Abel (Savage Kings MC - South Carolina Book Series 7)

by Lane Hart

  Cory grins. “You want me to ride bitch on your motorcycle?”

  I nod because screw it – I don’t know anyone in Georgia.

  “Then let’s fucking go,” he agrees.

  Selina

  “Back again today,” Leo says from behind the bar with what I think is a grin when I walk into the Savage Kings clubhouse. It’s hard to tell since he’s wearing a black baseball hat again, using the brim to conceal part of his scarred face in shadows. I don’t know what happened to him, and I try not to stare, but it looks like the wounds are still a bright pink. There are bandages on his hands too, and he’s wearing long sleeves underneath his cut even though it’s warm. “Abel still out of town?” he asks when I sit down on the barstool.

  “Yep,” I answer with a sigh. I thought he would’ve been home before sunrise, but he wasn’t, and I haven’t heard a word from him.

  “He’ll probably be back soon since we have a meeting tonight,” Leo tells me as he slides a glass of water with lemon in front of me, the same thing that I ordered yesterday. “Unless you want something harder?”

  “No, this is great. Thanks, Leo.”

  I’m sipping my water when the newlyweds come rushing in. Instead of looking happy and rested from their honeymoon, the redheaded woman, Rita, is a little wide-eyed, and Nolan looks pissed.

  “Everyone in the chapel now!” he yells, pointing to the door on the far side of the room. All of the bikers get up to follow without needing to be told twice.

  “Sorry.” Leo winces as he leaves the bar. “Help yourself until I get back.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I tell him just as Rita flops down two stools away from me.

  “Everything okay?” I ask her. “How was the honeymoon?”

  “Um, hi,” she replies as she glances at me and squints her eyes like she’s trying to place me.

  “I’m Selina. I was the bartender at your wedding reception, but we didn’t really get to officially meet,” I remind her.

  “Oh, right. I thought you looked familiar.” Her brow furrows as if she’s trying to figure out what I’m doing here now.

  “Abel and I ended up staying in your brother Cory’s hotel room that night,” I explain.

  “Really?” she asks with a half-smile.

  “Yep.”

  “Huh. None of my business.” Rita looks to the door where the last of the Kings go through and shut it closed. “God, I could really use a drink.”

  “I can get it for you,” I reply. Hopping off the stool, I go around behind the bar. “What do you need?”

  “Tequila in a big glass.”

  “Sure thing,” I say with a smile as I find a clean glass, the good bottle of tequila, and pour her a big-ass shot.

  As soon as it’s in front of her, she lifts it with a shaking hand, pours it down her throat, and slams the glass down on the bar.

  “Trouble in paradise?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “No. Nolan is…I’m so lucky to have him.”

  “Then what’s up?”

  Rita glances to the closed door, then back to me. “I shouldn’t say, but I have to tell someone!”

  I nod in understanding. Leaning my elbows on the bar, I prop up my chin on my knuckles, waiting for her to go on.

  “The honeymoon was great. Perfect. But then, when we got back home and were unpacking, a detective showed up at the house.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “No, it’s not,” she says.

  “Well, what did the detective want?” I ask, even though I have an idea.

  “He’s, um, he was from Cape Cartwright, where I just moved from, and he wanted me to talk to him about…about this crazy guy who wanted to be with me.”

  Leroy. It has to be.

  “They still haven’t found that asshole yet?” I mutter disappointedly.

  Rita’s light blue eyes bulge. “How did you…who told you about him?”

  “I, ah, I was sort of seeing Dubois, before Leroy killed him and all the other guys.”

  Now, she goes pale and looks like she’s going to be sick.

  “You knew Dubois?” she asks, and I nod.

  “Abel said that him and the others, that they hurt you. I had no idea, and I’m so sorry.”

  “Abel told you about that?” she repeats, voice hoarse.

  “He found Dubois’s cut in my things yesterday, and he was so pissed. I just came here looking for answers to why he was killed.”

