, and if she disappeared on me again I wouldn’t be able to protect her.
Or fuck her, but mostly protect her.
Johnny and his boys had taken out six of the Sinners from Cali last week. The ones who had been responsible for the two ‘lost’ kilos of heroin, but I had a feeling that our problems with the Sinners were far from over.
The creak of the door opening caught my attention, and I looked up in time to see Rabbit stepping out of the club. She was wearing leggings and a hoodie, definitely not riding gear. It may have been spring, but in the Pacific Northwest, the nights were still cold as fuck until June.
I shrugged off my cut and leather jacket as she walked toward my bike. Separating the two, I shrugged my cut back on and held out the jacket to her when she got close enough. She didn’t say anything as she slipped it on over her hoodie, holding her hand out for the helmet when she was finished.
The sexual tension I’d felt earlier had faded, and I had the distinct feeling I was in the fucking doghouse. I wasn’t even sure it was possible to be in the doghouse with a woman you weren’t technically dating, but I hadn’t had more than a casual fuck buddy since high school so what did I know?
Throwing a leg over my bike, I waited for her, she hesitated for a second before climbing on behind me, her hands coming around my waist. I was going to have to do some serious damage control if I had any chance of ever getting into her pants again. Not that sex was all I wanted from her. No, it was a part of it, sure, but I wanted everything from the woman wrapped around me. I’d never felt anything like it. I needed to have her, to keep her, and if the past three weeks were any indication, she wasn’t going to come quietly.
“You hungry?” I asked.
I felt her chest rise and fall with a sigh, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, anticipating the attitude I was about to catch.
“The agreement was that you were going to take me home,” she said, her tone flat.
Yep, she was definitely pissed.
“I am, doesn’t mean we can’t make a pit stop,” I offered, needing to steal at least a little more time with her. I learned after my impromptu Chinese delivery, that she couldn’t seem to stay mad at me for too long, and I didn’t want her to go home pissed.
Her helmet clanked against mine and she groaned. “You are such a pain in the ass.”
That wasn’t a no.
I decided to risk it and push just a little. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“You know what, I’ve had a long ass day, I don’t need this shit. I’m going to get an Uber,” she said, shifting to climb off the bike.
That’s not going to work for me.
I shrugged, “If you do, I’m just going to follow you, why waste the money?”
She let out a frustrated huff, replacing her arms around my waist. “Christ, you’re such a fucking stalker. Fine, let’s go.”
I kicked the bike to life, not wanting to give her time to change her mind, and pulled out of the parking lot with a smile on my face. Nothing with this woman was easy, and I loved every second of the fight.
We stopped at an all-night taco truck and then headed up to the lookout at Powell Butte. Since the bike wasn’t the most comfortable place to eat, we sat on the guardrail looking out toward the city below us.
Still not sure how pissed she was, I kept my mouth shut while we ate, waiting for her to break the silence.
“Why are you always trying to feed me?” she asked suddenly.
I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “My mom’s Italian, it’s like, what we do.”
“What about your dad?” I caught her face turn toward me in my peripherals when she asked, but didn’t move to face her.
It was a weird subject, but she wasn’t spitting fire at me, so I wasn’t going to argue. “He’s a mutt, mostly European.”
“I wish I knew what I was,” she sighed.
That caught my attention. She was talking about herself for once, I didn’t want to jinx it, but she seemed like she was waiting for me to respond. “Your parents never told you?”
“My dad was Irish, obviously,” she said lifting a chunk of her hair for emphasis. “But other than that, no. I don’t talk to my mom, but even if I did, she wouldn’t know.”
Was. I assumed that meant her dad was dead.
“Was she adopted or something?”
Rabbit snorted. “No, although if she were, maybe she wouldn’t have been such a train wreck.”
I watched her profile as she spoke. If the subject upset her, she wasn’t showing it, so I decided to test my luck. “That bad huh?”
She tilted her head back and looked up at the starless sky. “Worse. Let’s just say even if she was reincarnated a hundred times over she wouldn’t be winning any mother of the year awards.”
“Ouch.” I wasn’t sure why, but hearing her talk about her shitty mom pissed me off. Someone like Rabbit deserved better than that.
“Yeah, my dad sure knew how to pick ‘em,” she laughed.
“I take it he was the good parent?”
Rabbit rolled her eyes. “Not sure he’d fall into any ‘good’ category.”
Shit. I couldn’t imagine growing up without at least one decent parent. I wasn’t a model citizen or anything, no one in my family was, but I’d had a good childhood. My dad was a hardass, I wasn’t a stranger to the occasional backhand as a kid, and my mom could be overbearing, but my parents loved my sister and me.
“Don’t get me wrong. He loved me. Honestly, I think he even loved my sister, but he wasn’t around as much as he should’ve been. He made some bad choices, but he cared.”
“You think he loved your sister? The fuck?” The way she said it made my stomach turn like it was perfectly normal for a parent not to be sure they loved their child.
