by Sam Crescent
Did she even want a friend right now?
Chapter Two
For the better part of the morning, Forge had been hammering out a new blade. Working with metal, creating something from nothing, had been his therapy for as long as he could remember. Right now, he needed to be alone, his head invaded with a multitude of thoughts.
Uncomfortable thoughts.
Thoughts of Beth Peterson.
She was in his bedroom, and he honestly wasn’t sure what the fuck he’d been thinking by taking the deal with Peterson. He owned Beth, and he could do anything he wanted to the girl. Then why wasn’t he taking her right now? Fucking her so hard that her virginity became nothing but a memory?
He continued hammering out the steel, his mind a fractured mess. What was it about Beth? She made him think of things like settling down and starting a family. He never expected to have an old lady of his own. Everyone thought of him as a recluse, one of the rare men who even stayed away from club pussy. He couldn’t even touch them. Forge’s mother had been a whore, and he didn’t have a single good memory of the bitch.
Beth wasn’t anything like her. She was pure and innocent and needed him to protect her. It felt good to care about something other than the club for once. He barely knew Beth, but she made him feel complete. He felt like he had something to wake up for.
He wanted to leave behind a legacy bigger than stories of death and destruction. He wanted an heir. Someone to carry on his name. He’d fill the curvy virgin with his seed and raise his kid right.
His son would never wake up with nightmares.
Forge tossed his hammer on the wooden bench and used his forearm to wipe his brow. He couldn’t keep avoiding Beth. He’d already decided her fate, and there was no way in hell he’d hand her back to her father or set her free. Forge deserved her. She was his prize for living through one of the most fucked-up lives imaginable.
Someone cleared their throat behind him. Hound stood in the doorway to his forge. He’d built the barn-like structure behind the clubhouse years ago. It was his retreat, and his brothers knew not to bother him when he was inside.
“What’s up?” asked Forge, not looking him in the eye.
“There’s a chick in your bedroom. What are your plans for her? Everyone’s talking.”
Forge scowled. “Then shut them up. That’s your job, no?”
Hound shrugged. His enforcer was brutal as fuck, and Forge was almost certain he’d go to hell protecting the club. “I don’t give a shit, I just need to know. This about revenge or something more?”
“Something more.”
He felt tongue-tied. There were few secrets between him and his top men, but this was new and uncomfortable. Hound didn’t have an old lady, so he probably wouldn’t even understand if Forge tried to explain himself. If the prez started talking about shit like falling in love at first sight … it wouldn’t go over well.
Hound didn’t say anything. His enforcer walked inside the forge and picked up the cooled blade he’d been working on all morning. Holding it up to the light, he tilted it and examined the patterns in the Damascus steel.
“I’m not finished with it yet,” Forge said.
“This one will get you a good price. It’s a beauty.” He set it back down. “I’m riding out to Eagle Point this afternoon. You coming?”
He shook his head. “I won’t leave her alone yet.”
“So you’re keeping her?”
This time, he glared at his old friend. “I’m fucking keeping her, Hound. Don’t take any of this as a weakness. If anything, I’m more fucked up because of that girl. If anyone goes near her, it would be a serious mistake.”
“I better make sure the boys know.” Hound turned and left. One of their rival’s clubhouses was at Eagle Point. They’d been planning to send a message for weeks, and Forge had looked forward to a little bloodshed. This was his territory, and those bastards at the Point were getting too close for his liking. When Forge decided to make an example of his enemies, word traveled fast. He’d been fucked-up in the head since his teens. It was easy to embrace the darkness when he had nothing to live for and only a handful of memories that didn’t make him shudder.
He trusted Hound and Dog to handle things without him, but he knew he should be there as prez. It was time to get his head back in the game, which meant dealing with Beth Peterson.
After a shower in the basement gym, Forge stalled before heading back to his bedroom. He wore a pair of gray sweats, a towel slung around his neck as he ascended the staircase. He was forty-two and felt like an insecure teenager. In all his years, he’d never felt this unique tug from a woman. They’d all been nameless.
Emotions were for weak men. He hadn’t climbed to the top by being a pussy, and his reputation wasn’t based on goodwill or a heart of gold.
As soon as he opened the door, he half-expected the room to be empty. No woman wanted to be bought and sold, so he thought he’d have a constant battle on his hands keeping her in line. But there she was. Sitting on the edge of his bed, leafing through a book. She looked up at him with a mix of fear and anticipation in those big blue eyes.
His heart did a fucking flip.
“Why are you still here?” he asked.
She tilted her head a bit, staring without speaking.
“Do you always do what your father says?”
“I don’t have a choice. He made that clear before bringing me to you,” said Beth.
He opened his closet and pulled a t-shirt off a metal hanger. It clanged until he shut the door. Instead of putting it on, he balled it up in one hand. “And what do you think of all this? No … if you had a choice, where would you be right now?”
Forge almost didn’t ask the last question, not wanting to know the answer. As much as he could fantasize, Beth hadn’t walked into his life willingly.
