Sketch: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #2

by Claire C. Riley

  The bell jangled as I pushed open the door, and I ducked as I walked inside. I saw her right away, sitting at the tall counter, her legs crossed at the ankles as she sat there sketching in a pad. Interesting: she draws.

  She looked up, a smile spread on her face, until her gaze caught mine. I held her captive as I strutted forward, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed and her lips parted as I got closer. She looked stunning. Not hot. Not attractive. But stunning.

  Her hair was pinned back from her face with just a couple of loose curls hanging down, skimming her pale shoulders. She was wearing a loose strappy top that gave me full view of her collarbones, and I’d be damned if even her collarbones weren’t gorgeous.

  “Hey there, darlin’,” I said with a smile, watching a thousand things pass over her face like she was reliving something right in front of me. I hesitated, and just as I was about to speak again, the storm behind her eyes cleared.

  “Hey, how can I help you? Skull is busy with a customer right now, but if you’re after a tattoo I can get you in later this afternoon,” she replied, all cool, calm, and professional like she wasn’t squeezing her legs together right then.

  She may have preferred women, but there was no denying the attraction between us. My cock twitched in agreement.

  “I’m not here for a tattoo, Nancy,” I replied, leaning on the counter so I was close enough that her sweet scent reached me. Fucking hell, she smelled like heaven.

  She hesitated. I’d gotten her attention and she had no idea what to do now that her guard was down. Shame, I liked it when she was feisty with me. Gotta love a woman with fire in her belly. Most brothers wanted an old lady that rolled over and did whatever they were told, but not me. I wanted that raw passion that came from when two people were opposing forces. I wanted the fighting and the fucking and the arguing. I wanted the bite marks and scratches, I wanted the tears and the making up. I wanted it all. I just hadn’t realized it until I’d met Nancy.

  “Then what are you here for?” she asked, and I could have sworn I heard a tremor in her voice.

  “I think you know.” I let my wolfish grin rise higher and I looked down at the drawing in her pad.

  Damn, but the woman was fucking talented. Not as talented as me, of course, but she had serious skills. I never thought I’d let a woman ink me up until now, and certainly not with motherfucking flowers, but the sketch she was working on—a huge lotus flower with a skull at its center—would look awesome on my ribcage, the blood from the skull’s mouth trailing down between the petals and down each of my ribs. Couldn’t imagine anything more erotic than Nancy tattooing me with this.

  “You do this?” I asked, even though I knew she did.

  She nodded like it was nothing, but I could see the wariness behind her eyes. It was similar to the look I no doubt got when I was working on something I loved.

  I picked up her pencil, wanting to add a couple of lines to make it even better. “It’s good. I mean, flowers ain’t my thing, but it’s good all the same.”

  I saw the spark come back behind her eyes and I felt triumph flare in my chest.

  “Too girly for you?” She rolled her eyes at me, and fuck me if I didn’t want to put her across my knee and spank her sweet ass for that look.

  I ignored the eyeroll in favor of nodding toward the picture again. “You mind if I?”

  She shrugged and I leaned over the picture, putting in a little extra shading around the curve of the skull so it stood out more. Didn’t really need it, if truth be known. But I enjoyed fucking with her and hoped it would irritate her. Instead I heard her suck in a breath and I decided I wanted to put the picture on her skin, my hands inking her flawless skin and branding her forever.

  She folded her arms over her chest and I almost vaulted the counter and threw her across it when her tits practically exploded from her top. It was my turn to suck in a breath now, and I gritted my teeth and begged my raging hard-on to chill the fuck out. I didn’t want to scare her away.

  “That’d look real pretty on you,” I said, my voice sounding throaty and raw as I struggled to control my urges. Urges that had me wanting to sink my cock inside of every hole of hers available.

  I reached out and pulled her arm across the counter between us, feeling that electric current running from her to me with that one touch. She looked up and then back down sharply. Yeah, she felt it too. I licked my bottom lip and sucked it into my mouth.