“No! God, that must’ve sounded horrible. No, she’s not his kid. My mom cheated on him while he was inside and got pregnant with my sister. She tried to pass it off as his, but he wasn’t fucking stupid. She’s never said who my sister’s birth father is. They split, but my dad would take both of us when I was supposed to stay with him. He didn’t act like she was his kid or anything, but he never made her feel like she wasn’t welcome.”
He was in jail. I saved that piece of information for later.
“I don’t know many men that would do that,” I said. It was the truth. My brothers weren’t total bastards, most of the time, but I wasn’t sure any of them would take in a kid who wasn’t theirs like that.
She shrugged. “It might have been different if he’d given a single fuck about my mom, but he’d been looking for a reason to get rid of her. I’m sure he saw it as an improvement to his situation.”
“Jesus.” I wasn’t naïve, I knew people had fucked up relationships, but I was trying to figure out how the fuck Rabbit had turned out so damn normal by comparison.
She absently waved a hand at me. “She was a c…crack whore. Got knocked up with me and hooked him.”
Shit, was it that hard for her to talk about? Her voice seemed nonchalant, but she’d hesitated when she was describing her mom as a crack whore. I guess that wasn’t an easy pill for anyone to swallow.
“So you grew up with
her mostly?”
“Oh yeah, we were so lucky. But enough about my shit. What about you, what’s your story? How’d you end up in the club?”
I wasn’t typically one to put my shit out there to dry, but she’d just given me more information about herself in the last five minutes than she had in the past three weeks, I felt the need to reciprocate.
“Grew up in the club, actually. Dad’s the VP. My parents were married—still are. I have a younger sister, Risa. Besides rowdy parties and being babysat by club whores growing up, I had a pretty normal childhood.”
Her mouth hung open. “Your mother let club whores babysit you?”
I guess I should be thankful she didn’t balk at the idea that someone in the club could have a normal life. Most people didn’t get that.
“Yeah, she kinda was one when she met my dad. She didn’t actually sleep around—at least from the way she tells it. She met my dad, and he wasn’t looking for an old lady, so she just kept coming around, but only for him. Honestly, with the looks she and Chains exchange sometimes I wonder if she’s telling the truth.”
“Chains?”
“Our Prez, he’s my dad’s best friend. They grew up together, more like brothers really—no pun intended.”
She laughed at my stupid ass joke, tilting her head back and cackling into the darkness, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I thought I was obsessed with the attitude, but that, seeing her happy and relaxed, that was an addiction.
“Wow, I’m totally slap happy. It's late, and I probably had one too many shots of tequila. I should get home.”
I didn’t want to stop talking. I’d never felt like that. Talking wasn’t my thing, and I hadn’t spent more than five minutes talking to a chick that wasn’t family without trying to get in her pants since I was like fifteen. As much as I wanted to press, I didn’t. I’d learned my lesson from earlier, pushing her wasn’t going to get me anything other than resistance.
“Alright, come on,” I said standing from the guardrail.
She blinked up at me, almost as if she was surprised I didn’t argue.
“Unless you don’t want to?” I asked, wondering if I’d misread the situation.
She shook her head and gave me a small smile. “No, I’m exhausted, we should go.”
I nodded, holding out a hand to help her step over the guardrail. We went through the same process as before, putting on our helmets and climbing onto the bike without a word. As she wrapped her arms around me this time, her grip was tighter, surer as she molded herself to my back. I liked it, more than liked it. I wanted to live in that moment with her wrapped around me just like that, forever.
Even though I wanted to prolong my time with Rabbit, I took the shortest route to her house. It was freezing, and we’d both had a long ass day.
“You going to be okay without wheels tomorrow?” I asked, once I pulled into her driveway and cut the engine.
“Yeah, I can take my sister’s car if I need it. But where did you have Butter take my car?”
No comment about a guy named Butter either?
I was impressed with how easily she was taking the idiosyncrasies of club life.
“The garage at the compound. It’ll be ready to go tomorrow afternoon. I can pick you up if you want.”
“Sure, that’d be great. That way my sister doesn’t have to drive me,” she said glancing back at the darkened house.
“Sounds good, I’ll call you tomorrow when it’s ready.”
“Okay then,” she said, awkwardly shifting her weight from foot to foot. She moved like she was going to lean toward me and then thought better of it. “Alright, well, thanks for the ride.” Turning, she made to go toward the house, but I snatched her wrist.
“The hell are you doing tryin’ to rabbit away on me? Crazy woman,” I muttered, pulling her to me. I hooked a hand around her neck, guiding her lips to mine. God, it was perfection, the way that even her tongue flicked at mine in challenge, the way she fit against me, those little noises she made in the back of her throat when I deepened the kiss, all of it, she was perfect.
When we finally pulled away, she was a little breathless, and I had to refrain from adjusting my hardening cock. Every little thing about her did it for me.