“Sitting here. On your bed.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“My father owed you a lot of money. More than I can even begin to imagine. You took me as a trade, whereas he gave me up without a second thought. Maybe I’m where I should be.”
“You’re right. This is exactly where you belong.” He squatted down in front of her. “You’re mine now, Beth. Not for a week or a month or a year. Forever.”
He waited for her to react, to cringe, something that would prove she hated everything about this fucked-up deal. But she swallowed hard, her eyes dilating briefly. Then she nodded.
So obedient.
There was a lot more to her than appearances.
“And I won’t trade you. Not for all the fucking money in the world.” He rested his hand on her knee. She flinched. “Your father’s an asshole. Don’t pretend he’s anything else. You don’t have to protect him anymore. He has no power over you.” Forge remembered the look in Beth’s eyes when her father ordered her robe removed yesterday. She’d been humiliated, a pawn in her father’s twisted business dealings. He knew what it felt like to be alone in the world, not a single person to lean on. That shit had made him strong.
It was destroying Beth.
“Can I ask you a question?” she nearly whispered.
He nodded.
“Do you buy a lot of women?”
Forge smirked before standing up. “No, sweetheart. You’re the first. And I’m hoping you’ll be the last.”
She had the worst poker face, so he knew she liked his answer. Was she already staking her claim? Her jealousy made his cock hard.
“My father said you’re the leader of the Hell’s Slaves MC. I’m completely out of my element. I don’t think I’ll ever fit into your world. I’m not like the women here.”
“And that’s the only reason I bought you.” He held his arms out to the sides, putting himself on full display. “Judge me all you want because of my title, but if I wanted whores, my bed would never be cold.”
“That’s not what I meant…”
He grinned. “You don’t think there’s good in everyone? In me? I thought you vanilla girls were always l
ooking for the silver lining.”
“You don’t know me.” Her chest heaved, signaling her growing frustration. He liked her spunk.
“I know a lot more than you think.” His mind spiraled into the gutter. It was impossible not to when she looked so damn delicious. The shirt he’d given her was pulled tight over her tits. He could envision her naked and begging. “And I look forward to testing the theory that good girls like it dirty.”
Her mouth dropped open, showcasing her innocence.
“Just teasing.” He winked.
He was starting to believe she was the best purchase he’d ever made.
****
Beth tried not to stare at the bulge in Forge’s sweatpants or the hard, ripped muscles covering his arms and torso. He was huge. Instead of feeling intimidated by all those tattoos and the fierce expression on his face, she was undeniably drawn to him. She loved these new feelings of being wanted, chosen, claimed. He wasn’t the type of man she expected to spend her life with. She’d only been around her father’s business associates—highly educated and clean-cut men from good families.
Forge was the polar opposite.
And he made her body thrum in anticipation. She knew a man like him took what he wanted, no holds barred. His reputation preceded him. When would he take her virginity? Was that what he’d paid for, or did he want more? She secretly hoped and prayed he wanted her, the woman. Not just her body. Being a pariah her whole life turned her into the shell of a person. A shadow.
Being bought by Forge wasn’t an insult. It meant everything. For some reason, she didn’t believe he was the monster her father made him out to be, and she hoped she wasn’t wrong.
He walked about the room, put on socks and then some cologne. His scent was already branded on her, and she breathed it in as he passed. “If he tries to get you back, it’ll be a mistake.”
“He won’t,” she said. She almost laughed at the thought. Beth had been a thorn in her father’s side since her conception. She was the bastard child he never wanted.
Forge stopped in his tracks. “How do you know that?”
She bit her lip. Beth knew her father didn’t love her, and it didn’t bother her—or so she thought. The serious tone in Forge’s voice made her throat feel tight, and she tried to keep her eyes from watering as emotion bubbled up. “I was a mistake. He groomed me for this, and now his problem is gone. You don’t take back garbage once you throw it out.”
A look of pure evil passed over his eyes. His jaw clenched. “Don’t you cry for him,” he said, his voice commanding like yesterday at dinner. “He doesn’t deserve your tears.”
She had nothing to say, too mesmerized by his intensity.
“I don’t know what he’s told you about me, but if it scares the shit out of you, it’s probably true. One thing I want to be clear about … once I claim you, I won’t be fucking around with other women.” He ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. God, she could stare at him forever. He was a lot older than her, but it only pulled her in. Those crinkles at the corners of his eyes and thick scruff along his jawline screamed experience and masculinity. She needed to be protected, loved, wanted—by him. “You’ll give me the heirs I need, and I’ll take care of you. That’s a fair trade, no?”
Again, she was struck speechless. He made her sound like a breeding vessel, but somehow, the way he said it was too tempting to refuse. It was true. She expected the prez of a motorcycle club to screw around with every woman walking, to cheat, to abuse. It had terrified her when she knew what her father was planning. She expected to be a punching bag for a bunch of heathens. Was Forge a different beast or was she too naïve to see the truth?
She shrugged.
“Tell me what you want then, little one. You just turned twenty-four. You have some fantasy of marrying one of daddy’s hired hands? Maybe a nice accountant?”
