“I’d have helped,” his voice rumbled from the bottom of the stairs, as he bent and grabbed the handle of the case nearest to him.
I harrumphed. “Don’t put yourself out.”
“No problem.” he dropped the case he’d got six inches off the ground and turned away. “Your room is this way.” Beckett walked up the stairs again, not really bothered whether I was following or not. I trudged behind him, ignoring how good he looked. Ignoring that his ass looked great in his jeans. Ignoring that his booted feet were silent, but purposeful and assured. Ignoring that he smelled amazing, all freshly showered and soapy. Beckett still held a close command over his body, that hadn’t changed, the only thing that really had was how much he’d filled out his own skin. My gran was right, Beckett was a big boy. He stopped in front a door and pushed it wide, before standing back to let me go in.
Simple and clean. White walls and minimal furniture. “Didn’t make your bed, figured you wouldn’t want a dirty biker rolling around in the clean sheets.”
“Sarcastic as ever.”
“Just calling it as I see it.”
“Aunty Flick! Aunty Flick! I’ve got a rainbow room. It’s pretty!” Lila shot past me and launched herself at my bed before she disappeared in a pile of sheets, pillows and the duvet.
“Sounds cool, want to show me, pretty girl?” I hoped he’d picked up on my barb as it was intended for him, seeing as he made no effort to take me when he showed the kids.
Lila ignored me, “Unca Beckett, I’m hungry.”
His frame locked and released so quickly it was like I’d imagined it. “That’s good, cus we’re going to a party tonight.”
Now my frame locked, only instead of releasing it, I glared at him.
“Is it someone’s birthday?” she asked wide eyed as Ben appeared in my doorway.
“Your room okay, dude?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah, cool.” He side-eyed Beckett begrudgingly.
“No one’s birthday.” He went back to Lila, satisfied that Ben was happy.
“Then why is there a party?”
Beckett looked down at the mass of hair that now clung to his denim clad thigh. “Me and my brothers don’t need a reason, beautiful.”
“A word,” I interrupted.
“Lila, come look at my room.” Ben immediately sensed the mood and pulled his sister off Beckett.
I waited until they were in one of the other bedrooms and hissed with disbelief that he thought this was a good idea. “I hardly think an orgy is a good idea for the kids.”
Beckett’s eyes flashed. “You’re right, we’ll work them up to that. Let’s leave ‘em here, they can cook, right?”
“Beckett.”
“Just what do you think I am?”
“A biker who happens to be clueless about kids and what sort of parties are appropriate.”
“Okay.” He smirked.
“I wasn’t finished. And you’re an asshole.”
“Talking of asses, see you’ve still got that stick up yours. If you got rid of it, I’d be a lot more tempted. As much as I find this holier than thou shit fun, it’s also kinda tiresome.”
“You fu—”
“Kids! Let’s roll. Party time!” He shouted over me and when Lila bounced back to us, then grabbed hold of Beckett’s hand to drag him out, with more excitement than I’d seen in her since we’d laid her mom to rest, I couldn’t do anything apart from take a deep breath and brace for the party.
Whatever biker bullshit he was about to expose these kids to, he wasn’t doing it without me, and if I needed to drag them away from harm, then I would and fuck Beckett Hope to hell if he tried to stop me.
“Wow!” Lila’s eyes were as big as saucers, and while Ben held his amazement back verbally, it was there for all to see. He was completely awestruck and for the first time since we’d got here, looked his tender age.
We’d hopped into Beckett’s old truck, complete with brand new car seats for the kids, and headed out to biker central.
The first we saw was a signpost, large and proud, it read “Black Sentinels AutoShop” and had the same insignia as the one on Beckett’s leather vest. We made the turn onto the tarmac road and right at the very end was what seemed to be a custom autoshop. The forecourt had sports cars and old classics, in various states of repair, but it was the motorcycles that caused a tremor within me. They were all lined up, dangerous and foreboding, and if Sons of Anarchy was to be believed, taboo. When he stopped the truck, I slid forward due to lack of concentration and then turned to the kids. “Stay close, yeah?”
Beckett laughed and also turned to face them. “Ignore your Aunty Flick. Have fun. You need anything, you ask anyone, and they’ll help you out.”
“Beckett,” I growled in warning.
Predictably, he ignored me, “Let’s go, kiddos.” By the time I’d climbed out of the truck he was already helping the kids out. For the first time, they gravitated towards him and stuck to him like glue, rather than me. If I didn’t hate him so much, I would have found it cute, a big burly man, finding his softer side and feeling at ease with kids was enough to melt any woman’s heart.
I followed on until we’d hit a field that was a hustle of activity. There were BBQ grills going, smoking up a storm of mouthwatering food, and kids playing games and generally having a riotous time. Surprisingly, all seemed to be having a good time, rather than huddling into a corner being taught how to make drug deals as a key life skill.
Who I assumed were his so called ‘brothers’ were all sat around drinking beer and laughing, a lot. There were no open sex orgies happening, nothing. There was a faint hum of music coming from somewhere, but it was the women who held my attention. They all looked like normal family women. All of them pretty, comfortable in their own skin, and completely at home here. No one showed more than a hint of flesh and there wasn’t a stripper heel, thong or pole in sight.