  “Dubois and the others got what they deserved,” she whispers.

  I swallow around the knot in my throat because I thought I cared about him. Now, those feelings are probably still lurking because he’s dead and I miss him. But if he were alive, I couldn’t have forgiven him for this, for what he did to Rita.

  “You’re probably right,” I tell her. “But if Leroy is capable of killing his seven friends, no telling what else the maniac might do! That’s why I hope the police find him soon.”

  “Leroy is dead,” she says simply.

  “He is? How do you know?” I ask her.

  Rita eyes the closed door and then me again. “I shouldn’t be talking about this. But trust me, Leroy can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

  Abel said the same thing. I thought he was just trying to be reassuring so I wouldn’t worry. Instead, I think it was more than that – like he knows for a fact that Leroy is dead because he saw him die.

  I’m not sure how I feel about that…

  Rita and I sit there and drink, mostly in silence, occasionally startling because of the raised voices coming from behind the closed-door meeting.

  Finally, about an hour later, the door opens again, and the bikers all come flooding out. Nolan takes Rita’s hand, and then they’re out of there quicker than she can give me a little wave over her shoulder.

  “Where the fuck are Abel and Hugo?” a deep, grumbly voice asks from right beside me, making me jump. A man with black hair and deep-set black eyes is staring down at me, his face an inch from mine.

  “Ah, hi,” I say in greeting since he’s tall, dark, and handsome like Abel, although a little older and more rough around the edges. “I think Hugo went looking for some woman named Felicity. And Abel, Abel said he had an errand to run yesterday, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

  “Fuck,” the man grits out. “And who are you to them?”

  “Selina. Just a friend,” I reply since Abel made it clear we weren’t anything more when he left.

  “Well, Selina, just a friend, call Abel and tell him to get his ass back here right now.”

  “You really think he’ll listen to me?” I ask with a smile and a bark of laughter. “I’ve only known him a few days. I cook him dinner and keep his bed warm, but I can’t order him to do anything!”

  “Then maybe you should work on your cooking and bedroom skills,” he says seriously.

  “My skills are just fine, thank you very much!” Then, because I am angry at Abel for leaving and not coming home last night, I say, “Care for a demonstration?”

  “Careful, sweetheart. Do you want to try and be Abel’s ole lady one day or give up now and be the club’s bicycle?”

  “Abel told me to fuck any of the single Kings.” I look at all his patches and say, “Since you’re not a prospect, you must be Marcus.”

  “That’s right, I am. But no matter how pissed you are at Abel, you won’t enjoy the way I fuck.”

  “Nothing I haven’t tried before,” I reply.

  With one hand on the bar and the other on the back of my stool, he leans closer to my ear and asks, “Ever had your ass spanked so hard you can’t sit for days?”

  “Ah, no, I haven’t had the pleasure,” I answer as my lower belly tightens. Then, knowing exactly what I’m doing, I lean over the bar to reach for a straw, teasing the grumpy man by putting my ass right in front of his face.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Abel

  After a late lunch with Cory in the quad after his meeting, I dropped him off at his apartm
ent and forced myself to stay on my bike and leave town.

  It sucked, though.

  While I was with him, I felt like a different person.

  Nobody on campus knew me, so I felt…free for the first time in my life.

  But I’m not some co-ed living life how I want.

  I’m a member of the Savage Kings MC. They’re the only family I’ve had in years, and I don’t plan on abandoning them anytime soon.

  Still, after hours driving down the highway, the closer I get back to Myrtle Beach, the more I feel that freedom of last night and this morning with Cory slipping away from me.

  When I stop at a rest area to stretch my legs, I pull out my cell phone and once again try to call Hugo.

  He doesn’t answer.

  While I wouldn’t normally leave a voicemail but send a text, I cave and give it a try after the beep.

  “Yo, man, where the fuck are you? I thought you were going to be gone a day or two, not for nearly a week? What’s taking you so long? And why won’t you answer the fucking phone? At least let me know you’re alive.”

