Drax (Iron Thunder MC Book 3)

by Kasey Krane

  “Nothing. Just making sure you’re good. I stopped by your place and you weren’t home.”

  I chuckled nervously at that. “You know I do have a life, right? I’m not always home.”

  “I didn’t say you were,” he replied. I was afraid he would hear it in my voice that I was trying desperately to hide something.

  “Yeah, okay, I should go now. Bye.”

  I ended the call quickly because I saw Drax heading out of the store toward me. He eyed me suspiciously, glancing at the phone in my hand. I was worried he’d know who I was speaking to.

  “Can you take me back to my car?” I asked before he could say anything. He crossed his brows and then shrugged.

  “Sure, whatever.”

  “Okay, good, thanks.”

  We went over to his bike and he helped me up. He didn’t ask me what I thought anymore, or if I believed Crash or him now. It was almost like Drax had decided to give up on me.

  5

  Drax

  Back at the Clubhouse, we got off the bike and I watched Mary-Beth making her way to the back where her car was parked.

  A part of me just wanted to let her go. I knew it would be for the best if we didn’t see each other again. This was where our road ended. Every time we happened to be together, we fought. We were at each other’s throats. And no matter how hard I tried to convince her to see the truth, she wouldn’t believe me. She was going to be loyal to her brother.

  I kept my distance as she beeped her car open and then she turned to me. It was dark. There was a dim yellow light filtering out through one of the back windows of the Clubhouse. I could pretty much only see her silhouette, not the expression on her face. So, I had no idea what she could be thinking.

  “I guess I should thank you,” she said. Her voice was crisply firm. Those were the last words I was expecting to hear from her.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Oh, don’t act so surprised, Drax! I’m grateful to you for not kicking me to the curb or being cruel to me or refusing to speak to me. Etc.”

  I took a few steps toward her. She had a hand on the car door, just seconds from going into the car.

  “But it doesn’t matter what I say, does it? You’re still going to believe what Crash says.”

  “I don’t know what I believe anymore.”

  “You want to hear his side of the story,” I added.

  I heard her sigh.

  “He’s my brother, Drax. I have to give him a chance to explain himself.”

  “Sure, and while you’re having that conversation with him, why don’t you ask him to explain why he would brand a guy and try to brand an innocent woman too. Scarring them for life. Making them bleed and suffer.”

  I knew it made her uncomfortable. She shifted on her feet and turned her head from me.

  “I have to go, Drax,” she said and quickly opened the door.

  Ever since she’d got that phone call back at the store, she’d been acting cagey. She looked like she was in a big hurry to leave now. I wondered who called her. She was determined not to let me hear her speaking to the caller.

  Did she have a new guy?

  I felt rage whip through my veins as she started up the car.

  Fuck! Why did I fuckin’ care what she did with her life?

  We were over.

  I did whatever I wanted. So she should’ve been free to do the same. But I couldn’t help myself. I could feel the anger bubbling inside me with a fury. She was driving away, and I didn’t know if I would see her again. But I needed to know if she had a new man. If she’d replaced me.

  I had to find out.

  I ignored everyone else as I walked through the Clubhouse and headed up to my room. I could sense the curious energy all around me. Each one of them wanted to know what happened with Mary-Beth.

  What did she want? Why did she leave? Where did I take her? Were we back together now?

  I had no interest in answering any of those questions.

  I just wanted some fuckin’ peace and quiet. I wanted to get away from those thoughts in my head. The last thing I needed in the middle of a full-fledged war with the Silver Knights was obsessing over whether Mary-Beth had a new lover or not.

  Fuck me.

  It was like she was doing this on purpose, just to mess with my head.

  Did Crash send her over?

  Was this his new game plan now?

  I muttered angrily under my breath as I went up the stairs. There were other things to worry about.

  For instance, the store needed to be up and ready in time for the next shipment’s arrival. Since that was our front for laundering money, we needed it to be in working order and open for business when our shipment came. That way we could take care of the shipment and the money.

  This was going to be a crucial time. With the Silver Fuckin’ Knights breathing down our necks at the same time, there was no room for error.

  I knew I needed to call Church.

  It wasn’t just about feeding the curiosity of the others, but it was important that they had the full picture. The boys needed to know that Crash was trying to blame me…us…for everything that was going on. We needed to be prepared for anything. The whole Club had to be in the loop.

  But I couldn’t do it now. I needed to clear my head. Before I could answer anybody’s prying questions and discuss Mary-Beth with the others, I needed to get my brain functioning again.

  I needed to forget about her personal life.

  If she had a new guy, that was none of my business. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it now. I saw the flash of embarrassment in her eyes when she saw who was calling. She made it very obvious when she ducked out and spoke into the phone in whispers.

  Who was she seeing? Who was she fucking? Someone she knew would rattle my cage?

  No man was ever going to be good enough for her.

  Even though we weren’t together anymore, and I knew I couldn’t have her—I didn’t want to share her with anyone else.

  I had walked up the stairs to my door. I just needed some time to myself. I needed to drink myself into a deep, deep sleep and hopefully I’d be thinking clearly in the mirror.