  I ran my thumb over her smooth-as-silk skin, tracing the inner forearm where I wanted to put it. Yeah, it’d look real good there, I decided. I felt her eyes on me—that prickling feeling along the back of your neck when you knew someone was watching you. I slowly moved my hand upwards, to where some intricate vines were wrapped around her bicep, and watched a shiver trail over her as my rough fingers rubbed along her skin.

  Loved that.

  Loved it more when I watched her shift uncomfortably in her chair.

  “Yeah, stretch the leaves right up so that they connect and entwine here,” I said, surprising myself because I was not talking about the tattoo anymore, but my hand that wanted to be cupping her ass as I dragged her body to mine. I splayed my hand across her arm, all but ready to throw caution to the wind and say fuck it, drag her from that stool, and pull her soft body against mine, but the sound of Skull stomping down the stairs interrupted us and she pulled her arm back as he came through the door, a little blonde trailing in his wake.

  He slapped the girl’s ass as she passed him.

  “I’ll book you in for the same time next week,” he called, and she giggled and left. He looked over at me. “Sketch, brother.” He pulled me in for a half hug backslapping and Nancy chose that moment to scoot off her chair, her leather skirt riding a little high and flashing more thigh than she intended.

  My chest rumbled in response and her cheeks flushed red.

  “I’m going out for coffee,” she said.

  “We have a Keurig in the back,” Skull yelled after her. “What? Even my coffee ain’t even good enough for you now. I’m telling you, Sketch, this girl is driving me crazy.”

  “You and me both, brother,” I replied as she headed out the door.

  Skull followed my gaze as Nancy passed the front window and barked out a laugh loud enough to draw her attention. She flipped us both the bird as she kept on walking, and even I had to join in.

  “You know she bats for the other team, right? Ain’t interested in cock. I mean, at all.” He pulled out his cigarettes and lit one. “I mean, I’ve tried several times and she didn’t even blush for me. It’s a damn shame,” he laughed. “You seen her girl though, right? I’d fucking love to get both of them in my bed.” He shrugged.

  “Can’t blame a man for trying,” I replied, feeling angry at the thought of Skull hitting on her with Nancy. I was glad she hadn’t blushed for him though. It only cemented the fact that there was something between us, because she’d been damn well turned on when I was touching her just then.

  Skull laughed again. “Fuck no, I still try on a daily basis. Why’d you think I got the Keurig for her? Thought if I splashed out a little she’d repay me in kind.” He stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray and grabbed his cock over his jeans. “Bitch still prefers the coffee from the shop down the road though.”

  My jaw clenched and I glared at him. Dumb fucker didn’t realize how angry he’d just made me by talking about Nancy like that. He started to walk away, and when I didn’t follow he turned back around and saw my glare, his smile falling.

  Skull was a big bastard, thanks to all the time he liked to spend in his home gym when he wasn’t working or fucking. And true to his name, he had a skull covering the majority of his shaved head. He got it done when he was eighteen by some punk who didn’t have a clue what they were doing. Since it was damn near impossible to tattoo your own head, and he didn’t trust anyone, he’d grown his hair and pretended it didn’t exist, despite his nickname, which had stuck. Since being in Miles City, I’d fixed it up for h
im and now his head was shaved and his skull on show for all the world to see.

  “You got it bad for her, huh?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “I don’t blame you. Bitch is hot. Should have seen her last week when she was bent over, her ass and pussy practically on show. Wanted to lift that skirt up, pull those panties to one side, and—”

  “Skull.” I bit out his name in warning, my hands clenching and unclenching at my sides. Skull wasn’t a member of the Highwaymen, but he was a close friend of the club. But close friend or not, if he talked about Nancy’s pussy one more time I was going to knock his fucking teeth out.

  He smiled again. “Yeah, you got it bad for her,” he replied, busting my balls. He took a step toward me and cocked his head to one side. “But like I said, she don’t play that way, so unless you’re gonna cut your cock off and grow a nice pair of tits, you ain’t getting in on that action. You feel me? Plus, I think she hates men. Seriously, have you seen how she looks at me?” He whistled. “It’s like she wants to put my balls in a vise. And it ain’t just me either. If she wasn’t so talented I would have cut her loose once I realized she wasn’t going to put out.”