“Wanna go play, beautiful?” Beckett asked Lila, who nodded so hard, her curls nearly bounced off her head. He released her hand and off she ran, completely non-judgmental, completely happy and not the lost little girl she had been while she’d stayed back in her hometown without her mom.
“Fancy a burger, Ben?”
Ben nodded and they strode off, leaving me without a second glance. Awkwardness crept in and I didn’t feel even remotely at ease like the kids did. I’d been the one on the edge of our friend circle growing up, groups of girls terrified me. It was Tracey who made it comfortable for me and she was gone. I couldn’t just walk up to the women now and it wasn’t right to approach the men either, what the hell would I say?
“Hi, you must be Felicity?”
I turned to the voice behind me and was met with a pretty, smiling female, who was holding a toddler up onto his tippy toes.
“I am.”
“I’m Gigi, Gears’ old lady.”
“Oh, hi. I’m Flick.” I had no clue who Gears was and the only reference I had for an old lady had once again come courtesy of Sons of Anarchy, which right now was proving to be somewhat inaccurate.
“Don’t look so terrified, we don’t bite.” I breathed out all the air I’d been holding. “You look like you could do with a cold one.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, I should be watching the kids.”
Gigi looked around us and saw the same thing as me. “Looks like Shadow’s got them covered.”
“Shadow?”
She smiled. “You really are new at this. Shadow, Beckett, your man.”
“No. No. I don’t have a man.”
“Come on, and I wouldn’t say that too loud, the brothers love a single girl.”
“I think maybe I should go.”
The laughter fell from Gigi’s lips easily, she’d been trying to make a joke and I was just too on edge to see it. “Look, we’ve all been where you are right now, and it’s strange being the outsider, but it doesn’t last long. You’ll see, they’re just great big puppies and their bark is worse than their bit
e, unless of course you want them to bite.” She winked at me.
I followed Gigi, what else could I do.
“Angel, this is Flick.”
A gorgeous woman turned to look at me and whatever she saw in me, she didn’t like it much, but she powered through. “Welcome.” The relief that I felt at her taking the high road was premature. “Just so you know, this is my family, we don’t take kindly to being judged.”
“Uh…”
“Malia let me know what you think of bikers. Look, I’m sorry for what you’ve been going through, the loss of your friend and picking up two kids in the process, but here, we take care of our own. You take just five minutes to dig past your prejudices and you’ll see.”
She turned away and I stood there, completely awkward and totally humiliated. What the hell had Beckett and his woman told them about me? I may have been a bit rude at the wake, but I had just lost my best friend and learned I was going to have to leave my home and move in with an asshole. That was without becoming a co-parent to two kids.
I breathed in, drew deep on my inner mental strength and opened my mouth, “Bathroom?”
Angel looked at me. “I’ll give you your escape. I’ve said my bit, I’m up front and I don’t hold grudges. How we get along now is down to you. But I did mean it when I told you you were welcome. You’d feel more at home though, if you let yourself. Bathroom is that way. Clubhouse ground floor, first open door you come to.”
I nodded and turned away. I might have taken an instant dislike to Angel if I didn’t respect her honesty. My experience of women in groups was that they were not that forthright, something Tracey and I would have faced together in the past. Even though her words wounded me, at least I knew where I stood. As I walked away from the crowd, I imagined daggers being hurled at me and if I believed all my so-called prejudices, that could be a real possibility.
At the clubhouse, I wandered into the hallway and headed for the first open door, and that was when I heard it. “That’s it, baby, right… fucking… there.”
I froze at the man’s voice and looked to the left. Nothing.
“Harder, Wave. Yes. Harder,” mewled the lucky female, clearly getting the business. I looked to the left and saw the woman glance in my direction over a bare, suntanned shoulder. “Shit, Wave, Stop!”
Malia.
Beckett’s woman, the one who’d accused me of being a judgy bitch, was being fucked in the middle of the day on a mechanic’s workbench.
Shadow
“Brother, you need to come quick.” Gears grabbed my shoulder and for a minute, my first reaction was to maim whoever had put their hands on me without me preparing for it. No one put their hands on me ever, especially not another man. Coming up behind me was a fucking stupid move, I’d been known to pull shoulders from sockets for less. But then I remembered where I was.
My second reaction was to double check the kids. Lila, she was safe, and still running amok with Little Angel, note to self: keep them apart, if anyone could lead Lila astray it would be Wolf’s little ninja. Ben, he was playing giant tic, tac, toe with a couple of other kids and it was good to see that he could actually relax and be a kid. I’d been watching him, and not once had he looked at Lila like he needed to be ready to jump in and save her from danger.
The only one who was missing was Little Miss. Prickly Pants herself.
“Your bitch has got some balls, I’ll give her that.”
“She’s not my bitch,” I growled back.
“Probably wouldn’t shout that out,” Gears laughed, “the attention she’s attracting right now will have the brothers lining up at your door. One word, feisty.”
He was right, they liked a challenge and I’d kill them all if they so much as looked at her with interest, I didn’t need that headache on top of everything else. I followed him to the clubhouse and heard her before I saw her.