  But as I opened the door, I remembered the girls.

  Amara and Sylvia were both naked. Still.

  How long had it been? More than an hour at least. They hadn’t bothered to put their clothes back on…because why would they?

  I stood dumbstruck at the door for a few moments, just staring at them because my brain was all fogged up by Mary-Beth.

  “There you are, darling!” Sylvia jumped out of bed and came toward me. I saw the way her tits jiggled a little. The same way her butt did. She came at me with her hips swinging and I slammed the door shut behind me.

  “I didn’t expect you girls to still be here,” I grunted.

  Amara shifted in the bed, exposing her naked self to me from within the sheets. She wanted me to see her like that. She wanted me to see what I was missing. She had the perfect tits. Small but shapely, with stiff brown nipples to match her flawless skin.

  She bit down on her lip and threw her head back seductively. Her dark shining hair swished behind her.

  “I missed you, honey,” she said in a low sultry voice.

  Sylvia came up to wrap an arm around me, but I focused on Amara. There was no doubt about it—she was sexy as hell. And she knew it. She knew exactly how desirable she was.

  “Are you going to come join us here?” she asked.

  Sylvia giggled and licked the side of my face like I was a popsicle.

  “Where have you been?” she asked.

  “It doesn’t matter where he’s been. He’s here now,” Amara continued. I watched in a daze as she parted her legs, throwing them wide open so I could see the pink insides of her pussy. She started touching herself, stroking her clit and sliding her fingers inside.

  Sylvia grabbed my hands and started drawing me to the bed.

  “We’ve been waiting patiently for you, darling. We ha
d no choice but to entertain ourselves in the meantime. Do you want to see what we’ve been up to?” Sylvia asked in a sugary sweet voice.

  Amara sighed and pushed two fingers inside herself. She was going to make herself come. I could feel a twitch in my groin. My cock was thrumming awake; I had no control over how it reacted to the scene. They were both sexy, and Sylvia was now wrapping herself around her friend. They were touching each other. Their pussies slid over each other’s legs.

  But I did have control over my mind.

  And right now, it was clogged up with Mary-Beth and I couldn’t think about anybody else.

  “Get out. Both of you. Now!” My voice was like a riot. They both looked at me in utter surprise. “You have one minute to put your fuckin’ clothes on and get the fuck out of my room.”

  Their surprise turned quickly to alarm and fear. I watched as they both scrambled for their clothes. They were strewn all over the floor and the girls quickly gathered them up.

  “Out!” I raged.

  Amara and Sylvia were rushing out of the room with their clothes in their arms. Neither of them bothered to stop to put them on. Good. I needed them gone.

  I needed to be alone so I could hate myself in peace.

  I hated myself because I let Mary-Beth get away.

  She was the only woman I could imagine a future with. The only woman who had made me feel I was worthy of having a family with.

  The way I grew up, I never knew what it felt like to wake up in a bed in a warm home and hear the happy sounds of breakfast being cooked in the kitchen.

  As a kid and a teenager…and for as long as I lived with my ‘family’, I woke up to the sickening sounds of my parents fighting, my dad hitting my mom or her banging pans on the walls and screaming at him for money.

  We were all scared of them, my brothers and sister and I. We usually tiptoed out of the house, hoping not to be heard so we could get to school. If mom or dad heard us leaving and caught us, they’d be shaking us down for any cash we had on us. Booze. Coke. Cigarettes. That was all they fuckin’ cared about.

  Even as an eight-year-old, I knew I was never going to have kids. I would never make a family of my own. I didn’t want to put any other humans through the kind of experiences my parents had put us through.

  I was always afraid of turning into them.

  Until I met Mary-Beth.

  Beautiful. Sexy. Curvy. Feisty…MB.

  She was the woman of my dreams. She fried bacon and scrambled eggs in the mornings. Sometimes, she even made pancakes. At night, she clung to me like she never wanted to let me go. When I pictured her as a mother to my kids, I knew she would be darn good at it. Fiercely protective with a big heart. Love overflowing. Smart and strong.

  There was no other woman like her, and I considered myself lucky that she had ever even looked at me.

  But ultimately, I couldn’t get rid of that DNA my parents had gifted me. The DNA to fight. To push away the people I loved and who loved me.

  I had spent so much time being alone that I didn’t know how to be with her. How to treat her or make her happy. How to give her the home and the relationship she deserved.

  It was my fault.

  I would never admit it to her. I was too proud to say the words. The reason why Mary-Beth and I weren’t together right now was because of me. Because I was the biggest jerk on the planet.

  And now she had clearly found someone new and was probably glad to be rid of me.

  But I couldn’t let her go. She was still the only woman on my mind.

  6

  Mary-Beth

  I drove straight to Teasers because I knew that was where Crash would be.

  I usually avoided going there as much as possible; while I was aware of what biker guys were usually like, what their tastes and preferences were, a strip club was just not a place I was comfortable hanging around in.

  Yet, that was the Silver Knights Clubhouse and that was where Crash and his buddies usually always were.