  I almost laughed.

  He had no idea.

  Neither did she. Not yet.

  Nancy may have preferred women to men right then, but there was no denying the attraction between us. Her desire for women was natural, but her hatred for men was not. There was a reason she didn’t want a man in her life, and I was determined to find out why and rectify that shit.

  “Skate,” I said, changing the subject. “You seen him?”

  Skull nodded, happy to move on from the subject of pussy that couldn’t be caught. I wondered whether he would lie to me and tell me he hadn’t seen him. How deep was his loyalty to the club, or was his loyalty to Skate deeper? They’d been friends a real long time, and despite me being a Highwayman nomad, I was still new to this city and new to this club. I was happy when he told me the truth.

  “Brother came around here a couple of hours ago. Said someone was on him.”

  “ATF,” I confirmed, but Skull shook his head and I frowned. “Then who?”

  “No idea. I asked him that and he said it was better I didn’t know. Said his past was catching up to him or something. Never said who it was though. Told him he could crash upstairs for a little bit. When I took Zoe—the blonde from earlier—upstairs, thought we’d end up having some three-way action, but Skate was gone.” His cell rang and he pulled it out of his jeans and answered it, taking a couple of steps away before he spoke. “No you can’t take the rest of the day off.” Skull glanced back at me and smirked. “Fine, take an early lunch or whatever.”

  I scowled, thinking about Skate and who he could be running from. That man wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone. Not a lot to be afraid of when you’d had the kind of start in life that he had. Pretty much all the demons in the world couldn’t be worse than those he’d sent back to hell after deciding enough was enough.

  So if not ATF, then who?

  The club?

  I couldn’t see a reason why he would.

  And why wouldn’t he go and talk to Vin if there was a problem? Vin treated his brothers like family. He helped them out, no matter what the problem, no questions asked. What could be so bad that Skate wouldn’t go to his president?

  And worse, where the fuck had he gone now?

  Skull hung up and shoved his cell back into his pocket. “Got our girl spooked,” he laughed. “You got a magic cock I don’t know about?”

  I laughed back and shrugged. “That’s what I’ve been told.” I grinned. “What did she say?”

  “Asked if you’d gone yet and when I told her you hadn’t she asked for the rest of the day off.” He moved round the counter and started shuffling some papers around. “Maybe I was wrong about her after all.” He looked up through his dark lashes. “Maybe I should give her another shot.”

  Anger surged through me and I reached out to grab him but he ducked and burst into loud laughter. “I’m fucking with you, Sketch,” he laughed, clutching his sides. “I’m telling you though, you still ain’t getting in those panties. No matter how magical you think your cock is.”

  I grinned and dragged a hand down my beard. “We’ll see.”

  “Bet you a hundred bucks you can’t.”

  It was my turn to laugh now. “I don’t need your money or a bet to get into her pants.”

  “Aaah, so you’re not as confident as you make out then. It’s cool, no worries, brother.”

  I shook my head and started to walk toward the door. “Fuck you, Skull. Make it two hundred, and we’ll see who isn’t confident when I’m balls-deep inside of her.” I opened the door and the bell above jingled again. “Because where my cock is concerned, it always gets what it wants.”

  ~ 9 ~

  Skull’s laughter rumbled out behind me as I stepped back into the hot sunshine. “You see her, tell her to get her ass back to work!”

  I shook my head and looked down the sidewalk, seeing the ATF car still parked there. I gave them a wave and headed in the direction Nancy had gone not five minutes before.

  She needed to learn she couldn’t run from me and whatever it was between us. Sooner or later I was going to have her, and then she’d be the one doing the chasing. I smelled coffee and let my nose do the walking as I guessed where she’d gone.