“I just had some grand speech about family and then you’re in here doing this. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Flick was faced off against Wave and Malia. Wave looked amused but from the way he held his pants clasped shut and the nail marks scratched into his chest, I’d say he wouldn’t put up with this for long and Malia, she looked mortified. It didn’t take a math genius to guess how Flick had found them.
“Got a live one here, Shadow,” Wave directed at me over her shoulder.
“Flick, what are you doing?”
“Kids could come in here, and… and…”
“And what?” I wanted to force her to say it, the Black Sentinels kids never left the field alone, so they wouldn’t have seen this, so she had to be pissed about seeing two people having sex and this was an opportunity not to be missed.
“The kids!”
“The kids don’t come back here.” I shut her down.
“How do you know?” she put her hands on her hips, turning her back on Wave and Malia and preparing to take me on.
I leaned into her. “Maybe because I actually fucking know. Maybe because I’ve been to more of these than you. Maybe—” I ground my teeth, “—I’ve had my eyes on most of the fucking kids since we got here. And all the kids know that this is a workshop and they don’t come back here without a fucking grown up!”
More people arrived at the commotion. Gigi took up her place by Gears and Wolf and Angel sauntered over, with Mac lurking in the background. The un-nomadic nomad who was still fucking here, long after anyone expected.
Flick leaned closer, we were inches apart now, and speared me with her eyes. “I thought you didn’t do this kind of shit.”
“What shit?”
“Share.”
I heard sniggers of amusement behind me and if she wasn’t being so ridiculous, I might have found this whole thing hilarious.
But she was.
She’d jumped to conclusions and gone from here to way over there and beyond on the scale of ridiculousness. Behind her I saw Malia’s face switch, she’d gone from being ashamed at being caught fucking her old man, to pissed off, the fighter was coming forward. “Share? Who’s sharing?”
“Dumb as well as disloyal,” Flick snorted.
“Don’t call me fucking dumb. I asked you a question.”
“One minute you’re all hand squeezing Beckett in support at the funeral, the next you’re doing the nasty with one of his brothers.”
I found it more than a little interesting that Flick had paid such close attention.
“Uh… What?” Malia asked, while I heard mutterings of “Uh oh” and “Oh boy” from the gathered peanut gallery.
“You heard.” Flick turned to face her, not in the least bit bothered that she was outnumbered. “Pick a man, honey, and stop spreading it around. You’re doing the sisterhood a disservice.”
Malia launched at her as both Wave and I managed to get in between them and keep them apart. “You—”
“Baby,” Wave put his arms around her. “Cool it, she’s looking out for Shadow, it’s cute.” Malia calmed down immediately, and while she wasn’t my woman, she held a special place in my heart. When she came into Wave’s world, that was the start of my heart thawing and wondering if there was more to life than brothers, endless nameless pussy and recurring nightmares.
Wave looked at Flick. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m Wave.”
“Whatever, I thought ‘brothers first’ was one of your rules.” She looked at me. “And why are you just standing there?”
“Flick, put your fucking claws away,” I warned.
“It is one of our rules, as I was saying, I’m Wave, I’m Mal’s husband.”
The room went quiet as we all waited for her to process the information. “Husband? As in married? As in you’re not with Beckett?”
“Yes, to all of those,” Malia smiled.
The room stayed quiet, no one, including me, knew how she was going to react to being humiliated.
“I’ve changed my mind, I like this one,” Angel piped up, breaking the silence. “It’s been ages since we’ve had any drama ro
und here and with Shadow in the firing line. This is gonna be fun.”
I wanted to throttle my president’s old lady.
“Uh, baby, no. No drama. We agreed. Time to live the quiet life.” Seemed like Wolf was on the same page as me.
“Sure.” She smiled and I breathed easier. “Quiet life, sex life, all that’s missing is the drama. Seems like we’ve found it.”
Just like that, my breathing turned panicky. Angel actively seeking out drama was not good.
“Bodes well for you that she’s outraged by infidelity.” Mac stepped forward next. “I’m Mac, not of these parts as you can tell by my sexy, god given accent, you need anything, you call.”
I couldn’t hold back my growl. “Mac.”
“What?” As I glared, he grinned.
“Alright, enough of this nonsense, everyone out,” I ordered.
“You think I can put my prick away first?” Wave rasped.
“What’s the point? You’re just gonna go to your room and finish off, which is probably where you should have been in the first place.”
He now grinned too. “When the mood takes my lady and she needs to ride a wave—”
“Don’t finish that, just fuck off, everyone, please?”
They all filtered out, leaving me and Flick in the room. She was quiet, slightly mortified and I was, well… turned on.
Seeing her defend me, get outraged at an injustice against me was electrifying. She might not think she fit in here or wasn’t comfortable, but she’d gone toe to toe with a room full of badasses and their old ladies, all to defend my honor.
This was a Flick I could get on board with.
“I think I should grab the kids and leave,” she mumbled.
“Why?”
“Because, I just made an epic dick of myself and offended all of your friends.”
“Brothers.”
Flick (The Black Sentinels MC Book 4) Page 5