  I knew I needed to see him. I needed to talk to him and get some answers, even though I was sure he wasn’t going to give me any.

  I parked up at the front. The blue-pink neon sign announcing the name of the strip club blinked overhead as I banged the car door shut. The parking lot was dotted with bikes and muscle cars. This place was always buzzing. Far more popular than Fifth Gear of course, which was just a dive bar.

  I went up to the door and could already hear the muffled sounds of music playing inside. I had to brace myself. Prepare myself for the experience.

  The music was too loud inside. The lights were dim and bright at the same time, almost blinding me as I made my way in. On the stage, there were naked and nearly naked girls performing and gyrating, pasting themselves to the poles and thrusting their hips along with the beats.

  Men were gathered around the stages, looking up greedily at the girls, waving wads of bills in front of their legs.

  On the couches, more men sat around with girls on their laps, laughing and drinking and dry humping.

  I had to clear my throat. It was an assault on all my senses and sensibilities. I always felt claustrophobic in here.

  I tried to forget the scene and focus on finding my brother. I scanned the floor till I saw a bigger crowd in the corner. Crash was the President of this Club. The big boss. So obviously, he was in the center of a throng.

  He had two skimpily clad brunettes sitting on his legs, and his hands were on their glitter-covered backs. Some of the other members of the Silver Knights were sprawled on the couches around him, and there were drinks and cigarette smoke everywhere.

  I strode up to them and Crash caught my eye.

  “Sis! What are you doing here? You said you were out with your friends,” he said, and his hand traveled down the back of one of his girls. I tried avoiding their eyes. I wasn’t here to make friends.

  “I need to speak to you, Danny. Now,” I hissed, hooking my hands on my hips.

  Crash sniggered.

  “Sure, sis, we can chat. Sit down with me, order a drink, enjoy the view,” he said and smiled at the girls. I shook my head at him.

  “I’m serious right now, Danny. I need to talk to you about something important. In private.”

  I glared at him till he knew I meant business, after which he rolled his eyes and pushed the girls off his knees. They almost fell to the floor because of how forceful he was with them.

  Maybe I might not have noticed this behavior before, but now I was beginning to see small things about my brother that made me doubt him.

  “Alright. Fine. Let’s talk.”

  Eagle, Crash’s VP, was already there in the back office when I followed him. Eagle looked up at me but there was no reaction from him. Not even a greeting. I always got the feeling that he wasn’t my biggest fan.

  “What’s up?” Crash asked and sat down at his desk. There was a chair for me across from him, but I was in no mood to sit down. I glanced at Eagle who was sitting slumped on a stool, scrolling through his phone. It didn’t seem like he was doing anything important.

  “I said I wanted to speak to you alone,” I reiterated, tilting my head just an inch in Eagle’s direction. Crash waved a hand in the air.

  “Forget about him. It doesn’t matter what he hears.”

  I clenched my jaws and took in a deep breath.

  “Look, Danny, I want you to be completely honest about what’s happening with the Iron Thunders.”

  My brother’s face went from smiling and calm to thunderous in a matter of seconds.

  “Why?” he snapped.

  “I just want to hear the truth from you, okay? I want to hear you explain the situation to me.”

  Crash exchanged a slow glance with Eagle and then focused his eyes on me again.

  “And I want you to tell me why you care. None of this is about you.”

  “But you made it seem like it was. You made me believe that Drax had a hidden agenda against you, because of me.”

  Crash gr
unted and sat back in his chair, leaning far back.

  “And so what if I did? It’s the truth,” he said.

  “Is it? Is it really the truth? I don’t believe it is,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at him.

  Crash was trying to assess the situation. Our eyes were locked on each other. Neither of us was going to back down from here. Eagle was the one who spoke up.

  “You went to see him, didn’t you?”

  We both turned to him. There was a sudden look of betrayal on Crash’s face. I gulped.

  “You fuckin’ did, didn’t you? You went to speak to Drax!” My brother was raging mad. He stood up from his chair and pointed a finger accusingly at me.

  “It doesn’t matter who I spoke to, Danny. I just want to hear the truth from you.”

  “You have no idea how stupid you are. You went into enemy territory. You spoke to the President of our rival MC. Do you know what will happen if the others find out?”

  “What others? Your men? Aren’t you supposed to be the boss of them?”

  “And you are my sister. You’re not supposed to canoodle with the enemy! Bitch.”

  I was shocked to hear the tone of my brother’s voice. The words he was spewing. This was a new side to Crash I’d never witnessed before.

  “How dare you talk to me like that?” I hissed.

  “You are in my Club. I talk to you the way I want,” he snarled.

  I would never have felt unnerved by my brother before, but now I was. I felt like I couldn’t be sure what his reaction would be. What he was capable of doing to me.

  “You are also my brother, and I expect you to be honest with me. Why are you doing this, Danny?” I heard the sound of pleading in my voice. I could see how his eyes were bloodshot red with anger now. But it wasn’t the same kind of anger I had seen in Drax’s eyes earlier. I knew Drax wouldn’t hurt me. But with Crash…I wasn’t so sure anymore.