  I opened the door to Rosie’s Coffee Shop at the end of the street. It was barely a five-minute walk from INKslingers, but it felt double that with the sun blasting on my back, the heat penetrating through my black leather cut and making me sweat. Fucking hated weather like this. Too hot to ride my bike and too hot to ride in a cage. The air was still and suffocating and I was glad to get inside the shaded, air-conditioned coffee shop.

  I looked around, spotting Nancy with her girlfriend and the little fucker she’d been with at the Laughing Moose when I’d first met her. I couldn’t work out their relationship yet. He looked at her with lovesick puppy eyes, touching her at every opportunity he could and ignoring the glares her girlfriend gave him, yet she continually brushed him off, so his advances clearly weren’t wanted. Yet if what Skull had just said was true, she hated men, and it made no sense to keep this little shit hanging around her.

  I chuckled darkly as I headed to the counter to order myself a black coffee. Some might say my advances toward her weren’t wanted, but they didn’t know what they were talking about because they didn’t fuckin’ feel the vibes between us. It was intense. Like nothing I’d ever felt before with a woman. And I knew she felt it too. She could say what she wanted to me—tell me no and tell my she loved pussy all she wanted—but there was no denying the breathless look she got when I touched her or the way her eyes dilated when I got too close.

  Yeah, she could say what she wanted but her body was speaking a whole different language from what her mouth was talking.

  I grabbed my mug of coffee and headed toward her table, grabbing a chair from the table in front of theirs and dragging it noisily so I could sit with them. The conversation immediately died and both her girlfriend and the pussy that wanted into her pants turned to stare daggers at me.

  Nancy, however, was a whole different picture.

  She chewed at the side of her cheek to contain her smile, but it was there even if it was laced with her feisty attitude.

  “So, what are we talking about?” I asked with a cocky smirk, happy to see I was getting under everyone’s skin. Hopefully the other two would fuck off and leave Nancy and me alone.

  “I’m sorry, but can you leave?” the girlfriend snapped, her hard stare on me like she was trying to use some magical voodoo shit to take me out. She was hot, no denying that, but she wasn’t buying what I was selling. There was a stark difference between her and Nancy and I wasn’t about to waste my time on her. Plus, Nancy had everything that I wanted right then.

  I drummed my fingers on the table and Nancy’s gaze fell to my hands—more importa
ntly to the tattoos that ran across my knuckles. I clenched my hands into fists and grinned, loving it when she blushed and looked away.

  “Yeah, you’re not wanted here!” the wannabe boyfriend said, making me almost laugh. Fucker sounded like he was in high school.

  I kept my gaze glued to Nancy. To the way she nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and the way her chest rose and fell, a slight pink rising across it because of my proximity.

  “You sure about that?” I asked, lifting my mug and taking a sip of the hot coffee. “I’m feeling pretty fuckin’ wanted over here.” I rumbled out a chuckle as Nancy squirmed in her seat.

  “Nancy,” the girlfriend snapped, turning to stare at her, her gaze flashing angrily. “You need to tell him to leave.”

  Nancy looked away from me. “Yes, of course,” she said clearing her throat. But she didn’t say anything else. She looked up at me and shook her head imperceptibly.

  “Well?” I asked, sucking my bottom lip into my mouth, and I watched Nancy’s gaze follow the movement. “Should I leave? I mean, you’ve already ducked out of work to get away from me—where else you gonna hide?”

  “Nancy,” the wannabe boyfriend said, glaring between Nancy and me. “Do you want me to make him leave for you?”

  “Yeah, Nancy, tell me to fuck off,” I chuckled, mimicking his childish words as I cracked my knuckles. “We don’t want this dumb fucker here ending up in urgent care now, do we?”

  She glanced nervously to him. “Tyler, back off,” she said with little force.

  He scowled and pushed his cup away, the coffee spilling over the top of it and splashing across the table. “Really? You’re going to take his side?”

  She tried to turn away from him and he grabbed her arm, and I cracked my head from side to side, my smile dropping. Tyler glanced over at me, seeing the look of fury on my face, and he let her go.