She tucked her hair behind an ear and offered me a smile. “I, ah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”
Reluctantly, I let her go. “’Night, Rabbit.”
When she got to the bottom of the porch steps, she paused, turning slightly. “Hey, Baz?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
I nodded. “Anytime.”
She bit her lip and turned back to the house. I waited for a full minute after she’d closed the door, just in case she changed her mind and wanted to invite me up. I mean, I loved seeing the real her, but I wasn’t going to pass up fantastic sex.
Kicking the bike to life, I backed out of her driveway and headed for the clubhouse. For the first time since I’d gotten my room at the club, I found myself wanting more to go home to. I wanted to have a different place to take her, somewhere it could be just the two of us. Because if we were really alone, maybe she’d let me see under her armor again.
She was all snark and prickly thorns, giving just as much as she took. But when I got her alone, when I peeled back the layers and unwrapped her, she was like honey.
So. Fucking. Sweet.
Twelve
FINLEY
I had just grabbed my jacket when I heard the roar of Baz’s bike coming down the street. Surprisingly, he was early. I’d never met a punctual biker in my life, but Baz seemed to be re-defining my idea of bikers.
“I’m going to go pick up my car from the shop. Be back in a bit.” I said, poking my head into the kitchen where Stella was making a sandwich.
She looked up, popping a chip in her mouth. “The boyfriend picking you up?” she asked, chomping away.
“He’s not my boyfriend, and would you please not talk with your mouth full? You’re almost twenty-one, not five.” Her lack of manners was fucking disgusting.
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, mom.”
“Please, the only etiquette mom knows is not to drink the beer until the mountains are blue.”
“That’s fair,” she said, shoving another chip in her mouth.
The rumble of Baz’s bike suddenly cut off. I needed to get out there otherwise I’d be making introductions I wasn't ready to make. “Alright, see you in a bit,” I shouted, darting to the front door.
Baz was climbing off his bike when I stepped out onto the porch. He didn’t waste time pulling me close, his fingers sifting through my hair as he hooked a hand around the back of my neck. “Rabbit,” he growled, as he bent his head.
Baz claimed my mouth, and I leaned in, welcoming it. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something had shifted between us overnight. I wasn’t ready to let him see the darkest corners of my past, but I was comfortable enough to be myself for the most part at least.
“Hey, biker boy!” Stella’s voice called out, interrupting the moment.
I pulled away from Baz in time to see my sister hurrying down the front steps and directly for us.
What the fuck is she doing?
“I take it you’re the sister? I’m Baz.” Stepping forward, he offered his hand for her to shake.
“Stella,” she said, not hesitating to take his hand, even though she was quick to pull it away.
I was not prepared for the two of them to meet, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to let Stella’s little stunt continue. “Right, well, we should go,” I said, turning toward the bike.
“Hang on, Sis. It’s not every day you bring home a guy. Actually, I don’t think you’ve ever brought a guy home…” she said, a wicked smile spreading across her face. Her features were delicate, almost innocent, but the second she opened her mouth, all that flew right out the damn window.
“I didn’t bring him home, he’s giving me a ride, and we’re going to be late,” I gr
itted out, trying to convey the amount of shit she was going to be in for this little scene.
The grin Baz was sporting told me he knew how uncomfortable this situation was for me and had no intention of easing my anxiety. “The car’s not going anywhere, babe. No need to rush.”
“Yeah, babe, no rush,” Stella smirked and shared a look with Baz.
Great, they’re teaming up on me now.
“So, Baz, what are you doing tomorrow night?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
The fuck?
Baz’s face was carefully blank when he answered. “It depends, why?”
If she asks him out, I might kill her.
Stella shrugged, stuffing her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “Since you’ve been bringing my sister home at all hours of the night—”
“It was only twice,” I interjected.
She lifted a hand to silence me. “And she’s been glued to her phone with a goofy ass smile on her face for the past few weeks. I think it’s time we get to know each other. Fin has to work, so be here at five for an early dinner.”
She didn’t wait for a response, turning on her heel and marching up the steps and back into the house.
“She’s kind of a trip,” Baz said.
“You have no fucking idea,” I sighed, making my way back to the bike. “Come on. I need to be back in time to yell at her before I go to work.”
“Smilin’ at your phone, huh?”
I shot him a glare over my shoulder. “She’s a liar too. Now shut the fuck up and let’s go.”
She wasn’t a liar, I was, but I’d be damned if I was going to tell him that. It’s not like Baz and I had been having any deep or meaningful conversations via text. We talked about stupid shit, and mostly we argued about his stalker status, but I couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at me every time my phone buzzed with an incoming message.
I held on tight as we rode, enjoying the feel of being on the back of a bike again. It was a hell of a lot more fun when you weren’t being chased.
Lifting my face to the rare early May sun, I closed my eyes, blindly trusting my body to flow with Baz’s around each turn. It was pure bliss.