  When I end the call, I can’t help but wonder if Hugo is MIA because of me.

  Did he figure out that I’m attracted to him and want him in ways I can never have him?

  Is that why he won’t talk to me or come home?

  That fear of being pushed away is why I haven’t told anyone I’m bisexual and why I never considered fooling around with a man before Cory.

  While it was fun, hell, maybe even one of the best few hours of my life, I finally sated my curiosity. It was only amazing because of the anticipation built up inside of me for about fourteen years. That’s all it was – all it can be.

  I still want to be with women, with Selina, even if I’m still furious at her for keeping something so important from me.

  Guess we’re even now since I’m keeping this from her.

  I’m late as shit for the Savage Kings meeting when I finally pull up at the clubhouse. In fact, most of the bikes have already left.

  I climb off my bike and walk inside to find Selina leaning over the bar, her ass looking so damn good in her tight jeans. That juicy ass is so close to Marcus’s face that he could bite it. The fucker looks like he’s thinking about it too, which is exactly what she probably wanted. The whole time, Leo, who is behind the bar, is getting a good long peek down the neck of her top. If I had to guess, she’s not wearing a bra like usual since her perky tits don’t need the lift.

  At the sound of the door opening, Selina’s twinkling cerulean eyes glance over while she triumphantly jabs a straw into her glass of what looks like water. She even smiles at me like she actually missed me.

  No matter how pissed I still am at her for hiding shit from me, I’m also glad to see her, and I’m feeling sort of…jealous that she might have fooled around with one of the other guys. That they got a taste of what I’ve started to consider is mine.

  Which is ridiculous considering where I’ve been the past twenty-four hours. Selina is wild and beautiful. Hell, the woman loves sex more than most men. What if I’m not enough and she needs more than one man to make her happy?

  Cramming the two of us into some normal relationship box may never work, but I think I want to fucking try.

  Since I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone, or get chewed out about missing the meeting, I nod my chin at her to follow me out to the parking lot.

  “Hey. You’re back,” she says when she steps outside and throws her arms around my neck. “The guys were looking for you.”

  Sure enough, Marcus comes right behind her, asking, “Where the hell have you been? And where’s Hugo? It’s annoying as fuck when you two don’t answer your goddamn phones.”

  “Sorry, but you’re not my father or my president,” I mutter as I grab Selina’s hips to pull her closer, inhaling her familiar honey-and-wildflower scent, not because I think I need to put on an act around him, but because I did miss her treating me like a king, and I don’t want to share her with him.

  “Fine, you want to do this here, we’ll do it here,” Marcus huffs. “Nolan and Rita got a visit from a detective over in Cape Cartwright. He’s pretty worked up about it. You and Hugo are supposed to be his best friends, and neither of you were here when he fucking needed you!”

  “It’s probably nothing. I’ll give him a call,” I reply, knowing I should probably get Selina out of here before she says anything about knowing the Rebel Henchmen or being from Cape Cartwright. She still doesn’t know that Nolan killed Leroy, so it’s not like she could have run her mouth.

  “Ready to go home?” I ask Selina.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” she agrees with a smile.

  “Later,” I say to Marcus before I take her hand and lead her over to my bike, passing her truck. We’ll come back for it tomorrow.

  I get my helmet on her and then climb on before she hops up behind me. Her arms wrap around my waist, and she takes a deep inhale. “Mmm. You smell good. Is that a new cologne?”

  Fuck, no. It’s Cory’s.

  Instead of answering her question, I crank the bike and take us back to the house, trying to figure how much I should tell her about the last twenty-four hours.

  Selina

  Abel’s finally back.

  I can’t tell what kind of mood he’s in, though, since he didn’t say much before driving us home.

  At least he doesn’t smell like some other woman’s perfume.

  The scent of the cologne is familiar, though…

  Hold on. Did Abel go to see Cory?