This time she frowned. “I thought you wanted me to forget about my father?”
“That’s not an answer.”
Beth licked her lips. What would she even say? “I never really thought about what I wanted out of life. I just survived day to day. I’m used to walking on eggshells and saying what people want to hear. Thinking about fairy tales has always been a waste of time.”
“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, understand? I may not agree with what you say, but I don’t want sugar-coated bullshit from you.”
She shifted on the edge of the bed, putting the book she was reading to the side. What did she have to lose? “I want to know what it feels like to be wanted,” she said, feeling stupid just saying the words. “I want a man who puts me first.”
“We’re practically strangers right now, I know that. But you’re mine, Beth, there’s no way around that. And you will be my old lady and the mother of my kids. Life here may not be flowers and rainbows, but I hope that one day you’ll be able to love me.” He turned his back to her and started rooting through the drawer of a dresser. She heard the jangle of keys.
“Love?”
Was a cold-hearted criminal even capable of empathy … of love? Her father said Forge made people disappear, that he had no conscience to speak of.
He twisted slightly to the side to get a look at her. “You’re not the only one looking for something you’ve never been given. Maybe one day you won’t see me as the monster who buys girls from their fathers.”
Once he finished dressing, he sat on a chair facing her and pulled on a pair of black shitkickers. He was the devil personified. So why did she crave his lips on hers?
He got up to leave and a rush of panic made her heart race. “Where are you going?”
“Do I answer to you now, Ms. Peterson?” He raised an eyebrow, one hand on the doorknob.
“Don’t call me that. Please.”
“It’s your name, no?”
“It’s my father’s name, so I want no part of it.”
Forge smiled. “Good girl.” He held out his hand, beckoning her to come.
Her cheeks flushed hot as excitement trickled through her veins. Beth approached him with caution.
“You want to come with me?”
She nodded without hesitation. The thought of sitting in his room, wondering who’d come in and find her there was a terrifying prospect. She only felt safe with Forge, and even that didn’t make sense.
“Stay close to me.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. Beth followed right behind him as he walked down the long hallway. Every step he took screamed authority. Anyone would be a fool to stand up to a man like Forge. He was tall, his shoulders impossibly broad.
And she knew what he looked like without the shirt on.
There were a few men at the bottom of a staircase. The smell of smoke made her nose wrinkle. They stared at her like she had two heads. It was unnerving. If it weren’t for Forge, she would have run the other way.
“Hound fill you in about my girl?”
A couple of them shook their heads. “Haven’t seen him yet today,” said the biggest of the three. He nodded toward her. “She the one we picked up yesterday? What are we supposed to know?”
“She’ll be staying at the club on a permanent basis. I’m keeping her, and I’m going to get real fucking petty if one of you can’t keep your eyes or hands to themselves. Understand?”
“Sure, boss. Not a problem.”
The men didn’t look afraid, but it was also clear they wouldn’t dare disobey Forge.
“She has full protection of the club, too. Until we make things official, spread the word,” said Forge.
Beth hadn’t realized she’d balled the back of his shirt into her fists until he turned to look at her.
“You ready to go?”
She nodded, sticking to him like glue as they passed the thugs in the stairwell.
Beth took a deep breath of fresh air once they emerged outside from the main level. She hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings yesterday. It had been dark and she’d been terrified beyond measure.
Now she had a chance to look around. They were far off the grid, and the scent of pine infused in the air. She’d only ever lived in the core of the city, so this was different.
“So many trees,” she muttered.
“Over the years, I’ve learned that trees are a lot easier to live with than people. All I’ve ever needed was my club.”
She wanted to be included in the equation, not just his club. There was a broken darkness in Forge, and she felt connected to him because of it.
“Where are we going?”
Forge ignored her question until he reached a Harley parked at the side of the clubhouse. It was separate from the others, and he immediately slung his leg over the side and sat down. He glanced over at her standing there on the sidelines. “What are you waiting for, sweetheart?”
Chapter Three
Beth had never ridden bikes before coming here. She’d never gone to the park to enjoy life, nor had she ever had any fun. Her father had always dominated her life. He’d been there to keep her in line and tell her what to do. There was never a time when she could be her own person. He was always there, waiting, ordering her around, telling her what to do. His word had been law.
She didn’t have a choice in the matter. She had to follow his instructions, his rules for as long as she could remember. No matter how much she hated him, he’d tried to beat her into submission. In a way, she’d followed him for fear of the pain, but that had been as far as she’d been willing to go.
Like now, her father still believed she was nothing but a willing pet, a slave. Someone he could order around, and she’d do as she was told.
What her father didn’t realize was that all this time she’d been biding her time for him to make a mistake. In the beginning, she thought his mistake would come in the form of letting her go, giving her a chance to escape. He’d always covered his ass, or at least hers. Someone was always waiting in the wings to drag her back home, or he had a guard posted outside of her door, waiting to keep her in hell.
When he’d told her she was going to be a present for a biker club, at first, she’d been afraid, but then, she knew she was going to take this chance and find a way to enjoy her freedom one way or another.