  No, that’s highly unlikely, not just because he’s a guy but because Cory’s in college somewhere down in Georgia, several hours away.

  I decide to just come out and ask Abel where he was when we get back to the house, after I apologize again for not telling him the truth when we first met.

  “Are you hungry?” I ask him as soon as we walk through the door. Men are always less grumpy after they eat. “I made chicken potpie earlier.”

  “Ah, yeah, I could eat,” he says, so we both go straight for the kitchen. Abel sits down at the kitchen table and waits for me to heat up a plate.

  While it spins around in the microwave, I turn around to face him with my back against the counter. “I, ah, I talked to Rita today, and she confirmed everything you told me about Dubois and those guys. Not that I didn’t believe you…”

  Abel jumps to his feet, causing his chair to screech across the floor. “You told her you knew the Rebel Henchmen?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Because now she’ll tell Nolan and he’ll think you’re here to stir shit up or cause problems, that’s why!”

  “Sorry. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to talk about it,” I tell him. “Maybe you should’ve told me that before you left, going off to who the fuck knows where!”

  “You want to know where I went?” he asks as he comes over and places a hand on either side of the cabinets behind my head, caging me in.

  “Yes, I do,” I say while sucking in a shaky breath. The familiar cologne floods my lungs. God, it’s definitely Cory’s. I wouldn’t forget that ever.

  And there are only two ways that Abel could come home smelling like the other man. Either he really liked the scent and went and bought his own bottle, or he was close enough to Cory’s body for it to rub off on him. That’s ridiculous, though, right?

  Except, I know for a fact that Cory is bisexual. Is Abel finally admitting to himself that he is too?

  I look into his army green eyes that look a little wild and determined.

  “I hooked up with someone last night and again this morning,” Abel tells me, confirming my assumption. His gaze lowers as he adds, “It won’t fucking happen again, okay? That’s all I’m going to say about it, though. So, if that’s not good enough for you, then I’m sorry, but that’s all you get. I meant what I said when I left. Just because you’re living here and we’re hooking up doesn’t mean we’re together. But, um, I don’t want you screwing anyone else, espe
cially one of my brothers.”

  “You don’t?” I ask in surprise.

  “No. I said you could, but I take it back.” He lifts his intense eyes to mine, his jaw ticking from his clenched teeth. “Since I don’t want you with anyone else, I won’t mess around behind your back either.”

  “You won’t?”

  “Nope.”

  The one-word answer sounds like the end of the conversation. No matter how badly I want to know if he went to see Cory and if they were together, I won’t push Abel on it. If or when he’s ready to talk about it, he will.

  The truth is, I’m relieved that he spent the night with a man and not another woman. I can’t compete with a member of the opposite sex, obviously lacking the equipment needed to try and make Abel happy in that department. Another woman, though? Well, then I would’ve wondered what she had that I don’t or what I did wrong for him to go somewhere else for sex.

  I just wish I could’ve been there to see Abel and Cory together. God, I bet it was hot as hell.

  “Okay,” I say with a sigh.

  “Okay?” Abel repeats, raising a single dark eyebrow. “No third degree or twenty questions?”

  “Nope. You said you weren’t going to talk about it, so I don’t want to either,” I reply. “And again, I’m sorry about not telling you everything from the beginning. It was just, we were getting to know each other, and I didn’t want to ruin it.”

  “I understand, better than you think,” Abel says. “As long as you didn’t have any part in siccing the cops on Nolan and Rita, then we’re good. It won’t be an issue with the club.”

  “Well, ah…”

  “Selina,” Abel growls, grabbing my chin to make me look at him after I glance away. “What did you do?”

  “I just, I thought Leroy was still running around, possibly killing people. I wanted the cops to find him and either arrest him or put a bullet in his head. Rita reassured me that he’s dead.”

  “You talked to the fucking cops?” he grits out, his fingers on my chin digging in harder until it hurts.